The Steelers Loss Falls On Everyone

After the Steelers embarrassing attempt at playing the sport of football last night I posted on Twitter that Shaun Suisham should not hold ALL of the blame for the Steelers loss.  Below is my exact tweet:

Ppl cant blame suisham alone for this loss...the entire team played like garbage. #Steelers #SteelerNation
— Black n' Gold Blitz (@BnGBlitz) October 27, 2013

Shaun Suisham Can NOT Bare All the Blame For the Loss

After reading the comments I received after that tweet you would have thought that I personally insulted someone's mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, and their grandmother.  Some people on Twitter forget that everyone is entitled to their own opinion...that's a completely different can of worms that I am not going to open here today; however, the purpose for the above tweet was obvious.  Shaun Suisham missed 2 chip shots that when looking at the final score was extremely costly.  However, were those the only 2 mistakes made by the Steelers?  No.  How about the first play from scrimmage going 93 yards for a TD.  How about the blocked punt that lead to a Raiders TD.  How about Antonio Brown's drop on 3rd and 17 that would have extended a drive.  How about Antonio Brown's dropped pass that lead to an interception deep in Raiders territory?  How about having to burn a crucial timeout late in the game...whether thats on Haley or Ben Roethlisberger doesn't matter...it was costly.  How about a defense that had the Raiders pinned at their own 1 foot line and gave up a 3rd down conversion?  Do I need to continue?  Hopefully you get the picture. The final score dictated that the missed FGs were HUGE, and I'm not a Shaun Suisham apologist.  No, he deserves his slice of the "blame pie", but the entire loss can't fall on his shoulders.

No, this loss falls on everyone.  Coaching staff, offense, defense, and special teams.  Mike Tomlin continues to struggle in the time management game, and that was very evident coming down the stretch in the 4th quarter.  One question that still has yet to be answered that I hope gets asked at Tomlin's press conference tomorrow is this: When you convert the 2 point conversion to make the game 21-18 with just under 2 minutes left, why would you not kick the ball deep?  Kicking the ball deep would at least pin the Raiders back in their own end, and as they would run the ball 3 times to try and run out the clock you would at least be getting the ball in position to actually get in FG range.  That, and many other, coaching decisions had me scratching my head.

I obviously glossed over the physical errors on the field that had a hand in the Steelers dropping their 5th game of the season, but for some reason people want to pin this loss on Shaun Suisham.  Some people even want the Steelers to "make an example" of the kicker and release him.  Are you nuts?  The people who put ALL the blame (remember I give Suisham blame, but not all of it) remind me of a golfer that shoots 86 and someone asks why he shot 86 and he responds with, "Well I missed 2 par puts on 9 and 16." and doesn't say anything about the 3 double bogeys that he registered throughout the round.  The Steelers have major issues right now, and ones that aren't easily "fixable".  Oh yeah, don't forget next week the Steelers travel to see Tom Brady and the Patriots in New England.  Should be a fun week.