Midweek Malaise

Just think how much more promising interesting the final three games would appear if Antonio Brown had managed to sidestep the sideline and tightrope it the way Baltimore's Jacoby Jones (yeah, that guy) did in the last minute of the Ravens' theatrical win over Minnesota last Sunday.

Instead, this craptastic Steelers season slogs on its futile procession through the final three games: Bangles at Heinz Field; against the Packers at Lambeau Field in Green Bay; and, finally, the Clowns at Heinz Field.

Mike Tomlin's Tuesday news conference gave us little to chew on that we didn't already know (the defense can't stop anybody and gives up too many big plays), so we turn to other sources.

Gene Collier points out the sequence of questionable play calls ...

" ... with a 28-24 lead in the fourth quarter, on a snow-covered field, the Steelers' play-calls went, pass, pass, pass, pass, run, pass on one possession. Then pass, run, pass, pass, pass on a second. 

"That's against a Miami defense ranked 25th against the run."

Dale Lolley at The Washington Observer-Reporter makes an interesting point about Jason Worilds:

"... there's no way the Steelers can afford to allow Jason Worilds to walk. 

There really isn't a comparison between Worilds and Keenan Lewis. Lewis made some plays last season, but nothing nearly as impactful as the way Worilds has played. Lewis is also 27 this season, while Worilds is 25 and would play an entire 4-year contract extension under the age of 30. 

The Steelers might have tipped their hand with what they're planning with Worilds when they kept him at left outside linebacker and moved LaMarr Woodley to the other side."

If the Steelers are serious about keeping Worilds, they would almost certainly have to move Woodley -- and we don't mean to the other side of the linebacking corps, but rather off the roster, mainly because of his salary cap hit, which will be significant in any case.

Didn't the Steelers used to win this sort of game?

The one that got away: Charles Clay scores the winning TD
after Troy Polamalu and Cortex Allen failed to bring him down. 

Missed tackles. Blah. Blocked punt. Blah. A Ben Roethlsiberger fumble that led to a Miami touchdown. Poor clock management. Nine penalties. Dropped catches, off-target throws, sloppy play all around.

The Steelers' defense surrendered their 11th play of 50 yards or more this season, and it couldn't have come at a worse time: late in the fourth quarter, when running back Daniel Thomas broke a run for 55 yards on the decisive winning drive where Miami drove 80 yards to score with about three minutes left.

This came after another ineffective punt from Mat McBriar, who bounced one into the end zone for a net of 28 yards. That meant the Dolphins started their drive on the 20-yard line instead of backed up against their goal line.

The Steelers have had punting problems all season, and today was no different. In the first half, Miami blocked a McBriar punt and went on to score a touchdown. The Dolphins won by six points.

Center Cody Wallace played reasonably well.

On the plus side, the offensive line played reasonably well, and that includes third-string center Cody Wallace, who made his first start six seasons into his NFL career, and tackle Mike Adams.

Antonio Brown played well, although he had a drop, and almost won the game at the end had his momentum not carried him out of bounds. That would have been a play for the ages. Emmanuel Sanders had a touchdown catch among his four receptions but had a drop, too.

On defense, Jason Worilds and Cameron Heyward played well.  Also on the plus side, Mike Tomlin stayed on the sidelines.

Who's Calling the Plays?
Le'Veon Bell carried the ball only 16 times (for 63 yards), and had just one carry in the second quarter after gaining 36 yards on nine carries in the first quarter. We could ask why the Steelers didn't try to run the ball more in classic wintry conditions, especially in the second half. In fact, the question was asked of a testy Ben Roethlisberger during his post-game meeting with the media, and his response was a terse "No idea. Coach Haley's over there. You can ask him."

It was a legitimate question, though, and we hope somebody asks Haley, or Tomlin, and actually gets a meaningful answer, but that's not going to happen. Roethlisberger's response, though, just invites more speculation that there may be, and probably is, tension between Roethlisberger and Haley and provides more evidence of a disconnect between the two.

Oh, by the way, Mike Wallace caught only two passes for 19 yards and was not much of a factor. We didn't expect him to be.

Game Day 13: Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers

Warm-weather team visiting a cold-weather city? Joey Porter's Pit Bulls dismiss that. The Dolphins play road games every year in Buffalo, New England and New York (last Sunday, in fact).

Mike Wallace burning a Steelers secondary that has surrendered an astounding 10 plays of 50 yards or more this season? Maybe. But Miami's offense, which hasn't scored 30 points yet this season, simply hasn't been able to put together a vertical game to take advantage of Wallace's speed. Why? don't know. It could be coaching design, or quarterback Ryan Tannehill's unwillingness or inability to throw deep, or the inability of a patchwork offensive line to protect Tannehill, or the ineffectiveness of Miami's running game to set up play action.

Or it might just be Wallace, and the fact that he is a hit or miss player whose performance can be maddeningly erratic.

This season, as noted by the Miami Herald,

"Wallace has only three touchdowns of any length, only two longer than 30 yards, only one on the kind of “go long” routes that open up defenses for everyone else. As far as yards per catch this season, Wallace’s 13.3 barely beats Brian Hartline’s 13.0 yards per catch."

The article containing that quote was headlined, "Mike Wallace Primed to Lead Miami Dolphins," which prompted the immediate thought, "Mike Wallace has been called a lot of things, but 'leader' isn't one of them."

We're not too concerned about Mike Wallace. We're more concerned about Miami's pass rush and ability to take the ball away (16 interceptions in 12 games).

Maybe The Tomlin Two-Step Will be the Spark the Steelers Need

Maybe the Tomlin two-step will be the spark the Steelers need?

Nah. It's probably just as well, however, that so much attention has been paid to Mike Tomlin's Sideline Shuffle instead of the very real problems the team faces.

The Tomlin two-step has been entertaining, that's for sure. Can you imagine that conversation with the missus? Explaining away $100,000 down the drain? Just before Christmas?  Never mind that for somebody with Tomlin's income (over $5 million annually), a $100,000 hit would be roughly equivalent to maybe $700 for a family making about $40,000 a year. No matter. 100K is 100K. Good luck with making up for that missing Christmas stocking, Mike.

Their Pass Rush vs. Our O-Line 

Olivier Vernon sacks the Jets' Geno Smith

On Sunday, the Steelers face a very fine defensive front seven. The Dolphins' offense has yet to score 30 points in a game this year, but its defense has been good.

Miami has two of the NFL's top pass-rushing threats in fifth-year veteran DE Cameron Wake and second-year DE Olivier Vernon, who was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his three-sack performance last Sunday vs. the Jets. Wake has 6.5 sacks; Vernon has 10.5 sacks this season.

Vernon came into the league last year as an undrafted rookie out of the University of Miami. With 14 sacks in his first 28 NFL games, Vernon is emerging as one of those rare gems -- an undrafted free agent who becomes a star. Shades of James Harrison.

Considering the Steelers' shaky offensive line, the pass-rush match-up would appear to favor the Dolphins. That would have been the case even if Pittsburgh were to have its offensive line at full strength. At this point, however, it appears that right guard David DeCastro and left tackle Kelvin Beachum will be hobbled, at best, if they're able to play at all (and it looks like Beachum will not play, which means a hobbled Mike Adams will play left tackle). Add in new center Cody Wallace, the third stringer making his first NFL start, and that is a situation ripe for the Dolphins to exploit.

Naturally, the best way to offset an aggressive pass rush is with a strong running game. Even if Le'Veon Bell plays, however, and let's keep in mind he hasn't yet had a game with 100 yards rushing, the problem with the Steelers running game all year has been that the offensive line just hasn't gotten any push up front.

Considering the current state of the offensive line, running the ball and protecting Ben Roethlisberger could be problematic on Sunday. If anything happens to any of Pittsburgh's offensive linemen during the game, the "next man up" options are limited. There's Guy Whimper and, and, and ... David Snow???

Brent Grimes after picking off an Oliver Luck pass

One the Back End

On the back end of Miami's defense, their secondary's been outstanding with 16 interceptions in 12 games and 43 passes broken up.

The unit is led by 30-year-old cornerback Brent Grimes, the seventh-year veteran out of eastern Pennsylvania's small-school Shippensburg University. Coming off an Achilles injury sustained last year, Grimes signed just a one-year contract with Miami as a free agent after spending his first six years in Atlanta. He would have been a good signing for the Steelers. He has four interceptions and 14 passes defensed.

For all the Steelers have going against them, or maybe because of it, this is the sort of game the Steelers win, traditionally. Then again, this craptastic Steelers season has been anything but traditional.

If you can't say something nice about someone ...

Confusion in Pittsburgh. Ugliness in Miami.

It's been a tough week. Steeler fans are looking for answers and hope. Steeler players are fumbling for excuses.  Steeler coaches -- who knows what they're doing?

The most sort-of interesting thing we heard from Mike Tomlin's weekly news conference on Tuesday was the following statement, which raises more questions than answers:

“I take responsibility for the players we have drafted since I’ve been here, not only in recent drafts, but since I’ve been here. Because it’s the truth.”

Tomlin's statement could be interpreted a couple of ways:

1. Tomlin assumes stewardship of the players drafted by the Steeler' front-office personnel decision-makers and placed under his care -- somewhat like a first-grade teacher "takes responsibility" for the children sent to school for guidance and direction. ... Or ...
2. Tomlin actually has final-say decision-making responsibility for selecting the players in the draft; which would be news to us but not, presumably, to Kevin Colbert, the general manager of the Steelers. In other words, Tomlin decides which players to draft. If so, that might explain some of what appears to be his infatuation with certain players, and why some players either were overdrafted (not to name names) or shouldn't have been drafted at all (not to name names).

As for the ugliness in Miami, ugh. We suspect what's been reported down there occurs to some extent on many other teams across the NFL -- maybe not to that extent, though.  If true, and it sounds like it just might be true, what Richie Incognito allegedly did goes far beyond "hazing" and "bullying."  

It's criminal: Extortion, harassment, terroristic threats, etc., and it sounds like it was (and continues to be) condoned by other players and the coaching staff in Miami. Shame on them. It's tough to see that kind of behavior shrugged off, sanctioned and even institutionalized.

Just another black mark for the NFL, and it is an especially ugly one. What a colossal turn-off for fans even as invested and impassioned as most of us are.