After playing the Baltimore Ravens three times last season, including an epic AFC Championship game, it’s safe to say the Pittsburgh Steelers know this enemy quite well.  And if familiarity breeds contempt, these teams must outright hate each other by now.  Pittsburgh sports has a number of great rivalries, including Pitt-WVU who meet later today in their annual Backyard Brawl.   But I dare say none can compare to the Ravens and Steelers.

Earlier this week, the FOX medical drama “House” made a joke of the fact Omar Epps is a dead ringer for head coach Mike Tomlin.  In an ironic twist, Tomlin probably spent a lot of time this week thinking he was trapped in a medical drama.  The Steelers are getting absolutely hammered by injuries to key personnel.  Where’s Dr. House when you need him?

For those keeping score at home, Travis Kirschke continues to nurse a torn calf although he practiced this week and will probably play Sunday.  Of all the guys we could get back, Kirschke is the least important since Nick Eason and Ziggy Hood were doing a pretty good job in his absence.  LG Chris Kemoeatu sprained his MCL and looks to be out one, possibly two, weeks.  Undrafted rookie Ramon Foster will make his first NFL start.  Ben Roethlisberger has been monitored all week and seems to have practiced normally so should be cleared to play.  Finally, Troy Polamalu will reportedly miss a month with his knee injury which probably rules him out of at least the next two games.

The Ravens will be dealing with some injuries of their own.  Their best LB (sorry Ray Ray), Terrell Suggs, is out with a knee injury thanks to a heroic chop block by fabulous Brady Quinn.  One of their main corners, Fabian Washington, tore his ACL and is gone for the year.  Keep in mind this defense no longer has LB Bart Scott or S Jim Leonard, who went to the Jets this off-season along with mastermind D coordinator Rex Ryan, their new head coach.  The Ravens are going to be a hard-nosed football team no matter what but they are definitely weakened and depleted on the defensive side of the ball.

Offensively, Joe Flacco has taken another giant step forward from his already highly successful rookie campaign.  Last season, they tried to protect Flacco and keep him out of situations where the game rode on his shoulders.  This year, he’s been asked to shoulder more of the load and responded to the challenge.  Still, the Ravens remain a run-first and ask-questions-later team.  Flacco has the ability but Baltimore is lacking in quality targets for him. Last year’s top receiver, Derrick Mason, is 35 and coming off shoulder surgery.  If a team can effectively stuff the run, the Ravens run into trouble because their passing game seems limited to big play threat Mason and short safe outlet throws to emerging superstar RB Ray Rice.

Offensively, the story will be how Big Ben rebounds from last week’s brain rattling hit.  I would hope the Steelers try to lean a bit more on the running game to spare him unnecessary abuse.  Baltimore will have no qualms about dialing up the pressure and considering we’re playing with a banged up offensive line, one would think this is a good time for Bruce Arians to rein in his Flying Circus.  Of course the words “logical playcalling” and “Arians” seldom belong in the same sentence.

Finally, heads have rolled on the Steelers special teams unit.   CB Keiwan Ratliff and LB Donovan Woods have been cut.  Woods was just promoted from the practice squad as an alleged upgrade to the kick coverage but his only notable achievement last week was to get flagged to nullify a beautiful 35 yard punt return by Stefan Logan.  With the injury to Troy, they’ve used Ratliff as a safety in nickel and dime packages in addition to special teams.  Regardless of where he’s played, he’s constantly out of position and missing tackles.

Your newest Steelers are LB Rocky Boiman and CB Corey Ivy.  Boiman is an eight year vet who won a Super Bowl with the Colts back in 2006.  I don’t know anything else about him except he’s got a cool name.   Ivy played the past three seasons for the Ratbirds so we know him.  He was someone the Steelers repeatedly picked on as well as being the doofus that Limas Sweed obliterated in the AFC Championship game.  Regardless, their primary job will be to run down the field and make a lousy freakin’ tackle.  Hopefully they’ll succeed where others have failed miserably.

Believe me, the Steelers will need to be on their game in all three phases Sunday night if they want to escape with a win.  I know I’ve typed the words “Biggest game of the season” several weeks in a row but in all seriousness, this game is the season.  If the Steelers lose, they fall into a tie with the Ravens (one game behind with the tiebreak) and will be tied or a game behind three or four teams in the Wild Card race.  More importantly, a loss and I fear the team will mentally pack it in for the year.  Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Steeler Nation can collectively exhale.

Mike Tomlin, in his weekly Tuesday press conference, announced quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be a go this Sunday against the Ravens. Apparently, Ben suffered only a “mild” concussion last Sunday in the soul-crushing loss against the Chiefs. In my book, there isn’t anything mild about getting your brain slammed up against your skull but then again a hangnail causes me indescribable suffering. Tomlin claims that Ben is showing no lingering affects from the Shining Wizard to the noggin and will practice normally this week.

In other QB news, if you read my update yesterday, you’ll recall I was a bit confused as to why the Steelers didn’t place Charlie Batch on IR. Once a player is IR’d, he’s gone for the season.  Now comes word they expect him back since the injury isn’t as serious as originally reported. He’s still scheduled for surgery, more specifically having a metal plate inserted in to his wrist, but is only expected to miss 2-4 weeks. I recall hearing the QB for the University of Cincinnati recently had a similar surgery done and he returned a few weeks later showing very few ill effects so I guess that operation isn’t nearly as gruesome as it sounds.

In the meantime, the rest of my post still holds.  Second year man Dennis Dixon moves into the primary backup spot until Batch’s return.  Pittsburgh boy Tyler Palko will be signed to the practice squad as soon as he can secure his release from the storied Montreal Alouettes of  the Canadian Football League.   Keep in mind, however, the team is only going to be carrying two QBs (Ben and Dix) on the main roster which means should absolute carnage knock both of them out of a game, Hines Ward would serve as our third string/emergency quarterback.

While Steeler Nation holds their collective breath awaiting the verdict on Ben Roethlisberger‘s head injury, yet more quarterbacking issues have cropped up for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Backup Charlie Batch somehow broke his wrist during his brief stint on Sunday. He’s undergoing surgery and is basically lost for the season. This is yet another unfortunate setback for Charlie, who broke his clavicle in a preseason game causing him to miss all of last year.  At 34 years of age, this may be the end of his days as an active player.  If so, I’m sure we’ll still see him patrolling the sidelines on Sunday in some coaching capacity.

In the meantime, the backup spot now falls to second year man Dennis Dixon. A fifth round draft pick out of Oregon in 2008, Dixon has completed one pass in his NFL career. Still, Dix is an amazing athlete who many thought would be a 1st round draft pick until he tore his ACL in the middle of his senior season. He made some incredible plays last preseason to where I was giddy over having Slash 2.0 on our hands.  Then this year he regressed, looking confused, erratic, and showing poor mechanics.

I guess that’s one way to get Bruce Arians to call more running plays.

Batch evidently isn’t being placed on IR, which would prevent him from coming back should the Steelers advance in the playoffs. It also means the team can’t add a third QB without cutting somebody from the active roster. So it seems they will be going with only two quarterbacks for the time being. This means if separate calamities should strike down both Ben and Dix, the man behind center for the Black and Gold will be none other than Hines Ward.

The Steelers will be signing a third QB to their practice squad.   Teams need three QBs because somebody has to lead the third stringers against the first team defense in practice.  You don’t want to waste time by having your top two QBs throwing balls right at Ike Taylor so he can perfect dropping sure interceptions.  The man charged with this difficult task will be familiar to Pittsburgh football fans.

Tyler Palko has returned.   Palko, a state champion at West Allegheny High, quarterbacked Pitt for three seasons.  While at the University of Pittsburgh, he beat out current Ratbirds star Joe Flacco for the starting job in The Stache’s first season.  Palko went undrafted but managed to hook on with the Saints in 2007 and spent most of the year on their  practice squad.  I didn’t care for Palko when he was here but I always like to see a local boy sign with the hometown team.  And to be fair, he did show flashes of brilliance although he was frustratingly inconsistent.

Finally, there’s still been no official word on Ben.  Speculation abounds that he’ll be cleared to play on Sunday night. We all know Ben thinks he’s Unbreakable but I hope the Steelers are wise enough to sit him down if there’s even the slightest hint of a lingering affect from this latest head injury. Between the motorcycle accident, Bill Cowher rushing him back that year to take a vicious beating, the 90-something sacks over the past three seasons, and now this “concussion oriented thing,” I fear his brain may be rapidly approaching the consistency of rice pudding.

Tune in tomorrow for the next episode of “As The Quarterback Turns…”

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.

Last night, the ESPN E:60 television program presented a fantastic piece on Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. It was easily the best story done on Big Ben to date. At a little under 10 minutes, I strongly encourage you to give it a watch. It’s definitely worth your time.

Of course, people will probably key on the fact this interview is the first time Ben has answered questions about the allegation he sexually assaulted Andrea McNulty in 2008. I try not to be a shallow person and take the high road on this case but when I see pictures of her in that stupid cowboy hat I still can’t help but wonder what the hell Ben was thinking.  Anyway, that will probably be the segment which gets the most press.  However, what I found most interesting was the revelation that he was a dick until 2007.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always liked Ben and thought was going to be a star about 3 games into his rookie season. But you could tell there were always some underlying issues between him and his teammates. For example, when Alan Faneca left via free agency, I recall numerous offensive players saying their “leader” was gone.  In 2007 Ben made his first Pro Bowl, yet his teammates voted James Harrison the team MVP. Most glaring was the fact that  up until a couple years ago, Ben wasn’t even one of the team captains. That’s almost unheard of for a quarterback.

Anyway, I’m glad that Ben finally learned his lesson (with a lot of help from Charlie Batch). If we’ve learned anything about the NFL, we’ve learned good team chemistry goes a long way to winning on the field. There really is no other game where a united effort is absolutely necessary in order to succeed. And, hey, if taking his O-Line to a few wrasslin’ matches takes us to another Super Bowl, get Vince McMahon on the phone pronto.