It started off like it might be a thing of beauty. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was effective.

The Steelers now sit at 6-5, and for the moment rule the AFC North, as it should be.

That’s two road wins, both against lesser teams, and both at least moderately convincing.

Can we finally put to bed the idea that the Steelers can’t win on the road against bad teams? Can we stop the talk about “playing down to their competition”?

Well, at least for now we can. Let’s take a quick look at Thursday’s game from the standpoint of “The Good, Bad and the Ugly”.

The Good

The Killer B’s

Ben Roethlisberger – 14/20, 221 yards 3 TD’s, 146.00 Passer Rating.

Antonio Brown – 5 Receptions, 3 TD’s, 91 Yards.

Le’veon Bell – 120 Yards on 23 attempts, 1 TD, 4 Receptions for 22 Yards.

The Killer B’s were just that, killer!

Let’s be honest, you know when they put Landry Jones in for mop up duty, it was a good day. The three brightest stars on the Steelers offense did shine. Yes, the probably could have done more (we did punt 4 times, which in my mind is probably 4 times more than they should have!) but they did their jobs, and then some.

I’m sorry, I will watch that highlight of AB and Vontae Davis (who is a solid corner) over and over again. I mean AB just breaks his ankles with that quick inside out double move. It’s sick.

Why the Colts chose to cover AB with one guy most of the game is beyond me. Apparently they were really worried about…well, someone, but I don’t know who.

Le’veon continues to make his case for being the top all-purpose back in the league, adding 4 more catches, and another 120 yards rushing. With 3 fewer games, he is now 10^th in the league in rushing yardage (699) and well on his way to 1000 yard season. He’s also second in receiving yards behind David Johnson from Arizona, with 437, and he leads the league in receptions with 57.  He’s 6^th overall in all-purpose yards.

And, as mentioned, that’s all while playing 3 fewer games than anyone else. The dude has skills.

And top that off with Ben being Ben. Even the passes that were dropped were sometimes brilliant throws. He hit Sammie at least once with a perfectly thrown ball, and I am sure that if Sammie didn’t have two broken fingers, he’d make catch at least 2 of the 3 balls targeted his way.

Ben is having a great season, and moving up the ranks of all-time greats. Thursday was one of his best road games this year.

If these three guys can catch fire, then the Steelers will definitely “Run the North”.

Mike Mitchell

There were times I thought maybe Ryan Clark had returned for the Steelers Thursday night. I don’t think I’ve seen hits laid down the way Mitchell did since Clark patrolled the secondary for the Steelers. The “Hitman” was laying the wood, and really my only fear was that he was going to hurt himself! (Which, I guess, technically he did, since Coach Tomlin said he had a stinger).

I love Mike Mitchell’s game, and he plays with intensity that I think lifts the rest of the secondary at times. He’s not perfect, and I do sometimes wish he would tone down the ‘tude so to speak, but you can’t deny he gives it his all!

7 Tackles (second to Timmons for the night), 2 passes defensed and a pick. And how about that run-back! Mitch was hurdling guys left and right and doing his best to try and take it to the house. That was fun to watch.

The Three Rookies

I think it’s absolutely hilarious that Cam Heyward gave Javon the nickname “J.Wobble”. I know he doesn’t like it and if he keeps playing like he did Thursday then I think “Grave digger” can pick whatever nickname he wants! The young man had a solid performance, 5 Tackles, two for loss and a sack.

His arrow is definitely pointing up.

He showed some that explosive quickness and strength that I’m sure were part of why the Steelers drafted him.

Artie Burns had another solid game, 5 tackles, and Sean Davis (who played every single defensive snap) had 5 tackles as well, and almost had his first sack.

These young men are doing something unheard of. Starting for the Steelers defense as rookies. That just does not happen. And while it’s true that they may be starting out of necessity, that doesn’t diminish the fact that they are continually performing well, and getting better every single week.

Red Zone Defense

I said in the preview, and in our Duel Opinions piece that whichever team performed better in the red zone would win. Well, on both sides of that equation (offensively and defensively) that was the Steelers.

The offense was 1-1 in the red zone (largely avoiding any real issues by scoring before they ever got there) and the defense held the Colts to 1-3 (33%), and those two stops were huge. Fourth down defense was not perfect (2-4) but it was great inside the red zone (0-2).

Those two goal line stands were classic Steelers D. Mike Mitchell defensed a pass to Rogers on one, and he stopped Tolzien on a run at the 1. (Mike Mitchell had a game my friends!)

Yes, it was the Colts, and a badly damaged Colts team, but no matter who you are, if you have the ball inside the 5 twice and you come away with no points, the defense has done an excellent job.

The Bad

Wide Receiver Depth

There was some cause for hope here. Even though he is not technically a wide receiver, Ladarius Green looks like he will provide another option for Ben. He had 2 catches for 67 yards (33.5 per catch!) and if he continues to get open like that he will draw some attention from safeties, which will only help to open things up for AB.

But beyond that, well, Le’veon Bell was again the second best receiver we had, and he had more catches than Eli Rogers, Sammie Coates and Cobi Hamilton had combined. AB and Bell had 11 targets. Jesse James, Ladarius, Coates, Hamilton and Rogers had 10 targets combined.

They tried to get Sammie involved, but until those fingers heal, I don’t know how you can expect him to grasp and hold anything.

The issue remains a glaring one, and frankly, until Sammie’s fingers heal, I don’t know if we have an answer for it. I really like Eli in the slot, but there is some reason Ben is not throwing him the ball more than twice a game. I think Cobi has shown a lot of grit, and he has made combat catches that have been really nice, but again, there has to be a reason he is only getting targeted 1 time.

Ill Timed Penalties

I almost put this in ugly, because the truth is that some of these penalties are just aggravating. The Steelers were hit 7 times with yellow flags for a total of 67 yards.

Let’s leave it aside for the moment that at least 2 or 3 of the penalties called on them were, suspect at best. (The Refs Stink!)

15 Yards on AB and Bell for Unsportsmanlike conduct.

10 Yards on AB for PI (Questionable in my opinion).

10 Yards on Ladarius for Illegal use of Hands.

5 Yards on Cobi Hamilton for a False Start.

15 Yards on Timmons for Roughing the Passer (Oh Please. If it wasn’t a penalty when it happened, it shouldn’t have been a penalty 30 SECONDS LATER!)

2 Yards on David DeCastro for Holding (this was awful – never should have been called).

This wasn’t the worst penalty game we’ve had, and really the only one that killed a drive was the Ladarius Green penalty. Still, we need to get a little more controlled.

And I’m not even going to get into the “Should AB celebrate or not” argument. It’s the No Fun League and he just has to live in it.

The Ugly

Special Teams

I really like Danny Smith. I do. I think he’s developed a real weapon in Jordan Berry, and we’ve got a solid place kicker in Chris Boswell.

But Special Teams continues to be a glaring point of contention. How in the hell do you let a fake punt on fourth and six bite you? That led to the only Colts score of the game, and was clearly something they were not prepared for. 35 yards on a fake punt. C’mon man!

Add that to the 67 yards allowed in kickoff returns and you have an ugly special team performance.

The Refs Stink

I’m tired of talking about it. The. Refs. Stink. 

Conclusion

All that being said, we are 6-5 and need to be Bengals fans for a day this Sunday. If somehow a depleted Bengals squad can beat the Ravens we will find ourselves in sole possession of first place.

We have three home games (Giants, Ravens, Browns) and two road games (Bengals, Bills) left on our schedule. All five of those games are winnable. 10-6 or 11-5 are achievable goals, and will easily win our division.

Hell I still think 9-7 wins our division, but let’s shoot for the stars why don’t we?

We get some time to heal up, and prepare with this mini-bye, which is a nice byproduct of playing Thursday and then Sunday. The New York Football Giants are up next, and they have been playing pretty good football. But we have them at home, and I think we can win this game. If Mike Mitchell can introduce himself to Odell Beckham Jr., well maybe that will be enough to throw the Giants offense off their game. I really want to win this game! (There are tons of Giant’s fans in my office, since I work near NYC, and I don’t need to hear their crap all week if we lose!)

Until next time Nation!