Antwon Blake wraps up the Falcons’ Roddy White during the Steelers’ victory Sunday in Atlanta. — GETTY
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
ATLANTA — One last look at the Steelers’ last game …
• The collective pass coverage of Brice McCain and Antwon Blake in the 27-20 victory over the Falcons Sunday won’t make anyone forget Mel Blount, but it was plenty good enough that they should hold onto their starting positions even if Ike Taylor regains health.
And it actually isn’t a tough call, emotions aside.
McCain took 59 of the 60 defensive snaps and was targeted four times for three catches and 58 yards, including a long of 41 by Harry Douglas. The way most of us watch football, that’s lousy. We remember what we see. But what should speak volumes here is that Matt Ryan threw 37 passes, and only four of those were aimed at the starting corner. What’s more, one of those four targets came when McCain smartly followed running back Steven Jackson.
To repeat for emphasis: McCain and Willie Gay must be the starters Sunday against the Chiefs.
Blake’s numbers weren’t great: He was targeted nine times for seven catches, 67 yards and both of Ryan’s touchdowns. He was beaten cleanly by Devin Hester for a 17-yard TD, by Roddy White for a 4-yard TD. But it seems only fair to give Blake the benefit of the doubt, as he’s had such limited time with the regular defense.
Also, another figure should stand out: Out of the five non-TD catches, receivers gained only 20 additional yards after the catch. That’s because Blake is a terrific tackler. Sometimes nasty, too. My goodness, could the Steelers use someone like that in the secondary, if only to keep opposing receivers from looking as comfortable as they’ve looked for … oh, two years now.
“Our corners did the job, man,” Lawrence Timmons said. “Give it up for our corners.”
Better yet, let them keep their jobs. Now is no time for sentiment.
• For the record: The Steelers will make the playoffs if they beat the Chiefs. No other help needed.
• Marcus Gilbert was a healthy scratch. No need to mince words there. Mike Tomlin hemmed and hawed over why Gilbert, after a full week of practice, wasn’t even activated Sunday, but there’s no way to interpret that as anything other than a benching.
Whatever it was, point made. Move on.
Mike Adams, Gilbert’s replacement, gave up the Steelers’ only sack allowed — and looked sadly lost in doing so — and did nothing to help the running game. In fact, Adams’ ineffectiveness in the run game afforded the Falcons the ability to stack their defense against the left side of the offense, the one where Le’Veon Bell devastated the Bengals the previous week. Hence, Bell’s 47 yards rushing.
That can’t happen again. Gilbert ranks seventh among all NFL right tackles in overall blocking, according to Pro Football Focus, and this after two awful games to open the season.
• Cam Heyward is the Steelers’ defensive MVP for 2014, and it isn’t even a debate. Again Sunday, he graded far higher than anyone — his 4.3 grade from PFF nearly double that of Willie Gay’s second-best 2.5 — with a QB hit, three hurries, a batted pass and three tackles.
Some guys take longer than others. This one was worth the wait.
• Heyward is rapidly emerging as the leader of the defense’s younger players, but there’s also, in general, a neat bond being formed among all of them.
The video below isn’t exceptional in content, but I saved it for you so you could see how Jarvis Jones jumped in to a question I had for Vince Williams, followed by both kind of carrying on the discussion:
• Highest-graded offensive player? David DeCastro at 4.0.
Starting to look like a breakthrough, isn’t it?
• Enough already with the Troy Polamalu blitzes. It isn’t 2005 anymore. He rushed the passer eight times out of his 57 snaps, produced nothing. Only 31 snaps were spent in coverage. For the season, out of 42 times Polamalu has rushed the passer, he has one sack, two QB hits, three hurries.
A team so lacking in coverage can’t afford this luxury, especially when it’s rooted in a long-gone reality.
• Speaking of reality, the Steelers got off scot-free on their red-zone scorecard by stalling at the Atlanta 20 on their first two drives and settling for Shaun Suisham field goals. A red-zone possession is only counted once inside the 20. So for our own purposes, let’s stretch it back to the 25: The Steelers ran eight total plays from the 25 or closer, and one was a pass into the end zone, an incompletion toward Martavis Bryant. Two others were touchdown runs for Bell.
No secret what needs to improve here.
• Mike Mitchell spoke of this game representing “our second week of playoffs,” a clear reference to internal chatter about running the table with four wins to finish the season. That’s been their stated goal since the loss to the Saints: Win every game, and win the AFC North.
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by Dejan Kovacevic • Coverage • Steelers
Antwon Blake wraps up the Falcons’ Roddy White during the Steelers’ victory Sunday in Atlanta. — GETTY
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
ATLANTA — One last look at the Steelers’ last game …
• The collective pass coverage of Brice McCain and Antwon Blake in the 27-20 victory over the Falcons Sunday won’t make anyone forget Mel Blount, but it was plenty good enough that they should hold onto their starting positions even if Ike Taylor regains health.
And it actually isn’t a tough call, emotions aside.
McCain took 59 of the 60 defensive snaps and was targeted four times for three catches and 58 yards, including a long of 41 by Harry Douglas. The way most of us watch football, that’s lousy. We remember what we see. But what should speak volumes here is that Matt Ryan threw 37 passes, and only four of those were aimed at the starting corner. What’s more, one of those four targets came when McCain smartly followed running back Steven Jackson.
To repeat for emphasis: McCain and Willie Gay must be the starters Sunday against the Chiefs.
Blake’s numbers weren’t great: He was targeted nine times for seven catches, 67 yards and both of Ryan’s touchdowns. He was beaten cleanly by Devin Hester for a 17-yard TD, by Roddy White for a 4-yard TD. But it seems only fair to give Blake the benefit of the doubt, as he’s had such limited time with the regular defense.
Also, another figure should stand out: Out of the five non-TD catches, receivers gained only 20 additional yards after the catch. That’s because Blake is a terrific tackler. Sometimes nasty, too. My goodness, could the Steelers use someone like that in the secondary, if only to keep opposing receivers from looking as comfortable as they’ve looked for … oh, two years now.
“Our corners did the job, man,” Lawrence Timmons said. “Give it up for our corners.”
Better yet, let them keep their jobs. Now is no time for sentiment.
• For the record: The Steelers will make the playoffs if they beat the Chiefs. No other help needed.
• Marcus Gilbert was a healthy scratch. No need to mince words there. Mike Tomlin hemmed and hawed over why Gilbert, after a full week of practice, wasn’t even activated Sunday, but there’s no way to interpret that as anything other than a benching.
Whatever it was, point made. Move on.
Mike Adams, Gilbert’s replacement, gave up the Steelers’ only sack allowed — and looked sadly lost in doing so — and did nothing to help the running game. In fact, Adams’ ineffectiveness in the run game afforded the Falcons the ability to stack their defense against the left side of the offense, the one where Le’Veon Bell devastated the Bengals the previous week. Hence, Bell’s 47 yards rushing.
That can’t happen again. Gilbert ranks seventh among all NFL right tackles in overall blocking, according to Pro Football Focus, and this after two awful games to open the season.
• Cam Heyward is the Steelers’ defensive MVP for 2014, and it isn’t even a debate. Again Sunday, he graded far higher than anyone — his 4.3 grade from PFF nearly double that of Willie Gay’s second-best 2.5 — with a QB hit, three hurries, a batted pass and three tackles.
Some guys take longer than others. This one was worth the wait.
• Heyward is rapidly emerging as the leader of the defense’s younger players, but there’s also, in general, a neat bond being formed among all of them.
The video below isn’t exceptional in content, but I saved it for you so you could see how Jarvis Jones jumped in to a question I had for Vince Williams, followed by both kind of carrying on the discussion:
• Highest-graded offensive player? David DeCastro at 4.0.
Starting to look like a breakthrough, isn’t it?
• Enough already with the Troy Polamalu blitzes. It isn’t 2005 anymore. He rushed the passer eight times out of his 57 snaps, produced nothing. Only 31 snaps were spent in coverage. For the season, out of 42 times Polamalu has rushed the passer, he has one sack, two QB hits, three hurries.
A team so lacking in coverage can’t afford this luxury, especially when it’s rooted in a long-gone reality.
• Speaking of reality, the Steelers got off scot-free on their red-zone scorecard by stalling at the Atlanta 20 on their first two drives and settling for Shaun Suisham field goals. A red-zone possession is only counted once inside the 20. So for our own purposes, let’s stretch it back to the 25: The Steelers ran eight total plays from the 25 or closer, and one was a pass into the end zone, an incompletion toward Martavis Bryant. Two others were touchdown runs for Bell.
No secret what needs to improve here.
• Mike Mitchell spoke of this game representing “our second week of playoffs,” a clear reference to internal chatter about running the table with four wins to finish the season. That’s been their stated goal since the loss to the Saints: Win every game, and win the AFC North.
Two to go.