The city of Pittsburgh is having a “Bizarro World’’ Seinfeld moment. The Pirates own the town and the Steelers stink.
Pittsburgh’s major league baseball stadium, PNC Park, sits just a few hundred yards away from its NFL stadium, Heinz Field. And, with the Pirates in the postseason for the first time since 1992, their ballpark is alive with the hope, optimism and celebration that usually is found over at Heinz Field.
Heinz Field, usually one of the best home-field advantages in the NFL, this season has sounded more like a morgue, with the Steelers 0-4 for the first time since 1968, when someone named Bill Austin was in his last season as their head coach.
“It raises some eyebrows,’’ Jets guard Willie Colon, who played with the Steelers the previous seven seasons, said of his former team’s winless record. “That’s something I had never seen when I was there, an 0-4 record.’’
This Sunday is the best one of the season for the Steelers, because they cannot lose another game. They are off thanks to their bye week.
And, if history is any indicator, they might have another bye next Sunday, because their next game is against the Jets, whom they have dominated throughout franchise history — with an 18-4 all-time record, including 9-3 on the road.
But first things first: What in the world is wrong with this team?
For starters, their defense seemingly has gotten old quickly and collectively. It simply isn’t the aggressive intimidating group it once was — even with venerable defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau still pushing the buttons from behind the curtain.
The Pittsburgh defense, perennially one of the top-ranked in the NFL, has yielded 74 points in the past two games.
Eight defensive starters remain from 2008, when the Steelers’ defense was one of the best of all time en route to a Super Bowl title. From 2008 through last season, the Steelers defense allowed nearly 2,000 fewer yards than any other NFL team.
That same dominant defense is the only one in the NFL that has not forced a single turnover this season. The same defense that tied for the NFL lead with 218 sacks in that 2008-12 span has a league-low four this season. The same defense that led the league in four of the previous six seasons is allowing an average of 325.8 yards per game, the most since Chuck Noll’s final season in 1991. One season after leading the league in pass defense, the Steelers rank 27th entering Sunday’s games.
“I think we all have to reassess ourselves,” Steelers safety Troy Polamalu told Pittsburgh reporters before the bye week began. “Everybody is very disappointed.”
Offensively, the Steelers have not been much better. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who has five TDs and five INTs, has not been the big-play machine he’s been in the past, and the running game (ranked 29th in the league) has been far from the dominant force it has been in recent years. Losing center Maurkice Pouncey, their best offensive lineman, for the season with a knee injury has been debilitating.
Exacerbating the defense not having forced a single turnovers is the fact the Steelers have turned the ball over 11 times, third most in the NFL, with Roethlisberger’s five picks and six lost fumbles by the team.
Colon, who regularly speaks to his friends on the Steelers, said he believes Pittsburgh still has the talent to turn things around.
“They still have a solid defense, they still have Ben back there, they still have [receivers] Antonio Brown and [Emmanuel] Sanders and [tight end] Heath Miller,’’ Colon said. “They have weapons. They just have to get it together. I know they will. I think they’ve got enough guys to turn it around. They have enough leadership to do so.’’
Former Colts and Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy, an “NBC Sunday Night Football” analyst, was quoted this week stating the contrary to Colon’s analysis.
“I’m not sure they can fix this.” Dungy said. “I don’t know that they have the talent. I think they just have an old defense that does not have any playmakers.”