It is not an enviable time for Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and the remainder of the brass at Pittsburgh Steeler headquarters. Five, count’em, five players will become unrestricted free agents, and there’s no way they will all be resigned. The cap will be lifted this year, yes, but the Steeler front office M.O. will remain the same; they will not overspend, and they will be cautious with their decisions.

There’s no position more important to the success of a 3-4 defense than the nose-tackle, and despite weight problems and age (32,) Casey Hampton must be re-signed. With the exception of Chris Hoke, age 31, there is no bench depth at this position. Alabama DT Terrence Cody may not be around at pick #18 in this year’s draft, but perhaps Tennessee’s DT Dan Williams will. At any rate, whether the Steelers “tag” five-time Pro-Bowler Hampton (exclusive, non-exclusive or transition,) or whether they negotiate a contract, nothing will come cheap. Casey Hampton is highly respected, both on and off the field, and the bottom line is that letting “Big Snack” go would be a big mistake.

On the other hand, we need to send Ryan Clark packing. He seemed to be the perfect compliment at free safety to Troy Polamalu at strong safety. However, during Polamalu’s absence, Clark was exposed and was mediocre at best. Perhaps just as an important reason to send him on his way, however, is that he has become a locker-room cancer. He’s done some recent boo-hooing about the media not knowing the ABC’s of football, and the fans not understanding how hard he works. Imagine that, being stupid enough to whine about hard work to the #1 blue collar town in the country. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, Ryan.

Which brings us to Deshea Townsend. Holding the longest tenure of any Steeler defender, with 12 years under his belt, he can move to the safety position vacated by Clark. One has to agree he has slowed; however, his smarts will compensate, and I believe he would be a perfect match to play with Troy Polamalu as a free safety. Deshea is a fan favorite and locker-room leader, as well. I’m sure Eric Berry won’t be available by the time the Steelers turn is up in Round #1 of the draft, but Texas’ Earl Thomas or Georgia’s Reshad Jones might be.

What to do about Fast Willie Parker? Who can forget the Counter Pike 34 play that launched him into the longest run in Super Bowl history in Super Bowl XL? As the subject of one of the “rags to riches,” stories in the NFL, Willie Parker was an undrafted walk-on from the University of North Carolina and quickly, I mean quickly, earned a spot on the Steeler roster in 2004. He ran for well over 1,000 yards in ’05, ’06 and ’07. A plethora of injuries and the emergence of Rashard Mendenhall, however, dropped FWP from his starting position. Despite being 29, which is at the cusp of football senior citizenship, I’m betting there are several NFL teams that would jump at the chance to sign him to a contract. And I don’t think the Steelers will come off their pocketbook enough to pay him the money he thinks he’s worth or match what other teams are willing to pay him. If it were me, I’d sign him. Unless the Steeler brass has their eye on someone that will be at the combine, and/or they have more faith in Isaac Redman and Frank Summers to step up from the practice squad, I don’t see any way that Willie Parker will be able to remain a Pittsburgh Steeler.

Unfortunately for the Steelers, and fortunately for Jeff Reed, the rash of foiled field goal attempts across the League has made Reed’s stock rise. We’ve all heard about his off-the-field antics, from beating up a paper towel dispenser at Sheets at 2am to citations for public intoxication. And everyone knows the Rooneys don’t put up with this klnd of crap. The Rooneys may have to pay the piper on this one, though. Reed is well-versed in kicking at Heinz Field, largely agreed upon as the toughest field on which to kick in the NFL. Despite a few snafus early in the 2009 season, he ended up with an 87.1% success rate for field goals.

The combine is at the end of February, and of course the draft is at the end of April. I am absolutely positive Tomlin and Colbert have already diligently done their homework and will continue to do so.
But…I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.

With less than 4 minutes to go, with the Steelers up 30-28 over the green bay packers, Steelers fan nation wide saw something that we never thought that we would see. Head Coach Mike Tomlin decides to kick an on side kick in an attempt to get that ball back. Now before we get into this topic im going to ask you to do a few things for me….lets forget the fact that the Steelers ultimately won the football game. And secondly, understand that the coaches know more about the football team than we do. I know that we all love to play Monday morning quarterback but let’s not do that on this one. Now im going to tell you why kicking the onside kick were the greatest move mike tomlin has made as a head coach.

I always want the ball in my hands at the end of the game with a chance to win. And coach Tomlin has said on many of times that he has the same kind of philosophy. If Ben Roethlisberger is the Steelers best player, why not have the ball in his hands to win the game. With that train of thought there were only two ways that was going to happen at that point in the game. One would have been to kick the on side kick, and the other would have been to just flat out let the packers’ score, which is something that no one would ever do.  So with that being the way the coach thinks, which of those is the better option?

Secondly, what did the defense show you all game that they could stop the packers from anywhere on the field? In the second half of that game the Steelers defense had only stopped the packers once. Green Bay put together scoring drives of 69 and 62 yards prior to the onside kick drive. Not to mention they made the drives look pretty easy.  As a head coach you have to have a feel of your football team and what is and isn’t working at the time of decision making. Since when is it a law that you have to have confidence in your defense to make a stop? I have no way of knowing for sure but I for one didn’t have faith that they would make the stop. I told the people that I was watching the game with that the Steelers would lose the game 35-30 after Jeff reed hit the 43 yard field goal right before the onside kick.  How would you stop that from becoming the ending? You put the ball back into the hands of the offense.

Third, the Steelers special teams may just be worst than the defense. Kicking the ball deep has back fired on the Steelers all season long. It could be the reason why they have lost some of the games that they have. Not to mention the fact that Jeff Reed isn’t kicking the ball anywhere near the end zone on any of his kickoffs. So if you know your coverage teams stink, and your kicker can’t get a touchback then what is more than likely going too happened? The packers where going to get excellent field position anyway.  And if the packers were going to score it would be better for them to have fewer yards to travel so less time would come off the clock, to get the ball back to the Steelers offense.

And last but certainly not least, IT WOULD HAVE WORKED.  The whole point of a trick play is to catch the other team off guard and that was the perfect onside kick. There was a single packer that had a chance to get that ball. (Yes there were packers in the area but they both got blocked)

Ok so I’m ready to hear those out there that support the other side of this argument but I live by the same rule of an old head coach, you play to win the game.

It been a little while since I put my two cents in on what has become a puzzling season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I couldn’t put my finger on what I thought was wrong with the team. It seems every time it looks like I had it figured out, something else would go wrong with the team. This five game losing streak unlike one this team has seen since 2003 has everyone in steeler nation at their wits end. But as I was trying to figure out what to say going into a somewhat meaningless game against Green Bay on Sunday, along came Steelers safety Ryan Clark who dropped off gifts for every writer in the 412 area code.

Clark blasted the local media this week along with steeler fans. And although most of the backlash from the comments was harsh, there was more than an ounce of truth in most of what Clark said. Clark stated that the media’s coverage of the team was unfair, and the people who cover the team really have no idea of what goes on or what decisions that are made out there on the field. He took a shot at fans when he brought up the fact that he gets hate mail and that it was easy to see the city’s true colors when the team isn’t performing well.

As far as the media goes, anyone who has ever spent half of a football season in the city of Pittsburgh knows that the Steelers are always the top story. Good or bad, important or sometimes extremely silly, the Steelers are primetime all the time. Sometimes that can be overkill, especially if the team isn’t doing well. Hearing how bad you are all day long would get to even the toughest of people. And I think that’s what’s starting to show with Clark. For as much as players and coaches say that the don’t see and hear what is said and written about them, in today’s day and age you cant help but to see it. Now where the line gets crossed I believe is that the team is so good, it’s easy for those who cover the team to become fans. And once you become a fan of something it becomes easy to lose objective nature that is needed to cover the team properly.

Now for the fans, it’s no secret that the Steeler fans are some of the best in any sport. But there is a section of that fan base that takes the team way to seriously.  Thanks to certain opportunities I’m able to keep my finger on the pulse of the fan base pretty much on an every day basis. And there is a large section of people that feel that in some way they too are a part of the Steelers organization. They talk as if they are in the offensive and defensive meetings with the team everyday. They speak as if they know how every play is designed in the playbook. And they want to make hiring and firing decisions with every play.

But at what point does spirited fandom turn into insane obsession? I had one fan say this week that if he had it his way, head coach Mike Tomlin would have been fired for laughing during his press conference. Because as he put it, “were on a five game losing streak and there’s nothing to be laughing about”. He was completely serious. Come on Steeler fans your better than this.  Do you really think that Mike Tomlin is a bad coach? Or that he no longer knows how to coach? Does Bruce Arians not know how to run the offense anymore? These are the same guys that were good enough to win a super bowl last season. I understand the frustration with the season not going the way we all thought that it would, but jumping over broad isn’t the way to go either.

So should Clark have said it? Probably not, but in my mind that doesn’t make what he said wrong. In the words of rapper Ice Cube, both the fans and media should check themselves before they wreck themselves.

Huzzah! I’ve finally figured it out! I’ve been mulling it over and over, repeatedly, in my head. I’ve come to a conclusion as to why the Pittsburgh Steelers have, not fallen, but plummeted into disgrace, less than a year after being Super Bowl Champions.
Can we blame Bob Ligashesky and his special teams corps? Yes we can, to a degree. Jeff Reed no longer has the leg to kick into the end zone, with very little hang time, which puts us behind the 8-ball to begin with. His off-the-field antics seem to have soured him to what he needs to do to be a winner. We must have been invaded by the body snatchers, because the Stefan Logan we saw in preseason is not the Stefan Logan we are fielding today. Intangibles, like cutting Anthony Madison before the regular season and not fielding starters, play a part in the special teams demise. The question remains, however: After being #1 in the NFL on kickoff return coverage in 2008, how and why did the Steelers performance drop so dreadfully?
I will concede the loss of Aaron Smith in the latter half of the season as a big factor in our downfall. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the three-man rotation in Smith’s absence, consisting of an aged, always-hurt journeyman; a so-so third-year player, and a rookie, was not, and is not, the answer. Here’s the thing to keep in mind, though: we have first-round draft pick, highly heralded and highly paid Ziggy Hood, to follow in Smith’s footsteps. We have no other young gun back-up for our D-Line. Coach Mike Tomlin’s reluctance to use Ziggy Hood more often is and will be a major mistake; in the present, because he would gain valuable experience, mistakes and all; and, he would be better prepared for next year. At the present time, he has and is neither.
I will not concede the loss of Troy Polamalu as a reason for our failures. Does his absence make a difference? Absolutely. But, this is the NFL! These guys get paid millions of dollars to play a game! They are professionals! You make the proper adjustments and continue to play at a high level! When Polamalu was out eight games in 2006/2007 due to injury, we won five of them. Everyone forgets that Polamalu tends to be a hot dog (ala Rod Woodson) at times and is often caught out of position.
More than the loss of Polamalu and Smith, as reasons for our defensive skid downward, are Tomlin’s executive decisions to replace Bryant McFadden and Larry Foote with William Gay and Lawrence Timmons.
William Gay is showing he is what he is, a fifth-round draft pick from the Big East. Opposing offenses we’ve faced so far this season had that figured out from the get-go. A shame Tomlin did not and still doesn’t. Tomlin proclaimed in a recent press conference that there would be changes for the Cleveland game. But who started? William Gay.
Lawrence Timmons is an enigma to some, but not to me. I knew that he wouldn’t work out; everyone that I spoke to about this said I belonged in the loony-bin. Timmons started only one year at Florida State, and came out one year early. He was no academic phenom. Yet he was Tomlin’s first-ever draft pick, and Tomlin’s desire to have Timmons be successful is detrimental to the rest of the team. Timmons is explosive, has great lateral speed and is an excellent open-field tackler. However, he is not an inside run-stuffer, and because of the probably-close to 2-digit IQ, couldn’t drop back to cover his grandmother.
James Farrior is sadly and evidently aging. But so is the rest of the defense, and the bench depth barely exists.
We lost Nate Washington on offense, and some would site that as a big loss. I say it’s a big advantage. He is athletic, yes, but has butterfingers, and also is what he is, an undrafted free agent from a Division II school.
Larry Zeirlein is a putz and puts too much emphasis on technique and not enough on strength. We have an O-Line that cannot pressure the league-worst-defense Browns?
Pass-happy Bruce Arians has no idea how to put together a well-rounded, balanced offensive attack. Yes we have weapons like Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes. But we also have a position called tight-end, and there’s also such a thing called I-formation. And whatever happened to misdirection and off-tackle?
The mark of a great NFL team is the capacity to sustain a few problems such as these and move on. A complete and total break-down such as the one the 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers are experiencing goes far, far beyond anything I’ve mentioned here.
All of these across-the-board meltdowns, combined with now getting beat on the big play, in addition to getting beat frustratingly underneath and Ike Taylor’s false reputation as a big-play cover corner, can only mean one thing: Mike Tomlin has lost this team.
What happened to the man that put Casey Hampton on the PUP list during last year’s training camp? Wait, I know! He ran Camp Cupcake this year and gave some of his veterans Wednesdays off.
What happened to the man who said no job is safe and everyone is accountable? Wait, I know! He keeps playing guys who habitually make the same, gigantic mistakes over and over.
What happened to the coach that said football is a game of attrition? Wait, I know! It’s the same coach that allows his pass-happy offensive coordinator run the Steelers right into the ground.
Mike Tomlin, very obviously, wants to be liked, to be a buddy. He, in turn, however, has lost the respect, the ears and the soul of these men. The hypocrisy of the Tomlin administration has bit him in the ass.
Mr. Wunderkind himself, the man who had a meteoric rise through the coaching ranks of collegiate and NFL football, is the same man now that is in a major quagmire. He is very lucky he works for the Rooneys; otherwise, his three-year tenure would be coming to an abrupt end.

I know, I know. I didn’t believe the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers would succumb to a Super Bowl hangover. After yet another devastating loss, this time to the otherwise-decrepit Oakland Raiders, however, it can’t be anything else.
The problems the Steelers have are too numerous, too across-the-board, to point the finger to one specific area. And the fish stinks from the head.
Maybe Mike Tomlin should have run Camp Lejeune instead of Camp Cupcake this summer. Perhaps Wines Hard and a few of the other vets should not have had any days off. Instead of allowing Ward and Ben Roethlisberger to settle their dispute like gentlemen, maybe Tomlin should have knocked their heads together, WWE-style.
How about an O-Line coach that combines brute strength and technique, instead of just technique? Instead we have Larry Zierlein, who maybe is still reading too many X-rated emails.
Everyone knows Bruce Arians is a pass-happy SOB. Conspiracy theorist that I am, do ya think he deliberately calls run plays that don’t work so the Steelers can get back to the Greatest Show on Earth that he will get credit for engineering? I mean, c’mon, 90% of your run plays to the right side, smack dab in the middle of 4 or 5 Raider defenders..no I-formation, no fullback, no offtackle or misdirection. Even the lowly Oakland defense figured it out. Why shouldn’t Tomlin, and fire Arians’ ass?
Rashard Mendenhall has shown great heart and is getting better all the time. Too bad he came around too late.
Hearing the local media comment about how bad Lawrence Timmons is in coverage makes me shake my head. The buck linebacker position for the Steelers when Larry Foote was part of the team never went in coverage. He stayed in position, and stuffed the run, period. This is a matter of Tomlin sticking a square peg into a round hole. Timmons was his first draft pick and is determined to make it work. Sounds like a bit of Cowher philosophy to me…Tomlin would rather be right than win.
There’s a domino effect because of Timmons’ inadequacy. James Farrior has to cover for him, and doesn’t have the get-up-and-go he used to. Willie Gay was exposed weeks ago, yet Tomlin refuses to put in Joe Burnett or Keenan Lewis. Why not? They can’t do any worse, plus they would get some real-time NFL game experience.
Our defensive backs, and linebackers, depending on the defensive scheme, are continually getting beat underneath. This is devastating and unending, as NFL teams are watching films, figuring out how to beat us, and they are smelling blood.
I refuse to believe the absence of Troy Polamalu is the sole reason for our defensive demise. In 2006-07, he was out eight games; we won 5 of them. It is our front office and our coaching staff that needs to prepare for these eventualities and make sure we have bench depth.
We may still mathematically be in the playoff mix, but our lack of heart and stones have already eliminated the Steelers from contention. Tomlin needs to rethink some of his philosophies, and kick some ass in the locker room instead of treating the players like gentlemen. Mike Tomlin made a very prophetic statement after last year’s Super Bowl, akin to “we will never pass this way again,” referring to the current group of men in the locker room. He also studied the 1975 Steelers, hoping to glean what Chuck Noll did to keep his team on an even keel. One thing for sure Noll and the 1975 Steelers did that Tomlin and the 2009 Steelers could not and did not: stay humble and fundamentally sound.
Moving forward, I would play Ziggy Hood to give him some valuable experience. Bench Gay and Taylor. Make Timmons second string to Keyaron Fox. Fire Bruce Arians. Look to the draft. Learn a lesson in humility. And prepare for Camp Lejeune 2010.

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.

Want to make a Steelers fan upset? Just say that Ben Roethlisbeger is not in the same class of quarterbacks with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. I, for one, have never understood why this makes Steelers nation so mad. I’m always one for the thought process of as long as my team is winning I could care less about what people think about the players on the team. But I will go on record by saying; Roethlisbeger is NOT in the class with the other guys.

Why not you ask, just look at yesterdays game. When was the last time you saw Brady or Manning play that bad against a team that they should absolutely dominate? And its not just yesterday, Ben has games like that all the time. And im not blaming the lost solely on the play of Ben Roethlisbeger, but when you want to be in the same class with the top quarterbacks you have to win when you’re supposed too. Even in most of the wins he’s not impressive.

I just do not understand the reason for the bad play. Can’t blame the o-line, pass blocking is what they all say its what that unit does the best. And Ben has had plenty of time back there to get the ball out. Can’t blame the receivers, the Steelers have more than enough weapons on the outside to be a very dynamic offense. You could easily argue that with Holmes, Ward, Wallace and Miller the Steelers have the best group of pass catchers in the league. Can’t blame the play calling, if I’m not mistaken he did win a super bowl with the same guy calling the plays a season ago.

I would even go as far as to say if it weren’t for the greatness of Dick Lebeau and the Steelers defense, Ben would be in the same class with Aaron Rodgers. Before u jump on that statement hear me out. It wouldn’t be a false statement to say that the Steelers defense is far and away better than the colts and the patriots’ defenses. So why is it that those teams win 12, 13 and 14 games seemingly every year?

The true hardcore Steelers fan will without a doubt say…”well Ben has two super bowl rings” that he does and you can’t take that away from him but I ask this question in response…Mike Vrabel has 3 rings, does that make him a better linebacker then James Farrior?

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.

One of the yardsticks we use to measure NFL head coach competence is judging how well he manipulates the roster when a starter goes down due to injury. But a coach has to have adequate, or hopefully more-than-adequate, players with which to work. I would venture to guess that many of the Steeler “substitutes” could start on most of the other NFL teams.

Tyrone Carter is no Troy Polamalu, and he has self-admittedly acknowledged that fact. However, Carter’s stellar performance at free safety, in place of the inactive Ryan Clark, has earned him AFC Defensive Player of the week honors. Two interceptions that included a 48-yard touchdown run, on top of reading Kyle Orton correctly and being in the right place at the right time all evening, helped lead the Pittsburgh Steeler Mythbusters trounce the Denver Broncos.

Aaron Smith, our unheralded, future Hall-of-Fame left defensive end, gone for the season with a shoulder injury. His back-up, Travis Kirschke, out with a calf injury. Disaster? Not quite. Nick Eason filled in admirably, and rookie Ziggy Hood’s pressure on Kyle Orton forced the 1st interception for a touchdown. Along with Bret Keisel’s two sacks in the first half, our back-up DE’s helped keep the Broncos run game to 27 yards on 14 carries.

Casey Hampton, the Steeler nose tackle, has not missed any games due to injury this year, but he is spelled on 3rd down and other certain situations by 9-year-veteran Chris Hoke. We don’t miss a beat when that happens.

One would never know our right inside linebacker, Lawrence Timmons, is out with an ankle Injury. Keyaron Fox, special teams demon, is the real-deal and has been absolutely solid. His pick for a TD last week was phenomenal, and he is quickly cushioning us from the loss of Larry Foote by being a super run-stuffer.

Even though the peeing-on-the-car incident has made him fall from favor recently, combined with the fact that Matt Spaeth could not block to save his life, has given 3rd-string rookie tight end David Johnson a chance to play. The kid can block, and has been used in the fullback position upon occasion.

Coaches should be acknowledged for putting the right players in place at the right time, but you have to have the right players to work with. Seems to me the Steelers should get an A+ in both departments.

How does that saying go? Never wake a sleeping beast. Well, National Football League the beast has awoken. After falling into a 1-2 hole to start the season and listening to everyone saying that they were done, the Steelers have rolled off 5 straight wins. Including the last two over arguably the two best teams in their respective conference. (Viking, Broncos) The latter of the two wins may have done a lot more than just improved the Steelers record to 6-2. It may just be the turning point to the run at a seventh Lombardi trophy.

One thing that the victory in Denver did was prove that the 2009 version of the Steelers could beat a quality team on the road. (Their only other road win came against the Lions) In their previous road games the Steelers have not looked like themselves at all. A lack of focus and energy along with costly turnovers and missed opportunities to put the other team away were mainstays in those previous road match-ups.  Those evil demons did not show themselves on Monday night. The Steelers were dominant on both sides of the ball, the running game was unbelievable especially in the second half when it mattered the most, and the defense brought that physical brand of football that us Pittsburghers love.

Another point that was made in this game was the fact that even with injuries the Steelers just plug the next guy right in the lineup and there’s no drop off. I mean seriously, how many guys didn’t play for the Steelers in this game? Ryan Clark, Willie Parker, Travis Kirschke, Lawrence Timmons, Aaron Smith and the list goes on. From watching that game you would have never noticed. If it wasn’t Ty Carter making a big pick 6 to start the scoring, it was rookie Ziggy Hood getting big time pressure on Orton. And how about the play of back up linebacker Keyaron Fox, are you kidding me? This guy was a free agent and no one made him an offer.

Last but certainly not least, I have to take a moment to take my hat off to Rashard Mendenhall.  There is no one that has been more critical of the play of not just Mendenhall but the entire running game than me. I just don’t feel that you can win a Super Bowl just throwing the football. But over the past five games and especially in Denver, Mendenhall has been every bit as good as his draft position would say he was. I will admit this: the decision to play Mendenhall over Parker has been made easier due to Parker’s injury. So it will be very interesting to see what coach Tomlin does when Parker gets back to 100%.