2009 Steelers—What Went Wrong

I've never seen a season before quite like the 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers season. There's many different ways to look at their season. Any season in Steelers Country where they don't make the playoffs is a disappointment, but to miss the playoffs coming off a Super Bowl title again is severely disappointing. On the other hand, optimists will say the Steelers had a winning season at 9-7, and you can't argue that point, but in Pittsburgh that's just not good enough these days.

The undoubtedly frustrating part this season is how the Steelers were in every single game and easily could have been 14-2 if not better. In what truly was a bizarre season, they never were out of any game nor did they blow any team away. The biggest victory of the season was a 28-10 win at Denver that was a tight game until the fourth quarter when the Steelers finally put them away. Meanwhile, five of their seven losses were by only three points including two of those games in overtime. The other two losses were by six points and seven points. That's it. They did not lose a game by more than seven points all year.

So what went wrong? The phrase "Super Bowl hangover" gets tossed around a lot when the Steelers dropped five straight in the middle of the season. I don't understand how that can be true. The Steelers won their opener against Tennessee and rolled to a 6-2 start. Not exactly the signs of a team thinking about their championship last year, so forget that. Toss that theory out the window.

The black and gold held a lead at some point in the fourth quarter in five out of their seven losses. Let's take a look at those five losses.

Week 2 @ Chicago Led 14-7 in 4th (lost 14-17)
Week 3 @ Cincinnati Led 20-9 in 4th (lost 20-23)
Week 11 @ Kansas City Led 24-17 in 4th (lost 24-27 in OT)
Week 12 @ Baltimore Led 17-14 in 4th (lost 17-20 in OT)
Week 13 vs. Oakland Led 17-13 AND 24-20 in 4th (lost 24-27)

The sixth loss was a tie game in the 4th quarter against the Bungals
Week 10 vs. Cincinnati Tied 12-12 in 4th (lost 12-18)

And their last loss was an awful 6-13 defeat at Cleveland where they never held a lead. I have nothing else to add at that performance.

Looking at the games above, you can obviously point out the glaring problem—the fourth-quarter collapse that let six games get away. The defense was a shell of its self this year especially in the 4th quarter when they suddenly couldn't stop Ryan Leaf if he was out there. And these collapses didn't just happen in the losses, they also exploded to a 28-0 lead over San Diego before almost blowing it before making it a game and holding on for a 38-28 win.

Injuries were an obvious part of the problem with Aaron Smith and Troy Polamalu missing for most of the season, but injuries are a part of the game and the reserves were not prepared to handle that. The defense deserves a lot of the blame, we know this, but I'll be damned to not hand the offense some blame for falling apart late as well.

For some reason the Pittsburgh media seems to think it's sacrilegious to say the offense was part of the problem because they had a 4,000-yard passer. Wow, what an accomplishment! Last I checked, a 4,000-yard passer was not the equivalent of a Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Look above at all those fourth quarter scores...only in the Oakland loss did the Steelers offense score points late in the game. The rest of the losses, they were completely shut out. The reason the offense deserves part of the blame in this year's collapse is due to their lack of a game plan with a lead. All season with the lead, OC Bruce Arians continuously went to the passing game instead of running the football and eating the clock. I couldn't tell you the number of times the Steelers had a late drive that took no more than two minutes off the clock. That's horrendous. Look no further than last week's game against the Dolphins when the Steelers took a 27-10 in the last quarter only to see Miami, just like magic, move the ball straight down field with a third string quarterback for a touchdown. With the score 27-17 and 11 minutes left, how were the Steelers not thinking about another late game collapse? What did Arians draw up? A first-down pass that led to a sack. Second down, well now we're buried on 2nd and long so two passing plays and punt. That series took a nice 1:32 off the clock. No wonder the defense was awful in the fourth quarter when they were on the field 90 percent of the time.

It happened all season as the Steelers lacked the ability to put their foot down and close out games. The defense was at largely at fault, but the offense isn't clean in this mess. Oh, and how could I forget the special teams play? The kickoff and punt coverage was shitty too, allowing four returns for touchdowns in five games. Overall, everything went wrong for this team at times.

Also, where was Coach Tomlin in the midst of this mess? He just promised to unleash hell in December only to see his team fall flat. I'm still looking for his mark on this team, it's Dick LeBeau's defense while Arians is allowed to run the offense however he sees fit. It was encouraging to see the team rebound and win its first three games, but the damage done midseason was too much to overcome. Tomlin talks a great game, but in the end he was just as clueless as anyone else on how to fix this team.

Changes will be made (and already have) with part of the coaching staff and players. I don't understand how Tyrone Carter could be brought back next season. Overall, it was one maddening year in Steelers football. Oh well, I can't write, talk or think about it much more. There's always next year, right?

Playoff Notes

With the NFL regular season coming to a close and the playoffs looming this weekend, I thought I would review some of my thoughts and interesting stats/notes from the season. UH, PLAYOFFS?

Remember when the Broncos were 6-0? I remember. I remember hearing every writer, TV analyst, radio personality telling me how new coach Josh McDaniels showed everybody what a great decision trading Jay Cutler was and how he was the greatest first-year coach of all time. Well, where are those people now? The Broncos benefited from some early luck (see week one against the Bungals) and started off great, but at the end of the season they were exactly in the spot I expected them to be—out of the playoffs. I'm not saying Cutler is a great quarterback because he's proven this year he has some issues he needs to work on, but at the end of the day Cutler is a better QB than Kyle Orton. The Broncos 2-8 finish was fun to watch.

Here's an interesting note I saw the other day. Quickly think of the four teams that earned first-round byes last year in the playoffs. You'll start figuring out that those teams are missing this year. That's right, the top four seeds from last year did not qualify for the postseason this year: Giants, Panthers, Titans and even the defending champs Steelers. That's hard to believe, but true. No way I would have believed that at the beginning of the season and thinking about this year's playoffs, does anybody think the Colts, Chargers, Saints and Vikings will miss the postseason next year?

Another thing you couldn't of predicted prior to the season was 9-7 did not get you into the playoffs in the NFC. Usually 9-7 is a lock in that conference. Hell, 10-6 wouldn't even get the job done for a wildcard. Meanwhile in the AFC, four teams tied at 9-7 and only two made it.

Also, if the NFL learned one thing this year about scheduling is that the Redskins should not be allowed on primetime until they prove they are a legitimate football team and make the playoffs. Somehow they pulled in three primetime games this year. What was the NFL thinking!? That swinging gate play against the Giants three weeks ago was absolutely horrid.

I'll end with a brief mention on the Steelers season. People around the 'Burgh are already calling it one of the most bizarre seasons in 77 years of Steelers football. Well, I've been watching the team for just over 20 years and it sure was a ridiculous season. I don't remember a season by any team where it was in every single game, but also kept its opponent in every single game. A 9-7 season easily could have been 14-2 or better. I could go on and on, but I won't today. I'll have more on what went wrong for the Steelers in a separate post.

Big Ben

As far as I can remember growing up a Steeler fan, one of the most popular positions on the team was the backup quarterback. People were always criticizing Neil O'Donnell, Kordell Stewart (with good reason there) and yes, Ben Roethlisberger. I knew I had to do a post this week on Big Ben regarding his performance this season and especially in the Super Bowl. It's no secret that Pittsburgh fans have been hard on him, especially over the past two years after his horrible 2006 post-Super Bowl season. And sure, I've said some of the lines this year, "Put Leftwich in!", "Ben's been hit too many times, get him out of there." Well after that game-winning drive Sunday in Super Bowl XLIII, I'll never say a bad thing about Big Ben again.

Sure you can get on Ben about not playing that great all game and waiting for the last possibly chance to get the job done, but hey he has proven to be unbelievably clutch. It's the same reason why people love Brett Favre...you take the bad with the good because you've seen what he can do. I've come to the realization that's it's just Steelers football. Shut teams down with the defense and then score just enough points to get the win. It'd be a lot better on my blood pressure if they would take care of teams and put the game away somewhat early, but as it happened a lot this year, they just love taking it down to the final couple of minutes to decide the game's outcome.

What Roethlisberger did on that final drive was nothing short of amazing as he inserted his name into the great final drives talk of Elway, Montana and others. He did it all season with fourth quarter comebacks and he performed on sports biggest stage Sunday. And he did it with not much help from the O-line. They get him killed all season and he just bounces back with wins. The line had a holding call on the first play of the last drive Sunday that backed them up to the 12 and 1st and 20. And the very next play was key...Ben almost gets sacked, eludes the rush and hits the open man for a big pickup. He's had absolutely no time to throw all season and yes he holds onto the ball a little longer than usual, but he makes plays with his feet to find space more often than not.

He's 26 years old, has a ridiculous amount of wins already, engineered one of the greatest last-minute drives in Super Bowl history and has two Super Bowl rings. Say what you will about him, but you can't argue with all that. In the future if I ever hear people scrutinizing Ben again, I will defend him until I'm blue in the face.

A Super Parade

Who would of thought a cold, gray Tuesday afternoon in February could be so much fun? Only in SIX-BURGH! Only in Pittsburgh would everything totally shut down for four hours for a Super Bowl parade...school closings, offices closing, people lining up at 8 a.m. for a noon parade. If you didn't make it out to the Super Bowl parade today at noon than shame on you for six weeks. But if you didn't make it out, here's what you missed.

You missed out on driving around for 30 minutes wondering "how can all these parking lots be full?!" And then when you did find a parking spot, you missed at least a good two-mile walk in 20 degree weather to the parade route. Then you missed trying to fight your way through thousands of fans and trying to find your friends when they are wearing the same thing that everyone else is wearing. But once there, you missed shouting with random strangers at the Steelers players, you missed Mike Tomlin, Ben Roethlisberger, James Harrison, Hines Ward, the Vince Lombardi Trophy, STEELY MCBEAM and much much more. What a day, what a parade! I saw people hanging and standing places I didn't think were possible, rooftops, parking garages, vending machines, traffic lights, etc. The Post-Gazette says city officials estimate about 400,000 Steelers fans today...that's insane. Downtown Pittsburgh is not that big, but then again all of those fans were only on about two streets come parade time.

There have been two Steelers Super Bowl parades in my lifetime. Three years ago I missed the Steelers Super Bowl XL parade because I was living across the country in California (don't ask). I kicked myself for not being here for it, and there was no way I was going to miss this one. I'll leave you with a few pictures of mine from today's celebration...

Steely!

Polamalu

Super Bowl XLIII

My hat is off to the Arizona Cardinals on a valiant effort and making it one of the most exciting games in Super Bowl history. But this game will be remembered for the Steelers sixth Super Bowl title, Ben's incredible game-winning drive and James Harrison's longest play in Super Bowl history. The game ended up not being how I expected it to turn out. It started out that way with the Steelers seemingly in hand leading 20-7, but then a ridiculous fourth quarter showed up to make for one exciting finish.

Could there have been any more ups and downs in this game? Starting with the Steelers looking like they were going to blow the Cards out early, only to have the Cards battle back. Then to have Harrison make an amazing effort to stop the Cardinals from taking the lead and giving the Steelers at 10-point lead at the same time. When the Steelers led 20-7, I didn't think I would be sitting there seeing the Cards have the lead at some point...and just as fast as Larry Fitzgerald streaking down the middle of the field, the lead was gone. The Steelers blew it. I thought their inability to finish teams off by settling for field goals had finally caught up to them on the biggest stage. You hold the lead the entire game and then with just under three minutes left, you're trailing. That's a sick feeling...and I'm just a fan. I can't imagine what the players were going through, and then just when you thought it was over...there was Big Ben and Santonio Holmes. Oh my, what a finish (more on that drive in another post).

Following the game, everyone always wants to compare games to the all-time greats and things like that. People love to get the lists going. The best one ever? How can anyone answer that? How about one of the most exciting ones ever. Look, it's hard to compare this game to last year's game or Super Bowl XXV or Super Bowl XXXIV. I didn't think it could get any better than last year's game with the Giants upset over the Pats, but this year I found myself on the edge of my seat once again. You can't compare all the games and say this one was better than this or that. Different time, different teams and different circumstances are factored in with each great game and what it means to everyone out there watching the game. What someone says is great might not mean a whole lot to the next person. I can't say that last night's game was the best Super Bowl of all-time, but you'd have to agree that it's in the top five of all-time exciting Super Bowls.

World Champs!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday is finally here. What a long two weeks. We were so busy worrying about the two-week layoff that we did zero posts in two weeks. Well this is the day where champions are remembered and losers are forgotten. It's been a nice run for two teams, but today only one will come away victorious. So who's going to win this game. You guessed it...I'm going with the Steelers, and it's not just because I'm from Pittsburgh. Anything can happen on any given Sunday, but looking at this game there's a huge advantage for the Steelers. It's not by accident that the Steelers are seven point favorites by Vegas today in Tampa. They have more overall talent than the Cardinals. They also have a better defense and what wins championships? Defense.

Another thing I always like to look at when it comes to the Super Bowl is the teams overall competition throughout the season and who they played during the regular season and playoffs. The Cardinals played in arguably the worst division in the NFL this year and went 6-0 against that competition. Outside of their division, the Cards went 3-7. Ouch. That's bad enough, but then you have to look at how they played some of their games. When they played the Jets, Patriots, Vikings and Eagles in the regular season...the Cardinals didn't just lose, they got beat down. And I don't hear about them mailing it in after they clinched the division toward the end of the year...they had their starters in and if they didn't come to play, well then that says something about what kind of team they are. The Steelers, on the other hand, played one of the toughest schedules in the NFL...having to play the Ravens twice, Chargers, Giants, Eagles, Redskins, Colts, Cowboys, Patriots, Jaguars and Titans. Come on, that's a brutal regular season schedule. Would the Cardinals have won nine games with that schedule? I don't think so.

I'm going to close with something I said (in another blog) before Super Bowl XL and it holds true this year. Pittsburgh is the toughest team that the Cardinals will face this season, but the Cardinals are not the toughest team the Steelers will face all year. That was true with the Steelers and Seahawks in 2005-06 and look what happened then. I expect much of the same today as the Steelers are more battled tested than the Cards and their defense is superior than Arizona's. I think Kurt Warner will be smothered by the Steelers D and Ben and the offense does enough to hoist the trophy.
Prediction: Steelers 31, Cardinals 17

Hey, What Happened to Ed Reed?

With the celebration of the Steelers AFC Championship game victory dying down late in the night (or early in the morning), one question popped into my head...what happened to Ed Reed? In case you forgot, Reed is that safety from Baltimore who is supposed to be the greatest defensive player on Earth and better than Troy Polamalu. Yeah...well after the Steelers crushing win over the Ravens, I'm trying to figure out where Ed Reed was because I didn't see him at all during the game. I did see him talking to Mike Tomlin following the game so he was, in fact, in Pittsburgh. Well, I came up with a couple ideas of where Reed was during the game tonight...

Maybe Ed didn't know how many more trips he would be making to the 'Burgh that he had to check out Primanti Brothers to see if it was as good as advertised.

Or he could of had a dinner date with Eagles coach Andy Reid last night to discuss Reid's failures as a head coach...again.

Ed possibly could have been too stressed out waiting for the game to start and decided to ride the Duquesne Incline on Mt. Washington and just lost track of time. That could be it.

Or Ed could have really wanted to cruise the three rivers and rode the Majestic up and down the river all night.

If you didn't catch the sarcasm in this post then you're a mess. In all seriousness, Reed was in the official stat line. You wants cold, hard facts?
Ed Reed, two tackles. Troy Polamalu, three tackles, one interception, one touchdown and one ticket to Tampa. 'Nuff said.

Conference Championship Picks

Today's the big day in the National Football League. If you're a fan of the Steelers, Ravens, Eagles or Cardinals, you're going nuts and your stomach has been in knots all week. If you're a general NFL and your team was knocked out already, you're still ready to watch history unfold today. I haven't made any picks all season on The Wheelhouse, but I decided these games were too big to pass up.

Eagles at Cardinals
For some reason I happen to like the Cardinals in this game today. They've been playing just as good as any team in the playoffs to this point. They are at home today in the desert. Their defense has been playing great in the playoffs while stopping two of the best running backs in the game in Michael Turner and DeAngelo Williams. Larry Fitzgerald is a beast and continues to make ridiculous catches. Anquan Boldin should return and be a factor for the Cards. And Kurt Warner has been to the Super Bowl before and got the job done. The Eagles, on the other hand, have been way too inconsistent this year for me to expect them to win for a fourth week in a row. I think the Cardinals contain Brian Westbrook today and Warner gets it going through the air and makes Philadelphia play the Cardinals way in a shootout.
Cardinals 31, Eagles 21

Ravens at Steelers
Here we go again. Baltimore and Pittsburgh meet for the third time in what is quickly becoming one of the best rivalries in football. Just like the first two games in the regular season, expect this game to be a knockdown, street fight between two teams that genuinely don't like each other. Pittsburgh won both games in the regular season on a final game-winning field goal in overtime, and they won the second game on a touchdown with under a minute to play. So it's tough to beat a team three times in one season right? Wrong. Read my post from a couple days ago if you disagree with me. I like the Steelers in this one today. First, the Steelers defense is better than the Ravens all season and they proved it in the first two games against the Ravens. Second, I'd rather have the Steelers offense than the Ravens offense led by a rookie. Joe Flacco has done a great job this year, but he really hasn't been asked to do much with that defense behind him. I just don't see a scenario where Flacco goes into Heinz Field and wins a game to the Super Bowl. Call me bias, but I think that's too much to call on a rookie to do. I think the Steelers move the ball well against the Ravens defense today and PROTECT the football, which is key anytime in the playoffs especially in a game like this. I like the Steelers today, and I actually like them by about two touchdowns. I pray I'm right on this one.
Steelers 24, Ravens 9

Defeating a Team Three Times in One Season? Never!

With the Steelers AFC Championship game against the Ravens looming this week, I've heard the same line over and over again, and I'm sick of it. Apparently it has become universally known that it's difficult to defeat the same opponent three times in one year. It's almost become a cliche. I thought it was tough to beat a playoff team once period. I don't know who ever came up with that idea, but did anyway think of actually researching it? Thankfully, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette took care of that.

According to the Post-Gazette, there have been 18 instances in NFL history where teams have met up for a third time in the playoffs with one team winning both regular season contests. The team that won both games the first two times around are 11-7 in the crucial third game, including a 7-3 record in the most recent 10 times it has happened. Not too mention that the Steelers are 2-0 in these games after beating the Browns (the old Ravens) three times in 1994 and more recently in 2002. I'm not saying that it can't happen, but these numbers clearly prove that the team winning the first two games are well over .500 in the final game. So can the media and experts please put this argument to bed? I'm tired of hearing it.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had a great answer this week when asked about the myth...

"I personally don't subscribe to that hocus-pocus to be honest with you."

Me neither, Coach.

James Harrison = MVP

If you're a diehard Steelers fan, then you've known about James Harrison's ability years before the rest of the NFL got the memo. You remember him dominating on special teams for years and at linebacker during preseason games before becoming a regular starter in 2006. And you also remember the game on Christmas Eve 2005 when Harrison body slammed a drunk, Browns fan who had run onto the field during a 41-0 beat down of the Brownies. Of all the accolades that Harrison has accumulated, that was easily my favorite James Harrison moment...



Today, Harrison (the pride of Kent State!) finally earned his due by being named the 2008 NFL Defensive MVP. His monster season includes breaking the Steelers sack record with 16 to go along with a career-high seven forced fumbles and he did all that despite being held on every single play and sitting out the season finale against Cleveland. When you're breaking the Steelers single-season sack record...that's getting it done. Congrats to Harrison on the very deserving honor, and let's hope he's well rested and ready to get after Philip Rivers this Sunday.

It's Football Season

Yesterday while watching the bizarre Steelers-Chargers game early in the game, I was thinking the same exact thing that Todd, the other esteemed author of The Wheelhouse, texted me after a Hines Ward catch and run of 30 yards in the snow...

"Hines Ward is just great."

It's so true. Hines has always been a favorite player of mine for years as you can always count on him to produce year in and year out (and annihilate a couple linebackers from time to time). But during Sunday's game, it just didn't feel like football season was in full effect until you see Hines Ward sliding his way past defenders in the snow and muddy field at Heinz Field. At least to me it doesn't. Well, football season is officially here now as Ward had a monster day with 11 catches for 124 yards, the referees tried to change the outcome with penalties and terrible calls and the Steelers won the first 11-10 game in the history of the NFL. In fact, to drive home the fact of how strange a game it was...when was the last time a team had a 300-yard passer, a 100-yard rusher, a 100-yard receiver, had no turnovers and scored zero touchdowns? Let me know if anyone finds that out. How can the Steelers top that next week?