Photo - Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
The Broncos’ loss is a sign of bigger things.
Doom.
The Steelers’ warts are all exposed and a blueprint established for beating them. How can a team that cannot beat Case Keenum (who sucks) and the lousy Denver Broncos possibly beat the Chargers, Patriots or Saints?
Because it’s the NFL where parity rules and, truly, any given Sunday, blah, blah, blah.
The NFL is too unpredictable to make any absolute statements about the future of any team. Could anyone have predicted the 0-3 Houston Texans would rattle off eight straight wins, or that New England would lose road games to the likes of the Detroit Lions and the Tennessee Titans, or that the defending Super Bowl champions would be fighting for their playoff lives in week 13?
So how can anyone in Pittsburgh be sure that the Steelers will beat the Chargers this Sunday, or anyone on their schedule, for that matter. The Steelers have an ugly history in Oakland and have repeatedly lost games they should never lose, so why should the Sept. 9 game in Oakland be any different.
The Steelers have proven, as they do every year, that they are capable of beating anybody, and they are capable of being beaten – by anybody.
And forget the ifs – if Xavier Grimble doesn’t fumble . . . if James Conner doesn’t fumble . . . if Ben finished some drives . . . if the play calling was better in the red zone . . .
Forget them all. The Steelers were awful on Sunday, gaudy passing statistics be damned.
That’s not to say they could not and should not have won. The Broncos were equally bad. It just emphasizes the slim margins in pro sports and how precious every win is in an NFL season.
What the Denver loss really did was take away any wiggle room the Steelers may have had. They were never going to run the table and finish 13-2-1, and they probably cannot finish 12-3-1, but 11-4-1 might still be good enough for the 2-seed in the AFC playoff bracket if the Steelers do not lose to New England.
More likely, though, the Steelers will finish with the 3 or 4-seed and play in the wild card round. No matter how they get there or the circumstances they face, the Steelers have to clean up more than a few areas to win playoff games. Penalties, curious play calls, careless turnovers and spotty quarterback play chief among them.
Other MoioMusings:
- The Buccos are making their move – here is their move: they signed a player only the sharpest baseball fans would recognize, Lonnie Chisenhall, and plan to plug him into a corner outfield spot. Can’t wait to hear the GM and manager describe Chisenhall as a, “professional hitter,” as he puts up largely pedestrian numbers.
- Pitt certainly accomplished one thing in Miami last Saturday – they made a win over Clemson in the ACC Championship Game an even unlikelier outcome. Pitt looked overmatched by a mediocre Miami team and made their Coastal Division title seem less impressive. Pitt just does not have that next level that separates real top-25 teams from those who only visit those rankings.
- Something about Tiger and Phil on a made-for-TV golf match? Really? Is golf this desperate for viewership? I can’t watch either player when they are in the hunt in relevant tournaments let alone isolated in a multi-million-dollar matchup. What an insufferable event.
- Enough negativity. Erin insists that I take a positive turn, so, I love the Pens’ gold throwbacks, except for the numbers on the shoulders (are they football jerseys?) If those numbers were on the sleeves, now that would be a very cool uni. G loves them, but he also loves pin-striped jeans and big, white puffy coats.
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