Don’t give up the ship (just yet)
Disappointed, frustrated, bewildered, confused.
Yeah, the general range of emotions for me any day I wake up, but notably present Sunday night around 7:30.
About the only highlight from suffering through that range of emotions brought about by the Steelers crashing and burning Sunday evening was the relative ease I had driving my charges from the North Side, through the Squirrel Hill Tunnels and home, James.
(The lone hiccup on what might have been an epic post-game journey home was my EZPass not being read at Monroeville, sorry, Pittsburgh, and the hoops one has to jump through to challenge an incorrect charge. Yep, machines making my life easier.)
But, I digress.
Losing a game that was soooo close to slotting under the 鈥淲鈥� column is irritating, especially after Ben Roethlisberger鈥檚 homage to Dan Marino for the then-winning touchdown to Antonio Brown.
Of course, there was the series of befuddling and bewildering decisions to go for two-point conversions FOUR times (the first couple with the lead early in the game).
But, nonetheless, the Steelers were in position to win the game despite all the missteps. When the game came down to gut-check time, the defense burped.聽
But, fear not Steeler faithful, the Dallas loss was just the ninth game of the season, meaning Pittsburgh has seven more chances to elevate you to a 鈥淗ey, going back to work Monday ain鈥檛 so bad鈥� level or resurrect the four words in the opening.
Though sometimes it鈥檚 hard for me to live out, I do have a little saying I鈥檝e told athletes under my charge many times, especially when they blundered: 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 change the past. You can, however, control the present and prepare for the future.鈥�
Basically, saying no need to rehash what happened. Instead, use the knowledge gained from the errors and adjust accordingly.
Now, for the Steeler staff, that will be a challenge given the talent that鈥檚 not available (notably Cameron Heyward), but that鈥檚 why they are on the sidelines Sunday and I鈥檓 not.聽
Normally, the Cleaveland (they couldn鈥檛 even spell the city鈥檚 name correctly) Browns are the antacid for what ails an NFL team, given their 0-for-the-season record. Pittsburgh needs to remind the Browns early that they are a second-flight team, and Big Ben is usually the guy that does so.
Not that chewing up on the Browns鈥� defense is unusual, but Roethlisberger is 20-2 against Cleveland in his career with 97.1 QBR. He鈥檚 completed 62 percent of his passes, throwing 35 TDs to 17 interceptions.
If James Harrison gets his motor running from the outside and Sean Davis wraps up the torso instead of the facemask when he tackles, the average Steeler fan should feel pretty good about heading into the Thanksgiving week and the road game at Indianapolis on Turkey Day.
The defense will look a lot better if Ben and his offensive mates can put up a few points, and they can play ahead, instead of from behind.
(Maybe the defense should allow big gains on first and second down. Seems they are more effective on third-and-short then on third-and-more than 5 yards.)
To quote James Lawrence鈥檚 dying words during the War of 1812, 鈥淒on鈥檛 give up the ship鈥� just yet folks for it was those inspiring words that carried Oliver Hazard Perry, the namesake of Perryopolis, to say during his historic victory on Lake Erie later on in the war, 鈥淲e have met the enemy and they are ours.鈥�
Can鈥檛 get much more 鈥渆nemy鈥� than the Browns, so take their measure boys and get back into the winning column.