The Pittsburgh Steelers took care of the St. Louis Rams today at Heinz Field, but only received some possible future help in week 16 from the Indianapolis Colts Thursday night as they knocked off the Houston Texans with a last second touchdown. Heading into today, the Steelers needed to beat the Rams and hope that the Cleveland Browns could some how knock off the Baltimore Ravens to take the lead in the AFC North division. The Ravens held a 20-0 lead over the Browns, but let them back into the game in the 4th quarter. The Browns closed within 6 points with 8:30 left in the game, but they could Read more [...]

The Indianapolis Colts may have given the Pittsburgh Steelers an early Christmas present tonight as they knocked off the Houston Texans 19-16 in the closing seconds of Thursday night football. The Colts trailed the entire game until Colts quarterback Dan Orlovsky hit wide receiver Reggie Wayne for a 1 yard touchdown with 19 seconds left in the game to give the Colts the improbable win. The loss by the Texans drops them to 10-5 on the season and it could cost them a first round bye in the playoffs as well. The Steelers could benefit from the Texans loss should they run the table against the St. Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers head into their Monday night game against the San Francisco 49ers knowing that they now control their own destiny in regards to the number one seed in the AFC and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The chance to control their own destiny comes after the Baltimore Ravens lost tonight 34-14 on the road to the San Diego Chargers, and that loss now drops them to 10-4 on the season. That loss combined with the Houston Texans loss earlier in the day against the Carolina Panthers now means that the Steelers could have a full game lead on both teams if they can take care Read more [...]

The New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens both clinched spots in the 2011 playoffs this evening as the Patriots beat the Denver Broncos 41-23 in Denver to clinch the AFC East, and the Ravens clinched a playoff spot in addition. There were several scenarios that could have helped the Ravens today and they had their pick of them to choose from as the Broncos, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders and Tennessee Titans all lost today. Heading into the weekend only the Houston Texans had clinched a playoff spot on the AFC side and they were joined by the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier in the day as Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers have clinched a spot in the 2011 NFL playoffs thanks to the Indianapolis Colts getting their first win of the season at home against the Tennessee Titans 27-13. The Steelers came into the week with multiple scenarios in place that would have allowed them to clinch a playoff spot. Those scenarios included either them winning Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers, or by the Titans, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders or New York Jets losing today, or a tie by either the Titans or Raiders. The Titans loss did the trick. The Steelers chances at getting the number 1 seed, Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers can clinch a playoff spot today following their 14-3 win Thursday night over the Cleveland Browns with some help from a few other teams today. Below are the 3 scenarios that need to happen that I posted last week. Scenario 1: The Bengals, the Jets and the Titans all must lose. Scenario 2: The Bengals, the Titans, the Raiders and the Broncos all must lose. Scenario 3: The Bengals, the Jets, the Raiders and the Broncos all must lose. Scenario number two is the most likeliest to happen today, but let's look at all the key games today. Houston Texans at Cincinnati Read more [...]

After week 4 the Steelers are -10 in the turnover differential stat and have only 1 takeaway thus far. That takeaway of course was the sack fumble in week 3 against the Colts caused by linebacker James Harrison. Safety Troy Polamalu scooped it up and returned it for a touchdown. The Steelers defense is currently the only team in the league without an interception. On the giveaway side they have lost 6 fumbles, a league high, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has already been intercepted 5 times. Roethlisberger only threw 5 regular season interceptions all of last season. He is also responsible Read more [...]

Steelers left tackle Jonathan Scott did not have a good game against the Colts Sunday night, but he is off the hook for the second quarter strip-sack by Dwight Freeney that ended in a Colts defensive touchdown. Scott actually did his job on the play as he was run blocking and let Freeney go up the field. The sack instead goes squarely on the shoulders of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as he has the option to quick pass on the play if he sees a corner playing off and the safeties deep in cover 2. The key is that he has to get the ball out very quickly in a 3 step drop to avoid an ineligible player Read more [...]

Perhaps the funniest play from the Steelers 23-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night was the ass block on Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney by Steelers left tackle Jonathan Scott. The play best illustrates the type of night that Scott had trying to handle Freeney. On this play Freeney spins and Scott spins with him and tries to block him with his butt. Freeney then just shoves Scott into quarterback Ben Roethlisberger nearly knocking him to the ground. Please give the animated gif time to load below: Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 22 of The Terrible Podcast is up and David Todd and I try to put the Steelers 23-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts in perspective. The Patriots lost to the Bills, the Jets lost to the Raiders and the Chargers beat the Chiefs by four at home. While things weren't perfect in Indianapolis, the Steelers still got the W. From there we get to the injury report and it's a bit longer than we've seen so far this season. Mike Tomlin didn't have a lot of answers at his Tuesday press conference, but we share our thoughts on how things might play out on the offensive line and some other Read more [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Steelers week 3 night game versus the Indianapolis Colts this past Sunday. Not too many things stick out this week. As I mentioned on a previous podcast I did not think that rookie Cameron Heyward would see an increase in snaps this week and he didn't. Heyward only saw 8 non-penalty snaps. Also Steve McLendon did not sniff the field at all on defense. James Farrior and Larry Foote continue to swap out with Farrior receiving two thirds of the playing time. There was a Cortez Allen sighting this week early in the second half. I mentioned this Read more [...]

Below is the offensive line report and breakdown for the Steelers week 3 Sunday night game against the Indianapolis Colts. As I always this grading is done on a play-by-play basis and a good or bad is given on every play. I always caution that it is impossible to know what the assignment on every play is, but I take what the tape gives me to make the best educated guesses as to what they are. This week the run game struggled, but the skill positions were just as guilty as the offensive line was. There were also quite a few times when there were good running lanes open inside and running back Rashard Read more [...]

Below are the offensive personnel packages, play counts and participation chart for the Steelers week 3 win against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night. The first thing of note this week is that the Steelers used two tight ends or more on 27 of the 68 non-penalty plays this past week. We also saw the 2 personnel group this week for the first time that featured 3 wide receivers and two tight ends on the field in the form of Heath Miller and Wesyle Saunders. I am curious if this will be used more going forward. The 11 personnel grouping was used on nearly half of the offensive plays this week. As Read more [...]

I posted a few thoughts in my post game recap of the Steelers 23-20 win last night against the Indianapolis Colts and after going back through the game a few times now, here are several more observations of the game. Antonio Brown is a special player that continues to make plays not only in the passing game, but the return game as well. He will miss an occasional adjustment or hot read, but more than makes up for it every game. Emmanuel Sanders had a rough game and the early drop could have turned 3 points into 7. His failure to tag down Joe Lefeged after the interception also turned into Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 21 of The Terrible Podcast is up and David Todd and I recap the Sunday night game. A win is a win is a win, but not always in the eyes of Steelers Nation. We get right to the Steelers 23-20 Sunday night win over the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts. We open with the early injury report coming out of the game. While a bunch of guys got dinged up, it appears that the ankle injury of Jonathan Scott may be the only one that costs playing time. We also review the active/inactive decisions and discuss the longer-term outlook for guys like Bryant McFadden and Jerricho Cotchery, Read more [...]