The Pittsburgh Steelers came away with a win against the Raiders Sunday night, barely. They won the battle but they may have lost the war. They may have lost more than a game in their win but the season all together. These injuries may have finally thrown their haymaker.
Two of the might Killer Bs have fallen. Ben and Bell are likely out for the season. Pouncey hasn’t seen the field this year and may not at all. Beachum is out for the year too. The defense has had it’s share of injuries too with players like Ryan Shazier, Will Allen, and Stephon Tuitt missing multiple games, among others.
But it’s not all bad. It’s not all over yet. The Steelers are 5-4 and are currently holding a wildcard spot. The Steelers need to win 5 of their next 7 games to make the playoffs most likely. They have the Bengals and Broncos in the mix but the other games are very possible wins.
Also on the plus side is Landry Jones seems to be doing better than Michael Vick did. DeAngelo Williams is a very capable running back. Antonio Brown is still here as he reminded us with the game winning play. The defense is better than last year.
But it is time again to look away from the future and back to the past and hear what the team had to say about the Raiders game, one bummer of a win.
Antonio Brown
When asked if he felt like he was in the zone, Antonio Brown said, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, “Absolutely. Had a good flow, positive energy every series, and we were getting the looks that we practiced for, so it was a positive day. May the best man win. We knew if we were going to win this game today, we had to win big on the perimeter.”
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Ramon Foster added, “It’s just normal now. That’s AB doing what AB does. He’s the best receiver in the NFL.”
Coach Tomlin, according to Steelers.com, said, “He’s a guy who always wants to be the reason why we’re successful. He’s a competitor, and more importantly than that, he’s a hard and detailed worker. That does football justice, when a guy works the way he works gets an opportunity to deliver for you in the manner in which he was able to do today.”
Defense
According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Cam Heyward had a tough opinion of their 5 touchdown performance, saying, “We played like [garbage] on defense. We have to get better. Thank God we had our offense and our special teams. When you give up a late lead, 14 points, that’s unacceptable, inexcusable. And if we’re going to hoot and holler about it, then we’re going to get beat the same way.”
Mike Mitchell had some hard hits and was pretty proud of his performance, with Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quoting, “Hard hitting isn’t dead. They just try to make it harder for us to do it. You can still hit people really hard. I just have to lower my target. I’m aiming a lot lower. Anytime I hear the crowd goes ‘Ooh’ after one of my hits … that’s one of the best feelings you can get. I think it inspires my teammates. It obviously energizes me.”
Mike Tomlin liked the team’s physical play as well, saying, “I thought we were physical. I thought that we hustled, and I think you’re opportunistic when those things happen. I can’t say enough about the physicality.”
DeAngelo Williams
Ray Fittipaldo also quoted DeAngelo Williams as saying of his own performance, “Coach gave a challenge to our offensive line and to me to not let them make us one-dimensional. I think we went out there and answered the call.”
Ramon Foster added, “There are a few where he’s breaking tackles and getting extra yards when another running back would be on his way out of the league. He’s playing at a high level.”
Mike Tomlin was quoted by Steelers.com as saying, “He was DeAngelo, that’s why we acquired him back in the spring. That was our level of expectation and his as well. He’s delivered for us time and time again. Today wasn’t the first time. He started the season off for us in a similar way. The most encouraging thing about his performance was his ability to be productive in the passing game.”
Next: Steelers vs Raiders: what went right/wrong?
Now on to a must win game against Cleveland before a week off.