That is little consolation, though.
No one thought the Steelers should win this game, but a lot of people thought they would. I was in that camp and, sadly, that really should be the way we look at things moving forward.
I think there's enough talent on this team, enough veteran leadership, and strong enough coaching for the Steelers to win out and finish a respectable 9-7. Do I think that will happen? No. No I do not.
I've had a number of people come up to me or e-mail me and ask this: "Are the Steelers the worst team in the league right now?" Well, they're not the least talented, but, given who they've played and the results that came from those games, I think you can safely say that the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing the worst football in the NFL right now.
They have major issues. They've had major issues. The issues can be fixed, but, if they haven't been fixed yet, it's fair to ask whether or not they'll magically be fixed by the end of the season.
Mike Tomlin is not a crappy coach and should not be fired and replaced. As I espoused during the Cowher Era, you have to ask yourself the following two questions when you're looking to replace your coach:
- Who's available that's better?
- How quickly would someone snatch Tomlin up if he were fired, even if it meant firing their current coach?
Also, really any guy that could potentially better would have the money and football demands that Cowher does, so that rules out #1.
For #2, I actually think the Chiefs, Raiders, and Browns would all fire their respective coaches and immediately hire Tomlin. And those three teams just beat us. So there you go.
Who's fault is it, then?
Well, for a collapse of this magnitude, you really have to say it's everyone's fault.
Bruce Arians sends everyone deep on every passing play and doesn't use a lot of misdirection in the running game. That strategy worked for the last two seasons to the tune of two division titles and a Super Bowl ring (remember, we did win Super Bowl XLIII, in case anyone forgot), so, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The issue is that it's now broken because the other teams in the league have adjusted, so you need to fix it. But they haven't. So... it's still broke. Arians believed that he could run the ball at will on Thursday night and throw deep all he wanted to on the overmatched Cleveland cornerbacks. The problem is that the Browns did better defending the run than we thought they would and their cornerbacks sure didn't look overmatched to me. We didn't adjust by running more short routes (screen passes to the wide receivers don't count) and we didn't run Fast Willie or Mendenhall to the outside after it was evident that the area between the tackles was all jammed up.
Therefore, that needs to be fixed.
The other issue is that Ben Roethlisberger is pressing too much and trying to throw a 115 yard touchdown pass on every play. He doesn't seem to realize that this is impossible and no one seems to be saying, "Uh, dude, just check it down. There isn't a guy within 15 yards of Mendenhall on every play." That's the big reason he got sacked eight times on Thursday night, but the offensive line wasn't too great, either.
I actually don't think this is the offensive line's fault. I think Ben's doing what he did towards the end of the 2004 season, for most of the 2006 season, and for stretches in 2008. He's trying too hard and he's not letting the game come to him. He's not looking at hot reads and he's constantly looking past guys that are open and trying to hit the guys that are covered and 40 yards down the field.
That needs to be fixed.
We're dropping too many passes and we're experiencing too many brain farts in the passing game. Roethlisberger didn't drop that potential touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, Heath Miller did. And we've had a lot of those recently.
The problem there is that there's really no way to fix that, you just have to hope that it works out, or you have to go get new guys. At this level, you really can't teach a receiver to catch a football. It's kind of like having a sales guy that doesn't want to talk to customers. You either hope he gets over that, or you fire him. There's really no, "Steve, why don't you pick up the phone and call someone?" You can say that again and again, just like you can scream, "Catch the ball, Limas!" again and again, but it's ultimately up to the guy to do his job.
I never thought I'd say this, but Dick LeBeau is not calling enough blitzes. During the losing streak, our cornerbacks have been exposed for what they are. They are who we thought they were. They can't cover guys for four seconds. They just can't. The only way to solve that is to blitz the tits off the opposing quarterback. Sure, you could let up some big plays and some receivers could get behind the coverage... but that's different than what's been happening for the past five weeks... how, exactly? This has been an issue since Kevin Greene was on the team and it's not going away.
Therefore, we need to fix that.
On the personnel side, James Harrison's contribution to the defense is basically to draw holding penalties. I think the guys we have on the defensive line are actually doing a great job. We can still stop the run (for the most part) and that's where the issue stems from if you can't stop the run. Since we're stopping the run, they're cool.
And LaMarr Woodley is quietly having himself one hell of a season. He's getting sacks, making plays all over the field, and he's doing it without offenses paying a lot of attention to Harrison. So... that's a good thing.
Lawrence Timmons isn't ready to be an every down guy. He was fantastic last season when he had to do a few select things really, really well. Now that he has to do a bunch of things adequately, he's failing. But, go back to whether or not we should fire Tomlin and you'll get your answer as to whether or not we should fire Timmons. Give him the rest of the year. Give him the offseason and training camp and the preseason. I think he turns it around in 2010. If not, you've got a sales guy situation, which is untenable and you need to fire him.
Ryan Clark is not as effective without Troy Polamalu back there. I think that's the biggest difference we're seeing in Troy's absence. Clark misses him and it shows. And Ryan Mundy and Tyrone Carter are not bad, they're just not sufficient.
The biggest thing that stands out to me is that James Farrior has taken a pretty precipitous fall from grace. I know he's 100 years old, but he went from great to crappy in like two seconds. I can understand if he doesn't move as well as he used to. It happens after your 95th birthday and I acknowledge that. The problem with Farrior is that he's not adjusting. He's a smart guy. He's got great fundamentals and tremendous instincts. Cal Ripken was able to play shortstop long after he'd lost a step (and didn't really have one to lose) because he was able to do all the little things he needed to do to be in position. Farrior's not doing that and it's starting to erode his game. When was the last time you saw Farrior botch a tackle like he did on the long Cribbs run Thursday night? I can't remember the last time I saw that happen, if it ever has happened. Sadly, he's a sales guy.
The playoffs are off the table. Even if we somehow snuck in, we're not going to the Super Bowl. There are too many issues to fix.
That means we need to take the rest of the season and see how many Tomlins we have and how many sales guys we have. And then make some tough decisions in the offseason.
Casey Hampton's going to be a free agent. So is Aaron Smith. I know I've been talking about it since Tomlin was hired, but maybe next season is when we make the switch to the 4-3. Maybe LeBeau is ready to retire. Maybe Arians needs to go and we need to get a guy -- maybe a guy like Frank Reich -- whose star is on the rise and who is better at dealing with quarterbacks.
Like I said, tough decisions.
But, ultimately, I think we've got a lot of pieces. Despite the fact that Cleveland, Oakland, and Kansas City all schooled us, we've got fewer issues and more pieces than they do overall. The past five games? We've got more issues. Overall, we have fewer issues.
We've got great linebackers, good defensive linemen, and one of the most explosive playmakers in the NFL at safety. We've got a lot of talent at receivers (admittedly, some Tomlins, some sales guys), a franchise quarterback, good running backs, and an underrated offensive line. We've got the Sepulverizer (aka Danny Vulva) and we might still have Jeff Reed in 2010 and beyond (I hope we do).
These guys are better than this. They've played better than this. We've seen them play better than this, as recently as this season.
Tomlin, Arians, and LeBeau didn't suffer concussions a month and a half ago and forget how to coach. They're great coaches, they're just not adjusting to what the other teams are doing as well as they normally do and part of that is because they expect the players to execute better than they have. You can look awfully smart when your players are playing well and awfully dumb when they are playing poorly. As we've discussed, the players are playing poorly right now.
We've got three games left. It's time to see what we've got and how we can get where we want to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment