No running game? Steelers had 202 yds vs. Miami and that was w/out Kemoeatu. Gimmick plays are like any other: execution... genius if it works - dog if you fail. The receiver was open to his outside shoulder and if he had thrown sooner and not put so much air under it... but Holmes is no quarterback. I like Tomlin, he goes for the throat. There will be big changes in the secondary next year* and Farrior will be gone. *However, the DB's play extremely well as a unit when Polamalu is out there, so this needs to be taken into consideration. I wouldn't have played him either on the slight chance they make the playoffs.
Seems to me ... that .... of any lost "that really hurts" that any team could have had this year: the Steelers lost to O. Raiders at home was the worst of any team. To lose a home game and to the Raiders thats the one "which really hurts" and cost them Steelers a playoff spot.
Apparently you were not paying attention to the Seelers when they won the superbowl with Cowher, I vividly remember all the gimmick plays he used to throw out there with Randle El. In fact im pretty sure if my memory serves me correctly Randle El threw for a touchdown in the superbowl, so that is not a problem. Also their running game was just fine towards the end of the season.
I agree this year they had no business being in the playoffs, but ya never knpow what was possible with them if they got Polamalu back into the lineup next week. In terms of the fourth quarter let downs, i dont know what the hell that was all about, especially when the year before they were the best team in the league in the 4th quarter. I will say this though, had Polamalu been in the lineup I think the 4th quarter would have ended drastically different in alot of those as he is known for his clutch plays, and you can easily shave 3-5 points a game off the opponents scoring averagewith him around, all of a sudden if that happens the Steelers look a hell of a lot better, given the fact that 5 out of 7 of their losses were by 3 points or less. Whatever else is wrong with the defense I am confident Lebeau, and Tomlin will fix it in the offseason, the offense is fine, they figured out the run game by the end of the season, though i would like to see them run a lot more, and Big Ben was firing on all cylinders at the end.
As a steeler fan I agree, especially the way it ended, Roethlisberger lead the Steelers down the field with 2 mins left and scored a touchdown, thought the game was in the bag given the QB of the other team was Gradkowski, a vrtual nobody, then they allowed the worst offense in the league to march like 80 yards down field, with no time on the clock. Must have been a lot of Steeler fans on suicide watch after that weekend.
That was no "gimmick play". Randle El is a quarterback! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwaan_Randle_El