Special Teams on the Hot Seat, But Offensive Red Zone Struggles Hurt

Although the Steelers special teams has been anything but through the first half of the season, another problem was brought into view on Sunday. Not a single touchdown in 4 red zone trips that all ended in field goals, leading to 12 points out of a possible 28 and an 18-12 loss. Thus the finger that was being solely pointed towards the special teams play has also found its way over to the offensive side of the football and the recent struggle to reach the end zone for 6. It was the inability of the Steelers to score touchdowns that cost them the game, and lately this has been showing up more and more which has started to get some people questioning the Steelers playcalling when it comes closer to the goal line. However as the Steelers now get set to enter their stretch of second half games which will include a few easy ones as well as the tough two against the Baltimore Ravens that lie ahead. They must find a way to correct their problems in order to be prepared for their playoff push that it seems they will now have to make due to their recent struggles. (http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-previews/09000d5d8145405f/Week-11-Steelers-vs-Chiefs-Preview)

Special Teams Ain't Lookin' so Special

Offence, Defence and Special teams, those are the true names of the game and unfortunately for the Steelers of 2009, only two have honestly come to play thus far. The Special teams has been the downfall of the team thus far and there is no real reason to believe that they will find themselves anytime soon. (http://www.nfl.com/videos/pittsburgh-steelers/09000d5d81448752/Playbook-Bengals-vs-Steelers-recap) Therefore this years Steelers may be in for a tough haul when it comes to even just sneaking into a wild card spot for the playoffs which would be a huge dissapointment for a team that is the defending Super Bowl Champs.

Tough Defeat, Chomped By Bengals

Cincinnati deserves the credit for the performance they gave on sunday afternoon, and the Steeler's special teams deserves a talking to after another disastrous performance allowing Bengals return man Bernard Scott to return a kickoff 96 yards for a return touchdown and the only touchdown in the football game in the first quarter. The game was a back and forth battle that never saw either team really take control of the game at all, however as the game started to come to its close, the Bengals began to control the clock more and more and thus held the Steelers offence off of the field giving the Steelers few chances to drive down the field and score to tie the game. Lost somewhat in the disfuction of the Steeler's special teams as well as the struggles of both offences to score many points was the great defensive stands by the Bengals when backed into their red zone. Cincinnati was able to hold the Steelers to field goals 4 times when they entered the red zone and thus was able to win the game due to their ability to bend but not break on defense when they were needed most. (http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2009111504/2009/REG10/bengals@steelers) This loss will definitely be a tough divisional loss to get over, seeing as it puts the Steelers in a much deeper hole in the division now, but they now must look forward to a winnable contest that they have ahead of them in this weekends matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs. They must forget about the dissapointment and move forward quickly in order to keep up in the AFC North.

Injury Problems

The injury problems of the Steelers are seen mainly upon how dismantled their defence has been lately. They have lost their two key safeties who are the quarterbacks of the defense, as well as have had to deal with the losses of a key defensive lineman for the season and possibly his career in Aaron Smith, and other defensive starters. (http://www.nfl.com/teams/injuries?team=PIT&week=12) This is a huge problem for the steelers who must find ways to overcome these injuries in order to compete for another title.

The Boys Are Back!

Its not just any 5 game win streak, its a 5 game win streak that has put the defending Super Bowl 43 winning Pittsburgh Steelers back on top in the AFC North. Thus the team that was "struggling" through 3 games has found their way back ontop of the pile in the crowded AFC North division. The defence roared loud and clear on monday night football under the bright lights of Invensco Field in Denver, Colorado and proved to be the dominant force they were all last year, once again. It started out as a slow beginning but by the end of monday night the Steelers had put the Broncos away for good with a stifling defencive effort and a slow, clock killing offensive drive that put the game away with one minute to go in the fourth quarter. The game changed on the sudden running attack that the steelers brought with them into the second half and from there things just got turned in the right direction. From there the Steelers just ran all over the denver defence and kept running through to another victory for a 5th straight week.

How much is expected of Troy Polamalu?

His return was one of grand preportions, he arrived just in time to cut off that 1st down pass from wide reciever Joshua Cribbs midway through the first quarter and not only did he cut off the intended pass, he decided to catch it too. However as special a play as that seemed after looking through some replays it is nothing compared to what Steeler fans as myself have become accustomed to over the last 6 years now. So with Polamalu's return to the lineup the Steelers racked up win number four on the 2009 season, but Polamalu's return outshined the satisfaction of another win by far due to how quickly he has returned and seemingly returned to form with his 2nd interception of the year in just 2 games. So through 6 weeks of the NFL season and with just 2 games under his belt due to a knee injury suffered in week 1, Troy Polamalu has already shown his worth to this years team in different ways. Without him in weeks 2 and 3 the Steelers vaunted defence surrendered consecutive 4th quarter comebacks with less than 2 minutes to play and even in back to back wins over the Chargers and Lions the defence struggled to hold down both oppositions offence's to the point where it took consecutive great performances from the offence to pull out victories. So although he may have just returned and coach Mike Tomlin has preached patience with his rehab of the injury it seems like just having him in the lineup can be a big boost to team performance and that is something that will make Steeler fans very pleased come February. (www.nfl.com)

Back at it again

The Steelers of old have arrived, well sort of. The last three weeks have once again shown that the steelers have what it takes to win, and it just so happened to be that it was against two consecutive basement dwellers and a team that can't find itself. So how does this three game turnaround really look when you delve deeper into the numbers, do the Steelers deserve a pat on the back for getting things together or as Big Ben said after last sunday's win over the Browns, "We just have to keep reachin' for the ceiling." These last three weeks should serve as more of a relief than a look at a finished product, but it is starting to head in the right direction and now the pressure of starting to win has been lifted, the pressure on the defence however does remain.