And... it's over. Farts. Double farts!
We made Bruce Gradkowski look like Ken Stabler -- actually, I don't know that Stabler had a game that was as strong as Gradkowski's throughout the course of his career -- and we made the second-worst run defense in the NFL look like the Vikings (of today and of old). If you look at Mendenhall's numbers, he finished with 103 yards on 20 carries, but he got 60 of those on one carry. So, that means he got 43 yards on his other 19 carries. And he couldn't get it done in short yardage situations.
And we choked in the red zone. And we fell apart in the fourth quarter. The only thing that was missing from this game was a long return allowed by special teams. Otherwise, it was like every other crappy game we've played thus far in 2009.
Take away the fact that a team that just lost four straight now needs to win four straight. Take away the fact that we need to beat four teams that are better than the Raiders and the Chiefs. Take away the fact that we still need a lot of help to make the playoffs as the sixth seed even if we do win out. Take all that away, because a team that's this inconsistent and unfocused does not deserve to make the playoffs.
And that's really it. You can blame Joe Burnett. You can blame William Gay. You can blame the offensive line or Ben (he did throw a red zone interception). You could blame the red zone struggles on both offense and defense. You could blame Ryan Mundy for leading with his helmet. There's plenty of blame to go around.
But, they're not focused. They're not consistent. They lost to teams that are as god-awful as the Raiders and Chiefs. Sure, they beat the Vikings, Chargers, and Broncos. But, that's because they're inconsistent. They still haven't put everything together -- offense, defense, and special teams -- for a full 60 minutes. The running game wasn't there in the second half, but the passing game was on fire. The run defense was actually a little porous against an anemic running attack like the one the Raiders have. For some unknown reason, we decided to stop pressuring Gradkowski and the result was two touchdowns by Louis Murphy.
Yes, Gay looked horrible. Yes, Ike Taylor got exposed and may get benched (and so could Gay and they deserve it). Those things happened, but it's a fundamental aspect of this defense that you need to pressure the quarterback to defend the pass. If the quarterback has time to scan the field, he will find someone and that someone will be more and more open converse to the amount of time the quarterback is able to hold the ball and scan the field. We spend too much money on our front seven (and Troy) to spend much on cornerbacks. And missing Troy hurts. And Tyrone Carter basically had one good game. And Ryan Clark maybe needs Troy to cover for some of his mistakes.
We outgained them. We outran them. We averaged 7.1 yards per play. But we didn't outhustle them. We didn't beat them down and gain 7.1 yards per play on the plays that mattered. And we didn't outexecute them. We got outexecuted by the Oakland Raiders. And the Kansas City Chiefs. And by the Bengals in a BIG way.
And that, my friends, is why we don't deserve to go to the playoffs.
I hope we put some young guys in and see what we have. I hope this is a wake up call for Tomlin and that he stops with his irrational hatred of all rookies. I'd like to see more Ziggy Hood. Even though he has hands of stone, I'd like to see more Joe Burnett. I'd like to see more Mike Wallace -- and it looks like I will because Hines probably won't play on Thursday.
Right now, we're wounded and we're cornered. The next four weeks are going to help determine Mike Tomlin's legacy. And cement Dick LeBeau's legacy. They will determine/cement the legacies of a lot of the guys on this team.
If we close out the season as fractured, inconsistent, and unfocused as we've started it, then we've got serious questions about the future of a lot of these guys and this team. This team is too talented to be 6-6. They're too good to let up 308 yards passing and 27 points to the Raiders. But, that's where we are.
I said previously that November separates the contenders from the pretenders and that December settles everything for January. Looks like we got separated into that "pretender" pile, so we need to settle everything we can settle between now and the end of the season. I think jobs are on the line (for the players), legacies are on the line, and reputations and pride are on the line.
We've got a month to figure out if that means anything to the players and coaches involved.
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