Roethlisberger looks for first win in Oakland
MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENT
Steelers 29, Raiders 10
Dec. 10, 1995 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
It鈥檚 been 23 years and one day since the Steelers last won in Oakland. The Raiders had lost to the Chiefs the previous week and at 8-5 were halfway through a six-game losing streak to end Coach Mike White鈥檚 first season. The Steelers scored on a 37-yard pass from Neil O鈥橠onnell to Ernie Mills on their second possession, and their lead reached 10-0 before the Raiders scored their only touchdown in the middle of the second quarter. Defensive end Anthony Smith deflected an O鈥橠onnell pass that Aundray Bruce plucked out of the air and returned for a 1-yard touchdown. Greg Lloyd鈥檚 interception late in the half set up a second O鈥橠onnell pass to Mills for a 20-7 Steelers lead, and that鈥檚 where the game pretty much ended. The second half featured four field goals 鈥� three by Norm Johnson 鈥� and Willie Williams鈥� two interceptions, along with the running of back-up RB Erric Pegram, who finished with 122 yards on 26 carries. The win sent the Steelers home to face the Patriots with a 10-4 record. The Steelers won that game and went on to play in the Super Bowl.
TALE OF THE TAPE
鈥淭hey run a lot of inside zone, but when they get into shotgun they run all of their plays with zone-read ball handling. Their best runner is Doug Martin. He鈥檚 not as explosive as when he was in Tampa. He can鈥檛 run away from people anymore, but he鈥檚 a terrific cutback runner. He runs low, hard and physical. Jalen Richard is their small, quick playmaker out of the backfield on passing downs. But my point is that they have a really good running game. Otherwise, there鈥檚 really nobody on the offense who scares me, except maybe their big slot receiver, Seth Roberts. He鈥檚 kind of a bigger version of Jarvis Landry; maybe not as good hands but he runs really good routes, is physical and can run.鈥� 鈥� Steelers Radio analyst Tunch Ilkin.
TOP QUESTION
Can the Steelers cover the Raiders鈥� big slot receiver?
As Ilkin noted above, Roberts scares him a bit, and what 6-1陆 slot receiver wouldn鈥檛 after the job Keenan Allen did last Sunday? Roberts is fourth on his team with 47 targets and 30 catches, and averages 11.5 yards per catch. If the Steelers haven鈥檛 sharpened that part of the defense, perhaps Raiders trainers will. Roberts felt concussion-like symptoms at practice this week and entered the protocol on Thursday. He practiced again Friday and is questionable for the game. It鈥檚 his third concussion since training camp.
THREE QUESTIONS: With DC KEITH BUTLER
Q: Are you comfortable with the amount of times you had linebackers on receivers?
KB: 鈥淲ho is ever comfortable with that? We ran out of smoke a little bit, what Mike (Tomlin) said. Mike answered the question perfectly, I think. There are some things that happened to us that we couldn鈥檛 do anything about, so we had to play the hand we were dealt at the time and we did.鈥�
Q: On their final series, on second-and-7, you had an Okie front and Mike Hilton in for Terrell Edmunds in the back, kind of like a nickel behind the Okie. Was that a mix-up or a new package?
KB: 鈥淲e have a package like that but we鈥檙e not going to let people know what we are doing, who鈥檚 in there. Let them figure it out because they do the same thing. They hold people on the sideline and run people out there at the last second. We鈥檙e not holding people on the sideline or anything like that, but we are trying to use our personnel the best we know how. Sometimes you get the matchups you want and sometimes you don鈥檛. That happened to us last week.鈥�
Q: When you ran Jon Bostic out there to replace L.J. Fort on third-and-4, were you expecting run?
KB: 鈥淎t the time, yes. Hey, we guess wrong sometimes. That happens.鈥�
GAME BREAKDOWN
What to look for from the Steelers this evening at Oakland:
ON OFFENSE
The Steelers enter with relative unknowns in their backfield in reclamation veteran Stevan Ridley and rookie Jaylen Samuels. The two have combined for only 30 carries this season. But the Raiders give up big passing plays. They allow 13.8 yards per completion, the worst in the NFL, and that might have to do with their NFL-worst 10 total sacks. The Raiders鈥� best defensive player, DT Maurice Hurst (ankle), is questionable.
ON DEFENSE
Stopping the run is Priority 1 for the Steelers, and Priority 2 is TE Jared Cook. Ilkin calls him 鈥渢he tight end version of Randy Moss.鈥� The 10-year veteran has 54 catches, two behind team leader Richard, the third-down back. Cook averages 13.1 yards per catch, seventh in the NFL among tight ends. Covering inside receivers Cook and Roberts could be a match-up issue once again for the Steelers, who list dime linebacker/safety Morgan Burnett as questionable with a back injury. For the Raiders, their best offensive lineman, LG Kelechi Osemele (toe), is questionable after sitting out Friday鈥檚 walk-through. Martin (knee), Roberts (concussion) and WR Jordy Nelson (foot) are also questionable.
PREDICTION
Because of the Steelers鈥� perpetual problems in Oakland, it鈥檚 tempting to take the 10 points and the Raiders, who, at 2-10, will be loose and upset-minded after rallying to give the Chiefs a scare last week. But the arrow isn鈥檛 really pointing up for the Raiders. In their last five games, they鈥檝e allowed 5.1 per carry and 13.5 per completion against the same caliber of competition (.517) as the Steelers (.525). The Steelers should feast on that soft defense, and their own defense should be focused and edgy, considering last week鈥檚 blown lead. This one parallel鈥檚 the 1995 game 鈥� Steelers, 35-16.
BY THE NUMBERS
12: Career-high number of tackles by L.J. Fort last Sunday night.
16: Number of Raiders on injured reserve after WR Martavis Bryant was added this week. The Raiders are tied with the Redskins for the league鈥檚 most players on IR.
35: Catches by Raiders WR Jordy Nelson, the savvy veteran who killed the Steelers in Super Bowl 45 with nine catches for 140 yards and a touchdown. Nelson鈥檚 in his first season with the Raiders after spending nine with the Packers. In his last four seasons, Nelson鈥檚 output has dropped from 98 catches to 97, 53 and now 35. 鈥淲e have a lot of plays,鈥� Oakland coach Jon Gruden said when asked about Nelson鈥檚 health. 鈥淲hen the players are healthy, it鈥檚 a lot more fun to use some of the plays.鈥�
38: Number of sacks absorbed by Raiders QB Derek Carr, fifth-most in the NFL. 鈥淗e looks, at times, shellshocked,鈥� said Ilkin. Carr has taken 21 sacks in the last five games behind 6-foot-8 rookie tackles Kolton Miller (left) and Brandon Parker (right). Miller was a first-round draft pick out of UCLA and Parker was a third-round pick out of N.C. A&T, the school that gave the Steelers former first-round OT Jamain Stephens. T.J. Watt could have a big day for the Steelers, who lead the NFL with 41 sacks.
3,945: Passing yards by Ben Roethlisberger to lead the NFL. He鈥檚 on pace for 5,260, which would smash his team record (4,952) and give him the top eight yardage seasons in team history.
DOWNLOADS
n Jaylen Samuels is the pass-game half of a two-headed backfield the Steelers are bringing to Oakland with James Conner out. An H-back/RB at North Carolina State, Samuels is the school鈥檚 all-time leading receiver (202) over Jerricho Cotchery (200) and Torry Holt (191). Samuels is also proud of his 47 career college touchdowns. 鈥淚 think I have a good nose for (the goal line), especially when I鈥檓 out on the perimeter in open space making guys miss,鈥� Samuels said after outrunning Chargers defenders to the pylon on his 10-yard touchdown catch that tied the game in the fourth quarter. It was his second pro touchdown, both in the last four games. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 undervalue the guys who put the ball in the end zone,鈥� said offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 inherent. 鈥� He kind of just smells the goal line. I鈥檓 kind of excited about more playing time for him. I know James is, and I know Coach Sax (James Saxon) is, too.鈥�
n Ryan Switzer, of Charleston, W.Va., was traded from the Cowboys to the Raiders last draft day. He was in Oakland four months before they traded the 5-8, 185-pounder to the Steelers for a swap of fifth and sixth-round picks. Switzer averages 8.5 yards per punt return, 19.6 yards per kickoff return, and has caught 29 passes (7.7 avg.) and rushed for 18 yards (3.6 avg.). 鈥淲e talk to him all the time about emergency quarterback, too,鈥� Fichtner said. 鈥淗e tells you he was at one time the all-time leading rusher in the state of West Virginia high school football, so, he thinks he can do everything, and I鈥檓 like, 鈥楧ude, you鈥檙e little. Those guys are big. I don鈥檛 want you up in there too often.鈥� But no, he鈥檚 more than willing, and because he鈥檚 capable we鈥檒l have some fun with him in certain things.鈥�
n James Washington has derisively been called 鈥淟imas Washington鈥� by some in the Pittsburgh media. Well, the Steelers鈥� second-round rookie WR didn鈥檛 get any help shaking that tag when Fichtner said of his deactivation last week, 鈥淲hen I was coaching Limas Sweed we had to do that at one point and kind of bring him back to us. What happens to the third wide receiver, sometimes you might only be in X amount of reps in a practice, so if you鈥檙e not getting the scout-team work you鈥檙e kind of getting out of swing.鈥� But Washington showed up once again with an explosive practice week. He also had his first sitdown chat with Roethlisberger and could be on the verge of a big game.
n The Raiders are 30th in the NFL in allowing an average of 75 receiving yards per game to opposing tight ends. Travis Kelce caught 12 for 168 and two touchdowns for the Chiefs last Sunday, and the previous week Mark Andrews of the Ravens caught a 74-yard pass. The Steelers鈥� three-headed TE group has combined to average 51 receiving yards per each of the last four games.
n Raiders coach Jon Gruden was the NFL鈥檚 youngest coach to win a Super Bowl, 38, when he led the Bucs over the Raiders following the 2002 season. His secondary coach, Tomlin, became the youngest to win the Super Bowl at the age of 36 following the 2008 season.
PARTING SHOT
鈥淵ou see what they did last week against of one of the best teams in football and fought them all the way to the end, so we can鈥檛 worry about records. Like I said, I鈥檝e never won there so that becomes a challenge as well.鈥� 鈥� Ben Roethlisberger.