The Pittsburgh Steelers try their best to make every win exciting. I don't really like the way they do it though. Take Sunday night, for example. For some unexplainable reason Mewelde Moore has been able to gain playing time as the season has gone on despite several older veterans losing playing time because of diminishing returns. Yeah, I know, Mewelde is that trustworthy veteran off the bench. He's the one that you can count on to hold on to the ball when that's all you need. He knows all the blocking schemes and does everything he's told. But, Mendenhall and Redman must be teetering on being in the doghouse for Moore to get a carry in the redzone early in the game. So what does Moore do. He manages to fumble the ball and the chance for Pittsburgh to get their offense on track and in the end zone early in the game.
It looked like Ben was headed for a quality game during that drive and everyone was doing their part. Thankfully the Chiefs and Tyler Palko were feeling generous this game because it would have been an embarrassing loss had Palko not given the ball to the Steelers a couple of times. He might as well have handed the ball to Ryan Mundy on one interception. Moore's fumble was just one of the many ways the Steelers made the game interesting. The Steelers were penalized time and time again for holding and otherwise, making those third down conversions even more difficult. Despite my objection to Mewelde getting the ball it's easy to see why. Mendenhall has not realized his potential as a running back and I think his time is running out in Pittsburgh. He shows flashes, like his touchdown run a few weeks ago, but then he'll get stuffed behind the line time after time. Don't put all the blame on him for that, because the line is bad, but a tough back needs to find the hole more than Mendenhall does.
Other puzzling ways the Steelers managed to make this game interesting included the Wide Receivers playing hot potato. Mike Wallace who has been somewhat absent in big play production the last several games temporarily lost his hand eye coordination on a routine pass in the endzone. The other young wide receivers seemed to have the same condition. Maybe Ben was off target a little but come on. You still need to catch some of those.
Then there's the special teams. I have to give credit to the special teams because they have certainly solidified their tackling and holding their opponents returns down to a minimum. I can actually turn away for a few seconds when the other team is returning the ball because I have confidence they won't give up a big return. On the flip side, though, the Steelers returns have also caused me to look away. Last year Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown were a threat to break it every return. This year it's like they're happy with their 10 yards and let's get on with the game. Maybe they're more focused on their receiving chores, but a good return here and there would help, especially if you're going to play hot potato with the ball.
William Gay in the past has made us antsy and angry with his coverage skills, but this year his name hasn't been overly abused. He did give up that TD to end the second Ravens game, but supposedly he should have had help on that one and didn't. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for that. But, he almost reverted back to give up the big play Gay on Sunday when he mistimed a jump and whiffed on the ball. Fortunately the Chiefs receivers didn't play much better than the Steelers and the receiver didn't catch it. If he did it would have been a TD.
So, after all that playing down to the level of their competition it came down to the final drive by the Chiefs. They needed a touchdown, something they haven't been able to produce for several weeks. The time was running out, but it was for the Ravens too. As the NBC announcers said, it would have been a storybook game for Palko to beat the team he had worked out next to when he was at Pitt and grown up watching. Palko ended the game, though, by completing a pass to Keenan Lewis.
The Steelers made it exciting. I'm much more interested in quality play and a bigger margin of victory though. That would excite me much more.
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