Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

This is Part 3 of a multi-part series that is intended to identify what went wrong with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2009 season.

If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, please click here.  If you haven’t read Part 2, please click here.

We’ve already discussed two of the reasons for the Steelers poor showing this season.  Now it’s time to discuss the third reason.

Factor #3 – Failure to generate turnovers.

If there was one thing that characterized the Steelers team last year, it was their ability to generate turnovers at just the right moment.

If we think back to Super Bowl XLIII, one of the plays that probably stands out in everyone’s mind is James Harrison’s interception that he returned for a touchdown.  It seemed like the Steelers defense was always able to come up with a key play when the team really needed it.

Do you remember Troy Polamalu’s interception against the Chargers?  How about DeShea Townsend’s interception against the Cowboys?

And let’s not forget James Harrison’s many forced fumbles.  In fact, Harrison invented a new statistic; the “strip sack”.  Last year, it seemed like  every time Harrison sacked the quarterback, he also stripped him of the ball.  The two seemed to go hand-in-hand.  Sack and strip the ball.  Sack and strip the ball.  It happened so often, I just started calling it a “strip sack”.

When you get down to it, football is a fairly simple sport, and some fairly simple principles apply.  For example, having the ball more often than your opponent gives you more chances to score, and thus a better chance of winning the game.  Therefore, turnovers can play a critical role in generating wins (or losses).  Taking the ball away from your opponent can help you win, and turning the ball over to your opponent can help you lose.

Last year, the Steelers’ turnover ratio was +4.  That means that they took the ball away from their opponent 4 more times than they lost the ball to opponents.  That was 11th best in the NFL.

This season, their turnover ratio is -5.  They have allowed opponents to take the ball away from them 5 more times than they’ve been able to take it from opponents.  That’s not a good thing.  The Steelers rank 25th in the NFL in this regard.  There are only 32 teams in the NFL, so ranking 25th isn’t good.

The key reason for the Steelers’ drop in their ability to generate turnovers has been their lack of interceptions.  Last year, the Steelers were ranked 6th in the NFL with 20 interceptions.  This year they have only 8 interceptions, and are ranked near the bottom of the NFL.  Only the  Cleveland Browns have fewer interceptions than the Steelers.

With 3 games remaining, the Steelers are on a pace to finish the season with 9 interceptions.  That’s less than half of last year’s total.  Last year, they averaged 1.25 interceptions per game.  This year they are averaging .62 interceptions per game.

Troy Polamalu is one of the Steelers’ most prolific interception generators.  He leads the team this year with 3 interceptions (which is sad, since he’s missed most of the season).  Troy also led the team in interceptions last year with 7.  So his production is greatly missed.

But the biggest failure this season has come from the team’s cornerbacks.  Ike Taylor, William Gay, Deshea Townsend, Joe Burnett, and Keenan Lewis have managed to generate a total of 0 interceptions this year.  That’s right, ZERO.  None.  Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  They are the only group of cornerbacks in the entire NFL without an interception.

Oops, dropped another one.

Back-up linebacker Keyaron Fox has more interceptions than all of the Steelers cornerbacks combined.  That’s pathetic!

We all remember watching Joe Burnett drop an interception late in the game last week that would have assured the Steelers of a victory.  That has been the story of the Steelers’ 2009 season.  The cornerbacks have dropped too many potential interceptions.

Today’s NFL has become a pass-happy league.  Just look at the dominant teams this year.  The Colts, Saints, Vikings, and Eagles are all passing teams.  If you can’t stop passers in the NFL, you can’t win.  And unfortunately, the Steelers cornerbacks can’t seem to stop anybody.

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This is Part 2 of a multi-part series that is intended to identify what went wrong with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2009 season.  If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, please click here.

In Part 1 of this series, we talked about the Steelers’ poor special teams play.  Now it’s time to look at the second factor that has led to the Steelers’ apparent collapse.

Factor #2 – Age and conditioning.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin once declared that “Steelers football is 60 minutes”.  When you think about it, that was a really good quote.  REALLY good.  I got all warm and fuzzy when I heard him say it.  My chest swelled with pride as I envisioned the Black and Gold giving everything they have until the final whistle blows. 

The only problems is that Tomlin’s declaration wasn’t true.  Steelers football is not 60 minutes.  Steelers football is 45 minutes.

Anyone who has watched the Steelers this season knows that the 4th quarter has been a disaster for the team.  Fans got used to being taken to the brink of cardiac arrest during 4th quarters this year.  Some even openly declared that they couldn’t bear to watch the Steelers during the 4th quarter because it was too stressful.

This wasn’t just perception.  It was fact.  The Steelers allowed opponents to score a total of 139 points on them during the first 3 quarters this year.  Yet for some odd reason, the Steelers have given up almost as many points (105) in the 4th quarter and overtime.  A full 43% of the total points that have been scored against them have occurred AFTER the 3rd quarter.

Statistically speaking, we would expect the team to give up 25% of their points in each quarter.  Yet for some reason the Steelers give up 72% more points during the 4th quarter than a natural distribution curve would predict.  Why has this been happening?

The most obvious theory would be age.  After all, during the off-season we spent quite a bit of time discussing the age of the Steelers defensive front 3.  Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, and Brett Keisel are all over 31 years old.  So are their primary back-ups Travis Kirschke, Chris Hoke, and Nick Eason.  Rookie Ziggy Hood is the only member of the Steelers front line rotation who is not in the 30+ club.

Linebackers James Harrison and James Farrior are also on the wrong side of 30.

However, age doesn’t seem to be the real problem.  Before getting hurt, Aaron Smith was having a very solid season.  Brett Keisel is probably having the best season of his career.  And James Harrison looks just as dominant as he did last year.

Casey Hampton and James Farrior do look like age may be having an impact.  Hampton hasn’t looked dominant in recent years.  Be honest, would you rather have Casey Hampton or Shaun Rodgers?  Casey Hampton or Haloti Ngata?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  That’s probably why the Steelers have not offered Hampton a contract extension. 

Perhaps the biggest change can be seen in James Farrior.  Farrior seems to have aged in dog years since last season.  He consistently misses plays that he used to make.  Anytime we see Farrior shadowing a running back in the backfield, we know that something bad is about to happen.  Do you remember what happened when Farrior shadowed Ray Rice?  Aaaargh!

Steelers LB James Farrior

But age can’t explain why LaMarr Woodley, Lawrence Timmons, Ike Taylor, William Gay, and Ryan Clark don’t seem to be effective in the 4th quarter either.  They’re all relatively young players. 

Could the problem be conditioning?

After a grueling training camp during his first season as head coach, Mike Tomlin has eased up drastically on the intensity of training camp.  Moreover, he routinely excuses veteran players from practice during the week in order to save them for the game.  Perhaps this practice isn’t as beneficial as it’s intended to be.

It’s impossible to assign causality for the Steelers’ 4th quarter collapses.  However, one thing is very clear.  The Steelers are not the same team during the 4th quarter that they are during the first 3 quarters. 

Perhaps Dick LeBeau needs to be more liberal in his substitutions in order to give the players more rest so they’ll be fresher during the 4th quarter.  Or perhaps the Steelers just need to continue injecting youth into the defense.  

Contrary to Mike Tomlin’s assertion, Steelers football is NOT 60 minutes.  However, it needs to be.  So do something about it, Coach.  That’s why you’re paid the big bucks.

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Obviously, this has not been the type of season that the Steelers (or their fans) expected.  As reigning Super Bowl champs with most of their starters returning, the Steelers entered the 2009 season fully expecting to be able to defend their championship.  But with only 3 games remaining in the season, the Steelers are effectively eliminated from the playoffs, and have a record that is below .500.

Fans, journalists, and even players are now struggling to figure out “what’s wrong with the Steelers?”  Some have offered overly simplified explanations for the Steelers decline.  “The Steelers can’t win without Troy”.  “The Steelers can’t win with Bruce Arians as offensive coordinator”.  “The Steelers have a Super Bowl hangover.”  These are just a few of the examples of the many over-simplified explanations for the Steelers’ decline that I’ve heard.

In my opinion, the Steelers decline is far more complex than that.  It can’t be attributed to just one factor.

During the off-season, most of my articles are actually multi-part series.  By writing multi-part series, it gives me more time to fully explore a topic.  However, during the season, the short amount of time between games doesn’t allow me to write many series.  But since the Steelers have essentially been eliminated from the playoffs, I am going to begin exploring what happened to their 2009 season.  Because there are games that will need to be covered, I won’t be able to write the series in consecutive segments.  But between games, I plan to investigate the many factors that have led to the Steelers failed season.  In each segment of the series, I will focus on one factor that caused the Steelers failed season.

Factor #1 – Special teams coverage.

We all know that special teams has been a problem for the Steelers for a long time.  It was a glaring weakness during the last 3 years of Bill Cowher’s regime.  It was talked about over and over, but the problem never seemed to get fixed.

The problem lingered throughout Mike Tomlin’s first year as head coach.  After his first season, Tomlin identified it as an issue, and even spent dedicated time working on it during training camp.  The problem appeared to have been fixed.  Special teams was actually a strength during the 2008 season.  In fact, the Steelers’ kickoff coverage unit was the best in the NFL last season, allowing an average of 19.1 yards and no touchdowns.

However, in 2009 the problem re-emerged…with a vengeance.

So far this season, there have been 14 kickoffs returned for touchdowns in the NFL.  Of those, the Steelers have allowed 4.  That means the remaining 31 teams have allowed a total of 10.  So the Steelers have allowed 29% of the kickoffs that were returned for touchdowns in the 2009.   That’s pathetic!

The Oakland Raider are the only other team in the NFL that has allowed more than one kickoff to be returned  for a touchdown (they’ve allowed two), and 23 teams have not allowed any this season.

Two of the touchdown returns that the Steelers have allowed actually came in games that the Steelers won.  So while embarrassing, they didn’t actually impact the outcome of the game.  However, the remaining two occurred in games that the Steelers lost.  The Steelers lost those two games by 6 points and 3 points respectively.  Thus, the return touchdown that special teams allowed ended up costing the team the game in both of these instances.

We can therefore conclude that special teams directly cost the Steelers 2 games.

Special teams probably indirectly contributed to other losses by allowing long returns on kickoffs or punts.  But these two losses can be directly attributed to the Steelers special teams.

Part of the problem may have been that the Steelers released Anthony Madison at the end of training camp this summer.  Madison had been the team’s top special teams tackler last season.  The team seemed to recognize their error, and recently re-signed Madison.  However, that change probably came too late to have an impact.

If I were the Steelers players, I would anticipate Mike Tomlin re-emphasizing special teams coverage this off-season, just like he did in 2008.  If he doesn’t, then fans can probably expect 2010 to look much like 2009.  And that won’t be a good thing.

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last night (on national TV, I might add) the Steelers lost to the Cleveland Browns by a score of 13-6.  That loss cemented an embarrassing trifecta.  The Steelers have now lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oakland Raiders, and the Cleveland Brown in the same season.  I call that the “trifecta of shame”.

I’m really not even sure of what to think of the team anymore.  Are they a really good team that has suffered due to the loss of two of their best players (Aaron Smith and Troy Polamalu)?  Or are they a really bad team that has been exposed by some of the worst teams in the NFL?

I know that Troy’s absence is a tremendous blow to the team, but I don’t think it has any effect on their inability to protect their quarterback.  I’ve gotten used to seeing Ben Roethlisberger get sacked, but watching him get sacked 8 times by one of the worst defenses in the NFL was painful.

Feels like deja vu

I know that Aaron Smith’s absence has been a loss, but I don’t think that has caused the Steelers cornerbacks to be unable to get any interceptions this season.  Can’t anybody back there catch the ball?

I know that Brett Keisel got hurt last night, and Hines Ward was playing with a leg injury, but did that cause the Steelers to use baffling play calling on offense?  Why did they consistently utilize spread formations with an empty backfield on 3rd down, despite the fact that Cleveland was running a sackathon on Big Ben?  Is Bruce Arians out of his mind?

This looks familiar.

Try as I might, I just can’t figure this team out.  Why are they playing so poorly.  These are the reigning Super Bowl champs, aren’t they?

While the team is not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet, their odds are exceedingly poor.  In fact, your odds of getting bit by a vampire are far greater than the Steelers odds of making the playoffs.  So we can all put the playoff dream to rest.

The rest of this season is now going to be about saving face.  The team is going to have to look in the mirror and decide what type of team they really are.  Do they have the ability to turn things around and end the season on a positive note, or are going to continue to look like one of the worst teams in the NFL?

Fans are already starting to talk about next year’s draft.  Some are even suggesting that the Steelers should lose the rest of their games so that we can improve our draft position.  I don’t agree with that suggestion.  Instead, I’d like to see the team turn this thing around.  I want them to beat Baltimore.  And Green Bay.  And Miami.  I want to believe that this losing streak has just been a slump, and that the Steelers are really a good team with great potential for next season.

So now that the Steelers have successfully completed the “trifecta of shame”, Steeler Nation is left wondering if the REAL Steelers are the team that beat Denver and Minnesota?  Or are the REAL Steelers the team that lost to Cleveland, Oakland, and Kansas City?

Will the real Steelers please stand up?

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Editor’s Note:  This article was written by a fan named Paul Austin.  I read it, and thought it was very timely.  Our Steelers are going through a tough stretch.  But because they’re going through tough times, they need Steeler Nation more than ever.  Thanks for reminding me of that, Paul.

By Paul Austin

My remote control should have a safety wrist strap.  Just like the Wii does.  It’s only a matter of time before I fire the thing right through the center of my plasma screen TV in outrage.  Let’s face it.  This season, it has hurt to be a Steelers fan.

I love the Steelers!  After all that I’ve been through this year, I love this team.  There is nothing rational about this feeling – it’s either there or it isn’t, you either feel or it or you don’t.

There is something magical about this team, something that captured my imagination as a child.   It’s a feeling where my chest swells with pride, and I get a lump in my throat as these men take the field…and do great things.  It is a sense of sharing in the on-field celebration of a great play, a touchdown, a win.  Seeing these “Brothers and Champions” over the years has been a moving experience for me many times.  And I know I’m not alone.

Not to swipe the lyric, but yes sometimes love stinks.  This season, it has hurt deeply to be a fan, and it is precisely because I care so deeply!  It must be love, because only love can break your heart as much as mine has been broken this season.

Honestly, nobody could blame ANY fan for being disgusted, heartbroken, furious, or any of the range of emotions that would seem appropriate now as our team has lost yet another game …to a team that it so utterly inferior that it makes my teeth ache.

What we can do, and what we must do, is not allow ourselves to give up!  I have been dismayed at our losses, but even more dismayed at how much our Steeler Nation seems to be fracturing under the pressure.  I’ve been saddened by the negativity and in-fighting I have witnessed on fan boards and other on-line groups.  We need to acknowledge that we are hurting, rather than lashing out at one another.  We are not blameless if we abandon our team at a critical time like this.

Now, more than ever, we need to cheer for our team.  S.O.S.!  Support our Steelers!  We need to wear our colors and exchange smack talk with such passion that it hides how much we’re worried!  As fans, we have to hope – until there isn’t any more left to hope for.  As fans – we have to keep cheering until the final second ticks off the final clock of the final game of our season!

Can I continue to feel this way if our losing streak continues?  Is my love conditional?  I’d like to think it isn’t; they say the real proof of your devotion is if you can love without reward.

Ask Browns or Lions fans how they do it year after year.  They keep putting on their team’s colors, staying steadfast, even as the rest of the world mocks their teams.

Could I love a winless Steelers team?  The answer is unreservedly, “yes”.  A winless season would be hard.  But as a fan, I would love this team and cheer for them every time they play.  That’s a promise.

Seasons come and go, but our Nation, our Dynasty is enduring.

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