It's a good thing the Pittsburgh Steelers were playing the Cleveland Browns and their anemic offense. Had they played any other NFL team Sunday afternoon, the Steelers would still be tied with Baltimore at 3-3, instead of sitting atop the AFC North with a 4-2 record, which is identical to Cincinnati’s record.
The Steelers had no problems moving the ball, rolling up 543 total yards, but had trouble finishing off the lowly Browns. To outgain a team 543-197 and only win by 13 points is just plain sad.
Ben Roethlisberger & Co. had no problems moving the ball until they got close to scoring, then they figured out a way to shoot themselves in the foot. The Steelers should have beaten the Browns the way the Patriots blasted Tennessee Sunday (59-0, for those of you that may have forgotten or just weren’t paying attention).
Don’t get me wrong, the Steelers were never in trouble of losing the game in large part because Cleveland employs a whole bunch of receivers with the last name of “Butterfingers.”
When the Steelers beat Seattle in Super Bowl XL almost 4 years ago, there were many naysayers out there claiming the refs handed them the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and I’m sure there will be plenty of hecklers out there after Sunday’s debacle.
Late in the first half and the home team facing a 4th-and-1 inside their own 20, the Steelers went for it and Roethlisberger — who completed 23-of-35 passes for 417 yards and two scores — attempted a quarterback sneak off center Justin Hartwig’s right buttocks and was apparently stopped inches short. Even footage of the officials measuring the spot showed the Steelers were about an inch short, but somehow they retained possession. I’d like to hear the explanation for it and I’m sure we will — if we haven’t by now.
“He made the call; you have to live with it,” Browns’ linebacker David Bowens told The Associated Press. “I don’t know if there was (an explanation). He just said first down and that’s it.”
The game’s officials then made up for the call by robbing the Steelers of a touchdown when they overruled the call on the field when Hines Ward hauled in a Roethlisberger aerial. To me, he made the catch and had possession when he hit the ground and rolled.
Ever since Aaron Smith was lost for the season to a torn rotator cuff, I’ve had several people come up to me asking why the Steelers would rotate between Travis Kirschke, Nick Eason and 2009 first-round draft pick Ziggy Hood, which is exactly what they did against the Browns. The answer is pretty simple: Mike Tomlin has a longstanding policy of not shoving young players into the spotlight too early in their careers.
Remember, Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley didn’t play too much in their first professional seasons; neither did last year’s first-rounder Rashard Mendenhall. All three have turned out rather nicely for the Steelers, so let’s give Tomlin and the rest of the organization the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Staying with the defense, it was nice to see Troy Polamalu back in uniform, but you could tell he still wasn’t 100 percent and it was scary to see him hobbling off the field after his first-half interception.
Corey J. Corbin is the former sports editor of Allied News and can be reached at gcsportsguy@yahoo.com.
