The Blitzburgh Report

I don’t know what’s worse- to play horribly and get beat badly, or to play horribly but make one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history only to still end up losing. Either way the result is the same and the Steelers’ season is over:

• The Steelers have had a lot of comebacks this season, which isn’t totally a great thing. I mean you love to see a team that can rally and doesn’t give up, but you also can’t keep starting out so poorly that you have to keep coming back.
   
  But along that same point, it is good to see that Ben Roethlisberger can recover from a bad performance. Quarterbacks will have bad days, but as the saying goes they need to have short memories- and Ben does. He’s done it all his career and it is good to know that the team is never really out of the game no matter how bad it gets.

• But, it must be said that Big Ben’s poor performance in the first half was probably the main contributor to the Steelers’ loss. I will give him a pass on the third interception because the Jacksonville player was basically out of the play, and just made a nice recovery and catch for a big man. But the first two interceptions were horrendous. Especially the second one. That pass intended for Najeh Davenport has to go down as one of the worst of Ben’s career so far in terms of decision and execution…

• …there just was no reason to throw it deep to a double covered Davenport who wasn’t in position to defend the pass, let alone try to catch it himself. Unfortunately I think it is just part of Ben’s game and something that will always be there. He reminds me of Brett Favre, slinging the ball around and trying to force it. They are talented enough to make the play most times, but they’re going to throw those dumb picks as well.

• One last point on Ben- and it is that nearly all of his sacks last night were because he held on to the ball too long. As bad as the offensive line has been this season, I think you can chalk a chunk of those sacks up to Ben not getting rid of the ball. I think that a large part of it is because he is always looking for the long ball. Sure, it makes for a lot of exciting plays, but at the same time he usually has a back wide open that he could dump the ball off to.
   
  I remember on one of the sacks last night they showed a replay of the Steelers receivers and Ben had two guys wide open that he could have thrown to. This is a part of Ben’s game that he really needs to work on.

• Speaking of the offensive line, they actually played a fairly good game. Especially Trai Essex. I give him a lot of credit for holding his ground, and it starts to make me wonder about Marvel Smith. When he went down he had two different guys- “the scapegoat” Max Starks, and “hasn’t started in two seasons” Trai Essex- step in and play better than he did. I know he was hurt but we’re going to have to include him in the pile with the linemen that will need a serious evaluation this offseason.

• Alright, I am just going to throw it out there, but I think the Steelers got hosed a bit last night on some of the penalties. It happens and teams have to deal with it, but that phantom holding call on Sean Mahan on the two point conversion is still bugging me today.
   
  Furthermore, it seemed like every replay they showed of an outside Steelers’ rusher, he was held after he had his man beat. I am sure holding happens a lot with every team, but there is nothing more frustrating then hearing Al Michaels talking about what a great block some Jaguars player had as on the screen we are seeing him with his arm hooked around James Harrison’s neck.

• What happened to the offense? Not just in this game but over the last half of the season. They started the year looking nearly unstoppable, and ended looking confused and sporadic. Especially the running game. The Steelers had been the best rushing team in the league over the last 15 odd years, so to see them struggling this season is just frustrating.
   
  What is it? They looked so impressive on that first drive last night, very reminiscent of their games in the 2005 playoffs. Then they looked horrible. As much of a dumb sounding comment it was by Madden when he said it looked like the Steelers didn’t have a plan on offense, he was kind of right.
   
  There were a lot of bad calls last night. That run by Ben on a third and six when they were trying to run out the clock was just a bad idea. Ben is no Vince Young, and furthermore I’m not so sure that at that point you may just want to throw it and try to get the first down. They only had a one point lead and I think getting the first down there was more important than running a couple more second off the clock.

• I think the two point conversion plays were garbage as well. We’ve seen some creative ones that worked well during the season, but this time they ran two fade passes. The first was insanely lucky to have been caught by Hines Ward, but it was negated by the phantom holding call anyway. After that they probably should have kicked the extra point.
   
  But the third two point attempt was just as bad. That fade to Nate Washington just seemed like more of a play that you would run on a first and goal, not when you absolutely need to get into the endzone. Where was the trick play? Where was that special play you keep just for those situations? A fade pass? Come on.
   
  I’m not very confident in Bruce Arians right now. I am not saying they need to get rid of the guy or that he is terrible, just that he still needs some work. Hopefully he is the type that can learn from his mistakes and improve his work.

• This is getting a bit long so I will quickly go through some of the props I wanted to give. Props to Hines Ward and Heath Miller for being dependable and clutch. Props to LaMarr Woodley for his pass rushing- he should be starting next year. Again, props to Trai Essex for having a solid game. Props to Ben for bouncing back from the first half, but most of all for waiting for David Garrard to finish his interviews so he could congratulate him; he is a class act. Props to the entire defense for playing a good game, they held Fred Taylor in check this time and had two interceptions on Garrard- they certainly did enough to win on their end.

• For whatever the reason, the Steelers went on quite a slide to end the season after starting 9-3. There were a lot of key injuries and I am sure that had a lot to do with it, but that is part of life in the NFL. They went from looking like a possible darkhorse in the AFC to losing 4 of their last five games. Ouch. There will be a lot of discussion over just what went wrong, but I am willing to bet that there is no easy answer. A lot of things went wrong, and fortunately I think they are fixable. But we’re going to have to wait until next year to find out.

That’s it, the end to another season. The Steelers went from a team that started out looking like one of the best, to a team that limped into the playoffs. I am sure a lot of time will be devoted to trying to figure out why. But for now it is time to fold up the terrible towels and put them away until next year.

Thanks to all of the readers of this site and for your great comments and discussion. We’ll keep updating regularly this offseason including some reviews of the season , so check back in the coming weeks for a for that.

I believe I caught someone on ESPN saying yesterday that the Steelers have won 12 Monday night games in a row at home, their last loss being in 1991. I am glad that trend seems to be continuing under the new head coach. That said, last night was a game that the Steelers could not lose. Monday Night Football is big enough, and the AFC North implications aside–how could you go out and lay an egg in front of all those great former Steelers? Fortunately they did the direct opposite.

Here are some thoughts from a thoroughly enjoyable Monday night:

• When is the last time you have seen a worse offensive performance than what the Ravens put up last night? It really looked like Steve McNair wasn’t even trying. On the flip side, when is the last time you have seen a performance like the one James Harrison put up…

• …With all due respect to the night Ben Roethlisberger had, James Harrison was flat out amazing. Nine tackles, three and a half sacks, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and an interception. I think we as Steelers fans saw a game like this in James Harrison, but hopefully now the rest of the league takes notice. Check out a very humble Harrison after the game:

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That’s more like it. Nothing puts Steelers fans at ease like another thumping of the Bengals on their home turf. The Steelers have now won seven in a row in Cincinnati. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough. The Steelers are now 1 for 1 on their three game trip through the AFC North with a Monday night game against the Ravens coming up next week. Here are some thoughts:

• The Steelers’ offense looked good today behind better blocking from the offensive line. They had clock eating touchdown drives of 80, 80, and 67 yards. The two first downs running the ball to end the game helped seal the victory and it was yet another game this season that ended with kneel-downs.

 

• Willie Parker had another 100+ yard game, making it 18 times in his career that he has gone over 100. He now has 726 yards, and appears on his way to another Pro Bowl caliber season.

 

• Santonio Homes and Hines Ward were on fire today. It was great to see Hines back catching touchdowns and Santonio is turning into quite the player. He had some really nice grabs and provides the legitimate deep threat the Steelers haven’t had in a long time. He has all the signs of a star in the making.

 

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This Broncos game reminded me of a lot of the games from last season where the Steelers were just not able to match the intensity of their opponent. The Steelers, looking flat and unenergized most times, committed numerous turnovers and penalties. Both offense and defense struggled throughout most of the night.

It is almost laughable now to think of the Steelers’ bluff, saying they would run the ball all night. When they came out passing, it didn’t seem to surprise anyone and the offensive line couldn’t pass block anyway. So when that failed, they tried to go back to the run, and low and behold that didn’t work either. Ben Roethlisberger was able overcome early interceptions and a fumble and run for his life enough to make some plays and lead the team to four touchdowns and a tied score.

But that number one defense in the league couldn’t stop the Broncos’ offense all night, let alone on the final drive of the game that ended with Jason Elam kicking the game winner. The defense gave up three touchdowns last night after only giving up five total previously for the entire season.

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Heading into the bye week, the Steelers are off to an impressive 4-1 start, in which they dominated their four wins. Here’s a brief look at some of the stats so far:

Offense

Passing:

• Ben Roethlisber already has 1013 passing yards, with a 61.8 percent completion rate. He has 9 touchdowns versus 3 interceptions. His quaterback rating is 99.2. He has been sacked 11 times.

Rushing:
• Willie Parker leads the NFL in rushing yards with 507. He has 121 attempts for an average of 4.2 yards, and an average of 101.4 yards per game. He has one touchdown.
• Najeh Davenport has 209 yards on 28 attempts for an average of 7.5 yards per attempt, and 41.8 yards a game. He has three touchdowns.

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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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It has been pretty easy being a Steelers fan so far this season. We’ve had some nice Sunday afternoons, watching our offense light up the scoreboard and our defense light up opposing teams. No near heart-attack educing games yet- though you know they will come eventually.

It also feels pretty good watching the Steelers score a touchdown on offense, defense, and special teams. Now that’s production.

Of course, it wasn’t all good. The Steelers did trail for their first time this season… that is for about 9 seconds before Allen Rossum returned the ensuing kick off 98 yards for a touchdown. Trading for Rossum just might be one of Tomlin’s best moves so far with the team.

Joking aside, there was some bad along with the good. Let’s take a look:

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Last Saturday we took a look at some questions we had about the Steelers heading into the season opener. Now let’s take a look at how those questions were answered:

The Much Anticipated New Steelers Offense- So far so good. The offense, despite a lull at the end of the first half, looked crisp and efficient. It is hard to argue with the results- 4 TD passes for Ben Roethlisberger to four different players, over 100 yards for Willie Parker, and only one sack allowed.

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The Steelers were impressive today in their beat-down of the Cleveland Browns, winning 34-7. The Defense was fierce, special teams was a strong point for once, and the offense was efficient. Things are looking good, but we must remember it is still early and it was only the Browns. Without further delay, here’s the good and the bad of week one:

The Good

-The Steelers got all kinds of pressure today, sacking the Browns quarterbacks six times.

-The Steelers defense also caused five turnovers.

-Ben Roethlisberger was very poised today and threw a career high four touchdown passes. He was in command and looks like he will excel in his new expanded role.
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