Good News and Bad News: Chiefs at Steelers

At the end of regulation, Weidman turned to me and we had the following conversation.

Weidman: Here's what's going to happen: Chiefs win the toss, they elect to receive, then they finally play like the Chiefs and turn the ball over.  Suisham wins it with a field goal.

Me: Turnover could also be a pick six.  That also works.

Weidman: No.  Suisham needs to win it.  That's what needs to happen.

Me: OK, then.  That works, too.

The game played out exactly as Weidman had foreseen it.  That was the coolest thing that happened last night.

Sure, the Steelers won, which was cool.  But, it was cool like finding out that the girl you hooked up with at the bar last month isn't pregnant.  Or cool like discovering that the Check Engine light in your car came on because it had been more than six months since your last oil change.  It's more a feeling of relief than anything.

Good news first:

1. A win is a win.  Lest you forget, I am always here to point that fact out, especially after an especially ugly victory.
2. The Steelers committed fewer penalties and allowed fewer sacks than Kansas City.  I don't care if the Chiefs are 1-7, that's still something that's good to keep track of, especially this season.
3. Even though the defense didn't force turnovers in the quantities we expected, they got one when it really mattered.
4. You can talk all you want about how the defense choked and allowed a 4th and 15 conversion that led to Kansas City tying the game, but they also held Matt Cassel to a 46 quarterback rating and held Jamaal Charles in check in the second half.  The game could've gotten out of hand early in the first or midway through the third, but the defense didn't allow that to happen.
5. Lawrence Timmons is having himself one hell of a season.
6. Looks like Ben Roethlisberger isn't done for the season, which is kind of what I expected to hear this morning after watching his right arm dangle at his side as he left the field last night.

Bad News:

1. They didn't run the ball effectively.  That allowed the secondary to play tight on the Steelers receivers, which allowed the cornerbacks to fill in hard in run support, which led to even less effective running.  I think it was a combination of a strong effort by the Chiefs defensive line, a lackluster performance by the interior of the Steeler offensive line, and the fact that Mike Tomlin benched Isaac Redman after he fumbled in the first quarter.  Redman came back, but neither he nor Jonathan Dwyer was able to find a rhythm.  It was a little bit of all those factors, but deciding to take Redman out was the only thing that could really be controlled.  I think it held the running game back, but I might also just be mad because Redman's on my fantasy team and I needed another big game out of him.
2. Jon Gruden was droning on about the fact that the Chiefs were carving the left side of the Steeler defense up in the run game.  At least he was in the first half, when they were.  In the second half, when Ziggy Hood started staying in his lanes and engaging two blockers by shooting the gap like he's supposed to, Gruden didn't mention why they were no longer having success on that side.  Hood didn't suddenly forget what he was supposed to do, he's just inconsistent.  Gap discipline and tackling fundamentals had been two strong areas for the defense the last month.  In the first half, they weren't there, which is part of the reason Kansas City jumped to a 10-0 lead. Again, not taking anything away from the Chiefs offensive line, but that's part of the reason they were successful.
3. With five minutes remaining in the third quarter, Byron Leftwich decided he wanted to throw a pass.  He's still winding up.  Dear God, it takes forever for that man to throw a football.  With the way the protection has been against quality pass rushers, that's going to be an issue.  Oh, hey, look at that!  They play the hated Ravens next week.
4. They're going to have trouble throwing the ball and running the ball without Roethlisberger in the line-up, as evidenced by their production on offense in the second half.
5. One turnover forced in 4+ quarters, zero turnovers forced in regulation, against one of the most generous offenses in the history of the NFL.
6. Really, I could nit pick about a dozen or so different things, but the important thing is that the Chiefs managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and the Steelers got a win.

Roethlisberger hurt his shoulder and no one -- not even the doctors, because that's what tests and MRIs are for -- knows for sure how bad it is and how long he's going to be out.  It doesn't look like something that could land him on injured reserve, but it's definitely not a minor injury and could be a nagging issue (like Troy's calf this season and Woodley's hamstring last season).

As much as I like to kid Leftwich for taking 35 minutes to wind up and throw a pass and Charlie Batch for being 100 years old, they're not bad quarterbacks.  Earlier today, I was talking to a couple of guys I work with and I described Leftwich as "about average" and Batch as "not awesome."  What exactly that means is up for interpretation (hi there, Comments section!), but there's no getting around this fact: Neither of those guys is anywhere near as good as Ben Roethlisberger.

They'll be able to win some games with Leftwich or Batch under center -- they may, possibly, even be able to split with Baltimore -- but they're not winning the division with those guys and they're definitely not making a playoff run without Roethlisberger.

Basically, the really bad news is that we all just have to wait and see just how bad Ben's shoulder is hurt and how long it will take for him to come back.

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.