The Joe Lodanosky Show

Pittsburgh Steelers

6-6; third place AFC North

2009 Week 14

By Kenneth Torgent

NEXT GAME

Cleveland Browns (1-11) at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio

Thursday, December 10 – 8:20 PM on NFL Network (also on KDKA-TV)

LAST WEEK

Browns: Lost to the Chargers 30-23 in Cleveland

· Facing a 27-7, deficit Cleveland rattled off 16 fourth quarter points against the Chargers defense but the comeback ultimately fell short, giving the Browns their seventh-straight loss.

· The much-maligned Cleveland offense looked sharp on the first drive of the game, executing the no-huddle to perfection before scoring on an 11-yard touchdown pass from QB Brady Quinn to WR Mohamed Massaquoi.

· After a field goal by San Diego and a stalled drive by Cleveland, Chargers’ QB Philip Rivers dumped the ball off to fullback Mike Tolbert who promptly took it 66 yards for a TD and a 10-7 San Diego lead.

· After a Nate Kaeding field goal to end the first half, San Diego began the second half by victimizing the Browns once again out of the backfield, as RB Darren Sproles turned a simple screen play into a 31-yard TD.

· San Diego scored on their next drive as well, as two deep passes to TE Antonio Gates set up a 4-yard TD run by RB LaDainian Tomlinson. Gates tortured Cleveland’s defense all game, catching eight passes for 167 yards.

· Cleveland shut down San Diego on a fourth-and-one at the beginning of the fourth quarter and turned that momentum into another touchdown drive, this time an eight-yard strike from Quinn to RB Jerome Harrison.

· The Browns defense came up big again, holding the Chargers to just a field goal. On the ensuing drive, Quinn found Harrison in the end zone once again on an eight-yard shuffle pass. Harrison gained only 35 yards rushing on the day, but caught seven passes for 67 yards.

· Cleveland attempted an onside kick after the two-minute warning and recovered it, setting up a 49-yard field goal by Phil Dawson, making it a one-possession game.

· A second onside-kick failed, however, allowing San Diego to simply run out of the clock on the Browns.

· Browns QB Brady Quinn had one of his best games as a pro, passing for 271 yards and three TDs with zero interceptions, though he did lose a fumble.

· TE Evan Moore, experiencing his first NFL game after being promoted from the practice squad, led the Browns with 80 receiving yards on six catches.

Steelers: Lost to the Raiders 27-24 in Pittsburgh

· Pittsburgh’s defense allowed 21 fourth quarter points as the ailing Steelers dropped their fourth-game in a row, two of which were against teams with three wins or less.

· KR Stefan Logan began the game with a bang, taking the opening kickoff 83-yards and settling up a 33-yard field goal by K Jeff Reed. Oakland and K Sebastian Janikowski tied the game on the next drive.

· After an uneventful first quarter, Pittsburgh came out firing, with QB Ben Roethlisberger connecting on two deep passes, one of which WR Santonio Holmes took 34-yards for a TD. Holmes finished the day with eight catches for 149 yards, vaulting him into the NFL’s top-10 for receiving yards this season.

· After 25 solid minute without a score by either team, both franchises went on a scoring explosion in the fourth quarter. Raiders QB Bruce Gradkowski broke the dam with a 17-yard touchdown pass to WR Chaz Schillens, giving Oakland a 13-10 lead.

· Pittsburgh answered with another two-play special, as a 57-yard catch-and-run by Santonio Holmes set up a 3-yard rumble by RB Rashard Mendenhall in which the second-year star shed numerous tackles before bouncing outside for the score. Mendenhall finished with 103 yards on 20 carries.

· Oakland promptly stole the lead back with a 75-yard touchdown bomb to rookie WR Louis Murphy.

· The Steelers answered as Ben Roethlisberger drove down the field and hit Hines Ward on an 11-yard TD pass, giving the Steelers a 24-20 lead with less than two minutes remaining.

· Pittsburgh’s secondary made two major miscues on the ensuing drive, a dropped interception by rookie CB Joe Burnett and an unnecessary roughness penalty by Ryan Mundy, before Gradkowski and Murphy hooked up again for a touchdown, giving the Raiders the game-winning score with nine seconds left in the game.

· The Steelers sacked Gradkowski three times, two coming from LB LaMarr Woodley.

· Pittsburgh lost the time-of-possession battle (32:49 to 27:11) for just the third time this season. Pittsburgh failed to force a turnover for the fourth time this season and are ranked 24th in the league with a -5 turnover ratio.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES

A Look Around the AFC North

Cincinnati (9-3) has all but clinched the AFC North with a win Sunday over Detroit. The Bengals own tiebreakers over both Pittsburgh and Baltimore. For the Bengals to lose the division, they would have to lose their final four games and either the Ravens or Steelers would have to win out. If the Bengals win just one more game, they clinch the AFC North and a playoff spot.

Baltimore (6-5) squared off against Green Bay Monday Night. Star linebacker Terrell Suggs missed the game against the Packers, his third-straight scratch, after sustaining an injury on a chop-block by Cleveland QB Brady Quinn. Suggs is also experiencing issues off the field, as he has had a temporary restraining order filed against him after a domestic violence complaint by a woman in Baltimore.

THE PATH TO THE PLAYOFFS

AFC Playoff Picture as of 12/7/09

Division Leaders

Indianapolis Colts (12-0) – Clinched AFC South

Cincinnati Bengals (9-3) – Will clinch the AFC North with one more win

San Diego Chargers (9-3)

New England Patriots (7-5)

Wild Cards

Denver Broncos (8-4)

Jacksonville Jaguars (7-5)

In the Hunt

Baltimore Ravens (6-5)

Miami Dolphins (6-6) – Swept series for the tiebreaker against the Jets

New York Jets (6-6)

Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6)

Tennessee Titans (5-7)

Houston Texans (5-7)

MIKE LIKED…

The fact that he continues to be a head coach in the NFL, through good times and bad. “I love the challenges that this profession provides, even when it’s miserable,” he said. “It’s awesome, it really is. I love it. I don’t like where we are, I don’t like losing football games, particularly in the manner in which we’re losing them. But I love what I do. I love coming in here, I love building it, and I love the challenges. That hasn’t changed, and I doubt that’ll ever change. That’s just my perspective that I have on this game and my relationship that I have with this game, and one that I hope spills over to other people.”

STEELERS INJURY UPDATE

QB Charlie Batch is likely to resume participation in practice with the aid of a soft cast, but likely will not be ready for any game action. He should be OUT for Thursday’s game.

SS Troy Polamalu will be OUT once again with a lingering PCL sprain.

CB William Gay sustained a concussion on the final drive of Sunday’s game. “He’ll get a battery of tests which will determine whether or not he’s able to practice,” said Tomlin. “If he’s able to practice, we’ll check him for levels of discomfort and see where it takes us here in the week.” Given the short week and the league’s tightening grasp on all-things-concussed, Gay should be QUESTIONABLE against the Browns.

WR Hines Ward has a mild hamstring strain. “The hamstring is mild but we’re working on an extremely short week, we’ll see where it goes, but not favorable for him.” Tomlin called him QUESTIONABLE for this week.

RB Rashard Mendenhall suffered a minor left ankle sprain and is PROBABLE against the Browns.

DE Travis Kirschke is ready to go against Cleveland after recovering from a calf strain and is PROBABLE.

BROWNS INJURY UPDATE

RB Jamal Lewis suffered a concussion and was placed on IR last week. He is expected to follow through with his retirement plans despite an extremely disappointing 2009 season, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

MAIN STORYLINE FOR THURSDAY

What changes will Tomlin make in order to pull his Steelers out of their four-game losing streak?

Tomlin acknowledged that he is exploring the possibility of personnel changes in “all three phases” of the game.

“We’ll investigate changes not only in what we do schemacitly but in whom we have do it.”

BROWNS TO WATCH

QB Brady Quinn; RB Jerome Harrison; LT Joe Thomas; LG Eric Steinbach; WRs Mohamed Massaquoi and Joshua Cribbs; DEs Kenyon Coleman and Robaire Smith; OLB Kamerion Wimbley; CBs Eric Wright, Brandon McDonald, and Hank Poteat; SS Abram Elam

LOCAL CONNECTIONS

· OL Hank Fraley played collegiately at Robert Morris and was originally an undrafted free agent for the Steelers.

· CB Hank Poteat is a former Pitt Panther and played for the Steelers from 2000-02.

· LB Arnold Harrison is a former Steeler and spent time on both the practice squad and the team’s active roster before being released earlier this season.

· Running backs coach Gary Brown played at Penn State in the late 80’s.

· Assistant strength and conditioning coach Alan DeGennero worked with Pitt’s conditioning program.

· Strength and conditioning coach Tom Myslinkski was an assistant strength coach at Pitt and played three seasons with the Steelers in the late 90’s.

ACCORDING TO TOMLIN

“I think it’s appropriate at this point that we acknowledge that we have an undesirable pattern kind of behavior, which produces a series of outcomes that are not what we’re looking for. Moving forward this week and beyond, we can’t continue to do what we’ve been doing and assume that that pattern behavior’s going to change and those outcomes are going to change. So we’re analyzing all aspects of what we’re doing here, specifically this week, and are going to be aggressive in terms of looking at potential changes. Not only what we do schematically but who we have do it in all three phases because it’s appropriate.” – Giving his opening address on the state of his football team after twelve games, a team which started 6-2 and has since plummeted to a 6-6 record.

“We’re not making plays at the end of the game, particularly defensively on the back end, opportunities to close the game out from an interception standpoint, allowing people to get big plays on us. Offensively, we’re squandering scoring opportunities. We had two opportunities in the red area that were unsuccessful yesterday. We got stopped on a fourth and half-a-yard on a quarterback sneak. We threw an interception on first down in the red area that took other points of the board. We were in very reasonable field goal range, got sacked on a third down An that put us on the outer perimeter of field goal range, of course, which we missed. When you’re squandering your scoring opportunities offensively, you’re giving up plays and not making plays at critical moment defensively, you have a pattern of behavior that’s unacceptable that’s going to produce some losses which of course is what has happened. We acknowledge that we accept full responsibility for that” – Further explaining how his team has endured a four-game losing streak, which has included two important division matchups and two games against franchises with sub-.500 records.

“Whatever we think is appropriate in terms of giving ourselves a chance to win based on the matchup with the Cleveland Browns. Subtle in some areas, not so subtle in others, but I’m acknowledging that I’m very open to that.” – When asked how many roster changes will be made for Thursday’s game and beyond.

“You have to acknowledge the potential that this can be kind of a shaken group. We’ve swallowed a lot here of late. We’re going to have to become one with ourselves, if you will; individually and collectively. I’m going to be looking very closely at these men. It’s going to provide quality information for me, in terms of who, legitimately, is mentally tough and who can stand the test of adversity, because we have some. And who’s going to lead the charge, more than anything, in terms of getting us out of this and winning the football game. I’m going to be very interested to see who those people are, and who those people aren’t.” – Discussing the mental and emotional wounds that may be plaguing his team, and assessing what he needs to see from his men in response.

“To this point, we’ve got quality leaders. We’ve got quality guys. It’s not about the type of leadership that we have or the type of people that we are; the type of football character that we display. It’s about making plays. It’s about the performance. Who we are and what we do are two different things.” – When asked if he was satisfied with the leadership on his team.

“I like how he finished the game; I’d like him to start faster. He’s a young guy that I think, early on in the game, appears to be testing the waters and he just needs to jump in. And that’s part of youth, at times. But he’s got to grow up. He’s got to come out of the tunnel with a higher tempo than I think that he did yesterday. It got better as the game wore on, and I think that our results got better because of it. But early on, not enough of what we’re looking for, the third down play before the fourth down quarterback sneak being an example of that. He has to punch holes in fronts, particularly in third-and-one situations to allow us to move the chains.” – On the performance of rookie TE David Johnson, who has played fullback in the offense for much of the season.

“I’m not going to make excuses for my level of expectation. I think that we’re capable of playing winning football with or without Troy. Are we different? Yes, because Troy is a unique individual. He brings a unique skill set. Maybe the ceiling is different, but the floor-the standard of expectation-is the same, that we’re capable of playing winning football.” – Answering whether he believes the loss of Troy Polamalu has been a major reason as to why the Steelers are playing losing football.

“First time for me. And of course, I’ve been around some secondary play. Not good enough.” – When asked if he had ever seen a statistical feat like the one Pittsburgh’s crop of cornerbacks have pulled off. Steelers’ cornerbacks have contributed zero interceptions in twelve games this season. Troy Polamalu currently leads the team with just three interceptions, despite the fact that he has played in only five games. Pittsburgh has just eight picks this season as a team. Only the Cleveland Browns have less (6).

LOOK FOR…

A shake-up in the secondary as far as who’s in and who’s out. The secondary has performed so terribly in recent weeks that no one’s job is safe. CB William Gay, who may miss Thursday’s game with a concussion anyway, is the most likely candidate for a change in responsibility. CB Ike Taylor may also be feeling the heat.

Rookie CBs Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis would be next in line for starting jobs, if any should open up. “I think at this point, we need to see what those young guys are capable of doing and seeing if they can make a play for us,” said Tomlin of his rookie duo. “Of course, Joe had an opportunity to make a play that should have finished that football game and didn’t. But we’ll give him some more opportunities.”

FS Ryan Clark has served as a perfect complement to Troy Polamalu since signing with the Steelers. However, with Polamalu out for much of the season, Clark has been overexposed in the secondary. With a decline in his play and the fact that his contract expires after this season, Clark’s grasp on a starting job could be weakening. In which case, second-year talent Ryan Mundy could be in line for more opportunities.

SPLASH TALK

“Obviously, we’re a very average football team as we sit here today. Our record indicates that… And our recent record indicates that that might be a kind assessment.” – Discussing how teams tend to show their true colors in the second half of the season. The Steelers have yet to win a game since the league’s halfway point.

“I play to win. If that scoreboard is on, we’re playing to win. Last I heard, they’re going to have it on.” – When asked if he would sit or start Troy Polamalu based on Pittsburgh’s status in the playoff hunt.

“I don’t want to make excuses. I think that when you ponder those things and you look for a pattern of reasons why, it becomes excuse-making. And I’m not in the business of that. I don’t live in that world. I know it might be reasonable to some, but I’m not a reasonable person when it comes to football.” – When asked about the trend of championship teams faltering in the following season, a trend that is generally associated with the loser of the Super Bowl. However, the 2006 Steelers fall into this “pattern” as they went 8-8 after winning it all in 2005.

“We can’t stay status quo in terms of how we’re approaching this thing and expect the pattern of behavior or outcome to change. That’s unrealistic, that’s hoping. This is not a hope business. I’m not a “hope mentality” person.” – When asked how his veteran group of players will respond if there are sweeping changes in scheme and personnel.

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMM…

How bad did the secondary look on Sunday? Consider these points about the Raiders’ three primary wide receivers in Sunday’s loss:

· Louis Murphy gained over 30 percent of his total receiving yards this season.

· Jonnie Lee Higgins has 10 total catches on the season, four of which came on Sunday. His 63 yards against the Steelers account for 56 percent of his total receiving yardage this season.

· Chaz Schillens earned 3 of his 10 total catches this season against the Steelers. He also grabbed over 30 percent of his total receiving yards this season.

Those three comprise a group that has been shut down by nearly every team this season, except for Pittsburgh. Yes, the quarterback change from JaMarcus Russell to Bruce Gradkowski has helped a bit, but both quarterbacks have shown that they prefer to pass to running backs and tight ends, rather than wide receivers.