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Final 2009 AFC North Division Standings
y = Wild Card 
Steelers 30, Dolphins 24Steelers miss out on playoffs
Regardless of the fact that it didn't it put them into the playoffs, the Steelers finished the season strong with three straight wins including their final game of the season today in Miami. The offense was red hot in the first half. Ben hit Santonio Holmes for a short TD pass, then found Mike Wallace wide open for a 54 yard bomb. Wallace, who was named the team's Rookie of the Year earlier in the week, capped a great first season with yet another big play. For Ben, it was business as usual. He was finally voted team MVP this year, but there has been no single player more vital to the team's success over the past six years than Ben. The running game also looked great. Rashard Mendenhall rushed for 94 yards, but the real surprise of the day was FWP racking up close to 100 yards on just 12 carries. He also had a TD late in the game that was called back on a holding penalty. This was FWP's farewell game, and it was fitting to see him look like the FWP of old one last time. The Dolphins in general had no answer for the offense and could barely muster up any points of their own. To make matters worse, their top two QB's - Chad Henne and Pat White (WVU sucks) - were both knocked out of the game. White's injury (on a hit from Ike Taylor) was particularly brutal, as he had to be carted off the field. He looked as if he was going to be ok so that was good news.
Ben made a great scrambling touchdown pass to Heath Miller in the 3rd quarter that threatened to turn the game into a blowout, but the legacy of this year's team will always be their ability to ensure that no lead is ever safe. Yancey Thigpen (or something like that) came in to play QB for Miami and promptly led two 4th quarter TD drives to make it a 3-point game, and when Ben fumbled deep in his own territory, it looked like the season would fittingly end with yet another late collapse. However, the defense, as they did last week, went into "enough is enough" mode. Ryan Clark, playing in possibly his last game for the Steelers, picked off Thigpen to prevent the Dolphins from taking the lead. Ben drove the team for a field goal (almost definitely Jeff Reed's last ever kick as a Steeler), and Taylor intercepted Thigpen to ice the game. The defense had a rocky season, but it was their great effort over these last two weeks that helped the Steelers finish with a winning record. The Steelers needed help to get into the post-season, and they didn't get it. Houston beat New England and Baltimore beat Oakland, so Pittsburgh's season is over. In the end, they have no one to blame but themselves. The defense blew five 4th quarter leads this year. Had they held just ONE of those leads, they would be playing next week. The 2009 season will go down as a disappointment, but there were bright spots. Players like Rashard Mendenhall and Mike Wallace had breakout years. Ben Roethlisberger had the historic 500-yard performance against Green Bay. The Steelers beat playoff bound teams like Minnesota and San Diego. Maybe the most significant moment of the season was the blocked field goal in the first game of the season where Alge Crumpler fell on Troy Polamalu's leg. That lingering injury sucked all the life out of the defense, which in turn led to the Steelers being unable to repeat as Super Bowl champions. Oh well - it's hard to complain when this decade ended with two Super Bowl titles, six playoff appearances, and only one losing season. Let's hope for a better result in 2010, but let's also appreciate the great franchise that we have here in Pittsburgh. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati lost to the Jets but had already clinched the division title, Baltimore beat Oakland and made it into the playoffs as a wild card, Cleveland beat Jacksonville to end the season on a 4-game win streak
Steelers 23, Ravens 20Staying alive
I have to hand it to the Steelers. Just when there season seemed completely dead, they have found some life these past two weeks. Today they battled the Ravens in a typical Baltimore-Pittsburgh game and gutted out a tough win. However, they had a large amount of help from their rivals in the process. The first half was unusually high-scoring. Rashard Mendenhall and Todd Heap traded touchdowns, but the real highlight of the half was Ben Roethlisberger going into two-minute drill mode right before halftime. He took the Steelers 70 yards in 7 plays, capping the drive with a 24 yard TD pass to Ravens-killer Santonio Holmes. That put Pittsburgh up 20-10, but as usual, no lead is ever safe with this team.
In the 3rd quarter, the Steelers quickly went to work to give up the 10 point lead. Heap scored again. What is this - 2003 or something? Since when did Todd Heap become a threat again?? The Steelers benched William Gay for Old Man Townsend to start the game, but it didn't do any good as the secondary continued to struggle. They also did not get a lot of support from the front seven, which allowed Ray Rice to rush for 141 yards. It was the first time in 32 games that the defense has allowed a 100 yard rusher. Just another stamp on an already miserable defensive season. On the other side of the ball, the offense was making mistakes as well. Ben threw a pic-six, but it wasn't a pic-six. The Ravens got flagged for a block in the back on the return. They still got the ball, but they eventually had to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown. That tied the game at 20 and ended up being huge. It also ended up being just the beginning in a series of Baltimore debacles. If the Ravens miss the playoffs this year, the drive they had to start the 4th quarter will haunt them all offseason. Joe Flacco quickly drove them to the Steelers 32 yard line. They only needed a few more yards for the go-ahead field goal. Willis McGahee said, "To hell with that," and ran it in for a touchdown. But there was a flag. Holding on Baltimore. Two plays later Flacco found Derrick Mason wide open in the endzone. But Mason dropped the ball. This is DERRICK MASON we are talking about. The guy who always saves his best game for the Steelers. The guy who has killed us repeatedly over the years as a Titan and a Raven. And he dropped a ball that landed RIGHT in his hands. The next play was a short gain. But there was a flag. Two flags actually - illegal formation and ineligible man downfield - both against the Ravens. The next play was an incomplete pass. But one of Baltimore's neanderthal o-linemen got pushy-shovy. Personal foul on the Ravens. After all of that, it was 4th and 30, and the Ravens had to punt. It was a total disaster, and it was made even worse when the Steelers drove for a field goal later in the period. Jeff Reed nailed a clutch 38 yard kick, and then it was up to the defense to actually ice the game. LaMarr Woodley did that by sacking Flacco on back-to-back plays. Great response by the defense after being challenged so publicly by the onside kick last week. They could have folded as usual - especially after the Ravens returned the kickoff into Steelers territory - but they came up big and kept hope alive for the post-season. The Steelers ensured that they will end the decade with only one losing season (2003). They will need to beat Miami next week and get a lot of help in order to make it back to the playoffs, but you have to love the fact that this team had enough of losing close games. This is what we all expected out of our defending Super Bowl champions, and even if they miss out on the post-season, it's still great to see them finish strong like this. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati beat Kansas City to clinch the AFC North, Cleveland beat Oakland to ensure that they will not get a good draft pick and that their fans may have to endure another season of Eric Mangini's coaching
Steelers 37, Packers 36Roethlisberger does the impossible!!!
I wrote in the preview that I thought the Steelers had too much pride to not play a great game this week. What I did not realize is that Ben Roethlisberger would single-handedly put the team on his shoulders, play the single best game by a quarterback in the history of the franchise, and complete a dramatic last-second win. What a game by #7. If you aren't incredibly appreciative of the QB that we have after today, then you should cease being a Steelers fan. The first half of this game was all about big plays. Ben started things off on the team's first play from scrimmage with a 60 yard TD bomb to Mike Wallace. Aaron Rodgers answered that with an 83 yard TD strike to Greg Jennings. The secondary looked horrid on that play - they are clearly a lost cause for the rest of this season. The Steelers came back with a nice drive capped by a gritty, second-effort TD run by Rashard Mendenhall. What a breakout year it has been for him. Rodgers tied the game with a touchdown run of his own, but Ben worked the two-minute drill to perfection to steal the lead back before halftime. This time it was Mewelde Moore who caught a short TD pass to give the Steelers the 21-14 lead.
In the 3rd quarter, it looked like the Steelers may pull away. The defense buckled down and the offense had a long drive, but unfortunately it stalled on an offensive pass interference call against Heath Miller. There were an uncharacteristically big number of costly penalties committed by the offense today (the only thing that helped balance it was the large amount of penalties taken by Green Bay as well). Jeff Reed kicked a FG to give the Steelers a 10-point lead heading into the 4th quarter, which as we all know is not nearly enough for our no-clutch defense. Sure enough, Green Bay scored two touchdowns to take a 28-27 lead (Reed kicked another FG between those two scores). In a season that saw the defense blow five 4th quarter leads, this was hardly a surprise. The Steelers still had plenty of time left and Ben drove them yet again. Reed, who had a great game in unkind field conditions, booted a 43-yarder to give the Steelers a 30-28 lead with 3:58 left in the game. At this point, Mike Tomlin made an interesting decision: he called for a surprise onside kick. The Packers never saw it coming, but since Ike Taylor isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, he failed to wait for the ball to go 10 yards before he grabbed it. By rule, Green Bay got the ball where Ike touched it, which was at the Pittsburgh 39 yard line. Fox announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were predictably horrified. "I just don't get it," repeated Aikman over and over again (side note: interesting that Troy was the opposing QB the last time the Steelers tried something this gutsy, which was in Super Bowl XXX). I actually liked the call. Buck and Aikman obviously have not seen many Steelers games this season. Our defense absolutely cannot hold a lead. Give the Packers the ball at their 30 or our 40 - it makes no difference because there is no doubt that they are going to score, especially when all they needed was a field goal. Sure enough, it took them almost no time at all to drive 39 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. Tomlin obviously has little faith in the special teams or defense, and can you blame him? And if Ike waits another second and the Steelers get the ball and are able to run the clock out, everyone calls him a genius. A surprise onside kick there has a high percentage of success too because the Packers would have never thought to look for it. I know people will disagree, but I think it was a gutsy call and I love the fact that he made it. However, the bottom line is that the onside kick didn't work and the Packers had a 6-point lead with only two minutes left in the game. Ben had already had a career game, but could he drive the Steelers 86 yards to finally end the losing streak? Ben hit Santonio for a 32 yard gain on 4th and 7 to keep the team alive. He later found Miller for 20 yards. He went back to Miller for a 15 yard gain to get the ball to the Green Bay 19 yard line. At that point, the Steelers were forced to use their final timeout and there were only 18 seconds left. After two subsequent incompletions, there were only 3 seconds left and time for one more play. Ben dropped back and threw a pass to Wallace in the left front corner of the endzone. Packers DB Josh Bell had decent coverage, but Ben threw it into a tight spot on the sideline where only Wallace could catch it. The rookie made an amazing play to get both of his feet down while making the diving catch, and the ref put his arms into the air - touchdown!!! The Steelers had beaten one of the NFC's best teams on a walkoff touchdown in front of 60,000 screaming fans at Heinz Field!!!!!!
What a crazy game! Ben became the first Steeler ever to throw for over 500 yards in a game, breaking the team record set by Tommy Maddox in the 2002 tie game vs. Atlanta (and Maddox set that record in five full quarters - Ben somehow broke 500 in regulation!). Even more impressive was the fact that Ben did this against the NFL's #2 ranked defense. In a season that has seen so much disappointment, it was so awesome to have this memory. Ben Roethlisberger's performance today was historic, and the way this game ended was unbelievable. Congrats to the Steelers for not giving up on their season, and congrats to Ben for once again showing all the doubters why they are so wrong about him. We may not have had a great season, but I wouldn't trade our quarterback for anyone. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati lost to San Diego, Baltimore beat Chicago, Cleveland beat Kansas City
Steelers 6, Browns 13Rock bottom
It doesn't get much lower than this, losing to a team who you had beaten 12 straight times. The talk all week was about how the Steelers needed to play as if it were the playoffs, but it was the 1-11 Browns who looked like they were playing for something. Cleveland looked inspired while the Steelers came out completely flat. Cleveland scored three times in the first half (two FG's and a TD). The defense didn't play horribly, but they didn't play well either. They never made any big plays and couldn't stop the Browns when they needed to get off the field. They were all of a sudden impotent against the run too. Cleveland put up their most rushing yards against the Steelers since 1972! The offense was downright anemic. The o-line which we have praised so much for being vastly improved this year fell right back into its old 2007-08 funk. Ben was sacked eight times! EIGHT!! By the Cleveland Browns!!! Sometimes they missed blocking a guy completely. Other times Ben - who seems to be trying to do too much right now to overcompensate for the team's deficiencies - held that ball for way too long. They couldn't get into the endzone, and they once again blew it when they had a chance to make a 4th quarter comeback. The biggest play the Steelers made all night - forcing a fumble on a punt return - was called back due to a blatant holding penalty on Tyrone Carter. What a joke of a game!
When you can't beat Kansas City, Oakland, or Cleveland, who can you beat? Tampa Bay? St. Louis maybe? I seriously think that you could round up a few of your buddies, form a team, and make it a close game against the Steelers right now. That is how psyched out they are. I've never seen a Steelers team completely unravel like this. The 1999 team had a similar collapse down the stretch, but that was a bad team who was incredibly fortunate to be above .500 at midseason. This team is the defending Super Bowl champion! This has never happened before to an NFL team. The 1987 defending champion Giants also lost five in a row, but three of those were strike games with replacement players. I love Mike Tomlin, but this is a black eye for him. These players have completely forgotten how to win games. As I said earlier this week, I already knew the season was lost. What I did not know is that we would not be capable of winning another game. One last note about this game: it's rare when I am ever happy for an opposing player who has just beaten us, but I can't help but feel good for Joshua Cribbs. Here is a guy who has played his absolute heart out against the Steelers time and time again, only to see his loser teammates falter every single time. He did it again in this game, returning a punt 55 yards to set up the first score and rushing for 87 yards, many of which came in clutch situations where his team needed a first down. This time the result was different, and Cribbs finally got to go home with a victory. That guy truly deserved to be a winner. That's more than I can say for any of our guys. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati lost to Minnesota, Baltimore hammered Detroit
Steelers 24, Raider 27Defense blows three 4th quarter leads
In all the years I have been a Steelers fan, I'm not sure I have ever seen anything like this. The 2009 Steelers are not a bad team for the first three quarters of any given game, but when it gets to crunch time, they completely melt down. For the 5th time this season, the Steelers lost in the final seconds because they failed to hold a lead, and they lost to yet another team whom they should have soundly beaten at home. The first three quarters of this game were boring. The Steelers had a 10-7 lead heading into the 4th, and as we all know, this is where they have struggled. However, what made today's game the icing on the 2009 season's cake was the fact that the defense not only gave up a lead - they gave it up THREE DIFFERENT TIMES!!!!!
So let's recap: the Steelers have lost three games on walk-off field goals (Bears, Chiefs, Ravens) and two games on TD passes in the final seconds (Bengals, Raiders). In all five of those crapfests, they had the lead and let it slip away. In this game they allowed a Raiders team who was averaging 9 points per game to score 21 points in the 4th quarter. This is seriously like a sickness that the defense simply cannot recover from. Frankly, I'm at a loss to explain it. Are they just getting tired at the end of games? Is the fact that Troy and Aaron Smith are missing impacting their ability to make big plays at crucial moments? Is it just some weird mental thing? Whatever this is, it seems to have started at the end of Super Bowl XLIII and just continued thru this season. All I know is that after Pitt's crushing loss yesterday on the same field, the Golden Era of Pittsburgh Sports has come crashing down in the past month. The Steelers are now done in terms of the post-season (not officially, but there is no way a team like this would ever win a close game regardless of who the opponent is). At this point, I am hoping for .500 or better. It's sad, especially when you consider how this team was 6-2 after beating three teams (Chargers, Vikings, and Broncos) who are almost definitely headed for the post-season. I'm not sure how it all fell apart. I just know that I will never be able to trust this 2009 team with a lead and that I will always expect bad things to happen when the 4th quarter hits. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati beat Detroit, Cleveland lost San Diego, Baltimore lost to Green Bay on Monday night
Steelers 17, Ravens 20 (OT)Another close one slips thru the cracks
This much is obvious about the 2009 Steelers: they are drastically undermanned. No Troy, no Aaron Smith, no Ben - this was a recipe for disaster on the road against their biggest rival. But despite all that, the Steelers were very close to gutting out a season-saving win when once again the roof caved in. Dennis Dixon was the surprise starter for this game with Ben suffering post-concussion headaches. It would be a tough task - asking a kid who had thrown exactly one NFL pass to start against the Ravens defense, but he was up for the challenge. Dixon made a great play in the first half on a play-action rollout in the first half and hit Raven-killer Santonio Holmes for 33 TD pass. Unfortunately, the Steelers defense gave up two first half touchdown drives. One of those drives saw Joe Flacco complete a 54 yard pass. Remember when this defense did not allow any long plays? That was just one short year ago.
As the game dragged on into the 4th quarter, it was clear that these were NOT the same two teams who played for the conference title last January. Baltimore repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with stupid penalties, and the Steelers couldn't stop Ray Rice. With the Ravens leading 14-10, the defense finally made a big play. Brett Keisel and Lawrence Timmons - who both played great games - combined on a blitz/sack play that caused Flacco to fumble the ball away. The Steelers were then able to drive down to the 24 yard line, where they were faced with 3rd and 5. Bruce Arians made his best call of the season. He had Dixon fake a handoff, then run to the outside. There was no one within 10 yards of him. Dixon ran it into the endzone, and the Steelers had a three point lead with just over six minutes left in regulation. This is where the defense needed to finally stand up and make a play. However, they failed again, and failed miserably. Baltimore was down to a 4th and 5 on their own 46 yard line. They were going to punt, but John Harbaugh called timeout (apparently because someone reminded him that our defense has zero clutch ability). He decided to go for it. Flacco threw a pass over the middle to Rice, and at least three guys missed tackles for Pittsburgh. Rice went 44 yards on the play to set up the game-tying field goal. I can't tell you how badly I wanted to throw up after that play. James Farrior, who is playing like he is 100 years old right now, couldn't keep up with Rice on the pass pattern. None of the defensive backs could bring him down. It just seems like every time the defense has to make a play, they choke. This game marked the FOURTH time this season that the Steelers defense has blown a 4th quarter lead. That is an incredible stat. What happened? Where is the clutch defense who made all those huge plays last year? The game went into overtime and the Steelers actually had the ball at midfield, but then the inevitable happened. Dixon threw a terrible pass into heavy coverage. It was the classic "guy with no pro experience" type of throws that you expected him to make all night but forgot that he could make because he had played so well up until that point. Baltimore picked it off and ran it back inside the 30 yard line. A few plays later, they kicked the game-winning FG and all but iced the Steelers post-season hopes. My heart goes out to Dixon. What a tough way to lose a football game that he had fought so valiantly to try to win. He did his best and played way above expectations, and no one should pin this loss on him just because of that interception. Besides, there would have been no need for OT if the defense had made a play on 4th and 5. I don't really know where the Steelers go from here. They have to keep playing and hoping for some kind of dramatic resurrection I suppose, but things certainly look bleak. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati beat Cleveland
Steelers 24, Chiefs 27 (OT)Season caving in
Wow, what do you say after a loss like this one? This was one of those games where no matter what went wrong, you always felt like it was only a matter of time before the Steelers escaped with an ugly win. That time never came, and the Steelers were stunned by one of the conference's worst teams. I'm not even going to talk about what happened on the opening kickoff other than to say that all of Steeler Nation collectively threw up in their mouths at the same time. After a whole week of talking about fixing the problems, they go out and allow something like that to happen on the OPENING FREAKING KICKOFF?!?! Unbelievable. What a sick, disgusting display of..... ok, this is why I said I wasn't going to talk about it. Moving on.... the Steelers quickly recovered. Hines Ward and Heath Miller each caught first half TD passes and by halftime the Steelers had a comfortable 17-7 lead. The offense gained all sorts of yardage (Ben had a 400 yard game and was dodging tacklers all day) and held the ball for 19 minutes longer than Kansas City. You think that would be good enough, right?
The difference between winning and losing in the NFL all comes down to whether or not you can make big plays in the clutch. That is what made last year's team so special. The 2008 season wasn't one where the Steelers flat out dominated every opponent. That rarely happens in today's NFL. Instead that team made plays almost every time it had to, right down to the final seconds of the Super Bowl. This year's team just cannot do that for some reason. In the second half of this game, the Steelers started collapsing. The defense, which hadn't allowed a TD in a month, allowed Matt Cassel to drive the Chiefs for a score. Ben threw an awful interception in the endzone. Even with all that, the Chiefs still tried to hand the game away. In the 4th quarter, Cassel made a bad play holding onto the ball too long and got stripped. The Steelers recovered and a few plays later, Rashard Mendenhall took it into the endzone for a 24-17 lead. But the Steelers fell apart again and allowed some really long pass plays, and just like that we were tied again. Ben had two chances to lead a last-minute drive and failed both times. In overtime, the Steelers drove into Kansas City territory but couldn't convert a 3rd and 2. There were so many little plays like that one - again, the plays they would have made last year. When the Chiefs got the ball back, The Ghost of Chris Chambers caught a short pass and ran 61 yards to set up a chip shot FG from some guy named Ryan Succop. I really can't analyze this game anymore because it's too depressing when you realize how many times the Steelers had a chance to wrap up the win. That has been the story in all four of the team's losses this year, and it's getting really old. So where does that leave us? Well, when you look at the AFC playoff picture, the Colts are killing everyone, but after that, no one is better than 7-3. The Chargers looked like garbage in the first month of the season. New England and Cincinnati each just suffered "monumental collapse" losses in the last two weeks. Right now Jacksonville (believe it or not) is tied with Pittsburgh for the first wild card. So this is one of those weird seasons where things are way up for grabs. Despite this awful loss, the Steelers are by no means out of it. That being said, how can you trust this team? What if they are in a key late-season game or even a post-season game and get themselves into some of the situations from last year - close game needing a big play to secure a win or make a comeback. Can this team do that? I'm just not sure they have it in them. They certainly haven't given anyone cause for hope. I think this is just a case of the sports gods giving and taking away. Let's be honest - these past five years have been unprecedented for Pittsburgh sports fans. We have had SO much to celebrate. Eventually things have to level out, and that is what the 2009 Steelers season seems to be about. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati lost to Oakland in an surreal last minute series of events, Baltimore lost to Indianapolis, Cleveland lost to Detroit
Steelers 12, Bengals 18Cincinnati in control of the division
Not many people expected this huge divisional game to be a battle of defense, but that is exactly what ended up happening today. When it was all said and done, Cincinnati's defense made the big plays and Pittsburgh's offense blew every good chance they had. The result was the Bengals sweeping the Steelers for the first time in more than a decade and opening up a possibly insurmountable lead in the AFC North. The Steelers played well defensively even though they lost Troy Polamalu early in the game (not sure of his status but the bad news is that he definitely aggravated the left knee that he had hurt in the season opener). Though they were not able to get much pressure on Carson Palmer, the secondary forced him into making bad throws all day. The Bengals racked up yardage at times but never made it into the endzone. Cincinnati also suffered a big loss when Cedric Benson left injured about midway thru the game (I never thought I would use "Cedric Benson" and "big loss" in a non-sarcastic sentence). Unfortunately for the Steelers defense, they got little help from their teammates. The special teams allowed the only touchdown of the entire game when Bernard Scott returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown in the 1st quarter. That's THREE kickoff returns allowed by the special teams this year, and all three have come at home. That is NOT good.
While the kickoff return ultimately ended up being the difference on the scoreboard, the real reason Cincinnati won this game was because of their defense. They swarmed Ben Roethlisberger all day long. They sacked him multiple times, batted down passes at the line of scrimmage, but most of all, they frustrated Ben. It's been a long time since I have seen #7 so flustered. He basically turned into Rex Grossman. He kept going for homeruns and on the shorter passes, he threw into coverage. At the start of the 3rd quarter, he threw a pass that bounced off a Cincinnati defender into the hands of another Bengal, leading to a field goal. He was 2-11 on 3rd downs. But despite all that, the offense was still able to move the ball. They made it into the red zone on four different occasions - FOUR! - and all four times had to settle for field goals. Remember, this is a team which had scored at least 27 points in each of their last five games, so getting into the endzone has not been a problem. But it certainly was a huge problem today. I thought the most frustrating trip to the red zone occurred early in the 4th quarter. The Steelers were down 12-9 and were faced with 4th and inches from the Cincinnati 11 yard line. Mike Tomlin made an incredibly gutsy call to go for it. The Steelers converted, but on the ensuing set of downs, they lost yardage. So when Jeff Reed lined up to kick his 4th field goal, he was actually four yards behind where he would have been had the Steelers kicked the field goal on 4th and inches! Reed still made it, but that just kind of summed up what kind of day it was for the offense. The Bengals got two more field goals of their own to open up a 6-point lead late, but the Steelers got the ball back with two minutes left and a timeout. I kept thinking that we have seen this script before - bad game offensively but Ben steals the win with one of his great last-second drives - but it was not to be. The offense's response was an underwhelming four and out. Game over. Cincinnati now has full control over the division. Barring a huge collapse by the Bengals, the Steelers are now playing for one of the Wild Card spots in the AFC. It's a shame because both of the games between these two teams were very winnable for Pittsburgh, but both times they just couldn't get it done. I don't know what to make of this 2009 team. I keep thinking that they just don't have the same magic that last year's team had. There just seems to be something missing. Losing close games and not converting on the opportunities you have to win those close games is a good way to separate yourself from the pack of true contenders, and that is what the Steelers have been doing in some of these games. That is not to take anything away from Cincinnati though. Their defense played super and they should be proud of that performance today. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Baltimore beat Cleveland on Monday night
Steelers 28, Broncos 10Steelers laugh adversity in the face again
The Steelers faced a tough road game this week. They were playing in a city which is difficult to play in against a 6-1 team with a hostile crowd that was fired up for Monday Night Football. They were missing three defensive starters and the rust of the bye week threatened to make this a difficult game. However, if the Steelers have proven anything in the past few seasons, it is that they can overcome adversity better than anyone. Denver dominated the first half but had little to show for it. They moved the ball well, controlled the time of possession, and despite some poor punting by newly acquired Mitch Berger, won the field position battle (by the way, I had no idea that he played for them - I would have made a MUCH bigger deal about that in the preview for sure!). However, all the Broncos could get was an opening drive FG, and even worse for their offense, the one and only mistake they made cost them 7 points. Tyrone Carter, playing in place of Ryan Clark (who thank God sat this one out), stepped in front of an errant Kyle Orton pass and returned it for the touchdown. Somehow, the Steelers were up 7-3 at halftime. Orton always reminds me of that Bob Barker scene from Happy Gilmore. He is a solid QB who can manage a game well as long as he is completely steady, but just like Happy Gilmore, he has the tendency to snap. I can just always picture Barker yelling out, "Ok Kyle, nice and easy...." Then after the pic-six: "That was NOT nice and easy, Kyle!"
I'm not sure what Bruce Arians figured out at halftime, but the offense did a 180 in the second half. They moved the ball at will right from the start but Ben got hit and fumbled. Robert Ayers returned it 54 yards for the TD and all of a sudden, Denver had the lead. But as usual, the Steelers did not panic. The offense responded in a huge way. With the crowd going crazy, the offense calmly drove 80 yards in just 4 plays - a long pass to Wallace, a long run by Mendenhall, another long pass to Holmes, and a short TD pass to Ward. The offense continued to have their way with the Broncos defense on the ensuing drive, but Ben threw a costly interception in the endzone. That drive may have iced the game but instead Denver was right back in it. Still, the Steelers defense was up for the task. They would not allow Denver to drive, and by the 4th quarter, their offense was getting desperate. From deep in their own territory on 2nd and 11, the Broncos called a play action pass, which had worked well all night long. However, as ESPN's Jon Gruden pointed out, no one is fooled by play action on 2nd and 11! Orton sailed a pass over the middle and..... "That was NOT nice and easy, Kyle!" Troy Polamalu made the inteception, and it was up to Ben to wrap things up. On 3rd and 10, Ben scrambled out of the pocket and found Mike Wallace for a 25 yard TD pass to make it 21-10. Game over. On the Monday Night Football pre-game show, Steve Young said that Ben would never be an elite QB until he stayed in the pocket. The best part about that play was how Ben just stuck it to yet another critic, one who he has twice as many Super Bowl rings than no less. There were a lot of great performances in this game. Rashard Mendenhall was an absolute machine tonight. He is peaking at just the right time. That week he got benched seems like a million years ago right now. Santonio Holmes also had a big game. Champ Bailey was shadowing him all night, yet Holmes managed to lead the team in yardage. On the defensive side, you have to give credit to the entire unit. They did not allow Denver in the endzone all night long (in fact, the only points they allowed came on that first possession FG). Guys like Carter, Keyaron Fox, and Nick Eason (the 3rd string DE) all played like they were supposed to be in there. Depth is so important for a defense, and this one has it. And on the Aaron Smith-less d-line, Brett Keisel is showing why he is so valuable. He was in the backfield almost this entire game, sacking Orton twice and causing all sorts of havoc. Just a great overall performance all around by the Steelers. They beat a very good, very hot team for the second straight game. You have to like what you see right now. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati beat Baltimore, Cleveland had a bye
Steelers 27, Vikings 17Defense makes a statement
The Steelers defense has been under fire all season. They blew two 4th quarter leads and generally have not lived up to expectations. But today before a record crowd at Heinz Field against the undefeated Minnesota Vikings, they single-handedly won the game. This huge interconference game was billed as a matchup between Brett Favre and Ben Roethlisberger, but in the first half, it would each team's defense which would shine. The Steelers were clearly up for this game, swarming Favre and all-pro RB Adrian Peterson. The Minnesota defense frustrated Ben, batting down a number of passes at the line of scrimmage. The only scoring for the first quarter and a half was a Jeff Reed field goal. Finally, each of the offenses got moving and traded touchdowns before halftime. Peterson scored on a short run to give Minnesota the lead, but the Steelers quickly answered as Ben hit Mike Wallace on a 40 yard TD bomb. On a day where the Steelers offense was mostly silent, the rookie shined once again, nabbing a team-leading 72 yards. What a great story this kid has turned out to be. This was quickly turning into a 2008 game - one of those ones where Ben doesn't do much and then either comes to life when the clock is ticking down (as he did at the end of the first half) or where the defense comes thru with some unbelievable play (which they would do multiple times in the second half). Meanwhile, Favre was throwing all over the place. He would eventually throw 51 times. I could be wrong, but I am guessing that is not the formula for success in Minnesota this season, especially with Peterson in the backfield.
In the second half, Minnesota had THREE chances to take the lead. After another Reed FG made it 13-7, the Vikings drove all the way down the field and had a 1st and goal from the 1 yard line, but the defense stuffed them on three straight plays, holding them to just a Ryan Longwell FG. The offense then had a chance to make it a two-score game. Santonio made a great 45-yard catch and run to get inside the 10 yard line, but Rashard Mendenhall, who had played a good game up to that point, fumbled the ball away. Favre drove Minnesota down the field, converting a 3rd and 18 along the way. But from the Pittsburgh 8 yard line, the defense stepped up again. Brett Keisel swatted the ball out of Favre's hand, and Lamar Woodley scooped up the ball and dashed 77 yards for the touchdown!! It was the play of the season.... until the ensuing kickoff. Rookie Percy Harvin weaved thru the Steelers special teams for an 88 yard TD. The kickoff coverage had been good all year, but this is now two weeks in a row where they gave up a kickoff return for a score. This one was really huge too. It totally sucked the air out of what should have been a potentially game-clinching play by the defense. Drunko the Kicker made a half-hearted tackle attempt and the other ten guys were nowhere to be found. The offense followed that up with a short possession, and soon the Vikings had the ball back with over three minutes left, needing only three points to send the game into OT. This is the moment where you always expect a great Steelers defense to step up. They were facing an NFL legend at home with Renegade blaring, needing to make a play to give the Steelers a huge victory. On the other side of the ball, this is where a great offense needs to come thru. Peterson sure did - he caught a pass over the middle and STEAMROLLED William Gay for a 29 yard gain. That play put Minnesota in FG range. It was now just a question of whether they would tie the game or win it outright. But from the 19 yard line, the defense did it again. Favre threw a pass that bounced off Chester Taylor's fingers and into the arms of Keyaron Fox, who went 82 yards for the touchdown! It was unbelievable!!! The defense made a huge play not once, not twice, but three times to win the game after the offense and special teams had failed them. What a way to go into the bye week! Hats off to Dick Lebeau and his guys. It's almost like they were fed up with the questions and with people giving up on them after Aaron Smith went down. They took the ball away TWICE in the final minutes from the guy who ESPN claimed is the best clutch QB ever, and both times turned it into touchdowns. Make no mistake - when they make the argument for Lebeau's Hall of Fame bid, today will be one of the games that they point to. It seriously bordered on legendary. Congrats to the Steelers in general too. Nearing the halfway point of the 2009 campaign, they have turned early season struggles into a 5-2 record, and they have stated to the rest of the league that they are still the champions until someone says otherwise. There is still a LONG way to go and still a lot of tough competition in both the division and conference, but given the injuries and the way they lost those two games in September, it's hard to argue that Mike Tomlin and company have done anything less than a stellar job. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati beat Chicago, Cleveland lost to Green Bay, Baltimore had a bye
Steelers 27, Browns 14Passing game explodes
The Steelers beat the Browns. Nothing new there. But something that is different these days is the passing game putting up massive stats. Ben Roethlisberger threw for more yards today than anyone in the league had thrown for all season as the Steelers improved to 4-2. Although the stat sheet shows a ton of yards for the Steelers offense (543 of them to be exact!), the game itself wasn't all that exciting. The Steelers drove for two touchdowns in the second quarter. The first touchdown came on a drive that Heath Miller completely dominated. He wide open for a long 25 yard pass, and caught another shorter pass, then caught one in the endzone to cap the drive. The second touchdown came on a 52 yard bomb to Hines Ward, who killed the Browns for the 745th time in his career. Hines, Santonio, and Heath all had big games, but the real star was the guy throwing to them. It's almost like Ben just gets more motivated by his critics. "You don't think I really won that first Super Bowl? Fine, I'll win another one. You don't think I can carry the team by myself? Fine, I'll drive 88 yard in the final seconds of the Super Bowl. You still don't think I am in the same class as guys like Brees, Brady, and Manning because they have fancy stats? Fine, I'll put up fancy stats!" I love it. And the best part is how the clueless national media guys will all talk about Ben's "maturation" and how now he is the heart of the offense. The thing they don't realize is that Ben has been the key to the team's success almost since day one.
To their credit, the Browns worked hard to stay in the game. Steeler-killer Joshua Cribbs returned a kickoff for a TD. You know what sucks for Cribbs? He had probably done more to beat us over the course of his career than any other player in the league during that same time span, and he has zero wins against us to show for it! The Brownies also led off the 3rd quarter with a TD to make it a close game, but the Steelers offense (i.e. Ben) responded the way a championship offense should respond: they went out and scored another touchdown to essentially put the game out of reach. This game was not without its goofy moments. At one point late in the second quarter, the Steelers were driving but appeared to get stopped on 4th and 1. The refs came out to measure, pulled the sticks apart, found that the one stick didn't reach quite to where the ball was, and...... gave the Steelers the first down anyway! That scenario coukd ONLY happen to the Cleveland Browns. As my buddy remarked, that was "Phil Luckett-Vinny Testaverde" moment. The Steelers players even kind of admitted that they caught a weird break on that one. Later in the game, each team refused to hang onto the ball. There were FOUR straight fumbles (two by each team) within the span of 1:25! That kind of stuff certainly wouldn't pass against a legit NFL team, but Cleveland is just awful enough where you just had to laugh. I can't say enough about Ben. He threw for over 400 yards today. He had actually done that one other time in his career, but that was in a loss to Denver three years ago in a game where the Steelers were down by a lot and he was just throwing like crazy to try to get them back in it. This is totally different. The offense looks great. On the other side of the ball, there wasn't a noticeable difference with Aaron Smith out, but again this wasn't a real test. Perhaps the best moment of the day was seeing Troy back on the field, and seeing him intercept Derrick Anderson. Welcome back, Troy! With the Ravens and Bengals both losing, the Steelers are now in good shape again in the standings. They can thank the schedule makers for helping them to get back on track, but that all ends next week when the undefeated Vikings come to town for a huge showdown. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati lost to Houston, Baltimore lost to Minnesota
Steelers 28, Lions 20Getting it done
The Steelers were not perfect today, but they did their job. They went on the road as defending champions to play a team that won all of one game since the end of the 2007 season, and they defeated them. The most encouraging part was the way the defense finished the job, unlike the team's other two road games this season. The offense came out clicking in the first half much like they have in almost every game this season. Ben Roethlisberger is having an all-pro season. He led three touchdown drives before halftime, and threw for two scores (to Miller and Ward). Rashard Mendenhall ran well for the second straight week, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. I don't see any way FWP gets his job back at this point. The defense held The Ghost of Daunte Culpepper (who was starting for an injured Matthew Stafford) in check in the first half as well. The only miscue of the entire half was a pic-six thrown by Ben (his second in three weeks). He also had another interception negated by a bad call. Ben described his performance as "disappointing". I think he may be being a bit of a perfectionist. Yes, he was sloppy at times, but he completed 23 of 30 passes. That's not too shabby!
In the second half, the offense slowed down, but not before Roethlisberger hit Mike Wallace on a 47 yard TD bomb. It was sweet redemption for the rookie, who had dropped a wide open pass earlier in the game. Wallace has come out of nowhere to become one of the team's most explosive weapons. What a great draft pick he is turning out to be! Meanwhile, the Lions could not get out of their own way. Decrepit old man Jason Hanson, who had drilled two 46 yard field goals in the first half, missed a 49-yarder. It would have marked the first time Hanson had made three 40+ yard kicks since back in the 1928 season, when he drilled three long ones against the Pottsville Maroons. Culpepper was even worse. At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Lions had driven all the way to the Steelers 28 yard line with a chance to get right back into the game when an under-pressure Culpepper tried to throw all the way across the field into a heap of players. Ryan Clark picked off the pass and ended the threat. That was seriously one of the worst plays I have seen a quarterback make in a long time. Culpepper has been in the NFL for 11 seasons. He has got to know better than that. Thank God we did not sign this guy to be our backup last season. The Steelers carried a 15-point lead into the 4th quarter, which meant that all of Steeler Nation started to worry if the defense would be able to finish this time. Sure enough, Culpepper hit Dennis Northcutt for a TD with about 5 minutes left. That was good for Northcutt, whose career against the Steelers has been miserable for him, but not good for the defense. The Lions got the ball back down by 8, and immediately started to drive again. However, this time the defense finally stepped up and made some plays. With the crowd in Detroit going nuts for Pittsburgh (it was like Super Bowl XL all over again with that crowd today), the defense sacked Culpepper THREE times in a row. On 4th and 34, the Lions were left with no choice but to throw a hail mary. That throw didn't even come close, and the Steelers left with their third victory of the season. It was great to see the defense win the game instead of lose it. It was great to see LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison making sacks again. And it was great to see the offensive line and the running game continue to improve. At 3-2, the Steelers are not quite where they want to be, but they are in a decent spot. They need to continue to win the games they are supposed to win, and then play like champions against the tougher teams. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Cincinnati beat Baltimore, Cleveland beat Buffalo
Steelers 38, Chargers 28Still can't close the deal
Welcome to the 2009 Steelers season, where even a 28-0 lead at home is not safe! The Steelers once again came out and dominated a team in the first three quarters. Then they had to hold their breath as their special teams and defense nearly blew another 4th quarter lead. This game picked up right where last year's playoff match left off. The Steelers marched down the field for a touchdown three separate times in the first half and dominated the time of possession. The drives were all between 75 and 80 yards long. All three featured key plays made by #7, but the big story on offense was Rashard Mendenhall. The second-year running back was benched last week after completely slacking off in practice. He received a ton of justified criticism from the fans and the Facebook faithful. But Mendenhall was eager to prove himself after FWP had to sit this game out with an injury. He ran all over the Chargers defense. He scored two of the three first half touchdowns, but more importantly, he broke tackles and flashed the speed that made him a #1 pick last year. This was a breakout game for him. He put up almost 200 yards of total offense! So much for being in the dog house. It was great to see him run with purpose - could it be that he just needed a kick in the butt? Mendenhall may have stolen the show, but there was plenty of credit to go around on offense. Ben quietly put together another 300-yard effort. Bruce Arians called a real nice game. On the first drive, he lined up four receivers on the same side, and it clearly baffled the Chargers defense. The result was that Mike Wallace was wide open for a 35 yard reception. Later in that same drive, the Steelers lined up center Doug Legursky at fullback on the Mendenhall TD run. Tons of credit needs to go to the offensive line as well. Holdy McHoldsalot looked like Dermontti Dawson out there tonight. He was pulling and blowing out defenders like crazy. After SO much criticism over the past couple of seasons, this line is coming together and just keeps improving every single week. Last but not least, Mewelde Moore had a great game in his usual unsung manner. How many times does a running back CATCH and THROW for a touchdown in the same game? I'm not sure we ever really recognize how vital he has been to our offense. That seriously may have been one of the best under-the-radar free agent signings in team history.
The Steelers completed another long drive in the 3rd quarter. Ben hit Heath Miller with a nifty over-the-shoulder TD pass, and that should have pretty much sealed things up. Unfortunately, things started to get sloppy. After the defense gave up a touchdown to Antonio Gates, Stefan Logan got stripped on a punt return which led to a give-away TD for the Chargers. That is the second time in as many weeks that Logan has fumbled on a return. While I still have high hopes for Logan, the shine is defnitely off of his pre-season star. The good thing about that play was that the offense came right back and made it a three-score game again with a long TD drive. Not only did the Steelers not take the foot off the pedal, they even got bold. Near the goal line, they called a halfback option pass that Moore completed to Miller for the touchdown. THAT play should have sealed the game. Instead, the defense gave up another quick touchdown to Gates, the special teams couldn't fall on an onside kick, and the defense gave up yet ANOTHER touchdown. All of a sudden it was a 7-point game with still five minutes left for the Chargers to come back! It was unbelievable. I texted my brother to say that I was quitting on the 2009 season if we lost this game. Fortunately the Steelers were playing the only team with a defense less clutch than their own. Every single time that the San Diego defense needed to make a play in this game, they failed. The Steelers offense marched down the field and ate up most of the clock in the process. The game essentially ended when Jeff Reed hit a clutch 46 yard FG to ice the game. That was great for Reed. A 46-yarder is anything but a chip shot at Heinz Field, and Reed nailed it right down the middle to remind everyone that the Chicago debacle was a fluke and not the norm for our very solid kicker. Pittsburgh has now played and defeated San Diego three times in their past 14 games dating back to last November. I think it is fair to say that we have their number at this point. Mendenhall's encouraging performance will be talked about a lot this week, but at the risk of bursting everyone's bubble, FWP ran all over this team in the playoffs too. I will be much more excited if Mendenhall is able to sustain this over the course of the next several weeks. What will be talked about the most of course will be the discouraging near-collapse. As I have been saying all week, I really don't know what the answer is, but they need to figure it out soon, because our hearts can't take this week after week! Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Baltimore lost to New England, Cincinnati beat Cleveland in OT
Steelers 20, Bengals 23No-clutch defense blows it again
Let's play Jeopardy. I'll take "Vomit-Inducing Football Games" for $200, Alex. The answer is, "Week 2 and Week 3 of the Steelers 2009 season." [Beep] What is: "Games the Steelers had absolutely no business losing." That's correct! Even though the Steelers completely outplayed the Cincinnati Bengals for most of the game, they blew every chance they had to ice the game - just like last week. And then when the "best" defense in football needed to make a clutch stop, they failed to do so for the THIRD TIME IN THE PAST FOUR GAMES!!! Yep, no Super Bowl hangover this season, right fellas? The Steelers offense came out on fire. They looked like they were going to run away with the game, but while they scored 13 first half points, it seemed far short of where they should have been. Twice the offense stalled inside the Bengals 10 yard line (once at the one yard line - big shocker there), and instead of 7 points, they had to settle for field goals. Ben did make a nice play for a TD late in the first quarter, scrambling and then hitting FWP on a 27 yard TD pass. And speaking of FWP, he certainly silenced some critics today. He looked sharp, rushing for 93 yards. The Steelers made a gutsy decision late in the first half, going for it on 4th and 4 from the Bengals 35 yard line. They didn't make it, and Cincinnati drove down for a late field goal, which was just a sign of things to come.
In the 3rd quarter, the Steelers gave one away. On a misread between Ben and Santonio, Jonathan Joseph jumped a pass and returned it for a pic-six. Not sure whose fault that was, but regardless it pulled the Bengals within four. The reason it was only four was because they botched the PAT (snapping it over the holder's head), which would prove to be critical to the score. The offense then looked to redeem itself. Ben hit Limas Sweed over the middle for a wide open 34 yard..... DROP!!! It was RIGHT in his arms too. I realize this guy is young, but going back to last year's playoffs, he has so much damage in the past five games that I am not sure if the fans, or more importantly, his coaches and teammates can ever trust him again. Meanwhile, Mike Wallace - an unheralded rookie - had a huge day. Limas may not realize it now, but we may look back on that drop as a very costly moment in his young career. That play was followed by another Jeff Reed miss (although in his defense, it was a 52 yarder). The offense gave away a TD and they blew their chances to pull away, but give them credit for being resilient. Late in the 3rd quarter they put together an 11 play, 75 yard TD drive that was capped by a short Ben QB sneak. At that point it was 20-9. Yes, it could have easily been 30-9 or 35-9, but it still should have been enough to win the game. Once again, it was up to the defense to hold a lead. Once again, they failed miserably. Cedrick Benson ran all over the defense on an early 4th quarter TD drive, including a 23 yard touchdown run. However, the Bengals failed to convert a two=point try, so they were still in need of another touchdown to take the lead. It would come down to a last-minute drive which started on the Cincinnati 29 yard line. As the final minutes ticked away, the Steelers twice had a chance to end the game on 4th down. They failed both times, the second one on an 11 yard pass to FB Brian Leonard. Carson Palmer hit Andre Caldwell in the endzone for the go-ahead TD with just 14 seconds left in the game, as all of Steeler Nation simultaneously threw up in their mouths. In the past 20 years, there have only been two games - TWO - where the Steelers have blown an 11+ point lead. The first was in Cincinnati in 2001. The second was today's crapfest, which also marked the first time they had lost in Cincinnati since that 2001 game. What else can I say? This team should easily be 3-0 right now. Instead they are 1-2 and in THIRD PLACE in the division! Living on the edge week after week for the past two years has finally caught up with the Steelers. I gave the defense a break for blowing it last week because they had so much help from Reed, and while the pic-six and the Limas drop did not help things this week, it is clear that there is something seriously wrong with the defense. Maybe it truly is the Troy injury, but that just seems like too simple of an excuse. This is about not being able to win close games. If you are a "legendary" defense, that is kind of something you have to do. The Steelers really need to get their act together, because the season is about to slip away fast. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Baltimore beat Cleveland
Steelers 14, Bears 17Bizzaro world in Chicago
It always stinks when the Steelers lose, but when they lose a game because they go totally outplayed, it’s a lot easier to accept than when they lose a game that they had plenty of chances to win. That’s what happened today in Chicago, when normally clutch players failed in the clutch. The end result was the Bears stealing away a victory from Pittsburgh. The game started off well enough. The offense put together a nice looking long drive but were faced with the dreaded 4th and goal from the one yard line. Instead of trying to pound it up the middle, Bruce Arians made a great call and had Ben rollout. He found Matt Spaeth in the back of the endzone for a touchdown. Everything looked bright, and then it started to pour down rain. All of a sudden, Ben was misfiring and the receivers were dropping passes. Jay Cutler and the Bears then woke up. They put together a long 13 play TD pass and tied the game before halftime.
In the 3rd quarter, the Steelers got back on track. Rashard Mendenhall broke off a 39-yard run, and Arians again got creative in close range, having Ben run a bootleg into the endzone. It was so great to see some creativity on those short yardage plays. At this point, the Steelers don’t have a choice. They have to open up the playbook – gone are the days when we can just power our way forward. Meanwhile, Cutler and the Bears cooled off. The Steelers looked like they were about to put the game away early in the 4th quarter. They drove down the field, and they eventually had a 1st and 10 at Chicago 13 yard line. After two short plays and a sack, they would have to settle for a field goal, which still would have given them a two-score lead. However, to the shock of everyone, Jeff Reed missed on a 38 yard attempt. Chicago got new life after the miss and drove down the field for a touchdown. So the game was tied, but that was fine, because we have Ben and he loves these types of situations. Sure enough, he quickly had the offense in Chicago territory. Faced with a 3rd and 2 from the Chicago 25 yard line, Ben decided to go for it all. He threw into the endzone for Holmes who.... dropped the ball! Granted, it would have been a tough over the shoulder catch with a guy right on him, but the ball still hit him in the arms. Holmes put up some good numbers but that was not the first ball he dropped in this game. But that was still ok, because there was no way Captain Clutch Jeff Reed was going to miss ANOTHER field goal with the game on the line, right? Wrong! Reed pushed a 43 yard attempt wide left. I’m not sure what happened to him today. He is in his 8th seasons with the Steelers, and he has NEVER had a game like this. Soldier Field, much like Heinz Field, is not exactly kicker friendly. Reed has never played on that field before. Maybe that and the bad weather combined to cause those misses, or maybe Reed just had a bad day for the first time in 8 years. Regardless, it cost Pittsburgh the game. Just like after the first miss, the Bears responded. They drove down the field and Bears kicker Robbie Gould did what Reed could not do – he nailed a clutch 44 yard kick in the final seconds to win the game. There were a few bright spots in this game. The running game looked a bit better. The defense still looked solid even without Troy. That being said, when you take every game down to the final minutes of the 4th quarter, you’re bound to not win them all. The Steelers played well, had chances to pull away, blew those chances, and then had a chance to win the game in the final moments. This has been the pattern for the past two seasons. It’s just that most of the time, they do pull it out. Well, not today. It was a crappy way to lose, and it will certainly put the pressure on them as they try to keep pace in the division. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Baltimore beat San Diego, Cleveland lost to Denver, Cincinnati beat Green Bay
Steelers 13, Titans 10 (OT)Ben does it again
Another season, another game, another Ben Roethlisberger comeback. There is no better clutch player in football today than Ben. Here is the thing you have to ask yourself: did you ever have any doubt that he would win this game? Did you have any doubt after the Titans took a 10-7 lead in the 4th quarter? How about after Hines Ward's shocking fumble? You knew that if Ben got another chance, he would make that play irrelevant. Sure enough, he did just that, and the Steelers had a thrilling opening night victory against one of the AFC's best teams. It was a festive atmosphere at Heinz Field. There were fireworks and a banner raising to celebrate the sixth world championship. When the game started, the teams appeared far less excited. The defense was staunch on both sides, but at times this seemed like a game neither team really wanted to win. In the first half, Tennessee blew two excellent scoring chances. Former Steeler Rob Bironas missed a 37-yard kick on what appeared to be a low snap, and then he had a second shorter attempt blocked by Aaron Smith. Old man Kerry Collins (Penn State sucks) looked sharp but the Steelers defense was playing solid "bend but don't break" football. On the other side of the ball, our offense looked like crap. The running game was especially horrible. Granted, Tennessee has a great front seven, but 36 rushing yards (and a 1.6 average) for the game?!? We have to do better than that. Ben also looked off in the first half. He missed a wide open Mike Wallace on a long bomb, he took a bad sack that put his team out of FG range, and he threw an interception. Of course, like Popeye with his spinach, Ben just needed to see the clock tick down to the final two minutes. Running out of the no-huddle offense, Ben hit Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward on long passing plays, then went back to Santonio for a beautiful 34 yard touchdown pass over the middle. It was Super Bowl XLIII all over again! I wish we could just hypnotize Ben and Santonio into thinking that it's always the last two minutes of a half. We would score 70 points every game! After the score, Tennessee still had 1:22 before halftime to try to tie the game. They only needed 34 seconds. Collins found a wide open Kenny Britt for 57 yards down the sideline, then hit Justin Gage on the same side of the field for a touchdown. The Steelers defense seemed completely lost on that drive. Going into halftime, the score was tied at 7-7.
After the outburst of touchdowns before halftime, the game went back into a defensive mode again. James Harrison made a big play to cause a fumble, but the Steelers didn't do anything with it because - surprise - they could not convert on 3rd and 1. I'm not sure I can take another whole season of short yardage disasters (of course, if it ends like last year's short yardage disaster of a season, I guess I could take it). Bironas finally made a FG in the 4th quarter to give the Titans a 10-7 lead, which was good because it sent Ben back into comeback mode where he operates best. Pittsburgh put together a 12-play, 8-minute drive that stalled at the Tennessee 9 yard line. Why did it stall? Because we tried to run Mewelde Moore up the middle on 2nd and 2, and then again on 3rd and 1. I really don't know the solution for this. Many fans will say Isaac Redman or Frank the Tank, but are those guys really good enough to just knock over 300 pound d-linemen? The o-line never gets enough push in these situations. Anyway, the Steelers had to settle for a Jeff Reed FG to tie the game. After the playing of Renegade and a subsequent four-and-out posted by the Steelers defense, Ben got the ball back with 1:50 in good field position needing only a FG to win the game. This was automatic, or so we all thought. Ben found Santonio, Hines, and Moore to get the team in near FG range. Then he hit Ward again on a long play. Hines broke tackles and plowed his way down to the 4 yard line where he...... FUMBLED!!! Tennessee pounced on the ball, and the game which should have been over right then and there was headed to overtime. That was a real stomach punch. It reminded me of the Bettis fumble in the Colts playoff game. Obviously the magnitude of the situation was not as great, but like Jerome, Hines NEVER fumbles. People were yelling that he should have just gone down, but Hines has fought for extra yardage hundreds of times in his career without losing the ball. In fact, the last time he fumbled was three years ago! (ironically, it was in a game against Denver in the exact same side of the field, also in the final minutes of an attempted comeback). Despite the error, the Steelers are always in good shape with #7. They won the OT coin toss and never looked back. There were several big plays on the 63 yard drive, including a big 3rd down conversion to Holmes and a long pass over the middle to Wallace (What happened to Limas? Wallace, a rookie, was out there as the slot receiver most of the game. More on this one as it develops....) Mike Tomlin then made an interesting decision to attempt the game-winning FG on 1st and 10 from the 15 yard line. In retrospect, it was the right call. The Steelers would have just tried to run it up the middle to get a few more yards, and we all know how well that was working. Besides, Reed is money from 33 yards out, and this time was no different. He drilled it to win the game. There were definitely some concerns coming out of this game. The aforementioned issues with the running game are big, but the most costly part about this victory was the loss of Troy Polamalu. On the blocked FG, Alge Crumpler rolled up on Troy's leg. He will be out 3-6 weeks (maybe more) with a sprained MCL. Even if he comes back, will he still be able to fly around the field the way he was doing early in this game? This was definitely a big loss for the defense. Tyrone Carter is a solid veteran. He is no Troy, but he will need to fill in as best as possible. The defense will have to rally as well. Let's hope that they can do it. No matter what, this much is clear and has been clear for quite some time: we have one of the top three quarterbacks in the league. No game is ever lost when he is in there. Period. Here are the numbers:
Elsewhere in the AFC North: Baltimore beat Kansas City, Cleveland lost to Minnesota, Cincinnati lost to Denver on a play that I still cannot believe happened
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