Monday Evening Quarterback - Week Seven

The good news is, the Steelers overcame a quick stumble out of the gate and enter the bye week at 5-2, which is good enough for a share of the AFC North lead.  An undefeated October has propelled them into AFC relevance after they dropped winnable games to the Bears and Bengals.  They are slowly but surely improving defensively, to the point that they authored a near-dominant effort against a talented and diverse Vikings' offense.

There's not really any bad news, unless you count a team having coachable flaws as bad news.  To me, that's just more good news. This team has areas where improvement can be expected.  But they don't really have a weakness, and they certainly haven't peaked.

The Steelers have won their last two games somewhat handily on the scoreboard, but could have had more if not for momentum-breaking mistakes.

The Steelers have two weeks to get ready for the Broncos and the 2nd half of their season.  Here's what they can do to hit the ground running.
 

Ben Roethlisberger

He played his worst game of the season yesterday, but the Vikings deserve a ton of credit.  They are one of the few teams in the league that can bring pressure with 4 pass rushers, and even though the Steelers' offensive line did a nice job, they created plenty of pressure on Ben. 

Too often Ben was focused not on delivering the ball on time but on looking for an escape route to get outside the pocket, even when it wasn't necessary to do so.  It's natural to feel the pressure a little early when facing a defense like the Vikings, and it hurt the Steelers.

Ben will continue to get better in this area.  He's shown trust in his offensive line against lesser defenses against Detroit and Cleveland, and after viewing the tape of yesterday I'm sure his trust will grow against top pass rushing defensive lines. 

He's got to stand tall in the pocket and deliver balls on time against teams who pressure with four and cover with seven.  His trademark improvisation is far less effective against flooded zones.

When it comes down to it, I have faith in Ben to do what it takes to lead his team to wins, whatever that looks like.  Against the Vikings, it was a single TD drive late in the 1st half that the Steelers absolutely needed to get some momentum.  That drive was all about will for Ben.  It wasn't pretty (he should have been picked twice), but he had that will-not-be-denied aura about him.
 

Rashard Mendenhall

Most teams don't recover from three red zone fumbles in two weeks.  Rashard Mendenhall has been a breath of fresh air so far, showing vision and quick feet.  It is all meaningless if he continues to put the ball on the ground.

There's no fast and easy cure for fumbles. 

You can't force the guy to keep two hands on the ball at all times because it will take away some of the athletic ability that is leading to his success in first place.

It's not a matter of driving home the importance of ball security.  That's already happening.  Tomlin is all over it, and more importantly his teammates are all over it, as we saw when Ben was mic'd up.

When Willie Parker first burst onto the scene in 2005, he had his share of fumbles (11 in his first two seasons).  Jerome Bettis encouraged Parker to wear the same oversized elbow pads that Bettis himself had used to cure his own early-career fumbling problems.  The pads offered a tackified surface that allowed for good traction when holding the ball high and tight.  Parker used them for the latter parts of 2005 through 2007 and his fumbles dropped by half over the next two years.  Perhaps Mendenhall should look into buying a pair.
 

The Receivers

Santonio Holmes cost the Steelers points against the Bears and against the Bengals.  Limas Sweed cost the Steelers points against the Bengals.  Mike Wallace cost the Steelers points against the Lions.  Hines Ward cost the Steelers points against the Browns and possibly against the Vikings yesterday.

The Steelers need their receivers to take another step.

Ward is seeing more opportunities than ever.  He has to make the most of them, and that means not dropping passes.

Holmes has been getting tons of attention.  He needs to maximize the opportunities that he does get.

Mike Wallace?  Well, the rookie has shown the most consistent hands of the bunch, one long bomb in Detroit aside.

The receivers are playing well, don't get me wrong.  But they have room to get better.  Going into the week, Santonio Holmes was tied with 9 other players for first in the NFL with 5 drops, while Hines Ward was tied with 8 other players for second with 4.  Guys like Steve Smith (Giants), Vincent Jackson and Mike Sims-Walker don't have a drop all year.

Last season, the receivers were painfully inconsistent early in the season but caught fire late.  Let's hope it continues.
 

The Defense

Things are coming together, aren't they?  The pass rush has improved.  James Harrison is back to being James Harrison.  The run defense has remained stout despite the loss of Aaron Smith.

And more than anything, they're forcing turnovers, five in the last two weeks.

Lawrence Timmons' health is important.  He and Troy allow the defense to dictate in pass coverage.  Keyaron Fox made an easy play on a fortunate bounce, but he had been exposed in coverage before that play.

Lamarr Woodley is just snakebit.  He and Chris Kunitz should go halves on a goat, some knives and a witch doctor.  I have a feeling that when the sacks start to come for Woodley, they'll come in bunches.

Troy has played pretty well the past two weeks, but he's not himself.  He was beaten far too many times yesterday, and in some 3rd and long situations.  The bye week can't come at a better time.  He's got two full weeks to edge closer to 100%.
 

Special Teams

This is where the Steelers are truly hurting themselves, and something's got to change.  It's a personnel thing, but the problems are so wide spread it's difficult to decide whom to sit.  Keyaron Fox has been too easy to block, but the same can be said about Andre Frazier and Arnold Harrison.  Keiwan Ratliff gave up a huge lane on a touchdown last week, but Joe Burnett did the same thing this week.  Ryan Mundy has looked slow on coverage units, but so has Tyrone Carter.

It makes it hard to make a move.  I'm all for seeing some new blood on the units - Donovan Woods being first in line if he were to be moved up from the practice squad.  But I don't know that swapping out Woods for one of the other linebackers would help that much.

Here's what would help.  The Steelers haven't used many starters on their kickoff coverage teams this year.  Timmons has seen a little time there.  Ike Taylor and William Gay have seen some action.  But one kickoff regular hasn't seen any time at all on kickoffs - James Harrison.

I have no doubt that in a playoff situation, guys like Timmons, Harrison and Taylor will be regulars on kickoff coverage.  In the meantime, the Steelers simply need to get better results.  That's on Bob Ligashesky, who has followed up a surprisingly good 2008 with a season that is looking far too much like 2007.

The Steelers are rolling right now - they're not piling up style points, but they're rolling.

We're just seven weeks into this thing, but I get the feeling that the Steelers are just getting started.

This is where Mike Tomlin goes to work. 

He's got two weeks to do some simple maintenance and get his team ready for a huge game in Denver.

FURIOUS FIVE

1.  New England Patriots
 Rumor has it that Wayne Rooney bumped into Tom Brady at Heathrow and Brady looked around for an official, demanding a red card.

2.  New Orleans Saints

I'm still not a believer, that defense is getting all the bounces and those dry up eventually.

3.  Indianapolis Colts

I relish an opportunity against the Colts in the playoffs - I believe that Rashard Mendenhall has the perfect kind of slashing ability to gash that defense.  Steven Jackson ran all over them despite no threat of a passing game.

4.  Denver Broncos

Do we root for the Broncos or the Ravens next week?  Tough call, it really is.

5.  Minnesota Vikings

They're good.

AWARDS

Offense

Mike Wallace

He made the biggest offensive play of the game for the Steelers.  Forget Troy Edwards' stats in 1998 or Santonio Holmes' late emergence in 2006.  This is the best season by a Steelers' rookie wide receiver since Louis Lipps, which is apt because he and Wallace are similar players.

Defense

James Harrison

He was relentless and destructive, but most importantly he helped turn a Vikings' strength (left side of the offensive line) into a weakness.

Special Teams

This award has been cancelled.

Goat

Brett Favre

Two gunslingers were having off days.  One didn't make the big mistakes.  The other one did, and he lost the game.  Call them flukes.  Call it luck that Ben's deflections hit the ground while Favre's hit Keyaron Fox in the hands.  In the end, football is about results, and Favre's turnovers cost his team.
 

QUOTABLE

“We were far from a perfect team, but we won today. We’ll accept that, we’re very complimentary of that football team that we played today, they’re good. It’s good to get into a bye winning a few in a row and we’ll continue to improve in our areas of deficiency, kickoff coverage being one of them.”

- Mike Tomlin

STATS, STAT

Jeff Reed is 36th in the NFL in kickoff distance, and doesn't yet have a touchback to his credit.  Detroit is the only other team in the league that hasn't recorded a touchback on a kickoff.  Is finding/adding a kickoff specialist the quick and easy way to fix the kickoff coverage problem?

MAKING THE ROUNDS

1.  After the break this week, I would open up "mini training camp" and declare a few positions open.  Not starting jobs, just jobs.  Second tight end would be up for grabs - David Johnson appears to simply be a better player than Matt Spaeth.  The dime defensive back job would be wide open, with Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis both getting a shot at ousting Keiwan Ratliff.  Special teams would be an open audition, with an emphasis on who is best at blocking and beating blocks.

2.  Ben Roethlisberger had 5 balls batted down at the line of scrimmage yesterday.  That's a big reason why the offense was so out of sync.  The Steelers were trying to take advantage of the short stuff they were being given, but the Vikings' defenders were patient in their pass rush, mirroring Ben and getting their hands up.  Normally, Ben has the presence and the courage to take the extra second to find a passing lane.  Too often against the Vikings, he was anxious to get the ball to the 2nd or 3rd read (with that internal clock ticking away) and just carelessly threw it out there.  I almost wonder if Ben had it too easy the past three weeks, when his first receiving option was almost always running free.

3.  Lawrence Timmons needs to get healthy and stay healthy.  For the second week in a row, he was a force against the run and pass before leaving with an ankle injury.  Timmons did an exceptional job against the Vikings' RBs, especially Chester Taylor in 3rd down situations, and he made covering Visanthe Shiancoe (who is like Jerrimy Stevens in a lot of ways) look easy.  Like Troy, he's a piece that pushes the defense over the edge.

4.  The Steelers' defense has allowed 80 points over the last 5 games.  That's 16 points a game, which is very good.  But the Steelers' offense and Special teams have allowed 35 points over the past 5 games.  That's a touchdown a game, and it's inexcusable.

5.  Is Santonio Holmes the best open field runner in the game?  I think so.  He's got great speed and quickness, but he has that innate ability to make insane cutbacks through traffic that sets him apart.  He's also got some physicality to him.  He landed a killer stiff arm again on a quick screen for the second week in a row, and he laid a crushing block on a Mike Wallace reverse that saved Wallace from taking what was going to be a huge hit.  If Holmes were playing Ward's flanker spot (with all the motion and short routes it involves), he would be unstoppable.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

6.  I hate to hammer on the Ravens during an off-week where they're licking the wounds of three straight losses, but this one is too good.  Joe Flacco, in 25 career starts (including the playoffs), has never authored a 4th quarter comeback to win a game.  Never.  The closest he came was "leading" the Ravens to a win against the Titans in the playoffs after the game was tied going into the 4th quarter.  There's been a lot of discussion about whether or not Joe Flacco is going to be elite.  I believe that he's Drew Bledsoe, a big, strong armed thrower who will put up stats but not wins, and who will wilt under pressure.

7.  The Saints' defense was challenged by a running game for the first time this season and failed.  New Orleans had been using its offense to make teams one-dimensional, jumping out to leads and forcing the other team to pass.  Instead, the Dolphins gained an early lead and the Saints showed their first signs of defensive leakage.  I believe the Saints' defense is better than last year.  I do not believe it is anything but mediocre.   Losing Sedrick Ellis for a few weeks to a knee sprain is not going to help.

8.  Speaking of injuries, the loss of Leon Washington is a big loss for the Jets.  Shonn Greene showed that he can spell Thomas Jones, but they're very similar backs.  Washington brought explosive ability to that offense that they just can't replace, especially as a 3rd down safety valve for a struggling rookie quarterback.

9.  I wasn't buying the Falcons after they raised their record to 4-1 last week.  They define average in all areas.  The passing game is average, the Roddy White show and that's it.  The running game is average, with Michael Turner looking a little slow and bloated.  The defense is average against the pass and the run.  There's just nothing there to lean on when they need to make plays.

10. I wonder if the media will rev up the meme that Eli Manning isn't effective when he has to throw 30 or more times in a game.  He's 2-2 in four such games this year, with 6 touchdowns, 5 interceptions and 2 fumbles lost.

IN THE CROSSHAIRS

It's all in-house this week.  I'm looking at you, Jeff Reed.  I'm looking at you, Matt Spaeth.  I'm looking at you, special teams.  To the first two, your play has not been good enough to convince Steelers' fans to overlook your indiscretions.  If you want us to forgive and forget, play ball.  To the last group, you guys are the most replaceable guys on the team.  You have one job to do.  Start doing it, or the coaching staff will be forced to find people who will.