Steelers vs. Jets Review

I've resisted the urge to post the day of a game up until now, because I always thought that, especially after a loss, my head would not be in the right place.

Well, I think it is tonight. And, plus which, with Thanksgiving coming up, I've got a lot of shit to do this week. So, here we go...

Three things we learned from this game:

1. I know what's wrong with the offensive line in the passing game.
2. We needed a loss like this to re-gain our focus, as we had read too many press clippings (though I'm not vain enough to think that anyone from the Steelers actually reads this).
3. There's something wrong with Willie's knee.

On the first point, I never realized what was up until today. Jeff Hartings used to do all the line calls. Even with a gimpy knee, he still had the ability to say, "You block that guy, you block this guy, you block that guy." For the most part, he was right. He was wrong some of the time, but we're all wrong some of the time. I was wrong about the Jets and their league-worst run defense and my adamant criticism of Tomlin for abandoning the running game. So there you go.

I had never singled out Sean Mahan because I thought he was doing a pretty decent job. Plus which, Ben had been making most of the line calls in the early part of the season, so I thought that was something Mahan didn't have to worry about. Well, at some point, Mahan started to make the line calls... and we need to stop that. Ben needs to take back that responsibility, because I refuse to believe that this offensive line went from being one of the best in the league in 2005 to letting up 11 combined sacks to two of the worst pass-rushing teams in the league in back-to-back weeks. Mahan used to be a guard. He doesn't know how to make line calls. Please. Have mercy. Make him stop. Give the responsibility back to Ben before he gets carted off the field in a stretcher.

Everyone, including myself, is a little bit too enamored with how good we all think this team is. They're good. They are. Despite the fact that they lost today, they're really, really good. They'll still have the #1 defense after today. Ben has still thrown more TD passes than anyone in the league not named Tom Brady, and we still have three talented wide receivers and a great tight end.

But, there will still be times when they suffer some lapses in concentration, they'll tackle as shittily as they did today, and they'll fall victim to the same strategy that the Jets used (spread them out and run the ball). This is all not to mention the fact that we've got one of the worst special teams units in the league.

And, finally, there's something wrong with Willie's knee. I heard about it on the radio the week before the game. He had swelling in it since the beginning of the season. It had been bothering him. He had fluid drained from it every week. I never realized how much it was bothering him until today. He can't jump-cut. At all. One of the things that made Willie so dangerous is that, at any time, he could plant and cut, then either jump to the outside, or explode into the secondary. He can't jump-cut anymore. When Najeh had the ball, he'd bounce it to the outside when he saw the opening, but he couldn't do everything that Willie could do.

So... I'm going to make a Fassel-like prediction: This team is going to the playoffs. Okay? This team is going to the playoffs.

We're going to come out ready against Miami. We're going to be ready for Cincinnati. We probably won't be ready for the Patriots, but oh well. We'll win at least 11 or 12 games and that will be enough to win the division (the Browns will fade).

We need to get the line in order. We need to get the offensive line issues straightened out, starting with Ben. We need to figure out if Willie is fit to play week in, week out. If not, we need to put him on IR. If so, we still need to mix in heavy doses of Najeh and Carey Davis (after all, that's what we have him on the roster for, right?).

We need to take the next six games to figure out what we need to do to win in the playoffs.

And it all starts next week. Fuck this "looking ahead" shit. One week at a time from here on out.