Pittsburgh Steelers Ike Taylor Not the Only One to Blame for Loss

If you happened to just blink, Ike Taylor just got beat deep again.

Taylor and the rest of the secondary deserves to shoulder a big part of the blame in the Pittsburgh Steelers latest playoff flop and while they made Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow look like Joe Montana, they aren’t the only ones to blame for this loss.

Far from it.

First and foremost, the finger should be pointed at head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, who in what is becoming a trend of  late, were out coached again.

Who came up with the defensive game plan? Mickey Mouse?

One thing is for sure being around football long enough and that’s if you play enough man coverage during the course of a game, you are going to get burned. Unless you have Deion Sanders as one corner, it’s a horrible strategy.

Playing Cover Zero for a whole game? That’s unheard of.

I can even understand it starting out, but after Tebow hit a couple of balls down the field, you thought the Steelers would adjust. Certainly you thought they would adjust coming out of the locker room down 20-6.

They didn’t.

Every pass down field that Tebow completed had one thing in common. No safety help.

You put your corners out on an island that much and you are asking for results like the Steelers got.

What’s the most puzzling is that the LeBeau’s defense has success by disguising looks and coming with blitzes from different spots. That’s one big reason young quarterbacks have no success against the Steelers, they never know what’s coming. Instead the Steelers made it easy for Tebow. By playing that much man coverage all he had to do was set his feet and deliver the ball.

Other Notes

– The Steelers having the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL is one of those misleading stats. That secondary still needs help. Badly.

Sure they hadn’t given up a 300-yard passing game or 100-yard receiver all season, but that was more the profit of a very weak schedule. Other than Tom Brady and Matt Schaub, they didn’t exactly face a talented quarterback or passing team all season.

– Shame on Taylor by the way for not having the guts to face reporters after his poor performance. That’s turning his back on the fans as well. I’m sure if he made a game-winning pick he would still be running his mouth on camera. Of course he had the time to tweet though. What happened to all that swagger?

-Speaking of the defense, there are a lot of guys out there making good money that disappeared in a playoff game once again. Most notably James Harrison. Other than a questionable low hit on Eric Decker and a roughing the passer call, you never knew Harrison was on the field. Just another guy who likes to shoot his mouth off before he makes plays that matters. No sacks by the Steelers as a team hurts.

-Ben Roethlisberger and the receivers picked things up and got back into the game, but they get some blame as well. Several drops in the first half. A pick by Ben, although Heath Miller wasn’t looking for the ball and the throw looked good. Doug Legursky’s snap over Ben’s head took them out of field goal range. Several plays here and there could have made a difference.

– The drop by Mike Wallace turned out to be a huge play in this game. No excuses, you have to catch the football.

– It’s disgusting at time to watch the Steelers attempt to pass block. Sometimes five guys have to be able to block three rushers. They have to upgrade the line and do so soon.

– The lone bright spot had to be the play of Isaac Redman, who ran the ball very well.

– Finally, the Steelers didn’t get screwed, they got beat. Maybe, as I’ve been saying all season, this team wasn’t really that good.