Week 2 NFL: Bills Go for State Championship of either New York or New Jersey

Part of that was the big plays the defense made in the first half. Those things, the sacks and the forced fumble, were earned.

Did you see the fumble Watt forced? The defender deserves the credit on that one. The second fumble, and the one interception of Rudolph, were both gifts and one went each way.

 

They have a terrible defense, a quarterback making his first NFL start next week, a weak receiving corps after Smith-Schuster and they still don't know Conner's status. The Steelers are a very bad team right now.

 

Yes, OOP I saw it. Again, the game was closer than it should have been. Look at the yards and time of possession.

 

They still have the best O-line in football and they have been getting to the QB. They'll be mediocre all year, but I'd stop short of calling them very bad. The Dolphins and Bengals are very bad. The Steelers will beat most of the teams they should, lose every game they're expected to (Ravens twice, Rams, Chargers, and probably finish like 8-8.

 

Turnovers and other big plays, such as sacks, can be equalizers in such situations. More than once in the first half, the Seahawks had a drive going only to have it blown up by a sack.

Honestly, all I was really disputing was the idea that both fumbles were gifts. The second one was just a sloppy play by Carson. The first was a heck of a play by Watt.

You can argue about gifts both ways. The Seahawks would have faced a third-and-20 if not for the pass interference call they got on replay. It was technically correct, but easily could have gone the other way. In addition to getting a first down the offense would have been unlikely to convert, they gained 38 yards on the penalty.

That said, the Seahawks were definitely the better team. Wilson was great and their defense can actually tackle. Time and again, missed tackles gave the Seahawks big gains. Penny's 37-yard touchdown run was the worst example. The outside linebacker, Chickillo, came in unblocked for what should have been a loss that would have forced a long field goal attempt. He whiffed completely and Penny took great advantage. Throw in idiocy like roughing the long snapper on a field goal, which led to the Seahawks only touchdown in the first half, and you see the source of the argument that the Steelers blew it.

 

With Roethlisberger, that would be a fair assessment. Without him, it is very optimistic.

 

That's so Jets

 

Dude, I got tickets to that Rams game in Pitt on Veterans Day weekend. I have to be optimistic or I might as well light my wallet on fire

 

Honestly, I think the Steelers will finish as well or better with Rudolph than with what Roethlisberger brings now.

 

There really isn't much fact to support this opinion. For all his flaws, Roethlisberger was damn good last season. A healthy Roethlisberger would have been a much better bet than an unknown like Rudolph. Keep in mind that Roethlisberger apparently first hurt the elbow during the opener, so I'm not sure how much we saw him healthy this season.

Of course, the league office is going to make things worse by investigating the Steelers for not having Roethlisberger on the injury report even though he went through his normal work week leading up to the game.

 

At least it won't ruin that game for you when the league strips the Steelers of a draft pick for not listing Roethlisberger on the injury report for the Seattle game.

 

In my memory, I didn't think Roethlisberger was -that- great last year... But then I look at his stats, and man, they do look really, really good. It would have been interesting to see them this year, without (possibly) the best receiver in football, but yeah, his TD percentage, yards per attempt, INT percentage... They're all very good, and he wasn't showing signs of slippage from year to year.

re: The joke about the Steelers tanking, obviously they aren't going to do that. But the silver lining or "bright side" thing to this is that maybe Rudolph shows you something this year, and then you have options going forward. Roethlisberger will be 38 next year, and it's the NFL, so it wouldn't be unheard of for the Steelers to move him for something. Orrrr, they can trade Rudolph if they like that haul better.