Why I'm Glad I Didn't Go To Notre Dame

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be blushing when they face the Carolina Panthers.  What?  Know Thy Enemy on Thursday?  Must be an NFL Network special event for those of us in the Steel City and the five other places which get that channel!

Anyway, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson has long admired Dan Rooney and his attempts at molding the Kitty Kats in the Black and Gold’s image go as far back as when they hired our defensive coordinator, Dom Capers, as the franchise’s first head coach.  Current coach John Fox was a secondary coach for both the Steelers and Pitt so you see the pattern continuing to this day.  In fact, if Richardson wasn’t such a cheapskate, I’m pretty sure Bill Cowher would have been more than happy to take over when Fox is shown the door after the season.

This has been a rough season for the first expansion franchise of the modern era to reach the Super Bowl.  The Panthers let some key personnel go after last season, resulting in a 2-12 record and massive rebuilding project for their next coach.  The low point of the Steelers miserable season last year was definitely the Thursday debacle against the Cleveland Browns.  However, this year’s squad seems to have learned their lessons, taking no games for granted and winning the games they should win.

STEELERS DEFENSE vs. PANTHERS OFFENSE

Carolina’s primary offensive weapons are in the running game.  Jonathan Stewart and second year man Mike Goodson make for a potent ground attack.  When the Panthers, currently ranked dead last in total offense, manage any sort of threat, it’s usually due to their running backs.  That’s the good news.

Good because the Steelers continue to put up some historic numbers in run defense.  They’re average per game rose by two yards after last week.  However, the #2 ranked team rose by five which means Blitzburgh’s average is a whopping 26 yards per game less than the next best unit.  Absolutely astounding.

If the Panthers can’t run, and the outlook is hardly positive, the game will be put in the hands of rookie QB Jimmy Clausen.  If the NFL is a quarterback driven league, the Panthers have a Volvo sitting in the garage.  Clausen has 1300 yards to his credit but only 2 touchdown passes against 7 interceptions.  It appears Jimmy won’t figure into Carolina’s future plans as the Andrew Luck Watch seems to be in full effect down in Charlotte.

The Steelers will be playing without Troy Polmalu for the second straight game. Troy has said he’s feeling much better and he very well may be on the field for the season finale against Cleveland.  I don’t believe in taking any opponent lightly but I have to agree with the idea of resting him for another week.  The defense didn’t play terribly against the Jets, they just didn’t get that one big play Troy always seems to provide.

If Ike Taylor can’t keep a lid on Steve Smith while guys like James Harrison or Lawrence Timmons make a couple plays against Clausen and that inept offense, they’re not as good as we think they are.

STEELERS OFFENSE vs. PANTHERS DEFENSE

Emotional leader Jon Beason has moved from MLB to OLB to replace Thomas Davis as Penn Stater Dan Conner went to the middle until he was lost for the season.  The Panthers lost even more pass rush when they allowed Julius Peppers to escape to the Bears during the off-season.  Although his replacement, fourth year pro Charles Johnson, has registered 9.5 sacks.  Despite Johnson’s solid play, the team is still in the bottom third of the league in total sacks.

Last week, our much maligned offensive line kept Ben relatively clean in the face of the Jets hellacious blitz packages.  There may be another change as Trai Essex is rumored to be taking over at LT for human pylon Jonathan Scott.  Scott was the bozo whose blocking “technique” of falling flat on his face led to the crucial safety late in the game.  He’s been various shades of awful since taking over for Max Starks so a switch to Essex would be more than justified.

The Panthers actually have a fairly decent defense, 12th overall in total yardage.  If there is a strength, it’s their secondary.  Perhaps their biggest playmaker is safety Charles Godfrey, who has five picks this year.  Corners Richard Marshall and the awesomely named Captain Munnerlyn have three each for what is the eighth best pass defense in the league.  Their weakness is in run defense, where they’ve replaced three of last year’s starting front four leading to a bottom ten standing and over 126 yards per game given up.

Heath Miller has been cleared of all concussion related symptoms so he should be good to go.  I’m sure Ben Roethlisberger will be happy to have his safety blanket back.  Emmanuel Sanders had a bit of a break out game last week so in addition to Hines and Mike Wallace, we should have all hands on deck.  Despite my analysis above, we may need to throw more than the match-up would dictate because Rashard Mendenhall tweaked his shoulder against the Jets which probably explains why Mewelde Moore got that ill-fated draw in the end zone instead of Mendy.

Of course, I prefer my explanation:  Bruce Arians is a dumbass.

The Steelers are pretty much where you want to be this time of year.  Sure, it would be nice to have everything clinched but the Colts have done that how many times with nothing to show for it?  We have our destiny in our hands.  Win out and the second seed and first round bye are ours no matter what anybody else does.  Not much more you could ask for than that.

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…”