STEELERS BLACK -N- GOLD POST
A Pittsburgh Steelers Blog from the heart of Steelers Nation.

by Ramona Dye

Our Steelers averted a fourth-quarter collapse in hopes to extend the season, It ended three hours later.

Our Steelers defense sent two of the Miami Dolphins quarterbacks to the sidelines, including Pat White with a head injury, and beat the Dolphins 30-24 Sunday.

Little good that did considering the fact that our Steelers 9-7 were eliminated when the Ravens clinched an AFC wild-card berth by winning at Oakland, 21-13.

“I’d rather we go out with a win than a loss."

                                         -Ben Roethlisberger

Our teams undoing was due to losses to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns in a span of 19 days during a late-season five-game losing streak.

“We didn’t do what we were supposed to do and take care of our business” “Therefore we have to suffer with what happens.”

                                           -Santonio Holmes

The Miami Dolphins trailed 27-10 before Tyler Thigpen led touchdown drives on his first two series.

“It irritates the heck out of you, but I didn’t sense a great deal of panic. The guys made the necessary plays to keep us in it.”

                                           - coach Mike Tomlin

With about 6 minutes left and the score 27-24, Joey Porter recovered a Roethlisberger fumble on a sack at our Steelers 13 to give Miami a chance to take the lead but Thigpen was intercepted by Ryan Clark at the 2.

Roethlisberger was favoring his throwing arm during our next possession, but he led Pittsburgh on a 14-play, 83-yard drive. It ended with a Jeff Reed field goal for a 30-24 lead with only forty seconds left.

Ike Taylor intercepted Thigpen on Miami’s next play to end the game.

“We finished the season the way we were supposed to”

                                          -Santonio Homes

“There are a lot of teams that are capable of going 6-10 facing the circumstances this group was faced with, They knuckled down, they hung together. They did the best of their ability to fix it. We won the last three ball games and gave ourselves a chance.”

                                          -coach Mike Tomlin

The Steelers added 202 yards rushing and held Ricky Williams to 31 yards. The defense came up with three interceptions. Roethlisberger finished with 3 touchdown passes by throwing 5 yards to Holmes, 54 yards to Mike Wallace and 3 yards to Heath Miller. Roethlisberger passed for 220 yards and ended the season at 4,328.

Well, I must say this season has been a complete let down after our Steelers winning last seasons Super Bowl. Injuries, loss of players and a multitude of other coaching complications hurt this Steelers team.

Hopefully we will see some big changes come next season, coaching staff and players alike. One thing is for sure, our beloved Steelers will not be down for long and I would watch out for this team next year. They will come to the battles of 2010 like a pack of vicious wolves ready to revenge themselves, the franchise and their fans!

As always, Here We Go!!!

by Ramona Dye

Our Steelers finally preserved a fourth-quarter lead, beating one of our rivals Baltimore Ravens 23-20 on Sunday.

While our Steelers are at 8-7, with our season seemingly ended by a five game losing streak and followed by a last-second 37-36 victory over Green Bay Packers and another close victory over the rival Baltimore Ravens.

"It's been do or die for us for a while, fighting to the last minute. We're like the cardiac kids''

                                   -Ben Roethlisberger

We know our defense has been struggling to stop teams at the end of the game, and this was big for us,' ''Hopefully it will carry over and we'll have teams do what need to do and we can get into the dance, because that's the ultimate goal.''

                                    -James Farrior 

Ben threw a touchdown pass making him the first Steelers quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season.

Our Steelers have lost six leads in the last quarter during a season marked by wins over the Chargers, Ravens,Vikings, Packers and Broncos, who are all contenders for the play-offs. Along with losses to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns.

Now, with our final regular season game at Miami our Steelers will have some reasons to win and show their pride in the franchise, although we could win and still be eliminated from the play-off race.

As always, Here We Go!!!

by Ramona Dye

Roethlisberger ended the game the way he started it by throwing a 19 yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace that gave Pittsburgh a 37-36 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday that ended the Packers' five-game winning streak and the Steelers' five-game losing streak.

"The way the game ended was incredible, especially that last play," center Justin Hartwig said, comparing the last play of the game to Roethlisberger's 6-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes that beat Arizona for the NFL title last season. "It was obviously pretty reminiscent of the Super Bowl."

Roethlisberger was 29/46 with three TDs and 503 yards passing while becoming the first Steelers quarterback to throw for 500 yards in a game.

One the final drive of the game Big Ben kept our Steelers on the move with an 86 yard drive.

Down to the last play, Big Ben found Wallace open in the left front corner of the end zone with Josh Bell in coverage. Wallace managed to keep both feet in on the play and Jeff Reed added the extra point to go ahead of the Packers 37-36.

Roethlisberger broke a team record of 473 yards set by Tommy Maddox during a 34-34 tie against Atlanta in 2002.

Bens 503 yard game is a NFL league season high.

"The guys were coming back to the huddle worn out, linemen, receivers, everybody," Roethlisberger said. "We didn't quit. Everybody believed we could do it."

Wallace had to get stitches due to a gash in his knee just prior to the last play of the game.

"It was kind of hard to run," Wallace said. "But that's just Ben. That's all I can say. That's just Ben."

Wallace also caught a 60 yard touchdown pass on Pittsburgh's first play of the game.

Our Steelers join five other AFC teams tied at 7-7 in the chase for the AFC's last playoff spot.

"Not dead yet," coach Mike Tomlin said. "We've got a little pulse here."

This game featured nearly 900 yards passing. Roethlisberger was 29/46, 503 yards passing, 3 TDs and Rodgers was 26/48, 383 yards passing, 3 TDs.

There is still some hope for our Steelers to make the play-offs, first of which means our Steelers must win out against a division rival Baltimore Ravens next Sunday and the Miami Dolphins week 17.

There is more we need to happen for our play-off hopes to stay alive, we need the Jets and Jaguars to drop at least one of their last two games. We need the Philadelphia Eagles to beat the Denver Broncos this coming weekend and possibly the Oakland Raiders to beat the Ravens.

As always, Here We Go!!!

by Ramona Dye

In a season full of bad play calls and injuries, The Cleveland Browns finall beat our Steelers after a 12 game losing streak.

Joshua Cribbs and the Browns defense were able to stop our Steelers. Cribbs had 87 yards rushing, 104 yards on kickoff and punt returns and 9 yards receiving.

The Browns defense brought down Roethlisberger eight times, including five times on third down.

The game was over when Ben Roethlisberger's pass on fourth and 6 was batted away with 1:48 remaining and our Steelers trailing 13-6. The Browns were then able to run out nearly the rest of the clock en route to an upset win.

Our Steelers have lost five straight games for the first time since 2003.

As always, here We Go!!!

by Ramona Dye

After three quarters in which there was very little scoring, our Steelers led 10-6 at the end of the third.

The fourth quarter suddenly become a back and forth duel between two revived offenses in which the lead changed five times in the final eight and a half minutes.

Our Steelers, in danger of missing the playoffs, went ahead 24-20 on Ben Roethlisberger's 11 yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward with almost two minutes remaining in the game. Unfortunately the Raiders were not done.

Raiders wide receiver, Louis Murphy caught an 11 yard touchdown pass from Bruce Gradkowski with nine seconds remaining, his second score in the fourth quarter.

The Oakland Raiders scored three late touchdowns in the fourth quarter dealing our Steelers their fourth straight loss  27-24 on Sunday.

Next week we will face the Cleveland Browns in a division game on the road. Our playoff hopes are definitely close to an end and a loss to Cleveland would be like putting the nails in the coffin.

As always, Here We Go!!!

by Ramona Dye

As Ben Roethlisberger looked on from the sidelines in full uniform, Dennis Dixon started for our Steelers. Dixon had thrown only one pass in two seasons before getting the start against the Ravens due in point to a concussion suffered by Roethlisberger in last weeks Chiefs game.

Dixon did a good job for his first start in such a high priority game. He threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes, and even added a score of his own, running for a 24 yard touchdown to put our Steelers up 17-14 in the fourth quarter.

However, in overtime Dixon's one turnover gave the Ravens the win and sent our Steelers to their third straight loss, our longest losing streak since a three-game run in 2006.

Paul Kruger picked off the pass and returned it 26 yards to the Pittsburgh 28, six plays later Raven's kicker Billy Cundiff delivered the game winning field goal in the Raven's first overtime win since November 2005 against our very own Steelers.

Our Steelers last two losses have come in overtime. Dixon went 12 for 26 for 145 yards, and Rashard Mendenhall went 95 yards on 24 carries.

Hoping to keep our playoff dreams alive, we will face off against the Oakland Raiders next week at home. Hopefully our Steelers can pull together a win. If we can win out maybe our season can be saved.

As always, Here We Go!!!

by Ramona Dye

The Bengals beat our Steelers in our own stadium, relying on a defense that had four sacks and one interception and continous pressure on Big Ben.

A team who is not known for stopping the run kept the running offense to only eighty total yards rushing. Rashard Mendenhall had 36 total yards on 13 attempts against Bengals defense with a combined 21 yards on 2 carries from Mewelde Moore.

Did Cincinnati's defense step up and stop the run? No, for some reason our Steelers went away from our running game and only totaled a collective 15 running plays against their AFC North foes.

Some people may want to blow smoke up others asses but I am here to say, this game was called horribly. The coaching staff and Big Ben let Steeler Nation and their own teammates down.

The post game interview with Roethlisberger had Big Ben saying that he felt out of sync all day. Really? with homefield advantage?

Guess that excuse is as good as any, right? WRONG....Even Santonio Holmes disputed Ben's comments that our Steelers had "something missing" during the 18-12 loss that moved Cincinnati ahead of our Steelers in the AFC race.

According to Santonio Holmes, the problem was that the Steelers didn't finish the drives they had, settling four times for field goals, not that they couldn't find their game.

"How could we not find a rhythm when we drove the ball all the way down the field?" "We just didn't put up points on the board."

                                    ~Santonio Holmes

Our Steelers' 226 yards, 146 passing and 80 rushing were only 19 fewer than their lowest offensive production at Heinz Field, 207 yards against Washington in 2004.

Was Cincinnati's defense that good? NO...When you have a running game that is being productive and the score of the game is as close as it was all day on Sunday, how can you not run the ball down your opponents throats?

"There was just something missing all day, and I don't know what it was," Roethlisberger said. "Something was weird about the day. I don't know if it was the (mid-60s) weather in November or what it was. Even the crowd at the beginning — everything was just kind of different. No excuse."

Absolutely, no excuse!

Holmes who had 7 catches for 88 yards had a decent day so maybe that is why he sees the outcome of this game differently. As do I!

To Holmes, it would have helped if the Steelers had run the ball more. Rashard Mendenhall was coming off a 155 yard game against Denver, but he was limited to 13 carries for 36 yards.

"The last game (in Denver) those big plays opened up for us," because the Steelers ran the ball effectively, Holmes said.

Holmes, the 2008 Super Bowl MVP, also offered this suggestion: "Get the ball to the playmakers." In which I completely agree.

Left tackle Max Starks also thought we should have ran more than 18 times, which was the fifth fewest carries the Steelers have had in any game since 2001. 

"I'm going to say yes all the way. But that's not the game plan that they saw from what the (the Bengals) were giving us," Starks said. "You look at a team and see what the weaknesses are and try to attack those weaknesses."

Our Steeler who have slipped to No. 17 in rushing will most likely run against their next opponents who are 26th in rushing defense.

My question is, why in hell we did not run the ball more against a team who we ran 102 yards against in our first match-up.

You ask, am I disappointed? Yes, completely. How do you allow an opponent to come into your own house and beat you with a return touchdown and four field goals.

The Bengals swept the season series with our Steelers for the first time since 1998. Cincinnati is 5-0 vs. division opponents and 4-0 on the road this season. Pittsburgh's loss ends a five game winning streak, it was also our team's first loss at home this season.

Our Steelers have allowed three kickoff returns for touchdowns in their last four games. With some changes to our special teams, hopefully they can start playing better ball.

Our next match-up comes against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, November 22, 2009

As always, Here We Go!!!