Monday Evening Quarterback - Week Six

Is this the best Steelers' offense of all time?

I don't really care.  The arguments would be lengthy, and there are quite a few candidates involved. 

The 1979 Steelers finished first in the NFL in yards and points, and possessed a deadly passing game that hung 3,700 yards on the league while racking up 4 games with 500 yards or more in total offense.  But Terry Bradshaw threw 25 interceptions that year, including a stunning 11 interceptions in 4 Steelers' losses.

The 1995 Steelers scraped together a great offensive year despite not having the greatest talent offensively.  The Steelers passed for over 4,000 yards that year, but lacked a great running game as Erric Pegram and Bam Morris were both held under 3.8 yards per carry for the season.

The 1997 Steelers featured one of the best running games in team history thanks to Jerome Bettis, but Kordell Stewart and the passing game had an uneven year before unraveling against the Broncos in the playoffs.

The 2002 "Tommy Gun" offense leaned on its talented trio of wide receivers, but the offense was three-dimensional if you will, lacking a reliable running game or productivity from the tight ends and the running backs in the passing game.

The 2009 Steelers have 10 games remaining, but the results so far on offense have been dizzying.

The Steelers' offense right now might not be the best of all time, but it is certainly the most diverse.  About the only remaining weapons to involve are the 2nd TE, the FB and the 4th WR.  There are 15-20 teams around the league right now trying to involve their starting TE, their RB and their 2nd WR.

Ben Roethlisberger is leading the league in passing yardage. 

Hines Ward is leading the league in receiving yardage. 

Santonio Holmes is 7th in the league in receiving yardage. 

Heath Miller is 2nd in catches by a tight end, 6th in yards by a tight end and 2nd in touchdowns. 

Mike Wallace is on pace for 800 yards receiving as the 3rd wideout, and has more receiving yardage than any other rookie WR in the league.

The running backs are on pace to combine for 70 receptions, which would be the highest output by the running backs in the receiving game since 1995.

The running game has sprung to life the last four weeks, and should only improve as Rashard Mendenhall gets more experience and as Willie Parker gets healthy.

The Steelers are currently 5th in total offense, 2nd in passing offense, 15th in rushing offense and 14th in points.

There's literally nothing to complain about, but there is plenty of room for improvement, something that Ben Roethlisberger himself re-iterated after the Browns' game.  It was fitting that he wasn't satisfied with his statistically impressive outing, as "Bad Ben" showed up far too often against the lowly Browns.

Ben has been plenty careful with the football this season.  He has 6 interceptions, which is a little high (6th in the league), but one of those was a hail mary at the end of the half against the Titans, and one was the miscommunication with Holmes against the Bengals.

However, Ben has made plenty of mistakes that haven't shown up as interceptions, including a few that have been called back because of defensive penalties and a few against the Browns where Cleveland's ineptitude saved Ben.

Especially troubling were a pair of forced throws on the last drive of the half against the Browns.  First, he forced the slant and was lucky that the ball wasn't picked.  Then he heaved a desperation 3rd down pass where he wasn't just lucky that he wasn't picked, he was lucky it wasn't a 105 yard pick six.

Ben is officially the offensive centerpiece, as if there was any doubt.  But with great freedom and great trust comes great responsibility.

With the defense picking up steam, a multiple interception game or more carelessness from Ben would give the coaching staff a reason to reign him in like they did last year, focusing on not turning the ball over instead of racking up points, and that's not what this team needs.

Ben is still averse to taking the check down and he doesn't always get the ball off on time against the pass rush, but at the same time he's making plays down the field more often than not, and the sacks he's taken are the ones he'll always take, those that happen while he's trying to make a big play.

Ben is still only 27 years old.  The maturation he's shown this year is nothing short of astounding, he truly has full command of the offense.  As he moves along, his "above the neck" game is only going to get better, which should be a scary thought for the rest of the league.

As the games get tougher though, Ben has to be even more careful with the football.  Fumbled snaps are inexcusable.  Interceptions late in the middle of the field are a no-no.  Desperate heaves to the end zone when you're in field goal range are deadly, whether the ball gets picked off or not.

The Steelers have the capacity to hang 40 points on any team right now.  What they can't do is let bad decisions prevent them from reaching that point, derailing all this offensive progress we've seen this year.  That means that Ben is going to have to occasionally be okay with the idea of punting, starting next week.

Ben had a near-career game, and is distributing the ball to multiple receivers efficiently and effectively.  It's hard to criticize him when he's playing as well as any quarterback in the league right now.  But he can play better, smarter football.  Accountability for turnovers starts with him - there have been way too many so far this season.

If Ben can continue to do lots of damage through the air while taking fewer risks, the sky is the limit for him and this team. 

Tomlin talks about coming short of perfection and therefore still having work to do.  From Ben's words, he's listening.  Let's hope his actions these next few weeks follow suit. 

Smart, dynamic quarterback play is impossible to beat.

FURIOUS FIVE

1.  New England

They're undefeated, didn't you hear?  Roger Goodell and CBS have officially transferred some of the 59 points they scored against the Tennessee Titanics (who quit) to their losses against the Jets and Broncos.

2.  Minnesota Vikings

Favre saved some dumb mistakes for this week, I just know it.  He's overdue.

3.  New Orleans Saints

They took out what I believe is an over-rated Giants team in grand fashion, though their wins against Philadelphia and the Jets don't look quite as impressive anymore.

4.  Indianapolis Colts

They throw balance out the window and throw the ball all game long.  We'll see if that holds up when they play some better teams in November.

5.  Denver Broncos

They're doing it with smoke and mirrors.  I believe that the honeymoon ends soon, and then we'll see how well that team responds to Josh McDaniels' heavy-handed coaching style.

AWARDS

OFFENSE

Hines Ward

Bruce Arians has been amazingly adept at getting Ward into matchups that he can dominate.  The Cleveland Browns were forced to cover Ward with a linebacker at least 5 different times because of exceptional play design, with Ward having one of the best days of his career.  Most notable was the 45 yard pass where ILB Kaluka Maiava was tasked with covering Ward down the field.

DEFENSE

Lawrence Timmons

He was downright Silverback-esque, coming up with two strip sacks.

SPECIAL TEAMS

This award has been cancelled.

GOAT

Brian Daboll

The Browns' offensive coordinator was making hay with the wildcat...until he let Josh Cribbs throw the ball.

QUOTABLE

"When you have a knee injury and you hit it against the ground, it hurts."

- Troy Polamalu

STATS, STAT

The Steelers' defense gave up 8 touchdowns through 6 games last year.  This  year through 6 games, they've allowed 9.
 

MAKING THE ROUNDS

1.  Rashard Mendenhall had his worst start of the young season against the Browns, finishing at 3.6 YPC with 41% of his runs going for 2 yards or less.  Particularly disturbing was his inability to square up his shoulders to get the hard yardage when the holes weren't there.  His 3rd and 1 carry at the end of the first half was a great example, it looked like he had room to make the first down but he got sideways and was tackled easily.  Ball security is another issue altogether, and I'm not talking about his fumble.  Mendenhall and Parker share a propensity for carrying the ball too loosely, as they both are demonstrative striders who get their arms chugging when they reach full speed.  Mewelde Moore closed the game because he's less of a "running back" and more of a "shuffling back," he doesn't depend on his stride to make yards, he shuffles through the hole in a motion that isn't encumbered by having two hands on the ball.

2.  So far, so good on the dealing without Aaron Smith front, though we all knew that the real test comes next week.  Travis Kirschke has chronic back problems, but in the end he hasn't missed a game since 2003 when he was in San Francisco.  He is not an adequate replacement for Aaron Smith, but he shares Smith's strongest trait - great technique.

3.  When will enough be enough for Keiwan Ratliff?  He was spared the embarrassment of playing much on defense, but his inability to separate from a block and force Joshua Cribbs into the trailing Steelers' special teamers was yet another 7 point mistake.

4.  Trai  Essex is very good in pass protection, but he's near worthless in the running game.  He simply does not get enough on downblocks, and he was manhandled at times by Kenyon Coleman, who weighs about 30 pounds less than Essex.  Essex has the feet to get to the second level, but he has a hard time getting a block when he gets there.  Willie Colon wasn't very good either, which helps to explain the running game's struggles against what was a pretty poor run defense coming in.

5.  The special teams need a boost.  Somehow, some way.  That's a long kickoff return in 5 consecutive weeks, and it's a personnel issue more than anything.  On the return side, the Steelers missed the blocking of Limas Sweed, who has been exceptional in the return game as far as locking on and creating lanes.  He needs to dress even if he's not getting looks on offense.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

6.  (I'm following my Peter King rule and I'm only going to comment on games I got to watch great portions of.)  Oh how the mighty have fallen.  The Ravens have gone from unbeatable to very beatable in a matter of weeks.  While the pass defense is atrocious, the offense is drunk on the idea that Joe Flacco is a superstar, and he's just not there yet.  Cam Cameron's offense has not attempted more than 18 rushes in a game over the last three weeks, which would cause some more traditional Steelers fans to go apoplectic.

7.  Speaking of falling from a lofty perch, how about those New York Jets?  The national media can try to explain away Mark Sanchez's 5 interceptions by blaming his receivers, but I'm not buying it, he was bad against the Bills.  So much for that big boost that Braylon Edwards was going to provide, he just took his dropped balls eastward, he's the same guy.

8.  Want to talk about a lack of balance?  The Eagles ran the ball 14 times while throwing the ball 46 times, managing only three field goals against the sorry Oakland Raiders.  All that Michael Vick hubbub all offseason for this?  One run for -4 yards?  If there was no such thing as a pass rush, JaMarcus Russell would be a Pro Bowler.

9.  Bryant McFadden played the best game I've seen him play this year against the Seahawks.  The Cardinals allowed their corners to press the Seattle receivers, with great results.  Matt Hasselbeck's quick passing game wasn't there because of the pressing corners, and that allowed the Arizona rush to get to him five times.

10. There were a slew of big injuries around the NFL, but the only one that truly affects the Steelers is Cincinnati's loss of Antwan Odom for the season.  Kris Jenkins going down for the Jets is a bigger overall loss, but they're not on the schedule and they're not a playoff team.

IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Madieu Williams

With Antoine Winfield's status uncertain, the Vikings' free safety could have his hands full, whether it's covering Heath Miller in the short zones or covering for Minnesota's shaky cornerback depth on plays down the field.