Steel City Blitz
Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Tuesday.
If you choose to rely on Pro Football Focus for analysis of NFL and college football then by all means please continue to do so. I have not, nor will I ever trust anything that PFF does. I use a combination of my own eyes and my own knowledge of the game. Yesterday, we were treated to the exact reason why good, intelligent football people find them to be so off-putting. They had Aaron Rodgers “rated” lower than both Spencer Rattler and Bryce Young. How? I have no idea. For the record, Rodgers had more passing yards, a higher completion percentage, more TD passes than they did combined and a significantly higher passer rating. Oh, his team also won. I’ll be the last person to defend Rodgers on much of anything but PFF clearly needs to take a long look at how they evaluate players. The fact that some pretty big outlets use their data is disturbing.
I mentioned this yesterday but it bears repeating… D.K. Metcalf’s presence is important for numerous reasons. He’s a down field threat, a willing blocker and powerful as any wide receiver could be. His biggest impact could be his ability to catch the ball and then do something with it. On a couple of occasions Sunday, there were instances where he caught relatively short passes only to burst upfield for more yards. Do I seem a bit fascinated with this? I am because this is an area the Steelers have sorely lacked. I’m all for it!
It appeared that Mike Tomlin kept Kenneth Gainwell a secret for the entirety of the preseason. After very little action, Gainwell appeared to be the team’s primary running back for much of the early going before giving way to Jaylen Warren. Gainwell ended with just 11 yards on seven carries while Warren had 37 yards on 11 carries. Rookie Kaleb Johnson carried just once. Gainwell added four yards on three receptions while Warren had two receptions for 22 yards and a touchdown. This rotation bears watching over the next few weeks.
The Steelers signed free agent WR Rakim Jarrett to their Practice Squad and in turn released WR Lance McCutcheon. Jarrett spent a couple of seasons in Tampa and played his college ball at Maryland. This feels like nothing more than “I think we found a guy slightly better than the guy we have.”
I wouldn’t call Corliss Waitman’s day “perfect” Sunday but it was solid. Four punts with an average of 47.5 and one inside the 20… Two opening Primetime games and two opening second half comebacks. First it was Buffalo and last night it was Minnesota… Current free agent safety Jabril Peppers published a cryptic post last night on ‘X.’ It’s leading many to believe that the Steelers may be interested if not more… Miami’s Mike McDaniel was my choice for ‘first...
