STEELERS QUARTERBACK JUSTIN FIELDS ELUDES A DENVER DEFENDER IN THE TEAM’S WIN, SEPT. 15, 2024. (PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/PITTSBURGH STEELERS)
Team comes home to face Chargers, Sept. 22
The Pittsburgh Steelers rode into Empower Stadium at Mile High Field on Sept. 15, with smiles on their faces and guns blazing. The Steelers beat the Broncos and their genius head coach, Sean Payton, 13-6.
However folks, if you drank the Kool-Aid that the pundits made, this game was destined to end only one way and that would’ve been with the Black and Gold riding back home from the Mile High City on a three-legged horse, bruised, busted and disgusted. Wah, Wah, Wah. If the thin air didn’t bring them crashing down, then their inadequate and incompetent offense would be a glaring weakness. Last but not least, when forced with the prospect of facing the football intellect of the Broncos head coach Sean Payton, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin didn’t have a chance.
On Sept. 11, a few days prior to the showdown, senior Broncos writer Andrew Mason posted: “Just four coaches who opened the 2007 season on NFL sidelines are guiding their teams. Two clash Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High when Sean Payton and his Denver Broncos host Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers. And over those years, Payton has gotten the better of the man who is one of only three people to guide the Steelers in the last half-century.”
The following excerpt is from a column written by Riley Garrett, one of the “homers” who writes for Steeler Nation. Garrett wrote a piece titled: “Steelers Predicted To Likely Lose Against Broncos; Labeled As ‘Coaching Mismatch’ For Mike Tomlin.”
Mr. Garrett seems like too much of a coward to question the intellect of Mike Tomlin directly so he takes the back alley approach. Mr. Garrett quotes, “fake it till you make it.”
Colin “Cowchips” Cowherd said: “I think Denver wins here, they’ve always been good at home. I think it’s a coaching mismatch. Payton’s a brilliant coach. I like the Steelers as dogs, not as favorites.”
Hmmm, now let me see, Charlie Chan say…Mike Tomlin won 175 games and lost 100, with 2 ties, and coached one team, the Steelers. Sean Payton won 161 games, lost 98, and coached the Saints and Broncos. The “Most Honorable Coach” Payton was suspended for one year, paid players to hurt the opposition, almost like a “cockfight.” Charlie Chan say Mike Tomlin better, but the “yinzers” disagree.
See folks, many scribes at home and abroad see themselves and the game of football through lenses made from bricks. They will never allow anyone around them to see, hear, smell, taste or touch the truth of the game.
In the majority of the Steelers’ games played during the 2023 season, the Steelers’ defense was rendered almost useless in the second half of games because the Steelers’ offense was useless in the first half, leaving the defense breathless and worn out in the second half by the time the “Pickett-led quarterback brigade” would come to life and begin to move the chains. When Sean Payton took over as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, he was given breathing room as he embarked on rebuilding the Saints. He was also given leeway when he made his way his way to the Mile High City to take over as the headmaster of the Denver Broncos. When Mike Tomlin was retained by Pittsburgh, he was not even remotely afforded any creature comforts by the media or the fan base to make it easier to perform his duties. From the beginning of his tenure, gripes and criticisms were piled on him, without merit. The primary criticism was that any games that he won were a result of a roster that was ready made and compiled for him by his predecessor, Bill Cowher.
During the Steelers/Broncos game, the genius of Sean Payton wasn’t as apparent as the sparks flying from the cleats of Bo Nix, the Broncos’ rookie QB, as he tried to figure out how to stay one step ahead of the Steelers’ “Nasty Neckbones” defense. By the way, that Steelers defense is playing like they signed a referral contract to send patients to “Necks N’ At” chiropractors. If you want genuine testimony regarding the tenacity of the Steelers’ defense, the first witness that you should put on the witness stand is Bo Nix. He will confirm that the game plan that Sean Payton drew up on the blackboard sorta, kinda got lost in the sauce once the game began. Steelers QB Justin Fields would have a banner performance if not for the unfortunate miscues of a young and inexperienced offensive line.
If this young Steelers offensive line group remains healthy, I “garontee” that by midseason, there are going to be some Yellowstone Park-size holes opening up for the Steelers running game. It doesn’t matter how smart you are. Denver Broncos fans, remember this…if you don’t have the “horses,” you can only be a self-defined genius, in your mind and in the minds of your supporters. The Broncos may not have been “dogs” as Colin Cowherd might say, but they definitely were not thoroughbreds.
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