Raiders at Steelers: Defensive Huddle
By Josh Fitzer
Hello everyone!
Welcome to another edition of Defensive Huddle. We’ll take a look at how the Steelers defense did against the up and coming Raiders offense.
The good:
Honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot of good that came out of this game, but I’ll try to pull out some positives.
-Despite giving up a lot of yards, the Steelers defense did generate four total turnovers (one interception, three forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries). CB Ross Cockrell picked off a bad pass from Derek Carr in the red zone. I have no doubt that we’d be talking about a Steelers loss if Cockrell doesn’t pick that off.
-I’ve been fairly impressed with Mike Mitchell lately. He made a great play to back up my approval of him. On 2nd and 6 with 5:28 left to play in the third quarter, Carr hands the ball off to Latavius Murray, Mitchell closes in on him and delivers a big hit that caused a fumble. The only thing I didn’t like about the play was Mitchell not playing to the whistle. He hit Murray and started to celebrate, not realizing that Murray fumbled. Maybe Mitchell only has a “hit-stick” type of hitting and didn’t think he made any sort of play besides tackling. Whatever the reason is, it was a great play that the defense needed to make.
-On 3rd and 8 with 1:08 left to play in the first half, CB Antwon Blake times the blitz perfectly to tackle Murray for a 4 yard loss.
-On 3rd and 12 with 13:59 left to play in the third quarter, LB Ryan Shazier made a great hit on Murray that caused a fumble. Mike Mitchell recovered the fumble and returned it for a touchdown. It was a great play, even though the call was reversed.
The bad:
I’m not a big fan of criticizing my Steelers, but I know it’s necessary in order to be a good fan.
So, here goes….
-Okay, I understand that there will be a blown coverage every so often, but I don’t understand why it always has to happen against great players. On 1st and 10 with 6:10 left to play in the first half, Carr throws a touchdown to a WIDE OPEN Amari Cooper. I’m no expert, but I just can’t understand how that happens.
-The Steelers defense gave up a touchdown on the Raiders opening drive, and it only took three plays. That’s right. Three plays against a decent offense. Now I know our defense has players that are more than capable of playing better than that.
-Murray had a huge gain of 44 yards on his first touch of the game, which was the second play of the Raiders opening drive. The Raiders offensive line sliced through the Steelers D-line like someone carving a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Tuitt and Heyward were pushed to opposite sides, Shazier took a bad angle and Murray was gone for 44 yards. Again, I know plays like this will happen, but it’s not good for a defense to allow that kind of gain on an opening drive.
-I can’t believe I’m about to type this. The Steelers defense didn’t get one sack in this entire game. Yes, you read that right. I don’t even need to type anything further.
My three stars:
-Mike Mitchell: For his hard hit that caused a fumble.
-Ross Cockrell: For his interception in the red zone that pretty much saved the game.
–Chris Boswell: Yeah, I know he doesn’t play on defense, but he made the game winning field goal. Plus, he lowered my heart rate quite a bit.
Nov 8, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Chris Boswell (right) kicks a game winning nineteen yard field goal against the Oakland Raiders during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. The Steelers won 38-35. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Here we go, Steelers! Here we go!