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.

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.

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.

Clint Kriewaldt is one of the team’s better special teams players and Jerame Tuman brought experience to the number two tight end position.

Dan Kreider went down just at the time when many called for the end of the Carey Davis experiment and Kreider’s return to full time starter to lead the way for Willie Parker.

Ryan Clark was a dependable veteran who now seems like he would be the better choice at free safety since the Anthony Smith hype has died down.

Max Starks was just going from offensive line scapegoat to hero while filling in for Marvel Smith but then torn his knee in a mostly meaningless game last week.

Aaron Smith’s contribution to the team is on display now that usually impenetrable Steelers’ run defense has been porous in his absence.

Willie Parker struggled at times, but he was leading the NFL in rushing when he got hurt. He was voted to this year’s Pro Bowl, his second in a row.

Marvel Smith should be added in here as well because for all intents and purposes he is done for the year. He was not having a good season overall, but it is worth noting because with both him and Max Starks out, the largely unproven Trai Essex finds himself starting at left tackle.

The Steelers also had a host of injuries to stars like Santonio Holmes, Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, and Carey Hampton- who all missed significant time over the course of the season.

Overcoming injuries is something almost every championship team has to do and the Steelers have done a good job of it in the past. But are there just too many to get past? It is hard to say. The injuries to an already poor performing offensive line are pretty scary in particular. Essex won’t likely prove to be the savior of the line for the rest of the season and it really is a shame that Starks got hurt just as he seemed like he might be on the way to re-establishing himself.

Also, the Steelers’ run defense has been out of character lately and if they can’t find a way to compensate for not having Aaron Smith in there, this weekend’s playoff game against Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew will be a disaster. The Steelers have a lot of pride in stopping the run and need to make sure that they don’t get burned again.

But as I said earlier, the story of the season could also be how the team overcame injuries. Isn’t that the spirit of the playoffs? The team that pushes all their troubles aside, plays their hearts out, and fights tooth and nail to get to the Super Bowl. That’s what it is all about, right?

We’re going find out this coming Saturday just what the true character of this team is. Is it a team that can overcome injuries and leave everything they’ve got on the field, or are they a team that couldn’t step up when it needed to most?

I think most Steelers fan would agree that there are some positional changes that could be made on the team right now. Former head coach Bill Cowher wasn’t known to be one who often switched out under-performing players, especially veterans. He was a “players coach” who was often loyal to his players, sometimes to a fault. That is why I am interested in seeing what Mike Tomlin will do.

It is never an easy decision to bench or move a player. Without a doubt, it is a fine line. You don’t want to overreact and pull someone too soon. But after 11 weeks, I think that you have a good idea about who is under-performing and who might have just had a bad game or two.

The first player that needs a look is Allen Rossum. I called for Willie Reid getting a shot last week, but it didn’t happen. There’s more of a real chance for it this week, however, as Reid should be active on gameday due to Santonio Holmes‘ injury. I think that it is time for a spark on returns and it is worth the risk of trying Reid, especially against the Dolphins.

The other glaring spot is the offensive line. It is the one position where you don’t really say you’re bringing someone in to provide a spark; it is not a very spark-y position. You kind of know what you have who does what best. The concern is that I’m not sure the Steelers have any special guy waiting in the wings, just begging to get his shot. The Steelers OL backups are: Trai Essex, Chris Kemoeatu, Darnell Stapleton, Marvin Philip, and Max Starks. Not exactly a who’s who of rising OL stars.

As far as the starters, Sean Mahan just isn’t getting it done and should probably be the focus right now. Marvel Smith and Alan Faneca might not be playing their best but I don’t think they should be benched, because who would take their place? I like Willie Colon and while his inexperience shows, I think he is a very solid player in the making. With Mahan, you can say he is still learning but I would have hoped that he would be further along at this point. That is not to say he might not be good at another position. In fact, I would think that he would be headed that way after this season. But is it worth trying before then?

I’ll freely admit that I am no expert on offensive line mechanics, but I do know enough to realize that switching positions is not cut and dry, especially in the middle of the season. The team thought highly enough of Darnell Stapleton to keep him on their 53 man roster to start the season. Would they be confident enough in him to give him a shot? They then might give Mahan a turn at right guard, or even try Kendall Simmons at center, where he does have a little experience. How viable is all this? Maybe not very much, but I am just throwing some things out there.

Also, what about fullback? Count me in with the group of people that were high on Carey Davis after the pre-season. I did not, however, feel that he should be replacing Dan Kreider and I feel even more strongly about that today. Carey Davis is not getting the job done blocking, and his versatility ( the supposed reason he was playing ahead of Kreider) has yet to really have any impact.

Running out of three tight end sets has been very slow going, especially with rookie Matt Spaeth’s poor blocking. The biggest issue facing the team presently is that they can’t pass block, and really haven’t been doing great run blocking either. So why not bring back the guy who specializes in it? If you can’t protect your quarterback, bring in the guy who is basicially another offensive lineman. Willie Parker has made it well-known he prefers running behind Krieder as well.

The point is that there are changes out there that can be made. I am not saying they are all great changes (well, except for putting Kreider back in, which I feel very strongly about). But it will be interesting to see if Tomlin is the type of coach that will make them. As I said earlier, it is a fine line of when to make a switch, but some changes might just be what the doctor ordered to help shore up some weaknesses.

What are some changes that you would like to see be made for the team to strengthen it self?

Here are some things to keep an eye on tonight:

-We should get to see Willie Parker’s first action of the preseason
-Lawrence Timmons will finally see some limited action
-Trai Essex will be playing most of the game at Left Tackle- this is make or break time for him
-Can Gary Russell and Carey Davis continue to impress and land a spot on the roster?
-Ben should see more time tonight then the 3 or so series he has seen so far
-Will William Gay continue to impress?