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Injuries Mount As Steelers Limp Into Denver

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Maybe Mike Tomlin has a medical career in his future after all.

In his post-game press conference, the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach declined to speculate on the injury to running back Rashard Mendenhall. He simply opined, “When a guy goes down in open grass not touched by anyone, experience tells me that’s generally not good.” Well, the diagnosis turned out to be as bad as we feared with Mendy suffering a torn ACL requiring immediate surgery. The Steelers placed him on injured reserve, ending his 2011 season.

Longtime members of Steeler Nation will remember Rod Woodson became the first (and as far as I know, only) player to return from a torn ACL in the same season when the Black and Gold made it all the way to the Super Bowl in 1995. Typically, that injury requires a 6-8 month healing period and even then players often take a few years to get back to where they were before. If they ever get there at all.
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Week 17 Recap: Best Laid Plans

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Well, that didn’t go according to plan.

On paper, this had the potential to be one of the craziest final weekends in NFL history. No fewer than a half dozen teams had a realistic shot at a playoff berth. All they had to do was win and hope things fell their way. Naturally, almost every single one of those teams lost.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were one of the few that took care of business. Playing their starters the entire game, they battled the Cleveland Browns to a hard fought 13-9 victory. Unfortunately, the gambit didn’t pay off when the Cincinnati Bengals didn’t hold up their end of the bargain, losing to the Baltimore Ravens 24-16. THE RATBIRDS ONLY HAVE ONE GOOD OFFENSIVE PLAYER AND YOU LET HIM RUN FOR 200 YARDS?!?! Thanks to the Jets, Broncos and Raiders also losing, the Bungles were still rewarded for their incompetence by backdooring into the final Wild Card spot.

If the Steelers fail to make noise in this year’s playoffs, this game is going to be the lightning rod for Steeler Nation’s displeasure. By playing his starters the entire game, Mike Tomlin deprived several injured stars, particularly Ben Roethlisberger, of much needed rest. In addition, the team suffered several fresh injuries, most notably to running back Rashard Mendenhall. The preliminary diagnoses is a torn ACL, which would not only end his season but is usually a career-altering injury for a running back. Regardless, Mendy isn’t going to be playing next week.
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Cryin’ Ryan Clark Goes Off On The Ginger Dictator

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There were a number of ridiculous calls in last Sunday’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. The most inexplicable series of events involved Ryan Clark and Ray Lewis. Clark was flagged for “hitting a defenseless receiver” when he popped tight end Ed Dickson going down the middle of the field. You can watch the hit in question by clicking here. Meanwhile, Stabby knocked Hines Ward out of the game with a vicious blow to the head (if you watch a replay, it looked more like a forearm than helmet-to-helmet). No flag was thrown.

Naturally, Roger Goodell seized on these events to partake in his favorite hobby, fining players. And, as usual, the Steelers ended up with a losing spin of his Wheel O’ Justice. Lewis was fined $20,000 for knocking Hines out of the game. Clark was fined $40,000 for brushing up against Dickson in an aggressive fashion.

And he’s not happy about it.
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Ryan Clark Still An Idiot

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I’m a proud member of Steeler Nation. The fact I’ve been writing about them for five years across two different blogs speaks to my devotion. Blogging about your favorite team does present an interesting conundrum, however. While I love the [intlink id=”166″ type=”category”]Pittsburgh Steelers[/intlink], there are players on the team I absolutely can’t stand.

Safety [intlink id=”60″ type=”category”]Ryan Clark[/intlink] has quickly reached the top of that list.

For those living outside the Pittsburgh area, you cannot fathom how thoroughly the team dominates this town. One of the reasons I wanted a blog in the first place was the unabashed homerism the local media lavishes upon the team can frequently be nauseating. For those of you who follow sports in general, you’ve probably heard the big controversy in Boston where the local media has eviscerated the team for drinking beer and eating Popeye’s chicken in the clubhouse while in the midst of a historic collapse. I can’t imagine a story of that kind ever being published here in the ‘Burgh. Even when the Steelers where in the midst of a horrific five game losing streak back in 2009, the most stinging criticism you heard from the local media was they were suffering from “a Super Bowl hangover.”
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