Chowderheads ...
It's that extra-annoying time of the winter in which the Steelers and Patriots meet, accounting for both the only week all year where this city's richly rewarded sports fans -- 16 all-time major championships among our three teams, with a quarter of those in the past decade -- experience their only known inferiority complex and, worse, act out on it. They accept their fate in facing Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, and a few of the weirder ones even seem to embrace it.
It's equally annoying, on an infinitely smaller scope, in that I'll get pelted with all the usual hollow barbs from one Greg Bedard about whatever column I happen to write on the subject, whether it's about Jesse James having scored an actual touchdown that didn't count, officiating in general, deflated footballs, Spygate revisited or much other legit fare that's freely discussed pretty much everywhere outside the greater Boston Mega-denial Region.
But no, seriously, I'm super-proud of what's become of Boston Sports Journal, as well as the very small part DKPittsburghSports.com had in helping it launch. We're independently owned, but we've always considered ourselves sister sites, and I'll be happy to welcome Greg back to one of the world's coolest cities, where we first met a couple years back to hatch the media operation to which you're subscribed.
As Greg has kindly done for our readers, I'll offer a primer of what to expect from these mercurial Steelers this weekend:
• The Patriots arrive at (almost) the ideal time.
Sounds nuts to suggest, given the teams' history, but there's nothing that would benefit the Steelers more after the debacle in Oakland last Sunday -- a 24-21 last-second loss to the NFL's worst team -- than to face the one opponent best capable of sharpening their focus.
The players with whom I spoke in the locker room out there almost immediately began turning the page, talking openly about how they'll have no time to wallow with the Patriots next. But this wasn't the standard such stuff. They sounded like they were eager to erase the embarrassment that had just occurred, fully aware that this fan base could forgive an awful lot with a rare success against Big Brother.
"It's about New England now, and I like it," All-Pro right guard David DeCastro told me. "Let's turn the page. Let's move on. I can't think of a better way to do that, can you?"
Nope. Not in this town.
That won't undo the damage wrought by Oakland, nor the broader three-game losing streak that's suddenly cut the Steelers' AFC North lead to a half-game over the Ravens, but it'd be a rousing start.
• No James Conner, no Le'Veon Bell means no running game.
No single facet will stand out as much about the Steelers. When Bell decided to spend his NFL season tweeting silliness from South Beach, no one in these parts minded much because Conner, the University of Pittsburgh product who'd already been a civic hero for overcoming cancer, elevated himself all the more by bulldozing his way to 909 rushing yards, 12 rushing touchdowns and the league lead in broken tackles. But he went down to an ankle injury two weeks ago and ... eh, let's just say rookie Jaylen Samuels' 28 yards on 11 carries in Oakland weren't much more impressive than your old friend Stevan Ridley's four yards on five carries.
That tied the hands of Ben Roethlisberger and offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner, to an extent, though both blew it on their own in sticking by the run far too long rather than feeding Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster, their all-universe wide receivers, who were wide open all afternoon.
Expect that to change Sunday. On both fronts.
The Steelers aren't about to abandon the run altogether. They're still the Steelers, and Mike Tomlin's as stubborn as they come. Moreover, the offensive line, one of the league's smartest and most experienced, was mostly miserable in Oakland, and that won't happen two weeks in a row.
Still ...
• That football will fly.
Brown is Brown, but Smith-Schuster's ascended to another level over the past month with 35 catches on 48 targets for 423 yards and three touchdowns. In Oakland alone, he had eight catches for 130 yards and nearly pulled out the Steelers' own version of the Miracle in Miami -- uh, sorry! -- with a late hook-and-ladder.
Smith-Schuster's an athletic freak, a beast. No one on the New England side can cover him, if only because no one anywhere can cover him. And because Brown still demands robust attention, only one team -- the Chargers two weeks ago -- have been bold enough to double him ... and they had to double both.
That's not exactly the Belichick M.O., so this will be fascinating to watch play out.
• Ben's fine.
Roethlisberger will be coming off a rib injury that forced him out of most of the second half in Oakland -- he was 25 of 29 for 282 yards and two touchdowns out there, by the way -- but he's had no issues in practice this week, by all accounts. If anything, a concern about being hit will force him to throw earlier than usual, which is a good thing for him.
So is facing Brady, believe it or not, as he's always been awed with "so much respect," as he reiterated this week but also has performed well individually in his dozen matchups with New England despite being 2-10.
Intangibly, he's got a flair for the dramatic, maybe too much so at times for some critics. He'll see a chance to deliver a big win on a big stage -- his own stage, as well -- and he'll want that responsibility in his right hand.
• This defense ... man, oh, man.
It's impossible to imagine Brady not carving up this group.
Forget the Steelers' No. 8 NFL ranking in total defense in conceding 330.8 yards per game. Forget their No. 16 ranking in conceding 23.5 points per game. Forget their No. 1 ranking with 45 sacks. None of it means a thing in light of their massive regression over the past month, in which they've given up excruciating late drives to lose and, worse, they've done it in every which way.
"Unacceptable," defensive end Cam Heyward called it, and that was woefully insufficient.
They've got one takeaway in the past four games. They aren't consistently applying pressure. They're whiffing on tackles while trying to go for big hits. And I can't even begin to describe how miserable they are in coverage, at least apart from still-terrific cornerback Joe Haden and in generally tackling the catch. The inside linebackers, in particular, have been overtasked in covering wide receivers -- hilariously so at times -- and Brady will pick apart Jon Bostic, Vince Williams and L.J. Fort and others being asked to cover.
It's inconceivable that the Patriots won't put up 30-plus. Really is.
• This coaching ... man, oh, man.
It's impossible to dispute Tomlin's body of success over his decade-long tenure. No one in the NFL has done more winning in that time other than a certain someone sporting a hoodie. But take it from someone who's covered that entire tenure: He's feeling the heat around here like never before. Worse, most of it's justified.
His familiar flaws such as poor clock management, poor timing for challenges and that stubbornness I mentioned have had all kinds of new shortcomings piling up with each passing Sunday. Most mindboggling in the ongoing losing streak was his peculiar handling of Roethlisberger's injury in Oakland, in which he ignored his franchise quarterback on the sideline after he'd returned from the rib injury and kept playing backup Josh Dobbs because, as he'd try to explain, the Steelers were "in the flow of the game."
Let's just say the in-the-flow memes have been flowing on social media and talk shows across Western Pennsylvania.
I'm no Tomlin basher. Never have been. No one wins as much as he has for this amount of time by being bad at the job. But if Tomlin can get outcoached by Jon Gruden, he'll get outcoached by a billion degrees by Belichick. Again. As will Keith Butler, the Steelers' defensive coordinator whose job would appear to be in great jeopardy.
• The kicker can't kick.
Poor Chris Boswell was so bad in Oakland -- missed field goal in the final second, missed extra point and another PAT that clanged off the right post -- that Tomlin invited kickers for tryouts and even invited back Shaun Suisham, Boswell's predecessor, just to advise the guy and maybe get him right mentally.
This has been going on all season, though, and it'd be nuts to predict a switch will get flipped just like that. Or that Tomlin will have any significant confidence in the guy.
Two-point conversions galore?
It's something Tomlin and Roethlisberger have broached before.
How the Patriots should play the Steelers (defensively): Do what the Chargers did. Take away the two big weapons, Brown and Smith-Schuster, and allow everyone else to do whatever they want. Again, I know this isn't Belichick's thing, but he's also been flexible enough to adjust. This is an offense that's got to hit those two targets to win. Vance McDonald is a quality tight end, but there's still no solid No. 3 receiving option, and Conner's absence takes away throwing out of the backfield. (Samuels is decent at this but, again, he's a rookie.)
How the Patriots should play the Steelers (offensively): Keep Brady clean. The Steelers don't do much right defensively, but they'd been effective at pressuring the quarterback until recently, and they've got the people up front -- Heyward, Stephon Tuitt and improving nose tackle Javon Hargrave -- to at least push Brady to release a split-second earlier.
Hey, I could add that they could gimmick-cover Rob Gronkowski, but we've seen as recently as last season they won't do that.
If you know someone in our area, say a polite prayer if the Steelers lose. We've got 446 bridges in Pittsburgh, more than any city in the world and yes, three times more than second-place Venice, Italy. We'll have a lot of citizens thinking a lot of bad things near those bridges come Sunday evening.
