How much do you want to bet that Todd Haley gave his mentor, Ken Whisenhunt, a call before today’s game? Is it true that Santonio Holmes and Ben Roethlisberger’s relationship isn’t lovey-dovey any more, based on Holmes’ snide comments to the press last week? Is Ben still (I say still, because they had “words” on the sidelines last week) feuding with Bruce Arians?
After today’s seemingly preposterous but unfortunate upset by the Kansas City Chiefs of the Pittsburgh Steelers, visions of absurdity are dancing in Steeler Nation heads this afternoon, wondering just what the hell happened.
Despite the fact that the Steelers dominated in ball possession and yardage gained, the Chiefs were hungrier and played harder. Their defense was superb in controlling the line of scrimmage. And I don’t give a rat’s behind about how much our local media says about the improved performance of our O-Line or the complaints that Big Ben holds on to the ball too long. Ben Roethlisberger still ranks second in the league getting sacked.
Two weeks in a row now, our receivers are getting double teamed, forcing Ben to hold the ball, waiting for an opening. The opposition seems to be more than willing to rush less defenders and put more into coverage, thwarting Ben’s two-minute drills, because our O-Line caves in more often than not.
The absolute ridiculousness of our special teams’ lack of cohesion is almost laughable. Cutting special teamer/back-up linebacker Arnold Harrison very clearly was scapegoatery by Mike Tomlin. If Tomlin wanted to make a “splash play” and really shake it up, Bob Ligashesky, the special teams wannabe coach, should have gotten the axe, not a hustler like Arnold Harrison. Tomlin stated that he did not want to put a band aid on the situation, but bringing up Donovan Woods from the taxi squad? Are you kidding? Why didn’t we resign Anthony Madison when we had the chance? Better yet, why didn’t we keep Madison and cut the useless Keiwan Ratliff?
Rashard Mendenhall showed tenacity when he prevented that touchdown with a tackle out of the blue. Right in front of Santonio Holmes, who was gently loping down the field.
Perhaps we shouldn’t forget that Matt Cassel watched Tom Brady play from the New England Patriot sidelines and was privy to the Belichek playbook. You know that guy Brady, who always seems to have the Steelers’ number.
Lawrence Timmons seemed to have a decent game today, but it came after a horrific performance against Cincinnati. I still say he is no Larry Foote and is like a fish out of water on the inside. It seems that the ghost of Bill Cowher is haunting; Tomlin is continuing to shove Timmons down our throats because it was his first-ever draft pick, just as Cowher pushed Kordell Stewart upon us for too many years.
It seems the league has Willie Gay figured out. Opposing offenses key on him, and he stinks on special teams. And we let Brian McFadden go. Go figure. And let us not forget butter-fingers Ike Taylor.
All is not lost…yet. Our main competition right now for a wild-card spot seems to be San Diego and Denver; we beat them both this year, and if the records remain the same, the Steelers will have the edge.
But we have to stop this mid-season slide. Maybe Tomlin needs to lose his dignity for once and rip some new ones in that Steeler locker room AND in the coaches’ offices. And our darling local media needs to rip Tomlin a new one, as he did not mentally prepare his team for this game. The Steelers also need to stop listening to their own press, and know that pride goeth before a fall.