Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

The Steelers needed a win to stay alive in the playoff hunt, and they did exactly what they needed to do.

With Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich both out with injuries, it was up to Charlie Batch to lead the Steelers against the hated Ravens.  And to make matters worse, he had to do it in the Ravens’ stadium.

Batch is 58 years old (or something like that), and some fans thought that this stage was too big for him.  But Batch proved that he still had a few good games left in his old bones.

Batch passed for 276 yards, one touchdown, an interception, and an 89.6 quarterback rating.  Meanwhile, Raven’s quarterback Joe Flacco only passed for 188 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a 61.9 QB rating.  Way to kick his butt, Charlie!!!

But make no mistake.  This was no easy win.  In fact, the Ravens led for most of the game.  And the Steelers seemed to be trying hard to hand them another win.  Charlie Batch started off shaky.  He missed several wide open targets.  Mike Wallace played much of the game like he had soaked his hands in butter.  Emmanuel Sanders fumbled the ball while he was wide open and heading for an uncontested touchdown.  And Antonio Brown threw an interception on a trick play that probably shouldn’t have been called in the first place.

But despite those mistakes, there were plenty of good things that happened.  For example, Heath Miller played an outstanding game, and led the team in receiving yards.  Cortez Allen played an outstanding game subbing for Ike Taylor.  Jonathan Dwyer turned a failed running play into an unexpected touchdown.  James Harrison produced a strip-sack, just when it was needed most.  And of course, Shaun Suisham kicked the 42-yard field goal that won the game with no time left on the clock.

By beating the Ravens, the Steelers held onto their playoff hopes.  If the playoff were to begin today, the Steelers would be the last AFC team to make the playoffs, and they’d face the Baltimore Ravens in the first round.

Next up for the Steelers is the San Diego Chargers.  The Chargers have a 4-8 record, and would seem to be an easy opponent.  But we’ve all realized that the Steelers often have a harder time against the bad teams than they do against the good teams.  So next week’s game is likely to be more difficult than it should be.

Go Steelers!

The Steelers face the Ravens for the second time in 3 weeks.  And once again, Ben Roethlisberger won’t be starting at quarterback.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be concerned about playing the Ravens without Big Ben.  But after the performances that we saw recently from Byron Leftwich and Charlie Batch, I’ve been practicing Mr. Miyagi’s fire hands healing technique.  I plan to use it on Ben so he can play on Sunday.

I know that it was only a movie.  But at this point, I’m willing to try anything to get Big Ben on the field.  So somebody find me some light bulbs.

And while you’re at it, get me a few light bulbs for Troy too.  He’s supposed to be playing this week, but his calf has been so gimpy this season that I don’t trust it to make it through a complete game.

And don’t get me started on LaMarr Woodley.  Or Marcus Gilbert.  Or Mike Adams.  Or Byron Leftwich.  Maybe I should just go to Home Depot and buy all of the light bulbs that they have in stock.

Fortunately for the Steelers, running back isn’t a position that’s suffering from health problems.  Rashard Mendenhall, Isaac Redman, and Jonathan Dwyer will all be suiting up for the game.  And in a move that came as a surprise to me, Coach Mike Tomlin has announced that he doesn’t like the running back  by committee approach.  So he’s named Jonathan Dwyer as the starter on Sunday.

The Steelers should also have Willie Colon and Antonio Brown back on the field on Sunday.

They’re going to need every healthy player that they can find in order to face the Ravens in Baltimore.  The Ravens have beaten the Steelers three consecutive times.  And playing them in Baltimore makes things doubly tough.

Fortunately for the Steelers, the Ravens aren’t nearly as tough an opponent as they’ve been in years past.  The Ravens’ once vaunted defense is now ranked 24th in the NFL.

The first time the two teams met this season, the Steelers held Baltimore to only 47 rushing yards.  They also held Joe Flacco to 164 passing yards.  The Ravens were completely outclassed by the Steelers.  But even a dominant performance can be neutralized by mental mistakes.  And that’s what did in the Steelers.  The Steelers allowed the Ravens to return a punt 63 yards for a touchdown.  If not for that one play, the Steelers would have left the game with a dominant win.

The Steelers now find themselves trailing the Ravens by 3 games.  A loss on Sunday will drop them to 6-6 (.500), and may actually drop them below the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC North.  It would also be the Steelers’ sixth conference loss.  That many conference losses will make it very difficult to make the playoffs.

So the Steelers are left with few options.  They currently hold the last playoff seed.  They have to take the rest of the season one game at a time.  And that starts with beating the Ravens on Sunday.

Go Steelers!

I’m still having a hard time accepting what happened.  Five fumbles, three interceptions, and a loss to the Browns.  Yikes!

It’s time for our weekly haiku contest, but I don’t think this week’s entries are going to be very nice.  Nope, I don’t think they’re going to be nice at all.  But the contest must go on.

The contest rules are simple. You must summarize the Steelers-Browns game in a haiku.  A haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that contains only 3 lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the third line has 5 syllables. Typically, haiku do not rhyme.

Please note, the emphasis is on syllables, not words.  Remember, 5/7/5.

I start the competition by offering a haiku of my own. Then you readers write a haiku of your own to try to beat mine. On Thursday I will announce this week’s contest winner.  But remember, your haiku has to be better than mine.  If none of your entries are better than mine, then I can declare myself this week’s winner.

Here’s my entry:

Another fumble
Christmas came early for Browns
Gift wrapped turnovers

Okay readers, it’s your turn.  Lets see who can come up with the best haiku about the Steelers-Browns game.  Your haiku must be about the game, or any other interesting topics that are directly related to the game (e.g. the historic rivalry, Charlie Batch getting the start, the incredible number of turnovers, etc).  You may enter the contest as many times as you like.

Any entries that do not follow the 5/7/5 format will be automatically disqualified, so remember to count your syllables.

Are you ready for some haiku?!!

The final score was 20-14.  That’s not surprising.  AFC North games are usually hard-fought contests.  But what was surprising was the fact that the Cleveland Browns ended up with 20 points, while the Pittsburgh Steelers only had 14.  I’ll bet nobody saw that coming.

The game started off on a positive note.  In the first minute, Lawrence Timmons intercepted a Cleveland pass and ran it back for a touchdown.  The Steelers quickly led 7-0.  But things quickly went south from there.

The Steelers went on to turn the ball over not once.  Not twice.  Not three times.  Not 4 times.  Not 5 times.  Not 6 times.  Not 7 times.  No, the Steelers turned the ball over an amazing 8 times.

Charlie Batch threw 3 interceptions.  And if that weren’t enough to put the nail in the Steelers coffin, fumbles sealed the deal.  Rashard Mendenhall fumbled the ball.  So did Isaac Redman.  So did Jonathan Dwyer.  And Chris Rainey.  And Emmanuel Sanders.  Everyone seemed to want to get in on the fun.

Regardless of how bad your opponent may be, it’s hard for any NFL team to overcome 8 turnovers.  It almost looked like the Steelers were trying to shoot themselves in the leg (excuse the pun, but welcome back Plax).

The Steelers started off the game with a very conservative game plan.  They handed the ball to the running backs early and often.  And the running backs fumbled the ball early and often in return.  When the Steelers finally let Charlie Batch start passing the ball, it seemed as though they did it out of frustration over the recurrent fumbles, and not because they really trusted Charlie.

And Batch didn’t give them any reason to trust him.  When he wasn’t throwing interceptions, he was missing targets, sometimes badly.  For example, he proved that he just doesn’t have the arm strength to run the fly pattern with Mike Wallace.

Batch ended the game with a QB rating of only 38.7.  That’s a JaMarcus Russell level QB rating, and that’s not a good thing.  Batch completed 20 of 34 passes with 3 interceptions and no touchdowns.

Some Steelers fans were calling for Charlie Batch to get the start last week instead of Byron Leftwich.  But I doubt that those same people are nearly as enthusiastic now that Batch has actually started a game.

Don’t get me wrong.  I like Charlie Batch.  But Batch will be 38 years old in a week and a half.  He’s easily the oldest player on the team.  And with a 32 year old Byron Leftwich as the backup, I wish they had a 20-something third string quarterback on the roster instead of one who is almost 40 years old.

Despite the team’s offensive woes, the defense actually played a pretty good game.  They sacked Browns’ quarterback Brandon Weeden 4 times, intercepted him once, and rushed him many more times.  They also held him to only 158 total passing yards.  They also held the Browns to only 108 total rushing yards.  Ordinarily that would have been a fine defensive performance.  But it wasn’t enough to overcome 8 turnovers.

The Steelers now find themselves with a 6-5 record.  That’s the same record as the Cincinnati Bengals.  However, if the playoffs were to start today, the Steelers would earn the final AFC playoff spot (the 6th seed) due to a better record against conference foes.

The Steelers must travel to Baltimore to face the Ravens next week.  It goes without saying that a win in that game is crucial.  So Baltimore, here we come.

Go Steelers!

I’m probably being overly nostalgic.  But I long for the good old days when Steelers vs. Browns was one of the most important games of the year.  I’m getting sick of meaningless games against the Browns.

Sure, playing the Browns will always be important because division wins help determine playoff position.  And since the Browns are still in the same division as the Steelers, that gives the game meaning.  But it’s not the same meaning that the game once carried.

Pittsburgh and Cleveland are the closest cities geographically in the AFC North.  The two cities are so close, you can drive back and forth between them in just a couple of hours.  Many Pittsburghers have family members in Cleveland, and vice versa.  Pittsburgh and Cleveland are both former rust belt cities that have come roaring back.  They’re natural rivals.  Or at least they should be.  But it’s hard to maintain a rivalry when one of the teams almost never wins the game.  When that happens, “rivalry” is no longer the appropriate word.  “Domination” is.  And in recent history, the Steelers have dominated the Browns.

The Steelers have won 16 of the past 17 meetings with the Browns.  If that’s not domination, then I don’t know what is.

Despite drafting early in almost every draft, the Browns just don’t seem to get any better.  This year, they’re in last place in the AFC North.  Sound familiar?

The Browns do have 2 wins this year.  One of the came against the Cincinnati Bengals (thank you), and the other came against the San Diego Chargers.  They’ve also played close games against the Ravens, Cowboys, Colts, and Eagles.  So they shouldn’t be taken too lightly.

The thing that will probably keep the game interesting isn’t what the Browns do, but what the Steelers don’t do.  For example, the Steelers won’t be starting Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback.  Nor will they be starting backup quarterback Byron Leftwich.  Nope, this week Charlie Batch, the Steelers’ 3rd string quarterback will be getting the start.

The Steelers also won’t be starting Troy Polamalu at safety.  Polamalu continues to suffer from a calf injury which has kept him off the field for most of the season.

The Steelers also won’t have Antonio Brown or Jericho Cotchery at wide receiver.  That’s why the Steelers chose to bring in Plaxico Burress.

And the Steelers won’t have Marcus Gilbert this week at right tackle.  I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but rookie Mike Adams has done a less than stellar job of filling in for Gilbert.  I know that he’s a rookie, and that this playing experience will be good for him in the long term.  But I just hope he doesn’t get Charlie Batch killed as he’s trying to learn how to play the position.

Despite all of the players who are injured, I’m certain the Steelers will find a way to beat the Browns.  But the score may be closer than you expect.

Go Steelers!