Week 8 vs. Raiders – Oh no! We suck again!

The most historic franchise in the NFL marked their names in the record book again this week. Only this time it was on the wrong side of a record setting 93 yard quarterback touchdown run by the Oakland Raiders’ Terrelle Pryor. That was the opening play of the game, and things didn’t get better for the Steelers from there.

*sigh* The Steelers went to Oakland for Sunday’s game with a 2 game winning streak in hand and the possibility of climbing closer to .500 on the horizon. Hopes were high that the team had put the 4 straight losses that started the season behind them. Instead, the Steelers left California with a 2-5 record, placing them last in the division behind the Browns. THE BROWNS! Oh no! We suck again!

The big issues were the standard ailments that have plagued the Gold and Black most of the season: injuries and turnovers. This week, however, tossed in another wrench: kicking.  The injuries on the front line are catastrophic, with both the starting and backup Left Guards going down and the “he’s-been-injured-more-than-he-plays-draft-pick” Right Guard David DeCastro getting injured as well. This caused the running game to suffer tremendously, gaining only 35 yards. This led to Big Ben having to throw the ball nearly 50 times while taking 5 sacks in the process. Roethlisberger also threw two interceptions, one that was extremely questionable.

Now onto the new problem that has arisen. The punting and kicking were terrible against the Raiders! Shaun Suisham was great so far this season at a perfect 14/14. He missed 2 crucial field goals that truly could have changed the game considering that it finished 21-18 in Oakland’s favor. There was talk that the holder, and punter, Zoltan Mesko mishandled the 2 snaps that led to the Suisham misses. Mesko also had one of his own punts deflected, giving the Raiders good field position in a tight game. Those mistakes cost the team a win and Mesko his job because earlier today, the Steelers waived Mesko and picked up another punter, Mat McBriar. Will this be enough to cleanse the team and make sure that they don’t slide into another 4 game losing streak? I sure hope so because the Steelers travel to New England this week to face Brady and the Patriots on Sunday and they will make the Steelers pay for any mistake.

Week 7 vs. Ravens Recap

The Steelers won another scrappy match up against their Division Rivals, the Baltimore Ravens, this past week for their 2nd win of the season. The final score was 19-16 and it was won on a last second 42-yard field goal by Steelers place kicker Shaun Suisham, who is a perfect 14/14 so far this season. Troy Polamalu landed a HUGE hit on Tandon Doss, who somehow still managed to secure the catch, in the fourth quarter. Troy also made a spectacular leaping play on the PAT attempt that almost prevented the Ravens from tying the game but he mis-timed the snap by a split second and was called offsides instead (Link to a gif of the play: http://cdn1.sbnation.com/assets/3425613/polamaloops_medium.gif).

With less than 2 minutes remaining, Big Ben led the Steelers down the field to put them in position for a field goal from Suisham that won the game as time expired. Ben was able to connect on some long passes with receivers Antonio Brown and Jerricho Cotchery in order to march down the field during that last drive. Linebacker Lawrence Timmons played most of the second half with a broken hand, but still tallied 17 tackles in the victory. He has received a cast on his arm and will play in Week 8 at Oakland. Rookie linebacker Jarvis Jones sat out Week 7 after suffering a concussion in Week 6, he will also return next week to play the Raiders.

Le’Veon Bell, the rookie running back, had a really impressive game against a tough Ravens defense. He totaled 93 rushing yards on 19 attempts. This was his highest yardage total in his only 3 NFL games played so far. Bell showed signs of brilliance during the game this week by making quick cuts and hitting the correct holes to bust out some nice gains. Le’Veon should continue is upward progression as the season continues and he should perform well against the Oakland Raiders this week.

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