The Steelers are going to need some help to get into the postseason after falling at Baltimore, 20-17, on Sunday.
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The Cougars got on the board just before halftime to make it 35-7, and scored three more times before finally running out of time. I mean, BYU did have five turnovers after all, and as I mentioned earlier, Utah’s offense averaged only 3.1 yards per play.
It’s not like the Steelers were in a mood to talk about that after they fumbled away the easy path to the playoffs in Baltimore, but if they make the playoffs, all might be forgiven for that one.
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Needless to say, the sixth season might be the most epic of all when the producer put it, “we quit while we were ahead”. I said you could go for a drink of water, not a trip up the Nile”. “It was delightful but unusual at the same time”.
Either way, it’s not an enviable spot entering Week 17. “If the Jets are winning the game, it’s going to be up quite a bit because we’ll be in Cleveland’s stadium”. They took care of the ball, we didn’t.
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In 2012’s Texas Bowl against Minnesota, Jakeem Grant returned a kickoff for a score the first time Texas Tech touched the ball. Harris finished with 254 yards through the air, including four completions to deep-ball threat Malachi Dupre for 96 yards.
Pittsburgh plays at Cleveland next week.
The Steelers didn’t get the ball again until there was four seconds left. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2010.
“This is not even to sound brash, but we believed the whole time that we were going to beat them”, cornerback Jimmy Smith said. I feel like we’ve spent the entire season extolling the virtues of a healthy Pittsburgh, but the banged-up version is pretty damn good, too. I just hope we get another chance, but it disturbs me as a leader of this team. If guys don’t want to get tackled by their hair then they simply cut it. Having long hair is a risk with rewards off the field as far as fashion is concerned. Additionally, the usual veterans will get their rest as typical of this time of year.
“It’s very disappointing because we knew that if we won this game, we would be in control”, linebacker Ryan Shazier said. Let’s get as good as we can get as a football team.
Remember, the Steelers haven’t even won a playoff game since the 2010 post-season. If the Steelers miss the playoffs, they’ll have to look past the injuries and close calls against contenders. Roethlisberger didn’t look his way, though, and when we went down for a sack the Steelers comeback chances went with him. The Steelers were 2-for-8 on third downs and 0-for-2 on fourth downs. We need to play the best football we can play because it’s a journey.
Smith limited the risky Antonio Brown to 61 yards, part of a strong defensive effort that gave Baltimore with its first season sweep of its AFC North rivals since 2011.
The Steelers then settled for a field goal after an apparent 16-yard touchdown catch by Brown was overturned by a replay.
And he was right, there was plenty of blame to go around. Wheaton finished with three catches for 41 yards and Bryant only had one for six yards. If the Ravens play like they did last week in their upset of the Steelers, this game could be much closer than some expect.
RUSHING OFFENSE: B – DeAngelo Williams rushed for 100 yards on 17 carries. Quarterback and coach simply agree that if it’s the third quarter, they take the five-yard penalty.
The Steelers had been piling up points on everybody over the previous six games – 38, 30, 30, 45, 33 and 34 – and opponents in that stretch included teams ranked first (Cincinnati), third (Seattle) and fifth (Denver) defensively in the NFL. The defense allowed a reject quarterback who had been signed as a free agent only 12 days earlier to throw for a career-high 28 completions and 274 yards without an interception.
Now, I want to be clear: this is not a column calling for Mike Tomlin’s head. But Williams was stopped for no gain by Upshaw and ILB Daryl Smith and the Ravens went down and scored a touchdown.
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Really? The way the Steelers defense played? Javorious Allen ran for 48 of his 79 yards in the second half and scored on a 3-yard run to give the Ravens a 10-point lead with 10:35 remaining in the game. If the Patriots lose at the Miami Dolphins (5-10) next week, all the Bengals will have to do is defeat the Ravens at home in order to lock up home-field advantage.
