Well, hmmm, I….well, (roll my eyes, cross my arms and sigh) that seemed to be my reactions today with that display of “football” the Steelers decided to trot out onto Reliant Stadium.  Where to start?  This was the litmus test for our team and I am at a loss for trying to explain what I saw.  This team looks lost and anemic; if it weren’t for a couple Texan’s penalties the score would have been a blow out victory for the Texans.   The OL is appalling, the run D is nonexistent (how many times is that said about a Steelers D???), there is a lack of basic fundamentals in all phases of the game, and the play calling is suspect at best.  What does this equate to?  We are not a good football team, right now.   The good news is it is only week four, we have not played anything close to a complete game yet, are 2-2, and hopefully get this ship righted.  The bad news, considering where we are at with the cap and how bad our OL looks, improvement will have to come from within.  Without further ado I give you my take on the Good, the Not So Good, the Hero, and the Goat for week four.

Good:

Redman (6-40yds):  Redman ran with determination and power in relief duty once Mendy went down with a hamstring injury.  Redman made some nice runs in helping the Steelers drive down the field for a game tying FG in the fourth quarter.  He needs to see the ball more and needs to be more involved in the offense, nuff said.

Keenan Lewis:  He had a solid game (as did most of the secondary) but on a key play to get us the ball back he blanketed the WR and made a nice deflection.  Hopefully he will see some more playing time and there is hope that this secondary might be improving.

(Honorable mention:  Troy, but both he and Woodley were involved with the Foster long run, and the longest yielded by Pittsburgh since 2006)

Not So Good:

Well I could write several pages on what I saw today, bitch about the OL, bitch about the play calling, the lack of short passes, the run defense, the lack of QB pressure and sacks, and scream for change but I will leave you all with one observation that I have seen – this team is completely out of sync.  A blind man skeet shooting looks better than the Steelers trying to execute a simple screen pass to a RB!  Come on, this is a basic and simple concept that high school kids learn how to run for crying out loud.  We look completely lost and thus are becoming our own demise in being predictable and one-dimensional.  What needs to change?   I wish I had some suggestions but I have no idea at this point, but do know that execution is a huge problem. 

Hero:

None, sorry but my rating system and my “arm chair”

Goat: 

This week I lay this prestigious award at the coaching staff, in particular Mr. Bruce Arians. 

Q:  Exactly what kind of offensive scheme are you trying to run?

A:  I call it the Cluster F Square Peg-Round Hole Offense…AJ

This Offense is laughable.  They cannot run the ball they cannot pass protect and you consistently refuse to exploit a defensive weakness or try and compensate for an offensive one.  I mean our OL is the equivalent of an amusement park turnstile but instead of giving TE or RB support on a majority basis we continually let some guys like Scott, Essex, etc go one on one with Pro Bowl caliber pass rushers.  Where is the hot routes or short passes?  We have some burners on this team that might be able to get some YAC but it does not seem we look to take advantage of that; instead it is a 5 wide, 5-7 drop, all 10-20 yd patterns and Ben running for his life in about 3 seconds.  5 sacks today, 13 after 4 games (3.25 pg), and a -10 in turnovers.  Hmmm…something is telling me this “Cluster F Square Peg-Round Hole” offense might not be working.