Steelers Week 12 Reaction

 Lol. The big night for Lohensports absolutely did not disappoint last night! Scottie Barnes' return has now launched me back into believe mode for the Raptors, not that I ever left. The Steelers lost to the Browns, which is disappointing. When the Raps win and Steelers lose on the same day, you can guess that I'm having less fun talking about the Steelers. That being said, the game had so much that I should talk about so buckle up for the second Steelers reaction post of the week, this one with a much more salty tone. 

Illegal Attempt To Catch The Ball

I have never seen this penalty called in my nearly 20 years of watching football, but it saved the game for the Browns. With the ball on the Steelers 30 and 2 minutes to go, the Browns had a 3rd and 2 down 1 point. It should be noted, and I will get into that later too, that at this point the field was covered in snow as an actual blizzard swept through Cleveland. Kicking a field goal in these conditions wasn't going to be easy, so the Browns were looking to get some more yards  to improve their chances. Jameis Winston dropped back to pass and was immediately hit by pressure, he rolled back 10 yards and threw the ball to his offensive line with no receiver in sight. The ball didn't travel past the line of scrimmage. At this point, I am up celebrating thinking the Steelers just forced an intentional grounding penalty which would force a 4th and about 15 from the 40 yard line, a do or die possession on 4th and long. Instead the refs gather for a long meeting and emerge to call an illegal attempt to catch the ball on the Browns, 5 yard penalty, repeat 3rd down. The Browns lineman tried to catch the pass that Winston threw, which apparently negates the intentional grounding call and instead makes a much more gratuitous call for the offense. Mike Tomlin initially declined the penalty opting to have Cleveland try a 4th and 2, then the Browns ran their offense out there and Tomlin last minute decided to accept the penalty sending the Browns back 5 yards to try a 3rd and 7. In the confusion, the Steelers had too many men on the field which forced them to take their second timeout at a crucial moment, despite the clock being stopped already. FINALLY the Browns lined up to take their 3rd and 7 snap, converted the first down and managed to march the rest of the way down the field to score a TD with 57 seconds on the clock. More time would have been on the clock if the Steelers hadn't had to use their timeout in the confusing play earlier. Ultimately, a 6 point deficit was too much to overcome and the Browns took the victory. 

Holy shit though! In a game with already a bunch of crazy factors, a very weird penalty saved the Browns drive and brought them to victory. This is the issue with playing in tight games all the time, sometimes random stuff just happens in football and 1 play can change the entire game when you don't have a big lead. It was hard to be too mad in the moment, I just had to laugh. 

Weather

Before I get into the rest of the game, it has to be noted how sick this game was to watch with all the snow. The forecast called for rain, snow and wind all night, but the game started off fairly mild. Through the first half and 9 minutes, the field was completely clear and conditions looked more or less normal. Then around the 6 minute mark of the 3rd quarter, the snow came down all at once. It was snowing so much that you could barely see the game on TV. This made for a super fun dynamic in game and I always love when external factors force coaches to make different decisions than they usually would. If the field was clear, I bet Tomlin declines that penalty and the Browns line up for a ~45 yard field goal attempt to take the lead. The Steelers likely get the ball back with about 2 minutes and 2 timeouts only needing a FG to reclaim the game. Instead you get bolder decisions and the Steelers are worse off for it. Gotta love football!

 The Famous Jameis Experience

We got Jameis Winston on full display last night and it was pretty glorious to watch. After playing pretty well in a rock fight with the Steelers up until the 4th quarter, Winston threw a massive TD to go up 16-6, then went for 2 and converted that to get up 18-6 forcing the Steelers to score 2 TDs in 1 quarter to come back. The ensuing drive the Steelers managed to march down the field and score a TD to make it 18-13. The Browns got the ball back and almost immediately Winston was strip sacked from his blindside by Nick Herbig, the Steelers recovered the fumble and immediately scored another TD. After a failed 2 point conversion attempt the Steelers were up 19-18. Winston got the ball back and made one of the most incredible passes you'll ever see a QB make. Under heavy pressure, Winston escaped the pocket, ran all the way to the sideline, threw across his body on the run on an absolute dime to a well covered receiver who made the catch for a 30 yard gain to get them close to field goal range. It was the type of jaw dropping play you see from Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. Then just a play or two later, in a clean pocket with no pressure Winston throws a terrible pass into double coverage that's picked off by the Steelers, Steelers ball with 4 minutes left. All the Steelers needed to do was get a couple first downs to ice the game, they couldn't manage that and the ball was going back to Winston for a chance at redemption. The rest was covered in my first paragraph. 

Overall, Winston might be the most fun QB in the league to watch if you're a neutral fan. You know on every play you're pretty much going to get the best play you've seen in your life or the worst and there's no in between. With the Steelers having a bunch of miscues of their own last night, what Jameis did was more than enough to come away with the W. 

Lackluster Offense

That first half was really ugly for the Steelers and I am glad that I had a Raptors game on simultaneously to distract me from that rock fight. The Steelers turned the ball over, couldn't get anything going on offense and failed to convert opportunities into TDs when they got to the red zone. Short week against a division rival in a game with bad weather coming off beating an even better division rival in a nice upset, this one had all the ingredients of a trap game. The Steelers unfortunately fell victim to that and despite having a chance to win at the end, couldn't overcome their very shaky first half. 

The one saving grace for the Steelers offense was the mixing and matching with Justin Fields and Russell Wilson. Fields saw more playing time today and in more situations than last game to change the pace and confuse the defense. Late in the 4th quarter Fields was able to bust off a 30 yard QB run to give the Steelers life which ultimately led to a TD. I am excited by the fact that they're getting creative with their QB room, gives opposing teams one more thing to think about when facing the Steelers. 

Overall, really fun game! You could practically taste the trap game before this one begun and I think it's classic that it ended like this. The Steelers do have to be disappointed in this one though the schedule gets tougher from here. There is going to be a real test to see if this Steelers team is for real. Despite the loss, they still sit atop the division with another game to play against the only threat in Baltimore. I think this is one that you shake-off and come back next week well rested and ready to execute from the first snap! Go Steelers.