Steelers unleash Hell….on their fans
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Oakland Raiders 27-24 on Sunday. I’m not joking. They really did. Just check the suicide reports in Pittsburgh, and you’ll see that it’s true.
As if losing to the Kansas City Chiefs wasn’t painful enough, now this.
Mike Tomlin promised that the Steelers were going to “unleash Hell in December”. Well, after the first weekend in December, the only Hell that the Steelers have unleashed has been upon their fans.
Head coach Mike Tomlin
What else would you call it when Steelers fans are forced to watch their team lose to the lowly Oakland Raiders? If it’s not “Hell”, then it’s a very uncomfortable Purgatory.
But looking back, it’s clear that the Steelers had already “unleashed Hell” on their fans back in November. If consecutive losses to Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Baltimore isn’t Hell, then I don’t know what is. Adding a loss to the Oakland Raiders, on top of the suffering that fans have had to bear during the month of November, is just cruel and unusual punishment.
It felt like Hell watching the Steelers attempt a quarterback sneak on 4th and 1 in the first quarter, only to be stuffed by the Raiders defense.
After watching the Steelers fail on a 4th down attempt, it felt like Hell watching the Oakland Raiders succeed on both of their 4th down attempts. That’s right, the Raiders converted 100% of their 4th down attempts.
It felt like Hell watching the Steelers defensive backs get torched for 308 yards and 3 touchdowns by an unproven quarterback with very little NFL success on his resume. William Gay, Ike Taylor, and Ryan Clark looked more like the Three Stooges than a Super Bowl caliber defensive backfield. And Ryan Mundy and Joe Burnett didn’t look much better. Hurry back Troy. PLEASE hurry back.
Ike gets burned...again.
It felt like Hell watching the Steelers offense fail to get the ball into the endzone 3 out of 5 times from the red zone. Watching Big Ben throw an interception in one of those possessions was pure torture.
It felt like Hell watching the Steelers defense give up 21 points in the 4th quarter. In fact, the 4th quarter has felt like Hell all season, so I don’t know why I expected this one to be any different.
It felt like Hell watching Joe Burnett drop a sure interception that would have guaranteed a win for the Steelers late in the game.
Don’t get me wrong. There were some positive moments in the game. LaMarr Woodley looked unstoppable as he accumulated 2 sacks during the game. Rashard Mendenhall looked great as he rushed for 103 yards. The extra effort on his touchdown run was tremendous. Similarly, Santonio Holmes looked super human as he caught 8 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown.
But overall, it wasn’t a pleasant experience for Steelers fans. In fact, the only thing that could possibly be more painful than losing to the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders would be losing to the Cleveland Browns. Oh wait, they play them on Thursday. Damn!
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donald,
hate to say i told you so but….Do I have a pulse on this team or what? I have to say again that I saw this several weeks ago.
This team is horrible. No playoff chance. Let’s just hope we draft in a good spot now.
Probably will not watch cleveland game.
1I listened to the game on the way home yesterday on Sirius. They get the Pittsburgh broadcast team. They started talking in the 2nd quarter about how this team lacks any enthusiasm. Nothing. We can blame a lot of this on the defense and the secondary in particular. They are below average apparently when # 43 is not back there. I have to be honest, would it hurt this team to start the rookies in the secondary and Mundy at safety to see what they have? Keenan Lewis can not play worse than William Gay, can he? Why not sit Taylor and play Burnett? I know, it sounds like I am mailing it in. Maybe. When you can not beat the Raiders or the Chiefs, maybe we need to mail it in. Can anyone argue with me that the Steelers need to spend a high pick on safety in the draft? I love the Steelers and I am a very sad and disappointed fan today.
2Mark,
I feel ya
3Tony & Mark,
Well……uhhhhhhhh……..Ummmmmmmm.
I don’t know what to say. The Steelers have left me absolutely speechless.
4The best news I have about yesterday’s game is that I couldn’t watch it. Never thought that being with the in-laws would SAVE me from pain! I just want to comment on the ‘fire in the belly’ thing. Our team does not seem to play with that fierce competitiveness. I realize that when you have trash talkers (Joey Porter & Larry Foote) that those guys get the attention. NFL people say that those guys are over-rated in terms of how much it benefits the team’s play & how the other guys react to it. I wonder. Also, if Troy means that much to our Defense then most of those guys should donate half of their pay to him because they are not earning it. I’m afraid it IS time to get more guys into the line up to see what they have on their depth chart. They have a lot of important decisions to make about this team. It could actually get worse before it gets better. Whoda thunk it?
5I’m sick and tired of what’s happening to the reigning Super Bowl Champs. Let’s put Tomlin in the unemployment line and bring back Future HOF Coach Bill Cowher!!!!!!
6Six Lombardi’s,
I’m frustrated just like most Steelers fans. But suggesting that we bring back Cowher is just stupid.
Firstly, Cowher wasn’t fired, he quit. He quit on the team, and he quit on the city. Do you remember that 8-8 season in his last year?
Secondly, how quickly we forget all of those playoff losses to inferior teams. Or how about those AFC Championship losses at home? Do you remember? I do.
How long did it take Cowher to get his first (and only) Super Bowl?
It’s great to remember the good old days, but let’s not rewrite history.
7donald,
Oops, I must comment on the Cowher thing!
Let’s not forget that Cowher took a team on the bottom and built it up again. Let’s not forget there were only a handful of years we were not in the playoffs. Let’s not forget that we WERE inmany AFC Championship games. Let’s not forget that the 8-8 season after SB in ’05 started horrible but ended strong. Let’s not forget he knew what it meant to run the ball. Let’s not forget that he took a team to the SB without his best Defensive player (Rod Woodson).
And lastly, Tomlin borrowed Cowher’s team to win SB last year! Oh, and he has used Cowher’s cooridinators too. What has his own coach picks done? Offensive liine coach has done a spectacular job of setting records for number of sacks over the last 3 seasons (with help of ben) and creating holes for a runner that a lizard would have trouble getting through. And that special teams coach, wow.
Sorry about the ranting but you struck a nerve there.
8I have a problem when people say that these are “Cowher’s players”. Not true. They’re Kevin Colbert and the Rooneys’ players. The coach doesn’t draft. He gives his ideas, but ultimately Kevin Colbert picks the players. Last time I looked, both Kevin Colbert and the Rooneys were still around.
Bruce Arians was one of Cowher’s assistants. Do you blame Cowher for him?
Dick LeBeau is still in place from the Cowher era. Last year his defense played well. This year they aren’t. Whose fault is that?
I always believe that it takes a team to win, and it takes a team to lose. You can’t really blame it on one or two individuals.
9Wow…a lot of topics to address. First, I give up. I don’t really expect too much from the team this year. If they actually make a run I will be pleasantly surprised but, given their track record, I don’t expect it.
I agree that Gay and Clark have been beaten so much that it can’t hurt to start some rookies in their place to see how they do. I draw the line at Ike. He didn’t have that good of a game last Sunday but he has done quite well the rest of the year.
On Cowher, I have always been a big fan of his and I put him right up there with Dungy as one of the best coaches of the 90′s-00′s (I hold spygate against Belicheat). I would not say that he quit. I think Ben’s myriad of health issues doomed his final year. He and the Rooney’s simply had a parting of the ways. Of course, bringing Cowher back is not a serious suggestion. The same reasons why he left (spend more time in NC) are still applicable.
I am not ready, however, to throw in the towel on Tomlin. He has impressed me during the first two years and he deserves the chance to right the ship. This is Tomlin’s first big crisis moment and we will have to see how he handles it and evaluate it at the end of the year. One of the things the Rooney’s do right is to not panic and replace coaches every other year.
10donald,
I suppose you think that Barry Switzer was as good of a coach as Jimmy Johnson was because after all, somebody else drafted those players too.
How soon we forget that Cowher wanted more say in the draft and that is why Colbert was brought in to begin with. The Rooneys chose to keep Cowher and fire Donahue remember?
Cowher had Arians as a WR coach, not calling plays!
D.L. is very much proven as a defensive play caller. He is Hall of Fame calliber. And unlike Arians, D.L. hasn’t had 3 years of taking a dominant run first team and softening it up and call the pass 66% of the time and turn his back on “steeler football”. I don’t even know why I’m trying to compare these two coaches!! They are not in the same league.
There is no question that the defense has been a huge problem this year but at least there are some injuries to take some of the blame. And if we could run we might find that teams wouldn’t have time on the clock to make comebacks.
I’m NOT calling for Tomlin’s head. Just being real like I have been all season long on this blog. I called out this team for what they were many, many weeks ago. People thought I was being too hard on them and/or flat out wrong. Well, who was right?
11Browns win!!!
And the apocolypse is upon us! Repent for the end is near!!!!
12I think Ben holds onto the ball to long!!!!
13That is why he got sacked so much tonight!!!!
Something is definitely wrong with the team
But I love them anyway!!!!!!