ALL this team's problems boil down to only 2 things:

[SteelTorch]

Before you comment on things such as leadership, maturity, etc, I'm only referring to the TECHNICAL aspects of the game. From what I've seen, this team has only two real problems, but they're both killing us. Others may disagree.

1. Cannot control the line of scrimmage

We're seeing it week after week now. On offense, we have major problems running the ball and protecting Ben. When you cannot do either, it will effect the entire offense. Our line gets dominated regularly at every game now. Same thing is true on the defensive side. Not only are they getting killed on the ground game, we cannot sack the quarterback to save our lives. I don't know what happened, but this does not look anywhere near the unite it was last year. It'd be really nice to have Keisel back and Hood in the starting lineup again. That would definitely help a lot.
On top of that, Steelers have only had seven sacks on the season. That's even worse when you consider that FIVE of those sacks came against the Seahawks. Woodley, sadly, has been a no show thus far as well. Without a doubt, the O-line is looking worse than ever and the D's front seven is looking its weakest in years.

2. Turnovers

Steelers are among the worst, if not still the worst in turnover differential. Ben has got to protect the ball when he goes down, because his fumbles have already cost us enough. On the other side, the D can't get a turnover at all. This is another factor that's been killing us. I list this second, however, because I believe this problem is partly stemming from the first one. When the O-line gets better, then Ben will have more time, throw less INT's, and fumble less. Likewise, when the D-line gets more pressure, we'll stop the run, hit the QB, and cause bad throws that lead to turnovers.


Some may say otherwise, that it's "all Ben's fault", blah blah, but that's not what I'm seeing. We have a lot of talent on this team, save for one spot. I HOPE the front office finally gets aggressive with fixing this O-line, because without a doubt it's been our achilles heel for far too long. Same goes with the D-line, though I think Hood and Heyward will be great eventually.

[papillon]

The turnovers on offense and the lack of turnovers on defense are in direct correlation to your #1 reason the Steelers are struggling.

It really boils down to #1. They are getting their @sses whipped in the trenches and until that changes the Steelers are going to commit turnovers and they are not going to force any turnovers.

Actually, there is a #2 reason for the Steelers rocky start and it reads like this: See reason #1.

Pappy

[steeler_george]

I applaud your post.

Those biggest concern is that we have no push or authority on the OL and DL. Teams are man handleing us. The DL is the biggest concern, with out the DL taking on the OL, OUR MONEY PLAYERS ( LBers) can not, I REPEAT CAN NOT MAKE PLAYS. Maybe with a healthier Kiesel, Hood and more rotation of Hampton, Mcl., Hoke, may sure up this problem.

I still have fave faith in our injured under-talented plagued OL, as horrible they are, that they need to click and gel. With the injuries and musical chairs it is hard to develope. I just hope Ben is still breathing when they actually gel.

Starting with Pouncey, he has not played near the same calliber as last year.

Kemo, he had some nice blocks last week, maybe his knee is getting better.

Foster played adequate, maybe still shaking off the rust.

Gilbert, is young and should improve with his mistakes... in the past 2 weeks he played above the line against some good DL players.

Essex first game starting, hell he didn't even play in a preseason game I don't think, but he was HORRIBLE. He really can't do worse.

Scott, now he is the one that puzzles me big time. I thought he was our best signing last year, I praised how he played just as good as Starks. Complete disapointed with his play.


As optimistic as I am, I am a realist... THEY NEED TO IMPROVE OR WE ARE GOING TO BE DRAFTING IN THE TOP 5.

[Eich]

I agree. And unfortunately, it doesn't have the feel of a problem that "time to gel" is going to fix this season.

On offense, we've got a 500 horsepower engine behind tires that have fallen apart. What a waste of all that talent: Ben, Wallace, Brown, Sanders, Heath and an above-average set of backs.