The Steelers are No Longer Providing Relief from the Rams

1. Usually, if I'm watching the Rams game and they play terribly, which has typically been the case for the past few years, there is at least a consollation prize for me. The Steelers win and since they're my favorite team anyways, it takes the edge off of the Rams getting their brains beat in. Four the past four Sundays, this has not been the case. The Steelers and Rams have both lost, forcing me to be 0-2 each week. The worst part, is the Steelers are winning for most of the game before tanking it on defense for the last drive. It's been like watching the 2008 baseball Cardinals. That team always had leads but ended up blowing more than 30 saves. If they had won half of those games, they would have won the division that year. The Cardinals didn't have Jason Isringhausen for most of the season due to injuries and mental issues. Sure, he may not have been the best guy for the job, but he was designated as the team's closer. The Steelers have been without their closer for most of this season. Troy Polamalu is just one defender out of 11, but the guy is all over the field making plays that other players just don't make. It took less than a season for the NFL to turn his one-handed interception on opening night against the Titans into a commercial.

 Polamalu closed out the AFC championship game last season with a ridiculous interception of a Joe Flacco pass. Even when he has a game where he doesn't make a huge play (which is fairly rare), his presence on the field gives the team confidence, which they're clearly lacking right now. The defense keeps waiting for the next thing to go wrong and when a team has that mentality, something usually does go wrong. They play the Browns on Thursday and will be without Polamalu again. I feel that the Browns are the worst team in the NFL, but I don't think much of the Chiefs or Raiders either. If the Steelers take the Browns lightly, their four-game losing streak could continue. They need this game to build momentum and right the ship before it's too late. That is, if it isn't already too late since they're now on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff picture. 

2. The Rams are officially pathetic. Or, at least their offense is. They took the Saints and Cardinals, good teams, down to the wire. They did the same with the Bears this past Sunday. But it didn't feel like it was down to the wire, because the bottom line is, everyone knew that the Rams wouldn't find the end zone. If you can't get in from the three, you're not going to do much damage from further out. When you run the ball up the middle with Steven Jackson 90% of the time, it really doesn't surprise teams when this happens. It would surprise them if the Rams put in some play action passes and maybe threw a deep ball to Donnie Avery. When there are eight guys in the box, this will leave receivers in single coverage, and a guy with Avery's speed can burn a defender in single coverage. I am happy that the Rams aren't getting blown out every week, but the fact still stands that the team is 1-10. It is time to adjust and see what types of things might work next year.

3. Speaking of anemic offenses, the Blues are coming off of their third shutout loss of the year. All three of these came at home. I'm not sure what it is, but the Blues can't play in front of their own crowd this year. It's not like the seats are empty and there's nothing to fire them up. Quite the contrary, actually, as the team sells out or comes close almost every home game. St. Louis got two huge wins in California against two of the top teams in the standings and then they came out flat against the Avalanche on Monday night. The Blues are averaging fewer than two goals per game at Scottrade this year. Chris Mason and Ty Conklin have been fantastic in net this year, but with the team scoring fewer than two goals a game, it won't matter what the goalies do, the Blues will not win many games.

A big part of their lack of scoring has been the power play. Last night wasn't the case, as they only had one chance. However, it has been typical of the team to go 0-for-4 or 0-for-5 and that's not going to get it done in the National Hockey League. They've managed to get their penalty killing up to fourth in the league, but their power play is dead last at 12.7%, a full percentage point behind the next closest team, the lowly Carolina Hurricanes. They'd be better off if both units were 15th, as they're getting absolutely nothing from the man advantage. They've also given up three shorthanded goals, which are back breakers when it's very unlikely that the Blues can get a power play goal afterwards and get back to even. Head coach Andy Murray finally handed over the power play duties to his assistants, so hopefully they can turn it around. They can't afford to get in a huge hole like they did last season because rallying again to make the playoffs will likely have a similar result: a quick series against a team that's not that special, just like Vancouver last season.

4. The BSC (Bullshit Championship) has struck again. It's a guarantee that we will have at least two unbeatens when the season ends, as undefeated Alabama and Texas will play in the "National Championship" game, while perfect TCU and Boise State square off in the Fiesta Bowl. Cincinatti also could win the Sugar Bowl against Florida and give us three unbeatens. This leaves us with yet another season in which a team can win all of its games and not win the league's championship. I actually have more interest in the Sugar and Fiesta bowls, as the teams are simply more exciting to watch. TCU and Boise State should be a high scoring game, even though that didn't pan out when the two teams met last year. Cincy's high-powered offense vs. Tim Tebow provides another interesting matchup. I'll pick the bowls as they get closer, as Army could still make it to a bowl if they pull an upset of Navy this weekend.