5 Burning Questions on the 2-5 Pittsburgh Steelers

The palpable sense of hope emboldened in Steelers Nation by the victories over the Jets and Ravens died with a bang as Terrelle Pryor's 93 yard run that sent the Steelers reeling into Oakland's Black Hole and its inescapable gravity.

However dispiriting the defeat it, leaves us plenty of "conversation pieces" which now come to you in the form of 5 Burning Questions which Steelers Nation must answer before our beloved Black and Gold Take to the field vs. the Patriots.

1. In what will become the second most infamous play fake inflicted on Pittsburgh history after the Alfred Pupunu's in the 1994 AFC Championship, entire Steeler's defense bit on Darren McFadden's faux run. But as Tribune Review writer Mark Kaboly claims, their reactions were exactly what they should have been based on film study. Is this a case of the Steelers doing their homework a little too well? Does this let them off the hook?

2. It was this writer's opinion that the Loss in London confirmed that the Steelers were "Learning how to lose" in London. Vs. New York and Baltimore, they managed to break this cycle. Does the latest loss at the Black Hole bring them back to square one in the "unlearning process?"

3. Taking a more granular view, does the fact that the Steelers defense increased their season turnover total by 150 percent offer any real sense of hope?

4. Ben Roethlisberger's use of a time out at the goal line was dissected thoroughly by our own Neal Coolong. Clearly it was a mistake, but was it as damming as many have made it out to be?

5. Per Alan Robinson calculations, the Steelers have not won outside of the Eastern Time zone since their '11 "victory" vs. Kansas City, and haven't won on the West Coast since the San Diego game in '05 when Chris Hope was their free safety, Alan Faneca was starting at guard, and James Harrison was on the bench.

What's going on here, why the aversion to winning in the Pacific, Mountain and Central time zones?

There you go folks, have at it!

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