Steelers cannot claim to be among NFL elite
Then there was quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, asked on his radio show on 93.7 The Fan two days ago if he takes any stock in the “Steelers-play-down-to-the-competition” narrative.
“I think maybe people play up to us,” Roethlisberger said. Play up? Up to where? Roethlisberger makes it sound as if the Steelers are living among the NFL’s elite. Like they are a standard by which others measure themselves.
Look, maybe there’s truth to the theory that teams get extra motivated for the Steelers — likely based on the franchise’s rich history and perhaps the current team’s brash demeanor — but claiming it publicly comes off as self-serving.
It’s as if the players are saying, “We’re the team everybody circles on the schedule. We’re special”
What, the Patriots don’t get everyone’s best shot?
It almost sounds as if the Steelers are claiming to be victims of their own success, to which I would ask: What success?
The history speaks for itself. I’m not talking about the six Lombardi trophies behind glass on the South Side or Roethlisberger’s many accomplishments. I’m talking about the majority of players on this team. The current core.
I’m talking about the past five-plus years.
The Steelers since 2010 are little more than a garden-variety washout. They have to their credit — wait, let me count ’em — one playoff win since then. And they only won that game because the Cincinnati Bengals are stocked with morons. And because Rex Ryan got the Steelers into the playoffs after they lost to Ryan Mallet and the injury ravaged Ravens in Week 16.
Maybe one step toward correcting this team’s issues is for players to acknowledge their commonness as a group. And to admit that their high opinion of themselves might be part of the problem when it comes to ludicrous losses such as the one in Baltimore last season, or the one in Miami two weeks ago, or the one to Tampa Bay in 2014. Maybe it’s time for this
team to grow up. How about putting a stake in the ground 10 days from now in Baltimore? How about seizing control of your destiny?
“That’s what mature teams do,” Heyward said.
The window doesn’t stay open forever. Roethlisberger’s injuries are piling up. Most of the team’s other core players — Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, David DeCastro, Maurkice Pouncey, Marcus Gilbert, Heyward, Stephon Tuitt, Ryan Shazier, Mike Mitchell — are in their primes, which usually don’t last long in the NFL.
Win at Baltimore, and the Steelers would regain their equilibrium, not to mention full control of the AFC North with an eye toward a No. 2 seed.
Lose, and everything’s thrown into turmoil. The Steelers, a popular Super Bowl pick, would be 4-4 at the halfway mark.
Good for Heyward, I guess, for shredding the defense the other day, claiming “it was just like we quit” late in the New England game, although that really didn’t appear to be the case.
It looked to me like the short-handed Steelers fought hard. You live with that game. What you can’t live with is getting hammered by the Dolphins.
Mike Tomlin had to call timeout late in that game to rip into his defense as it wilted in the South Florida heat. And that came just three weeks after a 34-3 pratfall in Philadelphia.
You look at the resume over these past five-plus years, and you wonder: How can this team possibly believe it’s something special?