Pats Beat Down Steelers 39-26

It was a chance for the Steelers to flex their muscle, take a one game lead on the Ravens for sole possesion of first place in the AFC North and really prove they are worthy of being called the best team in the NFL. None of that happened, the Patriots of New England came into Pittsburgh and destroyed them in all facets of the game. Some of the stats won’t indicate that as the Steelers offense got going in the 4th quarter. Some of that is attributed to the Pats playing a softer D, some was Ben finally heated up and Wallace got free. Either way, it was far too late as New England already had the game well in hand. 

The Steelers were truly exposed defensively in the pass game. The way New England approached the game offensively was exactly what we talked about in our Game Day preview. They spread the ball out and let Brady throw it over 40 times for better than 350 yards! This is what the Pats do to the Steelers every time and it’s like the black and gold never learn. They Steelers couldn’t get to Brady and when the linebackers can’t put the opposing QB on the ground or at  least pressure him, the secondary becomes exposed.  Speaking of exposed, William Gay, the man we’ve been lambasting over the past few weeks proved again why we think he sucks. He was burned for 3 touchdowns tonight. Yeah, 3 touchdowns.  That’s pathetic and no DB in the league should give that up in a single game. He needs to be off the field, he can not play and should not play! 

While Gay is a big reason the team lost, he’s not the only reason. It wasn’t their night from the beginning, the Patriots blitzed the hell out of Roethlisberger as they knew the offensive line was weakened by injuries and lack of talent. Ben was sacked 5 times and pressured an infinite amount.  The O line looked really bad and you have to question why they don’t have more depth there. It’s always been the weakness on this team so why hasn’t that been addressed in some form or fashion?  Big Ben finished with 387 yards, which is an impressive total but not a single one of those yards went to Hines Ward as his streak of catching a pass in 186 straight games was broken when he was injured by a helmet to helmet hit by the Patriots. Ward left with a neck injury and never returned.  Mike Wallace was a great go to guy again this week as he caught 8 balls for 136 yards and 2 TD but it wasn’t enough.

On defense Farrior had a nother big day leading the team with 10 tackles but you’d never really notice, the team was whipped. They allowed Brady to drive the Pats up and down the field and it was a disaster from the get go.  To make matters worse, Lawrence Timmons was knocked out of the game with a hip injury, no word yet on the severity but that’s certainly a concern if he has to miss any time moving forward.

It was certainly nice to see Sanders starting to return punts in addition to kick offs, it’s about time as we’ve been asking for that move for weeks. It was sickening to see Reed miss yet another field goal, this one a chip shot from inside the Pats 10. That is unacceptable and we’ll say this for the 2nd week in a row, the Steelers MUST try out other kickers this week. Reed is not kicking like a franchise tagged player. If he is going to be paid that kind of money, then he needs to kick like he’s worth it.

It was a dreadful night from the beginning and one thing we would have liked to have seen at some point would have been a little emotion from Tomlin. It’s like he felt defeated from the opening kick, he never appeared to be in the game. We aren’t saying he needs to act like Cowher, but he needs to fire the team up in some way and it wasn’t happening tonight. He let Bellichick intimidate him. Speaking of Bellichick, does it really have to be his M.O. to always look like he sleeps in an alley and eats out of a dumpster behind a gas station, what a bum that guy is! His team is filled with arrogant clowns and they certainly put the beat down on the Steelers but they acted like a bunch of punks doing it.

The bottom line here is the Steelers need to regroup, quickly. They have to play Oakland who’s coming off a bye week and are a rejuvenated football team. A loss next week puts the Steelers in a tough spot. If they can regroup and win, then this loss isn’t the end of the world. What team will we see?

6-3, Up Next Oakland