Cheesesteak Chernobyl: Steelers Meltdown in Philadelphia
Steelers fall 15-6 in Philly
They say hindsight is 20/20 but on Sunday afternoon in South Philly it was 15/6. This was the Broad Street Brawl I had anticipated. However the wrong defense was the bigger puncher. The wrong team landed the hardest blows to the head.
When the Steelers 2008 schedule had come out I originally had the Steelers losing this game because it was in Philadelphia. Also the Steelers would be coming off of the Cleveland game in Cleveland. Back to back road wins is difficult for anyone in the NFL. In contrast I had the Eagles losing in Dallas but coming home and sneaking by the Steelers.
After the first 2 games had been played however, I felt confident the Steelers defense had hit a stride early and were going to give the Eagles a headache. Which they did do to some degree. Conversely it seemed apparent also that the Eagles defense, formidable in its own right, had shown a soft spot in the middle of the field. It appeared to me, and still does by the way, that Brian Dawkins had lost his closing speed in pass coverage. He is still an oustanding hard hitting tackler and very good at stopping everything in front of him but I believe a wide out or talented tight end, can get behind him. Also the Eagles have problems at the other safety position when Quentin Mikell is lined up somewhere else. This is an area of the field that Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense often have success. Considering these points last week, I predicted a Steelers victory.
WRONG! The Eagles were able to play role reversal with the Steelers. What I thought would be counterpunches by the Philly defense turned out to be aggressive jabs and combinations to the Steelers interior. Especially the Pittsburgh offensive tackles. Yes Jim Johnson, defensive coordinator of the Eagles has the same petal to the metal philosophy as Dick Lebeau of Pittsburgh does, but the Eagles down lineman on defense have yet to prove they are the personnel that can execute that style. On Sunday they looked very comfortable in their role.
This also is the game that the Pittsburgh fan base had feared concerning the offensive line. Against Houston and Cleveland, the O-line was adequate and solid. They showed signs of improvement upon last years lackluster performance. Then again we all knew in the back of our minds that a real test had not presented itself yet. Making matters worse is that the Steelers even went with their bread and butter, stuff it down your throat, multi tight end formation at times and Willie Parker still got handed his lunch. Now to be honest I didn’t think Parker and the Steelers would have a great or even good day running the ball against a run blitzing Eagles defense but I did think they would have their grind it out moments throughout the contest. Philadelphia was having no part of that. Credit also the tremendous efforts of young Eagles linebackers Stewart Bradley and Omar Gaither. They looked “Pittsburgh like” on Sunday against the Steelers. They filled gaps and had great sideline to sideline coverage.
Flipping the ball over on the Eagles side, I did not foresee the Eagles running the ball well either. The Steelers showed up to give their opponent the usual busted face, that they hand their opponent most every week. (Exhibit A; Tony Hunt) But no one expects the opposing defense to outplay the Steelers defense but on this day it happened. So frankly having Westbrook go down was not going to be a factor in yards rushing in this game. I did see Westbrook being a safety valve for Donovan McNabb and lining up in the slot. I would have never expected Corell Buckhalter to facilitate the Eagles offense and make the loss of Westbrook seem somewhat meaningless. What a catch, run and hurdle he made for the Eagles touchdown! You had to respect that. And he had 10 carries for 43 yards also as a Westbrook replacement.
It was on that play that Donovan McNabb passed Ron Jaworski for most TD passes by an Eagles QB. I tip my hat to Donovan. The man has been pretty good overall thus far in his 10 year career.
Both Ben and Donovan had some nice plays but all in all neither team could throw the ball against each other. Both QB’s had a miserable 5.2/5.6 yards per attempt. The huge difference between the offenses was third down conversions. Pittsburgh was an ugly and embarrassing 2 for 13. Mix in the fact that Ben ate the turf 8 times and had no shot throughout most of the game to do anything and you therefore you have the result of only scoring 6 points on the day. That and a Mike Tomlin brain freeze that we will cover in a few minutes.
The Steelers fumbling the ball twice and throwing 2 interceptions was also a bi-product of the meltdown on offense and the outrageous pressure the Eagles put on Roethlisberger. The Eagles were made to suffer at the hands of the Steelers defense for the most part but they had a slightly better game plan. The Eagles wisely had McNabb shorten many of his drops from center and get rid of the ball faster than he usually does. (3 step drop instead of 5) Ben and the Steelers should have been prepared to do the same but they weren’t and they paid the price as a result.
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Ben and Donovan also missed a couple golden opportunities in the game because of relentless pressure and solid coverage. Neither saw the open man on a couple occasions. And Ben needed a little more distance from the ball thrown to Nate Washington that was picked off nicely by Asante’ Samuel. Samuel simply beat Washington to the highest point and snatched the ball away.
We should give a little love to Troy Polamalu and his amazing one arm interception! That was awesome. Also congratulations to Jeff Reed and his new career high 53 yard field goal. Neither are a consolation of any sort but we need to give applause when deserved.
I would be remiss also without using this game as an object lesson on the importance of special teams. Regrettably it worked against the Steelers on this day but nonetheless a star of the game, will go unnoticed by most of us, that should have been given the game ball. That was Eagles punter Save Rocca. His punting was of All-Pro caliber and influenced the game way more than the sports media will ever point out. Clearly he severely limited the opportunities the all ready struggling Steelers offense had throughout the afternoon. I swear his one punt went 75 yards in the air! It hung like a satellite in space, on top of the distance it traveled in total. Too often football fans do not realize the vital nature of field position. This was the kind of game it had even more of an impact. Every drive was crucial. So a shorter distance could have resulted in a different outcome. Of course that would always be helpful, but in a close knock down, drag out battle it is amplified even more.
I also would like to hear Mike Tomlin in his press conference come out and say “I am an idiot for not kicking the field goal at the end of the game. I apologize to all football fans around the globe.” That was a no brainer. 1) You are down 9 points. You have to score twice. 2) It doesn’t matter what order you do it in. Time was of the essence. Yes I know Leftwich was in and not Ben, but that shouldn’t matter. And yes getting an onsides kick is highly unlikely. But you have to try don’t you? Did Tomlin have a bet on the point spread of this game or something? All I know is he better not try and explain it as if there is some logical explanation. Just say “at that moment, I lost my friggin’ mind! No excuse!”
Well when it’s all said and done, we can live with 2 wins and 1loss. I wanted 4 and 1 heading into the bye week so that is still on target. This week the Steelers have an improved Baltimore team coming over for dinner at their house. Yes it is the Ravens but the Steelers will be the favorite. We will preview that clash later this week.
By Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Pittsburgh Steelers Correspondent