My dad and sister were at this game, alas I  was in Peru. But good for them. I'd  just like to remark about five small things that I felt were really strong in this game, which could easily be overlooked since we played lights out in general. Pardon some of the odd spacing at times, keyboard on the laptop here is on the fritz and its late for me to double back and fix every extra space for the format nazis. Enjoy

1. The Special Teams were Special.

Our burners were down the field every time we punted, practically helping the returner lift his arm for the fair catch. Sepulveda played well. We could have pinned one that got away, but overall a great performance.  A bit more later but I thought every phase of the ST was great. Shame we had a  return called  back. But I love the battle between Brown and Sanders. Also weekly we see madison and sylvester returning dividends in coverage. Our ST was a big part of the losses last year, now its an asset.

2. Foster over Essex.

Foster started the game for Essex per Tomlin's request. I liked it and think Essex has been behind in a lot of areas. But mentally was the worst for Essex. Wrong run call at the goalline, often committing penalties. Foster was  only penalized on a clipping which was one of the myriad awful calls. But no true errors like false starts or not being on the LOS.

3. Ike can catch this year

His moment of glory lost as Harrison was fouled for playing football, Ike had a pick 6. And he's seemed to have shaken the brick hands label. He could really  be considered an elite corner  now in my  opinion.  Look  at  his reaction today when  he caught it, he was  thinking TD. Remember  his first of the year, he didn't know what the hell to do. He's confident now.

4. Good game by Hood

We finally heard Sir Ziggibald's number called today and it was nice. He showed great hustle and applied pressure even when we only rushed 3-4. He did get  juked out early on, on what  could have been a great sack. But he's growing into a quality first round pick

5. Welcome Suisham

Fortunately he wasnt asked to do much. He handled his duty well and got quality reps in real time with his crew. Thats important. Plus he got to  feel the nightmare that was our turf. Hopefully he built confidence and when we need him (ideally never) he'll be ready to be his old self. Not the one that's had key misses as of recent.

Speaking of the turf,  I think we could credit about two sacks to Heinz Field this week. I imagine they're going to re-layer it while were out of town.