The Blitzburgh Report

Why Can’t We Talk About Officiating?

Why Can’t We Discuss Poor Officiating as Well?

I don’t understand why it is so taboo to talk about officiating and its effect on the outcome of games. Yes, I see a problem with blaming it as the sole reason for a loss (aside from some extreme cases where the result is blatant). But why can’t we discuss it just as you would an interception or poor special teams play or bad play calling?

It is part of the game and poor officiating is out of the player’s control, but it certainly contributes to a team winning or losing. Again, I do find a problem with blaming the officiating as the sole reason for losing, but I think it is fair to add it to the laundry list of reasons why your team didn’t succeed.

The common phrase is “Well, good teams overcome bad officiating”. That’s true, just like good teams overcome turnovers and other mistakes. If you acknowledge that it is part of the game then I think it is fair to acknowledge its effect on the outcome.

The Steelers lost, in part, because of Ben’s play in the first half. The Steelers also lost because of their horrible special teams play. The Steelers also lost because of bad play calling. The Steelers also lost because of a phantom holding call on Sean Mahan and no holding calls on David Garrard’s run for a first down. What is so wrong about saying all that?

2008 Looks to be a Tough Schedule

The Steelers are going to have one heck of a tough schedule next season. Eight of the teams they will face are playoff teams this season. Because of parity and not knowing how good teams will be next year, you can’t predict too early how tough a schedule will be. But there is a pretty good chance most of those teams are still going to be pretty good next year as well. Take a look at their 2008 opponents:

Ouch. At least if they win the division again next year, no one can say that they didn’t earn it.

A Final Look At the Injuries

The injuries were probably the biggest story about the Steelers this season and ultimately they had just too many major ones to overcome. Heading into the Jaguars game, the Steelers injury report looked like this:

Injured Reserve:
Ryan Clark
Dan Kreider
Clint Kriewaldt
Willie Parker
Aaron Smith
Max Starks
Jerame Tuman

Injured:
Marvel Smith T Back
Troy Polamalu S Knee
Allen Rossum CB Hamstring
Bryant McFadden CB Ankle
Willie Reid WR Shoulder
Deshea Townsend CB Foot
Hines Ward WR Knee

That is quite a list, though not unheard of for an average NFL season. The Steelers did a great job earlier in the season of playing well without key players. A perfect example was the Seattle game where Ward, Casey Hampton, Polamalu, and Santonio Holmes were all out, yet the Steelers had probably their most dominant game of the season.

But as the season wore on, I think the injuries really took their toll. Especially ones to the more unsung heroes such as Aaron Smith, Ryan Clark, and Dan Kreider. They are the types of players that most don’t appreciate fully until they are gone.

Injuries are a part of the game and the Steelers were lucky in the past few years to not have many serious ones. This year they got hit and ultimately the team wasn’t able to plug in all the holes left by the injuries, something any great team needs to do.

For better or worse, this season will be defined by injuries. If the Steelers lose in the playoffs, the talk will be about how the team went on a slide after starting 9-3 and how much the major injuries played a role. If they win it all this year then the story will be about how they overcame the significant injuries on a memorable run through the playoffs.

The injury bug has hit the Steelers hard this season

This has certainly been a particularly bad year for the health of Steelers players. Currently, the Steelers have seven players on injured reserve. Losing any player for the season is usually a big deal, but each of these players had an important role with the team.

Ben Roethlisberger put in another gutty performance last Sunday against the Jaguars. He has almost single-handedly won some close games for the Steelers this year. He is emerging as a leader for the offense, someone that the guys can rally behind.

But it makes me wonder-just who is the leader on defense? I’m not so sure that they have a true leader. They have a number of guys like Troy Polamalu, Casey Hampton, and James Farrior who are great players, but more of the lead by example type. I am starting to think that they need more of a vocal leader.

The defense has the talent and coaching to be the top defense in the league, that has been proven. But the times that the team has needed the defense to step up most, they haven’t. How many times this season have we seen the opposing team march right down the field, quickly even, when the team needed a huge stop? It happened last Sunday on the Jaguars’ last drive. It happened against the Browns (luckily they missed the field goal). It happened against Denver where they kicked the game winning field goal. It happened in the Jets game where they went down the field and tied it to send the game into overtime.

That’s where I think a vocal leader is needed. Someone to rally the players, get them pumped, and get them focused. You can say what you want about Joey Porter, but being a leader was a large part of what he brought to the team. The Steelers were right in getting rid of him, as proven by his play with the Dolphins. However, they still ended up losing the defense’s leader, if not the team leader at that point.

There just hasn’t been anyone who has taken his place. He may have looked foolish sometimes, or gone too far at others. But you can see the power he had just by looking at the 2005 playoffs and the effect he had on the team during their Super Bowl run. Remember the “weak Colts” and Jerramy Stevens?

Bill Cowher being gone is another lost leader, I believe. He was the so called “players coach”, someone who showed a lot of emotion, especially for defense. Mike Tomlin is quite the opposite in this regard. I understand that there are different approaches to coaching, and pros and cons to each. I’m not even sure I could tell you which method is more effective and this is not a knock on Tomlin’s style. But, when the game is on the line and the pressure is turned up- I want to see the guys fired up and ready to take someone’s head off.

The defense is good; they wouldn’t be number one in the league for most of the season if they weren’t. But they have had so much trouble stepping up, being physical, and showing emotion when it matters most. I really think that is when guys like Joey Porter or Bill Cowher shined, and the team really misses that. The Steelers are going to need someone to step up and be the person that the defense rallies behind.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Steelers’ 3-0 victory over the Miami Dolphins was a win none the less. Though, I’m not sure that you can take much away from this game in terms of real analysis. The field condition was just so horrendous that honestly the game was a toss up.

That said, the Steelers did win and it shows that they can win in adverse conditions. I don’t think the game will have the bonding effect on the team that the Hurricane Game in Miami did a few years ago but at least they can take away that they toughed it out and won.

• Joey Porter actually had a decent game with six tackles and an interception. I suspected he might do OK only because he feeds so much off of emotion and I knew he’d be hyped for this game. That said, it was his only decent performance of the season and proves that the Steelers really know when to cut ties with players.

  Still, it was good to see Joey smiling on the sideline when Steelers players did his “boot” celebration. I’m grateful for the leadership and emotion that he brought the team over the years, but it was time for him to go. Unfortunately, I think the Steelers right now are really lacking a true leader, at least an emotional one. Mike Tomlin is more of the cool/clam type and players like Ben Roethlisberger, Casey Hampton, and Troy Polamalu are far from loudmouths. I think there is something to be said for “rah rah” guys who can get the team amped up.

• The offensive line was terrible again and I really don’t know what else to say on the matter. I’ve talked some about possible changes as well have many other writers and fans. It is hard to comment on their performance because it was an odd-ball game, but they still gave up a ton of sacks. Though I must say that Ben did hold onto the ball a bit long again; something that may be just as much a factor on all these sacks as blown blitz pick ups.

• Hines Ward came up huge last night. I’ve almost commented a few times over the last number of weeks how he hasn’t been as sure-handed this season, but he usually ended up making enough catches that I thought maybe I was being too critical. However, last night he caught basically everything thrown his way, including two huge third down catches that were unfortunately negated by penalties.

  He had nine catches for 88 yards in a game where the Steelers needed him most. His great diving 21 yard catch on the scoring drive is what really helped win the game as it marked the only time either team even made it into the red zone.

• What was with the team stalling on third down? The field excuse only goes so far as they moved the ball relatively well overall on first and second downs. It seemed like every third down either Ben got sacked or there was a dumb penalty that gave them even longer yardage to convert. What was worse was that those sacks often took the team out of field goal range (even if the changes of making it were low).

• The playcalling last night was suspect at best and unfortunately continues a trend with Bruce Arians. He started the season quite impressively, but now has some real head-scratchers. The highlight had to be the last three offensive plays for the Steelers.

  If you remember, the team made it down to the six yard line with 1:19 left. At this point, you would think the team would run the ball to run down the clock and leave the game up to a Jeff Reed kick at about as close as you can get.

  Only the ran a dangerous pass play on first down that Joey Porter knocked down. OK, they took a chance to get the score to avoid having to kick on the horrible surface, I guess I can live with that even if I don’t agree with it. On second down they ran it which made sense. Miami stopped the clocked with their last time out and you would suspect that the Steelers would run the ball again to A) try to get the ball in a good spot to kick from, and B) run out the clock to leave the game up to Reed’s kick. Passing the ball would be a terrible idea, you would think, because A) Ben seemed to get sacked every third down pass, and B) an incompletion would stop the clock.

  So what did the Steelers do? They ran a pass play and Ben was sacked. Fortunately, the clock kept running and the Steelers were able to take it down as far as they could, call a time out, and eventually make the game-winning kick.

• It just seems to me that Arians tries too hard to do the opposite of what you expect them to. Yes, of course you want to try to surprise the defense from time to time, but sometimes you just need to man up, make the smart call, and execute. Arians seems to be outsmarting himself lately.

• All told, it was a win and I’ll take it. I really had the feeling that on a clean field the Steelers would have won comfortably. But because of the conditions, the game was truly a toss-up and a slipping player away from being another major upset. I don’t think that you can take a whole lot away from this game in terms of performances and what they mean, but they did get the win and ultimately that is all that matters right now. All I can really say is that I hope the field is fixed and it good shape in time for the game next week, especially considering the long-term forecast right now calls for more bad weather.

Steelers MVP

The Steelers MVP of last night’s game was Hines Ward. It was tempting to give it to Jeff Reed for the winning kick, but Hines’ nine catches were huge and a classic example of a player stepping up just when you need him most.

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Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said in his press conference today that defensive end Aaron Smith has a sprained MCL in his left knee and will likely miss Sunday’s game against the Bengals.

Another notable injury was that to safety Ryan Clark. Clark apparently had an inflamed spleen and did not fly back with the team from Denver. Tomlin said it was brought upon by the altitude and dehydration.

I’m not sure I’ve heard of an injury like that before. Hopefully Clark will be okay. As for Aaron Smith, it will be interesting to see how the line performs without him. Of course the smart ass in me wants to point out that the Steelers’ defense did just fine without Casey Hampton and Troy Polamalu, but as soon as Smith went down they fell apart. Of course it is just coincidence, but Smith is a very talented player and will be missed on the line.

Other players still dinged up include: Jerame Tuman (back), cornerback Bryant McFadden (ankle), and Clint Kriewaldt (shoulder)- all of whom have a chance at playing on Sunday.

Casey Hampton has been practicing and will start tomorrow against the Broncos. Bryant McFadden (ankle) and Jerame Tuman (back spasms) are both doubtful.

The Steelers sure have been talking a lot this week this week about how much they are going to run the ball against the Broncos. Blitzburgh over at Behind the Steel Curtain thinks they might be bluffing. I agree, but are the Bronco’s buying it?

Neal over at Die Hard Steel notes how the Broncos have become quite the train wreck. Let’s just hope that the Steelers don’t come in overconfident, however.

When you play the Broncos, the two things you are going to hear about are the altitude and cut blocks. We already know coach Tomlin isn’t worried about the altitude, and defensive line coach John Mitchell isn’t concerned about the Bronco’s diving at the knees either.

The bye week came at a great time for once. Usually you’d like to see it as far into the season as possible, but with four starters out injured the Steelers needed the rest. That rest has appeared to have helped, as Ed Bouchette reports that at least three of the four will be back:

Coach Mike Tomlin said today at his news conference that wide receivers Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes and strong safety Troy Polamalu all will return to the lineup for their next game in Denver Sunday night.

All three missed the past game with various injuries, and Ward has missed the last two.

The only one of the four starters whose status has not been determined is nose tackle Casey Hampton. He missed the last game with a hamstring injury that Tomlin said will limit him in practice tomorrow. The coach said they will monitor Hampton as the week goes on and they are “hopeful” he will play.

Hopefully Big Snack will be back in the middle taking on two or three blockers very soon. It is almost funny to think of a hamstring injury bringing down such a mountain of a man, but you have to be careful with those things. If you push a hamstring injury too much, it could be nagging all season.

It will also be great to have Ward and Holmes back. After Ben had maybe his most impressive game so far without his starting two receivers, it will be nice to see how he does with them both back. However, something tells me that it might be more of a running day for the Steelers… that something being the fact that Broncos rank 32nd (you math whizzes out there will note that is last in the league) against the run.

It was suppose to be a very hard game for the Steelers. Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Casey Hampton, Bryant McFadden, and Santonio Holmes (pulled hamstring in warm-ups) were all out. That’s right, two of the most important players to the defense, and both starting wide receivers were out. Sounds pretty scary, eh?

Not to mention Seattle was coming in supposedly with all the motivation, trying to get revenge for the Super Bowl loss the Steelers handed them two seasons ago. The Steelers came out pretty flat against a team amped up to face them last week in Arizona, could it happen again?

Not even close. Pittsburgh shut them out. Missing Polamalu, Hampton, and McFadden, they shut they out. Missing their two starting wide receivers, they put up 21 points. Not bad, not bad all.

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Gary Dulac of the Post-Gazette is reporting that both Hines Ward and Bryant McFadden will not play this Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks. Even worse yet, Mike Tomlin has listed both Troy Polamalu and Casey Hampton as questionable.

This certainly isn’t the same rosey picture that Tomlin painted in his press conference and confirms our suspicions that Hines and Troy are hurting a bit more then has been let on.

If Polamalu and Hampton both miss Sunday’s game, the Steelers may be in for a very long day. Chris Hoke has proven that he can fill in for Hampton in a pinch, but even he was injured last week and probably won’t be 100%. Both Troy and Casey are players that you can’t really replace and when they aren’t out there the team is just not nearly as strong on defense.

Hines being out again creates another problem for the offense. Nate Washington and Cedric Wilson aren’t either the receivers or blockers that Hines is, and that means trouble for the passing game as well as the running game.

The upcoming game will be a huge test for the Steelers, probably their biggest so far of the season. Overcoming injuries is what any great team has to do during a successful season. The rest of the team needs to rise up to the challenge.

I have to admit, I’m a bit confused over some of the Steelers’ injuries this week. As I noted Tuesday, coach Mike Tomlin had some good things to say earlier this week about the currently injuried.

On Hines’ injury, Tomlin said:

“He had a good day of rehab. I spoke with him and he feels good. We will take it day-to-day and see where he is.”

That was encouraging news. It wasn’t saying that he’ll play Sunday, but things sounded pretty good none the less.

Only later that day, KDKA reported on their interview with Ward, saying:

“He said in all likelihood he will sit out this weekend’s game against Seattle.”

Okay, so there it sounds like Hines isn’t too confident that he’ll be healed enough to go Sunday.

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