Aggressively Mediocre: Your 2012 Pittsburgh Steelers

The 2012 Steelers give even the great Ryan Clark a headache

I have watched less talented teams in my lifetime in black and gold, but I have never watched a more disappointing team.

Oakland 34, Pittsburgh 31.
Tennessee 26, Pittsburgh 23.
Kansas City 13, Pittsburgh 16. (Yeah. I know they won. But needing OT against the Chiefs? In Pittsburgh, for cripes sake? C'mon.)
Cleveland 20, Pittsburgh 14.
San Diego 34, Pittsburgh 24.

No team with those five games on their resume has any business at all in the post-season. And so, the season is over, golf course reservations are made and, frankly, some long soul searching needs to happen at Heinz Field. Not to overstate this, but the Steelers have some things to figure out. Every time they were presented with an opportunity this season, they fell short -- sometimes by a hair and sometimes by a country mile.

Mike Tomlin's Achilles Heel

Every coach has one. You can point to it with even the most successful of coaches. Some coaches are great tacticians (usually on one side of the ball or the other), but aren't good with personnel. Some are great at preparing their team, but not so good in game situations. Some are terrible clock managers. The knock on some guys is that they simply can't win the big one. And those are the good coaches, bear in mind.

In the five years that I've watched Mike Tomlin, I wondered about his flaw and how it might manifest itself. After the Steelers shit the bed against a bad San Diego Chargers team at Heinz Field on Sunday, I realize what that flaw is -- his teams underperform against 'lesser' teams.

Call it an achilles heel or a blind spot, this seems to be an area where he struggles. Maybe he lacks a specific talent or an ability to see this as a problem. Whatever it is -- willfulness or simply a skill deficit -- this is more than a trend. It has become a very pronounced pattern.

Rashard Mendenhall: To Fumble or Not to Fumble? That Is the Question

Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin made it a point in his press conference this week to point out that he had re-configured his depth chart vis-a-vis running back. Call it blowing smoke or sending a message; view it as speaking through the media to his players or sheer egotism. But however you see it, Tomlin made it clear that (for the time being) Jonathan Dwyer was the starting running back, with Isaac Redman the 3rd down guy and Rashard Mendenhall in a lesser role.

It's a heckuva role for a former first round draft pick to be in.

And Thus Endeth the Great Bruce Arians Debate

Today, Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians announced his retirement and nary a tear was shed in Pittsburgh, except maybe by Pig Ben Roethlisberger, who was all BFF with coach Arians.

I'm no great supporter of Arians and while it was hard to argue against a guy coming off of a Super Bowl appearance, I felt that Arians' time here was over heading into the 2011 season.

Steelers Are Dallas Bound

I think this pretty much says it all. We're from the town with the great football team. We cheer the Pittsburgh Steelers.

To Run Or Not To Run? The Question that Plagues the Steelers

More than the missed field goal, more than some strange coaching decisions, more than the crowd noise, and more than the Heath Miller fumble, one series from Sunday's night's game has been flashing in my head, Alfred Hitchcock like, with the accompanying strident string score.

After a brilliant return by rook Emmanuel Sanders, runs by Rashard Mendenhall of 4, 6 and 7 yards, a 6 yard screen pass to Mendenhall, and a nice seam route pass to Antwan Randal-El, the Steelers were stifled at the 1/2 yard line.

Wha..????!

Can't be. Because, didn't Art Rooney the Lesser issue a dictum that the team should work on running better in 2010 than it had in 2008 and 2009? Didn't Mike Tomlin promise, not that the team would run more, but that the team would run more effectively? Didn't Bruce Arians say that they would be better at running, even if they were still a predominantly throwing team?

And yet ... three shots to go one yard. Three chances for a touchdown mid-way through the 2nd quarter of a scoreless game against the defending Super Bowl champs changes the complexion of the game. Who knows? Maybe after that Drew Brees goes all Drew Brees on the Steelers and rains long bombs down on them all night? But maybe, just maybe, the satisfaction of scoring a touchdown there, gives both the defense and the offense a lift? Or maybe not. But I like 7-0 a lot better than 3-0.

When fans in Pittsburgh scream to run the ball, this is what they're talking about. They're not screaming to run the ball 39 times a game; nobody's calling for a return to "Hey diddle, diddle, Rogel up the middle" days of coach Walt Keisling. Heaven forfend. But I'm not sure that you can just run when you want to. Offensive lines get good at run blocking through practice and through the doing of it. An NFL team, any NFL team with playoff hopes (dare I say it, Super Bowl hopes), should be able to punch the ball in from the one yard line.

Wasn't this precisely the problem last year?

Three problems defined that 2009 five game house of horrors losing streak: (1) defensive letdowns, (2) special teams shit (sorry, there's no other word for the kick coverage units) and (3) a non-existent short-yardage running game.

Of that terrible stretch, I pin the loss to the Chiefs on the special teams, the loss to the Raiders on the defense, and the loss to the Ravens on, well, on the Ravens. That was a close one and it's tough to beat the Ravens in Baltimore with your back-up, back-up quarterback.

But, the losses to the Bengals and the Browns? The defense and the special teams didn't help much, but the Steelers terrible redzone offense contributed mightily to those losses. Yea, mightily, my friends.

Four times the Steelers drove inside the Bengals 20 and came away with four field goals. Shameful.

Even worse, several weeks later, at 6-6 and fighting for their post-season lives, from their performance, you would never have known that the Steelers offense got the memo that it was, gee, kinda important to win the game against the lowly Browns. A Browns team led by Brady Quinn at quarterback, for crying out loud. Putting up a total of six points against the Browns? Well, there just are no words for a performance like that.

The Steelers are 5-2, which is a good thing, so I'm not complaining. They've played themselves into a really good position for the second half of the season and that's a pleasant place to be.

Still, you'll excuse me, but my post-traumatic stress disorder from the 2009 season is really itching and burning. Last year, after seven games, they were also 5-2. With almost identical losses - one to a divisional opponent and one to a non-conference opponent. Hey, they were in great shape! We're going to the Super Bowl again!

I'll believe it when they actual nail down at least 10 wins.

On a sad note, NBA great Maurice Lucas died on Monday after a battle with cancer. Lucas, a product of Pittsburgh's Hill District, is featured in the amazing David Halberstam book, "The Breaks of the Game," which I count as one of the 10 best sports books of all time. (See list, Part 1 and Part 2.) For more on Lucas, check out David Steele's terrific story at AOL's Fanhouse.

That Was Unpleasant, Saints 20 - Steelers 10

In the words of the great, the one of a kind, the one and only Bugs Bunny, "Ain't I a stinker?"

Yup. It was that kind of night. A stinker.

You just knew Drew Brees was not going to play another error filled game after being humiliated by the Browns last week. You just knew Gregg Williams wanted out LeBeau Dick LeBeau's defense. And yet, that was very unpleasant, wasn't it? The Saints played great. I expect that was exactly the game they wanted to play. Even so, there's plenty of blame to go around on the other black and gold squad.

Through a turgid first half and third quarter, Bruce Arians was completely befuddled by the Saints defense; despite the fact that they were sending all out blitzes on just about every play, he didn't adjust his calls until the 4th quarter. There's slow, there's obtuse, and then there's Bruce Arians.

The offense's inability to get in with a 1st and goal at the 1 yard line. Kudos to the Saints defense for a great stand there, but when you leave four points on the field like that, nine times out of ten, it's going to come back to bite you in the ass. [Of course, the Steelers D basically got those 4 points back when they put on their own amazing goal line stand denying the Saints with a 1st and goal at the 1 yard line, too.]

Pig Ben looked like ass through much of the first half; his throws were into the turf and/or way off target. He seemed to shake that off as the game went on, but he and Hines Ward have been playing together long enough that you'd think they'd have some hot reads down pat when defenses bring that kind of pressure; they didn't and that was perhaps the most discouraging element of last night's loss.

Coach Tomlin made a couple of strange decisions, the strangest of which was sending that moronic hayseed of a kicker in to attempt a 51 yard field goal late in the 2nd quarter. I knew Skippy was going to pull that kick, you knew Skippy was going to pull that kick, all 70,011 costume wearing, besotted spectators at the Superdome knew Skippy was going to pull that kick, so why didn't Tomlin? [Now seems like an appropriate time to mention that I have gone off the reservation in my loathing of Jeff Reed. His inability to hit anything but the chippiest of chip shots, combined with his short kick offs and palpable apathy on coverage units -- I can't even look at the guy anymore. Can they please start auditioning kickers today? Please?!] The end result was that the Saints got the ball at their own 41 and moved easily to get a field goal to close out the first half.

Emmanuel Sanders essentially broke up a perfect pass to Hines Ward which would have given the Steelers a huge 1st down. And it came on what seemed like one of the few perfect hot reads the Steelers made all night. Ouch. C'mon Rook. Get your head in the game.

There's lots of blame to go around, but even with all of the above and more that I haven't mentioned (like Brees playing Polamalu like a fiddle on one occasion), the game really comes down to the Heath Miller fumble.Everything was going the Steelers way. Rashard (no longer Suspect) Mendenhall, had ripped off a huge touchdown run to close the gap to 3 points. B-Mac caused a fumble on a corner blitz and the Steelers were driving for the go-ahead score. Then Miller coughed it up and the game was over because the Saints did what good teams do -- turned a great break into a touchdown. That was some kind of catch by Lance Moore. That he went up for it and held onto it with Troy and B-Mac crunching him (legally, mind you, in the torso area), was a spectacular play. You make plays like that, you deserve to win, as far as I'm concerned.

I think what's frustrating is that we know the Steelers are capable of playing better than that. Still, all hail the Saints, who played the game they needed to play, when they needed it most.

Ravens 17, Steelers 14, Post-Mortem

Five photos that sum up the loss yesterday.

The Ravens O Line played great and despite the defense's efforts to get to Flacco, they always seemed to be a split second late. Flacco himself got rid of the ball quickly and efficiently. He has come under some heat in Baltimore, but yesterday should shut up those critics. At least for a while. On the last drive of the game, he was perfect and his touchdown pass to TJ Whoseyourmama is the kind that great quarterbacks build careers on.

Bruce Arians' insistence on calling slow developing, deep pass plays when a dink and dunk approach might have worked better, kept the Steelers defense off the field and, you know, picked up first downs.

11 penalties for 88 yards. Ed Hochuli and his crew had awfully quick trigger fingers with the yellow hankies, and I personally believe that Hochuli loves getting face time and showing off his amazing pythons on national tee vee. That said, 11 penalties are going to kill you. Every time.

These penalties deserve their own category. After an amazing defensive stop by the Steelers, just an awesome goal-line stand, Matt "a Draft Pick is a Terrible Thing to Waste" Spaeth and Chris Kemoeatu each jumped on the following series. Who knows? The Steelers may not have been able to pick up a victory ensuring first down there, but those penalties made sure they didn't. And why the hell was Spaeth even out there blocking? He's a terrible blocker. Well, he's pretty much terrible at everything, come to think of it. Off-sides? On home turf? In the waning moments of the game? Be serious.

Of course, dipshit pulled one kick right and then the second one left.


The guy has one job to do. Just one. Were this a new phenomena -- Skippy missing make-able kicks in tight games -- I might just chalk it up to a bad day. Everybody has bad days. I can live with that. But Reed started to deteriorate last year in Chicago and in Cincinnati. This year, he's back to that 2009 form, missing an easy game winner against the Falcons and then yesterday's execrable performance.
Does anybody remember how Reed got the job? Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

Todd Peterson blew some very make-able kicks and Bill Cowher finally got fed up, brought in a bunch of kickers on rainy day and tried them all out. By the end of that week, Peterson was out of a job and Steelers fans had a new kicker. Food for thought, coach Tomlin, food for thought.

Regarding Bruce Arians

Despite his role in bringing home Lombardi Trophy #6, Steelers loyalists run hot and cold and mostly leery of offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. I'm trying to figure out where perception meets reality, where Arians is legitimately questionable, and in what instances the fans have pierogies for brains.

Good Bruce Arians is now a Super Bowl winning coordinator. It's really hard to argue with that.

Bad Bruce Arians might could be the coordinator equivalent of Barry Switzer in that regard. Yup. Switzer won a Super Bowl. No denying it. But nobody in her right mind thinks Switzer was the better coach on the field that day. Is Arians another lucky interloper?

Good Bruce Arians a/k/a BA, works so well with Pig Ben that Roethlisberger finished the 2009 season with a quarterback rating of 100.8 and was second in the league in yards per pass attempt (8.55 yards). Yes, Pig Ben is one of the five best QB's in the league, but you have to credit Arians with at least some of that success.

There is not a scintilla of interest in Bad Bruce Arians for any NFL head coaching openings. When a team wins a Super Bowl, generally that team's coordinators are at the top of the head coaching wish lists. Yet BA wasn't on anybody's short list or long list or any kind of list, except maybe some fan sh*tlists.

Good Bruce Arians was in no way responsible for the defensive collapse or special teams entropy of 2009.

Bad Bruce Arians has been the Steelers OC for three years and only once in that time did the Steelers offense crack the top 10 in terms of points scored per game (2009 average of 23.0 points - 12th; 2008 average of 21.7 - 20th; and 2007 average of 24.6 - 9th). Hardly Don Coryell-type stats.

Good Bruce Arians Started his Steelers tenure as the wide outs coach under Bill Cowher. In that time, he took a very unfocused Plaxico Burress and got him to focus, so much so that Plax got a big free agent payday with the Giants, won a SuperBowl and promptly shot himself. But I don't think we can hold old BA responsible for Plax carrying a handgun around in his sweatpants. BA also had his hand in: making Hines Ward one of the premiere wide outs in the league; transforming Antwan Randal El from a middle of the pack guy to Super Bowl superstar and overpaid free agent; taking wide out Santonio Holmes from draft pick to burner to Super Bowl superstar (he does not, however, provide 'Tone with his doobage); and utilizing the freaky speed of Mike Wallace.

Bad Bruce Arians stinks in the red zone. His play calling is pedestrian and predictable. The Steelers scored just 27 touchdowns in 56 trips to the redzone -- only 48.2 percent. Bah.

Good Bruce Arians knows that this is a pass-first league. The Indy Colts made it to the Super Bowl throwing the ball 601 times and running it just 366 times. The Saints passed 544 times versus 468 rushes.

Bad Bruce Arians doesn't run the ball enough. The Saints and Colts may have made it to the Super Bowl by throwing more than they ran, but the Jets made it the whole way to the AFC Championship game by running the ball 607 times and throwing only 393 times. The once pass-whacky Cincy Bungles threw the ball just 477 times (running it 505) and they won the AFC North.

I'd say there are strong arguments to be made on either side of the Arians debate, but this one is the tipping point for me:

Good Bruce Arians knows that he has one of the five best quarterbacks in the league and a mad fumbler, Rashard Suspect Mendenhall, for a premiere running back. If you were Arians, would you hand the ball to Suspect? Or give it to Pig Ben?