The Steelers have signed 32-year old CB Corey Ivy and 29-year old linebacker Rocky Boiman.  Ivy played in all 16 games for the Ravens last season and he made 52 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, forced 1 fumble, defensed 3 passes and he had 2.5 sacks.  Ivy has now played in 110 games in his NFL career and he has made 278 tackles, defensed 25 passes, has 9.5 sacks, forced 5 fumbles and he has 3 interceptions.  Ivy will also provide some depth in the secondary.  Rocky Boiman played in 11 games last season for the Chiefs and he made 73 tackles, defensed 3 passes and he forced a fumble.  He has now played in 97 games in his NFL career and he has made 254 tackles, defensed 12 passes, has 1.5 sacks, forced 3 fumbles and he has 5 interceptions (1 he has returned for a TD).  Boiman will also give the Steelers depth at linebacker.  To make room on the roster for Ivy and Boiman the Steelers have waived 28-year old CB Keiwan Ratliff and 24-year old linebacker Donovan Woods.  Ratliff played in 8 games for the Steelers this season and he made 9 tackles.  Woods only played in 1 game in which he made 1 tackle.  Woods will be signed to the practice squad if he clears waivers.  Something had to be done on the kickoff team which is allowing 26.9 yards per return this season and opponents have returned 4 kickoffs for TDs.  These were solid signings for the Steelers and they hope that Ivy and Boiman will help clean up the mess.

UPDATE:  The Steelers have released Corey Ivy after just one game as he didn’t make any tackles.

The Pittsburgh Steelers might have to place 34-year old back up QB Charlie Batch on I.R. as he will miss at least the next season weeks due to surgery on a wrist.  He played in 1 game for the Steelers this season and he completed 1 of 2 passes (50%) for 17 yards with 0 TD and 0 INTs (79.2 QB Rating).  Batch has now played five years with the Steelers appearing in 24 games (4 starts) and he has completed 76 of 135 passes (56.3%) for 1,034 yards with 8 TD passes and 4 INTs (88.3 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 37 times for 49 yards (1.3 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Without Batch that means that 24-year old Dennis Dixon will now be the #2 QB for the Steelers the rest of the year.  He has played in 1 game in his NFL career and he has completed his only pass attempt for 3 yards.  He has also carried the ball 2 times for -3 yards (-1.5 ypc) but they were kneel downs so don’t hold that against him.  The Steelers had better hope that Ben Roethlisberger’s head clears up before Sunday because they are in deep, deep trouble if they have to start Dixon in Baltimore against the Ravens.

The Steelers proved today that they just aren’t the same team as they were last year when they won the Super Bowl.  In fact, I think they will have a really hard time making the playoffs.  Ben Roethlisberger’s overall numbers look solid as he completed 32 of 42 passes for 398 yards with 3 TD passes and 2 interceptions.  But, the pickoffs set up short fields for the Chiefs twice and it really hurt the Steelers in the end.  To make matters worse, Roethlisberger got whacked hard in the noggin’ in O.T. and he had to leave the game.  Charlie Batch completed 1 of 2 passes for 17 yards but the Steelers had to punt the ball away and set up the Chiefs for their game winning drive.  Rashard Mendenhall was so-so in this game as he carried the ball 21 times for 80 yards (3.8 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 36 yards (9.0 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Willie Parker made his first appearance in a while carrying the ball 6 times for 24 yards (4.0 ypc) and he also caught 1 pass for 11 yards.  Hines Ward was really busy today as he caught 10 passes for 128 yards (12.8 avg) with 1 TD grab.  TE Heath Miller also had a great game with 7 catches for 95 yards (13.6 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Santonio Holmes pitched in with 7 catches for 86 yards (12.3 avg) today.  The Steelers rolled up 515 total yards on offense (114 rushing, 401 passing) as they had possession of the ball for a amazing 44:07 but it wasn’t enough to win the game.

The defense did not do their job in this game as the Chiefs had quite a few big plays.  Safety Tyrone Carter led the way for the Steelers on D in this game with 8 tackles.  OLB LaMarr Woodley also was busy in this game with 2 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for a loss and 3 QB hits.  The Chiefs only had the ball for 22:25 of this game but they still got 282 yards (68 rushing, 214 passing) on offense and that is too many for what little time they had the ball.  The Steelers also sucked again on special teams allowing Chiefs’ RB Jamaal Charles to take a kickoff back 97 yards for a TD.  The Steelers are now a very disappointing 6-4 on the season.

This is a great rebound game for the Steelers who should be really angry after getting punked on their own field by the Bengals last week.  The Chiefs are allowing 234.2 yards passing per game this season and they only have 12 sacks this season meaning that Ben Roethlisberger should have a lot of time to throw the football.  Roethlisberger might only have to play three quarters this Sunday before getting the rest of the day off.  The Steelers will likely pass to get the lead and then grind it out on the ground with Rashard Mendenhall against a Chiefs’ D that is allowing 141.3 yards rushing per game and 4.6 yards per carry.  I have a feeling that Charlie Batch and maybe even Dennis Dixon will be finishing this game up at QB.

If the Chiefs can give Matt Cassel time to throw the ball on Sunday this might not be the bloodbath that I think it will.  The Steelers are giving up 208.1 yards passing per game so it will be up to guys like Chris Chambers, Mark Bradley, Lance Long and Bobby Wade to step up.  I just don’t see it happening this week as Chiefs’ QBs have been sacked 32 times already this year and the Steelers are coming into this game as a angry bunch.  Jamaal Charles had a breakout game against the Raiders last weekend but the Steelers are only giving up 69.3 yards per game on the ground and 3.4 yards per carry so don’t look for a repeat performance out of him.

PREDICTION:  STEELERS 45, CHIEFS 10

The Steelers have cut linebacker Arnold Harrison who was part of the pathetic kickoff team.  He played in 8 games this season for the Steelers and he had 7 tackles.  The Steelers have signed 24-year old linebacker Donovan Woods off the practice squad to replace Harrison on the active roster.  Woods played in 5 games for the Steelers last season and he compiled 4 tackles.