Ike Finds Atonement

Just days after his oft heralded swagger had been diminished to a highly publicized stagger, unflappable veteran cornerback Ike Taylor regained his once glorious form with a masterful shutdown performance on Sunday Night Football; a performance that was sorely needed.

After weeks of being beaten more savagely than a Romney campaign volunteer in downtown Camden, Ike re-cemented his bust atop Mount Swagmore by completely smothering A.J. Green, the feared young wide out from Cincy.  Playing with a rediscovered focus, and benefiting from a well concocted safety help scheme by defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, Taylor held the speedster/leapster Green to 8 measly yards, essentially neutralizing Cincy's vertical passing game.  Regarding defensive schemes, for those that wish to clamor and gripe this morning about the Steelers' inability to stop the early inside running of Benjarvus Green-Ellis, understand that over committing to shut down one facet of the opponent's offense comes at a cost.  The gamble was to take Green off the table, thus forcing the Bungles to dink, dunk, and run down the field, hopefully to a point in which young hotshot QB Andy Dalton would become impatient and force a mistake.

It never even came to that.  When it was all in the books, the Steelers' recently maligned defense held the kittens to well under 200 yards of total offense, and practically nothing since their 80 yard first quarter drive.  By the third quarter, Dalton was testing his sprinting skills with regularity, avoiding rushers Brett Keisel, Lamar Woodley, and others, often sailing wounded ducks out to the sidelines. The Bengals never mounted any significant threat in the second half, steadily wilting under the Zone Blitz scheme that LeBeau ran in Cincy just a decade earlier.

The offense, albeit not as stellar, more than held their own by amassing well over 400 yards and loads of ball control while playing with a patchwork offensive line and backfield stable scooped from the bottom of the depth chart.

The atonement that Ike found was shared throughout numerous stalls in the visitors' locker room last night.  Practically every sports news outlet, to include even this one, called out the Steelers to man up and perform at the level that Steeler Nation has grown to expect.  For one night, at least, they did.  They can hold their heads a little higher on this gorgeous autumn morning, as today they've all regained their swagger.

QUICK HITTERS:

• For a team celebrating the 40th anniversary of the greatest snare in NFL history, the Steelers seem to be plagued with the dropsies these days.  Add Larry Foote and Baron Batch to the growing list of butterfingers.
• Speaking of drops, what emotion do you think GM Kevin Colbert feels each time he witnesses an untimely Mike Wallace drop...frustration for the play, or satisfaction in knowing that he made the right decision to hold his ground and not hand a blank check to Wallace?  Wallace's drops are costing him dollars by the day, as he trends dangerously into the Willie Gault all feet, no hands world.  That world, by the way, is nowhere close to the universe that Larry Fitzgerald lives in.
• Can Jonathan Dwyer get more playing time?  In the short sample of games in which Tomlin has entrusted the young back with touches, he seems to have come through.