I only had three right until Arizona made their comeback against the Raiders. After that though, I got the final three games, which at least brought me to seven. I thought for sure I was going to have my worst week ever. Seven is nothing to brag about, especially when our leader had a monster week. Yeah, Mom scored 13 last week. Her lead is five on Offord. From there we have Scott, me, Sean, Jon, Adam, and James. I am ten behind, I need some big weeks.
Underdog Special: Detroit Loins (+6.5)
Last week the Steelers let me down. I was close to taking them again this week against the Browns, but I do not trust them. Instead I took the Lions and I managed to get them at +6.5. I have been a believer in the Lions since last year. Not that they will win a Super Bowl or anything, but they lost a bunch of close games last year and I think they have improved enough to start winning those games. I was close to taking them on the moneyline instead.
Underdog Record: 1-1 (+$4.55)
Steelers Prediction: I took Cleveland to win. I just do not have too much faith in this offense right now. I hope I am wrong (and for the first half so far, it is looking good).
Steelers Prediction Record: 0-2
This week, my discussion topic is the Steelers offense. Aside from the Browns game (which is at halftime right now), things have looked bad. But, where does the fault lie? Everyone seems to have an opinion.
- Offensive Line: “They are terrible! The Steelers need to be drafting lineman and stop worrying about skilled positions.”
- Mitch Trubisky: “He sucks, he can’t throw the ball downfield at all!”
- Matt Canada: “Fire the OC!”
- Najee Harris: “Something is wrong with him, he does not look good, must be that bad line.”
Those seem to be the four popular complaints. Here are my takes on each one. The line has not looked terrible so far. Trubisky has not looked good. He seems to be missing Picken and other receivers downfield. The best description is that he seems like a backup (meaning he is coming in with the mindset to not do anything stupid to lose the game–so he takes zero chances, no deep balls, nothing over the middle). Steelers fans always hate the offensive coordinator. We have heard “fire Haley, fire BA, fire Randy, and now fire Canada.” It cannot always be the OC’s fault, right? I saw something from a former lineman saying about how he thought Najee was missing holes because he does not have faith in the line, even though the holes were there, he was weary that they might collapse. I feel like there could be something there.
I think the idea that the line was going to be terrible probably has a bunch of effects. Harris is not really confident in them. Trubisky is totally nervous and thinking he has zero time so he is not looking downfield. Canada feels they have to go slow and conservative because he does not want Trubisky running around for his life. Plus, the offense is fairly new. It will take some time for them to gel. If the line continues to actually hold up and Mitch and Najee can trust them, then it allows Canada to open things up a bit (which it seems like hpapened during the first half of this game).
What are your thoughts on the offense?
