Randle El had a nice 2005 postseason. Mandatory Credit: Joe Robbins-US PRESSWIRE Copyright 2006 Joe Robbins

Wild-Card Playoff

31-17 Win over Cincinnati

After the Steelers had crawled back into the game after being down 10 points in the first half and taken a 21-17 lead in the middle of the 3rd Quarter against the hated Bengals, Offensive Coordinator Ken Whisenhunt had a glorious idea to drive a stake through the hearts of Cincinnati and their hopes of postseaon glory.  To his credit, Whisenhunt knew exactly how to use Randle El in a decoy fashion, and devised a play which not only won the game, but is one which all of us in “Steeler Nation” remember fondly.

Randle El took the snap from the Shotgun next to Big Ben on a critical 3rd and 3 play, rolled all the way to his right, and the Bengals took the bait.  “A.R.E.” then fired the pass across essentially half the field back to Big Ben who calmly laid up a bomb to a wide-open Cedrick Wilson for the 43 Yard Touchdown and a commanding 27-17 lead!  It was the shining moment for Randle El during a game where he might not have had the most sexy statistical numbers (2 Catches for 15 Yards and 1 Rush for 5 Yards).  Nevertheless, his skill-set created a matchup issue for the Bengals, Whisenhunt took advantage, and the Steelers coasted to a victory after the score.

Divisional Playoff

21-18 Win over Indianapolis

Randle El’s biggest moments of the Steelers’ upset win over the heavily favored Colts came on the opening drive of the game.  The drive and the plays which “A.R.E.” made not only set the tone for the Steelers for the rest of the game, but they let Indianapolis know that Pittsburgh meant business and were undaunted by the task of defeating them in the RCA Dome that afternoon.

Pittsburgh drove right down the field on their opening possession, but faced a critical 3rd and 6 at the Indianapolis 24.  Randle El however was able to snag a critical 11 yard pass from Big Ben to keep the drive alive and continue the possession.  Pittsburgh called on Randle El again though three plays later when the Offense faced another 3rd Down at the Indianapolis 6 Yard Line.  Big Ben however looked to “A.R.E.” once more and fired a pass to him on a slant in the end zone which put the Steelers ahead 6-0 and capped off a masterful 84 Yard drive which ate up over 5 minutes of clock.

In addition to his 3 grabs for 30 Yards and a Touchdown that day, Randle El also amassed 50 Yards on 5 punt returns and successfully.  Randle El’s longest punt return of the day (20 yards) set the Steelers up with cake field position in the 2nd Half (Colts’ 30 Yard Line), and allowed the Steelers to march right down and take what was thought to be a commanding 21-3 lead in the 3rd Quarter.

A.F.C. Championship

34-17 Win over Denver

The whole Steelers Wide Receiving corps tore it up against Denver that afternoon in the A.F.C. Championship Game.  Big Ben played the postseason game of his life (21 for 29 for 275 Yards and 2 TD’s Passing and 1 Rushing), and Cedrick Wilson ate Domonique Foxworth alive.  But  Randle El again showed up for a third consecutive week, and made a couple of key plays to help lead the Steelers to victory.

On the opening drive, Randle El made a 20 yard grab which got the Steelers’ Offense rolling and near the midfield stripe to do some significant damage.  While it was only the opening drive, the Steelers were yet again in a hostile environment, and big plays and big gains to take the crowd out of the game were extremely helpful early in the game.  Randle El’s biggest play came late in the 1st Half when Pittsburgh mounted a 14 play 80 Yard Drive which lasted almost 7 and a half minutes!  Faced with a 3rd and 9 at the Denver 23, Randle El made a critical 10 Yard catch to keep the drive alive, and push the Steelers closer towards the end zone.  The Steelers scored four plays later to extend their lead to 17-3 and slowly put another nail in Denver’s postseason coffin.  Overall, “A.R.E.” made 4 Catches for 52 Yards during the game, and Pittsburgh was headed to the Super Bowl.  It was there where Randle El made postseason history and etched his name in Steelers lore forever.

Super Bowl XL

21-10 Win over Seattle

One of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history. Mandatory Credit: Joe Robbins-US PRESSWIRE Copyright 2006 Joe Robbins

While his statistics might not have been particularly sexy that glorious Sunday (3 Catches for 22 Yards, 2 Punt Returns for 32 Yards), Antwaan Randle El made some of the game’s biggest plays.  And it was Randle El’s biggest one which all but sealed the Steelers’ 5th Super Bowl title and finally brought “The One For The Thumb” home for Steelers fans.

After sputtering throughout the 1st Quarter where they did not produce a 3rd Down, Randle El came up big with Pittsburgh down 3-0 and backed up on their own 22 Yard Line faced with a 3rd and 8.  Randle El caught a critical 8 Yard pass to move the chains for the first time in the game for the Steelers.  And while Big Ben threw an Interception two plays later, the catch by Randle El plus the 1 Yard run by Hines Ward on the following play helped to get the Steelers out of the shadow of their own goal posts and gain some offensive momentum.

“A.R.E.” also chipped in a Tackle when Big Ben was picked off by Kelly Herndon at the Goal Line and returned the ball 76 Yards and deep into Steelers territory.  Randle El showed tremendous hustle on the play, and eventually ran down Herndon at the Pittsburgh 20.  While Seattle scored two plays later, Randle El’s snuffing out the potential Pick-6 gave the Offense at least a little time to regroup and prevented a huge momentum shift had Herndon taken the ball back the distance (a la James Harrison three years later).

But it was Randle El’s only pass play of the Super Bowl which we will all remember.  Just like he had done against the Bengals in the same spot on the field, Whisenhunt called on his favorite jack-of-all-trades to help win the game.  Using a play which worked for a Touchdown against the Browns during the regular season, Randle El came around from left end on a reverse pass, took a handoff while rolling right, and fired a beautiful 43 Yard strike to Hines Ward for the game winning Touchdown!

Coming out of college, the knock on Randle El was really not his arm strength as a Quarterback, it was simply his 5’10″ height and the fact that he ran the ball quite a bit at Indiana and an option based attack.  And on the Touchdown throw it was extremely evident that Randle El knew how to toss a pig-skin like a Quarterback.  The ball had to be almost perfect, and it was!  He led Ward fantastically on the throw, Ward caught it in stride, and scampered in for the score to make the game 21-10 and put it out of reach!

Final Thoughts

I will always reminisce fondly about the Steelers’ 2005 season.  I know that we will all remember how Jerome Bettis finally got his ring in his hometown, how a 7-5 team faced adversity head-on and became the first #6 seed to win a Super Bowl title, etc..  But we should not forget what Antwaan Randle El meant to this team during that magical season and during his tenure with the franchise.  Granted, “A.R.E.” was never the pass-catcher that Hines Ward or Plaxico Burress was over his career.  But you know what?  There was not, and likely will never be a player as versatile as Randle El was during his years with the Steelers.

Furthermore, we should not forget how important he was to this team’s Super Bowl run and how he came up during some critical times in the postseason when his team needed his unique skill-set the most.  So tip of the cap “A.R.E..”  Thank you for the memories and thank you for so many exciting moments over the course of your career and during the course of that wonderful 2005-2006 postseason.

What were your favorite Randle El moments readers?  I am anxious to hear what you have to say, and the floor is yours.

For all your Steelers news and discussions follow us on Twitter @nicepickcowherC, follow me on Twitter @DominicDiTolla, and like us on Facebook.

And you thought there was a conspiracy against the Pittsburgh Steelers…

Ah, the 90s.  The X-Files being the best show on television.  The Buffalo Bills getting pounded in the Super Bowl.  Some things you could just count on year in and year out.  Of course, an uber-geek like myself found it endlessly amusing when the two intersected in a particularly memorable episode where the secretive and ultra-powerful Cigarette Smoking Man revealed he alone was responsible for Buffalo’s annual misery.

Last year, the Bills thought they may have a chance to end a decade long playoff drought and even went with the nuclear option of signing the player more cancerous than pack of smokes, Terrell Owens.  Unfortunately, they began the year with a gut-wrenching loss at New England and never recovered.  Finishing 6-10, their fifth straight losing season, signaled the beginning of massive changes starting with firing their head coach.

Paul Miller over out BuffaLowDown was kind enough to answer some questions about the current team which started the year 0-8 but has won their last two in a row, including a win last week against a gutless Bengals team which rolled over in embarrassing fashion.  Let’s ask Paul some questions, starting with his thoughts on new Bills head coach and former Steelers offensive coordinator, Chan Gailey.  My questions in bold, his responses in italics:

How’s Chan working out?

My opinion of Chan Gailey is still up in the air.  I mean anyone who is the coach of an 2-8 team isn’t going to be liked by many.  But the Bills have shown a lot of heart and character over the past couple of games, and I hope this is a sign that Gailey’s work ethic is finally starting show out on the field.  For a 1-8 team to come back from a 28-7 deficit on the road definitely shows that the players are behind their coaching staff, so hopefully things are looking up in Buffalo.

STEELERS DEFENSE vs. BILLS OFFENSE

Last week, Bills wide receiver Steve Johnson went off, catching 8 balls for 137 yards and three touchdowns.  He also goofed on “Batman & Robin” (T.O. and Ocho) with his fantastic “Why So Serious?” t-shirt.  The No Fun League fined him a cool $5,000 (or 1/5 of what Richard Seymour was docked for sucker punching Ben Roethlisberger).  If I had the cash, I’d pay the fine for him.

That was the third time rising star Johnson has surpassed 125 yards in the last five games.  He’s in the top 10 for overall receiving yards while his 9 TDs tie him for third among NFL receivers.  Combined with multi-time 1,000 yard receiver Lee Evans, the Bills have a true Dynamic Duo.

The offense has began to click since jettisoning draft bust Trent Edwards and turning to former Bengal Ryan Fitzpatrick.

The Bills dropped 49 on the hapless Bungles last week.  In fact, it seems you’ve been scoring much better since the Harvard man took over.  What’s led to the offensive explosion?

One word confidence.  When Trent Edwards was behind center, the wide receivers were basically running their routes for nothing.  95% of the time Edwards settled for the check down, never giving his playmakers a chance.  With Fitzpatrick, he is not shy of throwing the ball down the field or into tight spots leaving it up to his receivers to make the catch.

It’s been awhile since the Bills have been any good.  Any of those high draft picks working out?

High draft picks working out?  Is this meant as a joke? Ha-ha.  The main problem behind the Bills being so bad for so long is that they’ve had a terrible time drafting the right player in the 1st round on the NFL draft.   Just take a look at some players picked 1st over the past ten years: Erick Flowers, Nate Clements, Mike Williams, Willis McGahee, Lee Evans, Donte Whitner, John McGargo, Marshawn Lynch, Leodis McKelvin, Aaron Maybin & C.J Spiller.

Four of those players are no longer on the team, two of those players aren’t even dressing on Sundays, and the rest (besides Lee Evans) are still up for debate.  Hopefully Buddy Nix will be able to change the Bills misfortune in the upcoming NFL Draft.

For the Steelers, it’ll be interesting to see how our rotten secondary handles a pair of bonafide top notch receiving threats and a quarterback who improves by leaps and bounds every week.

Bret Keisel is expected to see his first action in a month although I expect his playing time to be limited since there is no sense in risking re-injury with big games against Baltimore and the Jets looming.  The rest of the defense appears healthy as one can be at this time of year so much like last week where they harassed and confused Jason Campbell (when they weren’t being flagged for bogus penalties), how well they fluster a young and inexperienced offense will be the key to this match-up.

STEELERS OFFENSE vs. BILLS DEFENSE

The Bills currently rank 24th in total defense and dead last against the run.  Rashard Mendenhall had a somewhat disappointing game last week although he was running behind a really banged up line.  Mike Tomlin pulled a surprise switcheroo starting Ramon Foster at RG and is now saying that move is permanent.  I’ve said I liked what I saw from Foster, particularly in run blocking, so I’m glad to see him get playing time over hobbled Trai Essex or wretched Doug Legursky.

Let’s talk some Bills defense with Paul:

The Bills aren’t on television much so forgive my ignorance.  Who’s your best player we’ve probably never heard of?

Well I take it after last week, the whole world now knows about Steve Johnson.  So I will say NT Kyle Williams.  I’m sure some of your readers know about Williams since he is having a Pro Bowl type season on a very inexperienced Buffalo Bills defense.   Williams is in his 5th season out of LSU, and has a knack at making plays.  He is the Bills main run stopper, and has added putting pressure on the QB on his resume.  He only has 3 sacks so far this season, but for a 305 lb NT, he is definitely drawing the attention of opposing teams Offensive Linemen.

Big Ben and the offense had their finest showing of the season last week.  Another surprise move was inserting rookie Emmanuel Sanders in the #3 slot over Antwaan Randle-El.  Look, I like ARE but he is what he is.  He’s a middle of the field possession receiver and the Steelers already have two far superior versions in Hines and Heath.  Sanders hasn’t impressed as much as Mike Wallace did in his rookie year but has made some nice athletic plays while catching TD passes in two consecutive games.

So, Paul, is there anybody should Big Ben keep an eye out for on Sunday?

Big Ben should look out for Jairus Byrd on Sunday.  The second year player made a lot of noise during his rookie campaign with 9 INTS, but has yet to record any so far this season.  But, now with the Bills defense finally looking comfortable and players knowing their assignments, I’m expecting Byrd to break out in the final 6 games of the season.

Well, Paul’s optimism aside, this is a game the Steelers should not only win but win in convincing fashion.  This is also the type of game I confidently predicted would be an easy check mark in the win column last year only to see the Black and Gold go down in flames of embarrassment.   I think this team has learned from last year’s debacle, playing with heart and not taking anything for granted.  Against a gutsy Buffalo team which may be over-matched but never backs down, let’s hope they don’t.

The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered their first decisive loss of the season on All Hallow’s Eve, falling to the New Orleans Saints 20-10.  Prior to yesterday, you could easily argue the team was one play and about fifty seconds away from being undefeated.  Not any more.  While I’m sure sports talk radio in the ‘Burgh will be dissecting this game like Frankenstein’s monster, it really came down to a handful of plays.  The Saints made them and the Steelers didn’t.  End of story.

Ziggy Hood, making his first career start for the Black and Gold, acquitted himself well in place of Aaron Smith.  He’s clearly not as stout at the point of attack and New Orleans was down to their third and fourth string running backs but he showed flashes of getting it.  He still gets pushed around more than you wan to see from your 3-4 DL.  Nick Eason, an 8th rounder and career backup, stood out much more impressively than our prize first rounder which is not exactly what one would hope for.

This game wasn’t a real test of our run defense, though, as the Saints abandoned the ground attack fairly quickly.  Drew Brees threw 44 times, completing 34 for 305 yards.  In my preview, I said we needed to pressure Breesus because our corners have no chance when a quarterback has time to throw.  Well, the Steelers ended up with only 2 sacks because tricky Dick LeBeau went with a different scheme where only three or four guys would rush while everybody else dropped back into coverage.

This strategy worked for the most part, holding the high-powered Saints offense to only two field goals through the first three quarters.  Ike Taylor even picked off his second pass of the season late in the first half.  HANDS OF STONE!  TWO PICKS IN ONE SEASON!

However, the secondary collapsed by the fourth.  The Steelers had a HUGE problem getting off the field on third down.  The Saints were 7 for 16 on conversions where Miami was only 3 of 12 last week.   Bryant McFadden and William Gay had all sorts or trouble once again.   Even Troy Polamalu did not play particularly well (to put it nicely).

B-Mac was torched for a 16 yard touchdown early in the fourth.  I can almost forgive that because B-Mac made up for it by recovering a fumbled kickoff by Antonio Brown and caused a Brees fumble.  Meanwhile, Troy’s guessing led to a 50 yard bomb which altered field position and he was also out of position on the late TD to Lance Moore which sealed the game.  I realize freelancing and roving are what makes him unique but against a great quarterback he really should dial it back a notch.

Coming in, I didn’t think the Saints D was that great but they held the Steelers to only 279 yards of total offense.  Ben Roethlisberger was only 17/28 for 195 yards.  The pass/run ratio wasn’t bad (28 to 21) but they couldn’t sustain anything.

The Steelers came out chucking the ball.  It almost paid off as Antwaan Randle El caught a 12 yarder where he clearly broke the plane of the goal line but the refs, obviously under orders to make up for last week, took the score away.  Mike Tomlin already wasted a challenge earlier in the half on a play he had no business challenging so he didn’t challenge when Mendy appeared to cross the line two plays later.  By the way, Tomlin is the worst challenger in history.  Whoever watches things in the booth and calls down to him is either blind or an imbecile.  Hey, guys, I work cheap.  In any case, he didn’t want to waste another challenge when he had 1st and goal from the one foot line.

Three predictable runs failed to punch it home.   Redzone Redman up the middle I have no problem with.   Rashard Mendenhall off tackle didn’t work.  So on third down, they ran THE EXACT SAME PLAY.   This is why I hate Bruce Arians.  I swear he doesn’t watch what’s happening on the field because he never seems to see what’s working and what’s not and then react accordingly.   Anyway, Mendy was stuffed on third down leading to a Skippy FG.

Mendy’s final stats (15 for 71, a TD) are a bit misleading.  38 of those yards came on one run in the fourth quarter where a few short passes over the middle set up an off-tackle run which he broke for the Steelers lone touchdown.  The rest of the time, they had him plunging straight ahead for little to no gain.  I thought the return of Trai Essex and Flozell Adams might help him but the running game has inexplicably gone down the tubes since Ben returned.

The passing game wasn’t much better.  It was all dink and dunk stuff to tight ends or Hines over the middle.  When Randle El is targeted nine times, that’s not a good sign.  I like Captain Faircatch but he’s a possession guy, not a playmaker.  Mike Wallace was held completely in check.   Hines’ lone big play was broken up by Emmanuel Sanders, who looked to have ran a bad route.  Ward had his man beat and was cruising down the sideline when the rookie cut in front of him.  Ben had a hissy fit although if he put more loft on the ball, Sanders wouldn’t have tried to make a play on it.  Great leadership, dude.

That was a fourth down play so I guess I understand the rookie being a bit anxious.   But it was just another of the Steelers various miscues.  Even with the failure to punch the ball in from the goal line, the blown fourth down play, and various secondary breakdowns, I thought we were going to see yet another legendary Big Ben comeback.  Down by 3 with nine minutes left, B-Mac strip-sacked Breesus to cause a huge turnover.

A couple plays later, Ben hit reliable Heath Miller down the middle for a big  25 yard gain.  However, he tried doing a Mendy Spinerooni out of a tackle and left the ball exposed.   The second tackler put his helmet on the ball and the helmet won.   Tomlin’s college teammate, Darren Sharper, pounced on the fumble.   I don’t think the deflated Steelers ever recovered from the sudden change in momentum.

The defense, charged with getting the ball back, put up only token resistance.  James Harrison got a bogus roughing the passer penalty, as the league continues to single him out in an effort to drive him into early retirement, which moved them into FG range.  With a little over three minutes left, holding them to a field goal would’ve been fine since Ben had time to drive for a winning TD.  But the defense completely embarrassed themselves on a 3rd and 8 when Moore caught a little 3 yard dump-off then ran through Farrior and Gay for a first down.  One play later and it was a 10 point New Orleans lead and all that was left for Ben to do was fling risky passes which led to the game-sealing INT.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing from “The Sky Is Falling!” yinzers all afternoon.  Other than the fourth quarter meltdown, I don’t think the Black and Gold played that badly.  I think many (myself included) were lulled into taking the Saints a bit lightly after they lost to the inept Browns.  They’re a quality team.  My only concern is we’re in week three of Big Ben’s big return and our offense seems to be regressing.  Hopefully they can get things straightened out in time for Monday’s crucial divisional match-up against the faltering Bengals.

Are the Pittsburgh Steelers being secretly run by Al Davis?

The Black and Gold tabbed wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders out of Southern Methodist University with their third round draft pick. Sanders is your prototypical burner, running a blistering 4.41 seconds in the 40. At only 5’11 and 186 pounds, he better blow by coverage even though he’s said to be very elusive with excellent leaping ability. This guy (I’ve been watching way too much John Gruden) is reminiscent of last year’s flier on Mike Wallace who, like Sanders, was also a mid-round slot guy with added value as a kick and punt returner. Although the Steelers already have a slot receiver in Antwaan Randle-El, this gives them a vertical threat with blazing speed and the ability make athletic plays deep down the field.

The main knock on Sanders is his lack of physicality. I’m sure a little of Hines Ward‘s trademark toughness will rub off on the rookie. But as of now, he’s one of those guys that shies away from throwing blocks and is relatively easy to tackle. The other concern is that his college coach was June Jones, the mastermind of the run-and-shoot offense. Receivers in that offense usually have wildly overinflated numbers due to the fact it’s a pass heavy attack. Also of note is despite twice being named a team captain, he was suspended for multiple games in 2008 for missing study hall and team meetings. While those character issues aren’t the same red flags the idiot we just shipped off to the Jets had, they are worth noting.

All in all, I can’t really compain about this pick. I would’ve preferred the Steelers take one of the more accompished name WRs in the second round when pretty much everybody was still on the board but you can’t argue with success. Director of player personnel Kevin Colbert has a knack for finding quality targets in later rounds so hopefully this will be another name to add to the list. And, as I said after the previous pick, this team needs a playmaking wideout which Sanders certainly seems to be. Hopefully, he pans out.

They always say “You can’t go home again.”

Evidently the Pittsburgh Steelers scoff at that philosophy.  For the second time since free agency started, the Steelers have brought back one of their ex-players. This time, it’s linebacker Larry Foote, who signed a three year/$9.3 million contract yesterday.  Since free agency as we know it went into effect about fifteen years ago, the Steelers have always adopted the Godfather-like stance of once you leave the family, you’re dead to them.

Now all of a sudden, they bring back not one former player but two.

The irony in saying “you can’t go home again” is that Foote spent last year with his hometown team, the Detroit Lions.  And by all accounts, he was miserable there.  Having spent his entire career with the Steelers, he had grown accustomed to being on a winning team and that was evidently his sole goal this offseason.  Despite being wooed by the Cardinals and Redskins, Foote was big enough to admit forcing his release last year was a big mistake and return to the team that drafted him in 2002.

Equally big were the Steelers, who by bringing him back also signaled that they had made a mistake in releasing him.  I wrote numerous times last year that it would’ve been nice to still have Foote on the roster and once again I’ve been proven correct.   Our once steady inside linebacking corps sucked last year.  James Farrior finally began showing his age, slowing noticeably especially when it came to coverage.  Lawrence Timmons, a former first round pick, is fast and athletic but small and easily pushed around.  He was terrible when it came to run defense.

Which is why Foote played in the base defense with Timmons only coming in during passing situations back in 2008.   To be fair, Timmons played all of last year with ankle problems so I’m sure the Steelers are going to blame that for his failures.   I’d imagine Timmons will go into next year as the starter with Foote waiting in the wings should he again prove not up to the task.  At only 29 years old, Foote could also be groomed to replace Farrior at some point.   The problem with that is Farrior is the guy who calls the defensive signals and makes sure everybody is in the proper alignment so if they want to replace him, Dick LeBeau will need to make sure somebody else is able to do that job.

According to football operations director Kevin Colbert, this marks the end of the Steelers free agency spending frenzy.   Focus will now shift to the draft which is a little over a month away.  While I would’ve liked to see a good quality offensive lineman brought in, overall I think these moves have made the team stronger and deeper than last year.  Hopefully that translates to on-field improvement, as well.