Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

If there’s one thing that I hate even more than a Steelers loss, it’s writing about a Steelers loss at 1:30 in the morning.  So I’m going to make this brief.

The Steelers lost 26-23 in a game that is going to leave them feeling embarrassed once they watch it on film.

The Steelers played badly on both sides of the ball.  In fact, they played badly in all 3 phases of the game.

On offense, they couldn’t run the ball effectively.  They accumulated only 56 yards rushing against a team that had been giving up 144 yards per game on the ground.  And injuries to the offensive line certainly didn’t help.  At one point, it looked like Heath Miller was going to have to line up as an offensive lineman.

And the wide receivers didn’t help much either.  Neither Mike Wallace nor Antonio Brown seemed like they were interested in catching the ball.  Sure, Mike Wallace had an 82 yard touchdown reception.  But outside of that, he and Antonio Brown caught only 6 of 14 passes that were thrown to them.

On defense, the Steelers couldn’t stop anything.  Ike Taylor and Keenan Lewis looked more like Abbott and Costello.  Is it just me, or is Ike Taylor getting beat on just about every play this season?

And the run defense wasn’t much better.    They allowed Chris Johnson to break out of his slump, just like they let Darren McFadden break out of his when they played the Oakland Raiders.  Players who are not having a good season shouldn’t suddenly find their groove against the Steelers.

And of course we have to mention special teams.  A blocked punt?  Really???!!!!

Heck, even the coaches can take some heat for this one.  Was a 54 yard field goal the right call when a miss would give the Titans good field position with almost a full minute to march down the field?  I’m sure that Mike Tomlin is now rethinking that decision.

The kick is good! Titans win.

The Steelers are now 0-3 on the road.  More importantly, they’ve lost to teams that have a combined record of 2-10 when they aren’t playing the Steelers.  So let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that they’ve lost to the Ravens or the Patriots.  They’re losing to bad teams.

There’s still time for the Steelers to turn things around.  But with 3 losses to AFC opponents, and two games left to play against both the Ravens and the Bengals, the playoffs are going to be hard to make.  Frankly, I don’t even care about the playoffs.  I’d just like to see the Steelers make it through the season without any more major injuries.

Go Steelers!

The Pittsburgh Steelers travel to Nashville to face the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night.  The game will be broadcast on NFL Network at 8:20 p.m.

I remember when Pittsburgh vs. Tennessee had all of the excitement of a Steelers/Ravens game.  But that was back when both teams played in the now defunct AFC Central Division.  These days, the game doesn’t generate nearly as much excitement.  But it’s still a game that the Steelers have to win.

The Titans have a woeful 1-4 record, and have struggled on both offense and defense.

On offense, Tennessee’s star running back Chris Johnson is having one of the worst seasons of his career.  He’s averaging only 42 yards per game.  That’s 2.9 yards per carry.   His longest run of the season is only 19 yards, and he has no touchdowns.  That’s not the Chris Johnson that Titans fans are used to seeing.

To make matters worse, the Titans are without their starting quarterback Jake Locker, who is out with a shoulder injury.  Veteran QB Matt Hasselbeck will start in his place.

On defense, the Titans are even worse.  They have the 29th ranked defense in the NFL, and they seem incapable of stopping either the run or the pass.    Their opponents have scored an average of 36.2 points against the Titans, as the Titans’ defense has allowed an average of 423 yards per game.  There are high school teams that would have given up fewer yards against the teams that the Titans have played.

The Titans give up 144 yards per game on the ground, which should make Rashard Mendenhall very happy.  And they’ve allowed 12 touchdowns passes, which is 2nd worst in the league.  That should make Ben Roethlisberger even happier.

But the Steelers aren’t without their own challenges.  Playing in Tennessee is never easy.  More importantly, the Steelers will be without LaMarr Woodley and Troy Polamalu.  Both players suffered injuries in the Steelers’ win over the Philadelphia Eagles last week.

I anticipate the Steelers will keep their offense balanced to keep the Titans guessing.  They should have success in both the running game and the passing game.  This balanced attack should prove to be too much for the Titans.

I predict that the Steelers will win this game.  The final score will be 31-16.

Go Steelers!

The Steelers will try to get back on track this Sunday when they face the visiting Tennessee Titans.

Everyone knows that the 2-2 Steelers have struggled in several areas so far this season.  And unfortunately, the Titans present challenges in exactly those areas.  In fact, they’re just what the doctor didn’t order for the Steelers.

The Steelers’ run defense has been poor at best.  They’ve let average runners like the Colts’ Joseph Addai run right through them.  And they’ve made good runners like Baltimore’s Ray Rice and Houston’s Arian Foster look like marathon runners.  So I’m afraid to even imagine what’s going to happen when Tennessee’s speedy running back Chris Johnson tries to find chinks in the Steelers’ armor.

The Steelers’ already weak run defense will even be more depleted this weekend.  Starting defensive end Aaron Smith is likely to miss Sunday’s game.  Casey Hampton didn’t practice on Thursday, but no announcement has been made on whether he’ll play.  My guess is that he will, but if he’s not 100%, it will definitely affect the team’s ability to stop the run.

On the positive side, Brett Keisel will likely start on Sunday.  He’s missed the team’s last 2 games with an injury.

But the running defense hasn’t been the only problem for the Steelers.  They also haven’t been able to run the ball on offense.  Tennessee probably isn’t a good candidate for helping them solve that problem.  The Titans’ defense is ranked #8 in the NFL against the run.  They’re only allowing 87.8 rushing yards per game.  The Baltimore Ravens are the only opponent that the Steelers have faced this season that allows fewer rushing yards than the Titans.

To further compound the problems in the running game, starting running back Rashard Mendenhall will probably miss the game due to a hamstring injury.  So a weak rushing attack may get even weaker.

Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall

Of course, some fans believe that taking Mendenhall out of the lineup will actually be an improvement.  Mendenhall hasn’t played particularly well this season, and is only averaging 3.0 yards per carry.

In contrast, backups Isaac Redman and Mewelde Moore have seemed to have more success than Mendenhall when they’ve been given the opportunity to run the ball.  Isaac Redman is averaging 4.9 yards per carry, and has provided a spark whenever he’s entered the game.  Mewelde Moore is averaging an even more robust 7.2 yards per carry.

But it probably won’t matter who runs the ball if the Steelers’ offensive line doesn’t play better.  The offensive line has suffered from injuries and poor play all season.  The Steelers signed Max Starks earlier in the week, and it looks like he’ll get the start on Sunday, despite having less than a full week of practice.  It probably says a lot about the Steelers’ O-line when a guy off the streets steps right into the starting lineup.

To make matters even worse, left guard Chris Kemoeatu is out with an injury and won’t play on Sunday.  And quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been practicing wearing a boot all week.  Big Ben injured his foot in the last game, and the injury will likely decrease his mobility.

I hate to sound like a pessimist, but the Tennessee Titans sound like a bad match-up for the injury riddled Steelers.  But injuries are a part of the game, and the Steelers are just going to have to play through them.  Backup players are going to have to step up and show us why they’re on the roster.

As head coach Mike Tomlin is fond of saying, “The standard doesn’t change.”

On second thought, though the Titans will be a tough opponent, maybe they ARE just what the doctor ordered.

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According to most of the TV sports announcers, the Steelers had no chance of beating the Tennessee Titans.  “Chris Johnson is too fast”.  “The Titans are too tough”.  “The Steelers never win in Tennessee”.  “The Steelers can’t win without Ben Roethlisberger”.  Blah, blah, blah.

Fortunately, the Steelers didn’t listen to the sports announcers.  Rather than laying down and submitting to the “unbeatable Titans”, the Steelers decided to punch them in the face instead.

If you only looked at the statistics from the game, you might think that the Steelers actually lost this game.  After all, the Titans held the Steelers to only 127 net yards of offense.  No, I didn’t say 127 rushing yards.  I said 127 net yards of TOTAL OFFENSE.

The Steelers ended up with only 21 net passing yards, and 106 net yards rushing.  Starting quarterback Dennis Dixon ended the game with a passer rating of only 70.1, and replacement Charlie Batch finished with an even more dismal 52.5 passer rating.

But despite the woeful offensive statistics, the Steelers actually kicked the Titans’ @#$.  Seriously.

The Steelers defense held the Titans’ star running back Chris Johnson to just 34 rushing yards.  Prior to facing the Steelers, Johnson had run for over 100 yards in 12 consecutive games.  But the Steelers weren’t having any of that.

Not only did the Steelers stop Chris Johnson, but they also slammed Titans quarterback Vince Young.  Both literally and figuratively.

The Steelers caused 7 Titans turnovers, including a diving interception by Bryant McFadden, an interception by Troy Polamalu in the endzone, and two forced fumbles by James Harrison.

The Titans were visibly frustrated.  But the frustration became evident when Titans coach Jeff Fisher pulled Vince Young out of the game and replaced him with Kerry Collins.

Troy Polamalu was obviously anxious to welcome Collins into the game, because he did this:

That had to be one of the most outstanding plays that I’ve seen.  No other player would even attempt that play except Troy Polamalu.

The Steelers did suffer a few more injuries in the game.  Dennis Dixon left the game at the beginning of the second quarter and was replaced by Charlie Batch.  Dixon had a knee injury, but no announcement has been made about how serious the injury is.

Chris Hoke was also shaken up during the game, but it didn’t look serious.  And quite a few players suffered from dehydration, battling the Tennessee heat.  Temperatures during the game were in the 90′s, and the heat index was over 100 degrees.  To make matters worse, the Titans forced the Steelers to wear their black home jerseys to make the heat even more unbearable.

Despite heat, injuries, and a poor offensive showing, the Steelers still leave Nashville with a 2-0 record.  And with the Cincinnati Bengals’ win over the Baltimore Ravens, the Steelers stand alone atop the AFC North.

They face Tampa Bay next week, and a 3-0 record is very possible.  If the defense continues to play the way they’ve been playing, a win over Baltimore in week 4 may even be a distinct possibility.

Not a bad start for a team that nobody thought had a chance of winning without Ben Roethlisberger.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers will travel to Tennessee as underdogs this weekend.  Hardly anyone believes the Steelers have a chance of beating the Tennessee Titans.  Particularly not without franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

To make matters even worse, history is not on the Steelers’ side.  They are 0-3 in the last 3 road games against the Titans.  Moreover, they are 1-6 all-time against the Titans in Nashville.  Suffice it to say that LP Field is a tough place for the Steelers to play.

Fortunately, I’ve never been one to follow the crowd.  I feel confident that the Steelers are going to beat the Titans.  Moreover, they’re going to do it in the Titans home stadium.

In order to beat the Titans, the Steelers are going to have to do a few important things:

1. Stop Chris Johnson – Not many NFL teams have been able to figure out how to do this.  That’s why Johnson was able to rush for over 2,000 yards last year.  However, the Steelers are one of the few teams that have been able to contain Johnson.  In his only two games against the Steelers, Johnson was held to 69 yards (2008) and 57 yards (2009).  The Steelers are built to stop the run.  So this should be a great battle of strength against strength.
2. Force Vince Young to try to win the game with his arm – I know that Vince Young turned around the Titans last year after they got off to an 0-6 start under quarterback Kerry Collins.  However, I’m still not sold on Vince Young.  He seems to find a way to win, but he wins ugly.  He is not a classic drop-back passer who is going to beat you with his arm.  Instead, he beats teams with his legs, and by handing the ball to Chris Johnson.  So the Steelers need to apply pressure to Young, and force him to throw the ball.
3. Dennis Dixon must complete passes – Just like the Steelers are going to try to force Vince Young to beat them with his arm, the Titans are going to do the exact same thing to Dennis Dixon.  They’ve watched film of last week’s game.  They’ve seen Dixon throwing the ball at his receivers’ feet.  So they will likely stack the line to stop the run, and force Dixon to throw the ball.  When they do, Dixon has got to complete passes.  If he can’t make Tennessee respect his arm, it’s going to be a long day for the Steelers.

I watched Dennis Dixon throughout training camp, and I know he is capable of completing passes.  He’s just got to be confident in his own abilities and unleash the ball.

Last week, I could see that he was thinking too much.  He was too concerned with delivering the ball on the numbers.  It looked like he was throwing darts rather than passing a football.  That’s not how I’ve seen him throw it in the past.  Hopefully he will be more comfortable this week, and he’ll deliver the ball the way he is capable of delivering it.

If Dixon passes the ball successfully, the Steelers will win this game.  I’m going to give the young man a vote of confidence and predict that he will do just that.  I anticipate a low-scoring defensive struggle that ends with a Steelers win.  Final score:  Steelers 17, Titans 13.

Injury report

One concern going into the Titans game is injuries.  The Steelers will be without starters at a few key positions.

Casey Hampton – One concern going into the Titans game is injuries.  Casey Hampton is a key component to stopping the run, and he will not be playing due to a hamstring pull.  Fortunately, the Steelers lose very little when backup Chris Hoke replaces Hampton.

Max Starks – The Steelers starting left tackle injured his ankle last week.  In his place, the Steelers will be starting Jonathan Scott.  This will be Scott’s first start for the Steelers, so everyone will be watching to see what he’s capable of.  Expect the Titans to send a lot of pressure from Scott’s side of the line.

Bryant McFadden – McFadden missed practice Thursday due to a groin injury.  Friday’s practice will probably determine if McFadden can go this weekend.  If not, William Gay may get the start.  This would not be good new for the Steelers.   If there is one thing that can make Vince Young look like Peyton Manning, it’s William Gay.  Yikes!

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