Steelers aren’t good right now on 3rd Down defense.

Defensively: Rated 25th on 3rd Down and are 29th in NFL is 3rd Attempts with 97 -

They have faced double digit 3rd Attempts in every game, If this doesn’t improve they will struggle, because of the pressure it puts on the Offense to score with limited possessions and a old defense will get worn down

Coach Tomlin won’t allow his team to ride the emotional roller coaster. This team has become a crystal clear reflection of their head coach. This is a nice performance going into the bye. I’m convinced that Jeff Reed should be arrested for attemped tackling. What a game though! I saw the birth of a potentially beautiful thing when Mr. Johnson caught his 1st pass today. He’s gonna add a whole new dimension to our play action attack. The Vikings came to play today. Even with Max neutralizing Jared Allen (I can’t believe I just typed that!) and Winfield watching from the sidelines, their D managed to keep the leading receiver in the NFL to 1 catch for 3 yards and held a QB accustomed to completing 75% of his passes to a 53% completion rate. Willie Gay is gonna be a part of Adrian Peterson’s highlight reel from this day forward. He’s officially a charter member of the anuls of NFL Films history. The same guy who ironically knocked out The Tank in preseason. I still love the fight in him. He knew a legend was picking on him and he’s gonna learn from this game and come back stronger in the future. If Willie Gay is the hypothetical weak link, I’m convinced that we have a pretty strong chain. K. Fox came in for Timmons and the standard was the standard if you will (back to back Tomlinisms FTW! Haha) I can’t wait for the press conference to see what the injury report is. The bye seems to come right on time once again. This was a nice statement game to go into the bye with. The stairway to 7 continues!

Although I agree with your assessment of Willie Gay, I thought Polamalu looked weak today. He missed way too many tackles, looked a bit late when his old self would have been flying in and outside of his nice pass breakup, he wasn’t much of a factor today. I have a feeling he came back too early and that it will cost us dearly down the stretch… Hopefully the bye week will give him time to get better…

Blitz, I still think you’re too quick to paint William Gay as the weak link. I knew as soon as I saw that play with AP running over him that you’d highlight that as an example of how he’s a lesser player than McFadden. Are you that convinced that the result wouldn’t have been the same if it was B-Mac covering there? Also, according to NFL.com, Ike Taylor has only one fewer tackle so far this season and two fewer solo tackles. Maybe I’m reading more into it than what you intend, but I think that the concern on the defensive side should be spread around a little more. I thought Gay was pretty solid in most cases. What also sticks out to me is his good tackles on those quick passes out to the WR when he gives a big cushion. And, we know that the reason that he gives that cushion is because of the scheme, not because of his lack of skill. Steelers DBs have been playing that technique certainly since I’ve really started following BTSC consistently. I remember many times people complaining about Ike giving such a large cushion.

Gay got run over but he wasn’t beaten like Ike Taylor was. #18 is Farves favorite receiver yet Talor couldn’ cover him

• First, I would like to start by saying HUGE win. Congrats to the black and gold for getting the W by making plays when it mattered. Well done.

• Ike Taylor has not looked as good the last few games as he did the beginning of the season. He was “lights out” the first few weeks really giving opposing WRs fits. The last few games he seemed beat like a drum to me. I wonder how much of this has to do with Polamalu not being 100%. However, the pass rush is getting back to what it was, so I thought that would make his job easier. If/when Polamalu is 100% and teams still beat us in the air, we might have to change up how much cushion we are giving to opposing WRs.

• Keyaron Fox. Way to step up when we needed you after Timmons went down. You did get beat once in coverage, but who could complain after the huge interception TD? However, I hope the Timmons injury is not severe.

• I could not agree more Blitz, this Bye could not have come at a more opportune time. We have several injuries and MUCH that needs to be worked on. Hopefully, Tomlin and LeBeau can fix the problems in the secondary.

• Penalties. If I hear another Vikings fan whine about the tripping call I might punch an inanimate object.

• I said it before, and I will say it again, I do not agree with pulling Mendenhall late in that game. He was absolutely punishing the Vikings D, about the only good thing we had going on offense all day. The fumble was a stupid move, yes, but keep in mind he is essentially a rookie and only has like 4 games with significant carries. With experience, ie fumbling because he left his feet for no reason yesterday, he will and is learning what not to do.

• Special Teams…yuck. We are really bad on coverage, with or without holds. Reed that was the biggest puss attempt at a tackle I have seen in a long time. You are definitely building a resume on how not to get resigned next year.

• BB was sloppy with the football for the second week in a row. He had 0 picks on Sunday, but could nearly have had 3 or 4. What happened to that accurate and smart passing from the beginning of the year?

• If teams are going to shut out Ward…Holmes needs to step up more than this. Also, who the hell runs with the ball like that in the open field? Good god man, tuck the ball into your body. You probably caused at least 3 heart attacks in the Pittsburgh area.

• Last but not least…apology to Mr. Wallace. In SteelerBuddha’s fanpost I voted that your production would decrease. I apologize for doubting your skillz.

Overall, I’m very happy. With that defense and that running game, I fully expect Minny to be a legit team at season’s end. There weren’t too many style points to hand out in this one, but a win over a tough team is still a quality win. My thoughts:

- I’m not nearly so concerned about the pass defense. Keep in mind that Favre threw 51(!) passes yesterday. Anytime a QB throws that many times, he’s going to put up yards; in one of the quirks that make football fun, he’s probably also not going to win the game. It’s kind of like how those Big 12 teams put up 70 points on each other every week, and then get thrashed when they have to tangle with a stout defense in a bowl game.

- On a related note, Childress’ offensive playcalling continues to baffle me. He did the same thing against Philly in last year’s playoffs: why are you taking the ball out of Peterson’s hands in such a big game? As a Steeler fan I’m quite happy if an opponent wants to use the best RB in the game as a blocker and count on an aging QB to win it with his arm.

- I’m not a huge Brett Favre hater, but with all the fawning and hype surrounding the man it did warm my heart a little to see the other side of Brett emerge late in the game. By “the other side”, of course, I mean delivering late-game turnovers and killing his team’s chances at rallying.

- I saw Ben’s performance as a classic example of “take what the defense gives you”. No turnovers, that sweet Wallace TD pass, 26 attempts. Again, the Minny defense is tough and Ben wasn’t likely to have a huge passing day; I’m glad he didn’t try to force things too much.

- Special teams. Good God. You’ve got 15 days, guys. You need to start getting this figured out.

* I’d like to break down the play with pictures in the near future since we have a couple of weeks before the next game, but Big Ben’s touchdown strike to Mike Wallace at the end of the 1st half was gorgeous. The pass was thrown with plenty of zip, but it also had just the right trajectory to fall over the Vikings first line of defense in the secondary and down in to Wallace’s breadbasket before the last line of defense could get to #17. A truly perfect throw by Big Ben.

Did anyone notice that on this play Tone was WIDE open on the left side near Wallace. BB didn’t even scanned that side.

my understanding with acl injuries, is 6 months to heal, but it is not until 12-18 months where the athlete truly gets back to the previous level.
If you compare his rookie year stats, he has increased his average, and his net average, and punt returners are averaging less than 7 yards, with no touchdowns, and about 42% of punts have no returns.
Plus, I feel confident that if the punt returner breaks one, Sepulveda is one of the best tackling punters out there. There isn’t really a stat for that, but arguably it is one of the most important nonstats in the game.

Also, to beat the Vikes, you have to shutdown Peterson. You have to let Favre beat you, and it is much better to let him go over 300 passing, then have Peterson go over 100 rushing. The 4th quarter defense was impressive. Stopping Peterson on back to back goalline runs was a solid effort.

Not the ending I wanted to see… but wanted to stop by and give you the nod on the Win.

I would like to see Moore Start and let either Mendenhall and/or Fast Willie be the 3rd Down or Spell Back.

Its plain to see Moore is the most consistent back of the three. It seems like every time they go to Moore in big plays he makes them.

as far as Gay is concerned I completely agree. I can’t remember how many of our opponents drop back into passing and use Gay’s man as their first read, but it seems to be a high number. Farve was slinging them asap to whoever he was lined up on and those were designed that way. People know to attack him.
This isn’t really a knock on Gay though, I dont really expect 5th rounders (right?) to be starters. He’s doing good for a late round pick but doesn’t have the skills to be a solid starter. He excels as a nickel back though………

I disagree on throwing a lot of the blame on Reed for that KO TD. You can’t blame the kicker for anything other than kick offs and field goals. True he is part of the special teams and therefore the coverage unit but cmon, hes a kicker. Its nit his job to be tackling people. It was a poor attempt on his part but to his credit hes the only one who really got his hands on Harvin……..he gets the least of the blame in my opinion.
That being said, however, the Vikings are trying to win too, teams are gonna make plays, return TDs are gonna happen.

A phantom interference call on Miller that erased a Steeler touchdown and a brutal non call for holding on Harvin’s kick return lets the Vikings right back into a game that the Steelers should’ve easily won. I guess rear naked chokes are now legal on kick returns.

… without him yesterday I think the Steelers would likely be sitting 4-3. While you could see he was not quite at full speed, #43 still flashed the extra gear that makes this D special. In particular, the 3Q TD-saving tackle of Rice at the goal line (Vikes ended up settling for 3) and the 4Q play when Peterson finally got loose on the right edge but Troy closed awfully fast and forced him out (AD takes that one to the house if 43 isn’t in the game). Not that there was ever any doubt, but 80% Troy still makes the Pro Bowl; 100% Troy has his hair flying on a bust in Canton… THE ultimate game-changer on D!

(BTW Blitz, I enjoy your post-game breakdowns and the BTSC forum)

Who would you rather have if you were Minnesota? A 30 year old Chester Taylor taking up nearly $4 million in cap room or a 27 year old Mewelde Moore who takes up less less than half the cap space that Taylor does. Moore is reliable and even keeled with his performance. Taylor is more up and down.

Me?

I would take Chester Taylor, no question.

Yes, Taylor is older and costs more. But he is much more valuable because he is not only a good receiving threat and a good blocker, but he can run the ball as well. Taylor had a 1200 yard season the year before AP burst into the league, and even though he is 30, he still has plenty of tread left on the tires since he has been a backup to Jamal Lewis, then AP.

Taylor is up and down? You must not watch a lot of Vikings football. He is one of, if not the, most sure handed 3rd down backs in the league. Ask anyone in our division.

The decision to keep MeMo or Taylor was a very difficult one. But we made the right decision. AP is a guy who is going to be prone to injury because of his running style. We need a guy who can not only do what MeMo can do, but also run the ball if needed.

Don’t get me wrong, MeMo is great and I was sad to see him leave, but he has yet to prove himself a solid starting running back.

I still remember MeMo absolutely DESTROYING a defensive end on a block back in ’06 or ’07. MeMo was pretty much at a standstill and the end was rushing at him, he basically picked him up in the air and pushed him back 5 yards.

I am VERY jealous of the Steelers. You guys not only have MeMo, but you have Tomlin who was my choice for head coach.

The Vikings completely outclassed the Steelers last Sunday. The tripping call was bogus. Without it, the entire game result changes. The Vikings would have been ahead 17 – 13 late in the 4th quarter, and the INT at the end of the game probably doesn’t happen because that drive isn’t necessary. There were 4 penalty calls against the Vikings on the tripping penalty drive. 4! What the hell is going on with the NFL refs? The fix was definitely in on this game. Even after the refs did everything to hand the game to the Steelers, the Vikings were back in the redzone with less than 90 seconds remaining poised to win the game. A fluke muff by Chester Taylor is all that stood between the Steelers going 4-3. The wrong team won last Sunday. The NFL refs are quickly joining the NBA refs as the most corrupt in professional sports.