I asked RickVa to share his thoughts as we come out of the BYE week. A very good read. Many thanks to RickVa for the contribution. For those new to the site, you can get a glimpse into RickVa's old playing days in this great article. Between this and maryrose's latest history lesson, we've got plenty of good stuff to help us inch closer to game day once more. Cheers. -Blitz-

********************

 By

RickVa

As we pause and take a breath before tackling the meat of the schedule here’s one person’s opinion as to where we are and where we’re headed in the 2008 season.

Six months ago I think that if we were offered a record of 4-1 at the bye we’d take it and consider ourselves fortunate. Of course we would have assumed that the loss would have come at the hands of the Jags, and no one would have the heart to describe our injury situation for fear that they might find our lunch on their shoes. And then there was the abysmal performance of the offense weeks 2 thru 4. So, should we be excited in anticipation of another trip to the playoffs, or are we being set up for monumental disappointment? If I knew for certain I’d be writing this somewhere else and making a great deal of money to do so. Let me try and make the case that the glass is a little more than half full for the Steelers and why.

Where We Are

Coaching Staff. I’m in the tank for Tomlin, as are a number of other regulars at BTSC, but it is fair to say that in only his second year, the jury must still be out on the man who is the youngest coach in the NFL now that the senile bastard over in Oakland has fired Coach Kiffin. What I see is a man who has to experience some growth in areas such as game management, one or two questionable personnel decisions (Mahan) and holding his assistants accountable. But I also see someone who can and does adapt, the best example of which is how he has paced the team this season as opposed to last. You get the feeling with this group that it’ll be better in November than it was in September. He is someone who is capable of some very good personnel decisions (Moore). He has seen to it that perceived weaknesses be addressed sufficiently to allow the team to be competitive (O-Line, D-Line, Special Teams). He has built a buffer against injury and sub par performance by creating a very deep team where the expectations are high for everyone. He has preached character off the field. And when was the last time you heard of a member of this team involved in a domestic dispute, a fight, a traffic violation or any other distraction? All the crimes this team has committed have been on the field where they belong. (Most violent team indeed!) And this young man has yet to spend a minute anywhere but first place in his division during his tenure. If he were coaching anywhere but Pittsburgh they’d be calling him a genius.

A word about two other coaches. First, will someone give some love to D-Line coach John Mitchell? We went into this season terrified that we were too thin on the D-Line, that we would be okay if none of the starters got hurt. So what happens? Two starters get hurt. So, we go to Jacksonville with Taylor and Jones-Drew and we…stop them with those supposed inferior backups. Give credit where credit is due. On the other hand there is Arians. I said this before on another thread, I think he’s put together a decent offense, a good strategist, but he’s weak on tactics. He adapts slowly, if at all. You saw it against Philly and through the first half against the Ravens. I found myself constantly yelling “Why did you rnn that play?” These are a few of the questions that need to be answered that are troubling: Why did Ben have to throw a tantrum for them to finally allow him to run the no huddle? It worked to perfection last year, it’s great for putting an aggressive defense on its heels. Why did it take every other healthy running back on the team to go down before Mewelde Moore got any touches? If that hadn’t happened we would presumably still be waiting to see what he could do or pronouncing him another poor Tomlin personnel move. And what about Gary Russell? Kinda makes you wonder what might really happen if you threw Limas Sweed into a game. Or Dennis Dixon. We may never know unless Hines and Ben get run over by the same truck. Now, if the plan is to go vanilla early and add complexity as the season goes on, then I will be the first to apologize. Otherwise someone needs to break it to BA that he may not be the smartest guy in the room and needs to anticipate adapting mid game.

Offense. We have to accept the fact that Ben is stubborn (maybe a bit knuckleheaded as well). When things go right he touches greatness. When things go bad he (and we) gets his ass kicked, fingers are pointed at the O-line and the coaches. Bottom line; no one is complaining that he is getting overpaid and that is a pretty good complement. We learned in the Jacksonville game that Moore and Russell are at least as good as many of us hoped they could be during the off season. I certainly am disappointed that I will have to wait at least another year to see what Mendenhall is capable of doing, but I think we are still in pretty good shape, actually very good shape at running back. Heath, Hines, Nate all seem to be doing just fine. Matt Spaeth is a mild disappointment (bad hands) so far. Who knows about Dallas Baker. The receiving corps is fine.

Expanding on a suggestion by Datruth, did Max Starks get caught with someone’s wife? I like Willie Colon but I think Starks is better. I am delighted that Trai Essex has stepped up, but Starks is better. The FO seems to like him too. Those guys throw nickels around like manhole covers and they gave Max a lot of money. Internal politics, guess we'll never know. Otherwise, though they won’t be erecting any statues to the O-line they aren’t close to the disaster that many had predicted. Props to Hartwig and Stapleton so far. They will be good enough to take this team as far as it needs to go.

Defense. The defense has been nothing short of fantastic. And they are playing it vanilla right now. Woodley, Harrison and Troy are playing at Pro Bowl levels. We should all apologize to Travis and Eason. Hoke should be awarded a medal. Casey is back, Brett is back. Bmac has arrived. This defense is ready for a championship run. The best thing is that the national media is pronouncing Timmons a "failure". Apparently they didn't see his pass rushing against the Eagles. Are they going to be surprised.

Special Teams. They’ve stopped the bleeding! Reed has become one of the better clutch kickers in the league. It would be nice if we could have a great returner. But they are not hurting us and that is progress.

Where Are We Going

Let’s look at this as simply as we can. We have won as many games so far as the rest of the teams in the AFC North combined. We have four remaining division games starting this week. Win three of those and we go to the playoffs. All the rest is ego and entertainment. However, keep in mind that if the playoffs began today we would get a first round bye. That week of rest and home field is worth fighting for. Ah, but what about the schedule from Hell? It was the schedule from Hell in April. The Bengals haven’t won a game. Did you see the Giants last night in Cleveland? The Skins lost to the Rams. The Colts haven’t been themselves. The Chargers will come to Pittsburgh having been on the road for about a month. Matt Cassell? Dallas? The Bengals and the Browns again at home. How are the Titans going to score?  Yes, we could lose any one of those games. But would it mean that we were playing over our heads if we won them all? How about 7-4 the rest of the way (with losses to the Skins, who are really pointing to our Monday night matchup, the Colts, the Titans and Ravens)? Even 8-3? Of course, if our injury situation continues at the same rate all bets are off. But suppose the worst is over in that regard. If we stay healthy and the OC gets his head out of his ass I like our chances.

Bonus Issue. One reason it may be difficult to believe that Pittsburgh is so well positioned is that if you pay attention to the national press, the networks, etc. we don’t get nearly as much attention as Dallas, San Diego, even Baltimore. Why? Stay with me for a minute, this may seem a little strange at first. The Pittsburgh Steelers are bad for business. How is that possible? See, you probably think that the NFL and the networks are in the football business. They’re not. They are in the entertainment business. The Steelers are what the NFL used to be at its best, but we simply don’t do entertainment well. My friend Rick ‘Doc’ Walker is a former SB champion Washington Redskin and a radio talk show host. He (admiringly) refers to Steeler football as “Neanderthal” football, staying true to the brutal basic truths of the game. We just played three riveting (for us) games on a national stage that were long on brutality, personal courage, defense and subtle intrigue. The scores barely made it into or beyond the teens. The casual fan that the league and the networks cater to would prefer a 51-49 score. They prefer the soap opera of TO, the minstrel show that is Chad Johnson, the distraction of Tony and Jessica, all Brett all the time (and Tom too), Cinderella stories; last year the Browns, this year the Titans or maybe the Falcons or maybe the Cards, all augmented by scantily clad women with fake boobs, fantasy leagues that amp interest in games most would normally not care about and adorable mascots. By contrast the Steelers don’t have any casual fans. We were the first team to do cheerleaders then decided that we didn’t need them. Steely McBeam knows not to show his face for fear of ending up face down in the river. TO and Jessica would be run out of town. Steeler Nation would still watch the game if they raised Ray Scott from the dead and broadcast the games in black and white. They put the lie to fan loyalty in other cities as they continually show up and take over the other team's stadiums. The team is lead by players such as Hines Ward, a receiver who gets fined for jacking up DBs (ever wonder if Hines’ mom is really from NORTH Korea?). Their coach is a (presumably) angry young black man who says things like “The most violent team wins” (really bad for business, but great for football).  He was preceded by a guy who when he got excited became something called The Chin and commenced to spit on people.Think about this; our fans and our team are more passionate, innovative (terrible towel) more consistent. But people would prefer the fans of Green Bay and their cheeseheads because they're more adorable. They, the league and the network, will deal with us if they have to. But they don’t want to.   

What do you think?