Here’s how I know things are going well for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I start digging through my tweets, emails, column replies and various other interactions, and I actually have to … dig.
No, seriously. I had to work a little bit, just to find a few juicy complaints for “U mad, bro?” I mean, usually, I start with 50 of them and weed entries down to five or six.
My word! You’d think the team was 9-0 or something.
Well, I said that I had to work. I didn’t say the complaints were unfounded. Or, occasionally, quite amusing.
After last week’s win against the Bengals, Cincinnati fans were accusing Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree of being “dirty” for shoving quarterback Joe Burrow a little late and out of bounds.
It could’ve been a penalty. I’ve seen similar plays flagged that were a little less obvious.
But this emailer, named Rich, wanted no part of Cincy’s criticism.
“Seriously? I watched it and I didn’t see it. If anything, Burrow should be lucky he wasn’t being hit by (Vontaze) Burfict.
By the way, who did Burfict play for?”
Uh, Arizona State?
Oh…right.
Look, whether Burfict was a Bengal is irrelevant to the legality of the Dupree hit on Burrow. Let’s just call it a “Welcome to the AFC North” moment and move on.
Bob thinks my critique of the Steelers’ lagging run game is unimportant.
“I think you should stop complaining about the Steelers’ lack of a decent running game and recognize that the short passing game is not a ‘substitute for the run game.’ It *is* the run game in modern pro football.
The Patriots invented it under (Tom) Brady years ago. I’m glad to see the Steelers adopt it. The defensive guys playing pro football today are just too fast to allow any team to operate an old-fashioned running game for very long.
The quick pass game takes away some of that defensive speed because the rules do not allow the defenders to hold the potential receivers and the defensive secondary guys are too far off the line of scrimmage to cover all those targets.”
Hey, Bob, I agree with a lot of that. Just so long as Ben Roethlisberger is always the quarterback.
What worries me is that on a day when it is needed to help the team win, the run game will fail when called upon. Maybe if Roethlisberger can’t start because of injury. Or covid-19. Or gets knocked out in a close game. Or is having an off day.
Or if they happen to be facing a defense that can get to Roethlisberger quickly or has a particularly adept secondary.
As I’ve often said this week, I don’t see the Steelers’ recent inability to run as a fatal flaw that will singlehandedly derail the team from its Super Bowl aspirations.
Like, for instance, a good baseball team without a reliable closer. Or a good basketball team that can’t shoot free throws.
The Steelers’ bad rush offense concerns me in the sense that sometimes you need to go to “Plan B” if the short passing game isn’t working in a playoff game.
And right now, “Plan B” appears to be…punting.
Sean hates those tunnel screen passes behind the sticks on third-and-short that the Steelers like to run.
Can they try and run a play where the route is past the first down marker?
— Sean (@RunSMK) November 15, 2020
I’m with you, Sean. Those drive me bonkers, too. Run problems or not, gut it up and run inside on those plays. Or throw it beyond the sticks.
Sometimes the Steelers love to throw deep on third-and-intermediate. And then they like to throw behind the line of scrimmage on third-and-short. I don’t get that.
The first two efforts went that way against the Bengals, and they were 0 for 6 to start the game on third downs.
On the whole, offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner’s third-down offense is good — sixth in the league at 46.921%. But against a good team in the playoffs, a slow start moving the chains could kill them.
During this week’s “Madden-Benz: Unfiltered!,” Tristan commented about the inside linebacker rotation (or lack thereof).
“Why isn’t Avery Williamson playing much? You have to assume he’s better than (Robert) Spillane. So why not play him?”
I did assume that. Because I assumed the Steelers wouldn’t bother trading for a guy who is essentially a replacement for Ulysees Gilbert III at that point.
The New York Jets sure assumed that. Or else they would’ve signed an undrafted mid-major linebacker instead of giving $22.5 million to Williamson.
And I bet Williamson was assuming that, too, when he was traded here.
The Steelers don’t assume that. Spillane is going to have to play his way out of that position for Williamson to get snaps, I guess.
Especially with so much garbage-time to be had in that game against Cincinnati, I expected Williamson to get more reps so he could become acclimated to the defense. A similar opportunity could present itself this week against Jacksonville. The Jaguars like to run the ball a lot with James Robinson. Stopping the run is a specialty of Williamson.
So knock off the rust. Get him up to speed. And get him ready to help against the Baltimore Ravens for the Thanksgiving game.
All that said, Spillane did earn major points from me last Sunday. Not even so much because of some decent plays—including a sack. But for showing up to the game in a Metallica “Ride the Lightning” T-shirt.
That’s my kind of inside linebacker.
Finally, J.R. replied to my Tuesday “First Call” item about Antonio Brown getting in trouble again. This time with the homeowners association at his gated community in Florida. Mr. Big Chest allegedly busted a camera and threw a bike at a security shack.
Tomlin has lost control of the HOA.
— J. R. (@qgunk) November 17, 2020
Indeed. Security never had any problems when Bill Cowher was in charge.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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