NFL Winners and Losers of Wild Card Weekend: Romo, Dalton, officials and more
By Andrew Garda
Losers: Pittsburgh Steelers
This is about more than the loss, though that was as disappointing a loss as you can have.
Overall this is about a team which seems to be held together by wire and gum. The defense looks old and Dick LeBeau didn’t seem to be able to adjust to the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive scheme which, honestly, didn’t seem all that complex.
The offense was disappointing as well, as it really seemed to be unable to overcome losing Le’Veon Bell. While I’d concede that Bell was a critical part of the offense, his absence shouldn’t have pulled the wheels off that quickly. And if the run game is that important, do you trot along during the season with no decent backup? So that you have to pull in Ben Tate right before the playoffs?
Ben Roethlisberger had one of his poorer games, turning the ball over twice and seemingly unable to adjust to the Ravens defensive schemes. Why he didn’t audible out of the pass play on his first interception – when the Ravens were overloading the left side of the offensive line and were clearly blitzing – is impossible to figure out, but indicative of his play.
The Steelers have felt like a team which needs to rebuild over the last few years but always seem to do just enough to stave that off. Is this the year the organization finally admits they have a lot of work to do?
For the sake of Pittsburgh fan sanity, I hope so.