The Pittsburgh Steelers are moving into Week 11 of the NFL regular season, and as the team prepares for the Cleveland Browns on a short week, we continue to provide you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over until the next game starts!
Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at how Steelers fans need to do something they haven’t had to do in a long time...forget about style points and just accept the team is winning.
Let’s get to the news:
- The Pittsburgh Steelers are a team who is young, inexperienced and learning on the fly at many positions. They are winning “ugly” most say, but style points shouldn’t matter.
Mark Madden: Steelers need to focus on substance, not style
By: Mark Madden, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
If Ben Roethlisberger returns at 100% next season and the Steelers’ defense maintains its current elite level, 2020 could be a special year.
But it’s still 2019, and the word that currently applies is “weird.”
The Steelers might make the playoffs without beating a team that makes the playoffs. Their signature victory could be against Indianapolis and third-string quarterback Brian Hoyer or against the fading Los Angeles Rams.
The Steelers aren’t ushering in a new era of glory. They’re exploiting a weak league and weaker schedule. (No complaint. You can only perform the task at hand.)
Witness Sunday’s 17-12 home win over the Rams: The Steelers offense directly gave the Rams nine points. The Steelers’ running game averaged 1.7 yards per carry. Receivers dropped four balls. Clang! Clang! I need a welding torch to play in this league!
Then, at a crucial point in the fourth quarter, coach Mike Tomlin went for it on fourth-and-1 at his own 34. Tomlin trusted his inferior offense, not his dominant defense. He trusted Mason Rudolph, not Minkah Fitzpatrick. It was inexplicable, even dumb.
But Rudolph converted a 6-yard pass to Trey Edmunds. The drive ultimately netted a field goal but, more important, took eight minutes off the clock.
The wrong move can be the right move if it works, and you win.
To read the full article, click HERE (Free)
- Mike Hilton is doing his part on a defense that is shutting out players like Cooper Kupp. Yes, shutting them out.
Mike Hilton plays hand in Steelers’ collective shutdown of Rams’ Cooper Kupp
By: Joe Rutter, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Slot corner Mike Hilton drew the assignment of shadowing Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp. It led to Hilton playing his most snaps of the season, as he was on the field for 70 of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 77 defensive plays Sunday afternoon.
The result couldn’t have been scripted any better for the Steelers in their 17-12 victory. Kupp, who entered the game as the Rams’ top pass catcher and the NFL’s top third-down target, finished with no catches on four targets.
Hilton said he covered Kupp for all but “two or three plays.”
“That was the game plan,” Hilton said Monday. “I’m not going to say I didn’t have help because I did. I had solo shots on him, but followed him pretty much all game.”
The only other time in Kupp’s three-year career that he didn’t catch a pass was in Week 6 last season against Denver when he left in the first half with a knee injury.
To read the full article, click HERE (Free)
- You may not have noticed, but Rams head coach Sean McVay didn’t give his star running back, Todd Gurley, a carry in the fourth quarter. Why? All part of the rotation...
Sean McVay on Todd Gurley not carrying ball in fourth: Just the rotation
By: Josh Alper, ProFootballTalk
The way the Rams use running back Todd Gurley has been a topic of conversation since last season’s playoffs and it doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.
Gurley ran 12 times for 73 yards in the first three quarters of Sunday’s game against the Steelers, but never touched the ball in the fourth quarter of the 17-12 loss. Malcolm Brown got three carries early in the quarter and the Rams never ran the ball after a Chris Boswell field goal put Pittsburgh up by five points.
While Gurley has not been on the injury report, the belief is that the Rams are managing his workload in order to avoid the knee troubles that Gurley experienced late last season. That said, head coach Sean McVay pointed elsewhere when asked about Gurley’s late game usage.
“That was just kind of the rotation,” McVay said, via TheAthletic.com. “Sometimes I’m on both sides of the headsets. There’s just a lot of trust for our coaches that have some of the [confidence] to be really able to say, ‘Alright, who’s in?’ Then I will be able to click back on, and then we know what we are going with.”
To read the full article, click HERE (Free)
- Mike Tomlin Press Conference
#LIVE: Coach Tomlin addresses the media ahead of Thursday’s game against the Browns. https://t.co/CfjBt7uUtP
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 11, 2019
- James Conner Media Availability
@JamesConner_ speaks about his recovery and his status for Thursday's game against Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/LfOzBcqYml
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 11, 2019
- Social Media Madness
So many familiar faces.
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 12, 2019
So many memories.#AlumniWeekend | #SBXIV pic.twitter.com/Ox86bBiUYx
I will serve! ✋
— DOD Outreach (@DOD_Outreach) November 11, 2019
In honor of #VeteransDay, the @steelers welcomed local recruits to take the Oath of Enlistment at @heinzfield. These young men and women begin a new chapter, serving as protectors of freedom and the American way of life.#KnowYourMil pic.twitter.com/Y589ihsZkf
Trey Edmunds on his key interception off of the fake punt: "A big one presented itself today on special teams and we took advantage of it." pic.twitter.com/UHnYzTm8NR
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 11, 2019
'I want to make a difference in Pittsburgh, show the people I care about the community and I am not just here to play football. I am a part of this community and I want to make as much of an impact as I can.' - @_TJWatt
— Teresa Varley (@Teresa_Varley) November 11, 2019
More: https://t.co/5Dimhukin5 pic.twitter.com/ocxqNKUSKO