For weeks, I have droned on about Pittsburgh's inconsistency. When the offense played well, the defense was a sieve. When the defense was stout, the offense stumbled. And, the special teams fumbled regardless of anything else. Still, as badly as Pittsburgh had played, I lauded the fact that if the Steelers could put it all together, other teams should watch out.
Well, last Sunday against the Ravens, the Steelers finally were consistent on both sides of the ball. Alas, they were consistently horrible.
And, when I say horrible, I mean that I have never (NEVER) seen the Steelers put forth such a lackluster effort. Pittsburgh's defense made Steve McNair look less like a broken down, 33-year-old quarterback, and more like the co-MVP that he was four years ago. Any pressure that the Steelers got on McNair was thwarted by a last-second, and in some cases miraculous, throw by McNair to a wide open receiver. And, that was if the Steelers actually got some pressure...because, more times than not, Pittsburgh's defense was stopped dead at the line.
Conversely, Baltimore's defense seemed to smack Ben Roethlisberger on every single play. Besides giving up nine sacks (which is a Pittsburgh record), the offensive line allowed Ben to be knocked down a dozen times, hurried two dozen times, and put into a state of dismay for a full three hours. The game can be summarized by a Corey Ivy hit that dislodged the ball from Big Ben, which Adalius Thomas returned for a touchdown. In other words, the only time that Roethlisberger was not being trounced upon, was when Ben was on the sideline...after Bart Scott knocked him out of the game.
Furthermore, Ben did not help things by throwing two interceptions. Of course, Ben's wideouts did not help: Nate Washington dropped a sure touchdown, and Hines Ward was flagged on back-to-back plays for personal foul penalties, which cost the Steelers 30 yards and any momentum Pittsburgh might have garnered from forcing the Ravens to punt.
Again, horrible.
I am not one to give up on a season, but the Steelers are done. Even if they win out, they have barely even a mathematical chance of making the playoffs. But, to clarify, for those of you who "want" Pittsburgh to lose the rest of their games (so that the Steelers can get a higher draft pick), all I can say is: move to Detroit!!!
Really, a higher draft pick will not make the Steelers a winning team. I cannot remember the last time a single player made that much of a difference to a team...well, besides LaDainian Tomlinson.
Really though, having a higher draft pick can not solve the woes of the offensive line...and the defense...and the receivers...and Ben. The Steelers have the talent, but they are in a funk, and one player will not rectify all that ails them. That said, I would not mind if Pittsburgh used all of their draft picks on offensive linemen.
All joking aside, if the Steelers want to be contenders next year, it starts now. They need to figure out what is wrong with their team, and fix it. They need to complete a quality series. Not a string of games. Not an entire game. Just one flawless series...and then build upon that.
In short, championships are won and lost during the months of December and January...not in April. Thus, the race for Super Bowl XLII starts with a long sustained drive this upcoming Sunday, against the Buccaneers.
