Steelers @ Patriots Gameday Thread

[CR91]

how is it that the patriots had two rookie olinemen start along with a backup center and brady still got his 10 second pocket? 

[jvan1973]

how is it that the patriots had two rookie olinemen start along with a backup center and brady still got his 10 second pocket?

3 rookie olineman

[amfootball]

how is it that the patriots had two rookie olinemen start along with a backup center and brady still got his 10 second pocket? 

They had their two draft picks from this year - Shaq Mason and Tre Jackson at guard. Bill said before the game that this line has more talent than last year just not the experience. But the two of them looked really good which is encouraging given all the issues at the beginning of last year. The center was not Bryan Stork who was a rookie last year as he is out on designated IR with a concussion. It was an undrafted rookie FA named David Andrews. Honestly, I know little about him but will be researching as he was solid all night.

[Gnutella0]

how is it that the patriots had two rookie olinemen start along with a backup center and brady still got his 10 second pocket? 

 

Poor performance by the Steelers defensive line. All the Pittsburgh sportswriters I've seen have put the defensive line on the "losers" list with Josh Scobee and Darrius Heyward-Bey. It was an awfully disappointing performance by them. The secondary looked lost, but the defensive line was simply beaten physically. I'm becoming skeptical that Steve McLendon should play NT; I think he'd be better off as a DE.

[CR91]

Poor performance by the Steelers defensive line. All the Pittsburgh sportswriters I've seen have put the defensive line on the "losers" list with Josh Scobee and Darrius Heyward-Bey. It was an awfully disappointing performance by them. The secondary looked lost, but the defensive line was simply beaten physically. I'm becoming skeptical that Steve McLendon should play NT; I think he'd be better off as a DE.

 

besides his end zone blunder, I thought dhb had a good game

[Gnutella0]

besides his end zone blunder, I thought dhb had a good game

 

Roethlisberger spent a lot of extra time with Darrius Heyward-Bey in the off-season to get him more involved in the passing game, and it showed the other night. That gaffe in the end zone was costly, though, because it took four points off the board. The Steelers had to settle for a FG on that drive.

 

If not for that and the two missed FG attempts, the score would have been 14-13 at halftime, instead of 14-3. In fact, those three screw-ups and the forced fumble that the Steelers defense failed to recover by the goal line effectively produced a 17-point swing in a game the Steelers lost by seven.

 

I'm getting a bit annoyed with how sloppy the Steelers look every September. Since 2011, the Steelers are 12-4 in October, 9-7 in November, and 13-5 in December/January (regular season only), but 5-10 in September. Even if you factor out their 0-4 debacle in 2013, they're still a mediocre 5-6 in September.