Checkdown Chatter

What is more obnoxious? LaMarr Woodley's sack dance, or his assertion that the Steelers' playoff hopes are being held hostage by the rest of the AFC?

I’m sure you’ve read about it by now, LaMarr Woodley is generally stating that the Patriots, Bengals and the rest of the AFC bad boys are conspiring against them to keep them out of the playoffs… if you haven’t seen the good stuff, the quotes below offer a good summary.

“All of them lay down,” Woodley said. “No one wants to see Pittsburgh in it. That’s just how it is. Everybody knows we’re a dangerous team once we get into the playoffs, no matter how we played the whole year. Once we get into the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Steelers is a playoff team.”

“Cincinnati is probably going to go into New York and lay down for the Jets and not play them hard just because they’re not going to want to see Pittsburgh in it,” Woodley said.

“We definitely wouldn’t lay down because it’s a pride thing with us,” Woodley said, “going out there winning ballgames and shutting teams down.”

Woodley gets one thing right. The Steelers could be a dangerous team in the playoffs. But, his suggestion about the AFC conspiracy of 2010 is a bit absurd. I’m sure its crossed the minds of the other coaches in the AFC that they would prefer to face the Jets in the first round of the playoffs, they are a less dangerous team… but lets look at this: both teams are presently 8-7. The Jets needed the help of the Colts to pick up their win last week, and will likely benefit from facing the Bengals who may rest players this weekend. That makes them a pretty weak playoff team, even undeserving (as Michael Silver of Y! Sports points out).

I’m with Woodley that the whole notion that teams rest their players when they have nothing left to play for is crap. I mean, its a pragmatic decision, and I understand why teams do it when seeding is all but locked up, but it doesn’t do a lot for the game. The fact that the Jets could get into the playoffs based on consecutive matchups against short staffed teams doesn’t do a lot for the competitive spirit, but its an issue that is borne out of league set up not out of any great conspiracy against the Steelers.

Pittsburgh has managed to lose to the Browns, Chiefs, and Raiders this season during a 5 game stretch of mediocrity. Had they won just one of these games against teams at the bottom of the NFL they would be in control of their own fate against the Dolphins this weekend. Now, thanks to a run of suckery that lasted almost a third of the season the Steelers will possibly miss the playoffs, with no one to blame but themselves.

Last night’s game boils down to a series of questions… the answers to which must be able to tell us why the Steelers were upset and virtually knocked out of the AFC playoffs.

• Was there a home field advantage? I don’t think so. Not in the typical sense – until last night the Browns fans found it pretty hard to get behind their team, and no one could blame them. It was cold in Cleveland, and the Browns should be used to chilly December games – but the Steelers are no stranger to this weather, in fact, they are supposed to thrive on it.
• Is Brady Quinn a better quarterback then Big Ben/did he out play Large B Monday night? No and No. The 1st question is obvious, and really, so is the last. Quinn completed less than 33% of his passes, Roethlisberger managed 56% and more than double yardage.
• Do the Browns have a better receiving corps? There were only 90 yards to go around last night, and only 4 different players caught balls for the Browns. Santonio Holmes is emerging as a very solid performer and had as many catches (6) as Quinn had pass completions, and more yards (93) than the entire Cleveland receiving offense…. so, no. There were drops galore on both sides of the ball.
• What about the run game? Mendenhall is a quality RB, but he couldn’t really get anything going last night, coming in at around 3.4 YPC. The supplmentary rushers added little excitement. Meanwhile, the Browns lead rusher left the game early, and his CFL bred replacement didn’t do much better than Mendenhall at 3.6; he did however, break a huge run for a score. Josh Cribbs led the Browns with 87 yards on just 8 carries, most of his damage coming out of the wildcat. Is the Browns ground game any better? Nah, but they performed better last night. They also had more opportunities to run.
• Special Teams? This is where I noticed a big difference last night. The Steelers were consistently pinned inside their own 20, and Cribbs broke off one huge punt return (to the opponents 10 which somehow only netted a field goal), and managed to pick up some decent yardage on most punts that he fielded. The field position battle was won handily by the Browns last night.
• Defense? The Browns came into this game ranked 32nd in the league in total defense. Absolutely dead stinking last, meanwhile the Steelers, even without Polamalu had managed to post some respectable defensive numbers (though they obviously aren’t the same without him). Last night, the Steelers held the Browns to just over 200 yards total offense, the aforementioned 30%ish completion rating, and 13 points. They played well defensively. However, the Browns – led by defensive coordinator Rob Ryan’s brazen, intelligent playcalling were all over the Steelers receivers in the secondary, and sacked Ben Roethlisberger 8 times!! It seemed like on every important snap (especially 3rd down) they were on the quarterback ready to take him down, Pittsburgh’s offense had no chance to get any rhythm going. This, unequivocally, is where the game was gone. Excellent play calling, sharp execution.

2 weeks ago following a tough loss to Baltimore with their quarterback on the sidelines, I felt very good about Pittsburgh’s playoff chances with two ‘cakewalks’ coming up against the Raiders and Browns. After dropping these two games in very different ways, the Steelers suddenly look like a team with a ton of problems.

Last night, Browns fans got their 2009 SuperBowl. While the Steelers watched theirs go up in smoke.