The Sports Monitor

I wasn't impressed with Rashard Mendenhall this season. The Pittsburgh Steelers running back finished the season with 928 yards rushing on 228 carries, good for a 4.1 average. He also had nine touchdowns. He tore his ACL in Sunday's win against the Cleveland Browns, and now the Steelers will enter the playoffs without their leading rusher. No problem, I say. Mendenhall didn't have it this season. He had just two 100-yard games, 146 against the Jags and 116 against the Rams. Other than that, his best total was 70 yards against the Patriots. I don't think the Steelers will miss Mendenhall. Isaac Redman, despite his two fumbles against the Browns, is a capable fill-in. He totaled 479 yards on 110 carries, a 4.4 average. I expect the Steelers to use Redman, John Clay and Mewelde Moore against the Broncos. The bigger worry, to me, is Ben Roethlisberger's health and how he can handle the Denver defense. It's a shame Mendenhall was injured, but that wo...

The Pittsburgh Steelers sure know how to make an inferior opponent look good on Sunday night. After escaping a game with the terrible Indianapolis Colts earlier this season, the Steelers survived the Kansas City Chiefs. A defense that had six takeaways all season entering the game took four away from Chiefs quarterback Tyler Palko in Sunday's 13-9 win. The clincher was an interception by Keenan Lewis with less than a minute to go. And you have to thank Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe for his lack of effort on the game-ending interception. Bowe looked deathly afraid to take a hit with the game on the line. But for as strong as the defense looked, the offense never found a rhythm. Throughout Sunday's game, the announcers praised the Chiefs' defense. However, the Chiefs had the 28th-ranked rush defense in the league, and Rashard Mendenhall picked up just 57 yards for the game. However, when Mendenhall did get the ball, he looked strong. Roethlisberger looked fin...

After almost a day to digest the Steelers' loss to the Ravens on Sunday night, there are a few things still unanswered. -- If Shaun Suisham can't be relied upon to kick a field goal, why still have him on the team? Kickers are booting 50-yard field goals with regularity these days, so why can't the Steelers find one? Yeah, I know Heinz Field is an awful place to practice your craft if you're a kicker, but this wasn't a 50-yarder, either. I'm not sure if the delay of game penalty on the Steelers' last drive was planned or not, but it certainly wouldn't have been my call. You either go for it or kick the field goal. The punt shouldn't have been an option. -- Will the NFL review the hit on Hines Ward? It certainly looks like only Steelers get helmet-to-helmet penalties these days. -- I thought the line was fine protecting Ben Roethlisberger. -- Antonio Brown looks like a star in the making. -- Rashard Mendenhall appeared to have Ch...

When you get down to it, the Pittsburgh Steelers are 2-1 after Sunday night's uninspiring 23-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts. But, man, it feels like the Steelers are 1-2 and the season could be in jeopardy. Rashard Mendenhall had no room to run, Ben Roethlisberger committed crucial turnovers and the defense let a third-string quarterback drive his team for the tying touchdown in the fourth quarter. When it mattered, however, Roethlisberger put the Steelers in position to win the game. So it was, in fact, a win. So that should be enough to celebrate. Maybe the injuries and the performance of the offensive line are putting me in such a sour mood. At some point in the fourth quarter, I'm pretty sure Flozell Adams got a phone call in the middle of his 100-chicken-wing snack and beer. The Steelers need some help on the line. Fast. I know the O-line has been criticized endlessly the last couple years, but that weakness is about to catch up with them. They cr...

Steelers linebacker James Harrison knows how to make an impact. He does it on Sundays in the fall, usually with such reckless abandon that he inflicts punishment on his target. He did it again, with NFL commish Roger Goodell caught in the crosshairs. Harrison ripped Goodell in Men's Journal magazine, and along the way took a shot at teammates Ben Roethlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall. You can check out a story here , if you haven't heard the ruckus. And as swiftly as his words hit the Internet, the criticism followed. I find it ironic that the media longs for an athlete who speaks his mind yet when those comments don't agree with his or her view, the athlete is criticized. And don't read that as a defense of Harrison. It's not. There's plenty to dislike about Harrison's comments, which calling them over the top would be an understatement. However, who didn't think Roethlisberger's play in the Super Bowl hurt the Steelers? Anyone else ...

A colleague at work went to a Salt n Pepa concert on Friday in Cleveland. I guess it was a nice flashback to the mid-1990s for him, but I should have taken it as a warning sign. It turned into a '90s weekend when I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. For each turnover, I couldn't help but be reminded of the Steelers loss to the Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX. If it weren't for Neil O'Donnell, the Steelers would have won that game. I think O'Donnell still is getting paid by Larry Brown, who was voted the MVP of the game because he made two of the easiest catches in NFL history. Brown parlayed that MVP award into a huge contract, which he never deserved. But back to Super Bowl 45. With the mistakes the Steelers made, it was impossible for me to not think of that horrible Super Bowl 15 years ago. Ben Roethlisberger had two interceptions Sunday, one of which was returned for a TD. Rashard Mendenhall had a fumble, costing the Steelers an opportunity to take the lead...

It's time to face the facts, Steelers fans. The team just isn't that good. Really. They stink. Bad. There's no other conclusion to draw after Thursday's 13-6 loss to the Browns. It looked that way after the Steelers' loss to the Chiefs. It was easy to chalk it up one game up as an aberration. It wasn't the time to panic. Sure enough, the Steelers dropped a heartbreaker on Sunday to the Raiders. They made Oakland's season with a defensive effort in the fourth quarter that was as bad as the Pitt Panthers' collapse against Cincinnati. In the Panthers' defense, they were at least up against an undefeated team. If the Steelers managed to hit a low with the Oakland loss, they topped themselves Thursday. Against a team that ranks 32nd in rushing defense, the running back Rashard Mendenhall managed 16 carries for 53 yards. Against a team that widely is regarded as one of the worst in football (the Chiefs and Raiders are included in that e...

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of hearing about a Super Bowl hangover. And judging by the way the Steelers played Sunday against the Chargers, I think they are, too. The Steelers disposed of the Chargers 38-28 Sunday, putting them just a game behind the Bengals and Ravens in the AFC North Division. For 30 minutes, the Steelers played at a very high level. In fact, it would be hard to think they could play better than they did. So, it was natural for them to hit a lull against the Chargers. Compliment San Diego for not folding in the second half. A lesser team would have taken their medicine and made plans to their flight back home after trailing 28-0. The Chargers fought back. But the Steelers responded. Just like giving props to San Diego, give Pittsburgh credit for staying composed and icing the game at the end. A lesser team easily could have collapsed after all that went San Diego's way in the fourth quarter. Jeff Reed's game-clinching kick was nice, showing ...

Some passing thoughts after the Steelers' 17-14 loss to the Bears on Sunday: Against a better defense than he faced last week when throwing four interceptions, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler found his rhythm against the Steelers. Cutler was 27-of-38 for 236 yards and a 104.7 rating. Cutler was sacked just once. Yeah, just once. Ben Roethlisberger's rating was 80.8. Rashard Mendenhall's 39-yard run was nice, but his other two carries totaled zero yards. Steelers receiver Mike Wallace was singled out on the post-game radio broadcast. Wallace's 10-yard catch was nice, but they wanted to see him fight for the first down. What happens if Wallace would have fumbled trying to get those extra 2 yards? My guess is he would be been questioned for not running out of bounds. Roethlisberger was sacked twice, which is good, but that fourth-quarter sack on third-and-8 from the Bears' 10 hurt -- especially when Jeff Reed missed the field goal on the next play. I'd expect Reed to ...

Thoughts from Week 1's 13-10 win over the Tennessee Titans: The Steelers running game was atrocious. I won't go into much detail, but Gene Collier sums it up nicely. Watching Rashard Mendenhall run, there seems to be a disturbing trend; he turns his back to the defense way too much. If Troy Polamalu is out the 3 to 6 weeks, it won't be a loss that derails any thoughts of a Super Bowl championship. Polamalu was a beast in the first half. It's a shame he didn't get to play a full game. He seemed poised for a monster year. Did you get to see America's Game on NFL Network? The Pittsburgh Steelers' season was featured the other night. It was worth watching. My favorite quote from Thursday's win came from James Harrison, talking to Sirius Radio about his thoughts after the Steelers won the coin toss to start overtime: "I took off my tape." Meaning he knew the game was over. Why did the Titans drop men into coverage late into the game? It gave B...

Rashard Mendenhall had the look of a pro running back while he was slicing through Big Ten defenses at Illinois. He looked so good that the Steelers thought highly enough of him to use a first-round pick to draft him. Then came The Game. That's when Mendenhall talked smack before a Monday night meeting against the Ravens and got smacked down by their defense. Mendenhall injured his shoulder and didn't play a down after that in the Steelers' Super Bowl season. Today, just a couple weeks before the start of their title defense, the Steelers are searching for answers about their former No. 1 pick. It certainly can change, but right now, Mendenhall looks like a player that doesn't want to get hit in that shoulder again. Call it soft, scared, timid or whatever, Mendenhall looks different. And that's a shame because Mendenhall was projected as the Steelers' goal-line back, someone able to get the tough yards, absorb contact and give Fast Willie Parker a breather. I wo...