Colts fans cheer on the team and their coach. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

What We Learned in Week #5 in the NFL:

• BA gets his first win as interim Head Coach
• Chiefs players and media attack fans for booing Matt Cassel injury
• Drew Brees breaks Johnny Unitas’ passing td record
• Steelers win in final seconds but lose more starters to injury (more…)

Let’s say I told you the Pittsburgh Steelers wouldn’t allow a touchdown on defense for over six quarters.  Let’s say I told you the defense would hold the Kansas City Chiefs to 50 yards of total offense during the first half.   FIFTY YARDS.  Let’s say I told you Ben Roethlisberger had almost 400 yards passing while his opposing number, Matt Cassel, was stormed for a sack five times.  You’d think the Steelers had a pretty good day, wouldn’t you?

Except you’d be wrong.  Terribly, horribly wrong.  There are some nightmares you unfortunately cannot wake up from.   And the Pittsburgh Steelers being defeated 27-24 in overtime by the lowly Kansas City Chiefs is certainly one of them.

We’ll start where we should always start, in the beginning.  Mike Tomlin made a big show this past week of cutting Arnold Harrison and sending a message to the woeful special teams.  Evidently, that message didn’t get through because the Chiefs took the opening kickoff 97 yards for a TD.  It wasn’t even the cleanest of returns as there were guys within reach of Jamaal Charles.  None of them could shed a block or make a tackle in an absolutely inept display of kick coverage.

I thought it was funny to see Skippy Reed run down the field to get involved in the play after he told  the paper his job on kicks is to wait for the returner to come to him and then run in the opposite direction as fast as he can.  The Steelers have now given up four kickoff TDs this season, the most in their history.  EVER.  It’s not the Steelers Way to fire a coach mid-season so special teams “coach” Bob Ligasheshky is probably safe for now but I’d be polishing up my resume if I were him.

Anyway, after that debacle, the first half went mostly according to script.  The defense completely stifled the inept KC offense.  Offensively, we mixed the pass/run fairly well and moved the ball effectively against the porous Chiefs defense.  Five drives yielded three scores, which would have been more except on the second drive rookie Mike Wallace fumbled after catching a 33 yard bomb.  The only thing I didn’t like was the fact “more emphasis on the running game” evidently meant more carries for Willie Parker.  Parker continues to look like a shell of his former self.

Then came the second half.

Stop me if this sounds familiar.  Run-pass-pass.  Run-pass-pass.  Run-pass-pass.  That’s Bruce Arians brilliant playcalling.  He rolled out the Flying Circus and it was all downhill from there.  If you want a play that perfectly sums up the stupidity of this offense, it’s this.  3rd and 4 from your own 40.  They line up in the shotgun and Ben launches a 35 yard pass which falls incomplete.  Why are we passing in third and short?  Why are we in the shotgun?   Why are we going for a bomb when all we need is to move the chains?

I’ve watched football for a long time.  I realize times and teams are different.  I realize you have to play to your strengths.  But do you remember Bill Cowher?  His teams never, NEVER, blew large leads against clearly inferior opponents.  Know why?  Because once we were comfortably ahead, he dialed back the throttle, put the ball in the hands of the Bus (or Barry or Bam) and let him and our awesome defense ice the game.  The last time the Steelers blew a double digit lead was 1986.  This year we’ve done it TWICE.

So we took the ball to start the second half and it was run-pass-pass.   Except on the second pass, Ben’s throw bounced through Heath’s hands and was INT by KC.  Cassel drove the Chiefs 61 yards, completing a 21 yard TD pass to Leonard Pope.  Who blew the coverage on that play?   Take a guess.  I’ll wait.

Twenty Brownie points if you said “Will.i.am Gay.”

After an exchange of punts, the Steelers began to drive.  Ben took what was being given to him, dinking and dunking the team down to the KC 10 yard line.   Then he showed it was better to give than receive.   His second INT of the game was a terrible throw trying to force a pass into a crowd in the endzone.  This pick was returned James Harrison-style, from their end to our end.  The only difference was Rashard Mendenhall, showing great hustle and surprising speed, ran all the way across the field to tackle Andy Studebaker short of the goal line.  This was almost a game-saving play because the defense rose up to hold the Chiefs to a FG.

The defense wasn’t done.  Lawrence Timmons busted in on Cassel and rescued the ball from his evil clutches while Silverback made sure it found it’s way to freedom.  Working on a short field, Ben was able to find Mendenhall for a short TD pass.  Mendenhall really deserves praise for an excellent game.  He had 21 carries for 80 yards, 4 catches for 36 yards, and the aforementioned hustle play.

Just when it looked like the Steelers would escape with an ugly win, the defense choose that time to completely break down.  KC completed two long passes over the middle in going 91 yards on only 8 plays.  Shockingly, the game was tied.  The Super Bowl champions were tied with the laughingstock of the NFL.

Ben still had a chance to be a hero.  Unfortunately, he was a general going into battle without all his troops.  As a result of throwing the ball every twenty seconds, our best offensive lineman, Chris Kemoteau, was injured.  You see, pass blocking is a lot more dangerous than run blocking because in the former you’re backing up and reacting while in the latter you’re just pushing forward.  Kemo has a sprained MCL which could mean he misses a game or two.  Max Starks was also injured during one of our many many throws although he eventually came back.

Well, KC recognized our weakened OL situation and began dialing up the pressure.  A sack ended one drive and a penalty ended any thoughts of a final drive in regulation.  The Steelers won the OT coin toss and I’m sure we all thought Ben would pull this one out.  Then disaster struck.

Or, more accurately, a knee struck Ben Roethlisberger.   In the head.  Hard.  Ben was under duress and scrambled away from the pressure trying to convert a first down.  A KC linebacker flew in on him, knocking him loopy with a knee to the helmet.  Ben sat down on the bench looking like he was seeing cartoon birds flying circling around.  Charlie Batch, seeing his first action in two years, came in and threw a STRIKE to Santonio Holmes for 17 yards.

The Steelers were looking at a 53 yard FG.  All you needed was about five yards to be in makeable range for Skippy.  On the previous play, Rashard gashed KC for 7 yards right up the middle.  So what does Arians do?  Calls a wide pitch to Mewelde Moore which is stopped for a three yard loss.  WHY, BRUCE, WHY!?!?!?

KC took the ball.  Cassel threw a duck into Ike Taylor’s hands which he predictably dropped.  The Football Gods, angered by his refusing their gift, paid the Steelers back with a 61 yard pass play to Chris Chambers where half the defense missed tackles.  One kick later and you had one of the most embarassing defeats in Steelers history.

I don’t know what more to say.  I’m utterly disgusted by this team right now.  If I were Dick LeBeau, I’d be infuriated by the fact my defense keeps playing standout football only to see the pathetic offense and embarrassing special teams give games away. The offensive playcalling is atrocious. The special teams is a joke. And our secondary blows without Troy.  Ben is concussed and with the NFL cracking down on head injuries, we may not have him next week.  Even if he plays, mark my words, we ARE NOT going to beat Baltimore. Sorry, no way, no chance.  Forget playoffs and forget Super Bowl.   This is not a good team right now.

The Pittsburgh Steelers travel out to the Show Me State this weekend to take a gander at the new look Kansas City Chiefs.  Unfortunately for long-suffering Chiefs fans, what they’ll see is more of the same losing football they’ve seen for more than a decade.  KC is a text book example of how not to run a franchise.  Unless you’re trying to run it into the ground.  The Chiefs have won exactly four of their past thirty four games and that trend doesn’t look like it’s about to reverse itself anytime soon.

Let’s start as we always do with the offensive side of the ball.  Their best weapon was TE Tony Gonzalez.  He was traded during the offseason because he wanted to play for a winner.  Then there is Larry Johnson.  Johnson put up incredible numbers for the Chiefs (on an incredible amount of carries) in two consecutive seasons.  He also displayed an O.J. Simpson-esque touch with the ladies as he was arrested on four separate occasions, all of them involving violence against women.  KC rewarded this misogynist with a 6 year $45 million contract.  Only after insulting his head coach on Twitter was he finally released a couple weeks back, eventually finding a new home with every criminal’s favorite hideout, the Bengals.

Although those players are gone, there are still plenty of mistakes on the team.  Following a season when he played exactly one month of decent football, the Chiefs traded for Patriots backup Matt Cassel.  Before taking a single snap, they rewarded Cassel with a 6 year $63 million deal.  Geniuses.  Of course, the only remotely decent WR he has to throw to is Dwayne Bowe. But Bowe will not play this Sunday because he’s sitting out a four game suspension for steroid use.  Todd Haley coached a high-powered Cardinals offense all the way to the Super Bowl last season but he’d have to be Miracle Max to improve on the 18 points per game average the team had last year.

For the Steelers, it appears to be all systems go on the offensive side of the ball.  Bruce Arians allegedly plans to rein in his Flying Circus in favor of a more balanced attack. I’ll believe that when I see it.  Still, a heavy dose of Rashard Mendenhall would be exactly what this team needs to get back on a winning track.  Especially since KC is ranked down near the bottom of the league in rush defense.

Which brings us to yet more bad news for the Chiefs.  Only 0-16 Detroit gave up more yardage last year as KC set a new record for futility by recording a total of only 10 sacks.  This year they’ve switched over to a 3-4 and used their first two draft picks on stud defensive prospects, Tyson Jackson and Alex Magee. They also took on more Patriots garbage by taking ancient LB (and former Steeler) Mike Vrabel in the Cassel trade and signing the equally ancient Zach Thomas away from the Cowboys. With no pass rush, the secondary got picked on last year and yet it’s probably the strength of this unit.

For the Steelers, there are injuries aplenty to worry about.  Troy Polamalu remains “questionable” but is definitely not playing Sunday.  Look, if we can’t beat the Chiefs without Troy, just forfeit the rest of the season because we’re done.  In other injury news, Travis Kirschke‘s sprained calf is now torn because Mike Tomlin is a filthy liar.  He did try some individual drills this week but evidently he’s still a few weeks away.  Shockingly, I’m okay with his absence because his backup (or the backup to the backup if you’re keeping score), Nick Eason, has done a fairly solid job.  Last year, the Steelers D sacked Cassel seven times as they dazed and confused him all afternoon. While he’s now a year more experienced, I still expect James Harrison and company to be after him like a school of sharks tasting blood in the water.

Although they say “Any Given Sunday” for a very legitimate reason, this weekend should be little more than a tune-up.  I expect a professional, tidy effort from the Steelers in taking care of business like good teams do when they play the dregs of the NFL.  Get in, get your win, and get out without anybody getting hurt.  Next week we have the first of two games against the Ratbirds which may very well decide our season.  No time like the present to start playing winning football.

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I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. While you were huddled over your 22 pound turducken, passing Grandma the candied yams, maybe you saw a bit of the annual NFL action out of the corner of your eye. And when you did, I hope you remembered to give thanks for being a Steeler fan.

Now, on to this week’s contest with the New England Patriots. When they lost franchise quarterback Tom Brady to a season-ending knee injury, they could’ve easily shrugged their shoulders and wrote the year off. Instead, they picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and have managed a very respectable showing thus far. While they’ve been aided by the easiest schedule in the NFL, they’ve also had to overcome even more injuries to their best defensive player (S Rodney Harrison) and every member of their backfield.

For maintaining competitiveness and working through adversity, head coach Bill Belichick deserves a great deal of credit. Whether this coaching tour de force is enough to erase the taint of Spygate is another thing.

If there’s one lesson to be learned from the Spygate fiasco, it’s that Bill Belichick is a complete bullshit artist. For years Belichick went out of his way to mention how much he loved the game and respected the sport, his fellow coaches, and the players. Yet the scandal put a sizeable dent in the game’s integrity and Belichick’s wrath at actually being accused of cheating (which he most definitely did) led to the Patriots disrespectfully running up the score on teams throughout the season. The lesson was that Bill Belichick did have a great deal of respect for the game…as long as he was its unquestioned genius.

STEELER DEFENSE vs. PATRIOTS OFFENSE

In honor of Black Friday, here’s what everybody in the NFL will want under their Christmas tree this year: Matt Cassel. Write it down, he will be a starting QB in the NFL next season. If not for the Patriots, then for the likes of Detroit or San Francisco. Brady’s injury couldn’t have come at a better time for Cassel, who is an unrestricted free agent after this year. With the low quality of quarterbacking in the league, he’ll be the best FA QB prospect since Drew Brees. The only real question is how far along is Tom Terrific’s bum knee and will the Pats have to franchise Matt in order to protect themselves next year?

The other burning question is whether Cassel is actually a talent or a product of a winning system. Is he the next Steve Young or is he the next Rob Johnson? The first month of his tenure was rough, of course he was starting for the first time since HIGH SCHOOL. After those early games when the team was averaging about 10 pts/per, the Pats shifted to a run-based/ball control/West Coast offense. Cassel slowly began to thrive until the coaches have gained enough confidence in his throwing that they’ve began running an offense more in line to what they had under Brady. Cassel has passed for over 400 yards in two consecutive weeks.

Still, let’s be realistic. A lot of what makes the Patriots so tough is they have a motivated Randy Moss, arguably the greatest deep threat WR ever. They also have Chad Jackson, while not a great receiver, he was drafted to stretch the field with his speed. With that, opposing defenses are forced to use a lot of double safety help over the top, a fact Anthony Smith probably still has nightmares about. The vertical passing game opens up the underneath passing game for Wes Welker, the best slot receiver in football.

And if those guys were covered, they can still go to TE Ben Watson or excellent screen runner RB Kevin Faulk. Faulk missed time due to injury but he is one they got back. The rest of their RBs have not been so lucky. They primarily feature Benjarvis Green-Ellis, an undrafted free agent who was on their PRACTICE SQUAD although Sammy Morris has returned in recent weeks and will get some playing time.

According to the latest reports, it looks like the Three Amigos will ride again in our secondary. Deshea Townshend, coming off a sprained hammy, and Bryant McFadden, nursing a broken forearm, both practiced on Thursday which usually indicates they’ll give it a go. Good timing as they’ll join Ike “Can’t See Me” Taylor to face the daunting task of covering those Patriot receivers.

The other important thing to note is Brady’s Kryptonite has always been his statue-like pocket presence. Cassel is much more mobile so even if our hellacious pass rushers get in on him (and to be honest, the Pats O-Line is a bit overrated), they will be dealing with a far more maneuverable QB.

STEELER OFFENSE vs. PATRIOTS DEFENSE

NE still empoys a 3-4 scheme although they’ve made changes over the years to use more four down linemen formations and using more 1 gap 3-4 instead of 2 gap 3-4 schemes. The defense wasn’t all that hot last season but they did have a knack for making the right plays at the right time. After the David Tyree miracle catch, Archie Manning noted that he and his sons talked about how if the game gets close, Eli could not afford to get sacked because they noticed over the years that the Patriots had an uncanny knack for getting big sacks in crunch time.

This is a big defense as they rarely ever find a team that is more physical than they are. However, their size and physical play comes at a price as it’s often difficult to find linebackers who are both big and can cover. For the past few years they had to move our old friend Mike Vrabel to the inside to help with coverage. Now that his cover skills have diminished, he’ll probably stick to playing the outside backer spot and just rush the passer. He’s about as incredible as they get when it comes to making the timely big play. Honestly, it’s amazing he’s become the clutch big game player he’s been for this team when everybody who remembers his lone year starting for the Steelers will recall how ineffective he was as a pass rusher.

Adalius Thomas was their best cover LB. He was another tremendous loss as he’s out for the year with a broken arm. They’ve been forced to play rookie 1^st rounder Jerrod Mayo probably a lot more than they would like but the noob has risen to the occasion. He’s a tremendous prospect and just the type of player they badly needed; an athletic smart player who can cover inside and mow down runs to the outside.

They lost Asante Samuel to free agency but it wasn’t as devastating as some might have thought. The Pats don’t place too much value on corners because they are primarily a zone defense team which stresses scheme over individual talent. They have been more susceptible to the pass than the run this year but they’re still middle of the pack in both categories. That’s not much different than last year, only people didn’t worry so much last year due to the comfort of knowing their offense was good for at least 30+ points every game.

Pothole Willie Parker’s knee is bothering him again as excessive swelling prevented him from practicing this week. At this point, I think we can safely hang the tag of “injury prone” on FWP. Luckily the one-two punch of Mewelde Moore and Gary Russell has proven quite effective in relief. They’ll have to rise to the occasion on Sunday since a ball control/possession type offense is still the best way to deal with the Patriots. Then again, O-Coordinator Bruce Arians hasn’t committed to the run all season, why start now?

The rest of the offense looks good to go so it’ll be interesting what Arians has planned for a very smart and well-coached defensive team. Whenever we’ve played intelligent D-Coordinators (Jim Johnson, Steve Spagnulo), they’ve coached rings around ‘ol Bruce. This week we get Belichick and whatever puppet he calls his DC so in this battle of wits, hopefully Arians doesn’t come unarmed.

Speaking of arms, if QB Ben Roethlisberger can keep his pointed in the direction of our WRs and not their CBs, he should have a decent day throwing the ball. I don’t anticipate the pressure being too overwhelming nor do I think the secondary is stifling enough to really hamper that aspect of our game. Big Ben has looked much stronger and healthier in recent weeks so if he stays within himself and avoids game-changing mistakes, he should have a pretty productive day.

Also of note, Mitch Berger makes his triumphant return as Steeler punter this week. Paul Ernster and his 30 yard average were sent packing to nobody’s surprise. Daniel Supulveda was lost for the year so we held a competition between Ernster and Berger. Ernster stunk so we went with Berger. Berger stunk so we brought back Ernster. Ernster was beyond atrocious so here comes Berger again. I know this is a radical idea but HOW ABOUT TRYING SOMEBODY NEW?!?

You can’t tell me those two clowns represent all there is in the free agent punter talent pool. Whoever kicks better do a good job as Ellis Hobbs had a great year on returns last year, averaging 26 yards a kickoff while Wes Welker is not explosive on returns but consistent at putting his team in good field position.

Unlike previous years where the division was wrapped up by mid-season, the Patriots are in a real dogfight with the streaking Jets. Failing a division title, they’re also looking at a three way battle with the Ravens and Colts for a Wild Card spot. The Steelers follow this week with Dallas, Baltimore, Tennessee, and Cleveland. Only one of those is a gimme (I leave it to you to figure out which) and with Baltimore one measly game behind, we really need to pick up at least two wins. This appears to be the 2^nd most winnable game of the five. One thing is for sure, the loser of this game will be in an almost no margin for error situation if they hope to make the playoffs.