Nice Pick, Cowher » Fire Tomlin

A Steeler Decade In Review (Part 2)

chris — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:13:05 +0000

2005

At last! After 25 years, the Pittsburgh Steelers finally had one for the thumb.

And they did it the hard way.

Things started badly as both Duce and Bus were hurt in the preseason. That meant starting RB duties fell to a 2nd year undrafted free agent by the name of Willie Parker. Fast Willie introduced himself by rushing for 161 yards in his first game. He added 111 more in his second. The heir apparent to Bettis was finally found.

Still, the team struggled. Big Ben battled injuries necessitating two starts from his backup, Tommy Maddox. The team lost both games with Maddox playing terribly. An overtime loss against Jacksonville saw him throw two interceptions during regulation then fumble a snap in overtime when the team was in game winning FG range. The defense forced a punt so Maddox took matters into his own hands by throwing his third INT, a Pick Six which ended the game.

Steeler fans dumped garbage on his lawn and taunted his two young children after that game in what was the only time I was ever embarrassed to be a member of Steeler Nation.

As of week 13, the Steelers were 7-5 and on the outside looking in at the playoffs. The team then reeled off four straight wins beginning with a defeat of the Bears where Jerome Bettis clobbered supposed All-Pro LB Brian Urlacher. They finished the season 11-5 which was only good for the sixth seed.

I’m sure we all know what happened next. Kimo von Oelhoffen went Kobra Kai on Carson Palmer, sweeping the leg and tearing his ACL. The Steelers beat the #3 seed Bengals to move on to the #1 seeded Colts. They thoroughly outplayed Indy but only Big Ben making The Tackle on Bus’s monumentally ill-timed fumble kept Indy from taking the lead. Karma balanced things out when Indy’s kicker missed the game tying FG. The Steelers then traveled out to Denver and knocked off the #2 seeded Broncos.

In Super Bowl XL, Pittsburgh faced the NFC’s #1 seed, the Seattle Seahawks. The signature play was provided on FWP’s 75 yard TD run early in the second half. However, MVP honors fell to Hines Ward, who caught 5 passes for 123 yards and a TD thrown by the best QB on the field that day, WR Antwaan Randle El. After fourteen long years, Bill Cowher finally won the big one.

Jerome Bettis announced his retirement following the game, a fitting conclusion to the career of one of the all-time greatest Steelers.

2006

The year got off to a bad start when Ben Roethlisberger was sideswiped by some nearsighted old bat while riding his motorcycle. Ben suffered life threatening injuries because he was too stupid to wear a helmet. His entire face had to be reconstructed with screws and Elmer’s Glue. To add insult to injury, a week before the start of the season, he also underwent an emergency appendectomy.

More controversy raged during the preseason when Bettis, in his new role of NBC commentator, mentioned that Cowher told him he wanted to retire after winning the Super Bowl. Evidently he felt he owed it to his players and the Rooneys to come back and defend the title. However, he was burnt out from 15 years of coaching and with a new deal not on the horizon, it became more and more apparent this was his swan song with the Steelers.

The team won their first game with Charlie Batch filling in capably. Then they rushed Ben back for a Monday nighter in Jacksonville. Ben looked horrible and despite a superior defensive effort the team lost 9-0. Between the appendix operation and brain damage from the motorcycle accident, Ben was a shadow of himself most of the season. They also lost to a Raiders team which would only win two lousy games that year. At 2-6 at the mid-season point, hopes for a Super Bowl repeat were gone.

Still, the team rallied like champions and went 6-2 down the stretch. Playing the last few weeks under Cowher’s mantra of “Misery loves company,” they provided a little of that misery to the Bengals in the final game of the season. Cincy needed to win to make the postseason while the Steelers had no motivation but to send their coach out a winner. Which they did thanks to a 67 yard TD in OT by Santonio Holmes.

2007

Little known defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin was introduced as the Steelers new head coach. He immediately established his authority by refusing to let Casey Hampton practice or play until he lost weight. The veterans may not have liked him but he certainly got their attention. After the team faded badly down the stretch, some players grumbled it was a result of such a tough training camp.

Boo hoo.

The defense lost a ton of swagger when Joey Porter was released during the preseason. Peezy was a controversial and colorful character but he was also a ferocious linebacker in the true Steeler tradition. Of course his replacement, James Harrison, was no slouch either. In fact, had Joey not gotten thrown out of a game against Cleveland in pregame warmups, Silverback may have never gotten a chance to show the NFL what he could do.

The team roared out of the gate to a 9-3 record. Then safety Anthony Smith issued his infamous “guarantee” that they’d beat the Patriots. Tom Brady responded by torturing him for two long TD passes then talking trash. Smith got burned the next week as his big mouth wrote checks his meager abilities couldn’t cash and the team quickly lost two straight.

Things went further downhill when DE Aaron Smith was lost for the season. When he went down, the Steelers run defense went right along with him. Meanwhile, FWP broke his leg in the second to last game of the year. Parker was leading the NFL in rushing at the time and losing him pretty much wrecked our offense.

The team was one-and-done against Jacksonville. They fell behind early but mounted a comeback which was repeatedly sabotaged by Tomlin’s boneheaded insistence on going for 2 pt conversions. Still, who knows what would’ve happened if the refs hadn’t missed about four holding penalties on David Garrard‘s first down scramble that set Jacksonville up to kick the winning FG. The NFL director of officials apologized for the botch job after the game. But I thought the calls always went the Steelers way?

2008

Since we’re only one year removed, I’ll spare you a detailed recap. Suffice it to say, this year featured one of the best single season defensive efforts in history. Dick LeBeau and his men were either first or second in every major defensive category. Time and time again, Blitzburgh would create a big turnover or stop the opposition cold in their tracks. Combined with clutch last-second heroics from Big Ben, the season was about as exciting as any you’ll ever see.

Unfortunately, one very important member of Steeler Nation wasn’t here to see it. The year began on a sad note when the great Myron Cope passed away. The man who invented the Terrible Towel was surely looking down with an emphatic “YOI! DOUBLE YOI!” as the Steelers tore through the hardest schedule given any team in the past 30 years.

In the playoffs, the Steelers faced the Ratbirds for a third time. Three wins against our most hated enemy is nice enough but doing so for the right to play in the Super Bowl made it all the sweeter. In the big game, the Steelers faced the man who was their offensive coordinator in Super Bowl XL. Ken Whisenhunt and his Arizona Cardinals were a surprise entrant but they were a worthy opponent. The two teams played what is widely regarded as the most exciting Super Bowl ever. Only a last minute toe-dragging catch by MVP Santonio Holmes ensured that the season end on a high note. Get it, HIGH note?

2009

Which brings us to this year. Of course, no post Super Bowl off-season is complete without some Ben Roethlisberger drama. This time, it came in the form of a rape accusation by a cowboy hat wearing desk clerk out in Reno.

To further incur the Football Gods wrath, the folks at EA Sports put Troy Polamalu on the cover of their video game. The Madden Curse struck immediately as Troy was injured in the Steelers very first game. He came back briefly but this season has been a total write-off as far as he’s concerned.

Still, this squad got off to an excellent 6-2 start. Then the wheels fell off. Losses to three of the worst teams in the league mixed with a sweep by the Bengals. Ben was concussed in an OT loss to KC. Hines Ward went on national tv and called his QB a sissy. Tomlin issued threats and ultimatums which his team ignored. The defense couldn’t hold a lead while the offense repeatedly failed in the red zone. Ryan Clark accused the 400,000 fans who came to cheer him on just 10 months earlier of being “fairweather.” Losses mounted until the streak reached five straight. Only a slight rebound toward the end of the year has kept the team’s slim playoff hopes alive.

It’s looking like the decade will end much like it began. With the Steelers on the edge of greatness, searching for that missing player or two that will put them back into serious championship contention.

Still, two Super Bowl championships in four years and multiple playoff games made this an exciting time to be a Steeler fan. Without a doubt this was the best decade for the Black and Gold since the 1970′s. I’m sure we appreciate this team giving us memories we’ll carry for a lifetime. Here’s looking forward to more yet to come!

Week 15 Recap: Big Ben Saves Christmas

chris — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:34:15 +0000

On Sunday, the NFL’s fourth best defense faced off against the league’s number two rated unit. So naturally what resulted was a crazy wide-open game where both teams combined for a shade under 1,000 yards of total offense. Defense? We don’t need no stinkin’ defense. And when the smoke cleared, the Pittsburgh Steelers had ended their five game losing streak with a heartstopping 37-36 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

The tone was set early. On the Steelers very first play from scrimmage, Ben Roethlisberger rolled right and unleashed a 60 yard TD bomb to rookie Mike Wallace. The pass was slightly underthrown but DB Jarrett Bush never looked back for the ball allowing Wallace to make a great catch. I’m sure nobody was happier than offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who has been doggedly trying to hit this play all year. By the way, Bush is apparently GB’s version of Will.i.am Gay because the Steelers tortured him all day.

Of course, the thrill of that play was bittersweet. Once Arians got a taste of passing success, the Flying Circus was off and running. On our next drive, Ben followed a 28 yarder to Heath Miller with three consecutive misfires. Green Bay took the ball at their 17 and provided some fireworks of their own. Aaron Rodgers fired a gorgeous pass over the middle to Donald Driver, who broke free of a feeble tackling attempt by useless Tyrone Carter and outran the rest of our secondary for an 83 yard TD.

The Steelers answered right back with a nice drive mixing Rashard Mendenhall runs with short play action passing. They were also aided by Green Bay’s sloppy play, as the most penalized team in the NFL got flagged twice on this drive. A 12 yard catch-and-run by Santonio Holmes set them up with a 1st and goal from the 2. Mendenhall scored a Bettis-esque TD by bouncing off hits and bulling over four different Packers to put the Black and Gold up 14-7.

On their next possession, the Steelers caught a huge break. Rookie LB Clay Matthews blew by LT Max Starks and crashed into Ben just as he was preparing to throw. Everybody from the Fox commentators to Ben himself seemed to think it was a fumble. I don’t usually agree with Aikman and Buck since their hatred of the Steelers is ridiculously obvious but even I thought it was a fumble. However, the only opinion that matters is the ref’s and he called it an incomplete pass.

Starks was horrific yesterday. Matthews ran right around him like a $10 million human pylon. I don’t like when people jump down his throat because LT is a very difficult position and he’s been a solid performer but this is the second straight game where he’s crapped the bed. This week he was beaten for at least two of GB’s five sacks, contributed to a couple others, allowed all kinds of QB pressure, and was penalized three times for good measure.

Anyway, the non-fumble non-sack still forced a punt. Rodgers zipped yet another pass down the middle for a 49 yard gain. I would like to blame somebody for this travesty but I don’t have my copy of the playbook handy and lord knows I don’t want to blame Ryan Clark for something he wasn’t responsible for. Let’s just say both Carter and Clark whiffed on making a tackle and were bailed out by, I can’t believe I’m typing this, Willie Gay. Gay’s hustle was very important because GB sputtered and then Mason Crosby shanked his FG attempt wide right.

Things quieted down for a couple series until a sack of Ben and a good punt return set GB up at mid-field. Rodgers completed a bunch of short passes over to Gay’s side which brought them to the Steelers 14. From shotgun, GB spread the defense across the field which allowed Rodgers to scramble untouched into the end zone. The Steelers answered right back when Ben hit Heath for another 28 yarder then followed with a pass to Santonio for 33 more. Once again, a sack set the Steelers back in the red zone. But they still managed to score on a nice looking screen pass to underutilized Mewelde Moore.

And this was just halftime!

The third quarter was relatively quiet. The Steelers had the only notable drive thanks to a pair of screens to Mendy, who was awesome catching the ball out the backfield to the tune of 6 catches for 75 yards. Where has this been all year, Arians?!?! Mendy followed a 25 yarder with an apparent 14 yard TD. However, the Football Gods got revenge for the non-fumble non-sack by flagging Miller for a bogus offensive pass interference penalty which negated the score. The Steelers settled for a Skippy Reed FG which sent them into the fourth quarter up 24-14.

Ugh. A fourth quarter lead. I remember once upon a time when a fourth quarter lead was money in the bank. Then again, half the banks in this country failed this year so maybe that’s still an appropriate comparison. In any case, I hate fourth quarter leads nowadays because all they do is give the Origami Curtain an opportunity to torture Steeler Nation in new and unexpected ways.

It started with a 13 play 70 yard TD drive where GB converted on FIVE third downs. Once again, not to assign blame or point fingers but the TE scored over the middle when Clark got all turned around and couldn’t make a play. The Steelers answered with some Ben to Hines love. A 29 yard catch-and-run set up a 34 yard FG. The Pack answered by unleashing a photon torpedo to Jordy LaForge Nelson for 27 yards. On the next play, GB, who only ran the ball 8 times ALL GAME (and we thought Arians was bad), gashed the defense for a 24 yard rushing TD from Ryan Grant. I don’t know what happened there but it looked like a Black Hole opened up in the middle of the field. More Ben-Hines love in the form of a 54 yard bomb resulted in a 43 yard Skippy boot. That’s not a gimme at Heinz Field, folks. That kick pulled the Steelers back ahead 30-28.

At this point, Mike Tomlin made one of the most boneheaded coaching decisions in Steelers history. Channeling his Inner Belichick, he called for an ONSIDE KICK up by two with four minutes left against one of the best offenses in the league. Is he daring the Steelers to fire him? Why not just grab Pam Oliver’s mic and shout, “My defense sucks!” while you’re at it?

Predictably, the attempt failed when Ike Taylor didn’t let it roll the necessary ten yards. Green Bay took advantage of the short field to take a 34-30 lead on a 24 yard TD pass. Rookie Joe Burnett, who rotated with Ike and Gay regularly all game, slipped making a cut and James Jones walked in for the score. The Packers then converted a 2 point conversion (somebody must’ve had money on the game) to take a six point lead with two minutes left.

And that’s when Big Ben turned back the clock to the glory days of 2008. In a comeback for the ages, Ben coolly led the team down the field. He was aided by some fantastic catches by his receivers. Heath caught a 22 yarder along the sidelines while Santonio had a huge 32 yard reception on fourth down. The Steelers got a break when a pick was erased by a GB penalty.

Still, this was the Ben Roethlisberger Show and Big Ben did not disappoint. In his finest game ever, he completed 29/46 passes for 503 yards. Most impressively, he tossed three TDs against zero INTS. This was a new Steeler record for passing yardage and one of the best performances by any NFL QB in the past decade. With this game, Ben has silenced all his doubters and established that he belongs right up there with Drew Brees and Tom Brady among the league’s best signal callers.

Anyway, a frantic last minute drive, aided by numerous GB penalties, ended up with the Steelers on the Packer 19. Two incomplete passes wound the clock down to 3 seconds left in the game. In a play that looked eerily similar to the one which brought Pittsburgh their sixth Lombardi Trophy, Roethlisberger threw a pinpoint accurate pass to Mike Wallace, who dragged his toes while falling out of bounds. An extra point later and the Steelers pulled off a Chrismukkah miracle.

Now, I’m as excited by this win as anybody but let’s keep our emotions realistic when using the p-word (playoffs). It feels great to see the team play like champions but there were a lot of breakdowns yesterday. They managed to overcome them because they finally showed some heart and intensity for a change. It was a great win, albeit one where Big Ben almost superhumanly took the team and single-handedly saved them from the embarassment of another blown lead and a sixth consecutive loss (not to mention saving Tomlin from a riot). But a win is a win and that may be the best Christmas present any of us could have asked for.

Hopeless Steelers Still Have Hope

chris — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:55:39 +0000

Warning: Do not continue reading if you’re currently taking mood stabilizers or experience severe depression when your favorite football team fails.

For over a month, I’ve been harping on the fact that the margin of error for the Pittsburgh Steelers was increasingly small. After disgracing themselves against the Cleveland Browns, the playoff window might as well be officially closed. Except, it’s not. After another crazy weekend of NFL action, the Steelers are technically still alive.

Well, on paper anyway.

The AFC playoff race has been extremely tight in recent years. In 2007, the Browns went 10-6 and still missed the Wild Card. Last season, the Patriots finished 11-5 yet found themselves sitting at home come playoff time. While I consider that moment of Schadenfreude fitting payback for Peepin’ Bill and the Fighting Belicheats, it does tell you how stacked the AFC has been.

However, it looks like this year may be different. A quick glance at the current standings posted above reveals a log jam of 7-6 and 6-7 teams. No fewer than seven teams are currently tied or a game out of the final Wild Card spot. While there’s always the chance somebody catches fire and wins out, it more likely appears that a 9-7 team will sneak in to the post season.

This means all your Steelers have to do is run the table. Then they need some help. Without going into all the possible playoff scenarios, I will say current #6 seed Jacksonville has to play Indianapolis and New England the next two weeks. Assuming they flame out, that leaves things wide open for the rest of us. Remember, the Steelers hold a head-to-head victory over Tennessee and face Miami in week 17.

Of course, conference record is going to be key. When more than two teams or two teams that haven’t met face-to-face are tied, they go to AFC record as the first tiebreak. Miami and the Jets are currently one game better in conference than the Steelers. Tennessee is a game behind. Baltimore appears to be the biggest threat. Their conference record is two games better than Pittsburgh plus they have a head-to-head win. Even if the Steelers win the rematch, they won’t be able to leapfrog the Ratbirds unless either Chicago or Oakland knocks them off.

This is all crazy speculation and wild fantasy, though. The Steelers aren’t going to make the playoffs. Know how I can be so sure that the Black and Gold will find a lump of coal in their postseason stocking? Look at the bottom of that playoff chart, right below where it says, “Eliminated.” What do all the teams already out of the race have in common?

They’ve all beaten the Steelers.

Steelers To Fire Coaches?

chris — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:01:41 +0000

Despite playing last Thursday, the Pittsburgh Steelers were still a popular subject on NFL pregame shows yesterday. That tends to happen when you go from defending Super Bowl Champions looking strong in defense of their title to a lazy unmotivated team that’s lost five straight games in humiliating fashion. The rumor mill seems to be spinning although take this stuff with a grain of salt because it changes every week. Two months ago, Eric Mangini in Cleveland and Todd Haley in Kansas City were “on the hot seat” while today nobody ever talks about them being fired. Actually, now we know why the Steelers are one of President Obama‘s favorite teams.

They keep the unemployment rate down by saving coaches their jobs.

Anyway, I’d be inclined to ignore most of the rumors but this Adam Schefter dude seems to have good sources within the Steelers organization. He was the guy who first broke the story about Charlie Batch breaking his wrist and Dennis Dixon likely having to start against the Ravens. Our local putz media weren’t even aware of these facts until a day and a half after he reported them. So it does appear he has a mole within the team which would make his information somewhat reliable.

Some of it falls in the “Duh!” category. Special Teams coach Bob Ligashesky will probably be fired? REALLY? What a scoop! I never would’ve expected somebody who oversaw a unit which give up more kickoff return TDs than any team in history would get canned! Astounding!

And of course the offensive coaches are in trouble. Anybody with half a brain can see the offense has been our biggest liability this year. I know, I know, our defense has let us down in key situations. But, honestly, they’re fourth in overall defense, second in rushing defense, and third in sacks. The defense is only allowing 18 points per game which is not atrocious considering they’re thirteenth against the pass and near the bottom in turnovers. If anything, Dick LeBeau is making chicken salad out of chicken shit since he’s doing all this without two of his best defense players plus vastly inferior replacements for Bryant McFadden and Larry Foote. And let’s remember, all of our losses have been by seven points or less which can just as easily be blamed on a kick return TD or a Pick Six.

No, what’s happened this year is the defense went from all-time great to just good (except the last two weeks, where they’ve given up). The offense has failed to pick up the slack. We’re counting on the defense to stop the other team AND keep them from scoring AND get turnovers AND cover for any offensive mistakes. It’s not fair to expect them to do everything. The offense has to pull their own weight and we’ve seen time and time again that they can’t.

Those failures fall directly on the coaches. The prime suspect is, of course, offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. The man has absolutely no clue on how to call a game. Watch any decent team and you see they have a plan on offense. Usually it’s to identify a weakness in their opponent and then exploit it. Not Arians. If it appears they can’t stop a run to the right, rest assured he’ll call three runs to the left. If it appears they can’t stop a screen pass to the RB, rest assured he’ll dial up a 45 yard bomb down the sideline. Nothing he does makes any sense. And his obsession with turning Ben Roethlisberger into the second coming of Peyton Manning is absolutely ridiculous considering one is the greatest pocket passer of his generation and the other is a game manager.

What Pittsburgh native Mike Ditka says at the end of the clip hits the nail right on the head. It’s all about identity. You have to know what you are and embrace it. When you try to be something else, it all falls apart. For fourteen weeks, the Steelers offense has tried pretending they’re the Patriots or Colts and we see where that has gotten them. Hopefully, the team will know enough to pack up the Flying Circus and bring back Stiller Football before another season is flushed down the drain.

Week 14 Recap: Absolutely Pathetic

chris — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:58:54 +0000

If last week’s loss to Oakland theoretically ended the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers made sure to erase all doubt by dropping last night’s game to the lowly Cleveland Browns by a final score of 13-6. Thanks to the Browns, we’re finally free of any vague hopes of a playoff berth or dreams of a respectable defense of our Super Bowl title. Now we are finally free to see this season for what it has been all along. An absolute embarrassment.

Where to begin with this pathetic display. Let’s start with the Steelers first drive of the day because it pretty much sums up the stupidity we’ve seen all year from this team. Rashard Mendenhall ran right for 5 yards. Rashard Mendenhall ran right again for 4 yards. So on third and 1 (actually about a foot), what do we do?

LINE UP IN SHOTGUN!

Ben Roethlisberger ended up eating a 9 yard sack. On our next drive, Mendenhall carried for 5 yards on first down. He carried for 2 more yards on second down. Wanna guess what we did on third and 3?

LINE UP IN SHOTGUN!

Ben ate another sack, this time losing 10 yards. And this is how the first half went. Bruce Arians repeatedly rolled out the Flying Circus and the pitiful Cleveland defense repeatedly sent it packing. Big Ben was sacked five times in all. The offensive line broke down on a couple of them but most of the blame belonged to Roethlisberger.

Ben continually wants six or seven seconds to survey every square inch of the field before releasing the damn ball. If a jailbreak blitz is coming at you, you make a hot read and throw QUICKLY. Unfortunately, our mush brain QB doesn’t seem capable of doing this. Between that and his inaccuracy, it’s no shock he finished the game a putrid 18/32 for 201 yards. If there was ever any doubt the Steelers need to get back to Ben managing the game instead of pretending to be Peyton Manning, this game settled it once and for all.

When Big Ben managed to make a decision, our receivers gave him no help. Even normally sure-handed Heath Miller dropped a pass right in his chest. Hines Ward showed why he is the heart and soul of this team by playing with a partially torn hamstring on only three days rest. You could tell he was in a lot of pain by the way he’d limp back to the huddle. Unfortunately, Ward’s heroics failed to motivate anybody else on offense as the Steelers did basically nothing until the final minute of the half when a 24 yard pass to Santonio Holmes added to a cheap roughing the QB call that tacked on 15 more resulted in a FG.

Meanwhile, Cleveland’s offense wasn’t doing much better. Watching Brady Quinn play QB is like watching the Special Olympics. You appreciate that he’s trying as hard as he can and you kinda admire his scrappy determination but the actual display is frequently difficult to watch. Guys were open all over the field and he couldn’t get the ball to any of them. His lone nice pass was a 37 yarder to Mohamed Massaquoi where I defy you to guess who got beat. That resulted in another FG. Other than that, the Browns were just fortunate enough to have a one man wrecking crew by the name of Joshua Cribbs.

Cribbs began his assault by returning a punt 55 yards down to the Pittsburgh 8. Yep, special teams failed us again. I’ll give you a moment to get over the shock. The defense held and they only got a FG out of it. Late in the half, running out of the WildCat, Cribbs took the snap and then blew by half the defense for a 37 yard gain. Both Tyrone Carter and James Farrior had their hands on him and he broke free until Mister Woodley finally rode him down.

Farrior had a brutal game. Probably his worst ever in a Steeler uniform. I don’t know what happened from last year to this one but he looks completely washed up. The Browns ran directly at him and Travis Kirschke all night. For example, after the big Cribbs gain, they handed the ball to somebody named Chris Jennings. After breaking another Farrior tackle for 9 yards, on the next play he blew right by him before running over Will.i.am Gay for a 10 yard TD. It was the first rushing TD for the Browns this year.

I repeat, THE FIRST BROWNS RUSHING TD THIS SEASON.

Slapped In The Face By Irony #1: The one play that might have injected some life into this lifeless team was when Cleveland fumbled a punt which was recovered by the Steelers in enemy territory. That play was nullified by a holding call on the Steelers. The man who was held? Arnold Harrison.

You know, the guy Mike Tomlin cut as the scapegoat for his shitty coaching.

As we rolled into halftime with the Browns up 13-3, the Steelers had a grand total of 75 yards of total offense. If you read my Know Thy Enemy preview, you’d recall the Browns were on pace to allow more yards than any other team THIS DECADE. And yet all we could muster was 75 yards of total offense. Unbelievable.

In the third quarter, things got so dire that Holmes actually came out to run back punts. He didn’t accomplish anything but I appreciate the effort. The Browns spent most of the third quarter playing STILLER FOOTBALL, ie running out the clock and controlling time of possession. We spent the quarter playing Flying Circus. It finally began to work when we went hurry up and Ben connected with Miller for 22 yards and then a dump off to Mendy netted 17 more. But a sack and an incomplete deep ball left us with only another Skippy FG for our efforts.

In the fourth quarter, Cleveland continued to mix WildCat snaps to Cribbs with runs to this Jennings person. When the Steelers had the ball, it was pretty much All Shotgun-All The Time as they desperately tried to score a tying TD. Actually, that’s not accurate. “Desperate” infers desire and passion. The team looked like they were going through the motions. Balls were either overthrown or dropped. Dumb penalties would cost them yards. And more sacks were surrendered, bringing the grand total to 8 for the night.

Slapped In The Face By Irony #2: The Browns ran the clock down to 3 seconds left in the game. They had to run a fourth down play and chose to punt the ball to the Steelers. Holmes was out in a last ditch attempt to run one back for the game-tying score. Sadly, the Browns special teams do not suck and he was tackled shortly after fielding the kick. The man who made the tackle? Arnold Harrison.

And that’s a fitting end for our season. The man Tomlin cut because he is seemingly incapable of actual coaching ends up putting the kibosh on all our hopes and dreams. Meanwhile, our #1 rated rush defense gave up 171 yards to the WORST OFFENSE IN THE NFL. Our Flying Circus offense couldn’t score one touchdown against the WORST DEFENSE IN THE NFL. And fourteen weeks later, we still can’t play special teams.

This game was an absolutely pathetic display by the Steelers. Never do I remember seeing a Steeler team basically give up on a game or a season. Look, I can handle losing. Sometimes your team isn’t that good or sometimes your opponent is just better. But even with some key injuries, this is still the defending Super Bowl champions. Bill Cowher‘s final team in 2006, the year he “phoned it in,” played hard right up until that final game when they put the kibosh on the playoff hopes of the Cincinnati Bengals. I don’t see that in this year’s club. This is a bunch of losers with a loser mentality. I honestly don’t think we’re going to win another game.

It’s a sad day to be a member of Steeler Nation.