Punter Daniel Sepulveda missed all of last season due to injury but he’s back to being a dominant part of the special teams of the Steelers.  He has played in all 13 games for the Steelers this season and he has punted the ball 61 times for 2,666 yards (43.7 avg).  Sepulveda has only 3 touchbacks (4.9%) this season and he has pinned the opposing team inside the 20-yard line 25 times (41%) so far this season.  The Steelers need him to keep up the good work the rest of the year.

With the emergence of 2nd year RB Rashard Mendenhall the Steelers might not have a place for “Fast” Willie Parker on the team in 2010.  Parker has played in 11 games this season and he has carried the ball 78 times for 259 yards (3.3 ypc) and he has also caught 6 passes for 64 yards (10.7 avg) with 1 TD grab.  If this is indeed the end of Parker’s run in Pittsburgh he has been a solid football player for them.  Parker has played in 76 games in six years for the Steelers and he has carried the ball 1,233 times for 5,248 yards (4.3 ypc) with 24 TD runs.  He has also caught 84 passes for 697 yards (8.3 avg) with 5 TD grabs in his time with the Steelers.  Parker has been a asset to the Steelers but he just doesn’t look like his old self anymore.

The Steelers have benched Stefan Logan as the punt returner for probably the rest of this season.  He returned 24 punts for 203 yards (8.5 avg) this season for the Steelers.  Santonio Holmes will take over Logan’s old duties in returning punts.  Holmes has returned 2 punts for 6 yards (3.0 avg) so far this year.  Before this season Holmes had returned 60 punts for 490 yards (8.2 avg) with 1 TD return.  This is solid move for the Steelers as Logan just wasn’t cutting it returning punts.

The Steelers got beat in every facet of the game by the Browns last night.  It all started with a pathetic performance by the offense specifically by the offensive line which got Ben Roethlisberger eight times last night!  Roethlisberger completed 18 of 32 passes for 201 yards last night.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 10 yards (3.3 ypc).  Rashard Mendenhall also had a rough time as he only got 53 yards rushing on 16 carries (3.3 ypc) last night.  Willie Parker pitched in with 3 carries for 12 yards (4.0 ypc) in this game.  Santonio Holmes led the way in the passing game for the Steelers last night with 6 catches for 93 yards (15.5 avg).  Heath Miller pitched in with 5 grabs for 59 yards (11.8 avg).  The Steelers could only muster 216 total yards on offense (75 rushing, 141 passing) against a Browns’ D that came into the game allowing 400.3  yards per game (154.2 rushing, 246.1 passing)!

The defense played great against the pass last night but they let the Browns run all over them last night.  The Browns only finished up with 255 total yards on offense but they rushed for 171 yards on 37 carries (4.6 ypc)!  Safety Tyrone Carter led the way for the Steelers on D last night with 9 tackles including 1 tackle for a loss.  Lawrence Timmons pitched in with 8 tackles last night.  LaMarr Woodley also had a solid game with 6 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack, 1 pass defensed and 1 QB hit.  The Steelers are now 6-7 on the season after this HUGE loss!

The Steelers have owned the Browns lately as they are 19-3 against them since they returned to the league in 1999.  But, the Steelers are playing bad enough that the Browns will likely give them a challenge tonight.  After all, they did make Bruce Gradkowski look great last week and Brady Quinn is a better QB than he is.  With Hines Ward iffy for tonight’s game and the weather expected to be nasty look for the Steelers to come out running tonight.  Rashard Mendenhall should have a outstanding game tonight against the Browns who are allowing 154.2 yards rushing per game and 4.5 yards per carry.  If he gets tired then Willie Parker should get in on the action.  In the passing game look for the Steelers to keep it short with TE Heath Miller getting most of the action.

The Steelers must stop the Browns’ running game and that shouldn’t be too hard as the Browns are averaging 98.9 yards rushing and 3.7 yards per carry so far this season.  If the Steelers stop the running game it will put the Browns in long passing downs which will benefit the CBs and safeties.  The Steelers will be blitzing all night long to see if Brady Quinn can handle the heat or not.  The Steelers also have to kick the ball away from Josh Cribbs or this game will be a lot closer than most experts think it will be.

PREDICTION:  STEELERS 17, BROWNS 14

The Steelers have placed themselves in the corner now by losing four straight games and now they are 6-6 on the year.  The Steelers can’t even afford to overlook the 1-11 Cleveland Browns tonight as they have lost to the Chiefs and Raiders in the last four weeks.  The team is banged up but that can’t be used as an excuse in the NFL because every team gets nicked up during the course of the year.  The Steelers still have tough games ahead against the Packers, Ravens and Dolphins so this is a must win game tonight or the season is pretty much over.

Starting CB William Gay will miss at least tomorrow’s game against the Cleveland Browns and maybe longer due to a severe concussion that he suffered last week against the Raiders.  Gay has played in 12 games for the Steelers this season and he has made 64 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumbel and he has defensed 8 passes.  The Steelers will miss him while he is out as they don’t have much depth in the secondary.

The Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6) playoff hopes are floating away as they were shocked by the Oakland Raiders (4-8) on Sunday.  The Steelers have now lost to two of the worst teams in the NFL with their loss to the Raiders and the Chiefs.  They gave up 21 points in the 4th quarter and blew a 4-point lead with less than 2 minutes to go.  The Steelers offense wasn’t terrible, and it looked like they did enough to win when Roethlisberger hit Hines Ward for an 11 yard touchdown pass with 1:56 left in the game.  Roethlisberger finished with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception while passing for 278 yards on 18/24 attempts.

The Steelers defense did not get the job done, and it was pretty embarrassing to let Bruce Gradkowski pass for 308 yards and 3 touchdowns on 20/33 passes.  They also let them rush for 109 yards as a team.  The Steelers defense made the Raiders look like a good football team, which they are not.  The Raiders were averaging less then 10 points per game going into this, so this was a very big letdown by the Steelers.  They really need to make some major adjustments if they want any chance of making the playoffs.

Ben Roethlisberger is back for the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5) this week on the road against the Oakland Raiders (3-8).  The Steelers really need to win this game and they shouldn’t have a problem doing that, especially since Big Ben is back.  Ben should do most of his work handing the ball off though, as the Raiders give up 161 rushing yards per game.  Rashard Mendenhall should be able to carry the load for the Steelers offense and I expect a big game out of him.

The Steelers defense has not been playing very well at the end of games, but hopefully for the Steelers’ sake they can build a big enough lead that it wont matter.  Bruce Gradkowski is the starting quarterback for the Raiders and he has a 66.3 QB rating this season so the Steelers defense should be able to contain him and the Raiders pathetic passing game.  Justin Fargas is the running back, and I think the Steelers stellar run-defense will shut him down.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Pittsburgh Steelers 28, Oakland Raiders 7

27-year old RB Mewelde Moore is stuck behind Rashard Mendenhall and Willie Parker on the depth chart.  With that in mind he has transformed into a jack of all trades.  He has played in all 11 games for the Steelers this season and he has carried the ball 33 times for 113 yards (3.4 ypc) and he has also caught 16 passes for 114 yards (7.1 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Moore has also returned 3 punts for 3 yards (1.0 avg) and 1 kickoff for 13 yards this year.  Moore even has thrown a pass that he completed for a 6-yard TD.  Moore will likely move up to #2 on the depth chart if he stays in Pittsburgh next season as Willie Parker is likely to walk as a free agent.