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.

Last time Santonio Holmes and Troy Polamalu were out the Steelers went on to play their best complete game of the season, shutting out the Seattle Seahawks and putting up 21 points. Things could be a little harder this time, however.

I know the next opponent, the winless Miami Dolphins, aren’t the strongest foes but we said the same thing of the Jets last week. Unfortunately as well, Holmes (high ankle sprain) and Polamalu (knee) might be out for multiple games and with the Bengals, Patriots, and Jaguars coming up that isn’t exactly exciting news.

This time, there will be some new faces stepping in. Nate Washington will be replacing Holmes this time instead of Cedric Wilson. Wilson was solid in replacing Holmes last time, catching five balls for 69 yards, but the coaching staff would like to see what Washington can do. Washington normally is the back up flanker, but will be trying his hand at split end. The switch is not trivial, however, as Washington recently told the Post-Gazette:

“It’s totally different from the Z,” Washington said, referring to flanker, the only position Washington has played since joining the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2005. “It’s totally different blocking schemes and the sights [adjustments] are different. I’ll be in my book a lot more and studying film a lot more this week to prepare myself to play [split end].”

Washington offers up some big play ability over Cedric Wilson, and I suspect the coaches pegged him to start to keep up the same deep threat that Holmes has turned into. Washington is still a bit inexperienced and drops some balls. This coupled with his new blocking assignments will mean that he’ll have his hands full and will really need to be prepared.

On the other side of the ball, Tyrone Carter will be filling in for Troy Polamalu. This will be different then the last time Troy was injured, because veteran Ryan Clark was then paired with second year playerAnthony Smith. With Clark now on injured reserve, Carter and Smith will be the starters. Smith has been exciting but at times his inexperience shows. Carter has done well enough the times he has filled in during the past, but he is mostly good when needed in a pinch. He’s not a guy that you want to rely on for multiple weeks.

Another wrinkle into the whole thing is that the Post-Gazette also reports that rookie linebacker Lawrence Timmons might take Troy’s spot in the dime package. In that package, Troy plays more of a linebacker role, so it makes sense. But we have seen next to nothing of Timmons this season so it will be very interesting to see him out there.

The point is that while on paper it seems like the same situation as the Seahawks game, this time it is a bit different. There will be new players stepping in for Holmes and Polamalu, possibly for multiple games. One thing the Steelers have been great at is having back ups step in and not miss a beat; hopefully that continues.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were quite impressive in Mike Tomlin’s first game as an NFL head coach, here are some highlights and lowlights:

Highlights

Carey Davis- Wow. Carey Davis looked very Bus-like tonight as he bulldozed his way through would be tacklers. He also caught a screen pass and took it 33 yards. In the 2nd quarter he broke a tackle and bounced outside for a 56 yard run. This kid just keeps impressing and just might force out Kevan Barlow.

Ben Roethlisberger- Big Ben looked great, highlighted by a 55 yard bomb to Cedrick Wilson that was right on the money and not underthrown like a lot of his past long balls have been. His only incompletion was a drop by Nate Washington.

Carey Davis Continues to Impress

Cedrick Wilson- I can’t say that I am a huge fan of Cedrick Wilson, especially after his recent outburst about not getting the ball. But Ced stepped it up tonight and made catches all over the field.

Santonio Holmes- Showed great burst to get separation from the defensive backs. Ran a great fade pattern for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter. Holmes looks like he will be continuing right were he left off at the end of last season.

The Steelers’ New Offense- The passing was crisp, the screens were run well, the running game was still there and hard hitting. Over 400 total yards. The debut of the new Steelers’ offense looks good so far.

The Secondary- The Steelers secondary had a solid game, broke up a lot of passes, and made Drew Brees look rusty. William Gay, the guy many people knew little about when drafted, came away with a huge hit and a nice interception.

Lowlights

Max Starks- Starks looked a bit weak, especially when he was placed in at left tackle where he gave up 2 sacks.

Nate Washington- Washington has a good receiver somewhere in him which he flashes from time to time, but if he keeps dropping passes he is going to have a hard time moving up the depth chart.

Tightends- It is still early, but for all the talk of three tightend sets, getting the tightends more passes, etc- the tightends were a complete non-factor. Hopefully the getting the them more involved talk is not just more of the same lip service from past seasons.

Kevan Barlow- Didn’t run with much power, especially for a player trying to make the team in a powerback role. His chances of making the team seem to be getting slimmer and slimmer.