QUOTE: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Super Bowl reign ended Thursday night on the shores of Lake Erie. At one point this season, the Steelers looked like they might defend their title well, especially after a Monday night game last month against the Broncos -- a 28-10 victory in which they looked like they could be one of the best teams in the NFL. But injuries, mistakes in the kicking game and a defense that failed to play typical Steelers run defense let them down. In addition, the game plan of opposing teams to keep Ben Roethlisberger in the pocket, not allow him to make loose plays or react to his pump fakes has been very successful.
The last time the Steelers played the Browns, they had more than 500 yards of offense, but last night, they mustered only 216. The Browns’ pressure package was great, but I thought they did a wonderful job keeping Big Ben in the pocket and not letting him move around. Many teams this season have played man to man against the Steelers’ wideouts, but unless Roethlisberger is kept in the pocket, his lateral movement creates time, which allows separation for the receivers and results in big plays. Last night, that didn’t happen; Roethlisberger’s biggest play of the night went for 24 yards.
But the story of the night was Josh Cribbs, who single-handedly beat the Steelers. With his returns, receiving yards and rushing yards, Cribbs gained 200 yards alone, which was more than three-quarters of the Browns’ offense. He was great, showing fans who don’t get to see him every week his incredible power, balance, speed and, most of all, his toughness. He was clearly the difference in the game as the Steelers never really had an answer when he touched the ball. Had the Browns been able to complete a few passes, this game might not have been as close as 13-6. But the inability of Browns quarterback Brady Quinn to put the ball in the right spot hurt the passing game, although Quinn at least did a good job protecting the ball and not turning it over.
So does this big win preserve coach Eric Mangini’s job for next year? I had been hearing he would not be coming back, but beating the Steelers is always a big deal in Cleveland, especially since they have not beaten them since 2000. I give Mangini credit for having his team play hard and for having a good game plan, especially defensively, but this win doesn’t change my position on the direction of the Browns. Yes, beating the Steelers is a great win, but the Chiefs and Raiders have recently done the same thing. When the Chiefs upset the Steelers in overtime, it was perhaps the biggest upset of the year, then the Raiders had their come-from-behind effort last week, and that became the biggest upset. Then last night. So to borrow the words of Denny Green, “Are the Steelers who we thought they were?” Hardly.
I really believed Steelers coach Mike Tomlin could get this mess turned around, but like a jockey who keeps using his whip on his horse without a response, the Steelers have not responded. The Steelers look like the team that lost the Super Bowl last year and are having a Super Bowl hangover. They didn’t have this hangover earlier in the year, but as the season has progressed, they seem to be unable to find ways to make critical plays. I admire Hines Ward for trying to play last night, but he spent more time on the ground than running routes, and he was exactly the kind of player the Browns wanted to face when they designed their man-to-man schemes. A slow receiver with a bad hamstring is a defensive coordinator’s delight.
As Bill Belichick would always remind me, “We are what our record says we are,” no matter how many close games you might lose. The Steelers are not a good team now, and Thursday night they were beaten by a more physical team and a more determined team. They must regroup and start thinking about next year.
We have not heard the last from Tomlin and his Steelers, but we’ve heard the last from them this year.
Off to cover Denver at Indy this week. Last week Drew Brees, this week Peyton Manning.
Follow me on Twitter: michaelombardi
To read more about the Steelers' playoff hopes dying Thursday night in Cleveland, check out this article from Bleacher Report.
Not a Steelers fan but I'm not counting them out of the Wild Card yet. If Denver gets the 5 spot,t he 6th spot is wide open. Jacksonville is not good and would be fortunate to finish 9-7. The Titans and Texans are at 5-7. The Phins struggle when behind or on the road. The Ravens aren't good either, people respect them out of memory. I'm not saying the Steelers are good, I'm saying the 6-16 in the AFC are so mediocre that you can't rule any team out until they hit 8 losses
Scot,
It's not like those errors completely disarm the column or make it unintelligible. If you're looking for perfectly-edited football writing, go read Peter King. That is, if you can stand five to six pages of pointless coffee and airline discussion accompanied by heartfelt (or not so much) tales of his dog's name being "Bailey" or how Dr. Z still can't talk but is now able to fart at a reasonable volume.
Colts fan chiming in on the Steelers decline. I feel that the loss of Aaron Smith cannot be understated. He is so good at doing the little things that allow his more celebrated teammates to make big plays.
It reads fine to me. Conversational, like Lombardi is on the radio, TV, or a podcast.
Are you hearing any fall out from the HWards/BigBen issue? Whitlock seems to have his panties in a bunch over Ward calling out Ben, but it seems like there is an effort to avoid talking about it. I guess it's either a non-issue, or since it doesn't involve Favre, then no one really cares about chemistry issues.
Mike, can you also talk about the Steelers o-line, next time you write about Pittsburgh? It seems like the Redskins and Seattle are getting killed by their porous protection, but when commentators talk about Pittsburgh, it's a brief mention (and more detailed ramblings about Big Ben's elusiveness in the pocket).
Neal, time to count them out. They have lost to KC, Oak, and Cle in the last month. Who are they capable of beating right now?
Michael:
Scot's correct. Your content is great but if NFP is to cheap to pay for a copy editor you really ought to at least run the column by a friend with an eye for grammatical errors.
At least a few of your readers went to school and I'll bet your mom would be so upset she'd be forced to anti up "light a candle" money.
Lombardi,
The Steelers suck for now and see you next season, Tomlin. Hopefully, your alma mater, William & Mary, does better tonight than your Steelers did Thursday. Additionally, hopefully you're an eyewitness to the Colts' 21-game regular-season winning streak ending at the hands of the Broncos, Lombardi. Keep up the good work and let's enjoy the NFL this weekend!
Content should be your focus guys. If you don't like the content, leave. If you do, who cares about the little errors like that? Give me a break, you teenage girls.
Shocked about the Browns beating Pitt. I honestly thought they'd go on a run. Helps my Broncos because the teams with the tie breakers on us are just about outta this thing.
This message is directed toward u "Gramatical Radicals " and your insistance on posting meaningless Blah-Blah -Blah-ticals concerning Lombardis Editor's English Sabaticals ...
PIZZ~OFF!
Ach! Das ist nicht grammatik richtig.
My favorite comment was the one that used "to" instead of "too" while excoriating Mr. Lombardi's writing. Not to say NFP couldn't benefit from more aggressive copy editing, but the errors get fixed relatively quickly and don't detract much.
Is the Steelers' defense really so crippled without Polamalu? They look like a totally different unit when he's off the field. Are his skills really that far beyond his peers'?
Seriously.
Mike Lombardi is an NFL personnel guy, not a writer. Don't like it? Go read King or somebody whose stuff is perfectly clean, yet lacking in substance.
I am a grammaticulous person (yes, I know. It's a made-up word) who feels spelling or grammar errors in a publication are insulting, but in this case, you must consider the background of the person involved. It's admirable that even though Mike churns out a couple of columns a day, errors are of a small consequence in the grand scheme of things.
Keep on slingin' the savvy, Mike.
Seriously.
Mike Lombardi is an NFL personnel guy, not a writer. Don't like it? Go read King or somebody whose stuff is perfectly clean, yet lacking in substance.
I am a grammaticulous person (yes, I know. It's a made-up word) who feels spelling or grammar errors in a publication are insulting, but in this case, you must consider the background of the person involved. It's admirable that even though Mike churns out a couple of columns a day, errors are of a small consequence in the grand scheme of things.
Keep on slingin' the savvy, Mike.
Will BigBen ever come in for some criticism? He's surely a very good player who has come thru in the clutch. But he holds the ball way too long - it's a big flaw in his game. The best QBs just don't take sacks like this. Steeler fan never see his flaws, and blame the OL. Same for media. But watch the games - he has plenty of time, most of the sacks he takes are his fault for holding the ball forever. No NFL team can protect for 4 and 5 seconds every play.
Great job, Cleveland Browns. You just never know.....
*Sigh*
It's been a surreal year for Steeler fans. Time to draft some secondary help, maybe an o-lineman or two, and a nose tackle to replace Hampton (who I assume they're letting go).
Wallace should see the field more, no reason exists to hold the ball past four seconds and not threaten a very long gain.
Parker doesn't appear effective to the level of being your number one or number two back over the course of a season.
Nobody on the team was fast enough to outrun the Browns? Sweed is playing his way out of there if he couldn't show up for that kind of rivalry.
Troy P being out hurts, Troy P being in games covered many other liabilities for the team. In the box he can line up on the inside and ruin run blocking rules either direction. From there he can also ruin the initial progression read for where he rotates. Players drop more passes when he's out there and they know he is lined up near their catch location. One player gives up on a crossing pattern to Troy, the throw window to the next progression downfield gets cloudy as a result.
A lot of their team got worn down and less effective at the same time. Long post seasons have that effect into the following year. Turnover from the prior year leaves additional depth concerns, adding new ones is tough to do while you try to reward your winners on new contracts.
Ben's concussion is something you cannot really handle. He's a great player but the production curve from head injuries is like driving a motorcycle off a cliff. Let's hope he resumes playing to high levels and can continue a football career.
Snake, if you'd like to run your postings past me, I can save you the embarrassment of using "to" when you mean "too" and spelling "ante" as "anti."
Reminds me of the Tea Party dude with the sign "Get Some Brains! Morans!"
How many other web sites have writers with NFL experience as agents, players, general managers, capologists who actually respond to readers' comments and communicate as regular Joes? I'll take a few typos or misspellings for the fresh material daily.
"...tales of his dog's name being "Bailey" or how Dr. Z still can't talk but is now able to fart at a reasonable volume."
Thom Ferris: Attack Peter King all you like, he's set himself up for it, but lay off mocking the universally-respected sports writer who's recovering from several major strokes, huh? Classy move.
The Steelers need to do something about their special teams. But most of all this team needs to improve their over achieving offensive line. I hear every year how they will upgrade it, but.. if you wanna protect Ben from concussions then get him a Redskins SuperBowl XXVI offensive line, even Mark Rypien looked all world with that kind of protection.
Falsch! Richtig waere:
Ach! Das ist grammatikalisch nicht richtig.
(Umlaute editiert) ;-)
The best QBs just don't take sacks like this.
i love this site wonderfull article very thanks…
thank you mr.admin
thx for the helping
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Dec 11, 2009
11:18 AM
Boy, I am not ordinarily one to harp on a few mistakes, but it really is time for NFP to get an editor. Aside from the mistakes below, the writing just isn't flowing very well - which I'm sure is the result of Lombardi trying to keep up with the website in addition to all his other obligations.
"single handily" = single handedly
"We are what are record says we are" - huh?