Playoffs took a Major hit today with this loss...

[Troyisabeast_43]

Now I know there is still 10 games left still, but that being said the Steelers just cannot keep losing here and digging themselves a deeper hole each and every week with these losses that I think the Steelers have just been giving away all 4 of them here this year with dumb mistakes and penalties and fumbles and you name it. With Cincy winning today it just totally takes away all the help the Steelers got last week from Baltimore and Cincy both losing. Now there back to 2 games out of first behind Cincy and Balt. They also blew a chance to g Cowher really blew it today by not having at least one timeout at the end there so they didnt have to rush to the line and spike it like they did and allowing Nate to jump offside on the flinch. He didnot need to use that timeout twice to freeze the kicker. He also didnt need to challenge the Warrick Dunn td when he was clearly over. And before the half he took a knee and didnt try and kick a fg with all 3 timeouts and stuff left. Cowher man when it comes to using timeout and clock management its like his head goes in his ass at times. He just isnt good at it never has been.

But the bottom line is with all that being said the Steelers now are at a point at 2-4 where they MUST win the next 4 and be 6-4 going into that Baltimore game on November 26th. Were going to need to be 6-4 and at least one game behind both Balt and Cincy going into that game Thanksgiving weekend. In my opinion if the Steelers lose to either Oakland,Denver,Saints,or Browns the next 4 weeks they are not making the playoffs. Gotta be 6-4 going into Baltimore or kiss the season goodbye.

[Steelerlyn]

Now I know there is still 10 games left still, but that being said the Steelers just cannot keep losing here and digging themselves a deeper hole each and every week with these losses that I think the Steelers have just been giving away all 4 of them here this year with dumb mistakes and penalties and fumbles and you name it. With Cincy winning today it just totally takes away all the help the Steelers got last week from Baltimore and Cincy both losing. Now there back to 2 games out of first behind Cincy and Balt. They also blew a chance to g Cowher really blew it today by not having at least one timeout at the end there so they didnt have to rush to the line and spike it like they did and allowing Nate to jump offside on the flinch. He didnot need to use that timeout twice to freeze the kicker. He also didnt need to challenge the Warrick Dunn td when he was clearly over. And before the half he took a knee and didnt try and kick a fg with all 3 timeouts and stuff left. Cowher man when it comes to using timeout and clock management its like his head goes in his ass at times. He just isnt good at it never has been.

But the bottom line is with all that being said the Steelers now are at a point at 2-4 where they MUST win the next 4 and be 6-4 going into that Baltimore game on November 26th. Were going to need to be 6-4 and at least one game behind both Balt and Cincy going into that game Thanksgiving weekend. In my opinion if the Steelers lose to either Oakland,Denver,Saints,or Browns the next 4 weeks they are not making the playoffs. Gotta be 6-4 going into Baltimore or kiss the season goodbye.

In short, this team can beat anyone right now and lose to anyone right now. You cannot turn the ball over and expect to win games, period. And this team needs to gameplan now to take into account that every week Santonio Holmes will fumble a punt and every week Willie Parker will putthe ball on the floor.

You are what your record says you are. The Steelers are 2-4. Their route to 2-4 might be different to other 2-4 teams such as those taken by Green Bay, San Francisco and Houston but you can play very well in places and still be 2-4 because of the mistakes the team makes.

Until this team stops making those mistakes they don't stand a chance of doing anything this year. Atlanta should have been dead and buried at halftime but the Steelers let them stick around because of mistakes. There's nothing more to it than that and no quantifiable analysis will bring any other result. Eliminate the mistakes and things might turn out
differently, but how long have we been saying that now? How long have we been seeking an improvement in special teams play? We still wait for a change but - Kansas City aside - this team is letting teams stick around
for too long by making mistakes and some you win (like Miami) and some you lose (like Cincinnati and today)

All we can do is think positively and win our division games, we win with Ben when he is mistake free.

[Black@Gold Forever32]

Well the Steelers havn't played consistent football all year so far. Until they do that and stop turning the ball over then they will continue to lose games. Is the playoffs out of the question? No but the Steelers can not afford to lose anymore games. With the Bengals winning today that makes it tougher.

[AZ_Steeler]

It's really getting close to throwing the towel in now, although they still have time and they are going to need some help! Like today Houston knocked off Jacksonville which helped us a lot!

The Steelers need to resolve their fumbling issues and they will be fine! I mean shit, you can't turn the ball over on your own 20 and expect your defense to bail you out time after time. Their offense has finally woken up, although the running game can't get going on the the road for some reason that and fumbling the ball away are the 2 biggest concerns the Steelers have right now.

Injuries have ate them up too, however, if they can weather the injuries now it usually means things will be better come the end of the season when it really starts to matter.

[Black@Gold Forever32]

It's really getting close to throwing the towel in now, although they still have time and they are going to need some help! Like today Houston knocked off Jacksonville which helped us a lot!

The Steelers need to resolve their fumbling issues and they will be fine! I mean shit, you can't turn the ball over on your own 20 and expect your defense to bail you out time after time. Their offense has finally woken up, although the running game can't get going on the the road for some reason that and fumbling the ball away are the 2 biggest concerns the Steelers have right now.

Injuries have ate them up too, however, if they can weather the injuries now it usually means things will be better come the end of the season when it really starts to matter.

AZ I would agree with you that the offense can't do that to the defense with turning the ball over. But sometimes if this defense is as great as some say then they have to make some plays. Look at the Bears defense vs the Cards last monday night. The Bears offense turned the ball over 6 times but the Bears D stood tall and made plays to bring the Bears back in that game.

The D doesn't deserve all of the blame. But they deserve some of it. They couldn't cover Crumpler to save their lives today.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

Well the Steelers havn't played consistent football all year so far. Until they do that and stop turning the ball over then they will continue to lose games. Is the playoffs out of the question? No but the Steelers can not afford to lose anymore games. With the Bengals winning today that makes it tougher.

You're exactly right...this team cannot afford another loss especially to a divisional opponent. If we expect to make the playoffs at this point its going to take atleast an 11-5 record and even then its no guarantee.

San Diego, Indy, New England, Cincy, Denver...right there is 5 almost guaranteed playoff teams unless any of them either completely collapses or just has some mental breakdowns hopefully loses some games. That leaves us with the last spot to fight for and anymore than 5 losses and we can forget about it.

[Black@Gold Forever32]

You're exactly right...this team cannot afford another loss especially to a divisional opponent. If we expect to make the playoffs at this point its going to take atleast an 11-5 record and even then its no guarantee.

San Diego, Indy, New England, Cincy, Denver...right there is 5 almost guaranteed playoff teams unless any of them either completely collapses or just has some mental breakdowns hopefully loses some games. That leaves us with the last spot to fight for and anymore than 5 losses and we can forget about it.

The upcoming Broncos game is going to be huge. Of course the 5 remaining division games. The the rest of the games are against the Raiders, Bucs, Panthers and Saints. The Steelers at most can only lose 1 more game. But the damn Jags and Chargers have the tiebreakers on us. So winning the AFC North might be our best option. We need the Bengals and Ravens to go in some long lossing streaks.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

The broncos game will be huge because they play great defense too, and then run as well as Atlanta does. 1 more loss all year is all we can afford there is no 2 ways about it. The Bengals are good for atleast a couple more losses and Im not worried about the ratbirds at all but that damn loss to cincy in week 2 is killer right now because it gives them the tie breaker if it comes down to that situation.

[Troyisabeast_43]

I agree Top the Bengals are good for a few more losses but its not going to mean anything here if the Steelers cant put together a streak of wins here together and fast. You can really blame Bill Cowher for these losses to Cincy and Atlanta because of his clock management in this game and usage of timeouts and challenges was horrible. And in the Cincy game he continues to put players in positions to fail such as Ricardo Colclough with the punt return fumble, and not put players in the best situations to win. This team as many of you have said just continues to implode and make critical turnovers or mistakes when it has a team on the ropes or late in these games. Bill Cowher not trying to go for a FG at least before the half with 45 seconds left and 3 timeouts was a bad bad coaching move as well going back to that point. The bottom line is here with everything this Steelers team is just not that good right now and until they can stop making these mistakes and turning the ball over in there own end week after week which has been leading to TDS, the end results are going to continue to be the same. As I mentioned before if this team doesnt win its next 4 games and get to 6-4 before the Ravens game they are finished. The Bengals and Ravens will lose at least 1 or 2 times between now and the Baltimore game so its imperative that the Steelers do win 4 straight to have any shot at all at winning this division or making the playoffs for that matter.

[Troyisabeast_43]

As I said too Lynn Bill Cowher has to coach better and put his team and his players in better situations to win and make plays. He kept shoving Colclough down our throats for weeks and weeks knowing that the guy sucks and here he fumbles a punt because Cowher kept leaving him in there finally. Cowher left timeouts on the field today before the half after the Farrior interception. He didnt even try to drive down the field especially right after the series before Ben took the team right down in less then 2 minutes with the TD to Nate. And as I mentioned before Cowher challenging the Dunn TD which was clearly a TD and he wasted a timeout, and also freezing the kicker twice at the end there knowing that if he does miss it your going to have the ball at midfield and no timeouts left. If they had that timeout they call it right then and there and Nate Washington fall start never happens and they get the FG try.

I dont wanna hear Cowher say after the game they left everything on the field. Well Bill you left 3 balls on the field as a result of your team fumbling, you got another celebration penalty there after you promised after the Cincy game that it wont happen again this year. So while the players are the ones on the field making the fumbles and penalties and should be held accountable, Bill Cowher in my opinion ranks right up there as well as being completely responsible for this horrific 2-4 start to the season. One more thing I agree with you this Steelers team has GOT to stop turning the ball over deep in its own end game after game. These turnovers always seem to be occuring right when they have the other team on the ropes and right when they seem to be going for the kill they give them a new life much like they did to Cincinnati and today to Atlanta. One more loss though within the next 4 weeks and this season and the playoffs is all but gone.