A knee jerk reaction is common for most people, especially sports fans. Of course, I like to shoot first and apologize later. In this series, I like to record my immediate emotional reaction. I have those often. I know you in Steeler Nation do too. After we have a chance to review things, we tend to alter our mindset. While watching the Steelers and the Packers, I recorded my initial thoughts in real time with no time to reconsider them. Take these in. As always, I welcome you to weigh in.
1st Quarter
- Best kick return for the Steelers in ages, that will set Martavis up mentally for a good game.
- Need to set the tone with a TD in the first drive.
- No excuse for Martavis to drop that ball.
- Rare YAC for Jesse James. Usually it's a catch and fall.
- They are liking that shovel pass.
- Boswel. Ughhhhh!
- Oh Artie Burns. I thought the face mask was tickey-tack. But you can't let bad teams stay on the field. Complete lack of discipline.
- And you just paid for it.
- Drops are killing this team.
- After the pick, it looks like the beginning of a playing-down-to-the-competition fiasco.
- This is going to be Jacksonville all over again.
- How can't you throw a flag on the kickoff? Martavis was way out of bounds.
2nd Quarter
- Eli Rogers may have worn out his welcome with all of these drops.
- Villanueva looked like Dave Kingman with the big swing-and-a-miss on Ahmad Brooks.
- That pass to Bryant was what we've been waiting for all year.
- 14-14. This could be the wake-up call.
- Hundley looks like Bruno Mars wearing a helmet.
- Do the refs get fined if they call a pass interference on Steeler competition?
3rd Quarter
- Did somebody forget to tell Green Bay they weren't supposed to win this game?
- GB made a mistake going for a 57-yarder. It could give the Steelers new life if they could cash-in on the good field position.
- I've missed take off-and-run Ben.
- AB makes acrobatic catches look simple.
- Losing Randall could be the straw that breaks the Pack.
- Cameron Heyward needs to get invited to the Pro Bowl. But I hope he's too busy preparing for a trip to Minnesota to play.
4th Quarter
- It seems like with three turnovers, they are dooming themselves to give this game away.
- They are still playing with fire, letting a down team hang around.
- Eli needed that big third down conversion.
- AB should have his own credit card, he's always money when you need him.
- Ben just seems to be throwing increasingly better the past eight quarters.
- Look for the defense to come even more alive and close this puppy out.
- Shazier being hobbled could be a killer.
- Yep. They really missed No. 50
- Two-minute drill. If Ben is still top-tier, he saves the day here.
- Trusting Rogers in double coverage was ill-advised.
- Lucky they didn't get called on a helmet-to-helmet on Watt.
- Packers may be playing for OT here.
- I don't think AB went to Central Michigan, I think he went to Hogwarts.
- Looks like Boswell did too.
Where BAD was really right
- I think Martavis Bryant's opening kick return mentally fired him up.
- They definitely underestimated Green Bay.
- The refs seemed reluctant to make calls against the Packers.
- The Packers going for a field goal in a stadium that has never seen anything more than a 53 was a poor decision.
Where BAD was really wrong
- The Steelers pressed snooze on their wake up call at 14-14.
- Eli Rogers hasn't completely worn out his welcome. He bailed the Steelers out with a huge third down conversion.
- The defense did not come alive after the score. They looked paltry as they failed to put GB away.