Often, when the Steelers win, we just stick with the “Feats of Strength.” When they lose, its just the “Airing of Grievances.”
So lets have at it. The excellent and the bad from Week 1 in 2020.
I understand that 2020 has actually taken away a few of our most cherished customs. Luckily, not Steelers football.
In victory, nevertheless, when they still handle to offer us as lots of complaints as they did Monday night, weve got to vent as well.
At least its still on television, even if you cant go to the video games.
And due to the fact that the Steelers are playing, you get to continue enjoying our favorite Steelers postgame tradition here at “Breakfast With Benz.” Its our weekly “Feats of Strength” and “Airing of Grievances.”
The Steelers won their season opener over the New York Giants 26-16. It wasnt quite for the very first 28 minutes or two. As we have chronicled in the past, any win in September is a true blessing for this lot.
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Oh, and the most essential positive note? At least the NFL found out a method to play the video games!
TASKS OF STRENGTH
“We werent going to be bashful about that commitment. We believed that guy was a catalyst for whatever they were going to do offensively. We required to stack the line of skirmish.”
The linebackers– all of them– were fantastic in all aspects of the video game.
Beating Barkley: We warned that if New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley got loose, the Giants could manage an upset.
T.J. Watt had an interception. Vince Williams had a sack. Devin Bush had seven takes on. Bud Dupree was a disruptive force all night. Ola Adeniyi had a deal with for loss off the bench. And Alex Highsmith got into the backfield once at the end of the video game in his debut.
It was the second-lowest hurrying overall of Barkleys profession.
The Steelers defense wasnt going to let that happen. He was held to a weak 6 backyards on 15 brings.
Good JuJu: JuJu Smith-Schuster had a strong video game with 6 catches, 69 lawns and 2 touchdowns
” We were able to choose up the pace,” Roethlisberger said to ESPN after the game. In those situations, its how quick I get the ball out of my hand and let those guys make plays.”
” Ooh, ooh! Can you Snell that Snell?”: With James Conner leaving the video game with an injury (have you heard that sentence before?), Snell can be found in and contributed strongly.
Of those 8 plays on that drive, five were pass completions from Roethlisberger. He also rushed for 11 lawns.
. @JamesWashington refuses to go down.@Steelers take the lead before halftime. #HereWeGo
: #PITvsNYG on ESPN: NFL app// Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/jSG62oMhon pic.twitter.com/PZz32Hy9TV
— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2020
That offered the Steelers a 16-10 lead.
Camera
: #PITvsNYG on ESPN: NFL app// Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/jSG62oMhon pic.twitter.com/qBQHmyoM4C
— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2020
Web cams hands: For as great as the Steelers defense was, it bent on a 19-play third-quarter drive by the Giants. At the 4-yard line, linebacker Bud Dupree– who was excellent all night– bothered Giants quarterback Daniel Jones into a wobbly toss that was intercepted by …
Yup. Thats why the Steelers offered Heyward that huge contract extension right before the season began.
The two-minute drill: The Steelers offense was really bad in the first 28 minutes of the video game. The offending line was getting owned at the line of skirmish. Ben Roethlisberger was off-target. And a great deal of the jet motion, misdirection, Matt Canada stuff wasnt fooling anybody.
. @TeamJuJus prepared for his Pylon Cam close up.
: #PITvsNYG on ESPN: NFL app// Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/jSG62oMhon pic.twitter.com/K4FXa2XLqv
— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2020
He also jumped and tossed an essential block on a fumble by Benny Snell.
Aside from that fumble, he had 113 lawns on 19 brings.
Dating back to the 2019 season ending in Baltimore, Snell now has 204 backyards in his last 2 video games.
Thats when Ben Roethlisberger got the ball with 1:32 remaining in the very first half and marched the group 78 backyards for a touchdown, culminating in this gutty James Washington score
… Cam Heyward ??!!
His hands.
Look out, Minkah!
I swear, absolutely nothing matters the remainder of the season. Heyward boxing out Robert Spillane for an interception in the end zone is the highlight of the year currently.
AIRING OF GRIEVANCES
This time, ESPN reported it was a left ankle injury. The running back only had 9 yards on six carries before being replaced by Snell.
Unique groups: Chris Boswell missed out on an additional point. He kicked a ball out of bounds on a kickoff, too.
When the Steelers did something right, even.
Diontae Johnson fumbled a punt. Jabrill Peppers had a pair of decent punt returns.
The Steelers then enabled that 19-play Giants drive before Heyward kipped down his best Donnie Shell impersonation.
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Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review personnel writer. All e-mails are subject to publication unless defined otherwise.
The third quarter: After scoring at the end of the first half, the Steelers seemed marching for another. Then Roethlisberger threw an unneeded, deep 50-50 ball to Washington on a third-and-5.
Ick.
The crowd noise: Executing that fake crowd noise is no simple job. Its been done better than that before. It appeared to erupt with wild applause out of no place at times during the broadcast.
The Steelers got away with one, too. Ask Giants tight end Evan Engram about Mike Hilton holding his wrist band.
Stefen Wisniewski has a pectoral injury. And, when it comes to Zach Banner, Im uncertain if moving Matt Feiler and providing him the right take on job was the right thing to do.
That 19-play drive was aided by a missed out on hold from one of the Giants attempting to obstruct Watt on a fourth-and-1 completion to Saquon Barkley.
When Ray-Ray McCloud almost popped the second-half kick return, I think all those “Giants fans” were rooting for a goal.
Injuries: Conner got hurt. Once again. Already.
Diontae Johnson: Johnson fumbled the punt. He had a drop. He had a really bad miscommunication with Roethlisberger at one point as well.
And his fourth-quarter knee injury appeared to be quite bad. Ideally he can come back from it.
He rebounded well in the second half, though, with 6 catches and 57 lawns on the night.
A minimum of their 2nd drive that quarter bridged into the fourth with a basket.
The refs: It wasnt a terribly officiated game. But the authorities blew a couple of important calls. A third-down pass disturbance on Joe Haden in the very first quarter was a joke. It kept a drive alive and permitted New York to throw a touchdown hand down the next play.
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Washington made a good play on it. But Giants protective back James Bradberry deftly ripped it away.
More Breakfast With Benz Stories
The two-minute drill: The Steelers offense was truly bad in the very first 28 minutes of the game.” We were able to pick up the tempo,” Roethlisberger said to ESPN after the video game. Cams hands: For as excellent as the Steelers defense was, it bent on a 19-play third-quarter drive by the Giants.
The Steelers won their season opener over the New York Giants 26-16. And Alex Highsmith got into the backfield as soon as at the end of the video game in his debut.
