One And Done

That collective shriek you heard around 8:04pm Eastern Standard Time was that of the Steel Nation as they saw the Steelers Stairway to Seven end with one 80 yard, 11 second play in overtime. This was the first game in NFL history to go to overtime under the new NFL rules that were put in place in 2010. The new rules allow each team a possession in overtime unless the team that scores first puts a touchdown on the board. Well, that’s what happened tonight, the Broncos put up a touchdown on the first play and the season for the black and gold ended.  It should never have been allowed to get to that point however as the Steelers were the heavy favorite coming into this game as they put up four more wins than the home team Broncos, they had the better offense by leaps and bounds, the better defense, the experience and the Super Bowl wins to back it up.  But as they say, that’s why the play the game.

The Steelers dominated the first quarter statistically but were only able to muster a 6-0 lead after the first period. The second quarter was the quarter that cost the Steelers the game and their season along with it. The Broncos who couldn’t manage a first down in the 1^st quarter put up 20 straight points on the leagues #1 defense and essentially locked in their ticket for next week’s game against New England along with it. Not many teams can allow a 20 point run and live to see another day and the same held true for the Steelers. While Big Ben was able to mount a massive comeback to force overtime, it wasn’t meant to be. 

The defense was really at fault in this one, along with the coaching. In our pre game we had stated we felt the team should stack the box against the league’s #1 rated rush offense and force Tim Tebow to beat them in the air.  Well, that’s what the black and gold did, a solid plan to start, but Tebow burned them early and often.  The early part we can stomach, the often part we cannot.  Tebow completed only 10 of 21 throws all game long but he had 316 yards in those 10 completions, including the final play of the game for an 80 yard game winning score. It was not acceptable to allow Tebow big throw after big throw. Once it became apparent that he was able to make those plays, the Steelers should have made adjustments and dropped guys back into coverage earlier than they did. When they started doing that more in the 2^nd half they were able to hold the Broncos to only 3 points. However, the first play of overtime what did they do, they allowed Tebow to beat them by stacking the box again. Why would they EVER do that when the new rules are very clear that a field goal cannot beat you but a touchdown can!  There was no safety help and Ike Taylor was burned on the crossing route and then BOOM, game over. In fact, Taylor was burned all day and had a big hand in costing the Steelers the game. He gave up several big plays and had a pass interference penalty as well. He shouldn’t have been much of a factor in this game but instead he led the team in tackles with 7. When your #1 cornerback leads the team in tackles you know your team had a bad game. That should never, ever happen.  Another reason the defense failed was because they were unable to get to Tebow even once. They had no sacks and in fact they had no QB hits. Even the lowly Tim Tebow who on the season completed less than 50% of his passes, is able to burn you when you can’t hit him.  It’s unacceptable. Allowing the Denver Broncos 447 total yards is unacceptable. Allowing Tim Tebow 316 passing yards is unacceptable and losing the game is unacceptable. The defense and the coaching failed.

Offensively, while it was a slow start for Big Ben and it was apparent his ankle was bothering him, they were able to muster a very nice rally and get this game into overtime. Big Ben looked hobbled and hurt at times, including a stretch where he missed on 7 straight passes, but in the clutch, Big Ben came up big. On the day he hit 22 of 40 passes for 289 yards and a beautiful TD pass to Jerricho Cotchery to tie the game late.  Isaac Redman proved he can be a starting running back on this team and managed 121 yards on only 17 carries. The receivers showed they have some serious depth as Emmanuel Sanders was the team leader with 6 catches and 81 yards as the Broncos concentrated on the Steelers top two threats Wallace and Brown.  The main offensive problem, aside from Ben’s ankle issues early was the offensive line. They allowed Big Ben to be sacked 5 times including one at the end of regulation that may have cost the team the game and they allowed him to be hit another 6 more. That’s not going to get it done in crunch time and it didn’t.  While yes the comeback was impressive, the job fell short thanks to these clowns on the line. 

The coaching staff really ought to ashamed as they did a horrific job of preparing. As fans we can sit here all week and talk trash and assume our team is going to win the game and make plans for the following week, as coaches, you can’t do that. However, that’s what looked like happened. The Steelers were completely unprepared defensively and even thought Brett Keisel and Casey Hampton went down early in the game, that’s no excuse. Tomlin always preaches to his players that “The Standard is the Standard” when it comes to stepping up and making plays, well that has to go for coaches too.  It truly felt like they looked right past this Bronco team when they were scheming for this game. The team made costly mistakes including 6 penalties for 61 yards, bad snaps, dropped balls and horribly played defense. What were they doing all week?   While the players make plays, they take on the persona of the coach and today that persona was sloppy. They’ll have all off season to think about this one.

The team started the year with the hopes of getting back into the playoffs and making another run at a Super Bowl appearance. While they were able to get back in the playoffs, it was all for naught as they faded away into the night along with the 2011 version of the Stairway to Seven.

GAME NOTES:

Hines Ward didn’t catch one pass and it may very well have been his last game in a Steeler uniform.

The Steelers will be 20 million dollars over next years salary cap before the season starts so many cuts and roster changes will be made in the off season.

This was Big Ben’s first road playoff loss.

THANKS:

Thanks to the Steelers for a great 12 win season and we hope to see you back in contention in 2012!

Steelers Finish the Year 12-4 After Beating Lowly Browns

Big Ben returned after missing last week’s game against the Rams and led the Steelers to a 13-9 victory over the lowly Cleveland Browns. The game essentially turned out to be an exhibition as with the Ravens beating the Bengals today, the Steelers could not improve or hurt their playoff seeding and were locked into the 5^th seed.  With a game being meaningless the one thing the Steelers really wanted to do more than win was avoid any key injuries. Unfortunately, that did not happen.  The Steelers may have lost Rashard Mendenhall for the postseason as he went down with a knee injury on the last play of the first quarter.  Mike Tomlin has already ruled Mendnehall out for next weeks’ playoff opener and sources are reporting the team fears it’s a torn ACL, which means his season is over.  That is the absolute last thing this team needed. With the team already banged up at some key positions, seeing your starting running back go down in the finale is never a good thing.  Isaac Redman ran the ball relatively effectively as he carried it 19 times for 92 yards, however he did lose two fumbles. You have to wonder  how many carries he’ll be afforded next week if he has butter fingers. You can lose the ball twice in your season finale and that’s one thing but losing it even once in a playoff game is a whole other ball game and will not be tolerated. 

With Mendenhall going down it obviously made sense to give the bulk of the carries to Redman but it was nice to see John Clay out there. He ran the ball hard and may establish himself as the goal to go running back as he seems like a good inside the tackles power runner.  In our pre game we asked the running backs to collectively run for 150 yards. They answered the call and rushed for 161.  Next week we may have to ask them not to fumble!

While it did make sense to run the ball a lot, and it made sense to give the bulk of the carries to Redman after the injury to Mendenhall; it did not make sense to keep Big Ben in the game the entire time. Once the game was officially meaningless, as in it was obvious the Ravens were going to beat the Bengals, Big Ben and many of the other stars, Troy, Harrison, Pouncey etc. should have been pulled. Many of them are fighting off injuries and why risk further harm where no good can come from anything you do?  That’s on Tomlin. Sure, the players want to be out there, what player wouldn’t want to? The bottom line is Tomlin is supposed to be captain of this ship and as captain he needs to take charge and do what’s best for the team as a whole and for the long haul. The best move was clearly to sit these guys in the 2^nd half, at the very least  in the 4^th quarter.  Sure, Tomlin lives by the ‘next man up’ slogan but that doesn’t always work. Just because you expect the backup to step up and play like the starter doesn’t mean that will happen. Who really thinks Charlie Batch can play like Ben Roethlisberger. It’s quite idiotic. While it may be a motivation tactic for the backups to step up, it can certainly backfire when you get your stars hurt and have them miss playoff games because of it. 

The defense stepped up and did their part again as they only allowed the Browns 9 points. That’s only 12 points total for the Browns vs. the Steelers this season, not bad at all. Lawrence Timmons led the way with 6 tackles, including a sack and Troy Polamalu had the play of the game with a beautiful 2^nd half interception in which he completely jumped the receivers’ route. 

The defensive unit will be the key to the Steelers playoff run as they finished the year ranked #1 in the NFL and with the offense struggling to score a lot of points lately, coupled with Big Ben’s ankle injury it’s going to come down to the D playing good old fashioned Pittsburgh football. They showed they could do that today but come playoff time they won’t be facing the Cleveland Browns of the world so they’ll need to play harder, faster and focused. These guys have the experience and have proven several times over the years they can do it, so let’s hope they can again.

NEWS, NOTES and SUPERLATIVES:

Star of the Game: We’ll give this one to Hines Ward. While in the grand scheme of things he wasn’t a real factor, he caught the 5 balls he needed to get 1,000 receptions for his career. He deserves the honor this week and he’s an all time Steeler and sure fire Hall of Famer.

Player to Cut: Shaun Suisham-We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. He needs to go. He missed another field goal and led the NFL in misses this year. We have a very strong fear that he’s going to cost this team in the playoffs.

Injuries of Concern: Rashard Mendenhall appears to have torn his ACL and is likely done for the year.  Ramon Foster left with an undisclosed injury and the Steelers cannot afford more injuries to that O Line.

Notes: Hine Ward became only the 8^th player in NFL history to reach 1,000 receptions.  Antonio Brown became the first player in NFL history to have 1,000 kick return and 1,000 receiving yards in the same year.  Ben Roethlisberger threw for 4,000 yards for the 2^nd time in his career.

The Steelers will open the playoffs at Denver next Sunday at 4:30pm.