THE 50-YARD LINE

     What the "L"? Our Pittsburgh Steelers lost their 2nd game in a row yesterday, falling to the New England Patriots 27-16 at Heinz Field. For better or worse, Mrs. Black-N-Gold looks at The Good, The Bad & The Ugly from yesterday's contest.


GOOD

Some people may find solace in the fact that the Steelers hung with the Pats for most of the game. And that after a rocky start, QB Landry Jones played a decent game in place of the injured Ben Roethlisberger. But this is the NFL, folks. There are no moral victories. The only good thing about this game is that our Favorite Black-N-Gold Football Team has a bye next week. That gives them time to rest, heal and re-group for their divisional battle in Baltimore in 2 weeks. 

BAD

Do you know what's bad? When you get a team that rarely makes mistakes to commit 2 turnovers and you come away with 0 points. How can you allow this to happen? It's also bad when your head coach chooses to attempt a 54 yard field goal when your down 27-16 in the 4th quarter on a 4th and 2. Coach Tomlin, why aren't you going for it? K Chris Boswell missed his 2nd field goal of the day on that try and the Steelers gave the ball back to New England on downs. That seems like some bad coaching to Mrs. Black-N-Gold. 

UGLY

10 penalties for 85 yards was very ugly. The Steelers hung with New England for most of the game but an unnecessary roughness penalty, false starts on offense, holding on a punt return and offensive pass interference penalties certainly didn't help the Steelers cause. After looking like a well-disciplined team earlier in the season, the Steelers have recently reverted back to their sloppy, undisciplined ways. Clean it up or it will continue to be ugly. 

Most of the AFC North stayed in the loss column yesterday. The Steelers fell to 4-3 but still lead the division. The Bungles won and the Baltimorons lost. They're now in a tie for 2nd at 3-4. The Clowns continue to be cellar dwellers with their latest loss putting them at 0-7. 

As Mrs. Black-N-Gold said, the Steelers get the week off. Hopefully, when they return to action in Baltimore on November 6, they'll have some starters return from injury (Cam and/or Ben perhaps? Or will we see Bud Dupree come off IR or Ladarius Green make his long-awaited debut from the PUP list?). Yesterday's loss was to an AFC rival so that's not good. However, the Steelers can still take the division and try to get a bye and/or home playoff game. Either one would go a long way. But first, they've got to beat the Baltimorons on the road. Get ready to get back in the win column. Let's Go Steelers!!!!!!