Week 3: Steelers 23, Colts 20

By Mike Batista

It's becoming a Sunday-night spectacle. Troy Polamalu rescues the Steelers late in the game with what coach Mike Tomlin calls a "splash" play on defense.

It was enough for the Steelers to beat the Ravens last December for the AFC North title. But somehow they needed more than Polamalu's heist to beat the Peyton Manning-less Colts Sunday night.

The warning signs of Super Bowl Hangover III seemed to be developing.

With 5:21 left in the game, the Steelers were tied 13-13 with the Colts. All of the Colts' points came off turnovers, including a fumble return for a touchdown. Hair-pulling reminders of 2006 and 2009.

Then James Harrison, who looked all night like his back is just fine, introduced himself to Colts' third-string quarterback Curtis Painter. The Steelers' first sack of the night turned into their first forced turnover of the season.

Not since 1938, when they were still the Pirates, have the Steelers forced just one turnover in the first three games of a season.

With loose balls now like golden eggs for the Steelers defense, Polamalu wasn't going to miss the chance to turn this fumble into points. He picked the ball up on a hop, almost like a basketball dribble, and ran 16 yards for a touchdown and a 20-13 Steelers lead.

Unlike last December in Baltimore, however, Polamalu's Superman moment was fleeting. It morphed into a role as one of the 11 Keystone Kops defenders who allowed Painter to drive 80 yards in three minutes to tie the game.

Polamalu was all over the place on that drive, and he damn near blew up Joseph Addai's 6-yard touchdown run before it started. But every Steeler on the field deserves a share of the blame for yielding a fourth-quarter comeback drive to a guy who came into the game with a career 9.8 passer rating. Yes, the decimal point is in the right place.

For the Steelers' defense, this is more of a red flag than a girl telling you on a first date that she's got 27 cats.

Painter was in the game because Kerry Collins, who would have been watching this game with his feet up in his living room were it not for Peyton Manning's injury, was being evaluated for a concussion stemming from a play in which he was leveled by James Farrior, a play that would have drawn a yellow hanky if it were No. 18 hitting the turf.


The Steelers barely played well enough in this game to beat a retread and a clipboard carrier. Imagine if Peyton Manning didn't have a pain in the neck?

Tomlin said after the game that they "just want to get out of stadiums with wins."


The Steelers (2-1) got out of Lorenzo's (I know, it's Lucas) Oil Stadium with a win, but they had to hide it under their coats, because they shoplifted this one.


Sure, there was Ben Roethlisberger's 81-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace that gave the Steelers a 10-0 lead (I got a feeling the Wallace faux-hawk will be part of a lot of Halloween costumes in Pittsburgh this year). As picturesque as that play was, the rest of the Steelers' performance was about as scenic as a landfill.


Both offensive tackles, Marcus Gilbert on the right and Jonathan Scott on the left, were directly responsible for strip sacks in the first half. One led to an Adam Vinatieri field goal and the other was returned 47 yards by Jamaal Anderson for a touchdown, tying the game 10-10 late in the first half.


Both Gilbert and Scott were hurt during the game, although Gilbert had to go back in during the fourth quarter when the Steelers were down to four offensive linemen. Doug Legursky also was hurt during the game. It might be time for Flozell Adams to put down the chips and dip.


The Steelers' Gem Puzzle offensive line also could not open holes against the Colts' traditionally porous run defense. Rashard Mendenhall gained just 37 yards on 18 carries. Isaac Redman, who probably should have seen the ball more, especially in the first half, had just six yards on three carries.


Then, just in a nick of time, the Steelers remembered that Mewelde Moore is still on the team.


After Painter brushed a couple of coats of Embarrassment Red on the Steelers' defense, the offense had 2 minutes and 9 seconds to get into field goal range. It was Moore who got the Steelers into Colts territory by catching a screen pass from Roethlisberger and taking it 22 yards to the Colts' 41.


After Roethlisberger got the Steelers into field goal range with an 11-yard scamper, Moore got them into Shaun Suisham field goal range with runs of five and four yards. 

Before the Steelers had Antonio Brown to return punts, Moore often was used as a punt returner deep in their own end because of his sure-handedness. That's why he was called upon Sunday once the Steelers were in field goal range. No way was Butterfingers Mendenhall getting the ball. Suisham's 38-yard field goal gave the Steelers the 23-20 win.


Since joining the Steelers as a third-down back in 2008, Moore has been like a Batman utility belt gadget for the Steelers. It seems there's been at least a half-dozen times in which Moore has taken the Steelers out of a tight spot with a long gain after a screen pass. He probably can't handle the load of every-down play, which is why we don't see more of him.


Moore did his job for the Steelers Sunday night. The answer to the Steelers' ailing running game isn't for him to get more carries. It's for Mendenhall to do more with his carries, and he could use some help from the offensive line.

And on defense, they have to force more turnovers and turn in a lot of bad-ass performances to make us forget about Painter's Drive.


Sure, this is the kind of win the Steelers get away with once or twice during their Super Bowl seasons, but it's not enough to convince me they are a good team.

Five end-of-August Steelers thoughts

By Mike Batista

I promised another post by the end of August, so here you go.

What a month August was. It started with me moving. I spent hours packing and unpacking (which I haven't finished) and had to run around to scrape together enough cash for the movers. All that, and it turns out my apartment in New Jersey is only 13 miles closer to Heinz Field than my apartment in New York.

Last week's earthquake didn't move me any closer to the big yellow stadium in Pittsburgh. Thankfully, I'm one of the lucky ones. Neither the earthquake nor Hurricane Irene had much impact on me.

My 40th birthday is another story. I could not get out of the way of that storm's path during the month of August.

So let's finish up this tumultuous month with five random Steelers observations as they enter their final preseason game tomorrow night.

• If James Harrison doesn't get any better, he can't play in Week 1. He's still recovering from back surgery in the offseason, and right now he's a liability. You can play a man down in football, just not American football. The Steelers won't win in Baltimore playing 10 on 11. Maybe they move Lawrence Timmons to outside linebacker and put Larry Foote on the inside, if he has anything left. Or maybe second-year man Stevenson Sylvester is ready to step in on the inside. The Steelers have drafted some good linebackers the last couple of years. It's time to put that depth to use. Jason Worilds showed some flashes last year. It doesn't sound like he's made much progress in the preseason, but he might have to be ready to replace Harrison on the outside.
• Someone tell me again how the Steelers got Jerricho Cotchery. It's a matter of keeping up with the Joneses in the AFC. The Steelers have to make sure they have more than teams like the Patriots, Ravens and Jets. The Jets' near-comeback against the Steelers in the AFC championship game was pretty damn scary. Somehow, one of the more formidable weapons of the Jets' second-half assault is now in a Steelers uniform. The Steelers should make like Joe Pesci firing his gun into the air after he jacked the truck in "Goodfellas." With Cotchery, the Steelers have the luxury of allowing Emmanuel Sanders to take his time coming back from foot surgery. That brings me to another Steelers receiver, someone who many are rooting for to make the team, but probably won't. Tyler Grisham will be fighting for a job tomorrow night. The Steelers have five legitimate threats at wide receiver with Mike Wallace, Hines Ward, Cotchery, Sanders and Antonio Brown, who looks like he's ready to have a breakout year. The Steelers can afford to use their sixth wide receiver spot on a special teams ace like Arnaz Battle. Grisham isn't as good on special teams. He's got practice squad written all over him.
• Cornerbacks Keenan Lewis and Crezdon Butler likely will make the team. I'd love to see one of them start opposite Ike Taylor at cornerback Sept. 11. That probably won't happen, though. Butler made the highlight reel with his 95-yard interception return for a touchdown in the preseason game against the Falcons. But he and Lewis both made some mistakes in the game, too. It would be quite a redemption story if Lewis becomes any kind of contributor, considering some of those boneheaded penalties in his first two years. But we're probably going to be stuck with Bryant McFadden starting, and maybe even William Gay as the nickelback. Same old mediocre Steelers secondary.
• It looks like Tony Hills won't be the starting right guard, after all. Doug Legursky will get a long look tomorrow night. It's too bad. I was really rooting for Hills to get a starting job. It would have been a shining example of perseverance. Hills dropped into the fourth round of the 2008 draft after breaking his leg his senior year at Texas. He seemed lost his first couple of years. I remember seeing him play a little bit in Tennessee last season when Steelers players were dropping like flies in the September heat. Still, it looked like he would have to get a job in the real world this summer. But he must have done something right during the offseason, because he's been competing for a starting job and has earned the label as the Steelers' most "athletic" offensive lineman. We might not see Hills' name listed among the starters on the CBS graphic a few minutes after 1 p.m. on Sept. 11. But Hills might be in a good position to make the team and be heard from eventually. Hang in there, Tony.
• I don't know about you, but I'm just not comfortable with Shaun Suisham as the Steelers' kicker. His wide, wide, wide left on the 52-yarder, indoors, in Super Bowl XLV is burned into my consciousness like the sight of Rosie O'Donnell naked.

That is all. See you in September.

James Harrison Speaks and Leaks

By Mike Batista

I would like to thank James Harrison.

Now, instead of a five-day-old post about Hines Ward's DUI, I can write a one-day-old post about Harrison's comments regarding NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

I don't blame Harrison for not wanting to piss on Goodell if he were on fire. I really don't think a normal urination would be adequate to extinguish flames covering an entire adult male body. It just wouldn't be a practical use of bodily fluids.

I can see why Harrison doesn't like Commissioner Goody. Let's do a little math here. Goodell fined Harrison $100,000 last season. It's easy for us to say that $100,000 is pocket change for a pro athlete. So I looked up Harrison's salary. The latest I could find was USA Today's 2009 figures. According to that, Harrison made $13,357,280 in 2009. Let's assume he had a similar salary in 2010. That $100,000 would have been seven-tenths of 1 percent of Harrison's salary.

If you're making $50,000 a year, .7 percent of your salary is $350. If one person fined you a total of $350 from September through the end of the year, and you had Christmas shopping to worry about, you might not be willing to aid that person with your tinkle, either.

So if Goodell isn't Harrison's favorite person in the world, that's fine. However, calling him "stupid," the "devil" and a "faggot" seems rather childish. Why doesn't he just call Goodell "Commissioner Poopy Pants?"

Harrison also sounded off about the performance of Ben Roethlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall in Super Bowl XLV. He shouldn't talk. He had only one tackle in the game. None of the Steelers should point fingers for losing the Super Bowl. Keyaron Fox shouldn't have committed a penalty on the kickoff. Mike Wallace should have studied his playbook and been prepared to run Emmanuel Sanders' routes when Sanders got hurt. Troy Polamalu should have been in better position the entire game.

Harrison needs to shut up about the Super Bowl and put all his efforts into getting back there.

Speaking of Polamalu, he is now the sole caretaker of the Steelers' character. If he gets into any off-the-field trouble, the Steelers will lose any last shred of class that they have as an organization.

Hines Ward lost his status as a standard bearer with his DUI arrest last week. Everyone's innocent until proven guilty, but this doesn't look good.

Drinking and driving is a mistake that a lot of people have made. If Ward did do this, he'd be better off turning it into a teaching opportunity rather than denying it.

What a strange offseason. First Rashard Mendenhall's comments. Then Hines Ward's arrest. Now James Harrison mouths off. More negative headlines for the Steelers ... and Ben Roethlisberger has had nothing to do with it.