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 will host the Baltimore Ravens this weekend in their second match-up of the season. It will be a bone crushing, jaw rattling smash mouth game per usual in this game of rivalry.

This game not only has huge implications for play-off berths but as well will be a game of revenge for our Steelers. Our last game against the Ravens came as a loss, one that has Steeler fans and players foaming at the mouth. Last game the Ravens faced a rookie back-up in Dennis Dixon, who did not do a bad job but threw for an interception in OT to give the Ravens a 20-17 win.

This game should be a little different because our veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be playing. Things to watch for in this game will be the amount of turnovers, and which team has the least amount of mistakes..

Big Bens' record against the Ravens is 6-2 and after this weekend I expect another win for him.

This game should be all that as fans we can ask for, with two teams whose hatred for one another is epic. Stats mean nothing because the players on both teams do not like each other. This game gives the Ravens the opportunity to own the trash talking until 2010, yet getting passed our Steelers will not be easy. Our Steelers will be ready to fight back and take out their aggressions of recent losses against a much heated rival.

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

After losing five in a row, our Steelers need a miracle to reach the playoffs one season after winning the Super Bowl. They have shown a true inability to beat bad teams, losing to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns.

Defeating the Green Bay Packers could help to give them a shot at still making the play-offs.

There has been a lack of passion in their play, the intensity you normally see with our Steelers has vanished.

This game will be a game of pride, a game to hopefully regain some self-respect.

"The emphasis for me and my guys is not to ‘Hang in there,' " coach Mike Tomlin said. "Adversity is as much a part of this game as blocking and tackling. It's important that we keep that in perspective, and the perspective is we haven't played much winning football."

Steelers safety Ryan Clark says  "fans are too critical of a team that won a Super Bowl only 10 months ago."

What does he expect? Fans are use to a winning team and not the poor display of football they have seen thus far this season.

Depending on what kind of game the Steelers play on Sunday will determine the response this team will likely receieve from Steeler's Nation.

"I know there's a certain level of anger and frustration and disappointment with where we are," Tomlin said. "The big thing is that we use that as fuel and we mold that into a winning-caliber performance."

Let's hope coach Tomlin is correct in his comments. We as fans could sure use a victory as could our guys on the field.

As always, Here We Go!!!

by Ramona Dye

After a loss to the Raiders this past Sunday at home, our Steelers have lost four in a row and now stand at 6-6 with our hopes for a wild-card spot on shaky ground.

With seven teams in the wild-card mix, our Steelers will likely need to win out to have even a chance at securing a playoff spot.

Traveling to Cleveland on Thursday, this is a must win game for our Steelers but I am starting to think that our Steelers team does not have what it takes. They seem to lack the will and the drive to get them to the post season this year.

Some fans will use the term Super Bowl hangover, or injuries or a numerous other excuses. But I see it as a lack of will, no fire in their guts and yes, I am ashamed of their play thus far.

Look, I will always be a Pittsburgh Steeler fan but I will always be honest in what I see happening on the field and off.

I see a lack of preparations for the teams we have lost to during this season. I see issues with our coaching staff, communication problems between coaching staff and team players, bad play calls, poor team play, and injuries.

I can only hope coach Tomlin can get this team prepared to finish our last four games, starting with the Cleveland Browns.

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

This match-up is almost a "must win" for our Steelers. Going into this game with a 6-5 record this season, our Steelers really need to win out to keep the playoff hopes alive.

A little history on our match-ups against the Raiders.

Pittsburgh has an 8-9 record all-time against the Oakland Raiders in the regular season, including a 4-4 mark at home and a 4-5 record on the road.

This will be Oakland’s first trip to Pittsburgh since our Steelers defeated the Raiders, 24-21, on September 12, 2004, in the season opener.

That win, along with a 27-7 victory over Oakland on December 7, 2003 at Heinz Field, gives our Steelers a two-game home winning streak over the Raiders.

Pittsburgh has won three of the past four games over Oakland in Pittsburgh. Oakland defeated our Steelers, 20-13, on Oct. 29, 2006 in the most recent match-up between our teams.

Ben Roethlisberger passed for 301 yards in that game, but also threw a career-high four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns.

Our Steelers have a 5-2 record against the Raiders since the start of the Free Agency Era in 1993.

With 46 tackles in eight career games against the Raiders, LB James Farrior has averaged 5.75 tackles per game against Oakland, including two performances with ten or more tackles in 2006 and 2001.

Hines Ward has caught 30 career passes against the Raiders for 375 yards with two touchdowns in five games.

Our Steelers look to improve to 9-9 all-time versus the Oakland Raiders in the regular season

and 5-4 all-time versus the Raiders at home.

Steelers look to improve to 3-1 against the Raiders at Heinz Field and 5-1 at home this year.

Hopefully our Steelers can snap a current three-game losing streak with a win over the Raiders this Sunday.

until then....

As always, Here We Go!!!