Steelers Jarvis Jones Activated, Cheat Sheet, Stop the Run
By Kim Myers
The Pittsburgh Steelers will enter the final quarter of the 2014 NFL season with each game dubbed a ‘must win’ to keep pace in the AFC North. This week the team will travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals in the first of their 2-game series against their divisional foes. While they’re putting their last game behind them and moving on to the Bengals we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Sunday, Dec. 7th.
More from Steelers News
- Steelers news: Rashard Mendenhall calls out Big Ben, Brian Flores interviews for HC job, and more
- Steelers play it safe in recent 2023 NFL mock draft
- Kenny Pickett gets his guy in latest Steelers mock draft with trades
- Steelers face potentially dark reality if Matt Canada doesn’t pan out
- Senior Bowl sleepers the Steelers must have on their radar
Activate Jarvis Jones
The Steelers made a slightly predictable roster move on Saturday afternoon by activating second-year linebacker Jarvis Jones from the reserve/injured; designated for return list as it was expected for most of the week. To make room for Jones on the roster, the Steelers placed CB Cortez Allen on the injured/reserve list, ending his season with his wrist injury. Jones’ return will be highly anticipated while Allen’s move to the IR only furthers the notion that the contract extension he was signed to this offseason was a big mistake.
Bell vs. Bengals front seven
Around the NFL writer Kevin Patra previewed all of the NFL Week 14 action and one of the matchups he highlights is the one between Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell and the Bengals defensive front seven. Bell has been averaging over 200 yards from scrimmage for the last two games and the Bengals defense has given up just 71.3 yards per game on average and allowed only an average of 12 points per game. If the Steelers can get Bell going against this defense, the Steelers will look like a much scarier team to the rest of the division and the AFC than the team that lost to the Bucs and the Jets.
Stop the run
As Ray Fittipaldo of the PPG points out, the Steelers defense allowed Drew Brees to throw for five touchdowns last Sunday but he wouldn’t have gotten that point if they hadn’t been giving up the run so badly. The Steelers defense allowed the Saints to rack up 143 rushing yards. The team is 2-4 when allowing rushing yards of 100+ and 5-1 when allowing fewer than 100 yards rushing. As much as this league continues to be a passing league, stopping the run still is the way to beat a team most consistently. If the Steelers can get back to stopping the run, they can get back to winning games.