Home Steelers 2015 Season Warts and All, Steelers are Back in the Playoffs

Warts and All, Steelers are Back in the Playoffs

by Steeldad

The Pittsburgh Steelers needed two things on this Sunday afternoon; a win over rival Cleveland and a loss by the New York Jets. Well lo and behold both things happened and despite the fact this Steelers’ team is far from perfect, they are in the postseason for the second straight year.

The 28-12 win over Cleveland was not pretty. Ben Roethlisberger was much better than he was a week ago but there were still some throws that left me scratching my head. Don’t misunderstand that though, there’s no QB I’d rather have at the helm then Roethlisberger who is desperate to get back to the Super Bowl.

Regardless of who the Steelers play next week, I expect him to be at his best.

Whether Mike Tomlin was on any kind of hot seat heading into today is unclear. I guarantee the seat would have been hot with a loss today but that didn’t happen and questions about his status will stay at bay for at least a week. No, I’m not joking either.

Every negative this team has faced this season was captured in this one game today. The injury bug hit when DeAngelo Williams left in the second quarter… The secondary (Antwon Blake especially) struggled to make plays on the ball at times… A field goal was missed… And on, and on, and on.

The goal is to get into the playoffs and the Steelers have accomplished this. Should they get to Super Bowl 50, no one will care that they needed help to get in but let’s be crystal clear about this team. It has warts and the playoffs expose those warts.

Maybe not in the first game but they eventually catch up with you. With all that this team has endured in 2015 from injuries to suspensions to questionable personnel decisions, it’s a credit to Tomlin and company that they’ve made the playoffs.

But this isn’t the team three weeks ago that “no team in the AFC wanted to play in the postseason.” It’s different and not necessarily in a good way. The offense hasn’t clicked since the second half of the win over Denver and what’s going on with Martavis Bryant is anyone’s guess.

The Steelers are indeed back in the playoffs but there are blemishes to hide over the next week.

photo courtesy heavy.com

 

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1 comment

Vittorio January 3, 2016 - 11:05 pm

For Bryant it’s simple: Teams are forcing him to beat the DB’s with underneath routes instead of burning them deep. Opposing DC’s have decided since they can’t cover him deep they’ll force him into beating there CB’s with underneath routes. There is evidence to support my claim. When Ben throws a underneath route to Bryant the DB’s are stopping him automatically. You will ask why DHB was able to get deep on the Brown and get opened, that’s easy: Teams don’t see him running those routes and he doesn’t get the ball much and he isn’t on the field that much. The solution is to run both Bryant and DHB deep, force the DB’s and Safeties to defend 2 deep threats which can’t be done at least I don’t think you can cover 2 deep threats. I want fans thoughts on what I have said.

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