James Harrison was asked the $1 million question following this game: Were the Steelers looking past the Chiefs to Baltimore?
Harrison thought long and hard about it before answering, "I don't know. I wasn't."
He then said, however, that it might have been in the back of some players' minds.
This wasn't the first time that the Steelers played down to an opponent's level this season. But unlike losses against Tennessee and Oakland where they did so, Pittsburgh won this game.
@ OK, did the Steelers win it, or did Kansas City simply lose it?
It's semantics, sure, but when you look at the bumbling plays Kansas City made in the second half, it's easy to see why the Chiefs are 1-8.
@ There is also the train of thought that the Chiefs played up to the level of the Steelers, what with this being a Monday night game in front of a national audience and all.
But the Chiefs also played their last game - two Thursdays ago - in front of a supposed national audience on the NFL Network and laid an egg against San Diego.
@ OK, maybe the extra four days to prepare for this game helped. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
@ I can't believe I made it this far into this without mentioning Ben Roethlisberger.
Many were hush-hush about Roethlisberger, but the early word is that it's a shoulder sprain of some type, not a more severe separation.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that with the Ravens coming up in just six days, there doesn't seem to be a lot of time for Roethlisberger to heal up and be ready to play.
@ Kansas City must have run the same stretch play 20 times. The Steelers finally adjusted to getting cut and stayed in their lanes, shutting it down in the second half.
Kansas City had 82 yards on 19 first half carries, 60 yards on 16 second half runs, one of which was a nine-yard scramble by quarterback Matt Cassel.
@ With the Chiefs so run-heavy, the Steelers needed their defensive line to play big.
They got a huge game out of Brett Keisel.
Keisel finished this one with eight tackles, two sacks and four quarterback hurries. He spent nearly as much time in Kansas City's backfield as Cassel.
They will need a similar effort this week against Baltimore.
@ James Harrison is still very good against the run, helping to set the edge better than LaMarr Woodley. But he's still looking for his legs as a pass rusher.
Perhaps it's time to come to the conclusion that Harrison isn't going to get that explosion off the edge back any time soon.
He wouldn't be the only star on the field who is lacking explosion as a pass rusher. Baltimore's Terrell Suggs is playing much the same way.
Not that I'm ripping you, James.
One more unsung hero in my book is Will Allen. He's not making big mistakes and he's quietly holding down the fort in Troy's absence.
ReplyDeleteI'm fine if Leftwich has to start some games. Haley will use plays Lefty does well and the WRs will have a chance to get used to handling his fastballs in practice this week.
ReplyDeleteThe Steelers are 9-5 in the 14 games Roethlisberger has missed since 2004.
ReplyDeleteI would think the quick passing game favors Batch, no? Any chance he gets the start if LargeBenjamin can't go?
ReplyDeleteYahoo News is saying separated shoulder. Hope Dale is right.
ReplyDeleteYeah no kidding. ESPN is saying sprained shoulder as of 4:41AM
ReplyDeleteleftwich drops back to pass, sees and open receiver, starts to throw.....................................................................................he's almost there................................................................................a bullet over the middle but the receiver is now covered by 4 defenders.
ReplyDeleteif lefty goes next week, haley may want to take out those "quick hit" passes to sidelines considering lefty doesn't do anything "quickly"
Sprain, separation, not sure it makes much of a difference at this point. It's an injury to his throwing shoulder. Even a best-case scenario probably has him missing 3-4 weeks, and he'll be hindered the rest of the way. Like his ankle injury last season.
ReplyDeleteThere are different versions running on Internet. One of them declaring it is a weird shoulder separation, I guess we won't know until the official report is issued. By the way, I am not a superstitious man, but, the last 3 times I've read commentaries on this blog (coming from different persons) saying: "let's just win this game and hope we suffer no significant injuries" the team has suffered significant injuries, so let's stop jinxing the team, just for safeness sake.
ReplyDeleteAt what point does Heyward get permanently inserted into the starting lineup for Hood. Aside from that one TKFL, Ziggy was getting blown off the line all night.
ReplyDeleteA sprained sterno/clavicular joint is not a serious injury, just a painful one. It's a fairly immobile joint but would be painful to go through a throwing motion. Ben should be able to receive a long acting Marcaine injection and play next week, unless the ligament was actually torn. If that were the case though, he would be having surgery.
ReplyDeletethanks doogie...
ReplyDelete