One more Sunday, one more set of minor heart-attacks, and just as importantly one more victory.

Like it or not, that's our Pittsburgh Steelers.  What is interesting, is that in contrast to last year  when the Steelers made an art of coming back, this team has played almost the entire season with a lead.

In fact when the Vikings scored a TD in the second quarter to take a 4 point lead, it was the largest lead any team has held on us this season.  In our two losses Chicago and Cincinnati each held a 3 point lead for a total of 29 seconds combined.  The Vikings second quarter lead lasted less than 5 minutes, and despite a series of furious and frightening rallies, the Vikings never tied or lead again. 

As we move into the off week there will no doubt be plenty of debate about this team and it's chances to repeat. There is plenty of cause for optimism but also some obvious issues that need to be addressed. The most serious of these is our inability to put teams away. Before I look at the game, I just want to take a quick peak back over our shoulder.   

Seven games into the season and our Pittsburgh Steelers are 5-2.  For those of you wondering that's exactly where we were after 7 last year.  The big difference is that last year game 7 was a painful loss to the Giants. This week we come off an important win against a previously unbeaten team and head into a much needed off week. 

More after the jump. 

At the very end of the third quarter with the Steelers leading and starting on their 24 yard line --- Rashard Mendenhall peeled off a beauty of a run for 17 yards. Following an incomplete pass on 1st down, Rashard had another nice run for 5 yards, setting up a crucial 3rd and 5.  

Ben dropped behind good protection against the blitz and hit Santonio in full stride on a slant. Santonio made his man miss and tore through the Vikings secondary for 45 yards, before finally being brought down on the 9 yard line.

It seemed like the Steelers were poised to take control of the game, it also seemed that Mendenhall was just the man for the job. To that point he had picked up 69 yards on 10 carries - for a very healthy 6.9 average (nearly twice the average of the Adrian Peterson, AKA purple Jesus, AKA the best player in football)  

What transpired started one of the strangest 15 minutes of football played in Pittsburgh in recent memory. It showed the best and the worst of the Steelers and frankly, its safe to say that it could have easily gone either way. 

Instead of pounding his way to glory, Mendenhall inexplicably found himself back in Mike Tomlin's non-existent doghouse when he dove over the pile in a mis-guided attempt to pick up an extra yard or two.  

The ball was poked loose and with it any dreams of putting the game away fast.  Although I generally don't get negative in the game thread I couldn't help myself.

At the time I wrote "Why is it that every time the Steelers have an opponent on the ground with their foot on their throat, they always bend down and lend them a hand up?" Little did I know. 

Apart from the Mendy, Fumble, there were two low points in the quarter for me. The first came at 10 minutes left in with Farve facing and 3rd and 18 from the Minnesota 29 yard line. Farve dropped back, got good protection and hit Rice on the sideline for 25 yards and the first down. I won't write much about the play, because I would really like to see the film on it, but I will say that even though the play ended up being close, Rice was wide open - and an earlier pass would have made it an easy gain.

Thankfully that drive was ended at the Steelers nine, when Brett Kiesel made a superlative strip of Farve knocking the ball loose from a solid three to four feet away. Lamar Woodley accompanied by a phalanx of Steeler blockers did his best James Harrison impersonation to take it back for 6. With the score at 20-10 and only 6 minutes left that really should have been the ball game.   

But folks, this ain't your ball control never lose a lead Steelers. 

For the second week in a row the Steelers followed a score by allowing a kick-off return for a touch-down. You get the sense that they might be spending some time on that in practice next week.

Again, I think the return deserves a post of it's own, but after watching it twice I am going to call two names.  First, Jeff Reed. After brawling with Pittsburgh's finest during the week, Jeff Reed looked downright scared to make a tackle. In fact he looked like he was playing two hand touch.

The other man, who looked terribly out of position to me was our Kewian Ratliff.   Despite having time and an angle he never even comes close to touching Harvin. I am kind of getting tired of noticing Ratliff when he messes up. 

What happened next should not inspire Steeler fans. The offense got the ball back with a 3 point lead, and a chance to make a statement. Instead they managed a single first down on a Minnesota Penalty and were VERY lucky to not have the Vikings recover a Roethlisberger fumble inside field goal range.  

The defense, was luckier still. After Adrian Peterson made William Gay look foolish and busted off a 29 yarder that should have secured a tie at the very least, the Vikings hit some bad luck.  At 2nd and 3 on the Pittsburgh 19 Farve hit Chester Taylor in the hands with a short, safe pass. The ball flew up in the air, and Keryon Fox made an a heads up play to catch it. It's arguable wether he should have taken it to the house instead of falling to the ground, but 80 yards and 6 points later the Steelers had a hard fought, and somewhat lucky win.  

On to other thoughts:  : 

The goal line stand. The defense has been much maligned for being soft this year, but their stand from the one inch line, was a thing of beauty. After stopping Adrian Peterson on 1st and 1 - and getting a penalty called, they stopped him again on 1st and inches. The Vikings respecting the two straight stops went for trickery and ended up with two incomplete passes and a field goal. Four plays from inside the one and four stops. A tremendous stand on the part of the D - with great effort by the whole crew - especially the linebackers who were very active in pass protection. 

Mike Wallace - As you may have noticed from my recent post about Mike Wallace, I am a fan. In the post I compare his body of work in the first six games to that of other rookier Steeler wide receivers. At the end I asked people if they thought he would continue at his current pace, improve or decrease. Personally, I thought he would either stay at this current pace or decrease slightly. After watching his effort today, I am not so sure. He is sure handed and blazing fast. 

Penalties - the arguments have already begun. No doubt if we lost we would be upset about some of the calls that didn't go our way. The same is true of the Vikings. I guess it's no consolation to them, to think of the tripping penalty as payback for the 500 times that holding has not been called on Deebo this year, or for the strange call for defensive holding on Miller in the first half.  To be honest though, it's not our problem.

Mendy - Let's not get too excited about the drop. The rookie (we should still think of him as a rookie) made a stupid mistake, but it was the only one in a generally excellent effort. Mendy lit up the best run defense in the league for a 6.9 yard average on 10 carries. He could have and should have had more. He also did a generally good job of pass protection.  

Moore - I love that guy. If you want to see something beautiful go re-watch the block he makes on a linebacker at the end of the Holmes 45 yard catch and run. He absolutely levels the guy. This picture does not do it justice, but it still makes me smile.

Ben - Did anybody else notice that Ben has been somewhat careless with the ball at times. I feel like there were at least 3-4 times when the Vikes had a very good chance at a pick, not to mention the fumble late in the game, that really should have been recovered by the Vikings. I have to say that I think it's a trend from the past three to four weeks. I think Ben has been quite lucky to not have many more INTs. It's hard to argue with the way that he is playing, but I wonder if we won't see more picks against good teams and good secondaries. 

Casey Hampton and the D line - how in the world does a nose tackle get three offsides penalties? It's inexcusable. Having said that the defensive line did an amazing job holding Peterson in check and generating pressure on Farve. Kiesel was in the back-field all day. Ziggy Hood looked good filling in for Kirshke, I have a feeling that we might see more and more of him. 

Line Backers: Fox - We are very lucky to have this guy as a back-up at inside linebacker. His pick was an incredibly heads up opprotunistic play.  Deebo - was a beast.  

Secondary:  William Gay got picked on. He also made Adrian Peterson's weekly highlight reel. I am sure we'll be seeing replays of that one for the rest of time.  Ike Taylor had good coverage, but simply missed the ball a couple of times. 

Anyways, that's it for now.

Good night to all