Tag: Pittsburgh Steelers

Oakland host Philadelphia Sunday looking to reach .500

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — After gutting out a 21-18  home victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday, the Raiders can reach the .500 mark with a win over another team from the Keystone State, when they host the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday at O.co Coliseum. This will mark the fifth straight sellout for the Silver and Black this season.

The game will be seen locally on Fox KTVU Channel 2 in the Bay Area.

Terrelle Pryor took the first snap of the game and blazed past a slow and old Steelers defense for a 93-yard touchdown. Pryor’s touchdown run was the longest in NFL history by a quarterback, and broke running back Bo Jackson’s franchise record 92-yard touchdown run set in 1989.

Running back Darren McFadden played a key role in the running, racking up 73 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.

But the strength of the team was the play of Oakland’s (3-4) 10th ranked defense. Oakland’s defense limited Pittsburgh (2-5) to 276 yards of total offense and intercepted Ben Roethlisberger twice and sacking the Steeler’s quarterback five times.

Philadelphia (3-5) is coming off a 15-7 home loss against NFC East rival, the New York Giants. The Eagles looked inept on offense, and was nearly shutout by the Giants if it weren’t for an Eagles’ touchdown on special teams late in the fourth quarter.

Nick Foles, who has been cleared after suffering a concussion against the Dallas Cowboys two weeks ago, is expected to start for Philadelphia in place of Michael Vick. Vick left last weekend’s game  with a pulled hamstring after passing for 158 yards. Third-string rookie quarterback Matt Barkley finished the game for Philadelphia.

Let’s face it, the Eagles are a bad football team that has been playing musical chairs at the quarterback position. Oakland should feed off from a strong defensive effort and raucously loud crowd against Pittsburgh, and continue that intensity against Philadelphia.

.500 mark for Oakland? Could be in the cards.

Pryor further proving himself with 93 yard keeper

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–Every win is kind of kind of unexpected the way the Raiders started this season nobody thought the Raiders were going to be any good in fact a lot of us including myself thought the Raiders were going to be among the worst teams in the league and while their not amongst the best teams in the league they are not among the worst either.

We were wrong on that this is actually a pretty feisty squad it’s actually the Pittsburgh Steelers who are among the worst teams in the NFL their not the worst that honor goes to the Jacksonville Jaguars. This game between the Raiders and the Steelers was not a battle of titans, it certainly has a lot of history locked up in it the Raiders and the Steelers were among the two best teams in the 1970s and battled each other on a regular basis in the some of the most famous games in NFL history.

This game last Sunday was not necessarily one those all time memorable games although it did have a historic play involved the Steelers are just in a down cycle it’s pretty rare for Pittsburgh to be in such a rare situation but they have had a couple of lousy drafts and suffered through some bad injuries and had some misfires and now their sitting with a lousy team record at 2-5.

The Steelers have had some misfires and it all means their all bottoming out right now, the Raiders already bottomed out that was already that kind of last season with the Carson Palmer deal and just everything going on in the off season when they cleaned house and they got rid of everybody the Raiders while their not a great team they have a lot of young feisty players and their in that rebuild process.

So what ends up happening is you get all these young players who are really fighting and clawing and scratching and trying to get themselves into the league and try to get themselves on the roster and get a job and it makes for desperate play and sometimes these guys are playing some desperate football end up playing decent football and that’s what the Raiders have done they have found a decent mix of players who really want to be there who are really receptive to coaching and learning.

Then the Raiders have found a quarterback who knew that former owner Al Davis’ last draft pick quarterback Terrelle Pryor would end up being such a solid player. He has a deficiency and you don’t look on this guy the same way you look at 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick when he broke on the scene last year and Pryor can play.

That 93 yard touchdown run by Pryor last Sunday shows why you want this guy on the field that threat of a guy who can make that kind of a play is something defenses have to respect and it makes you play the game differently if your a defensive coordinator you just have to prepare differently. You see it now with the 49ers now that Colin Kaepernick is 100 percent healthy.

It’s the same thing when you have a quarterback who can run in such a way that he can break a long run just as easily as any running back you have to devote extra resources to cover that guy. You have to have a spy on him and simply having that one guy on him and follow the quarterback around can open things up elsewhere.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk Radio

Pryor goes for record run

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By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND-Terrelle Pryor grew up rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers as a child growing up in Jeanette,PA and on his first play from scrimmage against his boyhood team, Pryor put himself in the record books.

Pryor went weaving and scampering through the Steelers all the way to the end zone for a 93-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and the Oakland Raiders hung on to defeat the Steelers 21-18 before 52,950 at the Coliseum.

The 93-yard touchdown run by Pryor was not only the longest run play in Raiders’ history, but it was the longest run by a quarterback in NFL history.

Despite a big day on the ground, as he carried the ball nine times for 106 yards, Pryor went just 10-for-19 for 88 yards in the air with two interceptions.

“Like coach said, we started fast, the defense was playing good, It’s a team win. Our defense had a phenomenal second half. At the end of the day it’s a team win, very proud, we got a ‘w’ and that’s really it,” said Pryor.

Darren McFadden carried the ball a whopping 24 for just 73 yards, but scored two touchdowns on the afternoon.

McFadden gave the Raiders a 14-0 lead halfway gone in the first quarter, as he ran through the Steelers defense for a seven-yard touchdown tun.

Shawn Suisham finally got the Steelers on the board with just 46 seconds off the clock in the second quarter, as he nailed a 47-yarder thru the uprights that cut the Raiders lead down to 14-3.

It was McFadden scoring on a four-yard run with 1:55 remaining in the first half, as he scored his second touchdown of the afternoon and gave the Raiders a 21-3 lead.

After the Steelers went three-and-out on the next series, Pryor and the Raiders got the ball back; however Pryor a huge mistake and Cortez Allen picked off the Pryor pass.

Ben Roethlisberger drove the Steelers all the way down to the Raiders 16-yard line, but Suisham missed a 34-yard field goal wide to the right.

The Steelers got the ball to open the second half, and with the help of a 15-yard facemask penalty on Mike Jenkins, the Steelers were in business.

Unfortunately, the 16 play 66 yard drive that took nine minutes and six seconds off the clock was all for naught, as Suisham missed a 32-yard field goal wide to the right.

“Look, it’s no secret, the impact my missed field goals had on the game. We’d have won the game if I made those field goals. It’s a tough one to swallow. No choice but to do it. I should have been better today and we lost because of it,” said Suisham.

Following a Jenkins interception in the beginning in the fourth quarter, Pryor threw a pass that Jacoby Ford caught, but on the play, the wide receiver fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Brett Keisel at the Raiders 11-yard line.

After a Roethlisberger touchdown pass to Heath Miller was overturned, the quarterback regrouped and two plays later, he found Emmanuel Sanders for a nine-yard touchdown pass to get the Steelers within 11 points.

Unfortunately, the Raiders were unable to put the game away, as they went three and out on their next three possessions, giving the Steelers a glitter of hope.

With just under two minutes remaining in the game, rookie Le’Veon Bell scored on a two-yard run and Sanders added the two-point conversion that got the Steelers within three.

Rashad Jennings was able to recover the onside kick, but like all their drives in the fourth quarter, the Raiders went three and out and the Steelers got the ball back with 18 seconds remaining on their own three-yard line and no timeouts.

Roethlisberger found Sanders down the middle for 33 yards, but the clock ran out before the Steelers could get lined up and the Raiders escaped with a three-point victory.

 

Raiders, Steelers set to battle in Oakland Sunday

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By. Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Fresh off their bye week, the Oakland Raiders will look to get back on the winning track when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at O.co Coliseum.  The game is sold out and will be seen locally on CBS affiliate, KPIX Ch. 5. Kickoff is at 1:05 p.m.

Oakland (2-4), leads the all-time series, 11-9, and hold an 8-5 edge in home games over the Steelers. The Silver and Black have not lost to the Steelers at O.co Coliseum since 1995.

In last year’s meeting in Oakland, the Raiders dropped the Steelers 34-31 behind a 43-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski in the final seconds of a tough battle. Running back Darren McFadden had a great day, carrying the ball 18 times for 113 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown run.  Oakland will need a healthy McFadden against the sixth ranked Steelers defense.

Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor spent the bye week working with quarterbacks coach, Tom House refining his mechanics. Pryor worked with House during this past offseason, and House has worked with quarterbacks such as Tom Brady and Drew Brees.

Pittsburgh (2-4), started the season 0-4, but are coming along after winning their last two games, including a 19-16 victory over their AFC North foe, the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

It’s no secret that the Steelers will only go as far as the right arm of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger can take them.

Roethlisberger is coming into Sunday’s game completing 66-percent of his passes for 1,655 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions. Owner of two Super Bowl rings, Roethlisberger is a top-five quarterback in the NFL and the Raiders are going to have their hands full with him, but if Oakland is going to have any success, it will be on the defensive front.

Defensive ends Lamarr Houston (team leader with three sacks) and Jason Hunter (two sacks), will have their chances to get their hands on Roethlisberger, especially with the anchor of the offensive line, center Maurkice Pouncy, on injured reserve with a torn ACL.

Roethlisberger has been sacked 21 times this season (third behind New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (25 times), and Miami Dolphins quarterback  Ryan Tannehill (26 times)). Oakland has been getting after the quarterback this season, sacking the opposing quarterback 16 times through six games.

In order for Oakland to have a chance at moving to 3-4, they will need to apply pressure on Roethlisberger and make him uncomfortable in the pocket. Defensive Coordinator Jason Tarver will need to be creative in concocting blitzes if Oakland is going to have chances at throwing Roethlisberger’s timing off to his wide receivers, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders.

Sprinkle in a few timely plays by Pryor and the offense, Oakland has a legitimate shot at winning Sunday.

 

 

Raiders coming off bye could give tired Steelers a fight

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–The Raiders have a chance against the Pittsburgh Steelers in their next game on Sunday there is really no games where the Raiders can sit back and claim it to be a sure thing to win it’s not like the 49ers playing Jacksonville where it’s a 99 percent chance the Niners will beat Jacksonville in London. The Raiders won’t have that this year their just not a good enough team.

On the other hand they are playing Pittsburgh and the Steelers have been struggling as well they are coming off a victory from the defending champions the Baltimore Ravens. So the Steelers definitely have a feather in their cap right now and their feeling good about themselves. The Steel curtain is having a lot of similar problems to the Raiders.

The Raiders are a team that’s going through a big rebuilding process, Pittsburgh kind of are on the other side of that they are a team that’s probably about to go through a big rebuilding process. They’re just aging at a number of positions and probably need to revamp this squad. On the other hand the Steelers have quarterback Ben Roethlisberger whose one of the better quarterbacks.

Roethlisberger has won a couple of Super Bowls you can trust him but their biggest problem is the Steelers offensive line has just been terrible. They don’t have much of a running game this season and it means their passing game is suffering because Roethlisberger simply didn’t have time to throw the ball. There’s just a lot of age on the Steelers defense.

If the Steelers have a lot of different problems the Raiders can’t take advantage of that the fact their coming off a bye week and had two weeks to prepare for this game should definitely helped them out as well for the fact the Steelers have to travel cross country for this one after playing a very physical game against Baltimore. Those Steelers-Ravens games are always tough and physical and they take a lot of energy out of you and you throw in a cross country trip for Pittsburgh their going to be in a tough spot.

It’s going to be tough for them to recover in that game against Baltimore, You wonder if their going to have the energy to really fight the rested Raiders team. Of course the Raiders have their own issues their still a very inexperienced team and as you watch them in that game against Kansas City you notice they have a lot of injuries especially along with their own offensive line.

Not all those problems have been rectified the players on the offensive line have not fully recovered from their injuries so it’s anybody’s guess as to how healthy they will be this coming Sunday and if that’s the case all bets are off.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk Radio