Steelers vs. Bills Game Balls & Goats

Game Balls

Bryant

Goats

Where do I start?

Game Balls: no one

Goats: entire defense and Bryant

I would take 2-2 after the first four games (with a win against the Ravens) and be grateful

This team has a vibe like the 2006 and 2013 teams that were not ready for the season

Bryant looking like Randy Moss only ticks me off more about his ignorance in being unable to quit getting high

Will be betting the over in any Steelers game where it is not above 55

Goats:
Keith Butler. Your D is ugly bro. Ugly.
Jarvis Jones. B.U.S.T. Beat like a rag doll.
Secondary. Liked like Florida playing Troy State.

Shamarko Thomas is good in run support but I'm not sure if he has the smarts to play safety. I expected more since he's been in the system for a while, but he's looking like the 2nd coming of anthony smith.

And I thought the 3rd week of the preseason was supposed to be a tune-up game for the starting team? Our starting offense was in for 1 series though?

I know it's just preseason and I think our offense will be fine, but I haven't seen enough from the defense. If it looks like this in the regular season then it won't be a good one. Vanilla scheme or not, if EJ Manuel is torching your defense, you just plain flat out suck. Not just EJ Manuel, none of the bills qb's had more than 1 incomplete pass. let that sink in for a second, and it's not like the 49ers teams in the 90's where the starting qb was Joe Montana with Steve Young and Elvis Grbac backing him up. It's matt assell and a few other no names   I seriously hope it's everything to do with vanilla scheme.

Game Ball: Martavis Bryant's on field perfromance.

Goat: _efense. Martavis Bryant failing a drug test.

Yeah sadly that's kind of what the feeling I get right now from them on the defensive side.....they feel and look like the team that dicked around and lost to Oakland and then got obliterated by NE with 55 points dropped on them in 2013.

......and dear God is that Punt Coverage team slow....

Hopefully Antonio doesn't get hurt having to return kicks.

Maybe our offense is good enough to offset some of that....but we have guys going out on freak injuries like Suish,Pouncey and then dudes like Bryant and bell being suspended for their own off the field actions.


This team still has a lot of growing to do against a tough schedule to boot. I hope they realize how much sh** they need to improve on.

Game ball: No one. Bryant comes close except he has already screwed the pooch.

Goats: I honestly thought Butler learned enough from LeBeau that we would be OK and maybe improve. Landry Jones could beat us right now because he'd have all damn day to throw and not have to worry about any coverage. And hell just run the ball because we sure as hell can't tackle.
If this is a glimpse of our defense this is going to be a long season. I hope to God we're playing possum. I'm pretty sure we're not.
Let's see if I missed anything. Oh yeah, absolutely NO PASS RUSH. Why did we even make the trip when we coiuld of mailed this one in.
Our starters looked like backups and our backups looked like Pop Warner.

Berry is Digest Player of Week

Bob Labriola
Steelers.com



Jordan Berry averaged 50 yards per punt and filled in on kickoffs after Garrett Hartley was injured.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – It typically has been against the unwritten rules of picking a player of the week to select a punter, but based on most of the individual performances turned in by the Steelers in their 43-19 loss to the Bills here today when compared to what Jordan Berry did, well, as the saying goes, rules are made to be broken.

Berry, a rookie battling second-year pro Brad Wingfor the punting job, averaged 50 yards on his four punts, with one inside the 20-yard line, and he also filled in capably on kickoffs after Garrett Hartley left the game with a right hamstring injury. Berry’s punts traveled 55, 66, 34, and 78 yards. His 66-yarder came after back-to-back false start penalties on Jesse James and Doran Grant and came out of his own end zone. Also, his first kickoff was a touchback – aided by a 15-yard penalty on Buffalo – and his second kickoff was fielded 1-yard deep in the end zone.

Jordan Berry is the Steelers Digest Player of the Week.

Also considered were: DeAngelo Williams, who had three carries for 15 yards and the touchdown that was the first rushing touchdown for the Steelers this preseason, as well as one reception for 10 more yards; Mike Vick, who completed 4-of-5 passes for 106 yards; Arthur Moats, who had two tackles and a sack; and Martavis Bryant, who had three catches for 138 yards and a touchdown.

http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/Berry-is-Digest-Player-of-Week/5c9f67f7-2f26-4f1d-9d18-b276eb20d452

pretty shitty effort if your punter is the player of the week

For the first time in forever I had to shut off the game by the third quarter. The run defense is stout and we swarm to the ball, and fortunately our pass defense is non-existent and relies on a pass rush that just isn't there.

The best player on the field showed he was unstoppable and one of the premier forces in the league and will not be playing in the first four games.

Game ball goes to Mike Tomlin forgetting every one of our starters the hell out of there but unfortunately I don't think we'll have 22 starters finishing the first four games. Seems like everyone will be injured.

The goat is our kicker pulling a hamstring kicking off to the 15 yard line. Every other kicker in the league booms them out of the back of the end zone. Our kickers can't even get it into the end zone.

I am usually overly optimistic but this is the worst most disappointing game I have seen in a long time

Hartley is not the problem - when he was signed the consensus as better kickers would be available after final cuts

But that pass defense is frightful - combo platter of the panic signing of Cortez Allen to a long term deal and the Jarvis Jone pick in the first round creates real problems

sign kickalicious, come on! do it!!!

tony hipchest wrote:

For the first time in forever I had to shut off the game by the third quarter.  The run defense is stout and we swarm to the ball, and fortunately our pass defense is non-existent and relies on a pass rush that just isn't there.

The best player on the field showed he was unstoppable and one of the premier forces in the league and will not be playing in the first four games.

Game ball goes to Mike Tomlin forgetting every one of our starters the hell out of there but unfortunately I don't think we'll have 22 starters finishing the first four games. Seems like everyone will be injured.

The goat is our kicker pulling a hamstring kicking off to the 15 yard line. Every other kicker in the league booms them out of the back of the end zone. Our kickers can't even get it into the end zone.

I am usually overly optimistic but this is the worst most disappointing game I have seen in a long time

watching today's performance was difficult for even the most diehard of Steelers fans. when the other team's 4 shitty QBs playing without their top 4 WRs together go 30-33 for 386 yards, 3 TDs with no ints and a combined passer rating of 142.9 it really does make you want to shut the tv off...

Atlanta Dan wrote:

Hartley is not the problem - when he was signed the consensus as  better kickers would be available after final cuts

But that pass defense is frightful - combo platter of the panic signing of Cortez Allen to a long term deal and the Jarvis Jone pick in the first round  creates real problems

I haven't rewatched
or studied any of the preseason games. I can't. But I don't think our outside corner backs, the starting 2-3, have been all that bad.

Our zone defense is getting killed, especially underneath in the middle of the field.

Week 1 vs the Patriots* will be the same game plan they and the raiders used against us the first two weeks of 2002. 50 passes and 10 runs.

I would say Ben, brown, shazier, Timmins, and Harrison, all playing like Pro Bowlers is our only hope this season.

Hawaii 5-0 wrote:

tony hipchest wrote:

For the first time in forever I had to shut off the game by the third quarter.  The run defense is stout and we swarm to the ball, and fortunately our pass defense is non-existent and relies on a pass rush that just isn't there.

The best player on the field showed he was unstoppable and one of the premier forces in the league and will not be playing in the first four games.

Game ball goes to Mike Tomlin forgetting every one of our starters the hell out of there but unfortunately I don't think we'll have 22 starters finishing the first four games. Seems like everyone will be injured.

The goat is our kicker pulling a hamstring kicking off to the 15 yard line. Every other kicker in the league booms them out of the back of the end zone. Our kickers can't even get it into the end zone.

I am usually overly optimistic but this is the worst most disappointing game I have seen in a long time

watching today's performance was difficult for even the most diehard of Steelers fans. when the other team's 4 shitty QBs playing without their top 4 WRs together go 30-33 for 386 yards, 3 TDs with no ints and a combined passer rating of 142.9 it really does make you want to shut the tv off...

it makes me think zero coverage with 11 rushers is our best option this year just hoping the quarterback makes more than 3 bad throws.

tony hipchest wrote:

Atlanta Dan wrote:

Hartley is not the problem - when he was signed the consensus as  better kickers would be available after final cuts

But that pass defense is frightful - combo platter of the panic signing of Cortez Allen to a long term deal and the Jarvis Jone pick in the first round  creates real problems

I haven't rewatched
or studied any of the preseason games. I can't. But I don't think our outside corner backs, the starting 2-3, have been all that bad.

Our zone defense is getting killed,  especially underneath in the middle of the field.

Week 1 vs the Patriots** will be the same game plan they and the raiders used against us the first two weeks of 2002.  50 passes and 10 runs.

I would say Ben, brown, shazier,  Timmins, and Harrison, all playing like Pro Bowlers is our only hope this season.

Our corners are fine. Gay, Allen, Boykin, Blake will be enough. Timmons, Shazier, Moats, Harrison will be fine. Dupree looks like the real deal, but still needs half a season to be impactful IMO. Jarvis Jones was handled easily by fellow Bulldog Cordy Glenn. I still have hope, but its getting thinner. IMO, if Jones was a 5th round pick, he would be cut this year.

The real problem I am having is the Safety play. Shamarko and Mitchell are a big drop off of Troy and Ryan Clark. They are making Brent Alexander and Lee Flowers look like all time greats. The D-line playing 1 gap doesn't look good....I think they need to play an even front if they are going to 1 gap....otherwise, they should get back to 2gap 3 man front.

Its preseason and its about stopping the run and pressuring the passer. Both will have to come in the reg season.

tony hipchest wrote:

it makes me think zero coverage with 11 rushers is our best option this year just hoping the quarterback makes more than 3 bad throws.

I don't ever recall you being so whiny over a preseason game. If I had a tissue to give you I would.

Quote :

Tomlin spoke as blunt as ever after a preseason game, calling it “disturbing” and saying some of his young players looked like “walking dead.”

“We continue to be slow starters and that’s disturbing,” Tomlin said. “Some of our young guys we pushed through in this game quite frankly who are fighting for jobs are not executing enough details to be strongly in consideration, and that’s disappointing.

“Some of those guys quite frankly look as though they are walking dead.

“Some of that stuff was quite disturbing.”

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2015/08/29/Pittsburgh-Steelers-19-Buffalo-Bills-43/stories/201508290141

Steelers players looking like the walking dead? A case of life imitating art.

This is the preseason.  I really got the impression that Mike Tomlin just wanted to escape this game with no more big injuries and he did. It really looked like we were holding back and giving barely any effort and it seemed intentional. I do not read to much into this game. I think the steelers will be ready to play week one against the Patriots**.

Our pass defense looked absolutely horrible, thats the only thing that i think will carry over into the season, I mean it stunk, blown coverages all over the place.

Again, this is not a big deal and I think this team can compete for a superbowl this season. We know Bell is missing the fist 2 games. It looks like Bryant will be missing some time too. That leaves us still with the Ben - Brown connection. Wheaton is really coming along so I expect him to step up. Maybe Coates can fill in as a #3 receiver. Williams looks really good and I think will do a good job at filling in for bell.

Given the tough scheduel, if we can sneak into the playoffs at 10-6 or something like that I think we have as good of a chance as anyone at making a superbowl run. It does appear this is a team that may take until the final 1/3rd of the season to be clicking on all four cylinders but when that time comes the offense will be brutal and be able to put points up with any team in the NFL and thats a fact.

I'll try to be positive. DeAngelo Williams showed take he can take over the role of Bell for a couple of games. Cody Wallace did a good job at center.
Our D??? was a disaster. I hope and I expect that with Shazier, Tuitt and Timmons we at least can stop the run. OLB we still have Harrison and hopefully Dupree can already make a step forwards during the season as a pass rusher. The team will need it. Any news about his injury btw?
The CB's are mediocre at best, but at safety it was (and I'm afraid it will be during the season) an absolute nightmare. Shamarko Thomas was making plays all over the field if you're a Bills fan. Let's hope that with a healthy Mike Mitchell he will play better but I think that we've already found our next top priority in the draft next year.
Honestly with our schedule and our D I don't see us make the play-offs this year. Let's hope I'm totally wrong.

Game Ball: Me. Yeah that's right, me. Sounds arrogant, but hear me out. I missed the game and have no intention of watching the replay, so I'd say  I was the winner here.

Goats: The Pittsburgh Steelers (vote supplied via proxy of the entire fan base complaining the effort stunk).

Honestly, I'm not worried about the Bills game. It's sounds like it was a disaster with very little effort by the players wearing Black and Yellow. It's the 4th preseason game and I think their hearts weren't into another meaningless game. It's sad that the young guys weren't able to give it much effort, but that will reflect on their character when the cuts start to come.

After the Packers game, everyone thought they were seeing the makings of a pretty good season. This week it seems we're all starting to plan for the 2016 draft. Take all the good and bad from the past month, throw it out the damned window and strap it on for the regular season. And if they start off the season slow, just be patient and see if they turn it around ... because it seems Tomlin's teams usually start slow and finish well.