Was Tomlin's call an act of insanity?

By Joe Starkey, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Monday, December 21, 2009

Ten quick takes on the Steelers' incredible, 37-36 victory over the Green Bay Packers ...

10. At first, I thought Mike Tomlin's decision to try an onside kick with 4:03 left and a 30-28 lead was an act of insanity. Part of me still does. But I'll say this much: Tomlin's post-game explanation made sense. I think. He basically said he didn't believe his defense could stop Aaron Rodgers -- did anyone? -- and that if the onside kick didn't work and Green Bay scored, he wanted Ben Roethlisberger to have enough time to come back. How can you fault him for that? Maybe I'm nuts, but given the circumstances of that game, not to mention the state of the Steelers' fourth-quarter defense this season, Tomlin's move was logical. I think. Hey, he sees the same defense we see. If the best definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing and expect different results, then you better try something radically different. Tomlin did.

PITTSBURGH - DECEMBER 20: Hines Ward(notes) #86 of the Pittsburgh Steelers makes a catch in the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers during the game on December 20, 2009 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

9. Besides, would you have trusted the Steelers' coverage team to make a play on a deep kick, "deep" being a relative term with Jeff Reed kicking?

8. This game provided further proof that the Steelers must make every effort to re-sign nose tackle Casey Hampton, a prospective free agent, even it means slapping him with the franchise tag (which he wouldn't be thrilled with). "Big Snack" has been looking like his old self lately, never more so than when he drove center Scott Wells into Rodgers and blew up a running play late in the fourth quarter. Hampton would be awfully tough to replace.

7. Where does this rank among Ben Roethlisberger's greatest winning drives? I'd put it at No. 2, behind only Super Bowl XLIII and just ahead of last year's drive in Baltimore, which came against an elite defense. The Steelers drove 86 yards in 11 plays last night, including a 4th-and-7 conversion (Santonio Holmes), a 3rd-and-15 conversion (Heath Miller) and, of course, the winning 19-yard strike to Mike Wallace as time expired.

6. That effort should leave no doubt that Roethlisberger is the leader of this team, whether anyone wants to admit it or not.

5. Roethlisberger flat-out refuses to slide when he runs. Crazy, perhaps, but you have to love the mentality. On the Steelers' second-last drive, Roethlisberger put his head down and ran over cornerback Jarrett Bush at the first-down marker, only to see the play called back on a hold.

4. So much for that overhyped Dom Capers defense in Green Bay. Capers called off the dogs too often on the final drive. The Packers came into the game as a top-five defense. Just more proof that there is no truly dominant 'D' in the NFL this season.

Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Mike Wallace(notes), right, catches a touchdown pass from Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger(notes) in front of Green Bay Packers' Josh Bell(notes) (26) with time running out in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers won 37-36. (AP)

3. Shall we declare it "Bruce Arians Day" in the 'Burgh? You have to admit, the Steelers executed some beautifully designed plays, including the final one, where Wallace was the fifth option but ran a designed route just as he was supposed to. The touchdown pass to Mewelde Moore also was nicely designed, as Moore lined up behind Santonio Holmes and used him as a legal screen into the end zone.

2. Once again, it occurs to me that the Steelers' road crowds often are more impressive than their home crowds. With the team still in playoff contention -- although that really shouldn't be a factor for loyal fans -- Heinz Field was dotted with empty seats. More than just dotted, actually. There were 7,598 empty yellow seats disguised as Steelers fans.

1. If I ever said anything bad about Rodgers, I take it back. What a demonstration in how to take a licking and keep on flicking. Rodgers absorbed some massive shots early in the game -- including a vicious but legal shot to the chin from Lawrence Timmons -- but never flinched. He stands and delivers amid pressure as well as anyone. Maybe that's why his third-down numbers are the best in the league.

More Columnist Joe Starkey headlines
Starkey: McClendon's steal was legendary
Starkey: Steelers' integrity on the line
Starkey: Support pours in for Janocko
Starkey: The Steelers stink
Starkey: Pitt's toughest loss in decades
Starkey: Mellon Arena says goodbye to basketball
Starkey: Ben, Hines and head injuries

Roethlisberger's performance is legendary

503 passing yards is 10th best in history of NFL; 19-yard TD pass to Wallace a 'Super Bowl MVP-caliber catch'

Monday, December 21, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/steelers/

The number is staggering and almost defies belief.

503.

In the 90-year history of the NFL, only nine quarterbacks have passed for more yards in one game than the 503 that the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger hung on the Green Bay Packers yesterday. Two were journeymen -- Vince Ferragamo and Elvis Grbac. Three were or are very good players -- Boomer Esiason, Phil Simms and Drew Brees. Four were absolute legends -- Norm Van Brocklin, Warren Moon, Dan Marino and Y.A. Tittle.

I'm thinking Roethlisberger will be among the legends before he is done.

We're so lucky here. Each week, we get to watch one of the game's all-time greats. Each week, we know the Steelers are never out of a game because of him.

Yesterday, when the Steelers needed to win to have any chance of saving what has been a disappointing season, we saw Roethlisberger at his very best.

Gosh, was that fun.

"We needed all 503," Roethlisberger said after the Steelers' 37-36 win, which ended their almost surreal five-game losing streak and left them with -- quoting coach Mike Tomlin now -- "a little pulse" as far as playoffs go.

At holiday parties all over Steelers Nation this week, people will be talking about Roethlisberger's 19-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Mike Wallace as time expired. It was, quite simply, spectacular.

"A Super Bowl MVP-caliber catch," Roethlisberger said of Wallace's effort.
It sure did bring back sweet memories of Roethlisberger's exquisite touchdown throw to wide receiver Santonio Holmes to beat the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.

Wallace was Roethlisberger's fifth-and-final option on the play. Looking from right to left, he didn't see any way of getting the ball to Holmes, running back Rashard Mendenhall, tight end Heath Miller or wide receiver Hines Ward. That left Wallace in single coverage against cornerback Josh Bell. He made the catch as he dragged his two feet just inbounds.

"I'm the least one they're worried about out there," Wallace said, explaining why he wasn't surprised the pass came to him.

"Ben threw a perfect ball. I can't tell you that enough. You can't put the ball in a better spot than he put that one."

As terrific as that one throw was for his third touchdown pass of the game, Roethlisberger's body of work against the NFL's No. 2-ranked defense was even more impressive. He heaved the pig 46 times without throwing an interception. Nine of his 29 completions went for 23 or more yards, including a 60-yarder to Wallace on the Steelers' first play for a touchdown and a 54-yarder to Ward in the fourth.

"They have a great defense," Roethlisberger said, "but I felt like we were doing whatever we wanted on offense."

Roethlisberger's best throw -- other than the final one, of course -- might have been his 32-yard bullet to Holmes on a fourth-and-7 play on the winning drive. If not that one, then it was his 20-yard pass to Miller on third-and-15 a little later in that drive as the Steelers went 86 yards in 11 plays in the final 2:01 to win it.

That marvelous drive also brought back wonderful memories from Super Bowl XLIII. What did the Steelers go that night to win it all? 78 yards in eight plays in 2:02, right?

"We don't quit," Roethlisberger said. "That's kind of a Pittsburgh mentality. We don't quit no matter what."

Count Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy among the many who were impressed.

"I don't think we thought it would go that way as far as the aggressiveness and the passing game against our defense," he said. "I thought [Steelers offensive coordinator] Bruce Arians did a hell of a job today. I thought they called an extremely aggressive game."

Said Arians, who has taken more criticism than anyone for the 7-7 Steelers' dismal playoff possibilities: "I knew 7 was hot. 7 was unbelievable."

One other thing that Roethlisberger did on this amazing night really stood out: He yelled at Wallace right before the winning touchdown. He demanded better than what the young wideout had been giving him, and he wasn't talking about Wallace's drop in the third quarter after taking a lick from safety Atari Bigby.

"I chewed him out a little because I felt that he kind of quit on the play," Roethlisberger said. "I thought that he could have peeled out and made a play for a touchdown the play before. I know that he's kind of hurt and banged up and tired. But I just said, 'Listen, it's time that you have to make a play. It's time to grow up and do this.' "

So Wallace did.

It only seemed right, didn't it?

On one of the greatest nights any quarterback ever had, Roethlisberger deserved to win. A loss would have been a crying shame.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author

First published on December 21, 2009 at 12:00 am

Victory changes attitude toward defense

One play changes attitude toward defense

Monday, December 21, 2009
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/


Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette

Mike Wallace's latter-game touchdown might have redeemed Mike Tomlin's playcalling -- onside kick, anyone? -- and if the coach is lucky, the score may have changed the Steelers' season as well.

With this shambles of a Steelers' defense sleep-walking through another tedious sequel, the one where they gallop from ahead still again to give the game away in the fourth quarter, and with head coach Mike Tomlin trying to accelerate that very process unwittingly or not, one play changed everything.

For now.

But potentially for a long time.

And, of course, maybe not at all.

One play, with three seconds left in a December drama that went on for 218 minutes, got Tomlin and his tiresome defense off the hook, raking from their backs what the head coach identified, with typical rhetorical flourish, as a "five-week monkey."

If there isn't a punk band called Five-Week Monkey, there certainly ought to be, just as there certainly ought to be some recognition on the part of everyone who contributed so mightily to what looked suspiciously like a six-week monkey of a losing streak that Ben Roethlisberger and rookie Mike Wallace averted exactly that with a harmonic blast of athletic brilliance unseen since Santonio Holmes tap-danced past three Arizona Cardinals at the end of Super Bowl XLIII.

"When I came out of my break, the ball was already in the air," Wallace said of Roethlisberger's game-winning strike, the one that vaulted the Steelers to a 38-37 victory at Heinz Field, its first in six weeks. "You really can't explain a throw like that."

Nor would you even attempt to explain it had Wallace not made the superb catch as he tip-toed at the end zone's left border in front of Green Bay's Josh Bell.

"There aren't many options when you're talking about having to put the ball in the end zone, and they have very good coverage," Tomlin said. "They had two deep with Charles Woodson acting as a middle linebacker in the middle of the field. That P-2 or Tampa-2 as people call it, there's not many places to throw the football and that's probably one of the few places that you can get to do it.

"What you look for is somebody one on one, and somebody's got to win it."

In a game when Roethlisberger set a Steelers record with 503 passing yards, when he completed 29 throws of 29 different degrees of difficulty, Wallace caught just two -- one for 60 yards and a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, one for 19 yards and a touchdown on the last.

But that second one changed more than a game.

It handed Dick LeBeau's defense another week to find itself, to at least find out why there hasn't been a takeaway around here in nearly a month, to find out why Green Bay went 10 for 16 on third down yesterday on its way to 22 more fourth-quarter points, to find out whether there's any point in even pretending to be a playoff team with a secondary that looks like something out of bad post-apocalyptic cinema.

It furthered allowed Tomlin to regain his footing in a locker room where he has made it clear he doesn't trust the defensive half. Though he insisted otherwise yesterday, he has zero faith in his defense, which is why he ordered an onsides kick with the Steelers ahead by two points and 3:58 left on the fourth-quarter clock.

"I'll be very bluntly honest with you," he said. "Based on the way the game was going in the second half, first of all I thought with the element of surprise we had a chance to get it, but if we didn't get it and they were to score, then we would have the necessary time on the clock to score or match their score.

"We had 30 minutes of evidence that we could drive the ball on them. We also conversely had 30 minutes of evidence to show they could also drive the ball on us. That's why we took the risk when we did."

That sounds awfully close to plausible except that Tomlin kicked short on the previous kickoff as well, trying to have Jeff Reed drop one in a dead area from which there are few long returns. But in doing all of that, Tomlin set up Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (383 yards, three touchdowns) at his own 38 and at the Steelers' 39 in the final nine minutes of a game the Steelers once led, 24-14 and 27-21.

If you kick the ball deep both times -- and mind you there hasn't been a kick returned for a touchdown against these Steelers in four whole games -- maybe you make Rodgers work for more than 10 plays to get two touchdowns. Maybe a Steelers cornerback accidentally comes down with an interception for the first time since the AFC championship game almost a year ago.

Sorry.

Hallucinating.

But what are you telling your beleaguered defense when you're trying to manipulate field position so that they'll get off the field faster?

"It's hard to accept," said linebacker James Farrior. "But you have to look at it from the coach's position. You wouldn't want to lose just because you keep going with the same thing.

"I don't blame him."

Maybe Tomlin was simply bending convention to the reality of the moment, and maybe he deserves a ton of credit for that. But are you telling me he's so good at this that he can figure out exactly how long he needs to keep a panting defense out of the way to enable his burgeoning offense to score with no time remaining to win by one point?

That's a little too much genius for one day.

Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author

Gene Collier's "Two-Minute Warning" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.

First published on December 21, 2009 at 12:00 am

Penguins win this round with a knockout

Wednesday, December 16, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

You knew something ridiculous was going to happen at Mellon Arena last night even before the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers hit the ice for what was supposed to be a hockey game between Atlantic Division rivals. Stanley Cup final hero Max Talbot was a healthy scratch for the Penguins. Tough guy Eric Godard was in the lineup for the sole purpose of preventing the Flyers from taking liberties against any of the Penguins' stars.

You might have heard something over the years about how the Flyers like to do that sort of thing.


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Eric Godard and Riley Cote

I guess that's why I understand Penguins coach Dan Bylsma's lineup strategy. The Flyers couldn't be allowed to feel as if they could take their cheap shots without fear of reprisal. If they did, there would be a good chance a Sidney Crosby or an Evgeni Malkin would be carried out of the old building on a stretcher.

So, yeah, I understand it.

But I don't have to like it.

I think it's ridiculous, actually, that the sport allows the gratuitous violence.
It's an embarrassment to a great game.

I much would have preferred to watch Talbot play. I love the energy he brings to the Penguins. He has been struggling since his return from shoulder surgery, scoring just one goal in 12 games, being demoted to the fourth line and getting fewer minutes of ice time. But he needs to keep playing. The team is going to need him in the days ahead. And watching him try to find his game is a lot more fun than watching Godard fight.

But that's me.

The big crowd seemed to love seeing Godard wail away at Flyers enforcer Riley Cote at 5:23 of the first period, winning a close, spirited decision.
"Some people will say it's barbaric, but have you ever seen anyone sitting down in the stands during a hockey fight?" Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik asked with a grin. The fans also loved Mike Rupp's bout with the Flyers' Arron Asham six seconds earlier, which ended in a draw with little action. And they loved Craig Adams' scrap with the Flyers' Daniel Carcillo 10 seconds after the Godard-Cote fight even though Carcillo won decisively.

Nobody else seemed to miss Talbot about then.

Certainly, there didn't seem to be a lot of holiday spirit and good will toward men in the arena.

Eventually, a hockey game did break out. The Penguins won, 6-1, which had to hurt Cote more than any of Godard's punches, not to mention hurt the rest of the Flyers, who now have lost 11 of their past 14 games.

But the game wasn't what most people will remember about this night. The Penguins loved taking the two points, but they were very much like the folks headed out into the cold night to the parking lots. They wanted to talk about the three fights in 16 seconds.

"I loved the response from our team," Bylsma said. "I loved the fact that our guys hung in there and answered the bell."

Godard did what he was supposed to do. That's his job. Rupp also is a rugged character who can hold his own in any situation. But Adams isn't known as a fighter. That's why his eagerness to stand up to Carcillo and take a beating for the team was so widely appreciated by his teammates.

"I know the energy level on our bench was pretty high after his fight," Orpik said.

"Kudos to Craig for standing up and making a statement," Bylsma said. "He doesn't back down from anyone."


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Sidney Crosby continues to torment the Flyers.

It brought back memories of Talbot's one-sided fight with Carcillo in Game 6 of the teams' first-round playoff series last spring. It was dramatically one-sided in Carcillo's favor, yet the Penguins still will tell you that Talbot's willingness to go gave them the juice to climb out of a 3-0 hole and turn out the lights on the Flyers' season with a 5-3 win. Funny, I thought quick goals by Ruslan Fedotenko and Mark Eaton immediately after the fight were a bigger factor in the comeback.

But that's just me again.

The good news or bad news - depending on your perspective - is that the Penguins and Flyers will play again tomorrow night at the Wachovia Center. The always mature, polite Philadelphia fans figure to roll out the welcome mat for the Penguins.

Or not.

This is just a guess, but at least 90 percent of those lovable people probably would love to see Crosby carried out of their building on a stretcher. At the very least, they won't be happy unless Cote beats the heck out of Godard in a rematch.

"We know what to expect," Orpik said.

There's also still some unfinished business that the Penguins have with Flyers winger Scott Hartnell. According to Orpik, Rupp challenged Hartnell before the series of fights last night because Hartnell bit Penguins defenseman Kris Letang's finger during a scrum when the teams played in October. Only in hockey, right? Anyway, Orpik said Hartnell wanted no part of that so, somewhat reluctantly, Rupp had to settle for a piece of Asham.

The game tomorrow night should be something to see. Who knows? There might even be a little hockey.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author

First published on December 16, 2009 at 12:00 am

Third-down woes cripple Steelers offense

By John Harris, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/
Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The numbers are bad. Frightfully bad.

You have to wonder how the Steelers have become so stale and ineffective offensively, especially on third down, that a caveman could figure them out.


The Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger is sacked in the second quarter by the Browns' Maarucs Benard at Cleveland Browns Stadium Thursday. Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review

The Cleveland Browns were last in the NFL in total defense and playing without five injured starters against the Steelers. In what has become a season of lows for the Steelers, their offense failed to score a touchdown, and Ben Roethlisberger was sacked a season-high eight times.

A closer look at the numbers reveals that not only has the Steelers' offense ground to a halt during the current five-game losing streak, opponents have a pretty good idea what's coming on third down.

It's been on third down -- the "money" down -- that the offense has lost its way.

The Steelers have converted 38 percent (61 of 160) of third-down conversions, compared with a 41 percent conversion rate last season, 47 percent in 2007 and 43 percent in 2006.

It's the Steelers' lowest success rate since 2005, when they won Super Bowl XL with a 35 percent conversion rate. Which goes to show there's still a chance for the Steelers to salvage their season with three games to play.
Yeah, right.

The Steelers were 3 of 14 (21 percent) on third down against Cleveland. It was their second-lowest third-down effort during the five-game losing streak; the Steelers were 3 of 15 (20 percent) on third down in an 18-12 loss to Cincinnati on Nov. 15.

The rest of the Steelers' third-down numbers during their slump: 6 of 16 against Baltimore (38 percent); 3 of 9 against Oakland (33 percent); 4 of 13 against Kansas City (31 percent).

When NFL coaches discuss the fine line between winning and losing, they don't talk about the importance of converting on first and second down.
They harp on the importance of sustaining drives on third down.

Eight of the Steelers' 14 third-down situations against Cleveland were 5 yards or more. Five of Roethlisberger's sacks came on third down, with two coming on third-and-short and three coming in obvious passing downs.
Based on the numbers, the Steelers have become a predictable offensive team on third down.

Only 22 of the Steelers' 68 third-down plays during the five-game skid have been runs, with three of those runs being the result of quarterback scrambles.

Opposing defenses know the percentages favor the Steelers passing the ball whether it's third-and-short or third-and-long, making it easier to ignore the run and go after the quarterback.

For example, the Steelers' first three pass plays on third down against Cleveland resulted in sacks.

So while it's popular to rip the offensive line for a struggling aerial attack, a heavy dose of the passing game -- combined with tight secondary coverage resulting in Roethlisberger holding onto the ball too long -- is also to blame for a lack of success on third down.

The Steelers were 1 for 6 on third-down passes against Cleveland. Coupled with five sacks on third down, the Steelers were 1 for 11 when Roethlisberger dropped back to pass on third down against the Browns.

Based on the Steelers' decision to pass 32 times compared with only 22 runs against Cleveland, the Steelers' short-yardage run game was better than the coaching staff anticipated. The Steelers were successful on two runs in their three attempts on third-and-1.

The Steelers converted over half of their third-down runs (13 of 22) during the losing streak.

It's a much better pecentage than they produced with their passing game on third down.

The Steelers called twice as many passes as runs during the losing streak, when the reverse should have been true.

Forty-six of the Steelers' third-down plays during the five-game losing streak have been pass plays. They've hit on six, making them successful in just under one of every eight pass attempts.

Statistically, the Steelers had a better chance of converting on third down with the run than the pass.

Keeping more drives alive with a better third-down conversion rate would have kept the much-maligned defense on the sideline longer and opposing offenses off the field. Maybe then the Steelers wouldn't be stuck in their worst slump in six years.

More Columnist John Harris headlines
Harris: Abandoning run leads to lost season
Harris: Tomlin backed down from 'change'
Harris: Easy, unjust to blame Taylor for woes
Harris: Tomlin's answers?
Harris: Adversity will test Tomlin's mettle
Harris: Steelers have work cut out for them
Harris: Turnovers compound Steelers' woes

Steelers' integrity on the line

By Joe Starkey, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/
Sunday, December 13, 2009

Nothing to play for? Are you kidding? The Steelers have something positively essential to play for in their final three games.

Namely, the integrity of the NFL's most decorated franchise.

This team has embarrassed itself not just by dropping five consecutive games — including losses to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns in a span of 18 days — but by doing so in often listless fashion.

CLEVELAND - DECEMBER 10: Ryan Clark(notes) #25 of the Pittsburgh Steelers sits on the bench towards the end of the game against the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium on December 10, 2009 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Ex-Steelers running back Jerome Bettis said it well Friday, from his North Shore restaurant, site of his weekly radio show. He was speaking of the dreadful 13-6 loss in Cleveland, and his opinion echoed that of former NFL players and coaches-turned-analysts across the country.

"That," Bettis said, "did not look like a team that even cared about being in the playoffs."

The Steelers' leaders include men of proven toughness — men Bettis knows well — so why the seeming disinterest?

"I think it starts at the top," Bettis said. "You have to look at, is the head coach getting through to them?"

I wonder — and I think the most intriguing question surrounding the stretch run is this: Will these Steelers finish off a lost season for Mike Tomlin with as much vigor as the 2006 Steelers finished a lost season for lame-duck coach Bill Cowher?

The signs are not good, based on the past month.

Tomlin's bravado, including his empty promises of lineup changes, has fallen on deaf ears. He must use these final three games to re-assert his authority in a defeated locker room and set the tone for next season.

If that sounds trite, consider some recent history.

Bettis fondly remembered the 2000 season, when the Steelers started 5-6. The playoffs were gone, but, unlike the previous two seasons, the Steelers finished with some fight, winning four of five. One game was especially memorable - a come-from-behind, 21-20 victory over a very good Oakland Raiders team.

The Steelers battled like crazy that day. Quarterback Kordell Stewart won over the locker room by playing through an injury. That would lead to his MVP-caliber campaign of 2001, when the Steelers finished 13-3.

That's what can happen during a stretch of so-called meaningless games.

Then consider 2003, year of the Tommy Gun fiasco. The Steelers lost five in a row to drop to 2-6 but refused to die. They finished 4-4, including a spirited, 13-10 loss at playoff-bound Baltimore in the season finale. The Ravens had clinched the division earlier in the day but played their starters. The Steelers kept Jamal Lewis from breaking the NFL's single-season rushing record, forced the game to overtime ... and went 15-1 the following season.

In 2006, the Steelers again started 2-6. I've never believed that was attributable to a Super Bowl hangover so much as a banged-up, ineffective quarterback. Regardless, a team with every excuse to fade came together for a final stand, finishing 6-2 (it would have made the playoffs with one more win).

The capper was Cowher's final game, when the Steelers went to Cincinnati and ruined the Bengals' playoff hopes with a rousing overtime victory. But it was a Dec. 7 game against the Browns that always stood out to me.

Heinz Field was an ice box that night, a frigid host for a nothing game between two struggling teams. Yet, the Steelers approached it like a playoff game, played with emotion and came away with a 27-7 victory.

The message there was clear. The Steelers were saying to the Browns, "Look, we might be stuck at the same bus stop right now, freezing in the rain, but we're headed in drastically different directions. We're still the Steelers, and you're still the Browns."

A much different message was delivered Thursday night.

Who cares what Pirates do anymore?

Monday, December 14, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

I'm trying really hard to work up a good case of angst over the Pirates' decision to release closer Matt Capps in what clearly is another salary dump. But I can't. How do you get upset over something you don't care about?

I guess that's what really ticks me off most, that the Pirates have become so irrelevant in our sporting consciousness. Baseball is such a beautiful game and we're stuck with the worst franchise with the worst ownership in the sport. What did we do so wrong?

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Pirates reliever Matt Capps

So what if the Pirates let Capps go and almost certainly will head into the 2010 season without anything even remotely resembling a bullpen hammer? What's the big deal? They're the Pirates, right? Maybe they'll lose 105 games instead of 99. It really doesn't matter what moves they make, does it?

On some level, I suppose, the decision to release Capps isn't completely idiotic. The way baseball's wacky economic system works, he was due a raise through arbitration from his $2.425 million salary last season. That despite the fact he badly underachieved with a 4-8 record, five blown saves and a 5.80 earned run average. It is safe to say Joe Kerrigan, whom the Pirates like to portray as the pied piper of pitching coaches, couldn't get through to him. That can mean only one thing, of course: Poor Capps must be hopeless.

Not to be cynical.

Speaking of Kerrigan, who might be just a bit overhyped and overrated, is there another organization in sports that promotes its coaches more than the Pirates? I guess that's what you have to do when you never have a winning team and are the biggest sports joke in town. It was as if the world was ending when the club lost infield instructor Perry Hill after last season. Shame on me, but I don't see that as such a big issue. So maybe the Pirates will lose 110 games instead of 105. Really, what's the difference?

But back to Capps.

I had to laugh out loud at the Post-Gazette report last week that said Pirates general manager Neal Huntington threatened to release Capps and not take him to arbitration if he didn't agree to the team's contract offer. That's really showing him, isn't it? If I'm Capps, I'm begging to be released. At least now, as a free agent, he has a chance to go to a club that knows what it is doing and has a chance to win. Huntington did him a favor.

Teams all over baseball are looking for relief pitching. That includes the Pirates, who, after releasing Capps and left-hander Phil Dumatrait over the weekend, are looking at a bullpen next season of Joel Hanrahan, Evan Meek and what other low-priced stiffs they can find to put out there. Good luck with that.

I know Capps isn't Mariano Rivera, but it is incomprehensible how the Pirates can give away one of their few commodities without getting anything in return.

Now that is completely idiotic.

It's hardly unfathomable that Capps will bounce back to have a much better season in '10. It's not uncommon for a relief pitcher to have a bad year. Huntington knows that. He has said that any reliever's performance is the toughest thing to predict from one year to the next.

Capps was pretty decent before last season. Just last week, Pirates manager John Russell talked as if he planned on him as his closer again in '10. "It's Matt's job to lose."

So much for that.

Capps lost the job without throwing a pitch.

All because he might make -- heaven forbid! -- $3 million-and-change next season.

What a franchise!

The Pirates want us to believe that this wasn't a salary dump, that it merely was about the team wanting better value for its dollars. Funny, that's what management said after parting ways last season with pricey veterans Nate McLouth, Adam LaRoche, Jack Wilson, Ian Snell, Freddy Sanchez and John Grabow. After each move, the payroll went down, much to the delight of Bob Nutting, the sport's worst owner but a tremendous businessman. It is far beyond the point now that it is hard to believe anything that anyone in the organization says. It's an absolute farce. The franchise is an absolute farce.

Here's the most absurd part:

In Dejan Kovacevic's well-timed two-part series in the Post-Gazette last week examining the Pirates' finances, team president Frank Coonelly actually had the nerve to moan that too much attention is paid to the club's major league payroll.

I couldn't make that up.

Well, I'm here this morning to tell you that tiny payroll number isn't what is so troubling. These numbers are: 99, 95, 94, 95, 95, 89, 87, 89, 100, 93, 83, 93, 83, 89, 86, 61 and 87.

That's the number of Pirates' losses going backward for the past 17 years. (You have to put an asterisk beside the 61 because it came in the strike-shortened 1994 season).

You might care if the team loses 115 games next season.

I don't.

I stopped caring a long time ago.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.

First published on December 14, 2009 at 12:00 am

Josh Cribbs is the Brown for all seasons in a memorable triumph

By Terry Pluto, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/
December 11, 2009, 12:21AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Number 16, Joshua Cribbs.

Now there's a jersey that Browns fans can wear proudly.

Cribbs could have played for Paul Brown, for Blanton Collier, for Sam Rutigliano or any other Browns coach. They all would have loved the guy.

He runs back kicks. He runs back punts. He runs out of the Wildcat formation, taking a long snap for center, then sprinting and daring the defense to stop him.

He also covers kicks. And punts. And he would play safety, if they'd let him.

Best of all, he hates the Pittsburgh Steelers and the undrafted free agent from Kent State plays like it.

Didn't he bring you out of your seat during the Browns' stunning 13-6 victory over the Steelers at Browns Stadium Thursday night?

CLEVELAND - DECEMBER 10: Josh Cribbs #16 of the Cleveland Browns stiff-arms Daniel Sepulveda #9 of the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns Stadium on December 10, 2009 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Greg Shamus/Getty Images)

"For our fans, [beating Pittsburgh] would be the season for us," said Cribbs. "They would be like, 'OK, we forgive you.' We were the team that imposed our will on this game. I am so happy for the fans."

Across the dressing room for Cribbs was Hall of Famer Jim Brown. He smiled, watching No. 16 be interviewed.

"He is a spiritual force," said Brown. "What he does is so pure, it's running the ball, then going down to make a tackle. It playing the game with the right attitude, giving himself all the way."

Where do we begin to praise Cribbs for what he did to the Steelers?

There was the 55-yard punt return, setting up a field goal. There was a 37-yard run out of the Wildcat formation. Another one for 18 yards. Yet another for 14 yards.

All on a frozen field against a defense ranked No. 1 against the run, a defense determined to stop Cribbs.

But there was Cribbs with 87 yards in eight carries. There was the entire Steelers team with only 74 yards rushing. There were Browns fans standing and stomping and screaming -- so proud of this young man who plays every game as if it were the Super Bowl.

There also was a nine-yard pass reception, and a tackle on special teams.

There was linebacker David Bowens saying, "Cribbs got some huge first downs for us. He is big. He is tough."

Keep in mind that Cribbs is not happy with his contract, that he wanted the Browns to rework his current deal. The team told him to wait until after the season. It would be easy for him to pout, but Cribbs not only plays hard, he has played when hurt, when the temptation would be to sit out practices or even games in this dreadful season.

But that's not how Cribbs thinks. It's what Brown meant when he said Cribbs is pure. It's why Brown added, "Other guys should watch him play and look in the mirror."

After the game, Eric Mangini gushed about Cribbs: "It's not just how he plays, but it's his preparation. He has no ego, he just wants to help us win. He is a great guy, a great teammate, a guy who makes you excited [when you can coach him]."

As for Cribbs, after the game, he kept saying that he waited "five years" for a chance to beat the Steelers.

He went out and made it happen as only No. 16 can.

Steelers play like losers

Friday, December 11, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

CLEVELAND -- It's one thing to lose a football game. It happens to half of the teams in the NFL every week. When the Steelers lost in Baltimore in overtime Nov. 29 without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, safety Troy Polamalu and defensive end Aaron Smith, it was understandable. In some ways, their performance even was admirable.

But it's something much worse to be a professional and play as if you don't care. That was the Steelers last night. Coach Mike Tomlin was right a few days earlier when he said he would find out plenty about the character of his players. They revealed themselves completely in an almost unbelievable 13-6 defeat at the frozen hands of the Cleveland Browns.

They are losers.


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward is consoled by wide receivers coach Randy Fichtner in the final seconds of the Steelers' loss at Cleveland Browns Stadium last night.

There is no other word to describe a team that was supposed to be fighting for its playoff life and the right to defend its Super Bowl title, yet was thoroughly outplayed by the 1-11 Browns, an opponent that -- quoting safety Ryan Clark now -- "even a bad Pittsburgh Steelers team should be able to beat every time."

There is no other word to describe a team that has lost five games in a row, including three to the worst that the NFL has to offer -- the Browns, the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs.

There is no other word to describe a team that, by all indications, has quit on the Rooneys, Tomlin, their fans and -- most egregiously -- themselves.

Losers.

Tomlin talked afterward about how much he admired his guys' "fight" on this frigid night on the shore of Lake Erie. I must have been watching a different game. Wide receiver Hines Ward used words that I thought were much more appropriate. "Frustrating. Disappointing. Embarrassing."

Especially embarrassing.

"We're better than this," Ward said, shaking his head.

Sorry, no.

They aren't better.

It seems unfathomable that a team that went into Denver Nov. 9 and bucked the Broncos, 28-10, to go to 6-2 can be so bad barely a month later. But the Steelers are just that -- dreadfully bad -- in every sense of the word and in every phase of the game.

Their offense couldn't score a touchdown against the NFL's worst defense. It was 3 of 14 on third-down conversions. Roethlisberger was sacked a staggering eight times.

"This was probably the worst we played up front all year," tackle Willie Colon said. "I know it was probably my worst game. I feel like I let the line down."

The Steelers' defense couldn't force a turnover against the NFL's worst offense. The Browns ran for 171 yards, including 87 by Joshua Cribbs out of the wildcat formation. The way the Steelers played it, you would have thought they had never seen it before.

"Mind-boggling," defensive back Deshea Townsend described it.

The Steelers' special teams gave up another ridiculous return, this one a 55-yard punt return to set up a field goal by Cribbs, a noted Steelers slayer. But, hey, at least Cribbs didn't run a kickoff back. Not that the Steelers kicked off much.

The way it looked, the Steelers played as if they couldn't wait to start their Caribbean vacations. The good news for them is they don't have much longer to wait. There will be no playoffs for them this season. Three more games -- almost certainly three more losses -- and their agony will be over.

As will ours.

This Steelers slide has been as hard to watch as it is to understand. "Like a bad dream," nose tackle Casey Hampton said. I didn't think it could get worse than the loss to the Chiefs. But it did. I didn't think it could get worse than the loss to the Raiders. But it did.

Well, at least that trend is over.

It can't get worse than losing to the Browns.

There just isn't another team in the NFL that is that bad.

This loss was a shame because there was still so much to play for despite those previous four losses. A win in the final four games and the Steelers probably would have made the playoffs. All they had to do to get the first one was beat the Browns.

So much for that.

"It's a wrap," Hampton said with an appropriate tone of finality. "This [bleep] is a wrap."

It almost seemed right that Roethlisberger's fourth-and-6 pass for wide receiver Santonio Holmes with 1:48 to go fell incomplete. The only thing that would have been more appropriate would have been if he had been sacked one more time to end the Steelers' dying gasp.

Somehow, Big Ben kept getting up.

The Steelers didn't.

They were down for the count.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.

First published on December 11, 2009 at 12:30 am

Sacking of Roethlisberger the latest misdeed

Friday, December 11, 2009
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

CLEVELAND -- So which is the largest number, as of this morning: The number of alleged Tiger Woods mistresses, the number of Pitt fans who really want to go to the Fender Bender Bowl, or the number of people on the bitter shores of Lake Erie last night who can claim they sacked Ben Roethlisberger?

Unbeaten against the Browns in his career (10-0) and coming off a 417-yard passing performance against them in his most recent appointment, Roethlisberger went down faster and more often than an inflatable Christmas reindeer in the high winds of the front yard.

The defense of a Super Bowl championship went with him.


Peter Diana / Post-Gazette

Ben Roethlisberger is sacked by the Browns linebacker Marcus Benard last night at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

"It was like every time I go out for a pass, when I looked back, he'd be getting hit," said wideout Mike Wallace, who caught only two of Big Ben's ineffective 18 completions, none of which covered more than 24 yards. "I'd just be coming out of my break and he'd be going down."

It wasn't a terribly favorable sign for Mike Tomlin's team when the Browns had more sacks on the Steelers' first three possessions (three) than the offensive line had allowed in the previous two games. And by the time three quarters of this frostbitten chunk of prime time were finished, Cleveland had seven sacks, the most it had strung together in a game in seven years.

The Steelers' chronic inability to keep Roethlisberger upright emerged as the latest strategic atrocity in a series of stunning failures that extinguished the final flickers of pointless playoff fantasies.

The Steelers didn't have to drop an interception, give up 200 passing yards in the final eight minutes, get out of the way of a kickoff return for a touchdown (although Joshua Cribbs turned in the obligatory long return -- 55 yards with a punt), or any of the things that had been strung together to cause them to lose six times by a total of 21 points.

But how many sacks did Cleveland have in that big sack of sacks last night.

Eight?

And did I mention that this was a Browns defense ranked 32nd in a 32-team league, a Browns defense missing two starting defensive linemen, two starting linebackers and a starting safety? Of course, when you're the Browns, maybe that's the good news.

In any event, Marcus Benard got two sacks, Corey Williams got two, Brian Schaefering had a sack and a half, David Bowens had one, Hank Poteat had one for the Pitt Panthers' sake and Kaluka Maiava had half a sack.

Now there's a parade of household names among your fans of defensive football.

In the grim Steelers locker room, no one was offering any particulars on what made this Browns defense so suddenly indecipherable, it being a diminished version of the one the Steelers outgained, 449-197, Oct. 18 at Heinz Field.

Instead, explanations more resembled the testimony of people who weren't quite awake, who still haven't snapped out of a nightmare that now stretches to five consecutive losses.

"It hurts right along with the rest of them," said left tackle Max Starks. "But this is little more bitter of a feeling, coming against a division rival."

A division rival the Steelers had beaten 12 consecutive times, eight consecutive times at this venue, 18 of the past 19 times, and pretty much as a matter of policy for the past 20 years.

Tomlin will survive all this and doubtless head to his fourth Steelers training camp next July with a whole lot of work today. As for anyone else on his coaching staff or on most of his roster, I wouldn't e-mail any room preferences to the Saint Vincent housing office just yet.

Midway through December, Tomlin's third team looks awfully close to helpless in a lot of areas, but the offense that trotted onto the Browns' frozen lawn last night with 6:16 remaining and 79 yards to go to tie the score looked like they had a better chance of landing on Pluto.

Roethlisberger found Heath Miller for a first down at the 32, and Rashard Mendenhall got him another at the 46 at the four-minute mark, but eight seconds after Hines Ward converted a third-and-6 to the Cleveland 43, Benard arrived with sack No. 8, effectively ending the Steelers' final threat.

Roethlisberger hadn't been sacked eight times since September 2008 in Philadelphia, and had been sacked more often only once in his career, which was at Baltimore in '06 during another Super Bowl hangover.

This one might feel worse. At least Bill Cowher had the coaching decency to start off 2-6, removing any mystery.

Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com.

Impressive Statistics Belie a Sub-Par Steelers' Record

Thursday, December 10, 2009
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

It's possible after tonight's game that the Steelers could have an elite offense with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger throwing for more than 3,000 yards.


It is possible before tonight ends in Cleveland that the Steelers will have a 1,000-yard rusher, a 3,000-yard quarterback, and a 1,000-yard receiver, with another waiting in the wings.

It is possible that they will have all that, plus a top-five defense, and not make the playoffs.

How to explain it?

"There have been some unusual things happening," quarterback Ben Roethlisberger mentioned.

Indeed. Roethlisberger has 3,145 yards passing. Rashard Mendenhall needs 113 yards rushing to hit 1,000. Santonio Holmes needs 13 yards receiving to reach 1,000 for the first time. Hines Ward, who likely will not play tonight, needs 78 yards receiving to reach 1,000 for the sixth time.

Only once in history have the Steelers had a 3,000-yard passer, two 1,000-yard receivers and a 1,000-yard rusher. That occurred in 2001 when they went 13-3. Never have they had a 4,000-yard passer, which is well within Roethlisberger's range. Even their time of possession is up, at 32:28 nearly a minute more than last season's 31:29.


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Santonio Holmes is 13 yards shy of 1,000 receiving yards on the season.

Yet, their record stands at 6-6 and they are on the brink of not making the playoffs a year after they won the Super Bowl.

It does not make sense.

"Last year, the ball bounced our way and things happened good for us and we went on to win the Super Bowl," Roethlisberger said. "This year, the ball is not bouncing our way and we are not getting those lucky breaks that are sometimes involved in a football game."

Is that it? Just bad luck and the bounce of the football here and there?

"You look at situational red zone and third-down efficiency, we're just not doing what we need to do," Ward said. "Statistically, yeah, we're putting up numbers, but when we get down in the red zone we're not putting up touchdowns. On third down, we're below average."

Inside the 20, the offense ranks 18th in the NFL in touchdown percentage at 51.2. It ranks seventh in total yards. On third downs, the Steelers rank 16th by converting 39.7 percent of them into first downs. Perhaps, as Ward noted, those two mediocre performances in two vital areas have helped hold an otherwise productive offense down.


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Rashard Mendenhall has rushed for 887 yards.

There seems to be no one explanation for the Steelers' failure in those two areas.

"I think it's just maybe one guy not being on the same page," said Ward, repeating a reason that is age-old in football. "You look at it: We miss a 'hot' here, a block here. It accumulates. If one guy has a perfect game but messes up in situational football, it becomes huge.

"That's just been the case this year. It's more us beating ourselves than anything. The stats aren't comparable to what we're actually putting up in wins and losses by being an efficient team in red zone and third downs."

Similar missteps seem to afflict the NFL's fifth-ranked defense. The skimpy yards the Steelers have allowed in games (297.3 on average) cannot explain their many fourth-quarter collapses. Opponents have scored 45.5 percent (105) of their total points against the Steelers in the fourth quarter and overtime.

"I guess it's just those last drives that have been getting to us," said safety Troy Polamalu, who will miss his fourth consecutive game and eighth this season with a knee injury.

"We're not finishing," nose tackle Casey Hampton said. "We're not finding a way at the end to finish games. Bottom line. The main thing is, we're giving up too many big plays. We have to stop that."

The defenders are at a loss to explain why that occurs in the fourth quarter but not in the first three. Last season, opponents produced two pass plays longer than 40 yards; that number stands at seven this season with five games left. Five of those big passes have come during this four-game losing streak.

"It's not the same thing every week, which may be disappointing because it would probably be an easy Band-Aid to cover that mistake," Polamalu said.


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

LaMarr Woodley sacks Raiders quarterback Bruce Gradkowski with help from James Harrison on Sunday. Statistically, the Steelers have a top 5 defense but a 6-6 record.

The defense also has not fared well in allowing third-down conversions -- ranking 20th, at 40 percent. It also ranks last in the league in fourth-down conversions by allowing seven of nine. However, its performance inside the 20 remains good -- tied for seventh.

That defense has lost four starters from its Super Bowl team, including two -- Polamalu and defensive end Aaron Smith -- to injuries this season. But as Hampton noted, it does not explain the defense's high rankings in many categories, including points allowed (eighth).

"I don't know," Polamalu said. "I think we're all kind of searching for answers."

Palko released; WR signed

The Steelers released quarterback Tyler Palko and signed rookie receiver Tyler Grisham from their practice squad.

There are two reasons for the move: Charlie Batch's broken left wrist has healed well enough to allow him to serve as the No. 3 quarterback, and Ward's hamstring injury -- the least severe, with minor tearing of the muscle -- has not healed well enough for him to play.

Ward and cornerback William Gay were officially listed as "questionable" by the Steelers, who listed Batch and Rashard Mendenhall as "probable." Troy Polamalu was declared out for tonight's game.

Fanning the fire on the hot stove

Thursday, December 10, 2009
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Two words for Pirates management this morning: Ramiro Pena.

That's whom they ought to have been targeting this week in tropical Indianapolis, the site of baseball's annual Winter Meetings, which have long since become the December marketplace where the Pirates reliably maneuver just carefully enough to achieve their unique equilibrium -- modest profits from an acutely substandard product.

Yes, it's all perfectly legal.

Ramiro Pena makes the major league minimum: $400,000.

He's a perfect fit.

With all the resources available within what Bob Nutting once called the best management team in all of baseball and maybe in all of sports (and certainly the best in the 100 block of Federal Street), somebody has to have a cell phone number for Ramiro Pena, likely the most underrated utility man in all of Monterrey, Mexico.


Oakland Athletics' Bobby Crosby rounds third after hitting a home run in the second inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP)

I only offer this suggestion in response to the club's pursuit of Bobby Crosby, the American League Rookie of the Year in 2004, when he hit 22 homers. The fact that he has hit about 22 since has not deterred your Buccos. All right, he has hit 39 in the past five years, but let's not be persnickety.

Of all the personnel strategies initiated by the Pittsburgh Baseball Club over the past 17 years of win avoidance (this being the start of year III of five-year plan IV), none smells so strongly of abject surrender than management's stated reason for wanting Crosby, a shortstop with more than a million bonus points as a platinum member of the frequent-guest program of the American League disabled list.

The Pirates want Crosby, again by public admission, to push their starting shortstop, who, if you haven't noticed, is Ronny Cedeno.

After arriving from Seattle at the end of July in the trade that sent shortstop Jack Wilson and starter Ian Snell to the Mariners, Cedeno put the finishing touches on a season in which he hit .208 in 105 games, had more strikeouts than hits and walked 19 times in 376 plate appearances.

If you went to the plate 376 times without a bat, you would walk more than 19 times.

Defensively, Cedeno was by turns brilliant and inadequate.

And yet Pirates manager John Russell, explaining to the Post-Gazette's Dejan Kovacevic the need to "push" Cedeno, said, "It's just consistency. Ronny has so many tools, as we saw, but he needs to maintain his concentration. You got the sense that he wasn't always locked in."

Hmm.

Isn't it bad enough that your starting shortstop, whom you're paying close to $1 million, can't always be bothered to, you know, pay attention, or is it far worse that the solution to this problem is to acquire another substandard shortstop that you hope will spur the starting substandard shortstop to previously unscaled heights of near adequacy?

Seriously. Can we pretend this is the big leagues?

Either push Cedeno off the plank, or please, give me Ramiro Pena.

Pena played in 34 games in the majors last season at shortstop, starting only 11, but the shortstop he was "pushing" had 212 hits, scored 107 runs, stole 30 bases, whacked 18 homers, batted .407 in the World Series and wound up on the cover of Sports Illustrated as its Sportsman of the Year.

Oh, yeah, Derek Jeter really got pushed.

The Pirates are awaiting the results of a physical on Crosby before handing him potentially $1.5 million to make sure Cedeno pays attention. Crosby's attention span apparently isn't an issue, but his 18 extra-base hits in 238 at-bats don't figure to keep Cedeno up at night.

For real fan-base buzz, the Crosby deal, should it happen at all, won't compare to the earlier acquisition of psychotic Japanese second baseman Akinori Iwamura, who said through a translator after being dealt from Tampa Bay to Pittsburgh: "Hopefully, we can go to the playoffs next season."

You don't normally regard translators as a mischievous lot, but, really, who did they tell him he was traded to?

On the always humorous Rule 5 issue, Pirates general manager Neil Huntington seems to have waffled a bit this week on whether the club would be interested in tomorrow's Rule 5 draft. The past two brought Evan Meek and Donnie Veal, and Huntington said he might be interested again if there is another pitcher available. That's good. There's nothing the club can use more than a marginal reliever who can't get any innings and won't develop as a result.

Not to be critical.

Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author

First published on December 10, 2009 at 12:00 am

The Steelers stink

By Joe Starkey, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Monday, December 7, 2009

Ten quick takes on the Steelers' stunning, 27-24 loss to the Oakland Raiders ...


• This just in: The Steelers have accepted an invitation to the PapaJohns.com Bowl, where they will play Northern Illinois and probably lose on account of their defense folding in the fourth quarter. Has there ever been a more depressing football weekend involving the local pro and college teams?


PITTSBURGH - DECEMBER 06: Ben Roethlisberger #7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers looks up at the scoreboard in the fourth quarter during the game against the Oakland Raiders on December 6, 2009 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

• Inexcusable. That's one word to describe the repeated miscommunications on Dick LeBeau's defense. For the second time in three weeks, the inability to relay a simple call from the sidelines among all 11 defenders cost the Steelers dearly. Two weeks ago, it happened when Kansas City's Chris Chambers made a 61-yard catch in overtime. Yesterday, it was Louis Murphy's 11-yard touchdown catch over Ryan Mundy with 9 seconds left. "We were supposed to blitz from one side, but we ended up blitzing from both sides," Mundy said. "It was just a little miscommunication, that's all." Yeah, that's all. Only cost the Steelers the game and maybe their season.


• That was the Oakland Raiders, mind you, who scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, on drives of 57, 84 and 88 yards. The Raiders had 10 touchdowns ALL SEASON to that point. They also had two starting linemen out of the game when they drove 88 yards on 10 plays in 107 seconds to win it.


• How does it happen that not every defensive player gets the call? "I don't know," said linebacker and defensive co-captain James Farrior. "We all have to be on the same page and relay the call across the board. That starts with me. I have to take responsibility for that."


• You don't think Al Davis is enjoying this one, do you?


• The fans were almost as bad as the Steelers' defense. Boos rained down when the Steelers fell behind, 13-10, early in the fourth quarter. Those turned to wild cheers when they took the lead, massive boos when they fell behind again and cheers when they regained the lead on a pass from Ben Roethlisberger to his best friend, Hines Ward, with 1:56 left. Guess what happened then? Thousands fled the premises, depriving the Steelers of much-needed crowd noise on that final drive.


• The Steelers' kick-coverage team finally met a man it could tackle: Ex-Steelers plodder Gary Russell, who makes Najeh Davenport look like Devin Hester (although Russell did break off a 34-yarder).


• OK, so where does this debacle rank among the most-galling losses of the decade? I put it first, just ahead of the 24-6 loss to the expansion Houston Texans in 2002 (the Steelers outgained the Texans, 422-47), the 20-13 loss at Oakland in 2006 and the ridiculous loss to the Chiefs two weeks ago. Special mention goes to the 6-0 loss to the New York Jets in 2003 at the Meadowlands, the day offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey ordered 38 passes in a blizzard. This beats Houston, because that game was a one-man meltdown featuring Tommy Maddox. This wasn't about turnovers. The Steelers just got beat, by a really bad team, on their home field, with their season on the line.


• What a gutsy performance by Green Tree native Bruce Gradkowski, who took some massive hits but kept coming back for more. He made several mind-blowing throws off his back foot, under pressure, and badly fooled the Steelers all game with play fakes. In the fourth quarter, Gradkowski completed 10 of 17 passes for 190 yards, three touchdowns and a passer rating of 137. His rating in his previous visit to Heinz Field, last season as a member of the Cleveland Browns: 1.0.


• Rookie cornerback Joe Burnett ought to fit right in with this group: He dropped a sure interception on the game-losing drive.

Steelers' real test is staying together

Monday, December 07, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

After conceding the Steelers could win their final four games, finish 10-6 and still not make the playoffs, defensive end Brett Keisel unwittingly played the role of a straight man yesterday. "The ball isn't in our hands anymore," he said.

A wise guy couldn't help himself.

"You guys probably would drop it anyway," he said to Keisel.

I still can't believe the big man didn't see the humor there. I thought it was a really funny line. In fact, the only thing more laughable on this dismal day at Heinz Field was the Steelers' performance in a humbling, humiliating 27-24 loss to the Oakland Raiders.

Unleashing hell?

Isn't that what coach Mike Tomlin promised his Steelers would do after their loss in Baltimore a week earlier?

Well, this was merely hell to watch.


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger gives wide receiver Santonio Holmes a hug after scoring a touchdown in the second quarter yesterday at Heinz Field.

It was the Steelers' fourth loss in a row and left them at 6-6. They are closer to the Cleveland Browns in the AFC standings than to the Indianapolis Colts. That's pathetic.

Playoffs?

Did somebody really ask Tomlin about the playoffs as he attempted to sort through what appeared to be his team's autopsy report?

"Huh!" Tomlin fairly squealed. "I'm just trying to win a game."

The 1-11 Browns are the next opponent Thursday night in Cleveland. The Steelers can't possibly lose that one, right? Of course, they couldn't lose to the Raiders or to the Kansas City Chiefs a few weeks ago, either. But they did. Sadly, they have proved they can lose to anyone. Sadly, they have proved they're not nearly as good as they think they are.

I have to admit, I'm having a hard time wrapping my arms around that, but 'mediocre' is the only word to describe a team that is 6-6 and a million miles behind in the playoff race. The beauty of sports is you almost always get what you deserve. When you lose to the Raiders and Chiefs, you don't deserve to make the playoffs. You deserve only ridicule.

"We're a good team, we're just not playing good football right now," wide receiver Hines Ward said.

Sorry, I'm not buying. I bought it after the loss in Baltimore when quarterback Ben Roethlisberger didn't play. I even bought it after that disgraceful loss to the Chiefs. Not now. Not after this defeat.

A good team doesn't keep blowing fourth-quarter leads. The Steelers' defense blew three yesterday. All of the problems can't be blamed on not having safety Troy Polamalu. The secondary is weak. It made Raiders quarterback Bruce Gradkowski look like Dan Marino with 308 passing yards and three touchdowns. Who knew the free-agent loss of cornerback Bryant McFadden would be so devastating?

It's easy to blame rookie defensive back Joe Burnett for dropping an easy interception that would have saved the game in the final minute. But that was his first play in place of injured William Gay and, after all, he merely was following the lead of veteran teammates such as Ike Taylor and Ryan Clark. You want to blame someone, blame Taylor for allowing a 23-yard completion to wide receiver Louis Murphy on the next play despite being in perfect position to knock the ball down. That was ridiculous.

"We had defensive players come up and apologize to me," Roethlisberger said. "I said there is no reason to apologize. We win and lose as a team."

Don't give Roethlisberger too much credit for his magnanimity. He and his offense played lights out in the fourth-quarter when he led two touchdown drives and completed 10 consecutive passes for 166 yards before his desperation pass to the end zone was knocked away on the final play. But there was nothing even remotely resembling that production in the first three quarters. Drives that went to the Raiders' 15, 5, 16 and 25 ended with a field goal, Roethlisberger being stopped short on a fourth-down sneak, a Roethlisberger interception in the end zone and a missed field goal after a sack. This game never should have come down to another defensive meltdown.

Now, it's on to Cleveland ...

The Steelers' toughest opponent this week won't be the Browns. It will be the fight to stay together as a team. I've always said linebacker James Farrior is a terrific leader. He and the other veterans will be greatly tested now that their "playoff picture is bleak," to quote offensive tackle Willie Colon.

"It won't be hard staying together," Farrior insisted.

"We're brothers in arms," Colon said.

Added offensive tackle Max Starks: "We didn't play well at all as a team today, but if you're a competitor, you don't give up and you don't get discouraged. I've bled and sweated with all of these guys. I have the utmost confidence in every one of them. There's no quitting in this room at all.

"As long as we still have an opportunity ..."

The Steelers need to finish 4-0 to have any shot at the playoffs. Even that might not be good enough without a lot of help. Stark knows that reality.

"At least if we win out, we'll go down fighting," he said.

Win out?

Like Tomlin, I'm starting to wonder if the Steelers will win another game.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.

Ed Bouchette's blog on the Steelers and Gerry Dulac's Steelers chats are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.

First published on December 7, 2009 at 12:01 am

Steelers defense not up to standard

Monday, December 07, 2009
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/


Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor tries to push Raiders wide receiver Louis Murphy out of bounds as he runs for a touchdown in the fourth quarter yesterday at Heinz Field.

Comically entangled in a distasteful little hair-pull with the wretched Oakland Raiders yesterday, the Steelers looked very much as if they would win in spite of themselves, but then something really terrible happened.

Right. The fourth quarter started.

Don't know if you've noticed this, but the referee no longer hops on the field microphone and says, "That is the end of the third quarter," during Steelers games. He says, "That is the end of the Pittsburgh defense as we know it."

But if you thought Dick LeBeau's fellas have looked a little skittish this season in the final 15 minutes, yesterday's total panic was their deliverance to the next dimension; it not only turned Bruce Gradkowski into Brett Favre, it likely turned the formal defense of a Super Bowl title into something almost completely hypothetical.

The Raiders, who'd effortlessly lost eight of their first 11, who were barely averaging 10 points a week, who'd managed five touchdowns on the road all season, scored three in a little more than eight minutes against a Steelers secondary that again demonstrated the ball skills of a backhoe, but without all of the mobility.

With yesterday's four-alarmer, in which Gradkowski completed 10 fourth-quarter passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns, the Steelers have essentially perfected their utter collapsibility.

"I don't think so," linebacker James Farrior responded when someone asked if it was all traceable to the absence of Troy Polamalu. "I wish I knew."

But as Mike Tomlin always liked to say, the standard of expectation does not change -- "the standard is the standard," and there was no worse example than the emergency appearance of rookie corner Joe Burnett in the middle of the losing defensive stand yesterday. Burnett, forced into play when William Gay got a concussion courtesy of teammate Ryan Mundy, stepped in front of Raiders wideout Louis Murphy with 40 seconds remaining and the Steelers up 24-20, and dropped a Gradkowski pass that hit him right in the belly.

"I wish I could have it back," Burnett said. "We've just gotta stay together and continue to play sound."

This is sound?

Don't let me see unstable.

That makes four games in a row, all losses you might have noticed, that a defensive back has dropped an interception at a critical time. But speaking of things these guys would like to have back, we're making a list, checking it thrice.

They'd like to have back that fourth quarter in Chicago, when they led 14-7 but lost to Jay Cutler, 17-14.

They'd like to have back that fourth quarter in Cincinnati, when they led 20-9 but lost to Carson Palmer.

They'd like to have back that fourth quarter in Kansas City, when they led 24-17 but lost to Matt Cassel.

They'd like to have back that fourth quarter in Baltimore, when they led 17-14 behind a third-string quarterback but lost to Joe Flacco.

And they might like to have this back -- this sourest entry yet on the wish list, a fourth quarter in which they blew three leads -- 10-6, 17-13, and 24-20 -- the last evaporating on a 10-play 88-yard drive in 1:47 by The Great Gradkowski.

The Steelers have thus been outscored 105-78 after the third quarter, including 6-3 in overtime, and this four-game losing streak is essentially attributable to the seven completions of more than 40 yards the secondary has permitted in that nosedive.

"You can't finish games when you don't execute the way you're supposed to," said veteran corner Deshea Townsend. "Everybody's got to look at themselves and not point the finger. There are guys in here who've won a lot of games. We still have to think we can do whatever it takes. We're still in the hunt."

If they are, you should hope they're not hunting a football, because no one in the secondary wants any part of one.

On the play after Burnett dropped the fourth interception in four weeks (Ryan Clark took care of the first three), Gradkowski unfurled a sideline pass for Murphy. If the pass Burnett dropped cried to be intercepted, this one blubbered. It had the approximate arc of a Zambelli pyrotechnic and it was going to land right in the hands of Ike Taylor, had he had any.

Instead, Murphy snatched it for 23 yards to the 17 with 27 seconds left.

After Mundy's unnecessary roughness penalty moved the ball to the 11, Murphy beat some blown coverage in the left rear of the end zone for the winner with nine seconds left. It was his fourth catch, but it was enough to make him the third opposing receiver to shred this secondary for 100 or more yards in three weeks.

"Something about coming out here today felt different," said Murphy, the Florida rookie who beat Taylor for a 75-yard score earlier in the quarter. "We knew Pittsburgh was the defending champs and everything, but it's time to make our mark. Enough is enough."

That might be phrase that gets some play this week. Unfortunately, the standard is the standard.

Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com.

Ed Bouchette's blog on the Steelers and Gerry Dulac's Steelers chats are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.

First published on December 7, 2009 at 12:00 am

Penguins' Crosby shooting, scoring more

Thursday, December 03, 2009
By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/


Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Penguins forward Sidney Crosby has recorded two hat tricks this season.

Sidney Crosby was 13 when he first met Max Talbot. Five years later, in the 2005-06 season, they were Penguins rookies together. And when Crosby invited just one teammate to his personal celebration with the Stanley Cup last summer, it was Talbot.

So it figures that Talbot would cut right to the personality aspect of why Crosby is on pace this season to set career highs in shots, goals and shooting percent and, for the first time, finish with more goals than assists.

"It's not about shooting more; it's about being more confident, which makes him shoot more," Talbot said yesterday after the Penguins practiced at Southpointe. "He's more confident. He knows he can be a goal-scorer."

Going into tonight's home game against Colorado, Crosby has scored 17 goals on 101 shots. Those numbers had him in the top seven in the NHL in each category before last night's play. His recent tear -- six goals, 10 points in his past four games -- gave him 33 points and moved him into a tie for third in the NHL scoring race through Tuesday.

Crosby switched to a one-piece composite stick over the summer. That's one indication he made a conscious decision to shoot more.

"I feel like I think 'pass' first most times. So if I can think 'shoot' a little bit more, hopefully, that will open both and keep guys guessing," Crosby said. "I'll, hopefully, be a threat either way."

It's not that Crosby's assists have fallen off dramatically -- his goals total tops his assists by just one -- but the ratio is much different from his first four seasons, when he had 132 goals and almost exactly twice as many assists -- 265.

By shooting more -- Crosby will finish with 296 shots and reach 50 goals for the first time at his current pace of 3.6 shots a game and a 16.8 shooting percent -- he is helping the rest of the 19-9 Penguins through a ripple effect.

Opponents now have to be more alert for Crosby to shoot, not just make a familiar drop pass or dish the puck across. That means positioning differently to try to take away his shooting lanes and watch for rebounds.

"As a goalie and a defenseman, you could have thought he was going to be a passer before when he was coming down on a two-on-one or on a power play. You could see him looking for passes," coach Dan Bylsma said.

"The passing skills certainly haven't gone away, and the ability to make that play has not gone away. But if you also have a scoring threat, if the goalie's now worried about the shot, it's a different factor. ... In different scenarios, it's adding another weapon."

One that was bound to make its way into Crosby's repertoire as he matured, gained confidence and sought ways to solidify his high-level game. It only took until he was 22.

"He's got such a great ability to score goals that when you have those chances, you have to take it," said veteran winger Bill Guerin, who has played mostly on Crosby's right side since joining the Penguins in March.

"If there's a play to be made [to set up a goal], he'll make it. The fact that he's shooting the puck makes everybody else more available because now teams know that he'll shoot. They have to honor that."

Bylsma sees a difference in more than the number of shots Crosby is taking.

"Not only is he shooting them, but he's shooting them pretty hard," Bylsma said. "The last few games, he's had a couple of chances that didn't go in that were cannons to the net. You wear goalies down with that."

Guerin said that over the years he, like many, came to think of Crosby as a player who looked primarily to pass the puck. When Crosby won the NHL scoring title with 120 points in 2006-07, 84 of those came on assists, 36 on goals.

"He'll tell you he has a bad shot, but he has a great shot," Guerin said. "It's quick. It's hard. It's accurate. It's good to see him using it."

Crosby's assists can still be spectacular, such as the spinning, backhand pass from the left-wing boards to Sergei Gonchar in a 3-1 win Nov. 25 against Montreal -- the game that marked the start of Crosby's recent point surge.

Crosby also seems to have expanded his comfort zone in shooting the puck. No longer does he concentrate so heavily on the area within six or eight feet of the net. Also in that Nov. 25 victory, Crosby used Canadiens defenseman Paul Mara as a screen and scored from above the left circle on a rising shot.

Practice drills that have the Penguins taking perimeter shots help, Crosby said.

For more on the Penguins, read the new Pens Plus blog with Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson at www.post-gazette.com/plus. Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.

First published on December 3, 2009 at 12:00 am