Week 2: Steelers 24, Seahawks 0

And the Oscar goes to ...

By Mike Batista

Vivien Leigh had Scarlett O'Hara. Ben Kingsley had Ghandi. Adam West had Batman.

Now we have seen Ben Roethlisberger in his defining role as an actor.

Already critically acclaimed for his ability to make injuries seem more serious than they really are, Roethlisberger's epic performance hit the big screen during Sunday's 24-0 win over the Seahawks at Heinz Field.

The Steelers led 14-0 with just over two minutes left in the first half when Heath Miller caught his only ball of the day. The 16-yard completion put the ball on the Seahawks' 4-yard line.

The customary, "Heeeeaaath!" baritone chant thundered through Irish Exit, a Steelers bar in Manhattan. But it was quickly muted when it became apparent that Roethlisberger was on the ground writhing in pain.

Seattle's Raheem Brock plowed into Roethlisberger's knees after the play, and it looked like Roethlisberger had met his Bernard Pollard, the guy who wiped out Tom Brady's 2008 season.

Think NBC envisioned Charlie Batch vs. Kerry Collins when it scheduled next week's Sunday night game? It looked like that, as well as 75 percent off all Steelers merchandise, would be the case as Roethlisberger was on the ground surrounded by Steelers staff.

Such is the fragile nature of life in the NFL.

Then, slowly, Roethlisberger rose.

And he walked off the field. No stretcher needed.

Roethlisberger missed just two plays. Perhaps during that brief time on the sideline, the master thespian should have donned a velvet robe and taken a bow.

That wasn't funny, Ben.

Roethlisberger said after the game that he never felt anything pop. So when you know it's not season-ending, why scare everyone like that when all you have is an ouch-ie?

I guess this means everything is normal again in Pittsburgh. Big Ben is a baby and the Steelers are winning.

Taking his punishment like a man didn't seem to work for Roethlisberger last week when the Ravens (by the way, did anyone tell those guys they had 15 more games on their schedule?) sacked him four times. Strangely enough, Pollard, who now plays for the Ravens, was one of the few white shirts Roethlisberger managed to avoid last week.

Why is it that every time the Steelers defense pitches a shutout, it's overshadowed by a Roethlisberger scare? The last time the Steelers blanked an opponent was the 2008 regular-season finale, when they beat the Browns 31-0. Roethlisberger sustained a concussion in that game, but it looked a lot worse. He was immobilized and carted off the field. Guess he wasn't acting then.

This is the first time the Seahawks were shut out since the last time they came to Pittsburgh in 2007. The Steelers defense cooked up this bagel by allowing just 164 yards of offense (31 on the ground), sacking sad sack Tarvaris Jackson five times and getting off the field 10 of the 12 times the Seahawks faced third down.

It was enough to make Seahawks coach Pete Carroll wish he were back at USC banging 19-year-old coeds. I'm not saying Carroll actually banged 19-year-old coeds at USC. I'm just saying that's what I would do if I were the football coach at the University of Southern California, that's all.

The Steelers defense still hasn't forced a turnover this season. We were denied the first high-flying hair show of the autumn when Troy Polamalu dropped what would have been an easy pick-six late in the game.

The Steelers didn't need turnovers to beat the Seahawks as emphatically as they did. Facing such a woeful team, the Steelers needed a win every bit as emphatic as this one after last week's bitchslapping in Baltimore. Anything less, and the doubts planted last week would have grown.

You might say that bullying an NFL wimp like the Seahawks doesn't prove a thing. The Steelers still have to beat a good team to show that they're championship material. Well, according to the website Football Outsiders, routing bad teams might be more indicative of a team's championship mettle than beating good teams in close games.

Football Outsiders classifies as "stomps" wins of at least 14 points over a team that finishes the season below .500. The site classifies as "guts" wins of 1-8 points over a team that finishes the season with a winning record. According to the site, teams with more stomps than their opponents do better in conference championship games and Super Bowls than teams with more guts than their opponents

A stomp is just what the doctor ordered for the Steelers Sunday. And while it's not officially a stomp until the Seahawks lose their ninth game to guarantee a losing season, I think it's safe to go to Vegas and put money on that happening.

The Steelers have another likely stomp opportunity Sunday night in Indianapolis. The Colts fell to 0-2 Sunday after losing to the Browns at home and are toothless without Peyton Manning.

At least NBC gets one of the star quarterbacks it planned on when the schedule was made. It would be better for the blood pressure of Steelers fans everywhere if that star's performance continues to be more Canton-worthy than Hollywood-worthy.

Finding religion

Saints 20, Steelers 10

By Mike Batista

It figures God finally got me when the Steelers played the Saints.

In 2007, my rookie year as a Steelers blogger, I coined the nickname "Hands of God" for Heath Miller after he helped the Steelers come from behind for a 31-28 win over the Browns.

He now has been stripped of that moniker, just like he was stripped of the ball Sunday night.

The Steelers trailed 13-10 with less than seven minutes left when Miller took a pass from Ben Roethlisberger near midfield and rumbled to the fringe of field goal range.

The Saints' Marvin Mitchell jarred the ball loose. Darren Sharper recovered the fumble before it even hit the ground, and the Saints eventually scored the clinching touchdown in their 20-10 victory.

That's what I get for comparing the skills of a Steelers player to God.

Miller's gaffe is my penance for violating Section 2, Paragraph 12, Line J of the First Commandment.

Or maybe it's penance for my blatant disregard for the Second and Third commandments every Sunday during football season.

Or maybe it was just God's way of telling me that He never would have fumbled in that situation.

On KDKA the Fan, Vinnie Richichi and Ron Cook were preaching forgiveness for Sunday night's loss. Oh, the Saints (5-3) needed this game more than the Steelers. Oh, the Steelers are still 5-2.

Folks, in this era of Steelers football, it's very difficult to excuse a loss. The Steelers have won two of the last five Super Bowls and are expected to make a run at a championship every year as long as Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu are healthy.

The Steelers will need to go to confession for this loss. They easily could have won this game. Momentum was squarely on their side when Miller coughed up the ball.

Rashard Mendenhall ran 38 yards for a touchdown to pull the Steelers to within 13-10 with just under 11 minutes left in the game. The Saints reached the Steelers 20 on their ensuing possession when Bryant McFadden sacked Drew Brees and forced a fumble. LaMarr Woodley recovered at the 27.

A 12-yard pass to Matt Spaeth (yes, he's still on the team) and a 2-yard gain by Mendenhall was followed by Miller's flub.

A turnover into the hands of Darren Sharper almost would have been forgivable last season, when the Saints seemed blessed during their championship run. Turnovers were a big part of the Saints' success, and Sharper seemed to be in the middle of it all.

But this isn't 2009. The Saints struggled going into this game and were slapped around by the Browns in the Superdome the week before.

That's hard to swallow. The Browns beat the Saints in New Orleans but the Steelers couldn't. It's like going out with a girl you know put out for previous boyfriends, but never getting any yourself.

The most basic sign of football virility is the ability to penetrate the end zone from the 1-yard line, and the Steelers again failed to measure up in that department Sunday.

Antwan Randle-El finally did something besides fair-catching punts when he took a 12-yard pass from Roethlisberger and scored an apparent touchdown early in the second quarter. But it was overturned by replay, giving the Steelers a first-and-goal from the 1.

On first down, Isaac Redman lost a yard. Redman, an undrafted free agent from Bowie State, was dubbed "Red Zone" Redman in 2009 for his prowess in goal line drills during training camp.

Guess what. There's a big difference between practicing on the campus of a quaint little college in August and playing for real in front of Guinness world record mass of Halloween revelers in New Orleans.

Not even in the Big Easy is scoring in goal line situations easy for the Steelers. It never has been since Jerome Bettis retired.

Mendenhall, who ended up with 71 rushing yards on 15 carries, might turn out to be a better overall running back than Bettis, but he couldn't get the ball into the end zone, either. He at least made up for Redman's lost yardage on second down. Then on third down, he was stopped.

What I can't understand is why Mendenhall went to his right on both of those plays and not just up the gut. The Steelers were in their power formation with tight end David Johnson lined up in front of Mendenhall.

The Steelers settled for a field goal (not even Jeff Reed is going to miss from 19 yards out) to take a 3-0 lead. That's at least four points the Steelers left out there. Who knows how many points Miller's fumble cost?

After Miller's fumble, NBC ran a graphic that said Miller didn't fumble in the first 58 games of his career, but has fumbled four times in the last 27 games.

Maybe it's time for Miller to carry the ball everywhere he goes around the Steelers' practice facility, with $100 going to anyone who can take it away from him.

Hopefully Miller won't need that treatment. Maybe the steep price of Sunday's fumble will be a wake-up call for him to take care of the ball like he did earlier in his career.

Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that the Steelers got this stinker out of their system now. Next week, they're at Cincinnati in a division game and the week after they host the Patriots in The Game You Must Not Lose.

Wins in those games might put me in a more forgiving mood.