Steelers 6-2 at Midseason • Watt Through His Mother’S Eyes
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INSIDE: Steelers 6-2 at midseason • Watt through his mother’s eyes äÇ ä Ç{{Çä ÇÈÇnä ä FROM THE EDITOR | BOB LABRIOLA Steelers look like complete team DETROIT — This was the kind of game they have lost in the past. A game on the road, against a middling oppo- nent, coming on the heels of a couple of significant victories against teams they either were trying to catch in the standings, or were established rivals, or both. They either weren’t good enough, or deep enough, or mature enough to do what was neces- sary to prevail in those kinds of situations. But on this day in Detroit, they were. They were Rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster played a starring good enough, deep enough, mature enough, role on a night when the Steelers needed resilient enough to get out of Ford Field with a 20- contributions from all parts of their roster. 15 victory over the Lions that sent them into their Digest Photo/TAYLOR OLLASON bye with a 6-2 record at the midway point of the 2017 regular season. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t pretty, and as this group of Steelers takes stock in themselves individ- ually and as parts of units during this week off, they will find plenty to improve upon, plenty they will have to improve upon to end up being what they want to be once February rolls around. Those areas are some of the same ones that have dogged them since this all started back on Sept. 10. Red zone offense might be chief among those. The Steelers arrived here for this game ranked 30th in the league after converting only 42.3 percent of The Steelers defense may have allowed 482 this roster, but what also was on display was a their 26 red zone possessions into touchdowns, total net yards, but the Lions never crossed the maturity to fight through some of the issues that and it’s doubtful that ranking improved much after goal line in five trips into the red zone, and they had tipped the balance against them in similar they were 1-for-3 against the Lions. That this also were 0-for-3 in goal-to-go situations with one games like this in the recent past. The tendency can offense could be so bad at scoring touchdowns of those possessions ending with a sack by Tyson be to blame losses in games like this to lapses in with the talent it is able to put onto the field at the Alualu on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. preparation, to failures of coaches to treat these positions that typically are responsible for getting Le’Veon Bell was held under 80 yards rushing, opponents as seriously as others. the ball into the end zone defies explanation. Antonio Brown had only 70 yards receiving, and The reality is that there is no difference in prepa- There are theories, of course, but they’re only Martavis Bryant was inactive, but picking up the ration. Practices and meetings are just as thorough, theories. Maybe Vance McDonald becomes the slack were JuJu Smith-Schuster, with seven catches attention to detail is preached just as intensely, mis- blocking/receiving tight end who’s critical in that for 193 yards, including a 97-yard touchdown, and takes are identified and corrections are attempted. area of the field, the kind of tight end the Steelers Jesse James, who had two timely catches for 42 Mike Tyson always claimed that everyone has a haven’t had since Heath Miller retired. Maybe there total yards. plan until they get punched in the mouth, and the has been too much energy expended on making One of the things Mike Tomlin said about this maturity these Steelers seem to be developing the perfect play-call. Maybe things need to be sim- group all the way back in mid-August was that it comes in the ability to take a punch and not lose plified to enhance the possibility of better execu- would be a team in development into the regular their sense of purpose. tion. Or maybe it’s just a matter of a receiver who’s season, and that development progressed nicely A dropped pass in the end zone on the game’s wide open in the end zone catching the ball when over the first half of the schedule. There used to be opening series is only a setback instead of a death it hits him in the hands, which is what Eli Rogers a specific recipe the Steelers would follow to lose knell. Giving up chunks of yardage doesn’t neces- didn’t do on the game’s opening possession the kind of game they won here, and it involved red sarily lead to points allowed. Bad red zone offense against Detroit. zone failures plus some turnovers plus some can be mitigated by good red zone defense. A pos- Matthew Stafford passed for 423 yards, and the untimely defensive lapses plus the stars not playing itive outcome in a particular game doesn’t have to Lions consistently were able to exploit the area of like stars. be traced back to the performances of a few select the field down the sidelines in between the corner- But while this group experienced all of those individuals and only those select individuals. back and the safety. Maybe that gets fixed by allow- things to varying degrees against the Lions, it also The 2017 Steelers are at the midway point of ing cornerbacks Artie Burns and Joe Haden to play compensated by getting some star-caliber contri- their season, and at 6-2 they are in control of their more man-to-man, but in the meantime the Steelers butions from other individuals and with units mak- division and sit atop the AFC, but even more signif- mitigated the damage by being extremely stingy on ing up for lapses in one area with excellence in icant is that despite their imperfections they are possession downs, with the Lions converting only 2 another. more of a complete team now than they were eight of 14 third- and fourth-down situations. Certainly that speaks to the depth and talent of weeks ago. STEELERS DIGEST • 3 ON THE COVER VOLUME 30 • NUMBER 7 (679) Rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster gets away from the Detroit defense on his way to a franchise-record 97-yard touch- NOVEMBER 18, 2017 • $4.95 | down reception in the 20-15 victory against the Lions. INSIDE Cover Photo/KARL ROSER STORY LINES 7 Steelers-Lions game coverage 15 Steelers-Bengals game coverage 23 Breaking down the Bryant issue 24 T.J. Watt: A family affair VOICES 3 Bob Labriola 5 Coach Mike Tomlin 21 Just My Opinion DEPARTMENTS 31 Steelers Stuff 33 Steelers roster 35 Community Spotlight 38 Coming Up NEXT ISSUE The next issue of Steelers Digest will be print- ed Nov. 20 and will include complete recaps of the games against the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans as well as analysis on all the lat- est developments involving the team. THOMAS N. CURTIS, Publisher ANDREW E. COHEN, Managing Editor BOB LABRIOLA, Editor ARMANDO MATO, Creative Director ALAIN POUPART, Associate Editor JIM WEXELL, Associate Editor TERESA VARLEY, Assistant Editor KARL ROSER, Photographer BILL DALEY, Design & Composition ANNE MARIE FLORENCE, Customer Service STEELERS DIGEST subscription information 1-800-334-4005. STEELERS DIGEST is a member of the Professional Football Publishers Association. STEELERS DIGEST (USPS 003-803) (ISSN 1044-2855) is pub- lished twice a month Sept. through Dec., Monthly Feb., April/May, July and August by Steelers Digest, J.V., at 53 Curtiss Parkway, Miami Springs, FL 33166, (305) 594-0508. Periodicals postage paid Miami, Florida and additional mailing offices. Annual subscription rate in USA 12 issues/$49.95. Newsstand rate of $4.95 per issue. Reproduction in whole or in part prohibited without permission from the publisher. POSTMASTER: Send Address changes to STEELERS DIGEST, P.O. Box 526600, Miami, FL 33152-6600. WATT’S UP: Rookie T.J. Watt has had plenty to celebrate during his rookie season with the Steelers, and his journey to STEELERS DIGEST is the official magazine of the Pittsburgh the NFL probably wouldn’t have happened without the support of his family. See story, page 24. Digest Photo/TAYLOR OLLASON Steelers, and is published by Curtis Publishing Company. COACH’S CORNER | MIKE TOMLIN Breaking down the Detroit victory, and thoughts on the defense and Le’Veon Bell Man, anytime you get an opportunity to come from behind in a hostile environment and you get it done, you’re happy and excit- Le’Veon Bell is a unique athlete who can handle a ed about it. It’s a growth opportunity and heavy workload, but the Steelers also have to make sure he doesn’t become overworked. hopefully if we move forward, we can use tonight’s experience in that way. Digest Photo/KARL ROSER I can’t say enough about the effort. We weren’t perfect, obviously, but, boy, we showed fight, resiliency, individually and col- Q. Whenever any of your coaches lectively. The guys just made the necessary is asked about monitoring plays. They uplifted one another. We had sig- Le’Veon Bell’s carries, they nificant red zone stops on defense. When we always pass the buck to you and needed it most on offense, we had that enor- say it’s your call. What are the mous play on third down to JuJu (Smith- things you would consider in Schuster). Guys just really ate it up and deciding if a player like Le’Veon kicked in, in all three phases.