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Brian Batko's Steelers chat: 12.02.24
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Brian Batko
11:59
Hey everyone, Steelers win in Cincy to move to 9-3 hours before the Ravens lost at home to the Eagles. Big, big Sunday for them in the AFC North title hunt. Your questions?
Seferg
12:00
If you were the coach, would have Boswell just kick it out of the endzone and accept the 30?  I think they only made Cincy start short of the 30 once on Sunday (a couple of touchbacks, 1 on the 30 and a couple past the 30)
Brian Batko
12:00
After everything that transpired yesterday, I did not have this on my bingo card as the first topic of the chat. It was cold out in Cincinnati. Chris Boswell might not have been able to put it through the end zone every time.
artie bridge
12:01
Brian, Factual question:  How many snaps did Mike Williams play Sunday?  Speculative question:  When does he become more involved?
Brian Batko
12:03
Mike Williams played 17 snaps, six less than Ben Skowronek and one more than Calvin Austin III, who was knocked out for the second half with a concussion. Williams looked to be open on the touchdown to Pat Freiermuth. I think he's generally doing what they ask of him in his role, but I don't know when or if that role will increase. It's gonna be a fast-moving train the rest of this season.
Butterd008
12:03
How many snaps did Michael Williams get?
Brian Batko
12:04
Yesterday was his fewest since that first game against the Commanders the week he was acquired. To this point, it looks like it may have been a relatively pointless trade other than for depth purposes.
Yates
12:04
Brian -  How many total penalty yards did JPJ account for yesterday?   In my opinion all calls were legit.  Good cover corners do not need to hold top receivers. What will MT do about this?
Brian Batko
12:05
A lot. I wrote about that, specifically, and why it doesn't sound as if any alarm bells were going off for Mike Tomlin. It seems like he actually wanted Joey Porter Jr. to play that way against Tee Higgins, at least to some extent: https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2024/12/01/joey-porter-jr...
Tampa Too
12:05
Brian. Great win yesterday but again where is Mike Williams?
Brian Batko
12:07
One thing we've seen from Arthur Smith is that he does seem to be very game plan and matchup-based as an OC rather than just running the same guys out there for the same snaps each week. So while someone like George Pickens or Pat Freiermuth is always going to be featured, you have role players from MyCole Pruitt to Ben Skowronek to Cordarrelle Patterson who are more or less involved in a given week. Perhaps he'll see a defensive structure or personnel down the stretch that makes him want to integrate Williams more for that particular game.
Colonel
12:07
Is the Bengals offense really that good or do the Steelers suddenly have some issues with their defense?
Brian Batko
12:09
Ehh I'd say some of both. It is a difficult passing game to limit. They've got the goods in that respect. But Joey Porter Jr. clearly isn't playing his best right now. Minkah Fitzpatrick still looks to me as if he might have lost a step. And the run defenses showed some cracks again at times, which could come back to bite them against the likes of the Eagles, Ravens or even the Browns next week if they get Nick Chubb going.
the real guest
12:10
Brian,The Steelers needed to do two things to move into the elite group; open up the pass game and spice up the pass rush.The passing game certainly opened up on Sunday. Do you think MT will keep it open or go back to run and defend?
Brian Batko
12:11
They came out throwing, no doubt. But that was sort of an obvious strategy against a horrendous and injured Bengals secondary. I wouldn't get used to it. The Browns, for all their warts, have a good cornerback trio to deal with.
AtlantaDan
12:12
Thanks for the chat.  Has the physical style of pass defense that Joey Porter Jr has played since his days at Penn State crossed a line and become more egregious this season or is he being flagged so much because of a reputation for hands on coverage that draws increased scrutiny from refs who will not give him close calls that are given to other DBs?
Brian Batko
12:13
You might have situations where opposing head coaches tell officials to look out for No. 24 or something like that. But I'm with Yates earlier, didn't particularly disagree with any of those calls on him yesterday. He took his chances with a grabbier style of play and got burned. It happens. That's his M.O. as a corner. Just needs to probably improve his technique to avoid that many flags.
J D
12:15
Scoring 44 points and a win overshadows Tomlin getting another winning season!  Brian, what makes this team different than year's past?
Brian Batko
12:18
The QB play certainly has been upgraded and probably the offensive coaching as well. That to me is the biggest difference and why there’s more optimism with this team. Not to mention getting 9 wins through just 12 games this year. But we’ll see if they’re different enough to win a playoff game.
Sam
12:18
Between JPJ or Pickens, whose issues do you think are more correctable?  The Steelers can't sustain turning big passing plays into modest gains because of taunting, but if I were Hurts, Allen, Mahomes, Jackson, etc and I was behind the sticks or with 3rd and long, I'd go right at Porter and consider that I could either get the completion or just get a cheap automatic first down.  I would think mental errors would be easier to correct than the natural way a player plays the position, though Pickens isn't exactly a beacon of stability.
Brian Batko
12:20
That’s a good question because both were in the spotlight yesterday for similar but ultimately different reasons. Porters mistakes were costly but made in the name of giving effort and winning. Pickens? Those are just unforced errors that are part of a larger trend. I actually have more confidence in Porter cleaning up his play than Pickens changing the way he’s acted going back to his Georgia days.
Gene
12:21
Just wondering why so few carries for Warren and why no targets for Williams?
Brian Batko
12:22
Najee was running hard yesterday and even Patterson was too when he got his chances. I didn’t have any issue with Warren being minimized a bit in the ground game. He made some plays as a pass catcher anyway.
ForWhomKordellTolls
12:25
Bats, what's the biggest concern, the immaturity of Pickens or the penalties and lousy play of JPJ?
Brian Batko
12:28
Again, if I’m a coach, I think I can live with a guy who’s making mistakes while trying to jockey for position with a really good receiver 1-on-1. The Pickens stuff is just almost always so mindless and look-at-me antics. That’d be very frustrating to manage.
Linus
12:29
Will the Steelers look to draft a quarterback in the next draft?
Brian Batko
12:29
I would not predict that at this point, Linus, save for maybe a late-round backup.
Bern
12:31
Fun game to watch (when's the last time anyone said that)!?  Re Minkah - dumb it down for me, are his skills eroding or are the coaches utilizing him poorly?
Brian Batko
12:33
Part-physical, part-circumstance is how I see it with him. He’s generally being asked to keep the big plays at bay with his instincts on the back end. But I also saw a guy stuck in mud on the Chase Brown long run to the 1 and let the Ja’Marr Chase touchdown catch go over his head, though obviously it’s hard to know who had what responsibility on that coverage.
pauljr13
12:34
Hi Brian, as Timeout Tomlin strikes again before halftime, I'd like to ask, whatever happened to the spike?  It's wasting a down, but what are they wasting when they're not maximizing the number of plays they can potentially run with more time?  Thanks.
Brian Batko
12:35
I’m with you in that I thought he screwed up that sequence. Maybe he didn’t want to risk taking a sack and getting no points before halftime so he settled for a FG, but you have George Pickens. Take a shot to the end zone real quick.
SteelersFanInPatriotsNation
12:35
Will Mike Tomlin's pointed public reprimand of George Pickens to grow up quickly even make a difference? #14 never shows a willingness to accept responsibility for his immature actions that harm the team, and doesn't appear willing to change his ways.
Brian Batko
12:36
Probably not. We’ve been here before. I was somewhat surprised Mike Tomlin didn’t let him off the hook completely but then again, he also said the stuff about Pickens having a target on his back, which is sort of more enabling in a way. I do acknowledge we don’t know what Tomlin is telling him behind closed doors as opposed to airing it out publicly. It just hasn’t sunk in yet, I know that much.
HOF Man
12:39
Coach T said yesterday that George Pickens needs to grow up and fast!  What can George and/or the coaches do to help him grow up faster?
Brian Batko
12:40
Well they already did the whole "snap management/load management" thing back in the Cowboys game, so I guess that's out the window. And let's be honest, if you take him off the field, you're only hurting your team's ability to move the ball and score points.
Jack Ham Sammich
12:40
No team is perfect, but… Does this 9 win team have more warts than most other 9 win teams?
Brian Batko
12:42
They probably have fewer warts than the last time the Steelers started this fast or better. That 2020 team just felt like a group that the bottom was gonna fall out to some extent eventually, and it did.
Martian
12:43
Thanks for the Chats BB! Will we ever see a game where both the offense and defense look good at the same time?
Brian Batko
12:44
What about the Jets and Raiders games? That doesn't happen too often in the NFL.
Ty Hink
12:44
Thanks for the chats BB, can't remember the last time steelers scored that many points. Do you see more high scores coming or will the next 5 games be close one possession games?
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