After my beloved Steelers lost to the lowly Oakland Raiders, I had the following thoughts:

1. We can't run the ball worth a damn. Less than 100 rushing yards against one of the worst run defenses in the league? Really?
2. Our defense is in BIG trouble. We gave up 34 points to the same team that could not crack 17 against the Miami Dolphins the previous week.
3. Ravens fans everywhere are happy. Well, they do not have much of a life anyway.

While the third item is not necessarily a problem, there is a silver lining in the first two "clouds": they are fixable. The solutions to those two problems? Get healthy, and do so FAST.

Our running game will be fine once Rashard Mendenhall is at 100%. I think he will be back in the starting lineup after the bye. And no disrespect to hard-working Issac Redman and fumble-prone Jonathan Dwyer, but neither is the feature back that Mendenhall is.

As for the second problem, having James Harrison and Troy Polamalu back in on defense would fix two things: the pass rush and coverage. As any football guru would tell you, show me a great secondary and I will show you a great pass rush.

In its two losses, the Steelers did not get much of a pass rush. Two sacks vs. the Broncos and ONE sack vs. the Raiders. Hell, we only had two sacks in a WIN over the Jets.

Like I said, it's waaaaay too early to panic - we are only three weeks into the season. However, if the Steelers do not get healthy fast, it is going to be a long season.

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