Any AFC North win is a great and it is even better win you get them on the road. I recapped the Steelers 24-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals last night and now have had time to go back over the game a few more times as I do every week and below are more of my in-depth observations from the game. The Steelers won the toss and decided to defer once again. The Steelers defense answered the bell this time and William Gay clearly had put the Ravens game behind him quickly by defending two passes on the first two Bengals drives. This of course would not be the only impact Gay would make in the game. Right Read more [...]

Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall showed some good balance and hard inside running on his second touchdown of the day that ended up being the game winner against the Cincinnati Bengals. The play in question that I broke down below was on 1st and goal from the Bengals 9 yard-line with just over 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The play is one of the numerous counter pike runs that the Steelers run. Below is a 10 picture breakdown of the play. You can see the full video replay here. Read more [...]

The offensive line breakdown report from the Sunday night game against the Baltimore Ravens is now complete and I had to even do this twice because of the tremendous grades that I gave the first time through. This was by far the best the offensive line has played as a unit all season and the best against the Ravens in some time. All 5 starters scored in the 90% range and that is just unheard of. The sack allowed on 3rd down however in the redzone can't be ignored though as it was a huge play in the game and the Steelers had to settle for a field goal because of it. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger Read more [...]

The Steelers 2011 bye week is right around the corner in week 11 and what a welcomed sight it will be. Every team goes through injuries and the Steelers certainly have had their share of them this year with the lines and linebacker position taking the hardest hits thus far. As the Steelers head into their week 10 against the Bengals, they will likely do so without their sack leader LaMarr Woodley. Tomlin tried to paint an optimistic picture today during his press conference, but I do not see Woodley returning until after the bye with the bad hamstring injury. I suggested just after the injury Read more [...]

As I do every week, here are more of my observations from the Steelers loss to the Baltimore Ravens last night after going back through the game now. I will have much, more content from this game later on today. I mentioned it before and certainly understand the reasoning why Mike Tomlin defers when he wins the toss, but I still do not like it. It is not like the defense needs a boost of confidence. I would rather see the offense get lathered up first to start the game. The game looked like it was going to get off to a similar start as week 1, only worse, as Ray Rice went 76 yards for a touchdown. Read more [...]

The offensive line breakdown from the week 8 game against the New England Patriots is now complete and what a great performance it was overall by the unit. This was the first time this year that the Steelers started the same group from a the previous week as they had been forced to start a different combination every week for the first 7 games of the season due to injuries. Overall, the Steelers had all 5 starting linemen in the 80% or higher range this week and 3 of the 5 starters over 88%. That is always a good sign. They were certainly helped in pass protection by the huge amount of short Read more [...]

I have gone back through the Steelers game against the New England Patriots now a few times and jotted down some more observations that I did not include in the post game recap. I do this every week as it is impossible to see everything just one or two times through a game. Many will judge off of a stat sheet and it is what sets this site apart from the rest as we actually watch the games more than just one time. Here we go. The Patriots were so protective against the long ball early on that is opened up the middle of the field for Heath Miller and Ben Roethlisberger took it. The Steelers Read more [...]

Four players have already been ruled out on Friday for the game against the New England Patriots and it is not looking good for Hines Ward or James Farrior this week either. Let's have a look at the injured players and predict the other inactives this week. The official inactive list are released 90 minutes before kick-off and I will have them up on the site as soon as they are announced. G Doug Legursky - Legursky will be down yet another week with his dislocated toe suffered against the Jaguars a few weeks back. There is still no real time table on his return, but best guess right now is that Read more [...]

Mark Kaboly is reporting via Twitter that Steelers defensive end Ziggy Hood has been fined $7,500 for an infraction against the Arizona Cardinals this past week. Hood is being fined for illegal hands to face/facemask and he makes the second Steelers player fined this week as left guard Chris Kemoeatu was fined $15,000 for 2 infractions against the Cardinals. One was for a late hit and the other was for a facemask, illegal hands to the face penalty as well. The Steelers fines now equal $127,500 this year and that includes preseason in addition. Read more [...]

Teresa Varley of Steelers.com recently sat down with the always entertaining Ike Taylor in latest edition of the Steelers Speak. Taylor talks about the upcoming Patriots game. Ken Laird has the transcripts up from the Thursday Bruce Arians and Dick LeBeau media session that is worth a read. 93.7 The Fan has some great interviews up with defensive end Brett Keisel, guard Chris Kemoeatu and center Maurkice Pouncey. Keisel talked a little about his new salsa, Kemoeatu talks about being fined for actions in the Cardinals game and Pouncey talks on several topics. Tim Benz caught up with Emmanuel Read more [...]

My offensive line breakdown from the week 7 game against the Arizona Cardinals is complete and I was fooled a bit from my initial views. I stated earlier that I thought it was a roller coaster type performance, but after going through it thoroughly, I found a pretty consistent showing. I think the play of Chris Kemoeatu made it seem like the line was worse than what it actually was. While I thought the run blocking was adequate, there were not huge holes or big creases as the Cardinals did a great job of avoiding second level traffic and did a good job loading the box to outnumber interior blockers. Read more [...]

Steelers left guard Chris Kemoeatu said today that he has been fined $25,000 for two personal foul penalties against the Cardinals this past Sunday. One was an illegal hands to facemask $10,000 fine and the second was $15,000 for a late hit. Both of those incidents came on the Steelers second possession this past week and extremely hurt the drive. Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday that he planned to encourage Kemoeatu that those types of penalties must stop. Four Steelers lineman have now been fined this year dating back to the preseason as Maurkice Pouncey, Doug Legursky and Ramon Foster have Read more [...]

Voting is now open for the 2012 Pro Bowl game that will be played Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii. The Steelers have several players you can vote for per the usual and here is the rundown of the players that can ve voted for on offense, defense and special teams. You can vote here. Steelers Offense: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger - After a rough start against the Ravens he has really come on strong the last few weeks. Running Back Rashard Mendenhall - Certainly not the best start and he missed a game due to a hamstring injury. Fullback David Johnson - Plays both tight Read more [...]

I have gone back through the game to do my initial breakdown and start some charting. Here are my expanded observations not mentioned in the game recap of the Steelers week 7 win over the Arizona Cardinals. What can you say about Mike Wallace that has not already been said and seen on tape? It amazes me how teams continue to give him free releases and fail to bracket over the top with a safety at times. The long touchdown Sunday was classic miscommunication it seemed and blown assignments mixed with Richard Marshall biting on play action. The Cardinals should have taken a timeout there as it Read more [...]

Last week there was no real guessing who the inactives would be with 7 players ruled out on the injury report. Against the Arizona Cardinals this week there is only a tad bit of guessing that needs to be done with 3 players ruled out on the Friday injury report and 1 being doubtful. Let's have a look at the injured players and predict the other inactives this week. The official inactive list are released 90 minutes before kick-off and I will have them up on the site as soon as they are announced. G Doug Legursky - Legursky suffered a dislocated toe last week early on against the Jaguars and Read more [...]