Steelers vs Ravens: Overtime rewind

• The Steelers won the coin toss and chose to receive to start overtime
• Mendenhall on two carries gets the first down.
• Dennis Dixon throws the ball deep to Mike Wallace but out of bounds
• Steelers punt the ball out of bounds to the Ravens
• The Ravens go three and out and punt to the Steelers
• Dennis Dixon throws an interception on 3^rd down and the Ravens return the ball 20 yards.  Ravens are already in field goal range and are about ready to kick a field goal to win the game in overtime.
• On 3^rd down, Ray Rice runs for a 1^st down.  The Ravens have only a 32 yard field goal to win the game.
• Ray Rice runs the ball again for another first down
• The Ravens kick a field goal to win the game.

Score: Ravens 20 Steelers 17

Steelers vs Ravens: 4th quarter rewind

• c has really struggled so far in the 4th quarter
• The Steelers punt coverage unit almost gave up a touchdown.  According to the reply, it looks like several blocks in the back occurred.
• Lawrence Timmons blitzed up the middle and caused a Flacco fumble
• Steelers have very good field position
• Rashard Mendenhall has run very, very hard in this game.  He has shown a great burst of speed, power, and a nice spin move.  Very impressive considering the Ravens run defense.
• With 7 minutes left, Dennis Dixon scores a touchdown on a QB draw.  Dennis Dixon was in the shotgun formation and make a reverse to Mike Wallace.  Dixon ran the ball to the right side and received a very nice block from Mewelde Moore that led him to the end zone.  Very nice call by Bruce Arians.
• Ray Rice called for tripping on 2nd down.  The Steelers accepted and made it 2nd and 19.  The Steelers then held on 3rd down by stopping Ray Rice on a screen pass.
• Ravens just converted a huge 4th down by Ray Rice.  For some reason James Farrior was 1:1 with Ray Rice and it was a complete mismatch.  Ray Rice caught the pass and ran it 60 yards to the Steelers 10 yard line.  Several Steelers missed tackles.  Lawrence Timmons tackled one of his own players who was in great position to make a tackle.
• The Steelers hold on 3^rd and goal.  The Ravens kick a field goal and tie the score 17-17 with 2 minutes left in the 4^th quarter.
• Dennis Dixon almost threw an interception on 2^nd down.  Consequently, the Steelers run the ball on 3^rd down.  A 3 and out for the Steelers
• Steelers punt the ball and the Ravens almost return it for ANOTHER TOUCHDOWN.  Will MIKE TOMLIN OR THE ST COACH EVER FIX THE SPECIAL TEAMS.  This is getting a bit ridiculous.
• A 24-yard pass interference call on Ike Taylor with 1 minute remaining in the game.
• The Steelers caused a last second fumble. The Ravens field goal unit and rushed a last second field goal which comes up about 2 yards short.

Score: 17-17

Steelers vs Ravens: 2nd quarter rewind

• Dennis Dixon has play well thus far with limited opportunities.  Dixon throw a nice roll-out pass and the followed up with a nice play action TD pass to Santonio Holmes
• Steelers continue to have success with running the ball with both Rashard Mendenhall and Willie Parker
• Ravens are giving the Steelers a heavy dose of McGahee, Rice, and fullback McClain
• William Gay continues to get abused
• William Gay and Ryan Clark get beat on a 50 yard pass play
• Ike Taylor gives up a touchdown on a fade pattern
• Steelers coaching staff goes overly conservative with 1:45 left in the 2nd quarter with consecutive running plays.  The offense gets close to the 50 yard line and runs out the clock.  The Steelers had plenty of time to try to gain around 30 yards to try a field goal.  A very disappointing decision by the Steelers coaching staff.

Steelers vs Ravens: 1st quarter rewind

• William Gay got torched several times on the Ravens’ first drive
• Willis McGahee scored the opening touchdown for the Ravens
• Bruce Arians is being overly conservative with Dennis Dixon
• Timmons caught out of position on a long Ray Rice run
• Ziggy Hood getting a good pass rush
• Steelers having success running the ball with Rashard Mendenhall

Score: Ravens 7 Steelers 0W

The Last Two Minutes

As the game clock ticks down below the two minute warning in the fourth quarter, you see your team with the ball, deep into their own side of the field and down by six. You’re sitting at the edge of your seat with anticipation, but deep down you know they’ve been here before and almost always emerge victorious. You wait with a confident sort of anxiety–for Big Ben has staged much more miraculous comebacks than this to pave the way to Super Bowl glory for your Steelers.

But this last minute effort wasn’t staged by Big Ben. It was staged by Bruce Arians.

Instead of the well choreographed, last minute, no huddle dance to the goal line, you got four poorly coordinated, poorly timed lobs to would-be receivers. NOT ONE YARD was gained and not one run play was even attempted.

So what happened? Were the reigning World Champion Steelers finally outmatched? Outplayed? No, they were simply out-strategized. With just under two minutes to play, Ben could be seen talking to Bruce Arians just before he went on for what would be his final drive. Bruce made very OBVIOUS hand motions that led the audience and the Bengals to believe that all Bruce wanted Ben to do was throw the ball. And throw he did. Ben attempted a pitch to each of his typical receivers, but failed to connect every time.

With one of the best quarterbacks in the league and quite possibly one of the most well rounded offenses, the only logical explanation is bad strategy. First, 1:55 on the clock is far too much playing time to resort to desperation passing. Especially since each failed pass attempt results in the clock stopping, sneaking a running play to the right and getting out of bounds would have thrown the defense without eating too much time off the clock. It also would have kept the defense honest and playing tighter, fearing another sneak run play, which could have allowed Ben to air it out long and ideally to the end zone. Second, rarely do we lose when we bring out the no huddle offense in the closing minutes of the game. Not only does it throw off the defense and not allow for adjustments and substitutions, but it also puts the strategy in Ben’s hands, where it belongs.

Now, I was hesitant to jump on the “Fire Bruce Arians” band wagon. I assumed that with the extremely loyal lot that are the Pittsburgh Steelers fans, that perhaps most of the hatred of Arians stemmed from the fact that he came on to fill the shoes of the great Ken Whisenhunt. Or perhaps because he came from Cleveland. It was not until this game against the Bengals that I realized that all this time, the raw talent and strong will of the team has been hiding his inadequacies all along. Put simply, his play calling is not always “bad” per se, just often predictable. The Bengals didn’t outplay the Steelers by any means (aside from the fact that Jeff Reed just doesn’t seem to want to tackle people running back his kicks). They just seemed to always know what was coming next.

Since it’s not likely that we’re going to fire the guy mid-season (if ever), I believe the answer is simple. Let Ben do what he does best. He understands the flow of the game and responds well to it. He understands much better than Arians the diverse cache of weapons that is the offense and how to use it in battle. Arians, on the other hand, gets so enamored with Ben’s throwing arm that he forgets that Mendenhall can sometimes rush for ten yards, even if he gets first contact at the line of scrimmage.

Ben has been lobbying for more no huddle this season. I hope Coach Tomlin overrides Arians and just lets him have his way with the Chiefs this Sunday.

STEEL CURTAIN RADIO #44: A TALE OF 2 HALVES

Show Topics:  *HAPPY VETERAN’S DAY*

1. Is Mendenhall Special?
2. Offensive Game Grades
3. Defensive Game Grades
4. A Tale of Two Halves
5. Why Larry Johnson won’t be a Steeler?

Click or Paste Link Into Browser to Listen to Show:

*http://media.libsyn.com/media/wtcb/SCR_44.mp3*

Vote Big Ben for FedEx Air Player of the Week

Vote for Ben as FedEx Air Player of the Week for his outstanding

performance against the Broncos. When Ben wins, so does Safe Kids
Allegheny County. FedEx will make a donation in Ben’s name to the local
Safe Kids coalition. Please help us spread the word. I think you can vote
multiple times!

http://www.nfl.com/partner?partnerType=players-air-and-ground

CHARGERS QB PHILIP RIVERS, STEELERS QB BEN ROETHLISBERGER & CARDINALS QB
KURT WARNER; BENGALS RB CEDRIC BENSON, TITANS RB CHRIS JOHNSON & FALCONS
RB MICHAEL TURNER CANDIDATES FOR FEDEX AIR & GROUND® NFL PLAYERS OF THE
WEEK HONORS

Fans To Vote For Winners On NFL.com

FedEx Delivers Pedestrian Safety Improvements
On Behalf of Winning Players In Their Teams’ Markets

Quarterbacks PHILIP RIVERS of the San Diego Chargers, BEN ROETHLISBERGER
of the Pittsburgh Steelers and KURT WARNER of the Arizona Cardinals are
the finalists for the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week honors for games
played on November 8 – 9, while running backs CEDRIC BENSON of the
Cincinnati Bengals, CHRIS JOHNSON of the Tennessee Titans, and MICHAEL
TURNER of the Atlanta Falcons are the finalists for the FedEx Ground NFL
Player of the Week, the NFL announced today.

Fans can vote for one player in each category on NFL.com/FedEx from 9 a.m.
EST on Tuesday through noon EST on Friday to determine the FedEx Air &
Ground NFL Players of the Week. The winners will be announced Friday
evening on NFL.com.

Fans will be voting for more than their favorite player. As part of the
Air & Ground program, FedEx continues its support of Safe Kids USA – a
national non-profit organization that works to prevent accidental injury
among children – by making weekly $1,000 donations in the winning players’
names. The funding, allocated to local Safe Kids coalitions in that team’s
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For a second season, fans can tune into the “FedEx Air & Ground Lowdown”
posted exclusively on NFL.com/FedEx starting Wednesday mornings. The show
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A closer look at the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week finalists:

· San Diego’s PHILIP RIVERS completed 24 of 36 passes for 209
yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions in the Chargers’ 21 – 20
win over the New York Giants.  Rivers led an 80-yard touchdown drive in
the final two minutes of the game to get the win.

· Pittsburgh’s BEN ROETHLISBERGER completed 21 of 29 passes for
233 yards and three touchdowns with one interception in the Steelers’
28-10 win over the Denver Broncos.

· Arizona’s KURT WARNER threw five touchdowns completing 22 of 32
passes for 261 yards in the Cardinals’ 41 – 21 win over the Chicago Bears.

A closer look at the FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Week finalists:

· Cincinnati’s CEDRIC BENSON rushed 34 times for 117 yards and one
touchdown in the Bengals’ 17 – 7 win over the Baltimore Ravens.

·         Tennessee’s CHRIS JOHNSON rushed 25 times for 135 yards and two
touchdowns in the Titans’ 34 – 27 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

·         Atlanta’s MICHAEL TURNER rushed 18 times for 166 yards and two
touchdowns in the Falcons’ 31 – 17 win over the Washington Redskins.

As the Official Delivery Service Sponsor of the NFL, Super Bowl and Pro
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Mendenhall yet to convince Steeler Nation

During last week’s game against the previously undefeated Minnesota Vikings, Mendenhall faced his toughest

competition yet; a stout top-5 run defense anchored by the Williams’ and himself (meaning Mendenhall).  Mendenhall wasn’t the same decisive back that we’ve seen in previous weeks.

Additionally, Mendenhall fumbled the ball for the second week in a row.  However, this time it almost cost the Steelers the victory.  Mendenhall went airborne, diving from nearly the 5 yard line to attempt to reach the goal line.  Not only did Mendenhall come up short of the goal line, he turned the ball over to the Minnesota Vikings.

Note to Mendenhall, we will NOT reach the goal line by leaving your feet at the 5 yard line.

Another note to Mendenhall..normally leaving your feet outside of the 1-inch line results in a fumble.  Don’t take it from me, watch the dozens of film available that confirms when running backs, wide receivers and especially quarterbacks leave their feet, they fumble.

In Mendenhall’s defense, he didn’t have a whole lot of opportunity to impress.  The Steelers aborted the run way too early and allowed Minnesota to dominate the time of possession which almost caused the Steelers to lose.  Chalk up more bad playing to our offensive coordinator, Bruce Arians.  In a game such as this one, Mendenhall should have had at least 20 carries which would have controlled the clock a bit more and would have allowed Mendenhall to come very close to 100 rushing yards on the day.

Timmons Injured (again)

Last week, Lawrence Timmons suffered his second ankle injury of the year against the Minnesota Vikings.  It is thought that a Steelers defensive lineman rolled up on the back of Timmons’ ankle in an attempt to tackle Adrian Peterson.  Earlier this year, Timmons suffered a nagging high ankle sprain that sidelined him for a couple weeks in which Keyaron Fox replaced him sufficiently.  However, this injury is the opposite ankle of the one he injured earlier this year.

According to Timmons’, the bye week will allow his ankle to heal and he’s expected to play against the currently undefeated Denver Broncos.  However, if Timmons’ can’t play expect Fox to start as his replacement.

Bye Week Boredom

As a die-hard Steelers fan, I must say that bye week is one of the worst weeks of the National Football League (NFL) season.  You get to watch all other games, except your favorite team.   However, for the Steelers this week is much needed before a showdown against the now undefeated Denver Broncos.

Here’s a list of action items that the Steelers should focus on during the bye week:

• Can the Steelers struggling pass defense stop Brandon Marshall and Kyle Orton?
• What should the Steelers do about Jeff Reed (i.e. and his fight with a fan at Heinz Field)
• What are the Steelers alternative approach without Casey Hampton next year (i.e. Hampton mostly likely won’t be signed to an extension)
• Should Ryan Clark play against the Broncos with his medical condition? Should he even travel with the team?
• Is Lawrence Timmons injury prone (i.e. the next Kendrell Bell)? He needs this buy week to heal his sprained ankle that he suffered against the Minnesota Vikings. Timmons’ injury is to his opposite ankle that he already injured (high ankle sprain) earlier in the season
• Should Limas Sweed see more playing time compared to Shaun McDonald?
• Should Mendenhall see more carries than approx. 15/game?