Pittsburgh Steelers: How to de-charge the Chargers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are back from Denver and looking to turn their losing streak back around with an impressive win over the Chargers.

StrapUp! Well, the Black n’ Gold didn’t corral those Broncos last week in a game that turned out to be an early Christmas present for them. The Steelers were the gift that kept on giving with too many costly turnovers that proved to be the difference in the game.

This week in the home challenge against the high powered Los Angeles Chargers (they will always be San Diego to me), the Steelers will have to act like the Grinch, and steal the game. Phillip Rivers and their vaunted defense is coming to Pittsburgh with a well rounded team that is in the hunt for a high playoff seed.

They say, “defense wins games,” and this game may come down to which team imposes their will on the other. StrapUp had to call in some help to figure this thing out from our “Hook-Ups” in other states. Yeah, you guessed it, we had to call the national fanbase for their prognostications and machinations on how to “De-charge” those hard charging Chargers.

We searched every direction on the compass to see just what they had to say. The feedback was as unpredictable as the first snowfall in Da ‘Burgh.

First call went to The Motor City (Detroit) home of Jerome “The Bus” Bettis, who went out in a blaze of glory in his last game as a Steeler with a Super Bowl win. Ol’ Roscoe Lee hit us up with his thoughts while sitting on the stoop sipping on some juice outside of his favorite “beverage place.” I swore he was talking to us through a tin can with some string because every other word sounded like a “burp.”

Anyway, he started going on about how the Steelers stop running the ball and they need to run, everybody, all the time. He started to say something else but a loud snore came across the line and at that point, he was done. Nodded out and we kindly said goodbye, but not before he sounded off with a last effort, “Run”! So we ran off of the phone, but he made a good point about running the ball and controlling the clock.

Next, we got a call from enemy territory from a jilted San Diego fan who is a converted Steeler fan that is a transplant Los Angelees who goes by the name of Michael. The call was brief and went something like this, “Do me a favor.”

We said what could that be? He said,  “I hope ya’ll stomp a hole in their chest, shut them out and run up the score. That’s right, put fiddy on ’em! If you have the chance, when the owner comes on the field for a handshake, just tackle him hard to the ground! Now have a nice day.”

Well, Michael did have a point because it may come down to a shoot-out but he missed me on that shut-out thing, that ain’t happening.

Speaking of transplants, we got a call from Danuelle living up there in Brooklyn New York, via Virginia but born in Pittsburgh. Talking about nomadic, whew. But bleeds Black n’ Gold and knows her Steeler history even if she is one of those millennials.

She began by saying, “Its important for the team to get off to a fast start and they have to minimize stupid mistakes. Tomlin has to be harder on the players to give them that Steelers heart from yesteryear and the offensive line has got to fuel the run game. The secondary better shut down the Chargers aerial attack or it could be trouble. Big Ben cant give another game away like he did last week and furthermore,” hold up! I had to slow her down, little missy was like butter on a roll.

I said, “Thanks, we’ll call again.” Whew, we had to catch our breath after that call, she could talk a mile a minute. However, she was right with everything that she said and I couldn’t argue if I wanted to.

The last call of the night was down south to our cousins in Alabama, twins Freddy and Frankie who migrated from Pittsburgh during their teenage years.

Freddy is the eccentric one that dresses up in Steeler gear for every game and even on Halloween. He can name almost every player from 1970 to the present and could of been a coach, dude knows football. Frankie has a 1979 Cadillac Coupe Deville that he had painted black and gold in 1979 with a Steelers emblem on both sides. He knows football also but they argue for hours on end about everything Steelers, especially strategies, schemes or systems.

Freddy was saying, “They need to blitz on first down cuz, I mean the whole game because if they keep the inside backers in the ‘A’ gap that will help stop the run. They also need to run a lot of quick slants and misdirection’s to kill the pursuit of that fast defense.”

Frankie interrupted and said, “No, Im telling you what they need to do. The Steelers need to put the ball in Big Bens hands and let him pick the Chargers apart because Big Ben is good at home lately, plus its primetime! I want them to disguise the blitz and flood the secondary with defensive backs making the run game beat them. Their best running back is out, so turn the tables and make Phillip Rivers gamble through the air. We can win the turnover battle which will win us the game.”

After several minutes which seemed like hours listening to them argue about this weeks game, I put the phone down and took a nap. Twenty minutes later, I awaken to the sound of crashing noises and unfiltered words which was my que to hang up. They were at it again, you can take the boys out of the country but not the country out of the boys.

That’s it for this weeks everything Black n’ Gold and as you see everybody has an opinion, if the Steelers do all that has been suggested, then they will De-charge those fast charging Chargers. Here we go Steelers, here we go!