If when it rains it pours, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Steeler Nation are currently in the midst of a tsunami.

Thanks to Wines Hard (aka Hines Ward,) some dirty laundry was aired during the Bob Costas pre-game interview Sunday night, indicating a rift in the locker room. According to Ward, the team was split as to who thought Ben should have played through the concussion versus who thought that he should not. In addition, Hines Ward intimated that Ben Roethlisberger is a wuss by saying that he (Ward) has lied to doctors in the past about injuries in order that he could get on the field.

Now let’s think about this a second. With all the research being done on short and long term effects of concussions, the NFL being in the forefront and pushing a new rule regarding mandatory inactivity for players sustaining a concussion, Hines Ward had the stones to say what he said. Wow. Frustration or not, a win badly needed or not, you don’t put your team’s private business on the street. It’s no secret Ben and Hines are not the best of buddies and never were, never will be. But you have to wonder…Hines Ward fully supported Ryan Clark’s inactivity for health reasons in Denver, but he balked at Big Ben’s absence due to the concussion.

It’s not even been 48 hours since the Costas interview, and I’ve already grown weary of it. Ward has claimed on his Facebook account that he did not mean it, he was reacting emotionally, he owed the fans an explanation, he and Ben had a lengthy talk and they are cool, bla bla bla. We’ve got bigger fish to fry.

Starting with cornerback William Gay, #22. Not to pat myself on the back, but I repeatedly insisted that the Steelers would sorely miss Bryant McFadden. Not necessarily because of Gay getting the nod, but because B-Mac is that good. Now we miss him even more, because Gay ain’t that good. It is extremely obvious the opposing play callers have his number, as over 75% of their passes have gone in his direction, with great success. This has caused a ripple effect that pulls the rest of the defensive backfield out of position to compensate.

Ike Taylor is overrated to begin with and is not the great cover corner everyone thinks he is. Even normally sage Ryan Clark has been caught with his drawers down; while Tyrone Carter is not Troy Polamalu and should not be judged as such, he is not Troy Polamalu. Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau’s mantra is not to give up the big play, but inexplicably, not only are our defensive backs giving up the soft zone underneath, as they always have done, they are now also violating LeBeau’s golden rule. In deference to our defensive backfield, however, I refuse to believe that the absence of Troy Polamalu lies at the heart of their demise. This is the NFL, and they are millionaire professionals. In the eight games Troy missed due to injury in 2006-2007, the Steelers won five of them.

Let’s not doubt the ripple effect, however, caused by the season-ending injury to left defensive end Aaron Smith. Substitution by committee is not a successful, long-term fix, and this has proven true for the Steelers. Veteran journeyman Travis Kirschke is injury plagued; Nick Eason is average; and rookie first-rounder Ziggy Hood is just not ready to assume the duty full-time. (Which pisses me off, because in this day and age of high-priced, overpaid rookie first-rounders, they better be ready to go out of the gate. Another argument for another time.)

Being without the stalwart Smith has festered into the left-side linebacker positions, creating more havoc than LaMarr Woodley can handle and handcuffing the sadly-becoming-long-in-the-tooth James Farrior.

The Steeler offensive line, while more gelled than last year, are still not where they need to be. In the Cincinnati game, only five defenders rushed the line of scrimmage, allowing more coverage downfield, forcing Ben to hang onto the ball too long while looking for an open man. It seems the NFL has been/is getting wise to this modus operandi.

I have to say that our receivers are doing well, considering they are double and even triple teamed at times. Although Santonio Holmes is jumping on the big mouth bandwagon of late; Mr. Blunt Smokin’, route-forgettin’, butterfinger baby factory needs to keep his yap shut.

Bruce Arians’ pass-happy playbook has reduced our running game to a shadow of what it once was. But hats off to Rashard Mendenhall, who seems to be one of the very few that has shown any amount of heart of late.

Hey, we Steeler fans are spoiled. I’ll be the first to admit this. We can’t hold the bar too high, it’s not fair. But it’s not like we don’t have the personnel to be a playoff contender; we do. And that is what’s frustrating.

But the fat lady has not yet sung.