Almost 30 on offense; held 'em to 9 on defense ... are we living up to potential?

[NorthCoast]

We beat a struggling Rats team that's depleted to the tune of 17 players missing. We left them back in the game, albeit breifly. The second half offense looked clueless. This is a team that lost 44-7 to the Jags. Rats = Cleveland right now. Yay....

All of this is true. But, the Steelers did avoid dreaded history repeating itself in BAL. Could end up being a defining turning point in the season.

[NJ-STEELER]

AB didn't give it away...the refs gave it to them...

he never completed the catch

[Slapstick]

he never completed the catch

Again, I believe that to be an erroneous ruling. I understand that, to some, tucking the ball and taking two steps before being knocked to the ground can be interpreted as "not completing the catch"...one of those people made the ruling yesterday...but, I think it's wrong. Completed pass, "football move" (totally arbitrary), down by contact.

[flippy]

There's still a lot to work on a quarter into the season. Too many penalties. Too many missed tackles. A QB that seems to be out of sync and off on a lot of his passes. An OLine that needs to play together. Etc. We've talked about them all.

We need to stop calling running plays on 2 and long. Especially in and around the RZ. Haley is not surprising anyone. If I can sit on my couch and pretty much know what play is coming 95% of the time, I'm guessing our opponents who get paid to notice our tendencies know what's coming 100% of the time.

Clearly our strength on D is turning out to be our pass rush and pass defense. Let's help them out with our O putting up some points to assist the D. Let's get leads and force teams to pass which will force mistakes and lead to more point which should be a vicious cycle for our opponents.

As it stands now, our D has to do everything. If we're going to have a chance at a SuperBowl, it's not going to be because of our QB and offensive weapons. Looks like a lot of wasted dollars on that side of the ball right now. So the D needs to step up and consistently tackle. If we can do this, no reason we can't be a top 5 D and compete for the Lombardi. We've got to carry a game managing QB and hope he doesn't make mistakes that cost us. However, if our QB gets his heart back into the game and on the same page with his OC, maybe this offense can do something. With as much talent as we have on O and a guy at QB that many would call a HOFer, it's inexcusable that we can't put 30+ on the board with all these weapons.

The only thing Ben is doing at this point is proving that he might not be as good as we give him credit for being.

[feltdizz]

There's still a lot to work on a quarter into the season. Too many penalties. Too many missed tackles. A QB that seems to be out of sync and off on a lot of his passes. An OLine that needs to play together. Etc. We've talked about them all.

We need to stop calling running plays on 2 and long. Especially in and around the RZ. Haley is not surprising anyone. If I can sit on my couch and pretty much know what play is coming 95% of the time, I'm guessing our opponents who get paid to notice our tendencies know what's coming 100% of the time.

Clearly our strength on D is turning out to be our pass rush and pass defense. Let's help them out with our O putting up some points to assist the D. Let's get leads and force teams to pass which will force mistakes and lead to more point which should be a vicious cycle for our opponents.

As it stands now, our D has to do everything. If we're going to have a chance at a SuperBowl, it's not going to be because of our QB and offensive weapons. Looks like a lot of wasted dollars on that side of the ball right now. So the D needs to step up and consistently tackle. If we can do this, no reason we can't be a top 5 D and compete for the Lombardi. We've got to carry a game managing QB and hope he doesn't make mistakes that cost us. However, if our QB gets his heart back into the game and on the same page with his OC, maybe this offense can do something. With as much talent as we have on O and a guy at QB that many would call a HOFer, it's inexcusable that we can't put 30+ on the board with all these weapons.

The only thing Ben is doing at this point is proving that he might not be as good as we give him credit for being.

dude, it's 4 games into the season.

I think this season is once again proving that the NFL is all about parity.

As far as Ben is concerned. He has been consistently inconsistent for most of his career.

[williar]

There's still a lot to work on a quarter into the season. Too many penalties. Too many missed tackles. A QB that seems to be out of sync and off on a lot of his passes. An OLine that needs to play together. Etc. We've talked about them all.

We need to stop calling running plays on 2 and long. Especially in and around the RZ. Haley is not surprising anyone. If I can sit on my couch and pretty much know what play is coming 95% of the time, I'm guessing our opponents who get paid to notice our tendencies know what's coming 100% of the time.

Clearly our strength on D is turning out to be our pass rush and pass defense. Let's help them out with our O putting up some points to assist the D. Let's get leads and force teams to pass which will force mistakes and lead to more point which should be a vicious cycle for our opponents.

As it stands now, our D has to do everything. If we're going to have a chance at a SuperBowl, it's not going to be because of our QB and offensive weapons. Looks like a lot of wasted dollars on that side of the ball right now. So the D needs to step up and consistently tackle. If we can do this, no reason we can't be a top 5 D and compete for the Lombardi. We've got to carry a game managing QB and hope he doesn't make mistakes that cost us. However, if our QB gets his heart back into the game and on the same page with his OC, maybe this offense can do something. With as much talent as we have on O and a guy at QB that many would call a HOFer, it's inexcusable that we can't put 30+ on the board with all these weapons.

The only thing Ben is doing at this point is proving that he might not be as good as we give him credit for being.

I agree. Watching these game is like watching an old movie. The only time this team seems up for the challenge is when the defense comes to play! The offense never offers anything in terms of establishing the momentum. And watching Ben run an offense is like watching a Chinese fire drill. It's hard to believe that a QB in his 14th season still looks totally overwhelmed on the field so many times. It's going to be the same old story as we hold our breath to the very end hoping the defense can hold the other team one more time.

As far as AB is concerned - good for him. He's out there busting his behind, earning his money, trying to make plays. He's got more heart than every player on this team, put together. Who only knows how many times he's been wide open and didn't get the ball. Watch NFL Playbook, they will show you. As far as showing up Ben, who cares! He deserves it! Ben throws everybody under the bus at his convenience. It's good for the goose, good for the gander......

[RuthlessBurgher]

We beat a struggling Rats team that's depleted to the tune of 17 players missing. We left them back in the game, albeit breifly. The second half offense looked clueless. This is a team that lost 44-7 to the Jags. Rats = Cleveland right now. Yay....

Well, if Baltimore is indeed a scrub team, Tomlin's narrative says that he is supposed to lose to scrub teams on the road. But we didn't. We won by 17 points.

Baltimore is the primary competition within our division this year (they beat the other two teams in our division in weeks 1 & 2 by a combined score of 44-10), and we went into their house, where we haven't won since 2012, and spanked them. Enjoy it.

[Oviedo]

Well, if Baltimore is indeed a scrub team, Tomlin's narrative says that he is supposed to lose to scrub teams on the road. But we didn't. We won by 17 points.

Baltimore is the primary competition within our division this year (they beat the other two teams in our division in weeks 1 & 2 by a combined score of 44-10), and we went into their house, where we haven't won since 2012, and spanked them. Enjoy it.

Just a couple of weeks ago, one of the "glass half empty" crowd identified playing Baltimore as a game determining "how good we really are." I guess since we easily won yesterday those goalposts need to move now to keep the "half empty" narrative rolling

[williar]

Just a couple of weeks ago, one of the "glass half empty" crowd identified playing Baltimore as a game determining "how good we really are." I guess since we easily won yesterday those goalposts need to move now to keep the "half empty" narrative rolling

We are a good team. Baltimore always has a tough defense and we haven't won in that stadium for quite some time. So it is/was a barometer to where we are as a team. Just imagine how good we can be if the offense could ever set the tone for the defense, instead of it always being the other way around.

[phillyesq]

I'm happy with the win but want to see the team improve. Is that allowed, or do I have to completely choose one side or another?

That was unquestionably a big win. The Steelers now lead the division and are among the conference leaders.

But there were concerns. Ben's deep ball has been terrible - he missed MB, who was wide open. And it wasn't really close. The run D got gashed for 2 more big runs. The D was helped tremendously by a drop and an overthrow.

I'm glad that the Steelers are where they are, but they need to keep improving if they want to make a deep postseason run.

[RuthlessBurgher]

I'm happy with the win but want to see the team improve. Is that allowed, or do I have to completely choose one side or another?

That was unquestionably a big win. The Steelers now lead the division and are among the conference leaders.

But there were concerns. Ben's deep ball has been terrible - he missed MB, who was wide open. And it wasn't really close. The run D got gashed for 2 more big runs. The D was helped tremendously by a drop and an overthrow.

I'm glad that the Steelers are where they are, but they need to keep improving if they want to make a deep postseason run.

You don't want to be peak as a team in September, and we certainly have not been anywhere close to that. We haven't played anywhere close to our best football yet, but are still 3-1 at the quarter pole. Room for improvement, certainly, but a good place to be nonetheless.

[Oviedo]

You don't want to be peak as a team in September, and we certainly have not been anywhere close to that. We haven't played anywhere close to our best football yet, but are still 3-1 at the quarter pole. Room for improvement, certainly, but a good place to be nonetheless.

That glass is definitely "half full" to anyone who wants to see it.

I'll add that we have no significant injuries that we are worrying about.

[feltdizz]

I'm happy with the win but want to see the team improve. Is that allowed, or do I have to completely choose one side or another?

That was unquestionably a big win. The Steelers now lead the division and are among the conference leaders.

But there were concerns. Ben's deep ball has been terrible - he missed MB, who was wide open. And it wasn't really close. The run D got gashed for 2 more big runs. The D was helped tremendously by a drop and an overthrow.

I'm glad that the Steelers are where they are, but they need to keep improving if they want to make a deep postseason run.

we keep improving with each win IMO. We were gashed by Chicago and then held the next team under 100. A team we usually have trouble with on the road.

and Wallace dropped that pass because that's part of his MO. Can't really say we were helped because drops and overthrows happen in every game.

[Slapstick]

we keep improving with each win IMO. We were gashed by Chicago and then held the next team under 100. A team we usually have trouble with on the road.

and Wallace dropped that pass because that's part of his MO. Can't really say we were helped because drops and overthrows happen in every game.

Yup. Da Bears were "helped" significantly when MB dropped a certain TD...

[Shawn]

When we beat a decent team, I'll let you know.