Forbes Avenue » Pittsburgh Steelers

William Gay’s Law

griffn — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:00:49 +0000

Titans running back Chris Johnson’s 89-yard touchdown run against the Jags leads to the discovery of a new law of physics:

It’s never really a surprise to see [Chris Johnson] outrun defenders to the end zone, since the man has 4.24 speed. But if he’s going to lower his helmet and run over NFL safeties…well, that’s just unfair. When you watch the video of his 89-yard fourth quarter TD, note the way he dismisses Brian Russell. Mass + acceleration = shame. (That’s commonly known as William Gay’s Law, in honor of this play).

Definitely click through to watch the videos.

What’s wrong with Matt Forte?

griffn — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:53:07 +0000

A buddy of mine e-mailed me earlier this week to ask if he should drop Matt Forte in his fantasy football league in order to pick up Rashard Mendenhall, and his reasoning was surprisingly sound: Mendenhall and Forte were both drafted in 2008, Mendenhall went in the first round, Forte went in the second, therefore there’s no reason to believe that Mendenhall isn’t actually the better running back. Hard to argue with that.

First things first though, unless you’re playing in a four-team league, there’s no reason why Mendenhall should still be on your waiver wire. He’s the Steelers unquestioned #1 running back, his 5.4 yard per carry average is third among the NFL’s 15 leading rushers. and he’s got 430 all-purpose yards and 4 TDs since taking over four games ago. If you project his rushing numbers out over the first three games that he basically didn’t play in, he’d be third in the league in rushing, 25 yards behind Adrian Peterson. In other words, yeah, pick him up off the wire.

But the notion that you would put Matt Forte– a guy who I had ranked as the #2 running back in fantasy football at the beginning of the season and called “the safest bet of any running back this year”– on the waiver wire is a different story. I realize the situation is desperate for Forte owners. He’s only scored 1 TD in the first seven games. He’s currently 25th in the NFL in rushing yards and 30th in fantasy points, just above Tashard Choice (who has started only one game this year). So how does a guy who put up 1,700 yards and 12 TDs as a rookie take such a huge step backwards in his sophomore year? What’s wrong with Matt Forte?

Brad Evans at Yahoo! wrote a column this week that gave the most comprehensive answer I’ve seen to the Forte question, and it basically comes down to three factors:

1) Chicago’s despicable offensive line. Sans the Detroit game, the trench hogs up front have emitted a rancid odor. The left side of the line anchored by Orlando Pace and Frank Omiyale has routinely been manhandled. The downtrodden tandem has failed to create consistent push. …

2) Decrease in workload. Throughout the offseason and into training camp the Bears’ coaching staff expressed their desire to trim down Forte’s burdensome workload to ensure longevity. Last season, he griped the rock 23.7 times per game. This season that average has decreased to 19.0. Even if his yards per touch elevated up to ‘08’s level (’08: 4.5, ‘09: 4.1), he would still finish nearly 350 total yards shy of last year’s mark.

3) Play-calling. The opposite of what most pundits argued preseason, Cutler has actually been more of a hindrance than help for the running game. Offensive coordinator Ron Turner has leaned on the arm of his prized quarterback, calling 6.5 percent more pass plays than with Kyle Orton a season ago. More worrisome for Forte owners, Cutler leads the league in pass attempts inside the 10 (21), which has led to a downturn in goal-line rushes for the marquee back.

Cutesy sums up Turner’s play-calling in the red zone. Instead of designing plays to utilize his back’s tacky hands, he’s installed riskier fades and corner routes. So far this season, Forte has netted just 7.3 percent of the team’s targets inside the 20, down from 16.9 percent a year ago. Overall, his role in the passing game is nearly identical to last year, but he’s being underused in critical situations. All four of his receiving TDs a year ago were scored inside the 10.

Notice that none of these issues has anything to do with Forte himself. He’s healthy, he’s running relatively well, and his per-touch averages in rushing and receiving are pretty much in line with what he did last year. That’s important, because it’s the difference between someone who has a chance to turn things around and someone like LaDainian Tomlinson or Brian Westbrook who is just physically losing the tools to repeat past performances.

The issues Forte is dealing with is that his offensive line has gotten worse, he’s getting fewer carries, and he’s become a distant second option in the red zone to the Bears shiny new toy (Cutler). Is there a chance that any of these factors could turn around? Yes. Orlando Pace isn’t getting any younger, so Forte will probably have to continue working around that offensive line. But the Bears coaching staff may very well respond to their two-game losing streak by giving Forte more carries, and they may respond to their 20th ranked scoring offense by getting Forte more involved in the red zone. The Bears’ overreliance on Jay Cutler and those CFL-caliber wide receivers isn’t working, so a midseason change back to last season’s game plan isn’t at all out of the question.

Keep in mind that the Bears schedule is on the tough side from here on out, but there’s no reason why Forte can’t return to last season’s form or very near to it, starting this Sunday against Cleveland’s 31st ranked rush defense. And last season’s form had him equal in fantasy points to Adrian Peterson. Also keep in mind that DeAngelo Williams had 4 TDs at this point last year, then beasted for 16 more in the last half of the season. Dramatic midseason turnarounds do happen in the NFL. In other words, no, don’t drop Matt Forte.

Steelers-Vikings Week 7 postgame: Drinking Brett Favre’s milkshake

griffn — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:00:08 +0000

Steelers 27, Vikings 17

▪ For the two people out there who actually care, sorry for the 24-hour delay, but I spent Sunday afternoon lounging on the beach with the in-laws and diligently avoiding the score of the Steelers game so I could watch it later on tape delay. Back when I was living in Pittsburgh, trying to avoid game spoilers was impossible unless you physically barricaded yourself alone in a dark room. For a good three or four hours after the game, Pittsburghers typically walk down the street shouting the outcome for little or no reason at all. And in situations where shouting isn’t appropriate, they find ways to work it into the conversation. “Would you like paper or plastic, sir, to celebrate the Steelers 27-17 victory over the Vikings this afternoon?”

▪ Before we get to the good stuff, let’s get my weekly RTFF rant out of the way (aka “Run The F***ing Football”). On the first play of the Steelers first possession, Rashard Mendenhall carried the ball for 14 yards. He got just three more carries the rest of the half. He got 10 carries the entire game despite averaging nearly 7 yards per carry, and none after his fumble with 14 minutes left. Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that Mendenhall jumping over the pile at the 5 yard line on 1st and goal was incredibly boneheaded to the point of being hilarious. But guess what, Coach. Running backs fumble the football, just like quarterbacks throw interceptions. That doesn’t mean you take the ball away from your best players. And there’s simply no reason why a guy who is routinely ripping off double-digit runs should only touch the ball 10 times.

▪ Speaking of RTFF, when the Vikings had 1st and goal from the 1, can somebody please explain to me why Adrian Peterson only got one carry? So you’re telling me you don’t think the best running back in the league can get one yard on three carries? Is that what you’re saying to me, Brad Childress? I understand Brett Favre has the hot hand right now, but come on. The Vikings didn’t deserve the three points they got out of that sequence.

▪ Ben Roethlisberger didn’t play well and only threw for 175 yards (all the more reason why giving Mendenhall 10 carries is ridiculous), Hines Ward– the NFL’s leading receiver going into Sunday– only caught one pass for 3 yards, and the Steelers still beat the Vikings by 10 points. At the risk of sounding like a hack commentator, this is a team that can beat you in a lot of different ways.

▪ It’s amazing how dominant LaMarr Woodley is when he’s not being blocked. He only had one tackle, but he ran a fumble recovery back for a touchdown and he was drinking Brett Favre’s milkshake all day. I for one think more teams should deploy the strategy of having their right tackle completely ignore the Steelers outside pass rush.

▪ I don’t think I’ve mentioned James Harrison more than a time or two in these postgame posts. So, yeah, he’s quietly on pace for 18 sacks this season.

▪ I think it’s pretty clear at this point that Troy Polamalu is more valuable to the Steelers defense than Aaron Smith, in case anyone was debating that. Which I doubt anyone was.

▪ The Steelers defense outscored the Vikings offense. Let that one marinate.

▪ I’m as big a Jeff Reed apologist as there is. I really don’t care in the least how many drunk college girls he splits the uprights with, as long as he makes the kicks on Sunday. With that said, he probably punched his ticket out of Pittsburgh by getting arrested last weekend. And then got that ticket validated by the half-hearted love tap he gave Percy Harvin on Mr. Harvin’s way to the end zone. It’s not a kicker’s job to make tackles, but it is their job not to get shaken off like a drunk college girl.

Good Morning Forbes

negrostotle — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:00:54 +0000

Is it pee? Is it sweat? I’m guessing pee, based on the devious look on the kid’s face. (via DailyHaha)

Jeff Reed. Defender of Public Urination.

Apparently, no one can let the Steve McNair story die.

Rihanna has a new song and video coming out. And she’s wearing an eye patch. I’ll withhold judgment.

Apparently, not everyone loved Where the Wild Things Are.

Coming this weekend to a theater near you: a full-length trailer to James Cameron’s Avatar.

Just as everyone predicted, Jay Leno is killing the ratings of local NBC affiliates.

Some guy reprogrammed a level on Super Mario World to propose to his girlfriend, spelling out the question in coins. Incredibly, she said yes.

Good Morning Forbes

Steelers-Browns Week 6 postgame: “Subpar performance”

griffn — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:00:19 +0000

Steelers 27, Browns 14

▪ Not that they have much control over it, but the combined record of the opponents the Steelers have beaten this year is 4-18, and they haven’t looked all that impressive doing it. It’s worth noting that the same 0-6 Titans team who lost by 59 points to the Patriots yesterday took the Steelers into overtime in Heinz Field, that the Lions were marching for a game tying touchdown in the 4th quarter, and that the Browns had the score at 17-14 in the 3rd quarter yesterday. A few NFL observers have praised Ben Roethlisberger’s attitude for saying the offense put up a “subpar performance” on a day when he threw for 400 yards. But I don’t think there’s a trace of phony sports humility in that at all. I think he realizes– in the midst of a 4-2 record and a personal career year– exactly how bad the Steelers competition has been and how much work still needs to be done.

▪ There should be some concern that Joshua Cribbs averaged 7.5 yards a carry out of the Wildcat formation. The Steelers aggressive run defense was biting on fakes and over-pursuing east to west all day, and that might be a problem when the Dolphins come to town in Week 17 (assuming that game is meaningful). Might be a problem next week if the Vikings use Percy Harvin in that role. But what in the world was Eric Mangini thinking letting Cribbs throw?

▪ There should be a little less concern over Cribbs’ 98-yard kickoff return. He returned two touchdowns in Heinz Field last year, so just the one this time is an improvement. Also, Steelers special teams coverage has been generally solid.

▪ I thought Troy Polamalu was done for another few weeks when he came up limping after that interception. He was supposed to play with a knee brace but ditched it in pregame warm-ups.

▪ I’m kind of conflicted as to whether Hines Ward’s touchdown catch that was overturned was actually a catch. By the letter of the rule, the call was correct. He caught the ball in bounds, rolled out of bounds, and lost control of the ball halfway through his roll. Forcing receivers to control the ball all the way to the ground– even when they’re out of bounds– is generally a good rule. On the other hand, forcing receivers to control the ball after catching it, getting both knees down, going out of bounds, and executing a complete 360 degree roll is a little extra. Sometimes refs need to just look at the play and ask themselves, did he catch the football or not?

▪ The one call I do have a gripe with is Rashard Mendenhall’s fumble. He was lying on his back for a good two seconds before one of the Browns linebackers came over and ripped the ball out. Whether he was lying on top of other players or not is irrelevant. What ever happened to blowing the whistle after forward progress has been stopped?

▪ One thing that’s not going to show up in the stats sheet is that Mendenhall is doing a lot of little things right. He did an outstanding job picking up the corner blitz on Roethlisberger’s 52-yard touchdown pass to Ward. I bet Mike Tomlin was more impressed with that block than he was with Mendenhall’s 77 yards and a touchdown.

▪ And somebody please tell CBS announcer Solomon Wilcots the name is pronounced Mendenhall, not “Mendinghall.” You could tell it was driving his booth-mate Kevin Harlan nuts, because he kept emphasizing the second syllable (“MenDENhall takes the handoff…”), hoping Wilcots would eventually catch on. He never did.

▪ Mike Wallace is really, really fast. I’m curious as to why he’s not back there with Stefan Logan returning kicks.

▪ The fact that Pro Bowl voters don’t take blocking into account when picking tight ends is stupid, considering that it’s half the job. There are a few tight ends who are basically fat wide receivers who can’t block, but they put up numbers and make the Pro Bowl. Heath Miller is more like an offensive lineman who can catch, get open, and run people over with or without the ball. He’s also second in the league among tight ends in receptions and touchdowns. He won’t make the Pro Bowl, but he should.

▪ Lawrence Timmons had two sacks and he forced fumbles on both of them. I know it’s just the Browns, but those are the kind of impact plays the defense hadn’t been making this season. On the first fumble, the Steelers had 7 guys in the box, all standing up and in no particular position. They rushed 5, dropped 2, and Timmons came free on the corner for the sack. Credit to Dick LeBeau; there’s really no good way to defend against that.

▪ Oh, and the Browns didn’t score the last 26 minutes of the game. That’s how you close it out. Still too much throwing with a lead for my taste though.

▪ The next three weeks are the Vikings (6-0) at home, a bye, and the Broncos (5-0) in Denver. Basically, it’s the equivalent of a playoff run in the middle of the season. Should be a good barometer of exactly how good the Steelers are compared to the elite level teams of both conferences.

Good Morning Forbes

negrostotle — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:00:28 +0000

No…pimpin’ ain’t easy…but its something that I got to do (via College Humor)

Wisely avoiding a public relations nightmare, the group bidding for the St. Louis Rams franchise has dropped Rush Limbaugh.

Some 9-year-old kid in Boston scores what has to be the greatest goal in Peewee hockey history.

The Steelers run defense is about to get mediocre. DE Aaron Smith is out for the season.

In the gutsiest marketing move of the year, Family Guy will air a half-hour comedy special devoted entirely to promoting Microsoft’s Windows 7.

Gizmodo sums up Barnes and Noble’s new e-reader: part Kindle, part iPhone. Crunch Gear thinks it’s too good to be true.

Sean Hannity on the Nobel Peace Prize: “Frankly, I would’ve given it to George Bush.”

Maurice Jones-Drew…mad about the Jaguars running game, and using lots of analogies.

Steelers-Lions Week 5 postgame: Getting a little greedy

griffn — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:00:50 +0000

James Harrison stole Daunte Culpepper's lunch money.

Steelers 28, Lions 20

▪ It’s always nice to get a win on the road, but it’s incredible to me how bad this Steelers team is at playing with a lead. There’s simply no reason why the Detroit Lions, playing without starting quarterback Matt Stafford and #1 wide receiver Megatron, should have been marching down the field in the fourth quarter for the tying touchdown. Our defense bailed us out with three straight sacks, but it should never have come to that.

▪ And here, once again, is my weekly rant about the Steelers second half play calling. It’s the fourth quarter, ten minutes left, Steelers are up by 15 with the ball at midfield. Rashard Mendenhall is averaging 7 yards a carry up to this point. So, what’s the play call? Three straight passing plays, two of them out of a shotgun, resulting in two sacks, -4 yards, and a ridiculous 1 minute 57 seconds run off the clock. Furthermore, after gaining 65 yards in the first half, Mendenhall only got 6 carries in the second. You can maybe get away with that against the Lions, but teams that don’t suck (like the Chargers and Bears) will stage a comeback off that kind of idiotic play calling.

▪ After the game, Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians seemed to realize that the Steelers threw way too much in the second half: “We scored so quick in the third quarter when we had the ball and then we hit a lull,” Arians said. “We sat there for a while on the bench and I think we lost our rhythm. I got a little greedy there trying to hit the home run ball.” This gives me some hope that the fact that they’ve won the last two games hasn’t completely blinded them to how bad the play calling has been.

▪ Mike Wallace isn’t the best receiver on the Steelers roster; that’s still Hines Ward. But I’m halfway wondering if he isn’t better than Santonio Holmes. They both go over the middle well, they both have great hands, but Wallace is faster. Holmes, of course, has proven himself on the big stage (though hasn’t shined as brightly on the small one), and I recognize that he draws a lot of coverage away from Ward and Heath Miller over the middle. But over the past three games, Holmes has caught 9 passes for 120 yards and 0 TDs, while Wallace has caught 11 passes for 207 yards and 1 TD in significantly less playing time. And if Wallace doesn’t drop that pass in the second quarter, he’s got another 72 yards and a touchdown. I’m not saying Holmes and Wallace should switch places on the depth chart, but I think we should definitely see a lot more three WR sets.

▪ For the second time in three games, Ben Roethlisberger threw a touchdown pass to the other team. This time, he took the snap, looked briefly over the middle to draw the defense, then fired it outside to Mike Wallace without checking to see if he was actually open. He was bailed out of another interception by a roughing the passer penalty (a good call, by the way), badly underthrew Wallace on that deep touchdown pass, and fumbled on a botched handoff he never should have attempted. But other than those few miscues, he was near flawless. He bounced back from the pick-six by completing his next 13 passes in a row.

▪ I get the feeling the Steelers coaches don’t yet trust Rashard Mendenhall, despite the fact that he’s clearly the best running back on the roster– especially with Willie Parker slowed by a case of turf toe. Their trust might have been eroded further by that bad handoff exchange from Roethlisberger. It wasn’t Mendenhall’s fault, but he was through the hole and three yards down the field before he realized he didn’t have the ball. This was probably part of the reason he only got six carries in the second half. I think whenever Parker comes back, possibly next week, he’ll go back to getting the majority of the carries until circumstances dictate otherwise. If it was up to me, Mendenhall’s the starter and Parker comes out the bullpen every third or fourth series.

▪ Some time around the half, I was thinking that if it wasn’t for James Harrison, the Steelers defense would be downright mediocre. In retrospect, I don’t think that’s entirely true. At the half, they had held Kevin Smith to 19 yards rushing and the Detroit offense to six points– both a team effort. But it’s incredible how much better Harrison is than everyone else on the field. On a day when the defense racked up 7 sacks, Harrison had 3 of them.

▪ LaMarr Woodley doubled his pathetic season total with three tackles in the game. But he also got in on a couple crucial sacks late in the game– the first time he’s gotten a quarterback down this season. Blogging for Sports Illustrated last week, Woodley addressed the issue of his sophomore slump:

I had 11.5 sacks in 2008, but last year is last year. I was a new starter, and other teams didn’t know me. They didn’t have much to study, so they didn’t know how to prepare for me. This year, teams are doing different things against me — getting rid of the ball a little faster than they used to, for instance. I realize that right now my numbers are not high. Last season I had 3.5 sacks in the first four games. This year, first four games: zero.

But last year I also had seven games without a sack. Everything goes up and down. I used to get down on myself when I wasn’t getting sacks, but it wasn’t just about that. It was when I wasn’t getting sacks and we were losing. That’s when I get mad at myself. Most of the top pass-rushers have their ups and downs. The main thing for a pass-rusher is, how do you bounce back? For me, as long as we’re winning, I’m cool. Like last week against San Diego, it was good for me to get some pressure on the quarterback, but most importantly we won.

I haven’t gotten a sack yet this season, but I think I’m going to kick it off back home in Michigan this week.

▪ Keiwan Ratliff is terrible.

▪ The Steelers defense finally got its second interception of the season (the first came on that miraculous leaping grab by Troy Polamalu in the opener), but only because Daunte Culpepper dropped the snap, panicked, and threw a gift lob back across the field to Ryan Clark. So far this season, the Steelers have allowed opposing quarterbacks to throw for an average of 219 yards a game with 8 TDs and 2 INTs for a 90.9 QB rating. In other words, Polamalu can’t come back soon enough.

▪ How crazy is it that the Bengals are leading the division, with wins over both the Steelers and the Ravens? That’s absolutely insane to me, dogs and cats living together. The good news is that the Steelers have made up a two-game deficit on the Ravens in just two weeks. And next week is a bye week. No, wait, it’s a home game against the Browns. So, a bye week.

Pittsburgh is the greatest sports city of all time! Of all time!

griffn — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:00:42 +0000

To the victors go the spoils:

Mayor Ravenstahl and Sporting News publisher Ed Baker pose with the new cover (photo by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

It took 16 years, but on-a-roll Pittsburgh has finally been named the No. 1 sports city by Sporting News magazine, beating out 398 other towns in the United States and Canada. The city was so anointed largely on the backs of the dual 2009 Steelers and Penguins championships. …

The magazine’s cover pairs Sidney Crosby and Ben Roethlisberger, and the 29-year-old mayor noted its resemblance to an iconic Sports Illustrated cover with Willie Stargell and Terry Bradshaw from 1979. …

Mr. Baker said the selection incorporates the number of teams in each city (which hurts Pittsburgh, due to the lack of pro basketball), team won-lost records (where the Pirates hurt the ranking), and a lot of things that go in the city’s favor, such as playoff records, attendance and fan ferocity.

“There’s some science, some math and some subjectivity attached to it,” Mr. Baker said.

The issue hits newsstands this week. It contains an eight-page spread on Pittsburgh sports, with stories on Western Pennsylvania quarterbacks, Pitt versus West Virginia, Steelers Super Bowl rings and tips from ex-Pirates on making the team a winner again.

The fact that Pittsburgh won this with no basketball team and with the Pirates being arguably the worst franchise in sports shows how absolutely rabid the city is for the Steelers. The Stanley Cup was just icing on the cake. Here’s the aforementioned Sports Illustrated cover from 1979– during that great City of Champions era when I was rocking diapers and Pirates onesies:

And here’s the Sporting News top ten list of the best sports cities:

1. Pittsburgh
2. Philadelphia
3. Boston
4. Chicago + Evanston
5. Los Angeles
6. New York
7. Phoenix + Tempe
8. Miami
9. Dallas-Fort Worth
10. Detroit + Ann Arbor + Ypsilanti

Not appearing in your picture: Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati.

Steelers-Chargers Week 4 postgame: First-round knockout

griffn — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:00:57 +0000

Mendenhall is faster than Fast Willie Parker, but is he the Steelers new starter?

Steelers 38, Chargers 28

▪ Another week, another complete 4th quarter collapse by the Steelers. After taking a 28-0 lead in the 3rd quarter, the Steelers were then outscored 28-10 in the final 17 minutes. In the 4th quarter of the last three weeks, they’ve given up 10 points to the Bears, 14 points to the Bengals, and now 21 points to the Chargers. There’s a lot to like about a big win at home over the Chargers, but the Steelers obviously still have some issues that need to be addressed.

▪ At some point during the second half, Cris Collinsworth reported a quote from Mike Tomlin this week that I think is the key to the Steelers late game troubles. I don’t remember it verbatim, but Tomlin said something to this effect: “Everybody wants me to play like Bill Cowher when we get the lead. But I don’t want to play like Cowher, I want to play like Chuck Noll. Those ‘70s teams were versatile. They had Bradshaw and Stallworth and Swann and a lot of other options to move the ball late.”

Okay, here’s the thing, Coach. I don’t know what Chuck Noll’s record was, but I do know that Bill Cowher had a 102-1-1 career record when playing with an 11-point lead or more at any time in the game. Let me say that again. 102 wins, 1 loss, 1 tie. Last night, your Steelers team almost blew a 28-point lead with 17 minutes left in the game. So, yes, you definitely do want to play like Bill Cowher when you get a lead, and you definitely do want to be boring and predictable if it means winning 98% of the time. What you don’t want is a versatile team that’s full of options and routinely blows leads. So, yeah, next time you get a 28-point lead on a team that can’t stop the run, how about don’t have your offense come out in a shotgun throwing the football like we’re down by 10. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel and just do what everybody else does with a lead: Run. The. Football.

▪ Speaking of reinventing the wheel, that touchdown pass on the halfback option that Mewelde Moore threw to Heath Miller was a terrible, horrendous call. I don’t care that it worked. That was something you’d do at the end of a late-night Madden session, not a call you make in the 4th quarter up by 14 against a team you have no problem moving the ball against. If that pass gets picked off, the Chargers probably win.

▪ Last week, I wrote this about the Steelers 4th quarter defense:

When teams get behind late and go four and five wide to catch up, it forces the Steelers into dime. That takes all our linebackers off the field and replaces them with mediocre defensive backs like Keiwan Ratliff and Ryan Mundy. If I’m playing the Steelers, I would go two-minute drill at least once a quarter regardless of the situation. You’re not gonna beat the Steelers defense in an I-formation, but you have a good chance of marching down the field practically escorted and untouched in a five-wide hurry-up.

In the first three quarters, the Chargers were determined to move the football in traditional formations. It wasn’t until they got down by four touchdowns in the 3rd that they really put Philip Rivers in a shotgun, spread out the offense, and started opening up the middle of the field. And surprise, surprise, Keiwan Ratliff can’t cover Antonio Gates. It took Norv Turner three quarters to figure that out. Which is why he’s Norv Turner.

▪ 2008 first-round draft pick Rashard Mendenhall definitely delivered the knockout blow to San Diego with 166 yards and 2 TDs. (Suddenly, the Steelers 2008 draft class doesn’t look so bad after all.) After posting the best game by a Steelers running back since 2006, there’s going to be some controversy this week about whether Mendenhall should replace Willie Parker as the Steelers starter. Here’s the short answer: Yes. Parker’s yards per carry average has declined steadily every year from 4.7 in 2005 to 4.4 in 2006 to 4.1 in 2007 to 3.8 in 2008 to 3.1 this year. Part of that can be attributed to a decline in the Steelers offensive line, but Parker has clearly lost a step. Let’s be honest, the Chargers defensive line playing without nose tackle Jamal Williams was terrible. But the decisiveness and speed that Mendenhall showed through the holes made it pretty clear that he’s the Steelers best running back right now. Thing is, he’s got some serious fumbling issues and you definitely don’t want him carrying 29 times a game unless you want his entire career burnt out in two years. I would start Mendenhall, put Parker in every third series, and then lean more heavily on the sure-handed Parker in the 4th quarter until Mendenhall proves himself there.

▪ I knock the Steelers offensive line a lot, but they played a near flawless game. They made Mendenhall look like LaDainian Tomlinson, and the three sacks Ben took were all coverage sacks. The props Collinsworth kept giving to Chris Kemoeatu all night were well deserved.

▪ At the end of last week’s game with the Bengals marching down the field, I was thinking, somebody on defense is going to have to make a play here– a sack, a turnover, something big. They didn’t. This week, James Harrison got the sack and forced fumble at the end of the game to seal it.

▪ The search for LaMarr Woodley continues. Zero sacks, zero INTs, zero forced fumbles, one tackle. That gives him zero sacks, zero INTs, zero forced fumbles, and three tackles on the entire season. His face should be on a milk carton right now.

▪ Stefan Logan has touched the ball 23 times this season on kickoff and punt returns and fumbled twice. As exciting as he’s been to watch, he’s going to have to learn that a good 75% of his job is avoiding those deadly special teams turnovers. When you’re a small guy like Logan and you get wrapped up by two or three NFL-sized guys, don’t fight for that extra meaningless yard.

▪ Hines Ward is a Hall of Famer. He’s got the numbers, he’s got the longevity, he’s got the rings, and no other wide receiver plays the game of football the way he does. He blocks on the line better than most tight ends, and he blocks in the open field better than any other receiver. Oh, and 8 catches for 113 yards. On that last reception, he put his head down and absolutely ran over one of the Chargers DBs.

▪ Going into the weekend, the Steelers were in danger of falling three games behind the Baltimore Ravens, but now they’ve pulled to within one. The Ravens next two games are against the Bengals (3-1) and the Vikings (3-0). The Steelers play the Lions (1-3) and the Browns (0-4).

▪ Now would be a fantastic time to trade for LaDainian Tomlinson in your fantasy league. He’s done absolutely nothing the first four weeks of the season, and his owner is almost certainly looking to sell. True, he’s lost half a step, but that still makes him better than half the running backs in the league, and the Chargers have no other options. Darren Sproles just isn’t going to get it done between the tackles.

▪ The NFL deserves a world of credit for making such an enormous effort to bring attention to breast cancer screening. It would have been one thing to have everyone come out in pink laces or to put a pink ribbon sticker on every helmet. But they had pink receiver gloves, pink wrist bands, pink cleats, and even pink hat brims on the coaching staff. Good look for a really important cause.

Steelers-Bengals Week 3 postgame: Two-minute drilled

griffn — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:00:30 +0000

Carson Palmer and Domata Peko share a tender moment in tiger stripes

Bengals 23, Steelers 17

▪ The Steelers defense has squandered 10+ point leads in three of the last four games going back to the Super Bowl. In the last six games, going back to the playoffs, they’ve allowed 64 points in the 4th quarter. If the Steelers defense over that time was as bad in the first three quarters as they’ve been in the 4th, they’d be giving up 42.6 points per game.

I don’t think scheme is to blame here, I think the problem is personnel. When teams get behind late and go four and five wide to catch up, it forces the Steelers into dime. That takes all our linebackers off the field and replaces them with mediocre defensive backs like Keiwan Ratliff and Ryan Mundy. If I’m playing the Steelers, I would go two-minute drill at least once a quarter regardless of the situation. You’re not gonna beat the Steelers defense in an I-formation, but you have a good chance of marching down the field practically escorted and untouched in a five-wide hurry-up.

▪ It really is a shame that Ike Taylor can’t catch, because he’s quietly been one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL the last three years. He shuts down Ochocinco regularly, and yesterday he broke up at least two touchdown passes. But he’ll never make the Pro Bowl if he can’t post a few interceptions.

▪ The Steelers defense in general just isn’t making plays. In three games, they have five sacks and one interception– the lone INT coming on that miraculous one-handed grab by Polamalu in the opener.

▪ A missing persons report has officially been filed for LaMarr Woodley. Last week, he had zero sacks, zero INTs, zero tackles. This week: zero sacks, zero INTs, one tackle. At the beginning of the season, I thought he could be the Defensive Player of the Year. Now he’s looking more like Kendrell Bell.

▪ I’ve looked at that pick-six a few times, and I can’t tell if it was Santonio’s fault or Ben’s. Ben saw the linebacker blitzing free from the right and threw what looked to me like a hot read. But then again, the Bengals were only bringing three (the defensive linemen dropped into coverage) and none of the other receivers cut off their routes. I don’t know. If it’s a hot read, I probably put that on Ben, but Ed Bouchette thinks Santonio just ran the wrong way. Oh, and Willie Colon screwed up the protection by doubling the inside guy instead of picking up that blitzing linebacker. A three-man rush should not result in a guy coming untouched to the quarterback.

▪ Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians has to take his share of the blame. At halftime, the Steelers had 83 yards rushing and a 10 point lead. First possession of the second half: three straight passes, the third one picked and run back for a Bengals touchdown. After that, 21 yards rushing the entire rest of the game. In the 4th quarter, the Steelers offense got outgained by the Bengals 139 to 19. That’s not how you protect a lead.

▪ Limas Sweed has two jobs: one is to get open, the other is to catch the football. He’s great at the first and terrible at the second, which makes him a terrible receiver. If you’re Mike Tomlin, you have to start thinking about putting in veteran Shaun McDonald as our #4. Correction, you don’t have to start thinking about it, at this point you kind of have to do it. He’s not as explosive as Sweed and he won’t stretch the defense, but he’s a possession receiver who caught 79 balls for the Lions two years ago and looked great in preseason.

▪ After posting 52 yards on 4 touches last week, I don’t think Mendenhall saw a single snap against the Bengals. The Steelers coaches no doubt have plans for him down the line, but that says a lot about what they think of him right now. So much for that 2008 draft class.

▪ It’s easy to say this after a few good games, but by the end of the year, Mike Wallace might be the best receiver the Steelers have. He’s fast, he’s fearless over the middle, and I have yet to see him drop a football.

▪ It’s hard to get on Jeff Reed’s case for missing that 52 yard field goal (wide left again). But for the second straight week, three points were the difference in the game. And his 24 yarder in the 2nd quarter barely made it past the left upright.

▪ As bad as the Bengals have been the last six years, I’m absolutely amazed that Marvin Lewis is still coaching in the NFL. With that said, he outcoached Tomlin yesterday. That fake punt call was brilliant but only because it worked. Didn’t lead to any points though.

▪ The Steelers are now two games behind a very, very good Ravens team, and one game behind the Bengals. They can still win the division, but it’s a long walk to school from here, uphill both ways.