GOOD
It wasn't all good on Sunday night but most of it was. The offense continued to click on all cylinders. QB Ben Roethlisberger was 24 for 39 for 364 yards with 4 TDs and 0 interceptions. WR Martavis Bryant continues to blossom. He hauled in 4 passes for 114 yards and 1 TD. The offensive line only gave up 1 sack but it was negated by a penalty.
The defense put last week's debacle in Seattle in the rear view mirror. They held Indy to just 10 points, allowed only 2 of 10 3rd down conversions, recorded 5 sacks, 2 interceptions and a fumble recovery. LB James Harrison found the fountain of youth with 3 sacks and 2 TFLs. Little-used CB Brandon Boykin showed why he should be in the lineup, picking off his first INT of the season.
But Mrs. Black-N-Gold is going to give "The Good" to RB De Angelo Williams. The 32-year old came to the Steelers as a free agent pick up in the offseason with a tag as injury-prone. He's been anything but, picking up the workload for the suspended, then injured L Bell. The O-Line gets credit, too, clearing the way for DWill on 26 rushes for 134 yards. This guy is a great teammate, a great citizen and a great pick up for our Steelers.
BAD
This week, Mrs. Black-N-Gold is going to switch things up a bit. Usually "The Bad" is something awful that occurred during the game, be it a play, a penalty or some other type of boner by The Black-N-Gold. Not this week. To paraphrase those great American poets Run-DMC, this week it's not "bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good" Actually, it's "great". WR Antonio Brown is, hands-down, the best WR in the friggin' world. Yes, he was relatively quite vs Richard Sherman in Seattle. This week AB was his usual badda$$ self. He caught 8 passes for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns. And filling in on punt return for the ineffective and soon-to-be unemployed Jacoby Jones, AB took one 71 yards to the house. To top it off he celebrated by dry-humping the goalpost. Not the most mature of moves, to be sure, especially when it was flagged 15 yards. But when that happens late in a game on the way to a 45-10 win, Mrs. Black-N-Gold is able to laugh and look the other way. What can't Brown do for you?
UGLY
It's time to pile on the not-so-special teams and most certainly the aforementioned, better-update-his-resume Jones. At one point in his career, Jones was one of the premier return men in the game. Not any more. You can't return something that you can't hold onto. His fumble on the opening kickoff could have cost the Steelers dearly. And just for good measure, he nearly tried to give it away again on a muffed punt return. This isn't the first time this has occurred but let it be the last. Mrs. Black-N-Gold never thought she'd type these words but maybe it's time to call Dri Archer again. Apart from K Chris Boswell (Boz is boss!), the special teams suck. There's really no other way to put it. They continuously give up way too much field position on returns. A prime example was a 60-yard kickoff return by Indy. The special teams needs to hold up their end of the bargain. The offense and defense can't do it all. If they don't, it could get very, very ugly.
Sunday's win helps put the Steelers back in the playoff picture but nothing is etched in stone. Next week, they're on the road to Cincy to exact some revenge for the loss earlier in the season. Cincy has run away with the AFC North and stands at 10-2 with Sunday's win over the Clowns. The Baltimorons fell to 4-8 with their latest loss. And speaking of the Clowns, they're bringing up their rear with their loss to fall to 2-10. Time to keep stacking wins and improve on that playoff position. Let's Go Steelers!!!!!!
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