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Brian Batko's Steelers chat: 09.30.24
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Brian Batko
11:50
Hi everyone, let's get started a little early on our noon pm Steelers chat post-Colts, the first loss of the season. Vent away...
Lou
11:50
Hi Brian. Some say The Steelers need a WR2. But maybe they need a WR1 because while Pickens makes great catches, he makes lots of mistakes and has one route. Shouldn’t the team look for a better WR and gear the team to more offense than defense in 2025?
Brian Batko
11:52
Yeah, that was a rough game for George Pickens despite the final stat line looking good. The fumble was terrible and the end-zone drop might've been worse. I still firmly believe he's a true WR1 talent but to me the question has always been the focus, the attitude, the maturity. Let's see how the rest of this pivotal season plays out for him.
SteelyMcBeam
11:52
Do you expect Fields to be named QB1 for the near future, rest of the season, or kind of what they have already been doing?
Brian Batko
11:54
I assume Mike Tomlin will keep leaning on his status quo explanation. Would certainly be surprised if he names him the guy for the rest of the season.
Stan P
11:54
Is Najee a problem in the locker room, or does he say what's on other peoples' minds more often than not? Tough to tell sometimes if he's being petulant or a leader.
Brian Batko
11:56
You and me both, Stan P. He's one of the most confounding athletes I've covered. Bizarre response yesterday to a pretty run-of-the-mill question about Justin Fields being productive in the second half. I think Najee Harris gets easily annoyed by the very practice of talking about a game right after a game, so not sure I'd put much stock into him being envious of Fields or anything like that. He's just prickly, particularly when they lose, and often has no filter.
Stairway to seventh seed
11:56
Brian: in 2014, the Steelers waited until week 7 to insert rookie Martavis Bryant into the lineup at WR.  A 3-3 record at the time turned into 11-5 and included Ben having a 2 game stretch with 12 TD passes.  Roman Wilson doesn't have the tools of Martavis (few ever have), but after a game where the Steelers "other" WRs had 3 catches despite playing most of the game down two scores, isn't it time that the coaching staff devote more effort to helping Wilson "jump on the moving train"?
Brian Batko
11:58
Yeah I think that's a good point. It's not as if the offense is struggling too much without him overall, but the WRs are a group that could use a spark. But you're also right that it starts with practice and getting him involved more there so that they feel comfortable suiting him up on gameday.
FC
11:58
GM Brian.  Again, Tomlin doesn't correctly use his challenges . Why didn't he challenge the spot on that Najee run early, but then challenges a catch that clearly was a catch?  Who  is his spotter in the booth?  Terrible use of the challenges, again.
Brian Batko
12:01
I guess that's one of those things that's always easier to say from the couch, but yeah, the one he did challenge was really strange to me. Replay didn't show much to make me think it was incomplete. He's never been open about who handles that role in the booth now.
Takoma Tom
12:01
It would have been a great off season move to trade Najee for a 3rd round pick and sign Derrick Henry.  Najee is just another guy even C. Patterson looked a lot better.  The offense really needs a healthy Warren.
Brian Batko
12:02
The Steelers should go back in time and make that move, Tom! Derrick Henry is an ageless wonder. He'd look good in black and yellow.
Mike P.
12:02
From the one quick replay we got, it really looked like Harris had gotten the first down but was ruled to be short before the failed fourth down play. Was there any conversation in the press conference about why Tomlin didn't challenge the spot?
Brian Batko
12:02
No, but might come up tomorrow at his Tuesday presser.
M from MV
12:03
Brian, why were Patterson’s yards per run so much higher than Harris’ yards per run?  When is Warren expected to be back? This run game needs to improve!
Brian Batko
12:06
From the press box it looked like Cordarrelle Patterson did a better job of getting north-south quicker and more decisively than Najee. He might be more comfortable in this scheme, given his experience with it under Arthur Smith in Atlanta. And of course the blocking ebbs and flows throughout a game. Najee thought they were packing the box when he was in there, which could be true.
Greg
12:06
Brian, with regards to the penalty on Minkah, is it time for the NFL to make hits to the head area require confirmation by a replay official like they do in college football ?
Brian Batko
12:07
Not really sure we want even more review stoppages, but sure, it could help get it right in those circumstances. But if that official thought Minkah Fitzpatrick hit a defenseless player, then he might not have changed his ruling on that anyway.
the real guest
12:07
Brian, Other than 3 or 4 sloppy plays, more than a few weird play calls, an injured OL and a AWOL DL it was a pretty good game. What say you?
Brian Batko
12:08
Cam Heyward was good I thought but yeah, not much help for him in the front seven yesterday. Colts had a good plan to neutralize TJ Watt and run at Nick Herbig on the other side. Shane Steichen is an excellent offensive coach who pushed all the right buttons.
TVC15
12:09
Is the Steeler defense strong start smoke and mirrors? After playing rusty/rookie/crippled quarterbacks in the first 3 games the Steelers ran into a buzz saw named Joe Flacco.  As it stands now how many more bottom third QBs will the Steelers face the rest of the season? Maybe Daniel Jones and Deshaun Watson? Maybe?
Brian Batko
12:10
No, I don't think so. They'll probably be good more often than not. But it's the NFL. No defense is dominant every week. It was still a 27-point game for the Colts, nothing crazy. Eagles gave up 33 to the Bucs on the road. 49ers gave up 27 to the Rams on the road last week.
Lefty
12:11
Brian, if you owned the Steelers would you force Tomlin to hire a game management coach? He is in his 18th year and has shown no improvement with challenges, the clock, 4th down decisions, etc.  If he hasn't figured it out by now he never will.
Brian Batko
12:13
Yesterday had some head-scratches, no doubt. But if he was really as bad at it as you suggest, I don't think the Steelers would have such a good record in one-score games under him.
Gene
12:13
Why do the Steelers keep playing that soft zone D when it’s not working? They need to make adjustments!!
Brian Batko
12:14
They were worried about the Colts hitting on big plays downfield, wanted to make Anthony Richardson beat them with accurate throws underneath. Obviously, once Joe Flacco came in, the dynamic there changed. Mike Tomlin said he didn't want to blitz him too much because he's a quick decision-maker against pressure, too.
TX Pressure
12:14
Bats usually you are on but when you did the article saying Heyward was the MVP of yesterday's game I almost spit out my beer!  He did get pressure on the QB and a sack against an AARP QB in Flacco but they ran the ball down their throats and little to stop it and not much pressure on Flacco who was a statue - NOBODY on that D deserved anything close to a MVP, they were bad and couldn't get stops.
Brian Batko
12:15
Fair enough. Guess I could've gone with Chris Boswell, he did nothing wrong. Justin Fields had a case for sure, but his low moments were quite damaging to the overall result.
WarmBeer ColdWomen
12:16
How does Baltimore afford Derek Henry?  They are paying Lamar BIG money...not to mention Roquan and many others getting good money.
Brian Batko
12:17
Derrick Henry got two years, $16 million. Not exactly breaking the bank, and most of it is back loaded to make him more expensive next year.
STEEL72
12:17
Bats, not the best game by most measurements, but I imagine getting kicked in the face early on is best for this team. Is there any part of you that gets irritated by the fact the the Achilles heels of Steeler ball seem to remain the same? O-line struggles, defense allowing 3 and long conversions, critical gaffs by receivers... but more than anything... losing games that ever fan knows we ought to win on paper? There was just as much pointing toward the "trap" game as there was a possiblity we could go 4-0. And where on Earth did that death squad of a Colts defense come from?
Brian Batko
12:20
I don't really look at it that way. The NFL has become so unpredictable on a game by game basis with so many key injuries and so many teams trying to win now. There aren't many tomato cans out there. I wasn't surprised the Colts came to play and won that game.
J D
12:20
Brian, the first loss is always devastating but do you agree that the offense needs to take a few shots downfield early on and the defense needs to use a few more early on blitzes?  The tone was set by the Colts for doing the exact same thing and out-played us.   Your comments.
Brian Batko
12:23
Yeah, it was curious to me that coming off such a strong performance by Justin Fields against the Chargers, they didn't try to build on that momentum by opening it up for him a bit more in the first half. Also the Colts were down two of their starting cornerbacks. But credit to them, they were determined not to let the Steelers throw it deep and trusted their D-line to do the job up front.
HeHateMe2
12:24
When was the last time the Steelers offense had a fast start?
Brian Batko
12:25
Last season. Came out hot against the Bengals with Mason Rudolph in there.
Mass Fan
12:25
How did the Colts prevent us from getting more pressure on Flacco? We seemed to get there in the 4th, and Flacco escaped harm a few times.
Brian Batko
12:27
They've actually got a pretty good O-line, even missing starting center Ryan Kelly yesterday.
The Dude
12:27
Pretty obvious game planning on the defensive side of the ball was weak yesterday. Couldn’t stop the Colts early and couldn’t stop them late. Steelers just keep doing the same things and hoping for a different result. Why not try something different with coverage? Why not try something different with Watt?
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