Steelers-Giants: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

If Mineo’s is the good, the bad would then probably be Little Caesars, and the ugly a Lunchable’s pizza. Now that we’ve got that out of the way and lost a few pizza endorsements, let's break the Steelers down the same way.

If you know he’s on TikTok that frequently maybe you’re the one spending too much time on TikTok. 

Let me remind you that he is 23 years old. A year younger than Steleers WR’s Diontae Johnson and James Washington. 

And in 2018, when Ben was fully healthy, he was the team MVP at the age of 21 - catching 111 passes for 1,426 yds and seven scores. 

Now that Roethlisberger is back he looked for 19 all night last night. And JuJu found paydirt twice. 

A wise man once said, if you don’t want me dancing after a touchdown then don’t let me in the endzone. Keep dancing JuJu, because the arrow is pointing way back up.

Ben & Benny 

It wasn’t Benny and the Jets but it was close. Benny pounding the Giants was the theme music for all of Monday Night Football.

Obviously, Roethlisberer looking comfortable and posting a 117.8 Quarterback rating in his first game in almost an entire year is very significant. But I think the emergence of second year running back Benny Snell is almost as impactful. 

I know I sound like a broken record but for the Steelers and Roethlisberger to be sucessful this year they need to keep their 38 year old QB upright. The best way to do that is with a stout rushing attack.

Snell provided that and then some after James Conner exited the game early with an apparent ankle injury.

He looked decisive and deceptively fast while finishing the night with 19 carries for 113 yards - both career highs. 

If BBBBenny can continue to grow, then Ben and the Steelers will be in a great spot.

Specifically Bud Dupree. Bud could have been a contestant on America’s Got Talent because it appears he was shot out of a cannon. 

He was in the Giants backfield last night so often I thought he was literally going to take a handoff from Daniel Jones.

He and the front seven did a tremendous job at completely halting arguably the best back in football in Saquon Barkley. From the New York Times - since 1970, only five other NFL RB’s have run for fewer than 10 yards on at least 15 carries. Barkley joined that group last night thanks to a tenacious Steel curtain.

Not a great showing last night by Danny Smith’s unit. If you’re noticing the special teams at all it generally is a bad thing. 

By now you know Diontae Johnson muffed a punt in the 1st quarter that led to the first-score of the game - a Giants field goal. He looked wildly uncomfortable fielding punts early, which had Ryan Switzer stan’s screaming at their televisions. Can’t have it.

Chris Boswell also wasn’t superb. He didn’t miss an extra point the entire 2019 season - the only kicker in the league to do that. So naturally, he misses one in the first game of 2020. He also had a kickoff out of bounds. Can’t have that either. 

These are items that can lose good football teams games in critical junctures. I will be keeping a close eye on this unit next week against Denver.

I’m re-wording the headline from “the ugly,", to the just downright unfortunate. And it starts with running back James Conner - a guy we all had very high expectations for coming into a contract season.

The oft-injured Pitt product suffered an ankle injury in the 2nd quarter and didn’t see the field the rest of the evening. Prior to that he looked like he was running in quicksand, compiling six carries for just nine total yards.

Nobody is saying Conner isn’t a great person. Or an amazing bounce-back story. We are all rooting like crazy for the guy.

But at this point he’s becoming a liability. When Mike Tomlin publicly states the week of game-day that you are his “bellcow”, and you fail to make it out of the 2nd quarter in the first game - that’s a problem.

It may not be his fault.

But the Steelers need to now think about addressing the position once more because it appears the chances are higher that Conner can’t be your bell-cow. And if that’s the case you need support behind Snell.

Newly signed Guard/Tackle Stefan Wisniewski suffered a torn pec that will likely land him on IR. 

And Zach Banner left late in the fourth quarter after a non-contact knee injury. He had just won the starting RT job and Pittsburgh had fallen in love with the journeyman due to his presence on social reform and his tackle-eligibility status. 

Seeing him cry on the sidelines knowing that the injury is likely detrimental was a heartbreaking end to a great night of football.

Some young players such as Chuks Okorafor and rookie Kevin Dotson will have to step up in their absence - and David DeCastro needs to get healthy soon.

It won’t surprise me if the Steelers hold DeCastro out one more week just to be cautious. But if that happens keep your phone nearby as you may be called to step in at tackle or guard when the team takes the field for the first time at Heinz Field next Sunday.