Steelers' decade -- win at Indy changed everything

By Joe Starkey, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Tuesday, December 22, 2009

This column is part of the Trib’s series on the Decade in Pittsburgh Sports.

There was no shortage of memorable Steelers games this decade -- good and bad — but if you were to ask me to choose just one, I wouldn't hesitate:

Steelers 21, Colts 18 (Jan. 15, 2006).


[Getty Images]

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is hit by linebackers Joey Porter, right, and James Farrior for one of Pittsburgh's five sacks.

It wasn't just the most impressive win of Bill Cowher's career and as entertaining as any game this side of Super Bowl XLIII. It also was the game that spurred the Steelers toward greatness.

I'm not sure this team wins any Super Bowls this decade if it doesn't go into the RCA Dome that day, in a divisional-round playoff game, and take down a juggernaut.

Nobody, but nobody, thought the Steelers would win. Indy had flirted with a perfect season and had embarrassed the Steelers, 26-7, seven weeks earlier.

By pulling the upset, the Steelers' core group of players -- the ones who had failed repeatedly in the biggest situations -- experienced a profound boost of self-worth.

But that's not just me talking. I recently asked Jerome Bettis about the significance of the win.

"Going into that game, the question for us was, 'Are you a championship team?'" Bettis said. "Years past, the answer was no. This time, the answer was yes. I think it set up the opportunity for us to be great. The Broncos game (AFC Championship) was a formality. We knew we'd beat the socks off those guys."

For Bettis, of course, the Colts game nearly turned into a nightmare of Buckner-ian proportions when he fumbled at the Colts 2 with 1:20 left.

Ben Roethlisberger's subsequent tackle of Nick Harper will never be forgotten, though the Steelers still had to survive some tense moments before Mike Vanderjagt missed a 46-yard field goal at the gun.

I remember asking Hines Ward what had gone through his mind as Harper raced the other way.

"I thought, 'Oh my God, I just don't want it to happen to Jerome, have it end like this.'"

No, a much better ending was in store, followed by a few more that year and another batch in 2008 -- and I believe that all of them can be traced back to 21-18.

An in-depth look at the Pirates’ decade

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

Sports writer Joe Starkey and the Tribune-Review staff break down the best and worst moments of the decade for the Pirates.

SIGNATURE MOMENTS

1. April 9, 2001: Pirates christen new home, PNC Park, only hours after franchise icon Willie Stargell dies of complications from stroke. An emotional sellout crowd turns moment of silence and video tribute into loud and lengthy salute before 8-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

2. July 22, 2003: Pirates provoke fan outrage by trading 25-year-old, homegrown slugger Aramis Ramirez and center fielder Kenny Lofton to Cubs for package of nobodies.

3. Sept. 7, 2009: On a drizzly day at PNC Park, Pirates lose to Cubs, 4-2, to clinch 17th consecutive losing season, a record for professional sports teams in North America.

4. June 7, 2007: Pirates confound baseball world by bypassing consensus best player on board, catcher Matt Wieters, to take relief pitcher Daniel Moskos fourth overall. Team press release says "(Moskos) was ranked by Baseball America as the fifth-best pitcher available in the draft."

5. Jan. 12, 2007: Kevin McClatchy, long-time face of the franchise, steps aside as principal owner, cedes control to Bob Nutting.


After coming to Pirates in ’03 trade with Padres, Jason Bay won NL Rookie of the Year and twice represented Pittsburgh in the All-Star Game. Left Pirates in top 10 in slugging pct. (.515, 4th), OPS (.890, 8th) and home runs (139, 8th).

Christopher Horner/Tribune-Review file

ALL-DECADE TEAM

Catcher — Jason Kendall ('00-04): Franchise leader in games caught.

First base — Adam LaRoche ('07-09): Got a better idea?

Second base — Freddy Sanchez ('04-09): Surged from backup to batting champ in '06.

Shortstop — Jack Wilson ('01-09): Sparkling glovework, boundless optimism.

Third base — Aramis Ramirez ('00-03): Kind of player Pirates needed to keep.

Outfield — Jason Bay ('04-08): Quiet guy whose stats shouted for attention.

Outfield — Nate McLouth ('05-09): Breakout year included Gold Glove, All-Star berth.

Outfield — Brian Giles ('00-03): Mashed 38 homers in '02.

LH Pitcher — Oliver Perez ('03-06): Had one great full season, which is one more than anyone else had.

RH Pitcher — Josh Fogg ('02-05): Winningest righty at PNC Park, which is saying something.

Closer — Mike Williams ('00-03): 140 saves in two nail-biting stints in Pittsburgh.

Manager — Lloyd McClendon ('01-05): Gets major points for stealing first.


BEST PLAYER

Jason Bay, LF. After coming to Pirates in '03 trade with Padres, won NL Rookie of the Year and twice represented Pittsburgh in the All-Star Game. Left Pirates in top 10 in slugging pct. (.515, 4th), OPS (.890, 8th) and home runs (139, 8th).

BEST GAME

Giles grand slam shocks Astros, July 28, 2001. With two out and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, the Pirates rally from an 8-2 deficit to beat the Houston Astros on Brian Giles' grand slam off Billy Wagner. Houston's Vinny Castilla hits three home runs and is robbed of a fourth by Giles, who isn't sure what kind of a pitch Wagner threw him. "When a guy throws that hard, it's hard to tell," he said. (July 28, 2001).


BEST PLAY

Delwyn Young makes miracle catch, July 28, 2009, at San Francisco. OK, so the umps missed it. We don't have to. Right fielder Garrett Jones bobbled, then kicked Randy Winn's fly ball into the air. Second baseman Young dived into the picture and snagged the ball with his right hand. Umps' ruling? A hit. Our ruling? Best play of the decade.


FEEL-GOOD GAMES

· June 20-21, 2003: Pirates beat pennant-chasing Indians in two raucous, 15-inning games at sold-out PNC Park.

· May 28, 2004: Hours after wife Jennifer gives birth to first son, Rob Mackowiak hits walkoff grand slam to beat Cubs in first game of doubleheader and game-tying homer in ninth inning of nightcap. "It's just hard to imagine ever having a better day than this," he says.

· Trailing 9-3 in seventh, 10-4 in eighth and 11-10 in 10th, Pirates rally for 12-11 victory over visiting Cardinals on Jason Michaels' two-out, two-run homer (July 12, 2008).

· Trailing Rockies, 11-6, with one out and nobody on in bottom of ninth, Pirates rally to win when Jason Kendall singles home Tike Redman (Aug. 1, 2003).

· July 11, 2006: American League rallies past National League, 3-2, in the 77th MLB All-Star Game, at PNC Park.

· Carrick High School grad John Wehner homers in final game at Three Rivers Stadium, a 10-9 loss to Cubs (Oct. 1, 2000).


WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

· Pitching coach Jim Colborn berates shortstop Jack Wilson in dugout during game.

· Pitching coach Jim Colborn tinkers with Zach Duke's mechanics in spring following Duke's magical rookie season.

· Manager John Russell removes Duke from 2009 home finale with two out, nobody on in ninth.

· Pirates put Tike Redman in three-hole because computer tells them to after simulating thousands of games (presumably all Pirates losses).

· Kevin McClatchy predicts Pirates will win 90 games in 2000 (they lose 93).


PRETEND IT NEVER HAPPENED

· Red vests

· Doug the Camel

· "We Will"

· Pedro Alvarez signing saga

· Chris Stynes


STRANGE BUT TRUE

· Pitcher Oliver Perez heads to DL after injuring foot by kicking laundry cart in clubhouse (June 28, 2005).

· First baseman Randall Simon is arrested for clubbing a racing sausage at Miller Park and is fined $432.10 for disorderly conduct (July 10, 2003).

· Pitcher Ian Snell requests and is granted demotion to minors, saying, "I think the team is better off without me." (2009).

· Outfielder Raul Mondesi, saying he fears for family's safety in Dominican Republic, leaves team on May 7, 2004. He signs with Angels on May 29.


MOVES THAT MADE PEOPLE VERY ANGRY

· McClatchy raises ticket prices after 100-loss season (2001).

· Littlefield/McClatchy trade Aramis Ramirez (2003)

· Huntington/Coonelly trade Jason Bay (2008)

· Littlefield/Nutting bypass Matt Wieters (2007)

· Adam LaRoche walks to on-deck circle in April or May (2007-09)


ROOKIE STARS

· Jason Bay becomes first Pirates player to win Rookie of the Year (2004).

· Andrew McCutchen, 11th overall pick from 2005, finishes fourth in Rookie-of-the-Year voting, despite playing only 108 games (2009).

· Zach Duke becomes second Pirate to win first five decisions, posts 1.81 ERA in 14 starts (2005).

DATES

Nov. 18, 2000: Catcher Jason Kendall (at right) signs richest contract in team's 114-year history, a six-year, $60 million extension.

May 29, 2004: Latest date all decade Pirates were over .500, at 23-22.

Aug. 14, 2009: Pirates drop 17-2 squeaker at Wrigley Field, marking fourth-worst beating in team history.


DIGITS

18 — Strikeouts in brutal 25-at-bat stretch for shortstop Brian Bixler in 2009

.462 — Winning pct. of interim manager Pete Mackanin in 2005 (12-14), best of any Pirates manager this decade.

.173 — Derek Bell's average in 2001, year of "Operation Shutdown."

3 — Players left from Littlefield era: Doumit, Duke, Maholm.

33 — Years calling games for broadcaster Lanny Frattare, who stepped down after the 2008 season.


WE WROTE IT

"Chuckles emanated from the gallery when the fourth and fifth Pirates players were drafted away. A few picks later, the volume increased when the Pirates decided to pass on their chance to make a selection. 'I heard the laughs coming from back there,' Pirates farm director Brian Graham said. 'Realistically, it's a compliment. You don't want to lose players, and it's not a positive for us, but it is a compliment.' " — Joe Rutter, reporting on reaction by MLB executives as the Pirates' farm system is picked apart during the 2003 Rule 5 draft.


THEY SAID IT

"We feel comfortable projecting him as a No. 3 starter." — Dave Littlefield, on the day he drafts Bryan Bullington first overall, ahead of B.J. Upton.

"This story is bigger than Israel-Palestine. It's amazing. We're talking about bottled water." — Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy, at a news conference to reverse policy that bans fans from bringing bottled water into PNC Park.

"I fear they will take advantage of the good will of the people who continue to show up. For my money, that's disrespectful. At some point, you have to write the check." — Pittsburgh-born actor Michael Keaton, at team-arranged news conference on day Pirates invited him to throw out first pitch at 2006 home opener.

"Did you think he was going to be safe?" — Manager Jim Tracy, responding to question about why Jeromy Burnitz dogged it to first on a grounder.

"Dave, I can't thank you enough." — Jeromy Burnitz, to then-GM Dave Littlefield, on the final day of the 2006 season, a season in which Burnitz was paid $6.7 million and hit .230.

"I think it surprised a lot of people, but I was like, 'If they want to pay me that much ($2.4 million signing bonus), I'll do anything.' " — John Van Benschoten, looking back to when Pirates converted him into a pitcher upon drafting him, even though he led the nation in home runs at Kent State.

McClendon's steal was legendary

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

This column is part of the Trib’s series on the Decade in Pittsburgh Sports.

We could talk, in summing up the past 10 years of Pirates baseball, about how this was the worst decade in the franchise's 12-decade history.

We could talk about how ownership's betrayal of a passionate fan base was the predominant storyline.

But I'm going to keep it light.

To me, the most memorable in-game occurrence was Lloyd McClendon losing his mind and stealing first base on June 26, 2001, at PNC Park.

As then-Pirates outfielder Brian Giles said afterward, "That was one of the great snaps of all-time."

ESPN.com later confirmed as much, ranking it the fourth-best coaching snap ever, behind Woody Hayes punching an opposing player, Bob Knight throwing a chair and Chicago Cubs manager Lee Elia telling his team's fans to "Go and get a (expletive) job!"

That's some serious company.

"I have to say, it's probably not my proudest moment," McClendon said from his home in Chesterton, Indiana. "But it's probably the most comical."

To recount, umpire Rick Reed had just called Jason Kendall out at first in the seventh inning of the Pirates' 7-6 victory over the Brewers. It was the second such play where McClendon felt his team was robbed.

McClendon bolted from the dugout, briefly argued with Reed and threw his cap. Then he really lost it: He yanked the first-base bag out of the ground and carried it all the way into the dugout, as the crowd of 24,120 went nuts.

Finally, somebody in a Pirates uniform was acting the way most of them felt!

"Rick said, 'You're not taking that bag,' " McClendon recalled. "I said, 'Yes I am.' "

The umpires didn't dare enter the dugout to retrieve the bag — that would have been akin to entering a pit bull's lair to retrieve a beef patty — but used a new one, instead.

After the ejection, a Pirates coach poked his head into McClendon's office to check on him.

"I didn't realize I'd ripped the skin off all my knuckles trying to get that damn thing out of the ground," McClendon said. "I said, 'Damn, that hurts.' "

The bag was on display in the Pirates' clubhouse the next day (McClendon doesn't know what became of it). McClendon, hitting coach for the Detroit Tigers, keeps a framed photograph of the incident in his home office.

I wondered if people ask him more about that or about the time, as a 12-year-old in the Little League World Series, he hit five home runs on five swings.

"About 50/50," he said.

His Little League heroics earned him the nickname "Legendary Lloyd," but let's be real: Hitting five home runs is nothing compared to stealing first base.

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
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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.