Angry

As I lie in bed late last night, trying to dodge the thumping of too many Yuenglings on my temple, I hear the familiar reverberation of my iPhone vibrating on my hardwood floor.  I look over, already knowing who the message is from.  "Angry" - read the five digits written by MP at 1:59 am.  Five drunken digits that summarized a collective feeling with more effectiveness than the vast majority of my long winded posts.  Angry was MP in LP, who witnessed in person the Steelers' epic failure in the honky tonk city last night.  Angry is he, as is all of Steeler Nation this morning, and rightfully so.  Last night's debacle was the second go-from-ahead loss to a shoddy opponent in the span of three games.  The Steelers now sit at 2-3 as they freefall further and further behind the Ravens and Bengals. One word comes to mind: unacceptable. 

Although there is more than enough blame to pass around, I'm hanging this latest embarrassment squarely on the broad shoulders of Coach Mike Tomlin and his franchise quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.  Those two can look at each other this morning and ask themselves why.

The 2012 Steelers team thus far is an undisciplined lot, playing poorly and being further hindered by bad coaching.  The mistakes and gaffes last night ranged from technique issues, scheme issues, focus issues, and strategic issues.  The fact that Tomlin opted to have rejuvenated kicker Shaun Suisham try a career long 54 yard field goal attempt with the game on the line speaks volumes about his management style and even more volumes about the state of this team.  Regardless of what Suisham did in his previous attempt, the success likelihood of the 54 yarder could not have been greater than 50/50...essentially a coin toss.  Surely Coach T could have huddled up with the franchise QB and Todd Haley, offensive genius extraordinaire, to find a single seven yard play in the book.  We all know that Tomlin is all about showing confidence in his players, but why the blind faith in a kicker and not your 102 million dollar QB? This, the quarterback that just earlier became the franchise's all time leader yardage passer, the same quarterback that the NFL Network assured us all evening that they were finally ready to permit entrance into the elite QB club?  The same QB that we all know is the master of the moment, the maestro of the fourth quarter miracle.  No, let's try the coin toss - the long field goal attempt that, if misses, puts the Titans about 20 yards outside of the range of their own kicker, one of the most prolific long bombers in NFL history.  Again, one word comes to mind: confounding.

Perhaps Tomlin's gamble was based on the faith that his defense would rise to the occasion and hold for overtime, should Suisham miss.  Three weeks ago, in Oakland, Tomlin opted to go for a fourth down deep in his own end simply because that same faith in that same defense was absent.  So, this same unit that has been victimized in crucial moments throughout the entire fall was going to hold a surging offense to under 20 yards?  Hmmm....

As I stated earlier, there is lots of blame to assign throughout Camp Steeler.  Here are my top hitters.  Feel free to comment with your own:

• There was once a time when Ike Taylor was regarded as a great corner with bad hands.  Now he's a mediocre at best corner with still bad hands.
• Keenan Lewis drops a sure interception that would have most likely been a pick six, or at least set up the offense for the game icing drive. 
• Mike Wallace - yes, he can sprint, but can he eliminate the drops?
• Dick LeBeau.  Let's go for an all out blitz with the game on the line, but let's be coy and cute about it, and drop our best pass rusher, James Harrison, off into a clear mismatched one on one with a tight end.  Really????  This is why people say that Tricky Dick has run his course.
• The entire defense - another full field TD drive in the fourth quarter.  As MP pointed out, we need to get Renegade into these road stadiums media rooms.