The Steelers Must Do These Things To Finish Strong

Week 15 is almost over, there's just one game left and it just might hold the key to how the Steelers perform in the post-season this season. There were some major surprises this week that helped the Steelers out and made their chances look much better.

Number 1.
In the early games Kansas City shocked Green Bay. I have to admit I did not see this one coming. I thought if anyone was going to beat them it would have happened against the Giants a few weeks ago. The Pack pulled that one out and set themselves up well to run the regular season table. They ran into the Haleyless Chiefs though and were thoroughly dominated. They have 2 tough games left against the Bears and Lions, but those are both at the Curly, so they should win those. The bad thing about this is now they are aware that they are beatable. As before they just seemed to be on cruise control knocking of each opponent they faced. What's the saying about sleeping giants? I think the Chefs might have just woke them up. The good thing is the Steelers win against the Chiefs doesn't look so bad, remember it was a struggle to escape Arrowhead with the win.

Number 2.
Most importantly for the Steelers playoff positioning was the game Sunday night between the Ravens and the Chargers. This one was a little more predictable than the other game because it was in San Diego and the Chargers are on their usual late season roll. I thought the Ravens would put up more of a fight, but they again choked and lost control of their playoff destiny this year. As of now they are in the fifth spot in the AFC and will be again packing their bags for the playoffs if the Steelers and Patriots win out. That's counting our chickens a little early, because the Steelers are also travelling to the West Coast this weekend to face the other Harbaugh and the 49ers. Arians has said this week he doesn't know what information can be given to Jim by John to help the Niners, but the Ravens have given the Steelers a tough time this year and know more than any team how to play them. Arians said the Niners won't change their game plan to beat the Steelers, but I disagree. If John gives Jim information on how to beat the Steelers he's not going to say, "No, I think we'll just give it a shot with what we've got." A good coach will adapt and try every trick they have up their sleeve. Jim has proven that he's not a bad coach, turning a team and a quarterback into a contender in one year.

Number 3.
The Steelers have 3 winnable games left. Tonight, at home against the Rams and at Cleveland. Tonight should be the toughest of the 3 facing a good team away from home. If they can win out they will have secured home field advantage throughout the playoffs by virtue of their win against the Pats. Seems like plenty of incentive to do just that. We will see if the veterans on this team have a Super Bowl Run left in them. If they win these 3 games they will be on a significant roll heading into the playoffs and they'll get a week off, which doesn't hurt.

Resounding Victory

I know there isn't a big following for the Pittsburgh Sports Buzz but it appears that someone in the Steelers organization or some of the players are reading. After the KC game I wrote about how the Steelers continually try to make things interesting in their games. They played down to the level of their opponent in KC and stretched the outcome out to the last drive of the game.

Well, today the Steelers opened a can on the Bengals and the game was not in doubt after the Steelers scored their first touchdown. Their performance was textbook and they showed why they went to the Super Bowl last year.

Week 13 preview

Not Pretty, But It's A Win

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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There goes the neighborhood

You just know things will never be the same. You've grown up in a neighborhood, spent your whole life hanging out with the friends that live next door and competing with that kid that lives behind your house. You come home from school and play one on one basketball with him. You can even manage to play one on one football. Try to throw a pass to yourself. Unless you're Mike Wallace and can outrun a bullet you have to give it a lot of hang time and be able to outjump the other guy to do that.

So, as you get older the kids in your neighborhood start moving out. Jimmy's dad gets a new job in California. The Smiths have a new baby and outgrow their house. Bobby's family moves to Florida. Until finally you and your rival, Panther, are the only ones left. Even though you have always had heated competition to see who will be the best you have a mutual respect for each other. You think there will never be an end to the competition that exists between the two of you. But the developers decide that your neighborhood is better suited for a shopping center. You do well to get out while the getting's good, but it is the end of the neighborhood and the end of the rivalry.

Well, it looks like all the neighbors in the old Big East neighborhood have vacated the hood and it's down to the Mountaineers and the Panthers. Penn State wasn't in the Big East but they lived in the next development over when everyone was an independent. The Penn State rivalry with West Virginia was mostly one-sided, but it was one that everyone in West Virginia looked forward to every year. When the Mountaineers beat Penn State there were a few parties in Morgantown.

Next, some more longtime neighbors decided to vacate. Boston College and Virginia Tech and Miami left for greener pastures in the ACC. Not the best football conference, but the basketball roots were deep. There were some new neighbors moving in, but you knew they were either going to be short timers or maybe fight for the neighborhood. One just moved in and didn't like the scene and decided to leave before even staying the night. Then you find out your neighbor Syracuse has had enough and is moving to the new development a few miles away.

Finally, you go out to play one on one football with the kid that lives behind you, you call it the "Backyard Brawl" and he tells you that his family has decided to move. You and your remaining neighbors are crushed. You never really liked him, but it will never be the same after he's gone. You looked forward all day to taking him on. One year he grew several inches and had an advantage over you, the next year you surpassed him and were better than him, but it was always competitive.

Now the Mountaineer family has found a new neighborhood and is moving on and the Panther family is moving on. You thought after the Lion family moved to their new neighborhood that you'd still have a get together occasionally, but they never looked back and didn't even want to get together every few years. Somehow it looks like that's what will happen with the Panther family. Billy Panther has already made new friends with the kids in the new neighborhood and he doesn't even say hi to you in school anymore.

So, you challenge him to one last game tonight. The last bragging rights to the neighborhood are on the line. This may be the last one for a long time. It is a sad sight to see, but an inevitable reality of life in the big business of college sports.



Ego Leonard Sighting

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