Good News and Bad News: Steelers at Chiefs

I was talking to a co-worker about the game this morning.  He's from Argentina and follows soccer a lot more closely than he follows the NFL, but I thought he summed last night's game up nicely.  He said, "The Steelers sucked last night.  Fortunately, the Chiefs sucked even more."  That's about all the information you really need, but you can read on if you want to check out the good news and the bad news.

Good News first...

1. They won.  And, gosh darnit, a win is a win.  They'll need to keep winning games in which they suck, because the hated Ravens don't look like they're going to go away any time soon.  Baltimore plays Cleveland twice, Indy, at San Diego, and at Cincinnati the rest of the season.  The Steelers also draw Cleveland twice, Cincy once, and they get to play the Rams, but they also have to travel to San Francisco to play the 49ers on a Monday night.  If the season ended today, the hated Ravens would win the division and the Steelers would be the #5 seed.  The only way to improve that seeding is to win out and hope Baltimore drops another game.
2. They forced four turnovers.  I don't care that Tyler Palko played a horrible game and basically gift wrapped three of the turnovers.  The defense still took advantage of the opportunities that were presented to them and they haven't been the most opportunistic bunch thus far this year.  One of those turnovers closed out the game, which has also been an issue since about Super Bowl XLIII.
3. Max Starks did a great job against Tamba Hali.  I'm not sure what got into him.  Maybe it was being unemployed and out of shape that lit a fire under him.  I've been unemployed and out of shape before and I don't recall improving this much in a two month period, but whatever.  I'm happy that he's in at left tackle and playing well.
4. Ike Taylor continues to impress.  He had another great game with four tackles, an interception, and two passes defended.  Yes, one of those "passes defended" was an interception that went through his hands and bounced off his facemask, but we all knew going into this game that Taylor can't catch.  What was particularly impressive to me was that he accomplished everything he accomplished in man coverage and he was generally assigned to Kansas City's hottest receiver all game.  He lined up across from Steve Breaston and Dwayne Bowe at different points in the game, depending on who Dick LeBeau thought was going to get targeted.  In general, Palko was smart enough to avoid Taylor, which means his hottest receiver was unavailable to him for most of the evening.  That's a pretty nice weapon for LeBeau to have in his arsenal.
5. Suisham converted both his field goal attempts.  Jeff Reed is still available.

Now for the Bad News:

1. The box score says that the Chiefs had one sack and four quarterback hits.  If you saw that and didn't watch the game, then checked Steelers N At and saw that Starks played well against Hali, then you'd think that the offensive line had a good game and Ben Roethlisberger wasn't pressured all that much.  Fortunately, we both watched the game and we've gotten to the Bad News section of the post, so we can dispel that misguided assumption.  The offensive line sucked.  Without Pouncey to make the line calls and fortify the middle of the line, they got shredded up the middle and Roethlisberger was dodging defenders all night.  Really, the only pass rushing weapon the Chiefs have is Hali.  Stop him and you're supposed to stop their pass rush.  Given the fact that Hali was stopped and the pass rush still harassed Roethlisberger all night, we had all better hope that Pouncey doesn't miss a significant amount of time.  The interior of the offensive line got abused by a bunch of marginal players.  That's very, very bad news considering that they don't play a lot of teams with marginal players on the defensive interior the next few weeks and they certainly won't face any in the playoffs.
2. I really have no idea what was going on with the offensive game plan.  This is not to take anything away from the Kansas City defense, because they played extremely well, hung in there, and didn't have any lapses in coverage like they did against the Patriots.  I know Mike Wallace didn't play well -- he had two drops, looked like he quit on a few other routes, and was not a very enthusiastic blocker -- but you still need to get him the ball.  If the defenders are giving him a 10 or 11 yard cushion, throw some slants or some quick screens.  If they crowd him at the line, throw deep.  This is a strategy that also works for Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown.  All three of those guys are fast and explosive and are dangerous in the open field.  Hines Ward is no longer that guy, if he ever was.  Why throw a bunch of those quick screens to him when you have Brown, Wallace, and Sanders?  Why keep trying to throw deep to Wallace when two members of the secondary are essentially lined up at the goal line?  Bruce Arians has never been great at making in game adjustments, but the two adjustments he made -- the screens to Ward and putting Wallace in motion to get him away from Brandon Flowers -- were bad ideas and also didn't work.  It could be that Roethlisberger was supposed to audible to a screen or a slant or a 10 yard out when he saw the cornerbacks playing off and never did.  But, if he missed that the first time, it's up to Arians or quarterbacks coach Ken Anderson to remind him.
3. They turned the ball over twice, with one of those turnovers coming in the red zone.
4. They were 1-for-3 in the red zone, including the aforementioned turnover.
5. I'm concerned about the illness that got Pouncey pulled from the game.  Is it just the flu?  Is it something worse?  Does he have Lupus?  It's just weird that team doctors said, "illness" instead of just saying that he had the flu.  I guess we'll check the injury report on Wednesday and see if this mysterious ailment still has him sidelined.  I'm just suspicious because the Steelers are keeping everyone in the dark, which only adds to the conjecture.  Whatever the illness is, I'd prefer that they just tell us and get it over with.
6. I'm more concerned about Troy's injury.  If it was a concussion or "concussion-like symptoms" (whatever that means) that kept him out of the game, then maybe he should shut it down for a few games.  He's got a history with brain injuries going all the way back to Southern Cal and you only get one brain.  Ever since Crosby took an extended leave because of his concussion injuries, I've been thinking that football players should be treated even more gingerly.  Sure, they wear better helmets and more padding than hockey players, but the guys they're hitting and getting hit by are bigger and stronger.  Again, I'm not a doctor, but I'm thinking the Steelers should err on the side of caution and not rush him back, even if he keeps insisting on it.  I'd rather see him out of the line-up than become a vegetable or lose his mind like Mike Webster did.
7. According to the stats, Jason Worilds had the team's only sack and four quarterback hits.  To me, he looked really uncomfortable and awkward when he had to rush the passer.  I can't wait for LaMarr Woodley to come back.

The bottom line is that they needed to win to keep pace and they won and kept pace.  They can't play this sloppily against the Bengals and hope to win.  They can't play this sloppily again this season if they expect to win -- not even against the Browns or the Rams.

Let's just hope they keep sucking a little bit less than the competition.