Steelerfury.com Report Card Week 4: San Diego Chargers

Steelerfury.com Report Card Week 4:  San Diego Chargers

The stage was set.  Throwback gear,  primetime game in the ‘burgh,  sellout crowd.  The recipe Steeler fans have grown to love since the 38-7 beatdown of Baltimore a few years ago under the same circumstances.  The offense was ready,  the coaches were prepared,  and with a commanding 28 point lead,  everyone started exiting the stadium at the end of the 3^rd quarter,  including the defense.

Mike Tomlin:  B

Mikey T. continues to get his boys ready for primetime in the ‘burgh and a shout out goes to him for keeping this team focused (enough) coming off back 2 back heartbreakers to even up their record at 2-2.  He entered without starting RB Willie Parker and showed the confidence in Rashard Mendenhall to give him the start just one week after benching him for a poor week of practice.  He approached this game with a “must win” attitude by showing enough confidence in his offense to go for a 4^th & 1 deep in minus territory and went back to his kicker to ice the game in a pressure packed situation after 3 misses the previous 2 weeks.

Offense: 

Nothing short of dominating.  If this unit can repeat the intensity it played with over the course of the season the Steelers are shoe-ins for a repeat.  Four drives in each half which resulted in 3 scoring drives apiece.  A ground and pound run attack that blew people off the ball and seemed to fix all the short yardage woes  - - for now.   Bruce Arians gameplan took the opening kickoff and went 79 yards in just 6 plays and 3 minutes to build a 7-0 lead and followed that up on their 2^nd drive with a commanding 11 play and 75 yard drive that netted another TD and a decisive 14-0 first QTR lead.  In total,  Arians offense amassed almost 500 yards and nearly doubled the “less than” Superchargers attack in yardage,  time of possession,  and plays run.  The formations and personnel packages to start the game worked nothing short of excellence with OG Doug Legursky checking in at FB on a goal line TD and a 4x1 WR package that left the Charger secondary scratching their heads.  And,  BA dug into his bag of tricks with a HB pass for a TD and what was supposed to result in a reverse pass stymied by a heady Charger secondary.

Quarteback:  A

26/33 – 333 yards – 2 TD – 1 INT – 128.9 QB rating – 78% CMP – 10.1 YPA

 Simply another dominating performance by QB Ben Roethlisberger.   He spread the ball around to 7 different receivers in the game and except for a kneel down at the end of each half didn’t lead a drive that lasted under 6 plays as the Steelers put their highest point total of the season on the board.  His passes were crisp and on target with good velocity as he continues to play the magician role by shaking off and escaping the rush.  He was guilty of holding the ball too long and taking a pair of back 2 back sacks that ended a drive,  but quickly regained his composure on the next drive leading another TD drive.

Running Back:  A+

Rush = 31/166 – 2 TD’s – Receiving = 5/57 –1 TD – Pass = 1/1 – 6 yards – 1 TD

 As Fast Willie Parker sits and misses more time,  incumbent Rashard Mendenhall stepped in and showed why the Steelers invested a 1^st RD pick in him by rushing for 165 yards on 29 carries and a pair of scores while ripping off several runs of 8 yards or more.  As dominating as his performance was,  his most impressive showing may have come in blitz pickup where he made no mistakes and drilled Stephen Cooper on a blitz knocking the wind out of him and out of the game.  Mewelde Moore chipped in on 3^rd downs with some key grabs and even threw a touchdown pass to Heath Miller on a beautifully set up HB pass

Wide Receiver:  B+

14/202 – 0 TD

 While still being plagued a little by drops, the WR corps showed up big once again while the starters are beginning gel nicely with rookie Mike Wallace as he and Ben find some chemistry together.  Hines Ward topped the 100 yard mark again as the crafty vet still finds ways to find openings in zone.  The effective use of bunch and stacked sets allows him free release to work the middle while the speedsters stretch the field.  Where this group came up big is all the downfield blocking allowing Mendenhall shake~n~bake in the secondary for his big day.

Tight End:  A+

8/70 – 2 TD’s

 While only being targeted 10 times as a group,  Heath Miller pulled in all 8 balls and a TD each from Ben Roethlisberger and Mewelde Moore.  Between Miller and Matt Spaeth,  their performance was nothing short of dominating in the run game setting edge on Charger LB’s Shawne Merrimen and Shaun Phillips. 

Offensive Line:  A+ -- 100% grade out

 Have my eyes deceived me?  Or is the Steeler OL playing like they’ve been there before.  Air tight pass pro and………dare I say it………MOVEMENT in the run game.  Every Steeler along the along the line recorded at least one pancake block on the night with surprising performances in every phase of the offense.  From Chris Kemo on search and destroy missions pulling right,  to Max Starks completely swallowing Shawne Merrimen in pass pro,  to Willie Colon blowing Luis Castillo 3 yards off the ball in the run game,  they looked impressive.  Justin Hartwig was able to get position on the backup NT at will while Trai Essex showed stones in the run game as well.  Its nice to see a goal line carry where all 5 OL end up in the endzone still engaged when the whistle blows.  I’ve said from day one of the ’08 season that if you fix the OL,  you fix the problem and that seems to be holding true right now.  Not many fans were happy with the lack of star talent acquisitions and the seemingly forced contract extensions up front,  but Kudos to the coaching staff for showing the patience in this unit to let them develop the chemistry needed to be effective.

Defense:  D

 While holding Norv Turner and Chargers scoreless in the first half,  they continued the 2009 trend of late game meltdowns by nearly squandering a 4 TD lead in the 4^th QTR allowing 3 Charger TD’s in the final 20 minutes.  Two of the scoring drives allowed a combined 121 yards in under 3 total minutes to put the Chargers back in the game.  They had no answer for Antonio Gates and resorted to dropping their best pass rusher 30 yards into coverage for reasons noone understands.  Luckily,  nothing will cure your problems on defense like upcoming games with Detroit and Cleveland.

 Defensive Line:  B-

 The Steeler front 3 isnt really known for or expected to be a unit that pressures the pocket,  and they kept that label alive Sunday night against Phillip Rivers.  Although Aaron Smith did record a sack,  the Steeler offense scored so quickly taking the run option away from Norv Turner where the Steeler DL excels.  They limited SD to just 2.0 YPC on just 8 attempts and did a decent job of sniffing out screens. 

Linebacker:  C

 Im going to give them a little benefit of the doubt in the fact that they kept the SD RB’s to just 1 reception each,  although they played a part in not being able to contain Antonio Gates.  The pass rush didn’t show up until late when San Diego was one dimensional and they were able to pin their ears back.  In 2008,  the Steelers would’ve notched 10 sacks in that situation.  This year,  its tough to even buy a sack. James Harrison did notch 2 sacks with a forced fumble,  but his counterpart Lamar Woodley continues to come up short.  I understand the way to pressure an immobile QB is up the middle to flush him out of the pocket,  but the bread and butter of that defense is perimeter pressure and after 4 games it isn’t showing up soon enough. 

Secondary:  F

 After last year,  it almost looked like the DB’s were becoming a strong point on this defense but its apparent they miss injured starter Troy Polamalu and free agent loss Bryant McFadden.  Ike Taylor had a decent game covering Vincent Jackson with 3 passes defensed,  but young Willie Gay continues to get picked on by opposing QB’s.  But the story here was the inability to control Antonio Gates as he took over the game for awhile late in the game with 9 catches for 124 yards and a pair of scores.  Troy should be back next week to hopefully help solve those matchup problems on TE’s. 

Special Teams:  D-

 When your in the news for a pair of game changing plays for the other team,  your not going to get high marks for that performance.  All world CFL PR/KR Stefan Logan continues to be unimpressive and notched his 2^nd fumble in 4 games,  only this one was returned for a touchdown by Jacob Hester.  Twenty yards per kick return and 9 yards per punt return wont make the coaching staff forget those mistakes easily as ball control remains an issue for the 5’7” – 185 lb Logan.  On top of that,  the decision to not go with the hands team with 5 minutes remaining and the Chargers mounting a comeback is beyond me.  Second year safety Ryan Mundy bobbled the onside kick and watched it go in for a Charger touchdown just 77 seconds later.  Punter Dan Sepluveda didn’t get much work on the day but did boom a 55 yarder while kicker Jeff Reed broke out of his slump with 5 XP and a game sealing 46 yarder with under a minute to play.