Week 6: Steelers 17, Jaguars 13

Steelers are good, true or false?

The halfway point of the 2011 NFL season is approaching. That means the Steelers are taking their midterm exams.

On Sunday, they passed the True-False portion of the exam.

Barely.

Here's a tip, kids. Most True-False tests have more true answers than false answers. So you probably can pass if you put down "True" for everything. It also helps if you know how to make the letter that looks like both a "T" and an "F." 

It was with the same half-assed effort that the Steelers won Sunday's game over the Jaguars.

To fully restore their status as Super Bowl contenders, the Steelers (4-2) needed a convincing victory over the one-win Jaguars. But the Jaguars had a chance to win this game until the very last second. Thankfully, Blaine Gabbert's lame-assed Hail Mary found nothing but black shirts in the end zone.

The Steelers will take the multiple-choice portion of their midterms Sunday at Arizona. In the same way that multiple choice can be tricky (all of the above, none of the above, some of the above), weird shit tends to happen to the Steelers in Arizona. Although the game will be at University of Phoenix Stadium, the Steelers won't be able to take this test online. They have to show up.

Then the material goes from tricky to tough. The next phase of midterms will be essay questions, which the Steelers will have to answer in two weeks when the Patriots visit Heinz Field. That's going to require a lot of studying. The good news is that Bill Belichick will be proctoring the test, and he thinks cheating is OK.

Then, the Steelers will go from the classroom to the schoolyard for the last part of the exam -- the bully test. The Ravens bloodied the Steelers' nose in the season opener, and visit Heinz Field Nov. 6. To pass that part of the exam, the Steelers will have to win the fight with the bully, which is really all you need to learn in school to be ready for the real world.

What this midterm exam analogy means is that the Steelers have one more week to get their shit together before the Patriots and Ravens come to town.

Give and take

The Steelers nearly let a 17-0 lead slip away, at home, against a team with a rookie quarterback that had scored just five touchdowns heading into the game.

We can choose to be alarmed at all that, or we can choose to be encouraged that the Steelers have forced just two turnovers this season yet somehow are 4-2.

You know the only other team in the history of the NFL with just two takeaways in its first six games, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com? This year's Dolphins, who dropped to 0-5 Monday night.

At least the Steelers didn't turn the ball over Sunday. They've had just five giveaways since their seven-turnover debacle in Baltimore, Still, their turnover differential remains at minus-10. Only the 1960 Giants (4-1-1, minus-10) and the 1960 Bears (3-2-1, minus-11) had winning records with a turnover ratio of minus-10 or worse through six games, according to Pro-Football-Reference.

Another interception or two could have turned a loss into a win in Houston and made Sunday's win a little bit easier. 

We can bellyache about how bad the Steelers' offense was in the second half Sunday or how the defense wasn't able to stop the run. But just one takeaway could have given the Steelers a short field to work with and maybe another score. That would have made the offense look better with more points on the scoreboard and it would have made the defense look better with fewer rushing yards for the Jaguars, who ran for 133 yards at a 4.4-yard-per-carry clip.

Turnovers aren't just window dressing for a defense, folks. They're a necessary tool for winning. Trying to win without getting turnovers on defense is like trying to bang nails into a wall with a baseball bat. Eventually you're going to need that hammer.

The Steelers' defense has to start taking the ball away at some point, right? The law of averages almost dictates it. In a way, it's comforting to think that winning should be easier when those takeaways start catching up to the giveaways.

But what if the turnovers don't come? Is the inability to grab fumbles and pickoffs a sign of the Steelers' age on defense? What makes this more confounding is the fact that Troy Polamalu has been healthy, despite Sunday's scare, and playing well. But he's usually good for an interception or two by this point in the season. He is 30 now. Are the hands the first thing to go?

One encouraging sign is that the Steelers had a similar shortage of sacks earlier in the season. Through the first four games, they had just seven. They've had eight in the last two games, including two Sunday by Brett Keisel. By the way, let's not underestimate how much he was missed in Indianapolis and Houston.

Sacks and turnovers have been signatures of the Steelers' defense since Bill Cowher rejuvenated the franchise nearly two decades ago. It took a while for the Steelers to get to the quarterback this season, but eventually they did. Hopefully one of these sacks will knock a ball loose and open the floodgates for turnovers.

Familiar script

There have been times this season when I didn't think I'd write the following words: The Steelers would not have won Sunday's game without Rashard Mendenhall.

Seeing the running game function without him last week seemed to spark Mendenhall the same way as his benching early in the 2009 season. He ran the ball 23 times for 146 yards and a touchdown that gave the Steelers a 7-0 lead. Mendenhall's 68-yard run set up a Shaun Suisham field goal and a 17-0 Steelers lead in the second quarter.

In between those scores was a 28-yard touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Mike Wallace and a 48-yard completion to Wallace. The second of those receptions marked the fifth straight game in which Wallace has caught a pass of at least 40 yards, the longest such streak since Terrell Owens did it in 2004. If that streak doesn't end Sunday, something tells me the Patriots will end it in two weeks.

Alas, that bomb to Wallace, which put the ball on the Jacksonville 31, didn't lead to any points. The drive ended with Suisham missing a 46-yard field goal. Suisham has made just seven of his 11 field goal attempts this season. Am I the only one who's nervous about this?

The trajectory of Sunday's game was eerily similar to the AFC championship game in January. The Steelers build a big lead in the first half. The opponent gets a field goal to gain a little momentum before halftime. The Steelers go scoreless in the second half and have to hang on for dear life to get the win. 

It's one thing to win in this fashion when a trip to the Super Bowl is at stake. It's quite another when the other team has no shot at getting to the Super Bowl. Or even the playoffs.

If they play like that on Sunday, the Steelers will flunk out of University of Phoenix Stadium.

See you in Arizona, Troy

The last time Troy Polamalu played against the Cardinals, he was damn near invisible.

The Steelers play the Cardinals for the first time since Super Bowl XLIII Sunday. Thankfully, Polamalu will be visible. And in uniform.

I hate myself for saying this, but I was actually relieved to hear that the reason Polamalu was taken out of Sunday's game was "concussion-like symptoms." It's the knee, ankle, Achilles, ACL, calf, heel and toe jam you have to worry about with Polamalu.

If Polamalu actually had a concussion, at worst he'd be out for a game. But injuries to anything sheathed in those yellow uniform pants (or at least those parts not also covered by underwear) are like a nail to the Steelers' tires. Two years ago, Polamalu's injuries took the air out of the Steelers' season. He didn't miss nearly as much time last season, but had he been healthier, the Steelers probably would have raised their seventh Lombardi Trophy.

Not to minimize concussions. Polamalu has had them before. It's sad to think that a respected and likeable player like Polamalu is vulnerable to dementia and depression in 20 years or so.  

The concussion scare Sunday came when Polamalu torpedoed Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew on third-and-1 from the Jacksonville 30-yard line. The play forced the Jaguars to punt trailing 17-10 with less than nine minutes left in the game.

I thought the impact came when idiot Ryan Clark knocked helmets with Polamalu to celebrate the play. It wouldn't have been the first time Clark hurt a teammate. During last year's AFC divisional playoff game against the Ravens, he tried to hit a Ravens receiver but instead hit Ike Taylor. Fortunately, Taylor wasn't badly hurt.

It turns out the impact came when Polamalu's helmet appeared to hit the piston-like leg of the 5-foot-7, 208-pound Drew.

So it wasn't Clark's fault. Still, he needs to be more careful with his teammates.

While scouring the Internet Sunday looking for information about Polamalu's condition, it looked like there was something on ProFootballTalk.com, but it was about Polamalu possibly being fined by the NFL for talking on his cell phone during the game. C'mon. Really?

If anyone should fine Polamalu for that, it's the Steelers. He's got a possible concussion and he's letting cell phone radiation seep into his head?

While he was sitting there on the phone, it looked like for the third year in a row a Steelers' season would be compromised by a Polamalu injury.

Fortunately, that's not the case. Not yet, anyway.

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.

Week 1, Ravens 35, Steelers 7

A 'WTF?' kind of day

By Mike Batista

The Steelers spent a ton of money during the offseason re-signing key players on defense.

Now they're stuck with those guys.

It looked like life couldn't get any better when the Steelers re-signed Troy Polamalu to a four-year contract a day before the season started, putting all their major contract concerns to rest.

The Steelers now have Polamalu, LaMarr Woodley, Lawrence Timmons and Ike Taylor locked up long-term.

Maybe the Steelers should have let some players go into the final year of their contracts, because on Sunday they looked like a bunch of guys who had nothing to play for.

The Steelers defense forced no turnovers, while the Ravens forced seven in their 35-7 win.

Laid-back Camp Tomlin doesn't seem like such a great idea now, does it? Steelers coach Mike Tomlin takes it easy on his aging players during training camp, and this is what happens.

I hope Tomlin's a little tougher on the Steelers this week in practice. No shuffleboard. No drinks with little umbrellas. It's time to get to work because, in case the Steelers didn't know, the season has started.

No one needed to remind Ravens running back Ray Rice that the season has started. At the moment, Rice is the transcendent talent that controls which way the pendulum swings in this bitter rivalry, just like Polamalu was in 2008 and last season.

Without Polamalu's pick-six, the Ravens probably drive for a game-winning touchdown or field goal in the 2008 AFC championship game. Without Polamalu, the Ravens win last season's game in Baltimore, and the Steelers have to go the wild-card route to get to the Super Bowl.

Rice has the same uniqueness on offense that Polamalu does on defense. Defenders don't get a lot of practice tackling 5-foot-8 guys. In the last three years, only Rice has figured out how to gain 100 yards on the Steelers defense, and he's done it twice, including his 107 yards on 19 carries Sunday.

Rice is just as dangerous as a receiver. He caught four balls for 42 yards and hauled in a touchdown pass to go with his rushing TD.

Steelers fans who saw the game from the beginning knew what kind of day it would be right away when Rice picked up 36 yards on the first play from scrimmage.

I knew what kind of day it would be without even being aware of that play. This game, as well as few others, kicked off while names of those who died on Sept. 11 were still being read at Ground Zero in New York.

Having moved from New York to New Jersey last month, I found a Steelers bar where I could watch the game. When I walked in about 20 minutes before 1 p.m., CBS was showing the Sept. 11 memorial live. It went past 1 p.m., and since Steelers-Ravens was being televised locally in this area, DirecTV wouldn't play the game when the staff switched the channel.

If the Jets were playing at 1 p.m., I wonder if CBS would have switched to the game or stayed with the ceremony. It would have been a nice touch if the NFL could have waited for every name to be read before kicking off. Not every game started right at 1 p.m., so it looked like they waited a few minutes. Why couldn't they wait a few minutes longer?

So by the time the game came on at Danny's in Red Bank, the Steelers were down 7-0. Not long after that, Rice scored on a 1-yard run to make it 14-0.

Just like in their last game that mattered, the Steelers spotted their opponent 14 points. Unlike the Super Bowl, however, the Steelers responded with a touchdown instead of a wimpy field goal when Ben Roethlisberger threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders, making it look like this would be a game.

Still, Sanders managed to show just how clueless the Steelers were on this day. On the ensuing kickoff, the Ravens' Lardarius Webb caught the ball in the end zone for a touchback. Sanders said something to Webb. Whatever it was, it was enough for Webb to look at Sanders as he ran by and for an official to calm Webb down.

The Ravens still had scoreboard at that point. Sanders should have kept his mouth shut.

Taylor, one of those Steelers defenders who signed a comfy contract this summer, also had some behavioral problems on Sunday.

Late in the third quarter, with the Steelers down 32-7, they stopped Rice on a third-and-1 at the Ravens' 25. The Ravens were going to have to punt and maybe, just maybe, the Steelers could get something going.

But Taylor was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play, giving the Ravens a first down and allowing them to burn more time off the clock. The Ravens added a field goal in the fourth quarter to ensure that this would be the Steelers' biggest margin of defeat since the 1997 season opener, when they lost 37-7 at home to the Cowboys.

Sunday's loss was the Steelers' first in a season opener since 2002, when they got hammered 30-14 by the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. They entered Sunday's game with the NFL's longest active winning streak in season openers, which made it easy to forget just how bad they were in openers during the Bill Cowher era.

For some reason, it seemed losing openers at home to the Cowboys was part of a twisted formula to success in the 1990s. Despite that 30-point loss in 1997, they reached the AFC championship game. They also made it to the AFC title game in 1994 after losing 26-9 to the Cowboys in Week 1 that year.

In this day and age, however, reaching the AFC title game isn't enough for the Steelers. Anything short of a seventh Super Bowl victory this season will be a disappointment. While none of the Steelers' eight Super Bowl teams opened the season with a loss, a couple of Super Bowl champions in the past decade have started the season just as hideously as the Steelers did Sunday.

The 2003 Patriots opened with a 31-0 loss at Buffalo and went on to win Super Bowl XXXVIII. The 2007 Giants started 0-2, including a 35-13 loss to the Packers at home in Week 2. They ended up beating the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

So a season-opening loss, even one as humbling as the one suffered by the Steelers Sunday, doesn't necessarily doom a season.

Still, it's not the way you want to start.

Preseason: Steelers 24, Eagles 14

By Mike Batista

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin long ago coined the term "January football" to refer to the NFL playoffs.

Just in case anyone hasn't noticed, it isn't January. It's summer, and what went on Thursday night at Heinz Field was "August football."

That means it's preseason. It doesn't count. So despite the Steelers' domination of the Eagles, my opinion of the Eagles' "Dream Team" campaign hasn't changed either way, just as my opinion of how good the Steelers are doesn't change with this game.

Who's going to remember this game five years from now? Two years from now? Or even in November? When people talk about the greatest games and performances they've seen, preseason games don't come up.

My thoughts on the Eagles both before and after Thursday's game is that the "Dream Team" concept never works in the NFL. Just ask the Redskins. It damn near worked with the Miami Heat in the NBA. They were two wins away from a championship. But there are many more moving parts in football. Despite their loaded free agent shopping cart, I wouldn't book rooms in Indianapolis just yet if I were the Eagles.

One last opinion from Thursday's game. I think Tomlin should suspend Troy Polamalu for the rest of the preseason. I know Tomlin might be putting his job on the line, but for the sake of Polamalu's health, the Steelers might just have to risk a 1-3 preseason record.

Polamalu should have taken a knee and/or curled up in a fetal ball position after making that interception. Instead, he risked injury in a meaningless game with one of his patented zig-zag returns and got turned upside down my Michael Vick.

Considering his injuries the last couple of years, the sight of Polamalu's flowing locks on the field in August gives me ulcers. Does he really need to play in the preseason? I think he'll make the team.

NFL lockout ends

By Mike Batista

It's been almost exactly six months since we as Steelers fans played this in victory. The Packers stifled it on Feb. 2. Now, (via scifiradioguy) we have reason to break it out again.



The NFL lockout is over.

The season is saved.

If you're one of those people who has had nothing to read at the beach this summer because the Athlon NFL Preview you bought in June was useless, or if your friends thought you were the coolest dude ever because of your kickass Hall of Fame Game parties, you're shit out of luck.

For everyone else, it's time to dance in the streets.

Those Athlon guys are going to have to work around the clock to put this year's magazine together. Free agency starts at 10 a.m., Tuesday. That's when teams can sign rookies and negotiate with their own free agents and free agents on other teams. At 6 p.m., Friday, teams can sign free agents from other teams.

In my best Forrest Gump, here's all I have to say about that: The Steelers should re-sign Ike Taylor.

I know Taylor is 31, and the Steelers tend to let guys walk when they're on the north side of 30. But the Steelers are never going to have a championship window like they have now. As long as Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu are healthy, they have a chance to win the Super Bowl every year. But without Taylor, those chances aren't as good.

Not only is Taylor an elite NFL cornerback, he's the only decent one the Steelers got. Bryant McFadden hasn't been the same since his exile in Arizona. William Gay is a nickelback, nothing more. Supposedly Crezdon Butler, who was drafted in the fifth round last year, has potential, but who knows? I figure Keenan Lewis, drafted in the third round in 2009, will be handing in his playbook this summer.

The Steelers drafted Curtis Brown in the third round of this year's draft and Cortez Allen in the fourth round. It would be nice if one of these mid-round picks had a surprising Mike Wallace-like impact as a rookie, but with the lockout scuttling rookie camps, these guys already are behind.

This generation of Steelers already has won two Super Bowls, but they can win more, even if Taylor only has a couple of good years left.

Taylor or no Taylor, this much we know: There will be a 2011 season.

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.

Why the NFL better not
miss any games

By Mike Batista

I'm not going speak legalese here.

The facts are that the NFL Players Association and the owners couldn't come to an agreement before Friday's deadline. Now the owners have locked out the players, the union has decertified and blah, blah, blah ...

It's too early to tell if we're going to lose any regular-season games because of this mess. But has anyone looked at a calendar and seen when the first Sunday of the NFL regular season would be?

If the NFL maintains its recent pattern of starting the regular season after Labor Day, there would be the Thursday night opener hosted by the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers (which I say through clenched teeth) on Sept. 8. Then the first Sunday of the regular season would be on Sept. 11.

That would be the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, the day known simply as 9/11. If the start of the NFL season is delayed by just one week, there would be no football on Sept. 11.

The first Sunday of a new NFL season would be a welcome diversion as America mourns the most solemn day in its modern history. Teams hosting games that day would have a chance before kickoff to honor those lost, thank those fighting for our freedom and celebrate the American way of life in a spectacular manner.

It would be a shame if stadiums were empty that day because of greed.

OK, so Polamalu was hurt

When I finally got around to reading Sports Illustrated's account of Super Bowl XLV, I didn't believe it when I read that Troy Polamalu was hurt during the postseason.

When he came back for the regular-season finale in Cleveland, he was all over the field in the first half. And even though he was largely a non-factor against the Ravens and Jets, I remember one play in which Polamalu was at least 20 yards downfield and ran all the way back to make a tackle near the line of scrimmage.

I didn't buy the theory that Polamalu was hurt. I just thought he had a bad Super Bowl.

Now, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that Polamalu was battling an injured Achilles tendon throughout the playoffs.

Of course I do need to employ a healthy skepticism here. This could be excuse-making. But the story uses unnamed sources, so this wasn't something Polamalu came out and announced himself. He's a private person and doesn't strike me as the type to make excuses.

But the revelation that Polamalu was injured doesn't make me feel any better.

Now I've gone from a "wtf?" mentality about Polamalu's disappearing act in Dallas to an "if only" mentality. A healthy Polamalu almost certainly would have been enough to tilt that tight Super Bowl in the Steelers' favor.

Considering how hobbled Polamalu was, it's amazing how close the Steelers came to another championship.

Damn.

Super Bowl XLV:
Packers 31, Steelers 25

Not your father's Steelers

By Mike Batista

I've watched my last Steelers game.

My last Steelers game before turning 40, that is.

If you're a Steelers fan younger than 40, you probably didn't really get a chance to witness the Steelers' dynasty of the 1970s. Or if you did, you probably couldn't describe the difference between a free safety and a strong safety.

A win in Super Bowl XLV would have provided this generation of Steelers fans with an experience similar to the glory days of the 1970s. I gladly would have accepted three championships in six years as a feat comparable to four in six years.

But these aren't your father's Steelers. They just don't make Steelers Super Bowl teams like they used to. In the post-Steel Curtain era, the Steelers sometimes lose the Super Bowl.

Out of miracles

A lot has happened since Ben Roethlisberger threaded the eye of a needle for the game-winning touchdown to Santonio Holmes in Super Bowl XLIII. The Saints succeeded the Steelers as champions, and we learned (if we didn't know already) that Roethlisberger is not exactly a saint.

Even if Roethlisberger has changed his ways, here's why he still falls short of sainthood: You need two miracles to qualify as a saint. And there would be no second Super Bowl miracle for Roethlisberger.

Sure, it was great theater to see Roethlisberger again assigned the task of leading the Steelers the length of the field with two minutes left in the Super Bowl. But if you keep putting yourself in that spot, sometimes you're going to lose.

A lot has to go right for these epic, career-defining drives to come together. Like Thomas Edison's inventions, some of them just don't work out.

It wasn't a good sign when Mike Wallace, the Steelers' top receiver Sunday with nine catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, had no idea what he was supposed to do on second-and-five from the Steelers' 33. Roethlisberger had to throw the ball away. Then on third down Roethlisberger threw a ball that wasn't close to anyone. The grace of that winning drive in Tampa just wasn't there.

On fourth down, the Packers' sealed their championship when Tramon Williams broke up a pass to Wallace.

The final drive seemed doomed from the start when Keyaron Fox was called for a personal foul on the kickoff, dragging the Steelers from the 26 to their own 13.

Fox joined the Steelers in 2008 and contributed to their championship season as a special teams ace. Unfortunately, he seems to have gone bad. This wasn't the first time he's been flagged this season on a special teams play.

But it wasn't just Fox. Penalties were a problem all season for the Steelers, and they were a problem again Sunday. A blocking-above-the-waist infraction on Ryan Mundy set the stage for the Packers to take control of the game in the first quarter.

That penalty came on the kickoff after the Packers took a 7-0 lead on Aaron Rodgers' 29-yard pass to Jordy Nelson. It put the Steelers on their own 7. Roethlisberger threw the ball on the first play of the drive, but was hit, causing the ball to wobble in the air. It looked like Nick Collins was catching a fly ball in center field for the Brewers as he easily picked the ball off and ran it in 37 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 Packers lead.

Mistakes, they had a few

Every Steeler is to blame for this mistake-riddled performance. But the penalties by the special teams muckers ultimately will be forgotten. Super Bowl XLV will be remembered by Steelers fans for Roethlisberger's two interceptions and Rashard Mendenhall's fumble.

Roethlisberger's second pick was a throw into double coverage. Jarrett Bush came up with it.

Troy Polamalu then tried to keep the Steelers in the game with his biggest hit of the night. Unfortunately, it didn't do much good because it came in the end zone after Rodgers completed a 21-yard TD pass to Greg Jennings for a 21-3 Packers lead.

I was obviously way off on my prediction of Polamalu being the MVP.

Polamalu hasn't done much in any of the three Super Bowls he's played in, even though the Steelers have won two of them.

The Steelers probably don't get anywhere near the Super Bowl without Polamalu's heist in Baltimore nine weeks earlier. The 2010 Steelers season hinged on that play. The Steelers needed a similar rescue in the Super Bowl.

But it never came.

Troy a hair out of place

With the Steelers down by 18, I started to worry that this would turn into one of those vintage 1980s and early 1990s Super Bores, when the Goliaths of the NFC annually dominated the AFC's best offering. There hadn't really been a Super Bowl blowout in eight years. Were we due for one?

The Steelers didn't allow that to happen.

When facing a big deficit in the first half, the first thing you want to do is get points on the board before halftime. The Steelers did just that. A 37-yard pass to Antwaan Randle-El put the ball on the Packers 40 and sparked a touchdown drive that culminated in an 8-yard TD pass to Hines Ward.

That made the Steelers' halftime deficit a manageable 21-10.

Then in the second half the officials decided to start calling penalties on the Packers. Five of their seven penalties came in the third quarter, including a face mask on a punt that gave the Steelers the ball at midfield.

From there they ran the ball five times, Mendenhall twice, Isaac Redman twice and Roethlisberger once. Mendenhall took it in through traffic from the 8 for a touchdown, cutting the Packers' lead to 21-17 with more than 10 minutes left in the third quarter.

The Steelers made it a game again.

I would rather have not seen the Steelers burn two timeouts in the third quarter, having more than one timeout might have come in handy on the final drive. It was also hard to watch Shaun Suisham attempt a 52-yard field goal. Did anyone really think Suisham was going to make that?

Polamalu looked like he could have had an interception with about two and a half minutes left in the third quarter. Had he been a couple of steps to his left, he might have picked off a third-down incompletion right around the Steelers' 20 with room to run. Even though the Packers were forced to punt, Polamalu had his head in his hands at the end of that play. Like most of the night, he was out of position.

Despite all that, the Steelers' defensive muscle in the third quarter forged a field-position advantage.

With the Packers pinned at their own 13 late in the period, the Steelers forced a three-and-out. On the punt, the Packers were penalized and had to re-kick from their 8. The Steelers were in business at the Packers' 41, and Mendenhall ended the third quarter by picking up eight yards.

Fourth-quarter flop

Many Steelers players participated in the universal football ritual of holding up four fingers at the start of the fourth quarter, a signal that if you want to win the game, this is the time to do it.

Mendenhall didn't get the message. He got the ball again to open the final quarter, and Clay Matthews popped it loose. Desmond Bishop (not Bishop Desmond) recovered the fumble.

The Packers, who didn't turn the ball over in the game, scored for the third time off a Steelers turnover. Rodgers threw an 8-yard TD pass to Jennings, making it 28-17 with 12 minutes left.

Starting with the AFC championship game, Mendenhall played like a top-tier running back for seven quarters. He ran for just 63 yards in the Super Bowl, but at a clip of 4.5 yards a carry. Finally it seemed that Mendenhall would be the guy to provide the Steelers with a productive, clock-grinding ground game in the coming years. But that fumble again planted some seeds of doubt.

So it was back to disaster recovery for the Steelers. And recover they did. They got to within a field goal halfway through the fourth quarter when Roethlisberger threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Wallace and followed that with a pretty option pitch to Randle-El on the two-point conversion.

Ziggy Hood sacked Rodgers to start the ensuing possession, and the Packers eventually were staring at a third-and-10 from their own 25.

Momentum once again belonged to the Steelers.

That's when Rodgers showed why he's the Super Bowl MVP.

He threw to Jennings up the middle for 31 yards. Polamalu might have made his biggest impact of the night when he got his hand on Jennings' leg to stop him. It likely prevented a touchdown.

The Packers ran the clock down and got to the Steelers' 5. But the Steelers defense had enough fight left to hold them to a field goal and give Roethlisberger a chance to win it.

But as a new generation of Steelers fans has learned, you can't win 'em all.

Star power

Steelers 41, Browns 9

By Mike Batista

It was up to Steelers coach Mike Tomlin whether Troy Polamalu would play Sunday.

If he sat Polamalu, who had been sidelined with an Achilles injury, the hope would have been to give the defensive difference maker five full weeks of rest if the Steelers could beat the Browns without him and clinch a first-round bye in the playoffs.

If he played Polamalu, he would have risked a re-injury and losing him for the playoffs. What good would a first-round bye be in that case?

I don't think any of this had to factor into Tomlin's decision. He could have been swayed by astrology, because it seemed the stars were aligned for Polamalu to play in this game.

How else do you explain Polamalu, No. 43, intercepting a pass to set up a Steelers' touchdown 43 seconds into the game? Or that Mike Wallace, No. 17, scored that touchdown with 14:17 left in the first quarter after catching a Ben Roethlisberger pass?

Furthermore, the uniform numbers of Wallace and Polamalu add up to 60, as in "Steelers football is 60 minutes," which Tomlin gushed after the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII (that's 43) two years ago. Or as in "60 Minutes," the show hosted by a Mike Wallace almost four times the age of the Steelers receiver.

The Steelers, who by the way allowed 43 rushing yards on 17 carries, didn't need 60 minutes to finish off the Browns and secure the AFC North title and a first-round bye. They scored touchdowns on their first four possessions and got tough in short-yardage situations for a change.

Rashard Mendenhall punched in the first of his two 1-yard touchdown runs to give the Steelers (12-4) a 14-0 lead with seven minutes left in the first quarter.

The Browns (5-11) seemed poised to make it a game on their next possession, moving the ball to the Steelers' 2. But on second down, Polamalu showed that he really is healthy again by dusting off one of his trademark spectacles: The Line of Scrimmage Leap.

On the first play of the second quarter, Polamalu timed the snap and vaulted the line of scrimmage like a missile. Browns' quarterback Colt McCoy rolled to his right, almost back to the 20, after getting out of Polamalu's flight path and threw an incomplete pass. After another incomplete pass, the Browns settled for a field goal.

Polamalu's work was pretty much done. The Steelers only needed him for a half, thanks in part to fellow defensive backs Ryan Clark and Anthony Madison, whose interceptions set up 10 points. Clark's pick led to a 4-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller to increase the Steelers' lead to 28-3. Madison set up Shaun Suisham's 41-yard field goal to make the Steelers' halftime lead 31-3.

And Polamalu could start washing his hair.

The offense didn't earn its rest until it put together a clock-churning drive to start the second half. The 13-play, 77-yard march ended with a little flair. Antwan Randle-El took a pitch from Roethlisberger and threw a 3-yard TD pass to Hines Ward. The play popped the cork on some vintage 2005, when Randle-El connected with Ward in the Super Bowl and the Steelers won big in Cleveland during the holiday season.

With the Steelers up 38-3, most of their key offensive players were done for the day. Unfortunately, Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey wasn't one of them. He left the game with a neck stinger and is the only new health concern that came out of this game.

Speaking of Pouncey and the offensive line that the 21-year-old rookie pretty much runs, Roethlisberger was unsacked for the first time since the Steelers' first meeting against the Browns. Roethlisberger was sacked 32 times in 12 games this season. That's a pace of about 43 sacks over a full season. That would have been the fewest times he's been sacked since 2005.

It was oddly comical, then, when Byron Leftwich was sacked on his first play. Leftwich was brought down twice, but did a good job minding the store along with the likes of running back Jonathan Dwyer, linebackers Stevenson Sylvester, Keyaron Fox and Larry Foote and defensive backs Will Allen and Keenan Lewis.

The Steelers put three more points on the board to hang 40 on an opponent for the first time since 2007. This was after becoming the first team to score 30 on the improved Browns this season.

What the Steelers do to teams like the Browns and Panthers, however, won't matter a whole lot in two weeks.

As Tomlin would say, it's time for "January Football."

'Twas two nights
before Christmas ...

Steelers 27, Panthers 3

By Mike Batista

Whether it's last-minute shopping, wrapping presents or cooking, just about everyone is taking care of business in the final days before Christmas.

That's exactly what the Steelers did Thursday. The Carolina Panthers were nothing more than a tree to be watered, lights to be strung up or reindeer to be fed.

The Steelers (11-4) had a job to do. A win over the Panthers (2-13) wasn't going to make any pundit anoint the Steelers the Flavor of the Week in the NFL. But a loss would have expedited them to the top of Santa Claus' naughty list and a lump of coal would have gone straight from a western Pennsylvania mine to their stocking.

The Steelers ensured a Merry Christmas by doing what they were supposed to do, which is dominate the Panthers. They had a 20-0 lead at halftime, allowing Pittsburgh sports fans to get to the stores before they close or watch the Penguins beat the Capitals.

And so in the spirit of Christmas, everybody is happy and life is artificially great for the Steelers. Any cares and concerns are put aside for the time being while the Steelers attempt to sing Christmas carols and Brett Keisel models his Santa-like beard for the NFL Network.

... And all through the house ...

The Steelers have to wait an extra day to open their presents this year. On the morning after Christmas, they'll be jumping out of bed, running down the stairs in their footed pajamas hoping to see a Browns win over the Ravens under their tree.

With a Browns win, the Steelers will clinch the AFC North and a first-round bye in the playoffs, which means their Christmas break from needing to win football games will extend to mid-January.

The Browns will be torn between two lovers, or at least two teams they love to hate. They could beat the Ravens and knock them out of the AFC North race, but that would give Troy Polamalu an extra week of rest (he won't play in Cleveland if the Steelers don't need that game) and help the Steelers in the playoffs.

Since the Browns still suck, however, it's probably not going to be up to them. The Ravens will probably beat them and the Steelers will be back to work the day after New Year's needing to beat the Browns. The Ravens host the Bengals Jan. 2, so let's just say the Steelers will need to beat the Browns if the Ravens win Sunday.

If that's the case, all this Christmas cheer will be a distant memory. With bare Christmas trees strewn all over sidewalks, the reality of the Steelers' ramshackle offensive line and red zone inefficiency, as well as Polamalu's health (whether it's his ankle, calf, nose hairs or toe nails), will once again be in the Steelers' face.

But let's not think about January drudgery right now. Let's just sit by the fireplace, admire the tree and look back on the Steelers' Christmas story that was on TV Thursday night.

... Not a Panther was stirring ...

The Steelers allowed just 119 yards of offense and gobbled up rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen as if he were Claussen pickle, sacking him four times and intercepting him once. Clausen completed just 10 of 23 passes for 72 yards. He didn't get off the hook like Colt McCoy did earlier this year (the Steelers have a chance to make up for that).

Meanwhile, the Steelers generated 408 yards of offense. Their ground game was productive with Rashard Mendenhall running for 65 yards and Isaac Redman adding 43. Ben Roethlisberger threw for a career-high 259 first-half yards.

This game wasn't without a few anxious early moments. The Steelers had a little trouble tackling Jonathan Stewart, who came into the game averaging 115 yards rushing over the past four weeks. But the Panthers handed the Steelers a few presents. They gave the gift of ineptitude.

Carolina reached the Steelers' 35 on the game's opening drive, but stalled with two straight false start penalties.

After a Steelers field goal, Carolina mounted another drive and got to the Steelers' 29. Then on third-and-2, they went to the wildcat. Panthers and wildcat added up to a feline failure. Mike Goodson lost three yards, then on fourth down Clausen got sacked to yank the Panthers out of field goal range.

A 43-yard hot-route pass to Mike Wallace gave the Steelers a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter. A 12-yard pass to Heath Miller, who can enjoy some egg nog now that his noggin is healthy, got that drive going. He led the Steelers with five catches for 73 yards.

The Steelers' other two touchdowns came on 1-yard runs with Mendenhall scoring before halftime and Roethlisberger making it 27-0 in the third quarter. Big Ben's dive squashed the only second-half drama. The Steelers had a first-and-goal on the 1, and on third down the Panthers were halfway to what would have been an embarrassing goal-line stand.

... On Wallace, on Sanders, on Heath and Antonio

A 35-yard pass to Emmanuel Sanders set up Mendenhall's touchdown. Sanders caught four balls for 54 yards. Am I the only one who thinks that it's Hines Ward catching the ball a lot of the time when Sanders catches the ball?

I know I'm opening up a can of worms here (anybody want that for Christmas?). Much of the reason for not being able to tell Sanders from Ward is their uniform numbers. The number "88" looks a lot like "86." There was a lot of Pittsburgh talk radio chatter about Ward, who had three catches for 38 yards, being done. I think the 13-year veteran is just gracefully passing the baton to a new generation of receivers.

Wallace is fifth in the league with 1,152 receiving yards and is averaging 20.2 yards per catch, second only to the Eagles' DeSean Jackson in that category among receivers with at least 15 catches. His emergence, as well as that of Antonio Brown, gives Roethlisberger a lot of toys at his disposal.

You might say Big Ben got his Christmas presents early when he returned to action in October. By that time, it wasn't hard to see a Christmas display somewhere or hear a Christmas carol.

Hang in there, Christmas is almost over. Then, as Mike Tomlin would say, it will be time for "January Football."

Bad date

Jets 22, Steelers 17

By Mike Batista

This was like "Hitch" in reverse.

Mike Tomlin, who despite looking like Omar Epps could be played by a bulked-up Will Smith, might be smoother and more articulate than blowhard Jets coach Rex Ryan, who could be played by a bulked-up Kevin James. But on Sunday, Ryan outwitted Tomlin in the Jets' win over the Steelers.

With the Steelers leading 17-10 in the third quarter, Ryan decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Steelers' 7-yard-line. Jets' quarterback Mark Sanchez, a pretty boy who probably doesn't need Hitch-type counseling, faked a handoff to Shonn Greene and ran untouched around the left side for the game-tying touchdown.

Riverboat Rex gambled and won. And so did the Jets.

Hopefully the postgame handshake between Tomlin and Ryan didn't go like this:


Safety pin

There's something emasculating about a safety, considering the indignity of being tackled in your own end zone, then having to give the ball to the other team.

But emasculation was the least of the Steelers' problems when Jason Taylor, another Jets' pretty boy, tackled Mewelde Moore in the end zone. Those two points increased the Jets' lead to 22-17 and took away a field goal as an option as the Steelers tried to come back with 2:45 to play.

Because of his sure-handedness, Moore often gets the ball when the Steelers are deep in their own end. But Taylor, who by the way was born in Pittsburgh on Sept. 1, 1974, exactly two weeks before the Steelers opened their first championship season, got through because there was a missed blocking assignment on the left side of the Steelers' offensive line.

It's too bad, because the O-Line was just one of the problems the Steelers seem to have solved in this game.

Stupid is as Stupid Does

Ben Roethlisberger was sacked just once in the first three quarters, but twice in the fourth quarter to stunt Steelers drives after they had fallen behind.

The Steelers even curbed the penalties. They were good boys in the first half with no infractions. Unfortunately, they got stupid in the second half. An unnecessary roughness penalty on Ryan Clark (and yes, it was a penalty) added 15 yards to a 15-yard reception by Braylon Edwards, putting the ball on the Steelers' 16 and leading to Sanchez's tying touchdown.

On the ensuing possession, Flozell Adams apparently let Darrelle Revis get under his skin despite having eight inches and 140 pounds on him. The personal foul just about negated a 17-yard pass to Mike Wallace and dragged the Steelers back to their 31.

The Steelers regained their discipline, but that brief flurry of knuckleheadedness proved costly.

Even Rashard Mendenhall didn't make me want to hit myself in the head with a hammer for a change. His dance moves were actually effective Sunday as he gained 100 yards on 17 carries. He also had a touchdown to give the Steelers a 17-10 lead in the third quarter.

But the lead was short-lived, and the Steelers (10-4) lost despite looking better in a lot of areas than they have in a few weeks. Perhaps looks don't matter and "Hitch" was full of shit.

Nothing special

No, the Steelers didn't lose because Troy Polamalu was out, even though he might have been able to cover some ground on the perimeter when Sanchez scored his touchdown.

Somehow I can never get through a column without mentioning the Steelers' Five-Game Losing Streak of 2009. It's hard to forget considering its Titanic-like effect.

Polamalu's injury wasn't the only reason the Steelers lost five in a row last season. Special teams was another culprit. The Steelers allowed two touchdowns on kickoff returns during that slide, including one on the opening kickoff against the Chiefs.

That's exactly what happened Sunday. The Jets came into Heinz Field with their heads hanging after a 45-3 loss at New England and a 10-6 loss at home to the Dolphins. But on Sunday the Steelers allowed Brad Smith to return the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. That got the Jets (10-4) back on the right track a lot more effectively than Ryan burying the football after the loss to the Patriots.

Tomlin might make empty promises to unleash hell, but he wouldn't do anything that cheesy.

The Steelers eventually answered Smith's touchdown. But they had no answer for Nick Folk's 34-yard field goal with 10:11 left in the game, which gave the Jets the lead for good at 20-17.

As debilitating as it was, the safety didn't finish off the Steelers. They forced a three-and-out and got the ball at their 8 with 2:08 left and one timeout. A 22-yard scramble by Roethlisberger and a 29-yard pass to Emmanuel Sanders on third-and-24 highlighted the Steelers' march to the Jets' 10 with nine seconds left.

But that's as far as they went. Perhaps Heath Miller would have come in handy.

Minimal Damage

Funny how there's less Pittsburgh talk-radio chatter about the Steelers getting another shot at the Patriots in the playoffs.

But somehow the Steelers clinched a playoff berth Sunday, and to figure out the mathematical formula that got them in the playoffs, we need the help of this New Englander:

There's no need to fill a blackboard to figure out how the Steelers get a first-round bye. They just have to win their last two games.

Even though there's been talk about Polamalu sitting out the rest of the regular season, from Tomlin's press conference Monday, it sounds like he could be back Thursday against Carolina. I say let him rest for two more weeks, and have him ready for Cleveland if the Steelers need that game. If the Steelers can't win at home against the 2-12 Panthers, Polamalu or no Polamalu, they don't deserve to be in the playoffs.

The Steelers might have lost five in a row without Polamalu last season, but they also won three in a row without him to end the season, two of those wins coming against playoff teams.

Considering their playoff berth and the fact they control their own destiny, the Steelers got off light with this loss. Losing to Carolina or Cleveland would be a lot more costly.

Giving thanks

Steelers 19, Bills 16, OT

By Mike Batista

In the final hours of Thanksgiving weekend, the Steelers gave us one more thing to be thankful for.

This win.

Let us give thanks that Bills' receiver Stevie Johnson dropped the winning touchdown pass in overtime. He'll probably be as infamous as this Stevie is famous.



Let us give thanks that Leodis McKelvin tripped over Arthur Moats, his own blocker, on the opening kickoff of OT. Otherwise he'd have had a touchdown.

Let us give thanks that McKelvin fumbled Daniel Sepulveda's punt from the Steelers' end zone, costing the Bills 15 yards of field position. Were the Steelers lucky to dodge the upset and not follow Black Friday with a Black Sunday? Absolutely. But let's give them credit for winning despite being backed up inside their own 1-yard line during overtime. That's usually a recipe for disaster.

Speaking of recipes, let's break down this game by turkey parts, in honor of Thanksgiving:

The Leg

The leg I'm talking about here is that of Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham (pronounced SWEEZE- um). Cutting Jeff Reed seems like a smart move. For now.

To some degree, Suisham probably knew what was going through Johnson's mind Sunday. Last season, kicking for the Redskins, Suisham missed a 23-yard field goal that would have finished off the 11-0 Saints and given them their first loss. That choking legacy followed him to Pittsburgh.

Suisham made four field goals Sunday, all of them longer than 40 yards, including the 41-yard game-winner in overtime. Guaranteed the 2010 Jeff Reed would have missed at least one of those field goals.

Now let's see how Suisham kicks at Heinz Field.

The Wing

Troy Polamalu usually takes flight after an interception. His flight Sunday was more of a puddle jumper. The Bills were at the Steelers' 12 with three minutes left when Polamalu picked off a pass deflected by William Gay at the Steelers' 1. Polamalu returned it five yards to the Steelers' 6. Polamalu's fourth interception of the year temporarily preserved the Steelers' 16-13 lead.

I know it's beating a dead horse to say that Polamalu's absence last season was the main reason for the five-game losing streak that ruined the Steelers' season. It's so much of a dead horse that flies are starting to swirl around it. But the evidence just continues to mount.

Aside from his acrobatic interception, Polamalu also recovered a fumble at the Steelers' 19 on the opening drive of the second half, at least delaying the Bills' comeback. He also had a pass breakup which helped hold the Bills to a field goal on their final drive of regulation, and a key pass breakup and tackle in OT.

This game was taking on the mood of other late-November stinkers by the Steelers, like last year's loss to the Chiefs in overtime, when they were without Polamalu; the 2007 loss to the 1-8 Jets, by the same 19-16 score in overtime, by the way (even though they had Polamalu for that one) and the Thanksgiving loss to the Lions in OT. Guess what the final score of that game was.

But thanks to Polamalu, this will not be one of those years that the Steelers suffer a late-November upset that derails their season.

Keep in mind that Polamalu isn't 100 percent healthy. He's had hamstring issues, but has been able to play on Sundays by limiting himself in practice.

When Polamalu went down for good last season during the home game against the Bengals in Week 10, I was watching at The Public House, a Steelers bar in Manhattan, without the benefit of audio. A fellow Steelers fan receiving cell phone updates broke the news that Polamalu was hurt. Not what I needed to hear.

Due to schedule commitments, I watched Sunday's game at Bob Hyland's Sports Page in White Plains, just a general sports bar but not a Steelers bar in particular. So of course I couldn't hear the announcers.

I'm now so paranoid about Polamalu getting hurt that I became worried that I didn't see him on the field early in the fourth quarter when the Bills faced a third-and-10 at the Steelers' 11. The Steelers led 13-7 at the time and were in danger of losing the lead. Ike Taylor broke up a pass to Lee Evans, forcing the Bills to settle for a field goal. I was relieved when I saw Polamalu lined up on the other side of the field when they showed the replay.

After Polamalu's interception, they showed Polamalu on the sideline, and I didn't know if he was hurt or just praying. Next time Polamalu prays on the sideline, I wish he'd use a rosary so we know he's not hurt.

The Breast

I'm going to talk about the offensive line for the "Breast" portion of my column, because most of these guys have man boobs.

Problems on the offensive line are nothing new for the Steelers. Still, I'd like to dedicate this song to Max Starks and Willie Colon, who might have been seen as part of the problem before being lost for the season with injuries.



The Steelers were poised to dominate this game. They scored a touchdown on their opening drive, taking up nearly half of the first quarter. They ate up another six minutes and ended up with a field goal to take a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.

But the offensive line kept the Steelers from breaking the game open. Roethlisberger was sacked five times, and six holding penalties were called, four of them on left guard Chris Kemoeatu. The offensive linemen aren't talented enough to block straight up, so they have to cheat.

Steelers reject Kraig Urbik, chosen in the third round of the 2009 draft, started at right guard for the Bills. Does this mean the Steelers missed the boat on him? Or does it mean that the Bills are so bad he can start for them? All I know is Urbik never got called for holding on Sunday.

The Wishbone

This isn't a suggestion about the kind of offense the Steelers should run. It's a reference to the way Marcus Stroud and Moats yanked on Roethlisberger and twisted his knee after sacking him in the fourth quarter. This was after Roethlisberger apparently sprained his right foot in the first half.

Roethlisberger showed some major balls, and not in a women's bathroom kind of way, with his 18-yard run in the fourth quarter. The Steelers had blown a 13-0 lead and faced a third-and-17 at their own 29. On his bad foot, Roethlisberger slipped a sack and scrambled for the first down. Rashard Mendenhall then took advantage of the Steelers' regained momentum with a 22-yard run, his longest in a 151-yard day, that set up Suisham's longest field goal of the afternoon, a 48-yarder that gave the Steelers a 16-13 lead.

In Tuesday's press conference, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin seemed optimistic Roethlisberger would be able to play Sunday in Baltimore. I'm a little worried. He wore a protective boot on Tuesday and it didn't seem likely that he'd practice Wednesday. I just hope this isn't one of those injuries that's more serious than the team is letting on. Roethlisberger needs his feet more than most quarterbacks.

Leftovers

Did James Harrison rough Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick? Probably. But he didn't lead with the crown of his helmet, and at the very least there should have been an offsetting penalty on Fitzpatrick's beard. ... So there's no way the Steelers can win in Baltimore after their performance Sunday in Buffalo, right? Well, things change from week to week in the NFL. Let's hope the Steelers got a wakeup call on Sunday.

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.

Jolly good fun

Steelers 38, Buccaneers 13

By Mike Batista

The Steelers' September Sweatfest Tour took them from the heat of Tennessee last week to the heat of Tampa Bay on Sunday.

If Tennessee had been a House of Horrors for the Steelers before they punched the Titans in the mouth last week, Raymond James Stadium has been a Fun House for the franchise over the past decade.

The Steelers' last two visits to the home of the Jolly Roger included a Super Bowl victory two years ago and an electrifying Monday-night mugging of the Super Bowl-champions-to-be Buccaneers in 2002.

On Sunday, the Steelers returned to their favorite Florida getaway and came back with more cherished memories for the scrapbook.

Charlie Batch will be able to tell his grandkids (and I wouldn't be surprised if he actually was a grandfather) about the game he had Sunday. In his first start since the meaningless regular-season finale in 2007, Batch completed 12 of 17 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns. It was one of the best games of his workmanlike, 13-year career.

Batch overcame an interception on his first throw with TD passes to Mike Wallace for 46 and 41 yards.

In between those touchdowns, Batch highlighted a drive by scrambling 24 yards to the Bucs' 24. Then, as if to prove he didn't need an oxygen mask after the longest run of his career, the 35-year-old Batch threw 21 yards to Heath Miller on the next play, setting up Rashard Mendenhall's 3-yard touchdown run and a 14-6 Steelers lead.

Playing behind an offensive line that had Max Starks back at left tackle and Doug (The Big) Legursky replacing injured Trai Essex at right guard, Batch wasn't sacked. It was the Steelers' first sack-free game since their Week 12 loss in Baltimore last season. Of course, they were protecting lightning-quick Dennis Dixon in that game. While Batch obviously doesn't have the mobility of Dixon, "slippery" might be a good word to describe his presence in the pocket.

Batch's third TD pass came with 19 seconds left in the first half, a 9-yard connection with Hines Ward to give the Steelers a 28-6 lead.

When watching the game at Public House, a Steelers bar in Manhattan, I saw Batch going into the locker room before the end of the half. I thought maybe he was hurt, but was relieved to find out he apparently just wanted to get an extra minute or two out of the brutal Florida sun.

You know things are going well for the Steelers when you worry about Charlie Batch going into the locker room.

Batch isn't the only Steeler who had a once-in-a-lifetime game.

Brett Keisel, a 285-pound defensive end, 315 pounds if you count the beard, opened the fourth quarter by intercepting a tipped pass and returning it 79 yards for a touchdown and a 38-6 Steelers lead.

The Steelers entered the game with an NFL-high eight forced turnovers and added two on Sunday. This is what was missing last season. Turnovers aren't just window dressing for a defense, they are a necessary element of winning. In the vast majority of NFL victories, the winning offense gets to work with a short field at least once or twice. Making teams punt the ball away is nice, but it's too passive of an approach for a championship defense.

Ryan Clark grabbed the Steelers' other turnover Sunday, recovering a fumble that was forced by James Farrior. It set up Wallace's second touchdown.

Troy Polamalu, who had an interception in each of the first two games, had an interception Sunday, too. It just didn't count.

Polamalu got off work early in the fourth quarter with the game well in hand when Bucs' quarterback Josh Freeman threw the ball out of bounds. Polamalu, with his helmet off and the Head & Shoulders locks in full regalia, caught the ball.

Not that the Steelers needed to provide any other form of entertainment for their fans on this afternoon, but Polamalu's off-duty catch added a few laughs to the show.

Along with the surprises of a clean game by the O-Line, Old Man Batch's scramble and Diesel Keisel's ramble, there was also the standard fare of Dancing With Rashard, and for once Mendenhall's steps were not just fancy but also functional.

Three plays before Batch's run, another 35-year-old figured prominently when Bucs' cornerback Ronde Barber tried to close in on Mendenhall. The running back spun his way into a different route, avoiding any contact with Barber, and completed a 15-yard run.

Mendenhall ran for 143 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown, a big reason why the Steelers finally found a way to put some real points on the board without Ben Roethlisberger, who will be back in the locker room a week from today.

More games like that will be expected from Mendenhall long after Roethlisberger comes back. Batch's body of work in Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is nearly complete. After almost being cut before the start of the season, Sunday's performance was an Abe Vigoda-like resurrection of his distinguished seven-year career as the Steelers' backup quarterback.

All he has to do is mind the store on offense for another week. If the Steelers can beat the Ravens at home on Sunday, it will give them their first 4-0 start since 1979. Regardless of the outcome, another game as the starter (and I think we'll be spared any hemming and hawing this week about who will start) will enhance Batch's role as sideline counselor to Roethlisberger.

If Roethlisberger hadn't already learned his lesson, hopefully he learned it Sunday. Like the one kid who couldn't go on the class trip, he missed out on a fun day for the Steelers.