The Pittsburgh Steelers traveled out to the Mile High City to lay a vicious 28-10 pounding on the Denver Broncos. Once again, the Steelers rose to the level of their competition by putting together by far their best effort of the season. Even missing three starters on defense while dealing with the inhumane conditions of playing in Denver couldn’t hamper their effort. The Steelers thrive on the big stage and this was their latest award winning performance.

It didn’t start out that way, however. The Steelers offense could have stayed in their hotel until halftime. To say they were ineffective is like saying Skippy Reed occasionally enjoys an alcoholic beverage. Ben Roethlisberger and company ran only 18 plays in the first half. EIGHTEEN! I have to give the Broncos defense some credit, they were much better than I expected, especially against the pass. Ben had only the narrowest of windows to throw into which lead to drive killing incompletions and coverage sacks.

Meanwhile, the Broncos came out firing. Two guesses who their primary target was. Yes, young Will.i.am Gay might as well wear a bullseye on his helmet instead of the hypocycloid. Ron Jaworski said QBs are completing an amazing 69% of the passes thrown in Gay’s direction so now I have statistical proof to back up my hate. To be fair, Will.i.am did make a couple nice plays, one where knocked the ball out of a receiver’s hands to prevent a third down conversion and another where he probably would’ve had an INT if Troy Polamalu didn’t run him over.

Besides the opening drive which netted a FG, the Broncos had trouble moving the ball themselves. They managed to grind out a few first downs and dominated the first half time of possession but had very little to show for it. Their offensive strategy seems to be Death By Paper Cuts as they endeavor to “masturbate the ball down the feel” (as the sorely missed Emmit Smith would say) 2-4 yards at a time. Against a superior defense like the Steelers, that strategy is doomed for failure.

And doom soon struck as Kyle Orton misfired on a pass (actually, the referee blocked the running back from getting to the ball) that was picked by Tyrone Carter and returned for a TD. First person on the field to congratulate Carter? The man whose place he took, Ryan Clark.

After halftime, the roles were completely reversed as the Steeler offense seemed to have a monopoly on the football. Pittsburgh’s time of possession at halftime was a little under 10 minutes but by the end of the game it had ballooned to 33. Of course, the second half didn’t start ideally as Big Ben was strip-sacked on their opening drive and the resulting fumble was scooped up and returned for a Broncos TD. Let the record show Chris Kemoteau was the culprit who got badly beaten to smudge what was an otherwise excellent performance by Max Starks and company.

The Broncos made a grave mistake by returning that fumble for a TD. It seemed to piss off Big Ben because he came right back FIRING. Up until this point, the Steelers had a grand total of 75 yards of offense. On FOUR PLAYS they went 80 yards for the go-ahead TD. It was a thing of beauty. An 18 yard strike to Mike Wallace, a 25 yard rumble by Rashard Mendenhall, a 35 yard dart to Santonio Holmes, capped off with a 3 yard back of the end zone TD grab by Hines Ward. It’s an embarrassment of riches for the offense and much like our President, Ben loves to spread the wealth.

Four plays later, the Steelers got the ball back and continued the systematic destruction. Unfortunately, this drive ended when Hines zigged when Ben thought he’d zag, resulting in a Broncos INT. Turnovers are never good but Roethlisberger has a weird habit of making his count. I don’t know why but it seems like his INTs are always in the end zone or Pick Sixes. Guess it’s a good thing his mistakes are few and far between (Ill-fated Vegas booty calls aside).

Not to worry, however, because the Denver offense couldn’t do anything against the Steelers. Every time Orton was pressured or flushed from the pocket, he’d throw the ball like a scared little girl. When he wasn’t tossing footballs into the dirt, he was dunking two yard passes which were quickly snuffed out by the sure-tackling Steelers. Complicating matters was the fact the Broncos only rushed for 27 yards ALL GAME. Putting the ball in the hands of Captain Neckbeard and asking him to win the game is not a winning strategy.

Sure enough, one of Orton’s lollipops soon ended up in Polamalu’s hands. Three plays later, Ben made them pay by scrambling out of danger and finding Mike Wallace for a 25 yard touchdown. Another 3 and out by Denver concluded with Mitch Berger GOING ALL MITCH BERGER and uncorking a soaring magnificent 25 yard punt. The Steelers happily went to work with an 11 play five minute drive finished off with a second TD pass to the NFL’s Dirtiest Player.

The big play on that final drive was a 36 yard run by Mendenhall. Rashard had an absolutely incredible game, rushing 22 times for 155 yards. That’s a 7 yard/carry average, folks. And this was against a defense ranked in the top 5 against the rush. Rashard is the Real Deal. Bruce Arians may love his Flying Circus but he’d do well to take a cue from G.I. Joe and remember it’s important to strike from the land just as much as the sea or air.

Tyrone Carter picked off another feeble Orton offering to end the game. Last week, the Ravens held the Broncos to one offensive TD. Anything Baltimore can do, we can do better. The Steelers allowed only a FG.

The Black and Gold are now 6-2 and tied with the resurgent Bengals for the division lead. Next week, we host Cincy at the Ketchup Bottle for yet another Biggest Game of the Season. This one will determine first place in the division and will likely have major playoff implications down the road. All I have to say is I hope Bengals aren’t expecting the same Steelers they defeated in week 3. That team is gone. The Champs are here.

This is getting old real fast.

The Cincinnati Bengals stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers with a come-from-behind 23-20 victory on Sunday. This marks the second loss in as many weeks for the World Champions. It’s also the second week in a row where the Black and Gold came out of the tunnel like Superman and walked off the field as Clark Kent. Teams have finally learned the best way to prevent a patented Ben Roethlisberger comeback is to have him watching from the sidelines until only a few seconds are left.

Once again, this game looked to be a blowout in the early going. The Bengals had -10 yards of total offense in the first quarter. They moved the ball better in the second once they discovered the weakness in our secondary, which would be anybody not named Ike Taylor. At halftime their offensive output totaled around 100 yards. However, they still only managed to put 3 points on the board.

Meanwhile, the Steelers were having little trouble generating offense. Fast Willie Parker looked great, rushing for 73 yards (he’d finish with 93) plus a couple catches, one for a 27 yard TD. When not opening up holes for FWP, the much criticized offensive line was providing Ben (22/31 276 yds) with plenty of pass protection. LB Antwan Odom, who has 7 sacks this season, wasn’t much of a factor. The Bengals only sacked Ben once, which was more his fault than the line’s.

Despite going into halftime with a 13-3 lead, I saw storm clouds on the horizon. When you get an opponent down in the NFL, you have to step on their throat. Otherwise, they get up and bite you. The Steelers wasted golden opportunities to put points on the board, settling instead for chip shot Skippy Reed FGs. First, they had a 3rd and goal from the 1 and couldn’t get one measly yard. Then they failed to punch it home after three shots from the Cincy 10 yard line.

When the third quarter began, disaster struck immediately. The Steelers had the ball but it was Cincy who drew First Blood.  Santonio Holmes had the mother of all brainfarts by not running back toward his quarterback on a blitz.  Whoever thinks pot doesn’t kill brain cells, I give you Exhibit A.

Holmes had a horrific game. Last week, our Super Bowl MVP blamed his butterfingers on either a wrist injury or a slippery ball (take your pick). This week, he continued to drop easy catches. He also failed to get his feet down in bounds on what would’ve been a big gain.  The icing on the cake was his failure to recognize the aforementioned blitz and come back toward Ben which lead to the game changing INT-TD. In fact, Holmes had all of 1 catch for 18 yards. Although when he made that one stinkin’ catch, he made sure to celebrate. Nicely done, putz.

The Steelers attempted to answer immediately. Stefan Logan started them off with a 56 yard kickoff return. Then Big Ben hit a wide open Limas Sweed right on the hands with a beautiful touchdow… WHAT THE HELL!?! HOW DO YOU DROP THAT?! Yes, good old Limas once again showed he can beat any DB in the league only to fail when it comes to the minor detail of actually CATCHING THE DAMN BALL!!

On their next drive, Ben took matters into his own hands, scoring on a QB sneak to give the Steelers a commanding 20-9 lead. Rookie WR Mike Wallace made a nice 16 yard reception on that drive.  He didn’t celebrate, though, as evidently he hasn’t learned to be a douchebag yet. Wallace had a star-making performance in catching 7 passes for 102 yards, highlighted by a 51 yard bomb in the second quarter. Nice to see we have at least one young player who doesn’t totally blow.

Speaking of which, Rashard Mendenhall didn’t play yesterday. By my count, his last official carry was the 39 yarder in the third quarter of the Bears game. Phil Simms on commentary inferred that Mike Tomlin was punishing him for something. I’d like to tell you more but the Steelers P.R. Department local sports media never bothered to mention anything about this in their coverage of the team.

Early in the fourth quarter, Bengals RB Cedric Benson broke loose for a 23 yard TD run which narrowed Pittsburgh’s lead to 20-15. Who got taken completely out of the play to clear a path for Benson?  Why it was 2008 first round pick Lawrence Timmons! Benson only had 76 rushing yards, yet he averaged a whopping 4.8 per carry against what used to be a stout run defense.  Timmons is one of the primary culprits as he’s shown no ability to shed blocks, shoot the gaps, and make tackles.

I probably shouldn’t single out L.T. Our defense played poorly as a unit. The Bengals got the ball with 5 minutes left and started from their own 29 yard line. This is where your normally dominant Steeler D would shut the door.  Instead, Carson Palmer methodically drove his team down the field, aided by the utter ineptitude of Tyrone Carter and William Gay.  Yes, I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t bring myself to mock Gay because he’s such a tool.  Look, last year’s D had one of the best single seasons in NFL history. Even though most of the players remain, nobody could realistically expect a duplicate performance.

But it is realistic to expect an effort befitting a championship level team. I have yet to see one. They had 2 sacks yesterday, which doubles the output for the entire season. James Harrison, who had 16 last year, finally registered his first of 2009. Where are our other linebackers? Who knows. I’m ready to change Mister LaMarr Woodley‘s nickname to the Invisible Man. Where are the fumbles? Where are the INTs? The defense has created two turnovers, both in week 1.

Face Me Ike was the only player who looked like a champion yesterday. Matched against Chad Whatshisname, he pretty much took him out of the action. In the final couple minutes, he almost single-handedly saved the game for the Steelers.  Ike made a tremendous play getting a hand on Ocho to break up a sure TD.  Then he made an even better play, diving to deflect a TD pass over the middle. Unfortunately, his heroics only postponed the inevitable.

Twice Cincy had fourth downs. Twice they converted, the backbreaker being a 4th and 10 conversion to Brian Leonard on a short dump off. The game-winning TD was also a short pass right to the middle of the endzone. James Farrior was doing his best to cover speedy Reche Caldwell. I thought the point of having Timmons was he’s some freaky athlete who can run like one of those prized bucks that Pennsylvanian rednecks spend their weekends shooting?  Why 85 year old James Farrior is covering WRs instead of spry young Timmons is anybody’s guess.

This team, right now, is not very good. Good teams do not lose 4th quarter leads twice to teams that most do not think will be post-season contenders. The coaching staff is twiddling their thumbs instead of making smart adjustments. The playcalling is atrocious.  The players aren’t executing.  Can anybody name one player who has strung together three good games except maybe Mike Wallace?  If we went 9-7 and missed the post-season or were dumped in the 1st round this wouldn’t be a big deal. But they’re the defending champs and right now they’re certainly not playing like it.

For fifteen minutes during yesterday’s 31-0 destruction of the hapless Cleveland Browns, the world stood still.

Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger lay motionless on the sloppy tundra of Heinz Field with a crowd of trainers, teammates, and medical personnel around him.  When I say motionless, I mean not so much as his pinky finger appeared to be moving.  Then, in a scene reminiscent of Jason Street’s ill-fated tackle on “Friday Night Lights,” they slowly removed his facemask before carting him off the field.  Ben did manage a weak Thumbs Up to the crowd as he disappeared into the tunnel but I doubt anybody was feeling very optimistic at that point.

In the aftermath of this colossal disaster, tests revealed Ben suffered a mild concussion.  To which I call B.S.  Minor concussions are when you stumble off the field thinking you’re back at Miami of Ohio, not when you’re immobilized and ambulanced to the hospital.  Not to mention this is Ben’s third or fourth concussion since his motorcycle accident.  It’s a known fact that once you have a serious head injury, it becomes easier to be concussed in the future.  At this point, you have to be concerned about his long term durability when you’re only in year five and already have four concussions.   Steve Young retired due to concussion syndrome after only suffering from three (that he knew of).

The Steelers are circling the wagons on this one.  The team shills doctors are claiming Ben could possibly be at practice this week.  They appear to have no doubt he’ll be ready for the playoffs in two weeks.  Mike Tomlin has already come out saying he has absolutely no regrets about playing his starters.  To which I have to ask:

ARE YOU INSANE?

I like Tomlin.  I think he’s a smart coach.  But he has a disturbing habit of refusing to admit mistakes.  Like, oh say, putting your franchise quarterback in peril in a meaningless game right before the playoffs are about to begin.  Let’s review the logic at play here.

BEN IS A WALKING INJURY REPORT WITH A BAD HAND, SEPARATED SHOULDER, AND SPRAINED KNEE.

THE GAME MEANT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

THE OFFENSIVE LINE IS LEAKIER THAN THE LOUSIANA LEVEES AFTER KATRINA.

Sorry for all the shouting but I am totally baffled by the reasoning behind playing Ben in the first place.  Where is the upside?   It worked for the Giants last year but they had a healthy quarterback and an O-line that didn’t allow 8 sacks per game.  Use your damn head, Tomlin.

Anyway, the rest of the game was only slightly above a preseason game in Tijuana in terms of excitement and intensity.  When QB Dennis Dixon gets in a game, you know it means less than nothing.  Fast Willie Parker finally looked like Fast Willie Parker in rushing for 116 yards, highlighted by a sweet 34 yard scamper in the first quarter.  The defense had 3 sacks and 2 INTs (one returned for a TD by Tyrone Carter) in limiting the mighty Browns to 126 yards of total offense.

But the story of this game begins and ends with #7 lying motionless on the turf.  Let’s hope that’s not some sort of omen of things yet to come.