Steelers Midseason

You can hate Tom Brady, but goddamn the guy can throw a football. And he's got dreamy hair.

Pass coverage has never been a strong point for the Steelers defense, which has traditionally depended on the blitz against the passing game. This makes the decision to drop their pass rushers into coverage on almost every play hard to understand, by which I mean really fucking stupid. Brady had all the time in the world to find recievers, who were always open anyway. Actually, both squads were plagued by dropped passes, but for the Pats these came mostly on bullshit checkdowns long after they'd established a dominant lead. For the Steelers, they came in the end zone. I actually thought Roethlisberger looked okay, if as ugly as ever; it was his wide outs who absolutely stunk up the joint, second only to a mostly second-string O-line that was positively manhandled by the Patriots rush, which sacked Big Ben 137 times. The Steelers also continued their inspired practice of injuring 40 players per game, while the league continues not penalizing the supposedly illegal helmet-led hit, although the bill's in the mail.

They did not look like the 6-2 team that they were, like the 7-2 team that they wanted to be, nor even like the 6-3 team that they are. They looked like last year's mediocre squad, with the exception of Jeff Reed, who looked like he'd been tailgaiting.