Good News and Bad News: Steelers at Bengals

Given the fact that it was a must-win game, the hated Ravens look shakier than ever, and starting the season 2-4 would've made it extremely difficult for the Steelers to claw their way into the playoffs, I'm very pleased that they won.

Trouble is, there was more bad news in this game than good.

Good news first:

1. Shout out to Ike Taylor!  Tremendous job by Ike.  I will take one catch for eight yards -- even if it was a touchdown -- from AJ Green any day.  Let's hope he keeps it up.  More to the point, let's hope he does somewhere close to as good when these teams play each other again in Week 16.
2. They proved they can win on the road.
3. They proved they protect a fourth quarter lead on the road.
4. They proved they can beat a weak team on the road.  Not entirely sure the Bengals are a weak team just yet, but they looked weak on Sunday night.
5. The offensive line was as solid as I've seen it all season, especially the three guys on the inside (Foster, Colon, and Legursky).  Mike Adams did quite well for his first start and he didn't get as much help from Heath Miller as Chris Collinsworth would have you believe.  Cincinnati has a talented front four and my biggest fear coming into this game was that they'd be able to blow by and out-muscle the replacement guys -- and the regular guys for that matter -- and they'd take over the game.  The starting five on Sunday night didn't allow that to happen and actually turned in a dominant performance.  When you're able to run five or six times in a row and still gain chunks of yardage, the guys up front are doing their jobs.  I don't care if the Bengals came in with a run defense that was ranked in the 20s.  So did the Raiders and Titans, but the Steelers didn't get the kind of push in those games that they got Sunday night.
6. Productive and effective on third down once again, regardless of distance.  The Steelers have converted 53.8 percent of third downs so far this season.  That's a great number for one games, no less through six games.
7. Heath Miller is finally putting up big numbers because the Steelers are finally making a specific effort to get the ball in his hands, and at all depth levels in the route tree.  Good times.  Now, if only they had been feeding him the ball like this since 2005.

Bad News:

1. The penalties, dear God, the penalties.  Special teams was the big loser this week, but it seems like a different unit is wearing the dunce cap every week.  The good news is that special teams penalties are the easiest to fix because the guys that play in the kicking game are the easiest to replace.  Tomlin mentioned in his press conference today that the best way to cut down on dumb penalties is to have the guys that are committing them watching from the sidelines.
2. From the Obvious Department, but I still feel it needs to be said: I would prefer that they do a better job on first down and second down so that they never need to see third down.  It's great that they have the confidence and talent to convert all those third down chances, but it's also not really sustainable.  If they can keep this up, it gives them a big advantage, but I'm thinking they can't.  If they can't keep up that 53.8 percent conversion rate, then they'll be in deep trouble the rest of the season.
3. Zero sacks, two quarterback hits.  They need to get more pressure.  I'm hoping that will come once Woodley and Harrison get healthier, but I'm really not sure.  I think the key will be more blitzes from Timmons and the safeties, but they'd need to get Troy back for that, too.
4. One interception in the end zone, one fumble inside their own 10.  They were able to overcome two pretty costly turnovers, but a better team would've made them pay for those mistakes.
5. Tomlin was the best coach on the field Sunday night, but that's not saying much.  If it hadn't been for the two pointless challenge flags Marvin Lewis threw, Tomlin would've made the dumbest decision of the night.  That would be going for two after that first touchdown.  Kick early, go for two late.  Those are the rules and they are well-tested and have been proven.  They're way better than the chart.  Throw the chart away and stick with that: Kick early, go for it late.  Some say it was a ballsy call, but that's primarily because it worked.  If it hadn't worked, the Bengals would've been down by only six points and could've won it with a touchdown.

There are more items listed under "good news" than there are for "bad news" but the Bad News items are far more cause for worry than the Good News items are cause for celebration.

They had their backs against the wall, they came back on the road, they protected their lead on the the road, and the proved their veteran savvy mettle grit Steelers football (trying to think how many cliche noise words I can stuff into the end of the sentence).

They're also old, the young guys they have a mistake-prone, their receivers (and defenders) drop too many passes, which is another sign of lack of concentration and focus, and they've muddled their way through a pretty easy first six games of the season with a .500 record.  They're lucky that the rest of the division -- and really the rest of the conference -- is just as uneven and disjointed as they are.  That doesn't make them a Super Bowl contender, but it does mean that they can continue to run in place and probably still make the playoffs. 

They just need to make the right plays at the right time, most of the time.  If they want to do better than another one-and-done playoff finish, they need to do better, focus more, and get to the quarterback.