Steelers play sloppy game and lose 31-20 at home to Broncos
The Steelers wasted 499 total yards of offense by turning the ball over 6 times. The culprits were Ben Roethlisberger with 3 more pickoffs, Hines Ward (fumble), Cedric Wilson (fumble) and Santonio Holmes (fumble) and that is pathetic! Ben Roethlisberger continued his sloppy play, completing 38 of 54 passes for 433 yards with 1 TD and 3 INT. Willie Parker had a good game, carrying the ball 17 times for 70 yards (5.0 ypc) and a TD. Parker also caught 7 passes for 67 yards and a TD. Najeh Davenport played a decent game. Davenport carried the ball 2 times for 17 yards and caught 5 passes for 57 yards. Hines Ward caught 7 passes for 127 yards, but he lost a fumble in the endzone when the Steelers were trying to comeback. Cedric Wilson (4 rec, 59 yards) and Santonio Holmes (6 rec, 58 yards) did not play that well. Heath Miller finally got some passes thrown to him and he caught 5 passes for 34 yards.
James Farrior came to play with 12 tackles, too bad not many of his buddies came along with him. The Broncos carried the ball 23 times for 115 yards (5.0 ypc). The Steelers made Jake Plummer look good, which has been hard to do this season. The Broncos completed 16 of 27 passes for 221 net yards passing.
The Steelers just don’t have it this season, as last year’s Championship is starting to look as if it was a fluke.
whats happening to the steelers. i mean they are the superbowl champs the need to start acting like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last season was a fluke. Bill Cowher isn’t drawing up plays in his office, he’s drawing up retirement plans. The QB thought he was Evel Knievel…and he was wrong. They figure they got their ring (because the NFL wanted them to)so why even worry about showing up this season.
Regardless of our past records & victories, “Your only as good as your last accomplishment”, hence our losses against Oakland & Denver. That is truly where we are this season and I place most of the blame on the front office. Rooney, The Head Coach & Staff…where the head goes the body follows & it starts at HOME. They have the authority to make decisions! The players (body) don’t have that authority. They only react to what the heads say. This year was all about the correct (healthy) personnel, timing, decisions & accountability all in which the heads have control over. Instead, the offensive coaches in the booth seem to have a green light on calling plays that are not very intelligent or even approved of. As far as Ben is concerned, coach Cower gave him the opportunity to deem himself fit to run an offence and to increase his confidence level after his disastrous summer with no pre-season training. Hat’s off to Cower for doing so, but he has not recognized the long-term damage that he is doing to his 1st string QB and the team. Instead of going with his 2nd string QB (C.Batch) while Ben warmed his way into this season, he completely pulled the rug from underneath Batch, which shows that he doesn’t have much confidence in him. Folks let’s stop kidding our-selves, Batch is the better QB this season! He may not be our future but he is our present and it was time for our Head to make decisions based on improving our team not individual players. Back in the day…I don’t care what game is being played…if a player is not helping the TEAM win throughout an entire game or several games and shows sign’s of inconsistency (or consistency of bad play this case) it is time for change… you ride the pine until you get another opportunity to prove your self worthy. Batch has proven himself worthy when he received the call to run the offence. Where is the trust? You can trust that we do love Cower, including his spit, chin, glare and character and we would like to have him run this team for many years to come, but the decision making must be addressed first!
No doubt this is a Team Sport and as a team we succeed and as a team we fail. When this team succeeds the coach is at the top of the list in receiving accolades and when we fail, the coach is again at the top of the list receiving constructive criticism. Rooney, Cower & Staff need to hear where the failure lies, at HOME.
Blkngldblud4life,
Gjj Long Beach CA.
I agree with everything you’ve said GJ. Batch should have started at least the first month and gave Roethlisberger the chance to heal his mind and body before throwing him into the fire.
Anyone who doesn’t think the Steelers deserved to win the superbowl last year doesn’t know anything about football. All you had to do was watch the games at the remainder of the season and in the playoffs. This year seems to be a different story. The Steelers have played like champs during parts of the game and like chumps during other parts. The two areas that have affected the team the most have been special teams and QB. The special teams have had several fumbles lost and allowed many big returns. The QB has thrown too many interceptions in the red zone. Ben seems to be trying to hard to prove himself. If he just takes what is given to him I think he should do fine for the remainder of the season. He is completing a large 67% of his passes for a large number of yards. His decision making has to be better. As for his health, I think he is fine. He is moving in the pocket pretty well which has kept him from having to run the ball.