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Still smarting from the loss to winless Tampa Bay, the Steelers sauntered down to Jacksonville to play the winless Jaguars where they eeked out a 17-9 win and now face the AFC North, upstart Cleveland Browns. But before they can endure their trial by fire at the mistake-by-the-lake, Steelers Nation must first grapple with these 5 Burning Questions....
1. OK. Instead of kneeling to burn up the clock, Ben Roethlisberger threw one to Antonio Brown to keep Brown's streak alive. Our Rebecca Rollett has written in favor of the move, but her view appears to be a minority position in Steelers Nation. How say you?
2. The Jacksonville game featured a very, very rare occurrence for the Steelers' defense of late, one predicted by our own Jeff Hartman:
Defense might need to put points on the board. #Steelers
— Jeff Hartman (@BnGBlitz) October 5, 2014
While Jacksonville's offense is certainly a far cry from the greatest show on turf or even the Patriots '07 machine, the Steelers are the first team to keep the Jaguars out of the end zone. Are you ready to say the Steelers' defense has improved from Week 1?
3. In contrast to the defense, the performance of the Steelers' offense vs. Jacksonville was underwhelming by any measure. A lot of fingers are being pointed at Todd Haley, and our own Jack Finn suggested there's a "Dr. Todd" and "Mr. Haley" dichotomy at work. Do you think that's the case or was the issue more with execution?
4. Jim Wexell has opined that what the Steelers' offense lacks is a tall wide receiver, particularly in the Red Zone. If that's the case, Matt Spaeth is 6'7" so why not split him wide when down near the end zone?
Before you roll your eyes and protest that he only has 50 catches to his resume, nine are for touchdowns which gives him a better touchdown-to-catch ratio than Hines Ward, Antonio Brown, Heath Miller, Mark Bruener, Bennie Cunningham, Derek Hill (just checking to see if you're paying attention) John Stallworth or even Lynn Swann. Well, what do you think? Worth a try?
5. In mid-February, when Steelers Nation (yours-truly included) were smirking at yet another total upheaval in Cleveland, Ivan Cole suggested that the fan base should root for Cleveland to get its act together, reminding us that "Iron Sharpens Iron." Well, Cleveland does seem to be getting its act together. What do you think, heading into this game?
There you go folks. Remember, you must "show your work" to get full credit!