Going into this season, the Tennessee Titans were considered an afterthought in a division which contained the perennially powerful Colts and up-and-coming Jaguars.  Although they also made the playoffs last year, losing to the Chargers in the Wild Card Round, people seemed to think Jacksonville was the team primed to make the jump to the next level when Peyton Manning and company began their eventual decline.

The Jags were quickly exposed as an overrated farce of a team while Indianapolis stumbled out of the gate due to injuries to key players.  Meanwhile, Tennessee got off to a fast start and never looked back.  Throughout the majority of the season, the Titans have consistently been ranked the top team in the AFC.  While it was easily justied when they were undefeated, the team has gone 2-2 over the past four games and could even wind up losing the #1 seed in the playoffs if they were to lose this weekend.

While their opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers, have marched through the toughest schedule in NFL history, a close examination of Tennessee’s year reveals an assortment of creampuffs and pushovers.  Rather than just knee-jerk declaring them the best team in the AFC due to their record, it becomes more and more apparent that this is a team whose reputation is built on a lie.  In fact, going week by week through their schedule, it becomes more and more clear that this team hasn’t beat anybody at all.

1 – Jacksonville W (17 – 10)     Jacksonville (5-9) stinks.

2 – Cincinnati W (24 – 7)       Cincinnati (2-11) stinks.

3 – Houston W (31 – 12)     Houston (7-7) came on late but stunk early.

4 – Minnesota W (30 – 17)     Winning record but Gus Frerotte?  Really?

5 – Baltimore W (13 – 10)    Rookie QB on a team that we beat twice.

7 – Kansas City W (34 – 10)     KC (2-12) stinks.

8 – Indianapolis W (31 – 21)     Manning, Harrison, and Sanders were all hurt.

9 – Green Bay W (19 – 16)     Green Bay (5-9) stinks yet came thisclose.

10 – Chicago W (21 – 14)     Kyle Orton?

11 – Jacksonville W (24 – 14)     See above.

12 – NY Jets L (34 – 13)      Jets are overrated yet blew them out at home.

13 – Detroit W (47 – 10)     Detroit (0-14) really really stinks.

14 – Cleveland W (28 – 9)       Cleveland (4-10) stinks.

15 – Houston L (13-12)        Another loss, this to a non-playoff team.

From what I’m seeing, they have two quality wins (Baltimore and Indianapolis).  The games against the NFC North teams don’t count because that division is the NFL’s version of a Cripple Fight.  Two of them don’t have quarterbacks, the one that does has no defense, and the fourth is the Pittsburgh Pirates of football.  Every other game is either against a bottom 5 team or a loss.  Color me unimpressed.

After finally getting the monkey off their back by winning the Super Bowl, it appeared that the Indianapolis Colts would be following a pattern similar to other recent winners. They would struggle the next season then see head coach Tony Dungy retire so he could return to the NFL after a few years with a much more lucrative contract. The offense would still be the heart of the team but they’d eventually seek to replace some of their aging skill position stars with younger and cheaper alternatives. The first part held true but the others didn’t as Dungy continues to coach the team and the Colts are still sticking with the Manning-Wayne-Harrison Trifecta.

Despite competition from an improving Tennessee squad and usually tough Jacksonville, the Colts managed to maintain superiority in the AFC South last year. This year, however, they stumbled out of the gate and are currently behind the eight-ball being stuck behind a Titans team which remains undefeated. Barring a monumental collapse, it looks like Indy’s only hope for a playoff spot will be as a Wild Card. They currently sit at 4-4 meaning realistically they can only afford two more losses for those hopes to remain realistic. Otherwise, this may very well be the swan song season for many of the old guard as Dungy, DE Dwight Freeney, and probably WR Marvin Harrison are nearing the end of their run.

STEELER DEFENSE vs. COLTS OFFENSE

I’m sure we all know the “no huddle” offense the Colts use as the sight of QB Peyton Manning waving, signaling, hopping on one leg, doing the hokey pokey and turning himself around is one sadly familiar to Steeler fans. One of the beauties of Peyton’s ability to audible is that it allows the Colts to run a pretty simple scheme if the players can understand the audibles. They usually keep the WR’s in the same positions with Harrison out wide right, Reggie Wayne out wide left, and Anthony Gonzalez or Dallas Clark in the slot. Occasionally, if they get in some tight games and the offense can’t get going they’ll start motioning the receivers to see if they can fool the defense but this is essentially an offense that believes that Peyton can get them into the right play and then they can just out execute the opponent.

Obviously, this puts the onus on Peyton Manning to make the whole machine run. You can directly attribute Indy’s early season struggles with Manning’s sub-par play. He had two knee surgeries this off-season and missed the entire preseason. He came back rusty, out-of-synch with his receivers, and badly immobile. Peyton was never to be confused with Kordell Stewart but with today’s pass rushers, you need to have some niftiness in the pocket or you’ll never complete a pass. One of the reasons Manning was one of the most durable QBs of this generation is he was always mobile enough to avoid the big hit. His knee better be healed because with the most vicious pass rush in the NFL flying in at him from every angle, he better be able to duck and cover or he will take a beating.

Another of the issues that the Colts had was that Peyton was more or less the team’s O-Coordinator. While he usually calls the right play, he had some problems that your typical O-Coordinator has, particularly with falling in love with the pass. Unfortunately, the Colts didn’t have anybody in place to “veto” some of Peyton’s play calling and get him into the run. The year they won the Super Bowl, Peyton finally realized that the Colts needed to run the ball in the red zone because teams like the Patriots were looking for the pass in those situations. Again, the problem with the team this year is every one of their backs has missed time due to injury.

They should have Joseph Addai this week. He’s a vicious runner who catches passes well and got better and better in pass protection. He’s probably one of those guys that will be underrated for awhile given the small market city he plays in which is already occupied by the big stars. Then again, he’s going against the Steeler D which absolutely positively won’t let anybody run the ball on them anywhere ever. So I’d like to say they should utilize him but I don’t think he’s going to be able to do much of anything this week.

If Harrison’s knee is healthy, he’s one of the best WRs in the game. Big “if” because it appears that injury still nags him to this day. Reggie Wayne went from outstanding #2 to really the Colts top WR now. Wayne is extremely fast and has great hands which are a rare combination. Anthony Gonzalez did struggle with his route running and learning the audibles, but still ranked first in the league in DVOA for WR’s. Gonzalez took the Brandon Stokely third/slot receiver slot. He’s a good one although he gets a case of the dropsies here and there. TE Dallas Clark frequently lines up as a wide receiver. He’s deadly on screen passes although he can run deeper routes if they see a mismatch they can exploit.

I was worried last week about S Tyrone Carter replacing Ryan Clark but it really didn’t seem to matter. CBs Ike Taylor and Deshea Townshend completely shut down the Redskins wideouts although I think the Colts are a bit more talented and have a better QB getting them the ball. Of course, that won’t matter much if he’s flat on his back which is where I expect the Blitzburgh D to put him many times on Sunday.

STEELER OFFENSE vs. COLTS DEFENSE

Two guesses. Tampa 2/Cover 2 used here as that is the pet defense Dungy has loved since his days down in Tampa. A love he passed on to one of his protégés, a charismatic young man by the name of Mike Tomlin.

The Tampa 2 can be a good scheme with the right personnel although it is a pretty conservative defense outside of Dungy’s love for stunting his D-Line. The D-Line’s priority is to get to the QB and then worry about the run later. This appears to be the lucky week for the Colts as Pothole Willie Parker injured his shoulder on Monday and will not play. We still have the best bargain basement RB ever, Mewelde Moore, to shoulder (*groan*) the load. Can Moore keep up his string of impressive relief performances?

S Bob Sanders is the Troy Polamalu of their defense; the player who makes the whole thing work. In fact, he’s probably even more valuable as Troy takes the Steelers from very good to great but Sanders is singly responsible for making a below average defense decent. He’s constantly getting injured, though which makes me think maybe some day he’ll learn how to tackle correctly instead of trying to spear everybody.

Despite the Colts taking the mold of a typical Cover 2 defense (small in size, big on speed), this was an extremely physical defense in 2007 and it started with the attitude of Sanders and the rest of their physical defensive backs. Of course, the Steelers receivers know a thing or two about physical play so it should be interesting to see who blinks first when they get smacked in the mouth. I’m sure Herr Goodell has a bowl of popcorn and his dvd player ready to comb through the game tape to look for more ways to fine the Steelers.

If Dwight Freeney is healthy and returns to his old form, then their D-Line is a force to be reckoned with since Freeney is so tough to stop. Problem is that he suffered a bad foot injury and the way I understand it, it’s not too big of an issue if you’re very young but at Freeney’s age he’s unlikely to ever be the same. Ed Johnson was a hell of a find as he was a full season starter despite being undrafted. Raheem Brock had a pretty solid year as well.

The big question for the Steelers will be who will be behind that porous offensive line running for their life when the clock is started on Sunday. As of posting this, the question is very much up in the air. Ben Roethlisberger hasn’t practiced all week although he is reportedly going to take some snaps on Friday. If he doesn’t feel like his arm is about to fall off, they’ll probably give him the start although I still think that’s a huge mistake. Big Ben is significantly down this year from last in every significant statistical category. He’s clearly not right. Will one week off make a huge difference? I don’t know. But if you know a guy is injured and even question a little how effective he’ll be, I don’t see the point in letting him start. Byron Leftwich isn’t a long-term solution by any means. However, this game against this opponent this week, he very well might be our best chance for victory.

The Pittsburgh Steelers head into their much-needed bye week with a solid 26-21 victory over the game but over-matched Jacksonville Jaguars.

The score is totally misleading because this game wasn’t nearly as close as it would appear.  Seven of the Jags points were scored on the opening drive when one of the Steelers WRs slipped on the poorly kept Jacksonville turf and QB Ben Roethlisberger did his best Neil O’Donnell impersonation for a quick Pick Six.   In the second quarter, the Steelers moved the ball up and down the field on the Jaguars’ pitiful defense but stumbled in the red zone and had to settle for Skippy Reed field goals instead of TDs.  The Steelers went into halftime up 20-14 when statistically the game was a more vicious beating than the one Unknown White Guy gave that phony Kimbo Slice on Saturday night.  We had 300 total yards of offense to their 50 while we had possession of the ball 22 minutes to their 8.

It bears noting, most of our superior offensive output came with Big Ben once again running the offense by himself in the No Huddle.  In fact, it seemed like the only time the offense sputtered in the first half was when the Steelers came back from time outs with a set play, which would invariably fail.  Obviously, offensive coordinator Bruce Arians is not only completely useless at making adjustments, but his poor play-calling and ridiculously complex schemes actually hinder the team.  Unless we add another Lombardi Trophy to the mantle this season, in which case we’ll probably be able to convince some ineptly run franchise like the Detroit Lions to take him as a head coach, I can’t imagine Arians returning next year.

Anyway, the hot, sticky, swamp-like conditions of that hellhole that is Jacksonville took their toll as coming back from halftime saw both teams sleep-walk through a poorly played and uneventful third quarter.  LT Marvel Smith left the game when the inhuman conditions caused him to cramp up and he was ably replaced by the $7 Million Dollar Man Max Star…   Oh, wait.  That was Trai Essex out there.  Guess Mike Tomlin is determined to make Loafus Maximus the highest paid bench warmer in history.

In the fourth quarter, Jacksonville’s overhyped and overrated QB David Garrard managed to avoid a couple sacks (aided by several missed holding calls on the O-line) and move the ball a little bit before the refs decided they must try even harder to hose the Steelers.   I don’t get why they’re always so determined to help Jacksonville win these games.  Either it’s a pity thing or the Jaguar cheerleaders must share a locker room with the referees.  Anyway, the Steelers had 10 penalties for an unbelievable 129 yards, the worst coming in the final quarter when a 3rd and a mile play was erased on a ridiculous unnecessary roughness call on S Ryan Clark (a poorly thrown Garrard pass sailed behind the receiver who ran upfield directly into Clark) and then there was a horrendous roughing the passer call on LB James Harrison.  With about 5 minutes left, the Jags inexplicably lead 21-20 despite being overwhelmed in every facet of the game.

This brought Big Ben and the offense back out for the climatic drive where he coolly and efficiently led the team down the field, once again shredding the defense like it wasn’t there.  RB Mewelde Moore, the Last Man Standing in the Steeler backfield, ripped off a nice 20 yard scamper, finishing the game with 99 yards rushing.  I hope they remember what a gem they have with this guy when Fast Willie Parker returns because it seemed like the first three weeks they barely used him.   Then Ben made an absolutely incredible play where he was being mugged by three Jacksonville defenders, one of which was dragging him backwards by the jersey, yet he still managed to shot put the ball downfield to Hines Ward for a big 20 yard gain.  Ben Roethlisberger was a warrior out there with his throwing arm hanging limply at his side but still mustering up the ability to drill laser beam-like spirals into tight spaces when needed.  A handful of plays after Big Ben’s heroics, Hines made some of his own with a great toe-dragging catch on an end zone fade route.  Game set match.

On a personal note, I would like to point out in my authoritative preview analysis, I mentioned Jacksonville CB Rashean Mathis was a dangerous ballhawk who should be watched.   And who had the INT return for the touchdown?   Why Mathis of course.  Meanwhile, the “great and clutch” Matt Jones, who some Jaguar fan felt compelled to defend, had 2 catches for a whopping 25 yards.  I realize Jacksonville only has about 25 fans out there but honestly, their fans do deserve a blogger who actually knows a little something about their team.  This is why I love Steeler Nation.  If we had a receiver who was as stunningly mediocre as Matt Jones, we would admit that fact, not try to deny it.

The Baltimore Ravens went down in flames yesterday and now look to be a .500 team at best.   So these early wins are doubly important as it’s looking more and more like 9 or 10 wins will take the division easily.  It was an unnecessarily close call but the Steelers got the job done and move into the bye week at 4-1.  This is good since the meat of the Hardest Schedule in the NFL™ has yet to come. And with a team that is as badly banged up as the Steelers, where literally every position from punter to quarterback to both lines has faced major injury issues so far this year, getting a win and then getting some rest are pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered.

After the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl, their plan for the future was set. Dick Vermeil would retire so they would hand the reigns over to Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz. Martz served as a QB coach/offensive assistant to the Redskins the year before and helped turn them into one of the league’s most explosive offenses. When he took over the Rams offense, it quickly became known as “The Greatest Show on Turf.”

But, as everybody knows, in life there are no guarantees when you use the drive-thru and there are no guarantees in the NFL. The supposedly perfect marriage between Martz and St. Louis was never consummated. They reached the Super Bowl two seasons later and, despite being 17 point favorites, they wound up losing. Many fans never forgave Martz for that. And the team started to regress due to flaws in Martz’s coaching philosophies and by 2005 the relationship had deteriorated worse than Hulk and Linda Hogan’s, brother. Thus, out went Double M and in came former Vikings and Dolphins OC Scott Linehan.

Linehan isn’t as innovative or wide-open as Martz, but he’s definitely one of the better offensive minds in football. The Rams hoped to keep their explosive offense but couple that with a stout defense, often neglected under Martz. To that end, they hired former Steelers Defensive Coordinator, free from the hell that is being the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Jim Haslett. This was supposed to be a big year for St. Louis. Unfortunately, a combination of aging stars, coaching errors, and tons of key injuries have made this a year to forget.

While the Rams go back to the drawing board this off-season, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin must go back to the drawing board IMMEDIATELY. Myself, amongst others, have been noticing some serious fundamental flaws in this team for awhile now but those flaws were ignored when the team kept winning (against mostly inferior opposition). However, the past two weeks, both convincing losses to quality, PLAYOFF-BOUND, teams shows these flaws need to be addressed if we have any hope of doing anything come January.

Steelers Defense vs. Rams Offense

Unbelievably, the Rams had a hard time scoring points for most of this season. Of course, they haven’t had their full compliment of healthy offensive starters most of this season, either. Those starters are pretty much all back now which means don’t let the record fool you, this team can do some damage.

The offense is led by Central Catholic product, Marc Bulger. The Rams like to throw the ball deep and Bulger, when he’s on, has the arm strength and accuracy of a top-flight NFL quarterback. In the last two seasons, he’s completed 66% of his passes while averaging 8.12 yards per attempt, which is outstanding. His main problem is that he’s fragile and doesn’t like to be hit. If we can get in his face and knock him around, he will get rattled.

WRs Issac Bruce, Tory Holt, and Drew Bennett are all known for their deep play capabilities. Bruce isn’t the deep threat he once was and drops more passes now, but has shown he can still be a playmaker. Holt has some decent intermediate pass route skills, although you don’t see him go over the middle very often. Bennett has superb deep speed and either splits time with Bruce or serves as the slot in three and four wideout sets.

The big threat on offense will be RB Stephen Jackson. He’s a big load who’s had some shoulder and knee issues this year. When healthy, Jackson is one of the best tailbacks in the game. Last week, he rushed for 143 yards against a very tough Green Bay defense. And this week he faces a Steeler team that has suddenly become unable to stop the run.

Of course, “suddenly” should be translated as “Since DE Aaron Smith was lost for the season.” This is Item #1 on Tomlin’s drawing board: find a way to fix the run defense. I can’t believe one player makes THAT much difference but look at the rushing yards allowed with Smith vs. without him and even a blind man, or Bryant Gumbel, can see the difference. The law firm of Kirschke, Eason, and Hoke just can’t get the job done. They were getting blown off the line left and right against Jacksonville. It got so bad, they were bringing S Troy Polamalu up to support the run but if you depend on your safety to tackle the running back, that’s not good.

The Three Amigos of Bryant McFadden, Ike Taylor, and Deshea Townshend have the speed and coverage skills to deal with the St. Louis receivers. And James Harrison and our other linebackers should be able to get pressure on Bulger as their o-line is nowhere near as big and physical as Jacksonville or New England’s. Granted, this won’t mean much if Jackson is ripping off 8 yards per carry…

Steelers Offense vs. Rams Defense

Jim Haslett utilized the standard issue 3-4 Blitzburgh scheme while here but has since converted to the more widely accepted 4-3. Anthony Hargrove is probably too small to be a 4-3 DE and not agile enough to be a 3-4 OLB. He’s not a bad player by any means, just not a big threat in either position. Leonard Little is getting up there in years and pretty much running on fumes now. Jimmy Kennedy is slow and lazy and doesn’t really seem to do much. La’Roi Glover is another veteran that probably has only a couple season left and tends to tire because he just can handle that much of a load anymore. Because of these factors, the Rams have been fairly susceptible to the run this year.

This should be music to the ears of RB Willie Parker, who once again rushed for 100 yards last week in a losing effort. Time was, a 100 yard rushing day by a Pittsburgh back meant ball control and time of possession and a win for the Steelers. For some reason, we’re still running the ball effectively, at least on paper, but this hasn’t been translating to wins.

Item #2 on Tomlin’s drawing board will definitely be the play of the offensive line. Last week, it was painfully apparent that LT Marvel Smith is still in tremendous pain from the back injury that caused him to miss a couple games earlier this year. Two weeks ago, Mike Vrabel blew by him like he was standing still and last week Paul Spicer abused him. The Steelers have no choice but to start Max Starks and hope he can anchor the line like he did in back to back games where they only gave up 4 sacks total. C Sean Mahan was also whipped like a rented mule last week but I don’t think we have any other options at center. I can understand we have high expectations given we used to have names like Dawson, Hartings, and Webster at the position but I’d take AVERAGE at this point.

If we can keep QB Ben Roethlisberger upright, a pretty big “if,” he should be able to find some open receivers as the St. Louis secondary is nothing to write home about. The Steelers shouldn’t have any problems putting up points this week. The key will be, and I can’t believe I’m typing these words, if our defense can hold up their end of the bargain.