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| STEELERS | PIRATES | FORUM | PENGUINS | POLLS |
| Tommy Gun Shy By The Wise Guy Most of us don’t have enough fingers to point to all that went wrong with the Steelers in yesterday’s so-called professional football game between the Black & Gold and the Purple & Black & White Ravens. A good place to start would be the play calling of Steelers’ coach Bill Cowher, who inexplicably kept Jerome Bettis in the garage on two third and inches plays in Ravens territory near the end of the third quarter. First, (and although he may not call the plays, he certainly approves them) Coach Cowher gave it the old college try, with Antwaan Randle-El running an option play. There’s reason professional football teams don’t run the option, Coach. It doesn’t work. Then, to the surprise of no one except perhaps the Steeler fans that expected us to do the logical thing and run it up the middle with The Bus, he had quarterback Tommy Maddox drop back to attempt a pass. Oops, we didn’t do it again. You can’t gain 18 inches when your quarterback gets sacked. And oh, let’s not forget that we wasted two time outs during this sequence of, shall we say, questionable play calls. You could also point five fingers at our offensive line. Because of an injury to Marvel Smith, we had to start Trai Essex, a rookie at left tackle, and sure, he took his lumps. But the rest of the line, including our all-pros Alan Faneca and Jeff Hartings hardly had a stellar game, either. Much of the time, they looked more like the turnstiles at Heinz Field than the seven blocks of granite. And while we’re at it, let’s point both hands at the special teams. Baltimore averaged 32.5 yards per kickoff return. We averaged 14.2. Baltimore averaged 10.8 yards on punt returns. We averaged 3. Do the math. (I would, but it would make my head hurt even more than it does from yesterday’s game.) What it adds up to is crummy field position, and added pressure on both our offense and defense. I’ve saved the best finger for last. Poor Tommy Maddox. You want to root for the guy after all he’s been through. But maybe the reason he’s played so tentatively this year is because of all he’s been through. Two years ago, he was briefly paralyzed during a game with the Tennessee Titans. And just last year, he had a serious elbow industry against these very same Ravens. No way am I saying that Tommy isn’t a brave guy. To get back on a football field after being temporarily paralyzed takes incredible guts. But it’s only natural that the experience may have made him a little gun shy. The pocket, with 300-pound monsters coming at you from every angle is no place for the timid. All too often, especially in overtime, it seemed as if Tommy bailed out early, trying to escape a pass rush that hadn’t quite arrived. That didn’t work, since he’s not nearly nimble enough to elude tacklers. If he’d just held on for another second, the path might have been cleared in front of him. The receivers might have come open. Instead, at times it seemed as if he ran right into a sack rather than avoid it. It gets a lot harder next week. Whatever chance we may have against the 10-0 Indianapolis Colts will depend in large part on the play of our offensive line. They have to control the line of scrimmage. If we can run the ball and keep Payton and his Flying Circus off the field, we may have a chance. Especially if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger can play. If not, keep those fingers ready. |