I honestly don’t know where to begin…
-The Steelers fell to 2-2 on the season after a crushing 27-24 loss to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Heinz Field.
-Courtesy of steelers.com, this was the opening statement from Mike Tomlin following the loss.
“I’ll start by complimenting Coach Smith and the Buccaneers. They did what was necessary to win the game. But after a performance like that, I think it’s appropriate that we look within and look at what it is that we are doing. The bottom line is that we are an undisciplined group. We are too highly penalized. Obviously we are not coaching it. We are allowing it to happen. So I take responsibility for that. We are not going to win close football games being penalized in the manner in which we’ve been penalized over the first month of the season. It’s unacceptable. It’s inexcusable. In a nutshell, that is the story of the outcome of the performance. There are some positive things and there are some negative things any time you play football. That is the case. But the defining factor in determining the outcome of that football game is that we were too highly penalized. It’s ridiculous.”
-Look at that paragraph long and hard and what you’ll see is a captain of a ship who doesn’t know what his crew his doing. He takes responsibility for their inadequacies yet does nothing to change the culture.
-Ben Roethlisberger had a very good game throwing 29/40 for 312 yards and three touchdowns. Admittedly, I thought Big Ben missed on a couple of deep throws but I can live with that when his passer rating is 120.2.
-Speaking of Roethlisberger… How in the world do you take the ball out of your QB’s hands the way Tomlin and Todd Haley did? Third and five and all you need is a first down to win. Everyone knows they are bringing the house and and yet you run the ball. Let your QB win or lose the game for you, not your suspect offensive line.
-Dick LeBeau was beaten by a coach in his first year in the National Football League and in his very first time calling plays. Let that settle in for a moment.
-13 penalties for 125 yards. Un. Disciplined.
-The Steelers secondary was victimized by Louis Murphy who had six receptions for 99 yards. He signed with the Bucs THIS WEEK.
-If I’m Kevin Colbert, I’m calling Champ Bailey. He cannot be any worse than our corners.
-When four of your top five tacklers are from the secondary, you’ve got a problem.
-Brad Wing picked a poor time to have a crappy punt.
-Antonio Brown set a new NFL record with his 20th straight game with at least five receptions and 50 yards.
-The Steelers have another “tough one” next at Jacksonville where I’m confident they’ll play to level of their competition again.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteelDad and the website @SCBlitz. Check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/steelcityblitz and on Fancred.com. You can hear him weekly during the season on Trib-Live Radio Steelers Pre-Game
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1 comment
I’ve bashed the Steelers pretty hard over the last 2 seasons. Mostly for what i consider to be poor drafting and a o-coordinator that’s simply no good. I still feel there is a very good chance that we make the playoffs. But will the cost be having a team that hangs a game or 2 around around average for years to come??