It wasn't Blitzburgh, but it was effective.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

Watching the game, the team was making plays. They completely shut down Seattle. Forcing 3 and outs, Stopping the run, everything you want out of them. Run defense was spot on, Lynch went nowhere all game long. The pass defense was solid at tackling for the most part.

However, where is the emotion at? They didn't appear to be feeding off the big plays, getting fired up, dancing around, pumping their fists. Very uncharacteristic of this team. The gameplan may have had something to do with that.

Lebeau took a different approach to this game. Rather than bringing the heat, he choose to just rush 3 or 4 guys the majority of the time, especially early on and keep everybody back in coverage. That put the pressure squarely on Jackson and the Seattle offense. Credit the defense for making the plays, or credit Seattle for having Jackson at QB and just not being very good. Personally I think it was alittle big of both.

In the 4th quarter they started to bring the heat alittle more and finished the day with 4.5 sacks total.

They thrive on emotion in their game. It's just part of who they are, and when they don't have it, it's very noticeable. Tomlin talked about it at half time with Siragusa from FOX. Considering how bad opening weekend went, we fully expected them to come out like gangbusters. Like I said they made plays but not the way you want to see them carry themselves if you ask me. Lebeau rarely sits back this much, and again it worked but when the defense isn't flying to the QB and flying high on emotion, you have to be careful. This week with Jackson playing QB though, it wasn't nearly as much of a concern.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

We'll break this down on the podcast on Tuesday as well. When I think about this gameplan though, it was a risk by Lebeau. Only rushing 4 or 5 guys for most of the game, you hoped that the secondary could respond and the tackling would improve. Overall they did and his planned work.

[steelersbabex25]

During the game the commentators did say something about how Tomlin said that part of the problem last week was that the players weren't connecting with each other, which could be why there seemed to be no emotion. Maybe they're still not connecting.

But, that being said, it was a good rebound game. I think a shut out is just what the defense needed to maybe get back in the swing of things. Hopefully they'll get their confidence back up. I don't think the Colts will be a problem. They're nothing without Manning. The Texans however, we need to look out for.

Also, Keenan Lewis sucked big time today.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

Yeah, it was surreal to watch a Steelers defense seemingly play with so little emotion. Again it could just part of the gameplan, they were toned down on a pash rush perspective and that's a big part of their game. When they are flying to the passer it raises the crowd's emotion and the team feeds off of that. The crowd was excited on the Touchdowns and big plays on offense, but they really didn't get rowdy until late in the game when they smelled the shutout.

[steelersbabex25]

Troy also dissapointed me again today. He whiffs way too much and I'm starting to really dislike his way of playing now that's slower and less accurate.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

I don't think he was that bad today personally. Nobody in the secondary is perfect that's for sure but he did make some plays today. A couple times when Timmons or Harrison couldn't bring down their guy, Troy was there to clean up.

For sure though, Troy is at his best when he is improvising. When he is playing a traditional Safety role like he was today, there is a difference in how he performs.

[STEELWILLiam]

I was very impressed with the game today. I thought the offense looked solid for most of the game, and anytime a defense gets a shutout in the NFL it's a good day. Even though it was against Seattle, it was still a great bounceback game. There were a few problems that I still noticed during the game. First of all they really need someone opposite Ike Taylor. Bryant McFadden looked horrible last week, and William Gay didn't look any better this week. Also I was not impressed with their ability to run the ball to close out the game. They put a lot more pressure on the defense to keep the shutout then they should have. That being said, the defense did rise to the occasion and kept the goose egg on the board. Good bounceback, now let's hope they don't look past Indy.

[connecticutsteel]

Personally i liked the different look without all the crazy blitz packages this sometimes gets us in trouble but the lack of emotion is a small concern but i think the players are still out of shape a bit with the weird off season and the expanded roster the starters didn't get enough reps but they will get more and more feroious as the weeks roll on which is good so we are peaking at the end of the season . it appears that the ravens peakd in week one and it's all down hill from here.

[jd1000]

Perhaps the reason the team seems "emotion-less" is due in part to the "jihad" of Goodell and the league office in general to make the game "safer." Another idea that tandems a bit with the first is that maybe the Steelers figure that too much emotion and flying around the ball will attract the attention of the Goodell Schultzstaffell at the NFL office and bring about fines.

Am I the only one that feels like Pittsburgh has a target on it back this year? Consider we made it to the Super Bowl which had to be a partial embarassment to Goodell. Consider also how vocal several of our players were regarding the "newer, safer, and more sanitized" NFL. Not that I argue with their outspoken comments. In fact I celebrate it and support them. Football "ain't bean bag" nor should it be.

But to a corporate phony like Goodell that kind of behavior cannot be tolerated. Since he can't fire them he will do the next best thing....make life miserable for them. And like any bureaucratic bully he will get the "word" out that any dissension (which is Pittsburgh-style Football) will not be tolerated. Personally, I say screw Gooddell and play hard. But then again...it ain't my paycheck either.

JD from Utah

[Raleigh Steel]

i gotta say, i'm having a hard time being happy about this win. you would think that i would be happy to see the steelers pitch a shutout...but alas i'm not.

now there is 2 ways i can look at it. 1) they played a solid game and got a much needed win against an opponent that they should win against. 2) they beat a team that would probably finish 3rd in the SEC and left a ton of points out there.

the score should have been 28 nothing at half time. instead it was 17-0. they were inside the 5 yard line with 1st and goal 4 times and scored 2 touchdowns. they managed 1 more touchdown the entire game.

i know that we started a rookie RT and a backup LG...blah blah blah. but i'm still concerned about this team. had this been a real team, or even an average team, we may have been in trouble.

basically, we can't take anything away from this win. and we probably won't get to next week should we beat the colts. the next test we will see is houston...a high powered offense, with an upgraded defense.

i hate feeling this way. i'm usually the most optimistic person about the steelers. but i'm not feeling it....not yet anyways.