AFC North: Steelers Hurting, Even in Victory
Sports Network | September 30, 2008
(Sports Network) - The Pittsburgh Steelers won a battle on Monday night, coming back from a double-digit halftime deficit to defeat the rejuvenated Baltimore Ravens, 23-20, in overtime.
That said, they may have made it more difficult for themselves in the quest to claim victory in the larger war.
A team that was already minus running back Willie Parker (knee) and nose tackle Casey Hampton (groin) for an undetermined amount of time, lost first- round running back Rashard Mendenhall (shoulder) and starting guard Kendall Simmons (Achilles) for the year in the victory. Third running back Carey Davis, pressed into action due to the injuries to Parker and Mendenhall, left the game in the fourth quarter with a sprained ankle. Backup linebacker Andre Frazier was carted off the field after the opening kickoff when he suffered a spinal injury, though Frazier was seen walking around the locker room after the win.
The truth for the Steelers hurts, quite literally.
Yes, Pittsburgh managed to outlast a Baltimore team playing a rookie quarterback in his first career road start. The Steelers now own first place in the AFC North by a half-game over the Ravens. But the calendar hasn't even flipped to October yet, and the biggest storylines for Mike Tomlin's club are flaws and injuries.
The biggest flaw - pass protection - had been exposed in a loss to the Eagles in Week 3 and was underscored against the Ravens.
Ben Roethlisberger was sacked only three times but faced frequent pressure and was able to move the Steelers offense only sporadically. Big Ben didn't get much help from the running game, with Mendenhall, Davis, and Mewelde Moore combining for 58 yards on 25 carries (2.3 yards per attempt).
Even when Parker returns (and that's unlikely to happen before the team's trip to Cincinnati on Oct. 19), the loss of Simmons for the year isn't going to help an offense that amassed only 11 first downs on Monday to move at any more than its current glacial pace.
The Steelers won Monday's game with defense, specifically in the way they attacked young Baltimore signal-caller Joe Flacco. Flacco was sacked five times in the game, including a combined four for outside linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley, and made the biggest mistake of the night when his third-quarter fumble was scooped up by Woodley for a tide-turning seven- yard touchdown return.
That type of defensive aggression will continue to be Pittsburgh's prescription for success, but not every opposing quarterback is going to be as inexperienced as Flacco, who in spite of his failings was able to throw his first career touchdown pass and inspire a big night for wideout Derrick Mason (8 receptions, 137 yards). With Hampton out of the lineup, Baltimore running backs Willis McGahee and LeRon McClain combined for over 100 ground yards.
The Steelers will continue to play a physical brand of football, but in light of the current situation, and noting the way injuries impacted their 3-5 finish to 2007, can this team be expected to make it to the finish line with all of its collective limbs intact?
After the big division win, Tomlin didn't sound overly concerned.
"We have some injuries that we need to deal with," said Tomlin. "That is a part of football and we will. Our standard of expectation won't change...It is only devastating if you allow it to be. We are a team and we are a team for a reason. People are not concerned with our problems; they are probably happy that we have them. We will address them and we will get ready to go play."
BENGALS: The Steelers aren't the only team in the North contending with major injury concerns, though unlike Pittsburgh, the Cincinnati Bengals don't have a 3-1 record to help ease the pain.
No, the Bengals are one of four NFL teams that did not manage a win in September, and are now facing the possibility of being without quarterback Carson Palmer for an extended period of time.
Palmer missed Sunday's 20-12 loss to the Cleveland Browns with an elbow injury, and didn't say with anything resembling certainty that he would play this week in Dallas.
"I'm preparing to play and start until I get word from the doctors," said Palmer on Monday. "If they don't want me to play, I won't play," he said. "[The elbow is] not correct. It's not 100 percent."
On Tuesday, Palmer insisted that he would play, though head coach Marvin Lewis did not echo his quarterback's optimism.
"There is a possibility he could play Sunday," said Lewis.
Though Palmer's potential absence isn't going to be viewed as an indication that the Bengals are primed to rise from their current abyss, the unspoken reality is that backup Ryan Fitzpatrick just might be the better option at this stage.
The woefully disappointing Cincinnati line has done a poor job of pass protection thus far, and the mobile Fitzpatrick gives the Bengals a scrambling element that they simply don't possess with the plodding Palmer in the lineup.
The Harvard product's first Bengals start was not a particularly memorable one, as he completed 21-of-35 passes for 156 yards with three sacks absorbed, a touchdown, and four turnovers (three INT, one fumble) in the brutal-to-watch defeat. But Fitzpatrick also led Cincinnati with 41 rushing yards on the day, and did enable wideout Chad Ocho Cinco to catch his long-overdue first touchdown of the year.
In all, the ex-Ram did enough to earn himself another start if needed, not that the Bengals have another viable option at this stage.
"I don't think anybody has a clue what's going on, starting with Carson," said Fitzpatrick of the QB situation. "We'll get it figured out. Until I'm told differently, I have to approach the game like I'm a starter."
BROWNS: Cleveland head coach Romeo Crennel had a natural opportunity to bench quarterback Derek Anderson when the team's offensive woes led directly to an 0-3 start, but stuck with the 2007 Pro Bowler over former first-round pick Brady Quinn.
Crennel could have pulled Anderson again at halftime of the team's game against the Bengals on Sunday, when Cleveland was trailing 6-3 and looked no closer to breaking out of its September-long offensive slump.
But Crennel again refused to bench Anderson, and that decision paid off in the club's first win of the year. Arguably.
Yes, the Browns scored 17 fourth-quarter points to emerge with the win, and Anderson also put together a fine 13-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with a four-yard touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards that put Cleveland ahead to stay. But the team's other 10 points in the final frame came off of short fields, and Anderson's stat line for the day (15-of-24, 138 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) didn't exactly mobilize the folks from Canton to start working on that bust.
Anderson earned himself at least one more start, which will come after the Browns' bye against the Giants on Monday, Oct. 13, but it's entirely possible that Cleveland missed an opportunity to get its quarterback of the future some important, confidence-building reps against Cincinnati's marginal defense.
For their part, the team braintrust of Crennel and general manager Phil Savage are standing behind Anderson.
"We discuss all personnel, which we'll do," Crennel said on Monday. "But right now Anderson is the starter and (Brady) Quinn will be ready. It's the same thing I told you last week."
Said Savage, "You don't go blowing things up after a couple games. We had a dry spell there for the first couple weeks, but you are not going to do it and be successful in this league doing that."
"Sometimes the people that put you in these positions, you have got to give them a chance to pull you out of these situations as well," added Savage. "I think we have great confidence in D.A. I think the players in the locker room have confidence in D.A. and that's why we are in charge of putting the team out there and trying to run the team."
RAVENS: When Willis McGahee was sidelined with a knee injury in the preseason, and then into Week 1 of the regular season, it looked like Le'Ron McClain was something of a stopgap.
The converted fullback carried 19 times for 86 yards in a Week 1 win over soft Cincinnati, but it seemed certain that his touches would take a major hit when McGahee returned to the lineup.
But McClain remained a major offensive factor for Baltimore in its Week 3 triumph over Cleveland, scoring his first two NFL touchdowns and getting 18 offensive touches to McGahee's 16.
On Monday in Pittsburgh, the Alabama product got his number called frequently yet again, touching the ball 19 times for 89 yards and scoring a game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Obviously, Baltimore offensive coordinator Cam Cameron likes the idea of sending a 260-pound bowling ball of a back hurling himself at opposing front sevens, and even with McGahee back, McClain's role as the Ravens' primary load-carrier isn't going to expire in the near future.
"When I talked to Coach Cameron, when [he] got hired and [I] was back at home, he was telling me, 'Don't put yourself in that box of being a fullback, you're a great back," said McClain last week. "Always think 'fullback first, tailback second.' That's my motto to the game - fullback, fullback, fullback. When I get a chance to tote the rock, just go into that mindset of towing the rock."
