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| This Up and Down Season Has Everyone Looking For Answers... |
Look at the Steelers Injuries this year. They started the year with James Harrison on the shelf and Troy Polamalu joining him early in the season. When James Harrison returns, Lamarr Woodley goes down and Troy Polamalu re-injures a calf that has sidelined him since the Eagles game. It just seems that every time the Steelers are looking at getting "healthy", something happens to completely cause them to take steps backwards. Antonio Brown hurts his ankle in the victory over the Giants, and just when you think the Steelers will be able to withstand that because of an MVP caliber QB, Ben Roethlisberger goes down for an "indefinite" amount of time. When Ben goes down, you assume the Steelers have the best QB depth in the NFL with Byron Leftwich and Charlie Batch. Leftwich BARELY makes it through one game, and Batch looks every bit of 38 years old facing a lowly Cleveland Browns team. Recent injury news that was uplifting was the fact that David DeCastro has been activated from the IR to the 53 man roster, basically sealing him at the RG position...but again, two steps backwards are always following good news. Marcus Gilbert (who everyone thought would be able to return from his ankle injury) was placed on IR. That means that RG Ramon Foster will most likely slide to the RT position as DeCastro takes over at RG. I am excited about DeCastro returning, but I am NOT excited about losing Gilbert for the year.
Its this ebb and flow (or rise and fall) of the Steelers season that has been not only exhausting, but frustrating. It hasn't just occurred with injuries either. Look at their wins and losses. The team is up and down...constantly. The Steelers start off 2-3 and then get hot. They win 4 games in a row, only to lose the next two (and who knows how many more). The team has been one of huge inconsistencies the entire season, and I'm not sure if anyone is really to blame. It just might be the makeup of this team. For crying out loud, the beginning of the season the defense was blowing 4th quarter leads like it was their main objective, and now the defense is playing superb defense and the offense can't score a TD.
Something needs to be done, and unfortunately this all falls on the coaching staff (mainly Mike Tomlin). It isn't all the coaching staffs fault...after all, the players have to go out and actually perform the game plan, but that is the nature of the beast in the NFL. Nothing would "right the ship" better than going into Baltimore and beating the Ravens this Sunday. It will be a tall task, but one that the Steelers need to play their best football. We all know that the way the Steelers played against Cleveland was NOT the team that SteelerNation is accustomed to seeing. If you want a positive spin on this article...if this is a one step forward and take two steps back team, then after the past two weeks the Steelers are due for a step forward. Hopefully that means a must needed win in Baltimore.
Don't agree with your assessment that the upcoming game against the Ravens is a must-win. The race for the AFC North is over. The Steelers path to the playoffs is as a wildcard team only. A loss this week puts them at 6-6. Still right in the thick of the wildcard race. Would a win in Baltimore help the Steeler psyche? Absolutely. But, a must-win? Don't see it.
ReplyDeleteJoe, appreciate the comment. Although I agree with your assessment that this isn't a true MUST WIN game, it is a game that if the Steelers win will put them in the driver's seat for the playoffs. I realize the AFC North is essentially out of reach, but if they lose on Sunday, they will need to almost win out to leave the playoffs in their hands...then again, anything can happen any given Sunday.
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