By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
You can dicker over exactly when NBC's anticlimactic prime timer was essentially over, whether it was pretty much when the Steelers took a three-touchdown lead to halftime, or when they stretched it to 28-0 at the first opportunity after intermission, or not until the fat lady sang some ludicrous aria about an inadequate San Diego comeback born of Steeler narcolepsy, but don't overlook the possibility that this one was over before it began.
Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
Hines Ward hurdles over Mewelde Moore, who scores in the first half against the Chargers last night at Heinz Field.
The San Diego Chargers looked about as prepared for the Steelers as for a trigonometry final, and I don't think it had much to do with losing the coin toss and not being allowed to handle the football again almost until their flight to the coast was boarding.
It's not so much that the Chargers aren't 0-14 here in the regular season for nothing, it's more a matter of Norv Turner being 0-5.
The fact is, Steelers coaches essentially wiped the grease board with Turner and his staff, and nowhere was it more evident than on first down. The record must show that the Steelers leveled their record at 2-2 and that Rashard Mendenhall led them in a stampede away from Mike Tomlin's mythic doghouse, but the Steelers most pointedly won it on first down.
The first first down, the last first down, and just about every first down in between.
"We wanted to move the pocket and we wanted to put the ball in 7's hands," Mike Tomlin said of the quarterback who'd whip it around for 333 yards, "and we wanted to kind of supplement that with the run. I think because we were willing to stretch the field and use every inch of grass on the field we were able to get some running lanes. In significant moments guys did a nice job in short yardage runs and things of that nature, but for the most part, our willingness to stretch the field vertically and horizontally planted a nice playing surface for us."
Ben Roethlisberger found Santonio Holmes free for 15 yards in the Chargers' secondary on the first play from scrimmage, found Hines Ward for 15 more on the second, then stood in an empty backfield, surveyed his five receivers, and calmly clothes-lined a 35-yard pass to Mike Wallace on the third.
The Steelers had gone 65 yards and it wasn't even second down yet.
Cue Mendenhall, who fell a yard short of a fourth consecutive first down on the next play, and bulled for 4 yards and a first down on the next. On first-and-goal, he got the only yard left to get.
Bruce Arians' opening script might not have unfolded without a wrinkle in those first 191 seconds, but what the hyperscrutinized offensive coordinator had game-planned for the 2-2 Chargers was so superior to their feeble answers that it almost looked unfair.
"We played them twice last year and we ran pretty well against them both times," said tight end Heath Miller, who snagged eight Big Ben strikes for 70 yards. "We just kind of took what we did well from those games."
What's more, first-down dominance against San Diego's base defense looked too inviting for any alterations, and by the time the Steelers went ahead, 28-0, early in the third quarter, they'd piled up 195 yards on 27 first down plays, 7.22222 per pop.
First down went something like this: 15-yard pass, 15-yard pass, 35-yard pass, 9-yard run, 4-yard run, 6-yard run, 5-yard run, 2-yard run, 4-yard pass, 5-yard pass, 7-yard run, 9-yard run, 2-yard run, 4-yard run, 20-yard pass, incomplete pass, 14-yard pass, 3-yard run, 26-yard pass, 10-yard run, 5-yard run, 2-yard run.
When it ended, the Steelers had gained 264 of their 497 total net yards on first-down plays.
I guess San Diego hadn't been allowing 322 yards per game for nothing, but that still didn't detract from Arians' performance, which relied to an atypical degree on the running game despite the absence of Willie Parker.
Arians broke out a double reverse and a halfback pass, and while both worked, neither was necessary due to the efficiency of the more conventional elements. He lined backup center Doug Legursky up at fullback in front of Mendenhall for that first touchdown, despite the emergency return of real fullback Carey Davis.
"You drop a couple of games," Tomlin said, "and you start turning over rocks to try to win 'em."
That the Steelers somehow let things grow too close near to interesting after the 11 o'clock news will be this week's thrust of the tireless alarmists, but don't let the fact that Mike Tomlin's staff put together a plan so perfect that it could have withstood most anything.
Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1283. More articles by this author
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First published on October 5, 2009 at 12:29 am
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