THE NEXT STEP

Rebuilding Steelers Come into Lambeau to Test Pack

There is no point in looking ahead to next week’s season ender against the Bears. For the Packers the business at hand is right in front of them as they prep to face the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in frigid Green Bay. With the weather a typically balmy 20-something and a forecast of snow the call has gone out to the citizenry of Green Bay to come in and help clear Lambeau. You’ll get $10 an hour and the Packers will provide the shovel. And the Packers expect to do a turn away business.

The Steelers would like nothing more than to use that shovel to bury the Packers. Don’t call this a rematch of Super Bowl XLV… it isn’t. More than half the members of the Steelers Super Bowl team are now gone. Football is for the young and the Steelers are not young. Mike Tomlin found out this season that Bill Cowhers’ team got old.

The Steelers have been forced to go to a youth movement due partly to injury but mostly to attrition. RB LeVeon Bell was taken well ahead of Eddie Lacy and the two rookies have distinguished themselves as the cream of this year’s running back draft crop. While Bell possesses more speed Lacy would not have been out of place in a Steeler uniform. His low pad level bulldozer running style is a punishing, painful and raw brute force style that is similar to Jerome Bettis’. Bell is more of a flashy cut and run type of back – nimble on his feet and can accelerate into the second level.

Lacy can push the pile into the second level. For the season Lacy has already eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark, the first Packer to do so since Ryan Grant in ‘09. The Packers rookie rushing record of 1,105 yards held by John Brockington in 1971 is also a mark the Lacy will likely pass. Lacy is but 78 yards shy of the Packers record and may become the second Packer along with Brockington to be named Rookie of the Year. Lacy’s contribution in last week’s epic comeback against the Cowboys cannot be ignored. After looking thoroughly whipped in the first half last week Lacy opened the second half with a 60 yard run that energized the Packers and kick started a stagnant offense. His 141 yard 1 TD day was complimented by his being named Player of the Week in the NFL.

The Steelers were supposed to have been contenders in the brutal AFC North division with the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and resurgent Cleveland Browns. It never happened. The Ravens have been sluggish all year; the heart of their team gutted in the offseason. The Browns have slid in a youth movement and only Cincinnati has played up to an expected level. The Steelers opened the season by losing all of their preseason games and then losing the first 4 of this year.

Bell has been their prize rookie. His start was less than stellar and it took him some time to adjust to the life in the pros. QB Ben Roethlisberger was coming in after offseason surgery and the former WR Mike Wallace was jettisoned to Miami. If any single area in the Steelers attack has suffered it has been in their passing game. TE Heath Miller had been one of Big Ben’s most reliable outlets but he too lost significant time to the injury bug filtering throughout the NFL. Roethlisberger has had a frosty relationship with new offensive coordinator Todd Haley but of late Big Ben has been performing quite well. 12 TD’s and only 1 INT in 9 games is a great stat line no matter the coach or player, and they are numbers treat speak volumes.

While Roethlisberger has gone several weeks since being sacked the fact is he can be pressured if not necessarily brought down and that is exactly what the Packers will need to do. Green Bay cannot afford to keep playing one half of a football game. While the Pack has clawed, bitten, struggled, worked and fought their way back into contention and have a serious opportunity at the playoffs it has been an inconsistent, uneven season. No question the Packers have missed the biggest gun in their arsenal in Aaron Rodgers. When Rodgers went down the Pack was 5 – 2. Only those living in a cave with cable know the woes that ensued.

They didn’t merely manifest themselves in the offensive side of the ball. The defense suddenly went AWOL and only recently has started to show up. The incredibly soft start against Dallas last week was juxtapositioned against a defense that fought tooth and nail in the second half. At some pointy Mike McCarthy and Dom Capers are going to have to get a full 60 minute effort from their defense if Green Bay is to be taken seriously as a contender. If anything even playing against then worst statistical defense in football in Dallas that comeback may just ignite the fuse that carries Green Bay. The Packers need it. They are out of giveaway games and they must win out to make it in regardless of what Chicago does this week against Philadelphia. Green Bay has the simplest of equations – just keep win. Lose and go home. It really doesn’t get more basic than that.

Matt Flynn is prepping to be the starter once again. The quarterback carousel in Green Bay since Rodgers’ injury has been dizzying. Seneca Wallace didn’t last one game, Scott Tolzien was called up from the practice squad and after a bumpy start Flynn seems to have found his niche and has stepped in nicely to mind the store. Rodgers’ collarbone and the question that lingers about his return have made for much ink in the media. Will he play? When asked after practice on Thursday Rodgers gave a non-committal replay of “…I have a good idea what they [the team doctors] are going to say”. His non-answer is answer enough and don’t expect Rodgers to start.

A key in that statement is just that statement. Rodgers in all likelihood will not start. But if the Packers can get themselves a lead and carry it into the 4^th quarter Rodgers may, in fact, get some reps to knock the rust off. If Green Bay can hold a lead getting Rodgers back on the field even in a limited capacity will vastly aid him if the season does come down to the showdown in the Windy City.

The Steelers age on defense has finally caught up to them. There may not be a cornerback in the league singled out more than Ike Taylor. Troy Polamalu is still a quality defense but he is no longer the game changing disruptive force he once was and hasn’t been that way since Rodgers and Greg Jennings undressed him in the Super Bowl. Polamalu is that rare player whose instincts are so great he can guess what is coming and he has usually been right. But as he has lost a step so too has Polamalu been guessing wrong and more frequently.

LB James Harrison is no longer in the Steel city but that doesn’t mean the Steelers do not have any linebackers. Lamar Woodley and Lawrence Timmons have both shown signs of slowing down but newcomer Jason Worilds has been a breath of fresh air. DE Brett Keisel has battled injuries all year and the Packers will need to be able to air it out to bag the Steelers. As Flynn has settled in with each passing game his passing has improved. Flynn has shown his value as a quality backup QB to Green Bay even after being unable to land a starters spot in Seattle, Oakland and Buffalo.

This will be a game of balance. Flynn has been very good in the short routes. Lacy has missed practice this week nursing his sore ankle but he will be there to answer the bell. Flynn still has to cut down on holding the ball too long but as he gets more playing time that has also declined. Jordy Nelson and James Jones have had support from unexpected areas; Jarrett Boykin has made some key catches in the last several games while Andrew Quarless is finally finding a place to fit in. Quarless has had back to back 6 catch games and scored a key TD against Dallas and Atlanta. But the breaking news has to do with a healing broken leg.

Lost in the fallout of Rodgers collarbone was Randall Cobb’s broken leg. Cobb has been cleared to practice and has been on the field wearing a childlike ear-to-ear grin, happy to be back out on a field playing even in practice. Cobb may suit up and see some limited action as he works his way back to game ready. Flynn has enough of an arm to bring down the Steelers. Pittsburgh is coming in after an impressive whipping of the Bengals last Sunday night and is not a pushover. It will be yet another challenge and opportunity for the Packers to rise as one.

There is something in the air in Green Bay besides the snow. Adversity brings out qualities from which lesser men run. Far from rolling over and playing dead the Packers have shown a resolve and resiliency by continuing to fight on. If the comeback against Dallas last doesn’t show heart and character nothing will. It wasn’t too long ago many of the uninformed in the fan base were crying for McCarthy to just shut Rodgers down for the year and play for a higher draft pick.

The stupidity of that notion is being played out in Washington right now and Mike Shanahan and the entire Redskin organization is wearing the hat of the village idiot for shutting down a starter in Robert Griffin so he DOESN’T get hurt.

Shut it down? Tank the season? Give up hope?

Never.

The season is now and this week it’s Pittsburgh. Getting hot at the right time is what will be needed for the playoffs. Weapons will be coming back. No need to look ahead to Chicago. The Steelers may be in for a long afternoon that hastens their winter hiatus. For the Packers hot at home for Christmas sounds like a winner.

 

 

 

 

 Green Bay 31 

 

 

 

 

 

 Pittsburgh 17