The Pittsburgh Steelers head off to Sin City to take on the Las Vegas Raiders (that still sounds odd) in search of a victory and something even more important.
Their offense.
It’s been nothing short of a sinking ship, a lost ark, a relic of some incalculable potential that has been buried deep, deep, deep in the ground, and for some time.
In fact, scoring points has been out of fashion ever since…well…right about the time Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada was given his official coaching highchair, sippy cup, and Ziploc bag full of Cheerios.
To his defense (although don’t say the word “defense” too loudly) the Steelers offense haven’t experienced days of glory since the Killer B’s of Ben, Bell, Bryant, and Brown buzzed out of town.
Wait, Mr. Grumpy Face. Didn’t the Steelers win last week?
Yes. In a befuddlement of the highest order, the Steelers managed to eke out a squeaker in last Monday’s stumbling, bumbling affair against the Cleveland Browns by a score of 26-22.
You would think the incredible performances of the dazzling duo of premiere quarterback rushers T.J. Watt and his recently wealth-stricken cohort Alex Highsmith would be enough for us to cough up some exuberance.
Yet, great defense you say?
Pittsburgh surrendered in excess of four hundred yards packed full of blades of grass to an offense currently run by a radically overpriced quarterback who actually is performing poorer than Kenny Pickett. Not easy to do.
The Steelers defense gave up 198 yards on the ground which by all traditional Steelers metrics is crapo-mattico.
This here are the facts served up raw and wriggling. If Nick Chubb hadn’t gone down with a horrendous injury in the first half, I don’t see the Steelers winning that game.
Do you?
But we haven’t been overly proud for a long time. We’ll take the win, thank you very much sir. 1-1. Right at the “non-losing” season target we strive for so heavily towards these days.
Can we take this mucky cluster of opening season mediocrity and somehow transform it into a glorious marbled sculpture of legitimate contention? Or is it yet another year of “No soup for you” when it comes to postseason joy?
Grab a spoon with hopeful expectation. Let’s give it a Spin.
Great Comeback
Starting off the regular season with a gobsmacking by the San Francisco 49’ers was bad enough. Having 49’ers fans paint Acrisure Stadium red with enemy jerseys in Pittsburgh…now that was sacrilege! That there is holy ground you stepped on.
I’ll be honest. I was concerned about this Cleveland Browns game. I figured that after the 49’ers debacle if the Steelers season ticket holders followed that up by hocking their tickets to Dog Pounders…then the Dynasty Redux Dream was truly over.
We can survive hangovers from losing games, and even bounce back from losing seasons. But, when Steelers Nation loses its bearing, and becomes just another plain wrap fanbase indistinguishable from 31 other Zombie herds of NFL fairweatherers, then all our best days are in the past.
Fortunately, the end was not upon us, and I’m sure we were all relieved to see the stands filled with Terrible Towel waving faithful. Sure, there were a few UPS drivers strewn throughout the masses, but for the most part it was amber waves of Black and Gold.
So. Well played Steelers Nation. Great comeback.
An even prouder moment, however, was after Nick Chubb went down. As he was being carted off the field, Steelers fans stood up and displayed true class by chanting, “Chubb, Chubb, Chubb” in tribute to the fallen warrior, who is one of the more talented and high-character players in the league.
I’m an out of towner, but the few times I’ve been blessed to see a home game in Pittsburgh, I’ve been amazed by the civility of Steelers fans. Not only was I welcomed warmly into pretty much any tailgate party because of my Steelers jersey, I was equally impressed with how charitable fans were even to those wearing opposing colors.
This was not the case when I attended an away game in Oakland, California where…let me tell you…I thought I was going to get murdered.
It’s good to call Steelers Nation home. There’s no place like home. Let’s keep it that way.
West Coast Of The Nation
I’m a West Coast Steelers fan. I was never alone out here. We almost always occupied more than 30 percent of away stadiums.
In my youth, I would watch them play in Jack Murphy Stadium against the San Diego Chargers during the Air Coryell years. There were plenty of us Steelers fans hoping Dan Fouts wouldn’t light us up, but in the 80’s we went home sad more often than not.
I had press passes when I saw them play at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in the 90’s and passed by Myron Cope when we both exchanged a head shake of disappointment after a Steelers loss that day.
I was there to see a rookie by the name of Jerome Bettis trounce all over the Steelers at the old Los Angeles Coliseum. Terrible seats though. They actually charged me to sit behind a massive concrete beam.
Been up in Seattle to watch the Steelers…yet again…to lose to the home team. Now, those are some real fans up in Washington. That place was rocking.
And…I’ve been to see them play against the 49’ers at Candlestick Park. Another loss. The Steelers were never good at West Coast games.
I share all of this to say that with the rare exception of Seattle, West Coast fans are awful. Even in losses, we always “out-fanned” the home crowds.
As frustrating as losing can be. As disappointing as entire seasons of “barely above the line” performances can be, we must always be Steelers fans.
Never again should our home stadium be breeched like it was against the Niners.
Never.
But we can complain. So…let’s continue.
The Beholder’s Eyes
The Steelers win against the Browns was another one of head shaking bewilderment. We’ve been bobblehead fans for years now, shaking our heads and going, “What is happening?” throughout the play of most of the games.
It seems like, for years now, even when we win, the postgame press conferences repeat the same line over and over and over again.
It was ugly…but at least it was a win.
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, when do we get our chance to behold it?
I don’t know about you, but I like beautiful things. I’m tired of ugly.
Winning ugly is fine…I suppose…on occasion. But if ugly are the only wins we’re getting, at some point someone needs to be accountable for “general ugliness” being the best we can do.
Folks. Ugly is no longer acceptable. We want pretty and pretty much all of the time.
Let’s start racking up some wins of the highest levels of artistic brilliance.
Scheme Me Up, Scotty
Clearly Matt Canada is only about three more jet sweeps shy of having U-Haul trucks parked in his driveway.
Yet, he’s not the only one collecting grief like Pet Rocks.
Apparently, the Kenny Pickett bandwagon came equipped with plenty of fire escapes, because there were more than a few Tweety Bird posts saying, “It’s time for Mitch”.
What’s next? Calls for Kent Graham, Bubby Brister or Mark Malone to save the day for Pittsburgh?
It’s true that Pickett hasn’t looked professional grade since the games started counting this year. It’s also valid to say his passing accuracy and quality decision making needs to be pictured on the side of a milk carton.
But it’s way, way too premature to evaluate his future as this team’s future quarterback unless you’re grading it heavily on the Canada Curve.
A running game is a young quarterback’s best friend, and because of the lack of this good friend so far, Kenny has been a lonely boy.
Secondly, although he has repeatedly forced the ball into overly tight situations, it’s because in most cases, overly tight situations are the only ones available.
This offense is not being schemed to promote his ultimate success. In fact, it doesn’t appear to be fooling anyone. Defenses seem to know the plays better than the Steelers offense.
It truly looks like the Steelers playbook is being distributed out to the opposing team like it’s a gift in a Happy Meal at McDonald’s
The bottom line is there is no way to evaluate Pickett fairly while this offense is being coached this poorly.
Perhaps the Steelers aren’t as loaded with offensive weapons as are some of the elite teams in the league.
But this is not a talent issue. This team is being flat outcoached on offense.
And because Coach Mike Tomlin didn’t fix this two years ago, and refused to do so this offseason, he’s being outcoached as well.
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
After two games, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves close to the bottom for nearly all the statistics that matter for both offense and defense.
They haven’t been able to defend against the pass and have been particularly poor against the run. Their offense is lacking in all areas unless you’re counting frequency of exiting the field of play after third downs.
This is a team desperate to find itself and self-discovery might just be provided in the form of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Raiders are not necessarily a bad team, but they aren’t the 49’ers either.
The Steelers have a golden opportunity this weekend to prove all isn’t lost already for this season. They can reclaim some of the hope and optimism that was overflowing in the preseason.
Make the mirage real again, will you?
This game will come down to two players: Najee Harris and Josh Jacobs.
Jacobs was considered to be among the league’s top running backs last season and Harris is still believed to have potential to rise high among the ranks himself.
Neither have played well this year. Neither have had the blocking support to do well.
The win will be decided by which one of those two players has the better day.
And when you’re the Steelers, beating the Raiders always makes for a better day. Let’s hope there are many better days ahead this season.
