Commentary
Defense and special teams are Steelers’ real problems PITTSBURGH – Once the ambulance rolled onto the field for Tommy Maddox, football issues weren’t even on the radar screen last Sunday.
The concern was for the health of Maddox, who is a son, husband and father, roles all much more important than his temporary work as the Steelers quarterback.
Football comes and goes quickly but players pay a steep price for their participation. For several frightening minutes on Sunday, there were fears that Maddox had been dealt a disabling injury. On Tuesday the doctors said he sustained no long-term physical damage and that he’ll able to return to his job and – more importantly – live a normal life.
So that takes us back to football, and the Steelers haven’t been playing the game particularly well lately. Fresh from their fourth-quarter collapse that let the Atlanta Falcons make up 17 points in seven minutes and turn a loss into a tie, the Steelers lost at Tennessee.
They did little after the first play, a long touchdown pass from Maddox to Hines Ward. The Steelers rallied late under Kordell Stewart, but those points came at a point when the Titans were protecting a big lead and conceding yardage.
While the focus has been on the quarterback issue, the real problems are on defense and special teams.
Special teams, of course, were a big issue last year. The Steelers lost the AFC Championship game to New England in large part because of special teams failures.
But defense? That was supposed to be a strength of this team. Except for linebacker Earl Holmes, who signed with Cleveland as a free agent, the group is essentially the same as it was last year. The Steelers haven’t had significant injuries on defense. Yet they’re obviously not doing the job. There’s less pressure on the quarterbacks, more time to throw and more big plays.
The Steelers’ inability to stop teams on third downs is a huge problem. The defense stays on the field too long. Poor tackling has been a season-long issue. Atlanta’s Warrick Dunn slipped through three tackles on the way to a long touchdown run against the Steelers.
Is it the schemes, as linebacker Joey Porter suggested after the Atlanta game? Could be, but the Steelers have been burned at other times by other teams.
It’s personnel in this sense – too many players aren’t matching last year’s performances. Thanks to Lee Flowers, the Steelers’ defense will always talk a good game.
They certainly haven’t been backing it up, though.
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If the Penguins thought their complaints about officiating would be taken seriously by the NHL, they were dead wrong.
Veteran defenseman Marc Bergevin picked up a $1,000 fine for verbally berating referee Don Van Massenhoeven after Saturday’s 3-2 home loss to the Islanders.
When the locker room was opened to reporters, Bergevin was sitting in an easy chair, shouting answers before anyone even asked any questions.
“(Expletive) joke. (Expletive) farce,” he yelled. “Change the rules…. for what, 10 or 15 games? We all had to watch the video in training camp. I guess that clown (presumably Van Massenhoeven) didn’t watch it.”
A couple of days later, officials supervisor Andy van Hellemond dismissed the Penguins complaints and pointed out that the Islanders’ first goal came when the puck went right through Bergevin’s skates.
In other words? A team that lost a game was whining about the officiating.
Aside from issuing Bergevin’s fine, the NHL yawned.
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Guess who’s paying the price for the economic excesses of the New York Yankees?
The people who work in the Yankees’ office.
This isn’t about general managers or other decision-makers with six-figure salaries. This is about receptionists and mail sorters and ticket office clerks, most of whom make the kind of money that those jobs pay in the real world – although the hours are longer in baseball.
George Steinbrenner recently told them their dental benefits would be cut so the Yankees can meet their budget.
That’s the cruel truth of working in sports – there’s always an extra million or two around for a bad relief pitcher, but they can’t seem to cover real-life benefits for the average worker.
John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehno@lycos.com.