Wild Card Review

Okay, I was a little bit busy since the game, but I wasn't that busy. I was a little bit pissed and disappointed, but I wasn't that pissed and disappointed (think about it -- it was a great game -- if the Giants-Bucs game turned out like this one, you would have watched it and thought, "Wow. That was a nice, exciting game.")

I've held off writing about it because as soon as I write about it, the season's over. Sure, we've got some Divisional Round games and possibly one of the greatest Conference Championship Games Ever coming up, but the season's over.

I mean, I saw the outcome coming. The only thing that kept us in the game was that we put it on Ben. Say what you want about his three interceptions: The man delivered and we would've been totally screwed and completely blown out at home had it not been for his efforts in the third and fourth quarters.

Strangely, everyone seems to be pissed at Tomlin (or, at least, they were -- "everyone" has pretty much calmed down and moved on at this point, since it was only the Wild Card and no one really expected much) for the two point conversions. Now, I realize that it was completely idiotic to go for it on what amounted to fourth and goal from the 12 when only down by 5, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Really. Seriously. Sit there and try to believe that the Steelers defense would've stopped Jacksonville with a 31-28 lead. The final would probably have been 35-31. The defense had made their stand to help the offense come back and they were done. When the Sepulverizer booted that shitty punt right down the middle of the field with four minutes left, I pretty much knew it was over. At 4th and 2 I knew it was over. That didn't stop me from screaming at the TV and getting pissed when Garrard gained 30 more yards than he needed to, but really, I knew it was over.

When push comes to shove, this defense gets thrown all over the place. When a team really wants to score, they do. It's that simple. We coasted to the #1 overall defense (in terms of yardage, not points) because we played crappy offenses like San Francisco and Buffalo, the Jets, Miami in a monsoon, Baltimore twice, Cincinnati twice (they had too many injuries on the o-line and were a shadow of their former selves this season), we played the Rams, we played Cleveland once before they found their offensive mojo and, in the second game, gave up 600 yards in returns so the offense didn't need to move the ball to score. In games where it mattered, where the other team really wanted it, we got pushed around.

The offensive line blows. They can't run block, they can't pass block, and, every time they needed to shove the ball down the other team's throat and kill clock (or score from inside the five), they couldn't do it. It's a sad commentary on Steelers football, but this is now a team that needs to throw the ball to score in the red zone. Ben didn't get 32 TD passes by accident, he got them by necessity... and Fast Willie ended up with only two rushing touchdowns for the season, despite the fact that he had roughly 4,315 carries.

And, special teams are freakin' terrible. Lots of return yards given up, bad angles, slow, confused dudes running down the field on kickoffs and puts, and absolutely no one that scares the opposing team to return the ball. Terrible. Just terrible. I wonder what Bobby April's up to? Or Sean Morey. Or Randel-el. Or even Will Blackmon.

So, basically, this is a team with a franchise QB, a great RB, some very talented WRs, some young talent and depth in the secondary, and a lot of warts. Tomlin and his staff realize this. They understand that they took advantage of a soft schedule and some good timing to win the division and go to the playoffs.

Look for them to keep what they have that's working and get rid of what they have that isn't.

Look for this to be the off-season of change that we were expecting when Cowher retired and Tomlin was named head coach.

Look for the Steelers to not retain Clark Haggans or Aaron Smith. Look for them to seek out defensive tackles and defensive ends that fit the 4-3 defense that Tomlin likes to run. Look for Dick LeBeau to retire and hand the keys over to Tomlin... there are a bunch of good defensive coordinators out there. Dom Capers comes to mind...

Look for them to trade Casey Hampton. Look for them to start making the transition to the 4-3 hard and fast. Faneca will obviously not be retained. Most likely, they'll be able to pick up Max Starks on the cheap after he shops his injured body around the free agent market and finds there aren't greener pastures.

Lawrence Timmons and Lamar Woodley will emerge. Foote and Farrior will fade away. We'll become an offensive team that uses a lot of exotic formations, a lot of tight ends, and runs the ball to "mix it up" after we've set up the run with the pass... kinda like we've done all year.

The team is going to go through a major overhaul and, we'll probably see a losing record next season in what will truly be the "re-building" year for this franchise. But, ya know what? I'm not really upset about it. The dominant teams in the league right now (and probably for the next 8-10 years) are offensive teams that play just enough defense to win.

And, really, I'm fine with the defense having the mentality of, "As long as we hold the other team to 20 points, we're gonna win." I'm totally cool with that. One of the reasons that the Patriots, Colts, and Cowboys rank so well in overall defense (points allowed, not yardage) is because the opposing team immediately feels the need to score as many points as possible. They press, they rush, they go no huddle, they go for it on fourth down, they try to do as many different risk-heavy things as possible to keep the ball or score points. They ultimately end up taking too many risks and shoot themselves in the foot. We need to start putting that kind of pressure on opposing teams. And, we'll be able to do that if we can somehow fix the offensive line or at least make it serviceable enough so that Ben isn't a complete sitting duck.

Now, I'm gonna be back with Playoff Predictions, more than enough draft stuff, and plenty of other things in the off-season. I just wanted to prepare everyone. It's going to be a bumpy ride.