Game Balls and Goats (Steelers vs Rams)

After another exciting win, who would you give a game ball? And who's a goat?

Gameball

Fitz
Dupree
TJ
Cam
Hayden
Hell pretty much the entire D play great.
Washington
Mason I couldn't watch but from what I was hearing at least 5 of his throws should have been caught.

Goats
Pouncey for the bad snap.
Even though there were some dropped balls that should have been caught I can't bring myself to give any WR a goat.

Game Balls:

Mason Rudolph: For me this was his best game of the season. I criticised him for not being accurate enough in our previous games, but this time he often put the ball in the right spot. Of course he made some small mistakes, but you can expect that with a young QB. He had 2 great drives, one that lead to a much needed TD to tie the game and another important 8 minute drive at the end.

Minkah Fitzpatrick: Thank you Miami! One of our two all-pro's imo, making an impact in every game and now leading the league in interceptions and that in only 7 games he played for us.

TJ Watt: Our other all-pro. Just like Minkah he keeps making plays every game as he absolutaly terrorises the QB time after time. In a league with some stud pass rushers, he's one of the best.

Joe Haden: His best performance of the season. Some great coverage plays, an interception and a tipped ball that lead to the Fitzpatrick interception.

Mike Tomlin: I'm not his biggest fan, but a good challenge, a gutsy call on 4th and 1 (the relief on his face was hilarious ), and outcoaching Sean McVay who had an extra week to prepare for this game as the Rams had a bye last week. We were prepared for everything McVay threw at us, including Hekker's fake punts. Cooper Kupp who had an average of 7 catches and 99 yards was hold to 0.

The refs: We have to be honest, we were lucky with some calls. Washington's TD was ticky tack. Had they had called it the other way on the field, they wouldn't have overturned it either. Goff's fumble returned by Fitzpatrick for a TD was a horrible call. If that would've happened to us, we all would be furious. And then there was the non-called Haden pass interference on 4th down in the endzone that also could've gone the other way.

Goats:

Maurkice Pouncey: This season he's the worst center in the NFL and that's not an exaggeration. He's the single reason this was a game after his awful high snap. After that, he had a couple of low snaps and was lucky that Rudolph's awareness prevented some fumbles.

Ryan Switzer: When you catch the ball on the six-yard line, you need to run forward when you have some room and not sideway to sideway to ultimately lose a yard. One of the reasons the Rams got a safety. I've never seen him break a tackle and he has 0 impact as a WR.

Some other thoughts:

Washington played a good game, but doesn't get a gameball because of his fumble. Our young offensive skill players really need to protect their ball better. So far we have seen lost fumbles from Juju, Johnson, Washington, Conner and Samuels. We also have seen drops from all players, so we also need to do a better job there. No goats though as those same players also often help Rudolph out by making contested catches and getting some hard fought first downs, especially Johnson. Juju needs to step up his game though, of all these players he's the one who shouldn't drop balls.

No game ball / goat for Fichtner. I thought that he overall called a good game against a good defense, but it's the second time that we allowed a safety. With a first down on our own five, he should have run the ball, especially when you're playing against Donald and Matthews and with Wade Phillips as DC who's still one of the best.

I really enjoy watching this team, no matter if we lose or win. They play some hard football and are overperforming right now. Long time since I could say that!

game ball, defense.

I enjoy watching this defense play now. offense, a work in progress getting better each week

Stella Nation wrote:

Game Balls:

Mason Rudolph: For me this was his best game of the season. I criticised him for not being accurate enough in our previous games, but this time he often put the ball in the right spot. Of course he made some small mistakes, but you can expect that with a young QB. He had 2 great drives, one that lead to a much needed TD to tie the game and another important 8 minute drive at the end.

Minkah Fitzpatrick: Thank you Miami! One of our two all-pro's imo, making an impact in every game and now leading the league in interceptions and that in only 7 games he played for us.

TJ Watt: Our other all-pro. Just like Minkah he keeps making plays every game as he absolutaly terrorises the QB time after time. In a league with some stud pass rushers, he's one of the best.

Joe Haden: His best performance of the season. Some great coverage plays, an interception and a tipped ball that lead to the Fitzpatrick interception.

Mike Tomlin: I'm not his biggest fan, but a good challenge, a gutsy call on 4th and 1 (the relief on his face was hilarious ), and outcoaching Sean McVay who had an extra week to prepare for this game as the Rams had a bye last week. We were prepared for everything McVay threw at us, including Hekker's fake punts. Cooper Kupp who had an average of 7 catches and 99 yards was hold to 0.

The refs: We have to be honest, we were lucky with some calls. Washington's TD was ticky tack. Had they had called it the other way on the field, they wouldn't have overturned it either. Goff's fumble returned by Fitzpatrick for a TD was a horrible call. If that would've happened to us, we all would be furious. And then there was the non-called Haden pass interference on 4th down in the endzone that also could've gone the other way.

Goats:

Maurkice Pouncey: This season he's the worst center in the NFL and that's not an exaggeration. He's the single reason this was a game after his awful high snap. After that, he had a couple of low snaps and was lucky that Rudolph's awareness prevented some fumbles.

Ryan Switzer: When you catch the ball on the six-yard line, you need to run forward when you have some room and not sideway to sideway to ultimately lose a yard. One of the reasons the Rams got a safety. I've never seen him break a tackle and he has 0 impact as a WR.

Some other thoughts:

Washington played a good game, but doesn't get a gameball because of his fumble. Our young offensive skill players really need to protect their ball better. So far we have seen lost fumbles from Juju, Johnson, Washington, Conner and Samuels. We also have seen drops from all players, so we also need to do a better job there. No goats though as those same players also often help Rudolph out by making contested catches and getting some hard fought first downs, especially Johnson. Juju needs to step up his game though, of all these players he's the one who shouldn't drop balls.

No game ball / goat for Fichtner. I thought that he overall called a good game against a good defense, but it's the second time that we allowed a safety. With a first down on our own five, he should have run the ball, especially when you're playing against Donald and Matthews and with Wade Phillips as DC who's still one of the best.

I really enjoy watching this team, no matter if we lose or win. They play some hard football and are overperforming right now. Long time since I could say that!

I forgot all about JW's fumble.

Game Balls:
Defense!!! Its so glad to see you again its been a while!

MR when a drive was needed and points had to be put on the board he drove the team 60 yards and got 3 and ate up 8 minutes giving our Defense a much needed rest.

Tomlin 4 and 1 and you said fuck it lets go! You played to win the game... thank you!

Our young WR's yes you dropped some yes you fumbled but you all also bounced back and made some clutch catches. You are all young men learning on the fly with a young QB and we as SPOILED ROTTEN STEELER FANS have to realize it.

GOATS:
Pouncey... wtf man? You are a vet and a center piece of the offense you simply cannot do that to a young QB.

Game Balls:

Minkah
Watt
Haden
Washington...even with the fumble it is good to see him making some catches.

I know this is supposed to be about the particular game but I think Boswell (only 1 miss @ 54 yds and already more field goals than last year) the front office for getting Minkah in Black and Gold, and Tomlin for changing this season around deserve game balls. I'm not always Tomlin's biggest fan but taking a 1-4, injury riddled team, to 5-4 and to the 6th seed at the moment is incredible. It is awesome to be talking about a great Pittsburgh defense again.

LambertWardSteel wrote:

Game Balls:

Minkah
Watt
Haden
Washington...even with the fumble it is good to see him making some catches.

I know this is supposed to be about the particular game but I think Boswell (only 1 miss @ 54 yds and already more field goals than last year) the front office for getting Minkah in Black and Gold, and Tomlin for changing this season around deserve game balls. I'm not always Tomlin's biggest fan but taking a 1-4, injury riddled team, to 5-4 and to the 6th seed at the moment is incredible. It is awesome to be talking about a great Pittsburgh defense again.

Speaking of Pouncey and his bad snaps, everyone remember the Chargers game? ...

Wallace108 wrote:

Goats

Pouncey. I don't know what was wrong with him, but he looked like a backup center trying to snap the ball in shotgun. I wasn't counting, but there had to have been at least 5 or 6 bad snaps.

Wallace108 wrote:

Speaking of Pouncey and his bad snaps, everyone remember the Chargers game? ...

Wallace108 wrote:

Goats

Pouncey. I don't know what was wrong with him, but he looked like a backup center trying to snap the ball in shotgun. I wasn't counting, but there had to have been at least 5 or 6 bad snaps.

That was the first thing that i thought of when he had the bad snap in this game.

Lokki wrote:

Wallace108 wrote:

Speaking of Pouncey and his bad snaps, everyone remember the Chargers game? ...

Wallace108 wrote:

Goats

Pouncey. I don't know what was wrong with him, but he looked like a backup center trying to snap the ball in shotgun. I wasn't counting, but there had to have been at least 5 or 6 bad snaps.

That was the first thing that i thought of when he had the bad snap in this game.  

Every center has a bad snap from time to time, but I can't recall a Pro Bowl center having so many bad snaps over the period of a few games. There has to be a reason for it. Pysical? Psychological?

The only article I could find (with a quick search) is a Depot article after the Chargers game. A snippet ...

Quote :

It was probably the worst snapping performance we’ve ever seen from Pouncey in terms of the sheer number of sub-par snaps, and I don’t have any explanation for it. He’s not dealing with any kind of injuries that we’re aware of. Just an off night.

https://steelersdepot.com/2019/10/maurkice-pouncey-on-devlin-hodges-he-looked-like-ben-saving-botched-snap-at-goal-line/

Well, I guess it wasn't just an off night.

I got to watch some highlights of the game and have some thoughts.
Rotation on the D-line is paying dividends. This is why I think we'll be good to go against the Browns.
It's been said that while he is good Minkah is no Troy. I say YET.
Mason had some really nice accurate throws to build on. Now the receivers need to start supporting him.
Right now we are a team written off getting little attention. Honestly I believe we can beat anyone out there if we continue to play like we did against the Rams. We need to catch the ball and protect it when we possess it.Pouncey needs to wake up. I'll ask you this. Which team defense is playing better than ours right now? Patriots*,9ers,Bills may be as good but I don't think they're better. Even without Tuitt I'm not sure we've peaked yet.
This is becoming a fun team to watch and maybe,just maybe a team to watch out for.

solardave wrote:

I got to watch some highlights of the game and have some thoughts.
Rotation on the D-line is paying dividends. This is why I think we'll be good to go against the Browns.
It's been said that while he is good Minkah is no Troy. I say YET.
Mason had some really nice accurate throws to build on. Now the receivers need to start supporting him.
Right now we are a team written off getting little attention. Honestly I believe we can beat anyone out there if we continue to play like we did against the Rams. We need to catch the ball and protect it when we possess it.Pouncey needs to wake up. I'll ask you this. Which team defense is playing better than ours right now? Patriots**,9ers,Bills may be as good but I don't think they're better. Even without Tuitt I'm not sure we've peaked yet.
This is becoming a fun team to watch and maybe,just maybe a team to watch out for.

I completely agree with you. This defense is as good as Patriots* and 49ers right now and already better than the Bills. Very fun to watch too. Watt should be considered as DPOY, he isn't as good yet as JJ was in 2013 but he's getting damn close. Fitzpatrick is now leading the league with 5 interceptions and that only in 7 games he played for us.

Gameballs:

Defense - Played lights out. Kept the Rams out of the endzone. Did a great job despite being on the field way too much during the game. The pass rush was phenomenal once again, even without the services of Stephon Tuitt. Watt and Dupree are amazing coming off of the edge. Minkah Fitzpatrick... the dude is literally a cheat code. All in all about as good of a performance as you can ask for, and they definitely are the reason we won this game.

Mason Rudolph: I thought he handled himself well. He does need to work on his throws out to the running backs on screens. Too many times he's sailing it over their head, or throwing it low and into the turf. Should be an easy, routine play, and he seems to be making them difficult himself. Other than that he played quite well, surveyed the field, went through his reads, and if not for a handful of terrible drops by his receivers he'd of put up a much better stat line than what he ended up with.

Goats:

Juju Smith Schuster - Juju needs to step up his game. He had opportunities in this game in man coverage against the Rams secondary to make plays. Dropping passes that hit him right in the hands was painful to watch. I love his humble attitude, and the fact that he's not acting like a diva but he definitely doesn't seem like his normal confident self. Needs to find his mojo and start helping the offense produce.

James Washington - I am putting him here because of that awful fumble. The receiving corps needs to work on ball security. This is the third time this season that I can remember where a receiver was carrying the ball carelessly away from the body with one hand and a defender was able to easily punch it out. His fumble erased a big play that likely would've lead to at least 3 points in a game where points were hard to come by. It could have very well cost us the game, and it definitely helped the Rams hang around.

Offensive Line - I had to think about whether or not I really wanted to put them here but I'm going to put them here. The Rams have not been the best team defending the run, and our offensive line didn't take advantage of that fact. Our run blocking has been abysmal this season. Samuels, Brooks James, and Trey Edmunds really didn't have any open lanes with which to run the ball. This offensive line unit is capable of being better and they need to pull their heads out of their arses and start playing up to their capabilities. It's been the most perplexing thing I've watched this season, I know that losing Coach Munchak hurts, but these guys are a talented unit and should've been able to overcome losing a coach. I will give them a little bit of a break here because they were going up against Aaron Donald, and he makes almost everyone he goes up against look bad.

Randy Fichtner - That play action call in our own endzone that lead to a safety was just stupid. Mason Rudolph is a pure pocket passer, a statue in the pocket, and he's got almost no mobility. You call a play action, in our own endzone, going up against Aaron Donald, Dante Fowler, Clay Matthews, etc... Just a bad call, and one that he should've learned from from the last time we were sacked for a safety.