Recapping the Steelers' 27-10 victory over the Jets

This is a long one, so take a piss, grab a cup of coffee, whatever.

After becoming the first victims to feel the wrath of the rejuvenated Peyton Manning in week one, the Pittsburgh Steelers were looking to turn the tide in their week 2 home opening matchup. Meanwhile, the New York Jets were looking to prove that their 48 point week one performance was not a fluke.

Just before the start of their game, the New England Patriots* fell in their home opener, which then gave the Steelers the longest active win streak in home openers, and they made good on the opportunity to extend that lead as they picked apart the New York Jets to the tune of 27-10.

The key storyline leading up to the game, of course, was about who would not be playing for both sides, as a handful of All-Pro caliber individuals sat and watched the game from a distance. For the Steelers, it was linebacker James Harrison and safety Troy Polamalu. Both had previously been named NFL Defensive Player of the Year, in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

For the Jets, however, they were forced to make do without the services of cornerback Darrelle Revis, who some would say is the best defensive player in the game at the moment. He suffered a concussion at the end of the Jets’ victory last week. Also sitting out were linebacker Bryan Thomas and tight end Dustin Keller.

Despite the injuries, however, both teams were able to field enough healthy bodies to have a football game, and thus one was had. The Steelers began with the football and, much like last week, began to struggle in the running game immediately and resorting on the play of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to keep things going.

On the first play, he hit wide receiver Antonio Brown for 8 yards, and then running back Isaac Redman was knocked back for a 7 yard loss with nowhere to go on the run.

Yet on 3rd and 9, it was Roethlisberger again finding Brown, who got just enough for the first down. Eventually, the Steelers got the ball down to the Jets’ 19 yard line, but another run for a loss, followed by a McIntyre sack, forced them to settle for an opening drive field goal.

The Jets, meanwhile, seemed to pick up right about where they left off from their week one 48 point performance, taking their own opening drive 90 yards for the touchdown.

Former Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes was big on the drive, converting a 3rd and 9 at the 11, then drawing a pass interference call against cornerback Ike Taylor. Finally, quarterback Mark Sanchez found him wide open for 14 yards and the score.

Taylor had outside coverage on the play, and safety Ryan Clark was supposed to have contain inside, but failed to cover his area, leaving Holmes with the equivalent of an easy layup.

Recapping the Steelers' 27-10 victory over the Jets (Continue Reading)

Good recap as always, Dodens.

Here's the big thing I took away from the game:

Quote :

Perhaps most telling, however, was Ben Roethlisberger’s ability to control the game, which kept the Jets defense on the field for 36 minutes and 36 seconds, leaving Sanchez and company just over 23 minutes on offense all game.

I plan on bringing this subject up in the next few days, but I'll touch on it now. Last season, there were eight games where the Steelers had the lead and the ball with about 5 minutes left in the game. All eight times, the Steelers offense failed to run out the clock or score more points to put the game away. Sunday was the first time in a long time that the offense delivered the knockout punch rather than putting the defense in the position of having to win the game. Not only did Ben and the offense run more than 10 minutes off the clock on a fourth-quarter drive, they also scored a touchdown on the drive. That's how you win football games.

Wallace108 wrote:

Good recap as always, Dodens.

Here's the big thing I took away from the game:

Quote :

Perhaps most telling, however, was Ben Roethlisberger’s ability to control the game, which kept the Jets defense on the field for 36 minutes and 36 seconds, leaving Sanchez and company just over 23 minutes on offense all game.

I plan on bringing this subject up in the next few days, but I'll touch on it now. Last season, there were eight games where the Steelers had the lead and the ball with about 5 minutes left in the game. All eight times, the Steelers offense failed to run out the clock or score more points to put the game away. Sunday was the first time in a long time that the offense delivered the knockout punch rather than putting the defense in the position of having to win the game. Not only did Ben and the offense run more than 10 minutes off the clock on a fourth-quarter drive, they also scored a touchdown on the drive. That's how you be great.

Fixed!

It seems the more adversity that is placed in front of this team, the more they unite, the more they unite, the more dangerous they become.

Wallace108 wrote:

Good recap as always, Dodens.

Here's the big thing I took away from the game:

Quote :

Perhaps most telling, however, was Ben Roethlisberger’s ability to control the game, which kept the Jets defense on the field for 36 minutes and 36 seconds, leaving Sanchez and company just over 23 minutes on offense all game.

I plan on bringing this subject up in the next few days, but I'll touch on it now. Last season, there were eight games where the Steelers had the lead and the ball with about 5 minutes left in the game. All eight times, the Steelers offense failed to run out the clock or score more points to put the game away. Sunday was the first time in a long time that the offense delivered the knockout punch rather than putting the defense in the position of having to win the game. Not only did Ben and the offense run more than 10 minutes off the clock on a fourth-quarter drive, they also scored a touchdown on the drive. That's how you win football games.

whats really encouraging to me is that they did the same thing last week. we had a couple of long drives in that game that ate up a lot of time. difference being the int. this is just getting started i imagine by mid season we will be an offensive machine.

I'm just waiting for the offensive line to gel so the ground game can get going. The guard play in particular has been suffering, and Starks doesn't hold his blocks when they run left. Adams would be a notable upgrade in the running game, but he'd be a setback in the passing game at this point still I would imagine. Ed Bouchette noted in his chat today that DeCastro doesn't necessarily look like he'll be ready to go week 9 either.