Well, there are few things worse than losing to the Bengals. It'd be like the Yankees getting swept by the Nats (or Pirates, really); the Red Wings getting beat by the Islanders; the Lakers getting beat by the Clippers (like 8 times). The first 28 minutes of the game was pure domination. As was clear at that time, the Steelers are the better team. They didn't capatalize on opportunities, and the Bengals did. Just like with the Bears last week, I don't want to take anything away from Cincy. They scrapped, and clawed and hung around, and capitalized at the end. Props to them.
With that said, I'd first like to address something that was raised by one of our 3 avid readers. How did Limas get a scholarship to Texas? Well, that's a good question. I'm a HUGE Sweed fan. Huge. The kid has all the physical skills. He's big, pretty fast, good at using his body to make space. When people shit on him in the AFC Championship game for that drop, I said, "Hold on now, is there anyone on the team who would have gotten that open. He completely bitched the corner, and he's a rookie. Give him a break." He also came right back and killed Corey Ivey. What that said to me is, hey, he's a rookie, he got a little excited, but he can get over it, and he has the right mentality - specifically, that he wants to kill you if he gets the chance.
I stuck with him through the pre-season, too. He made some good catches in the pre-season. He didn't get much action to start the year, but that's ok. Then we come up with a big 3rd, from the Cincy 35, up 20-9, and looking to put away a feisty Bungles team. Limas goes up field, simple post pattern, beats his man, and Ben hits him SQUARE in the numbers from 40 yards away. Pass couldn't be more perfect. It's in his hands, he bobbles it, hits the ground and it flies out.
Well, I may be done, and I think the coaching staff may be too. What does Limas have that makes him desirable? He's big, so that should mean a redzone threat. And he's pretty quick, which means he's a deep threat too. Well, he doesn't do shit in the red zone, and that play today? Mike Wallace would have been just as open. And he wouldn't have dropped it, either. I know this.
I hate to say it, but Limas is our 5th. Shaun McDonald can play as the 4th and make the catches. Mike Wallace is wicked fast, and the boy just catches the ball. And it breaks my heart to say that. Limas has had his shot, and has made two inexcusable drops - both of which cost us TDs in close games. Luckily, we won the important one, but going forward, I don't see how you trust him over Mike Wallace to run that route. And I'm sure it wasn't unintentional that both Limas and Wallace had deep routes today. And I'm sure that the depth chart will reflect their respective performances.
As for the rest of the team, I don't want to talk about it. With Troy out, they need someone to step up. Ben played fine. The INT was on Santonio, not him. Willie looked better. The D was fine, but they aren't stepping up with Troy out, and that's really what they need.
The loss, though, rests on the shoulders of Bruce Arians as much as anyone. The fact of the matter is that he is NOT a good coach. He doesn't make smart calls, and it's cost us two games now. 3rd and 2, and you throw for the end zone? And then as Mr. Ruben so aptly put it, we started playing Cowher football today up 20-9. Now, I know that the shutting things down part was probably more Tomlin than Arians, but Arians makes the obvious call every time. He doesn't switch it up. He doesn't bring mis-direction. He doesn't put his players in a position to succeed. So, I'm done with him, far more than I am with Limas.
So, action plan for the week (1) Mike Wallace is new #3, (2) fire Bruce Arians and hire the "Ask Madden" fuction off of Madden '10, (3) Coach needs to sit the team down, and remind them that this is the NFL, and that if you don't bring your a-game, you're in trouble. The good times are over, and time to get down to business. If they don't bring it soon, we could be looking at 2-4 going into the bye - and an Everest of a climb into playoff position.
9/28/09 - 917 AM Addition:
So, I'm now sitting around, reading various local pieces on yesterday's shit-show, and I just wanted to address a theme I'm seeing - specifically, most of the people writing being idiot yinzers.
With that said, I think a few things are worth noting.
(1) The Pick-6 on Ben wasn't on Ben. It was clear to anyone watching that Santonio was Ben's hot-read, and that Santonio slept on that play. It was, frankly, a bad game for the guy, which is frustrating given how solid he was in Week 1. That kind of thing happens, but to throw this on Ben (or even really allege that he has some kind of issue with plays like that) isn't really accurate.
(2) Skippy played like shit last week, no doubt. And yeah, he was what, 2-3 on FGs this week? And that 3rd FG would have been big - would have left Cincy with the tie, rather than the win on that late TD drive. But I don't think there's any doubt his job is safe. He isn't on the team because he bangs in 62 yarders all day long. In fact, no kicker in the league can be expected or relied on to hit a 50+ yard FG for his team. If he makes it, then great. If not, well, you can't expect that a guy's gonna hit more than 50% of those.
But either way, we have Reed because our last long-term kicker (lest anyone forget) was a kid named Kris Brown, who, although he could nail a kick from anywhere on the field, he had a tendency to miss from anywhere on the field, too. The Steelers play in Heinz Field, generally considered the worst place to kick in the league.
Reed is, nonetheless, 29 for 32 over the last 2+ seasons there, including perfect under 40 yards. So, the lesson is this: Reed is absolute money from under 40 yards, and that's why we have him.
So, how have other kickers fared at Heinz in the past? Well, our starters from those respective seasons:
Kris Brown 14 for 24.
Todd Peterson 6 for 10.
So 20 for 34 versus 29 for 32. Seems like a pretty easy call to me. And both those guys are career 80% kickers. It's a hard place to kick, but Reed knows how. That's not the kind of thing that could be easily replaced.
Don't know if anyone saw Shane Graham's 52 yard FG attempt, but his was a lot further off. Jeff Reed played fine, and had nothing to do with that loss.
Actually, I'm gonna keep going on the kicking department. Let's talk about Cincy's kicking game - or specifically, it's failure to capitalize on an XP after the INT TD. They hit that, and it's 20-17 with Cincy driving late. Hell, Graham hits his 52 yarder, and it's 20-20. Really, Cincy left some points on the board in the second half, and it could have been a whole lot easier for them to get this win.
(3) I saw a reference from someone that the "2008 Draft Class could turn out to be the worst ever". I'm a little surprised to be reading this, but think it's a little too early to say, frankly. Mendnehall has 29 career touches. Maybe we should let him get above a full-game's worth before we make judgments. Limas has been a bummer, and that shit happens. We've cut our 3rd round pick, but that never happens to anyone else. Oh, and our 5th round pick "is probably a career backup" and our 6th round pick "was squarely on the bubble during training camp".
Our 6th rounder from 2009 is already gone, by the way; and NFL starting QBs don't come from the 5th round, regardless of what you hear about Tom Brady.
Look at the top QBs in the league, and they're all 1st- or 2nd-round picks.
So, Pittsburgh has worked itself up so much that they aren't even making sense anymore. An apparent movement to blame Ben, the Kicker and an unproven draft class over the coaching staff which went easy on this team, and clearly is having trouble getting them ready for games - not to mention having difficulty finding any kind of intelligence in the offensive playcalling.
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