Thanks To A Porous Defense and Poor Coaching, Big Ben Can’t Have An Off Day

After the Steelers embarrassing loss on Sunday to the hated Baltimore Ravens, they find themselves on the brink of missing the playoffs. This defeat is especially harmful as all the team had to do was win out against a poor Ravens team and the lowly Cleveland Browns and they’d be in the playoffs. They failed to do so and now must beat the Browns and pray that the Buffalo Bills can upset the New York Jets in order to slip into the tournament.  The odds are certainly against that.

It’s infuriating to see this team fall short, specifically because the Ravens were starting their 4th quarterback of the season and are quite simply not a very good football team this year.  The Ravens stepped up and swept the Steelers in a very down year for them. The two wins this year makes it 4 out of the last 5 and 8 out of the last 11 times these teams have faced off that the Ravens have come out victorious.

Quite frankly the main reason for this is Mike Tomlin has and always will be outcoached by John Harbaugh. Harbaugh is a far better game planner, game manager and motivator. Period.  Do you think Tomlin had his guys ready to play this past week?  They looked as though they felt like they already won the game and had nothing to lose.  On the other side, a Ravens team who truly had nothing to lose and playing with 17 guys not on the week 4 roster (the first time these teams met this season) came out and put it to the Steelers.

Mike Tomlin once again had a factor in the outcome as he foolishly elected to go for a 4th and 1 on the opening drive, well into Raven territory, rather than kick the field goal to go up 3-0.  The team didn’t convert and the Ravens took advantage of it and never looked back. It’s is quite the obvious that you never, EVER, give an inferior team hope, it will bite you every time and that’s what happed here.  Had the team put points up to lead 3-0, the whole game could have gone differently. Never mind the fact that the team lost by 3 at the end of the game.  Tomlins arrogance and lack of recognition of game situations is nothing short of mind boggling and disappointing.

Many will point to Big Ben as a culprit in the defeat and there is no doubt he had a big hand in the outcome as well as he was off target and threw two interceptions and a 3rd one returned for a touchdown that was fortunately called back due to penalty.  Ben has to play better but more glaring is the fact that he is unable to have an off day, as I’ve pointed out all season long, thanks to the defense.  If this offense doesn’t go over 30 points, typically, they won’t win. In this case, they needed at least 21, the defense couldn’t hold Ryan Mallet down, allowing him 274 yards in the air, a career best.  It’s shameful to see a once proud defense gashed like this by bottom rung quarterbacks. 

For the season the defense has allowed the following via the air attack: Tom Brady 288 Yards, 4TD’s (ok it’ s Brady, hard not to accept this one), Colin Kaepernick 335 yards, 2TD’s (Kaepernick was benched this year because he’s horrible), Nick Foles 197 yards, no TD’s (good performance here),  Joe Flacco 189 Yards, 1TD (choked down the stretch in this one), Philip Rivers 365 Yards, 2 TD’s (Rivers is good but this is a lot of yards), Carson Palmer 421 yards, 1 TD (421 yards!! Enough said.), Alex Smith 251 Yards, 1 TD (Smith barely ever cracks 200 yards), Andy Dalton 221 yards, 1 TD (pretty good numbers here), Derek Carr 301 yards, 4 TD’s (that’s a lot of TD’s for Derek Carr), Johnny Manziel 372 yards, 1 TD (career high for a pedestrian Manziel), Russell Wilson 345 yards, 5 TD’s (these numbers are insanely gaudy, especially for Russell Wilson who isn’t a premiere passer), Matt Hasselbeck 165 yards, 1 TD (Hasselbeck is 40 years old), AJ McCarron 280 yards, 2 TD’s (McCarron had never played significant downs before this game and came in part way through the first quarter), Brock Osweiler 296 yards, 3 TD’s (second string Brock Osweiler), Ryan Mallet 274 yards, 1 TD (career high for Mallet, Ravens 4th starter on the year). 

Those numbers are atrocious and unacceptable and further prove that this team has major deficiencies. So, I could say if the Steelers made the playoffs they wouldn’t want to face Tom Brady, but honestly, does it really matter? Other AFC teams in the post season have McCarron, Osweiler and Smith leading the way and we see what they did. And should they face Brandon Weeden, he’d do it too.

So while the Steeler are mathematically alive and could slip in, it may be a tough task for them to advance in the post season any way. Should the Steelers fail to make the playoffs or make it and lose in the first game, it will be the 5th consecutive season they’ve gone without a playoff win, something they haven’t accomplished since 1962. So while there are many Tomlin lovers out there who think he’s a top of the line coach, ask yourself, what has he done after he lost Bill Cowhers players and what will he do once Big Ben is finally done? We saw what this team did when Ben had an off day, wait til he’s no longer suited up, Tomlin will be truly exposed for what he is…or isn’t.

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