WEEK 11 POSTGAME BLOG - CHIEFS 27 STEELERS 24

HOW BAD?

The Steelers lost to a 2-7 Kansas City Chiefs football team, whose only previous wins had come against the 3-win Washington Redskins and the 2-win Oakland Raiders.
The week leading up to the game, KC found out their star receiver Dwayne Bowe was suspended, meaning the Chiefs instantly lost 40% of their wideout production.
The Chiefs were 27th in the league against the run and 24th against the pass going into the contest.
It was the Chiefs' first home win of the season after starting 0-4.
The Chiefs' offense, which had 3 first downs at halftime and 35-yards passing, put together 2nd half TD drives of 62 and 91 yards, and a game-winning FG drive in OT of 76. This after the Steelers defense had allowed just 1 TD drive of 50-yards or longer in the previous three games (against quality teams Minnesota, Denver, and Cincinnati).
The Steelers defense had allowed four pass plays all season of 25 yards or more. They allowed three to the Chiefs when it counted (Lance Long 30-yards, Chris Chambers 47 yards, Chambers 61 yards).
And it brings back memories of bad losses earlier this decade:
A 19-16 OT road loss to the 1-7 NY Jets on Nov 18th, 2007. Although in that game, the Jets actually outgained the Steelers in yardage 297-263, and running back Thomas Jones had 117 yards on 30 carries.
A 20-13 road loss to the 1-5 Oakland Raiders on Oct 29th, 2006. The Steelers had a 360-98 yardage edge, with the Raiders' Andrew Walter going 5 of 14 for 51 yards. Of course, 4 interceptions from Ben Roethlisberger (two returned for touchdowns) largely told the tale that day. A 24-8 loss at home to the 3-9 expansion Houston Texans on December 8th, 2002. The Texans were outgained 422-47, the fewest yards ever by a winning team in NFL history.
All three of those seasons ended, of course, far short of a Super Bowl.

STAT LINE

The Steelers statistically dominated Kansas City, outgaining them 515-282 in total yardage. Pittsburgh had 401 yards passing and 27 first downs to the Chiefs' 13.
Those were not high water marks for the year, however. The Steelers' offense had 543 total yards against Cleveland in Week 6 and 32 first downs against San Diego in Week 4.
The Steelers did set a season high in number of penalties committed with 8, and in time of possession with 44:07 (overtime included).

HINES STAT LINE

Hines Ward had 10 receptions, his most in a game this season and his most since November 16th of 2008 when he caught 11 balls against San Diego. Hines has caught double digit passes nine times in his NFL career, with his most coming in 2003 against Cincinnati (13 catches for 149 yards). Ward's 128 yards receiving yesterday marked his fourth 100-yard game of the2009 campaign.
With 63 catches and 798 yards on the year, Ward is on pace for 110 catches and 1,277 yards through 16 games.

THIRD DOWN INEFFICIENCY

The Steelers offense again struggled on 3rd downs, converting just 4 of 13 (31%). The team strives for a 50% rate according to playcaller Bruce Arians.
The team has been below 40 % converting 3rd downs now in 5 of their last 6 games.
Particularly troublesome yesterday were the failures to convert on 3rd and 1 and 5 in the 2nd half yesterday, and of course the pivotal 3rd and 3 in overtime:
After Leonard Pope's TD catch cut the Steelers lead to 17-14 in the 3rd quarter, Rashard Mendenhall was stopped for no gain need just 1 yard. Chiefs' OLB Tamba Hali pushed LT Max Starks back into Rashard on the run.
With 1 minute remaining in regulation, the Steelers had 3rd-and-5 at their own 43-yard line. Roethlisberger was fortunate to recover his own fumble as pressure forced him to pump and bring the football down.
In overtime, the toss sweep to Mewelde Moore for negative yards on 3rd-and-2 at the KC 35-yard line cost the Steelers a chance at a game winning FG.

BIG PLAYS SURRENDERED

The Steelers' defense had only allowed two pass plays of 40-yards or longer all season before Chris Chambers' catches of 47 and 61 yards cost the Steelers late yesterday.
Kenny Britt's 57-yard catch for Tennessee in Week 1 was the previous long play allowed by the Steelers' D, with a Mohamed Massaquoi catch of 43-yards for Cleveland being the other plus-40 play.
Of course, the 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by KC's Jamaal Charles was the fourth return for a TD against the Steelers coverage team, a yard shy of the Browns' Joshua Cribbs and his 98-yard runback.

Read comments or leave a comment

A conversation with offensive coordinator Bruce Arians

Did you sense Ben was struggling against Cincinnati?

Yeah, that's usually when we go to the no-huddle. We tried it and went in and out of it two or three times to try and catch a good rhythm, and never got successful at it. And every time we stayed out of it we got manageable third downs and couldn't hit 'em. In the past we've been able to jump in no huddle and get a little rhythm going and get out of [the funk] but we couldn't get out of it.

Like a pitcher in baseball he doesn't have it that day?

Yeah, and you try your best to do things to get him comfortable and get him right, we missed some, we didn't help him. We had some guys open when we did give up some pressures, the collective rather than one guy, we had guys open and when he was going to go to them somebody would get his shirt. We missed some guys when we didn't. It was a total collective. I think it was still that ballgame all came down to the trips in the redzone.

Why didn't Ben call the plays on the final drive?

The clock was stopped every time, and I always call 'em then. He calls 'em when the clock is running. So we talked on the sideline where we were going to start, where we were going to try to head, where we were going to try to get in the drive. The first one was wide open and we get a tug on the jersey and don't hit it or we're up to midfield. It's always that way it's nothing different.

On if Cincinnati did anything special to stop their offense

Cincy does a nice job with their blitz package, show blitz, play coverage. We protected most of the game fairly well. Some to a degree where we kept too many blockers in, not enough receivers out. So we're all blocked up and nowhere to throw it. It's a catch-22 when you're getting these new zone blitz combinations that people are using this year. We still had plays to make. A fingertip knocks a touchdown pass away that could have been a deciding play in the game. We don't run it well enough on the 5 [yard line], we lose 3 [yards].

On teams keeping Ben in the pocket

Oh, people try to do that every week. It didn't work on the first third-down when [Ben] ran down through there for 16-yards, but I mean yeah most teams want him to stay in the pocket and let him work from there. There wasn't prevent coverage by any stretch of the imagination, they had a 4-man rush and a good one. He's had ways of getting out of there before. It just didn't happen last week.

Are teams taking away the long pass plays?

No, we just haven't hit 'em. We were open behind them a couple times but just too damn far down the field to get the ball to them. When you don't snap it enough times, and in that ballgame we didn't snap it enough times for us, it takes away some of the playaction stuff. Obviously we only ran it 18 times, that part of the ballgame isn't going to him.

On Ben as a pocket passer

That's what he's been doing ever since he's been here. I'd rate him one of the top three in the league. He's not a sprint-out guy, that's for sure, he's a pocket passer. Now he does improvise and make plays better than anyone else out of the pocket, but that's what he is.

On Ben's mindset after a bad game

In the past, you didn't want to play him. He's been outstanding at bouncing back. He takes it personal like all of us. You come back and you can't wait to play the next one.

On Wallace and Holmes switching spots

We do that every week, that's nothing new. We try to get Santonio where you can't, you know, he's not always the backside wide receiver. We've been doing that all year, and just continue to develop 'Tone in different spots. Michael has learned enough now where he can play two positions and has made it easy for us.

On keeping Heath in as a blocker

They way they were blitzing, the calls that we had to make to pick up the weak safety blitzes would keep Heath in. There were times we had to make the call, they would bail out and he got pitted against a defensive end. He held his own pretty daggone good. You'd rather have him out in a pass pattern, but you have to protect the quarterback.

On Heath's yards per catch average being down

He's catching a lot of checkdowns. He's getting out late on third-down stuff and he's been the outlet guy that makes first downs rather than touchdowns. We still would like to get him up the field more on first-and-ten. In the no-huddle he's more of a short intermediate receiver in that part of the game and we've been in that more that the other.

Are teams doing anything to take touchdowns away from Santonio?

Referees took one away, but no, that's part of the luck. You can't design touchdowns to go to guys, and as long as we're scoring touchdowns, which we didn't do last week, I don't worry about it. His catches are up, his numbers are fine. We'd all like to see him get in the endzone because that's what he does, but it's not a product of what they're doing

Can Limas get back in and help you in the redzone?

If he shows that he can catch the football. I don't think tall guys in this league make that many plays. That's a myth to me. Randy Moss is a freak. But the rest of the tall guys don't make& first of all it's a hell of a tough throw to throw that jump ball, everybody thinks it's so easy. Your height doesn't matter as much as your body position in the redzone. There's very little cover-zero where you're matched up one-on-one where you can go outside anyway. So no, I don't think so

Where does Limas have to show you he can catch?

He's done it in practice. He's earned the right to get back on the field, should have had him in there maybe a little bit more last week, but it didn't show itself. You just have to earn your stripes. I've got confidence in him. But we're not going to take Heath out to put a fourth wideout in right now, especially with the zone blitz packages we're seeing. He's just got to bide his time, but he's got a bright future. He's had three great weeks of practice. I would have no qualms putting him in the ballgame. I would have no problem throwing the ball up to him, seeing if he'll come down with it...if we have a 14-point lead.

On Willie Parker not getting in every third series anymore

It ended up being a no-huddle series. That's happened to Willie twice, we're all set up and ready to go. The game had dictated hey we're going to go no-huddle. For whatever reason Rashard hasn't had enough yet to be taken out. It's just luck of the draw. It's nothing against Willie, he's more than ready to go. I don't mind handing the ball to Willie, that's for doggone sure. Willie's a pro man, there's nothing wrong with Willie.

How's the rest of the run game other than the counter right?

Been very good. It was huge at Denver, and the running game is not a problem whatsoever. It's being able to mix and match it, and get the lead. You know, it was nice in Denver we had the lead and were able to pound it in the fourth quarter, that was fun.

Read comments or leave a comment

Troy Polamalu did not practice Wendesday here at the Steelers' facility on the South Side.

Troy was walking around with a large brace on his left knee, with his knee kept immobile, forcing Troy to walk with a stiff leg. Pretty clear Polamalu will be out this week, with Tyrone Carter starting in Kansas City.

In other injury news, DE Travis Kirschke was back in limited fashion working individual drills, as was FB Carey Davis as he comes back from his hamstring strain. For now, it still appears Nick Eason will get the start at DE Sunday.

James Farrior and Hines Ward each got a veteran's day off.

Read comments or leave a comment

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said today that safety Troy Polamalu's knee injury was not a re-injury of his MCL knee injury which kept him out for four games earlier in the season.

He did sprain his PCL, on the same knee as the previous MCL injury (which has not had a setback). Tomlin called the news "favorable, more encouraging that initially anticipated, and it doesn't appear to be as significant as the MCL he sustained earlier in the season." Tomlin continued, "Troy is in a great frame of mind and feels really good, we'll see how he is when he comes in the building tomorrow.

His status for Sunday's game in Kansas City is "questionable at best," however, as the team will proceed with caution as to his return date. The Steelers also announced today that they released reserve linebacker Arnold Harrison, signing linebacker Donovan Woods off the practice squad. The move was made in an effort to bolster the team's special teams coverage units. Woods played in 5 regular season games in 2008, making 5 special teams tackles.

Read comments or leave a comment

Steelers - Bengals Postgame Blog

HOME SWEET HOME?
The Steelers had their 10-game home winning streak snapped with yesterday's loss. Heinz Field had seen consecutive wins against San Diego, Cincinnati, Dallas, Cleveland, San Diego, Baltimore, Tennessee, San Diego, Cleveland, and Minnesota prior to the Bengals win. Cincinnati, however, has now knocked off the Steelers at Heinz in 3 of the past 5 seasons.

TIEBREAKER
With the loss, Cincinnati holds a two game lead in the division over the Steelers (including the head-to-head tiebreaker). Steelers safety said he felt like Pittsburgh had to "run the table" now in order to win the division.
To Ryan's point, the Bengals next three opponents (Oakland, Cleveland, and Detroit) had a combined four victories going into yesterday's action. However, Cincy does have two road games with Minnesota and San Diego down the stretch, wrapping up the year in New York playing the Jets on January 3rd.
The Steelers, in addition to their two tough division games with Baltimore, have games with Green Bay and Miami (on the road) which should provide challenges. The Steelers should be favored to win all of their remaining games.

QB RATING
Ben Roethlisberger's quarterback rating of 51.5 yesterday was his lowest mark in a home game (where he's played four quarters) since losing to the New York Giants last year (a 4 INT performance).
Prior to that, it was Ben's lowest home quarterback rating since September of 2006, also a loss to the Bengals (30.7 rating in a 0 TD 3 INT performance).

BEN VS THE BENGALS
Ben has thrown 13 interceptions against Cincinnati in his last 11 games against them (since 2005).
Ben has lost 4 games to Cincinnati since entering the league in 2004, while losing only twice as a starter against Baltimore. Of course, Ben has never lost to Cleveland.
Overall, Ben's record as a starter against the AFC North is 25-6, including playoffs.

NO LONG BALL
Roethlisberger's longest completion yesterday was 21-yards. That's the shortest distance for a long pass play of the game Ben has been held to this year.
Last year, the Eagles held Ben to a long pass gainer of 16 yards, the previous low water mark.

HOLMES SWEET HOLMES?
Santonio Holmes was targeted 14 times yesterday. That's the most he's been looked at by Ben Roethlisberger since the Week 2 loss at Chicago. Holmes had 7 catches of those 14 attempts (for 88 yards receiving), his most grabs since the opener against Tennessee.
However, for the year Holmes trails Hines Ward by 1 target (74 to 73), with Heath Miller 22 off the pace (56 targets by Ben). Mike Wallace is a distant fourth (with 46 targets).

SACK GAME
Roethlisberger has now been sacked 27 times by opposing defenses in 2009. Ben is on pace to be brought down 48 times this year, which would be consistent with the sacks the Steelers have allowed the last three seasons (49 in 2006, 47 in 2007, and 49 in 2008).
The Steelers D, on the other hand, is on pace for 44 sacks. Last year, the Steelers 51 QB takedowns were the most since 2001.

3RD DOWNS
The Steelers offense was just 3 of 15 on 3rd down conversions yesterday. That 20% "success" rate is the lowest for the team this year. The previous low mark was Week 1's 29 % rate against Tennessee.
Of those 12 non-conversions on 3rd downs, seven of them were a manageable 6-yards or shorter. Three of those seven were balls batted down by Bengals' pass rushers.
The Bengals offense wasn't much better on 3rd downs yesterday, converting at a 4 of 14 (29%) rate. In two victories over Pittsburgh this year, the Bengals have combined to only convert 7 out of 26 3rd downs, a lowly 27 %!

NO TROY, NO TURNOVERS
In the four games Troy Polamalu missed with a knee injury (Weeks 2 - 6), the Steelers came up with just 2 turnovers. Polamalu's return sparked the team to snag 8 turnovers in the past 3 games.
And, with Polamalu leaving yesterday's game due to a re-aggravation of his knee injury, the Steelers again came up empty in the force turnover department. In the Steelers three losses this year, they have 0 forced turnovers.

Read comments or leave a comment