Clark is out for health reasons. Player safety at it's greatest factor. Courtesy espn.com

It just came across from ESPN that the Steelers are benching FS Ryan Clark for the game in Denver.  Clark has a sickle cell trait that almost killed him the first time he played in the high altitude of Denver, CO.  The next time the Steelers visited the Broncos, Tomlin benched Clark as a preventative measure of his premature death.  Clark expressed his desire to play when asked last week, but the docs and staff have the final say.

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Another week, another “Biggest Game of the Season” for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  And another picture of the opposing team’s QB surrounded by hot chicks.  The odd-looking fellow passed out on the bed is current Denver Broncos signal caller Kyle Orton.  Sadly, it appears even a stumbling drunk with a neckbeard has better luck with the ladies than our Super Bowl winning quarterback.

Neckbeard is behind center for the the Broncos due to a tumultuous off-season where the team parted ways with longtime coach Mike Shanahan leading his replacement, Josh McDaniels, to eventually part ways with Jay Cutler.  Despite not making the playoffs last season, the offense wasn’t really the problem as only New Orleans scored more points in 2008.  Thus, even with the switch at QB, the Broncos are still in possession of an excellent O line while being deep and talented at wide receiver.  Knowshon Moreno, the 12th overall pick in the draft, splits rushing duties with Correll Buckholter to bring some balance to the offense.

Offensively, the Steelers go into the game with the usual cast of characters.  LT Max Starks will have his hands full blocking LB Elvis Dumervil, who currently leads the AFC in sacks.  If he and the rest of the O-line can keep Ben Roethlisberger upright, there should be some plays for the making.  The Broncos defense is stout against the run but vulnerable against the pass so expect Bruce Arians’ Flying Circus to come out firing on Monday Night.

How weak is the Denver secondary?  This past week, they signed 95-year-old Ty Law to help shore it up.  Of course, they also have one of the best DBs in the game, Champ Bailey, so staying away from him is a must.  Despite some hiccups in pass coverage, the Broncos have had the overall top ranked defensive unit for much of this season.  Former San Francisco 49ers head man Mike Nolan has worked magic as defensive coordinator, switching to a 3-4 scheme which seems to be getting the most out of castoffs like Andra Davis and former Steeler Ryan McBean.

The Steelers will be fielding a defense missing no less than three starters.  Travis Kirschke sprained his calf toward the end of the Minnesota game and is expected to miss two or three more weeks.  Too bad, because he was doing a surprisingly solid job replacing Aaron Smith against the run.  Lawrence Timmons, who has been fighting a high ankle sprain all year, loses the battle again this week.  Even though LT was starting to come on, I’m not really too worried about missing him.   Keyaron Fox, he of the 77 yard INT-TD against the Vikes, has played extremely well when given the chance.  In fact, if you subtract the fact Timmons was a Steelers 1st round pick while Fox was a 3rd rounder who couldn’t stick with the hapless Chiefs, I’d argue Fox should be starting based on his play alone.

And then we have Ryan Clark.  I’ve already dedicated an entire post to Clark’s unique situation.  Regardless of whether it’s been made official or not, Clark isn’t going to play.  A three headed monster of Tyrone Carter, Keiwan Raliff, and Ryan Mundy will endeavor to fill his shoes.  On the plus side, Clark isn’t Troy Polamalu.  On the minus side, Clark is one of our better tacklers.  This is important because Orton is a weak-armed quarterback who is mostly limited to short and intermediate routes which depend on his talented WRs getting yards after the catch.

The Ravens exposed this flaw last week when they stifled the Broncos running game and their dink and dunk passing game couldn’t generate enough offense.  I’m sure McDaniels will try to change things up but there’s only so much you can do with Kyle Orton.  One thing to keep in mind, the Broncos have a fantastic kick returner by the name of Eddie Royal.  I’d hate for the Steelers to put on another defensive clinic only to be undone by yet another breakdown in the special teams.

The Bengals skunked the Baltimore Ravens yesterday, continuing their dream season.   On the one hand, I’m pleased because failure in Baltimore always brings a smile to my face.  On the other hand, Cincy is now 6-2 with a head-to-head victory over us so we really need to keep pace.  Victories have been hard to come by in the Mile High City so let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.

After watching Pittsburgh Steelers superstar Troy Polamalu run around last week like a headless chicken, I think it’s time to look past the hype, the hair, and the Jesus stuff. Troy was hurt most of last season, and failed to create the impact he had made in his first couple seasons. This year, a lot of the fans I’ve talked to have overlooked his disappointing play, due to the successes the defense has had so far this year. But make no mistake, he has been disappointing this year, recording a middling fourteen solo tackles, with zero sacks and zero interceptions as of week seven. Not completely embarrassing, but far below the impact the perennial Pro-Bowler and member of the Steelers all-time team should have.

Troy failed to make a big play through most of the Broncos game, and when he finally did, he made it by tackling a Bronco by the head, stopping the run but garnering a big penalty in the process. Troy seemed to be going for the big play, but he was out of position and left a hole in the middle of the field that the Broncos exploited to help put together a win over a team that by rights they shouldn’t have been able to beat. And that’s been the story with his play all season-going for the big play, but mostly being out of position. It’s no accident that the Steelers’ best game defensively this year was the game against Seattle when Troy was out, as well as Casey Hampton. The backups did a great job of not messing up, staying in position, and playing for the benefit of the team, and sometimes that’s all you need to do.

Starting last season, it seems like Steelers coaching staff started to believe the hype about their flyin’ Hawaiian, decided to quit coaching him and just allow him to do as he wished on the field. I hardly want to take away from Troy’s obvious talent and the success he had in his first three seasons as a Steelers, but if he would pull back and try to play more fundamentally sound football, the big plays would come naturally.