Game Balls and Goats (Steelers vs. Ravens)

Two straight wins and we downed the hated Ratbirds. I'm going to keep this one simple:

GAME BALLS

Offensive line. WHAT?? A Game Ball to the O-line? Yep. This was the best they've looked in a long time. Certainly not great, but by our standards, I'll take it.

Suisham. I have no problem admitting that I was wrong about him. I was one of his harshest critics, but I'm now becoming a fan.

Haley. Yep, I said it. Where the hell did the Wildcat come from? I didn't see it coming, and apparently, neither did the Ravens. He shook up the offense and put together a good game plan.

Bell. I'm really liking the rookie. Once the O-line gels, Bell is going to be a stud.

Ben. It wasn't a great game statistically, but he did all the right things to help the team win and didn't make any of the mistakes he's been making this year.

Gay. He came up big on two pass plays. The beer is clouding my memory, but I'm thinking he saved two touchdowns. One for sure.

GOATS

I really don't want to hand out any Goats after beating the Ravens, so I'll give two half-Goats ... one to A. Brown for dropping another TD pass and one to Heath for the fumble and dropped pass. I hate giving a Goat to Brown when he also makes a lot of great plays, but with an offense that has trouble scoring, he can't be dropping TD passes. And this might be the first Goat I've ever given to Miller. He sucks ... fire him now!!  

All things considered, it was a great win. We're 2-4 and still in the hunt. We still don't look great and there's still a lot of work to do, but things are starting to click.

Goats: Defense for giving up the late TD, Heath Miller for the fumble

Gamball: O-line, Ben, Moye for his great catch, Bell

Gameballs:
I didn't get to watch the game but it seems like I heard Vince Williams name at least 2 times so give him a ball. Heyward had a crucial sack. Bell averaged 4.8 YPC. Good job Oline.

Goats: Heath for the fumble.

Bell is living up to his reputation. He looked fantastic hitting holes when needed and being patient when needed. O line is coming together nicely even with Whimper in for that series. I have to think this has a lot to do with Velasco bolstering the line...

So you're saying there's a chance...

Game balls: Offensive line, Heyward, Bell, BR7, Gay, Haley for the shuttle pass and the wildcat. half: Moye for that great catch.
Goats: Heath. Half: Moye for dropping the TD pass. He could have really become a hero.

Can't give Heath a goat since he also scored the only TD. We lose without that TD. Can't have it both ways. Bell is a stud. Ben is doing better

Goats- Haley because his Red Zone play calling still sucks. We should have easily won by 2 TDs. All those field goals just do not cut it.

Gameball:
Bell - Just wait until this kid gets a little seasoning under his belt. He's the real deal. Not sure I've seen a rookie as patient as he was against the Ravens. And if you ever want to teach a young kid how to set up a block with your running style, just show him replays of half the runs Bell had. It won't be long before you hear the lineman, TEs and FB talk about how much fun it is to block for him. He makes those blockers look good.
Runner Ups:
Timmons - I know Troy gets the spotlight, but Timmons led the team in tackles. And his stop on 3 & 1 against a very big Vonta Leach was blue collar linebackin'.
DeCastro - Holy crap this guy is tough and he showed that motor that made him the top guard coming out of Stanford. Seems on every running play he continued to hit people until Tomlin yelled "HEEL MONGO!".

Goat:
Moye - Hard to give him the goat when he made a huge catch over the middle, but that drop in the endzone was tough to watch. Don't Sweed Me Bro!

Suisham deserves to be on the gameball list and I really like the guy. But it's hard to replace the guys that end up in the ice tubs at the end of the game with the kicker.

I know Miller had a big fumble and a drop that should have earned him a partial, if not full, goat. He gets a pass this time as a lifetime achievement award. He's still one of the tougher dudes on the field and has been clutch time and again. I'll look the other way when he makes a mistake, especially when the Steelers come away with a win against the Ravens.

lvsteelersfan wrote:

Goats- Haley because his Red Zone play calling still sucks. We should have easily won by 2 TDs. All those field goals just do not cut it.

I liked the trickery with Heath. That was a creative call. And we can't blame Haley for two dropped passes in the end zone. They would have given us our two-touchdown win.

kirklandrules wrote:

I know Miller had a big fumble and a drop that should have earned him a partial, if not full, goat. He gets a pass this time as a lifetime achievement award.

I didn't want to give him one either. But ya know ... the standard is the standard.