Defense evaporates in Denver; Steelers suffer 31-19 loss on national TV

Steeler Nation is suffering a national embarrassment as Peyton Manning, his surgically repaired neck, and the Denver Broncos crushed Pittsburgh 31-19 in primetime last night.

Not to take anything away from Peyton and the national TV blow-fest for Manning, but the story of this game was the absolutely horrible Steeler defense.  Seriously, the Steeler offense worked harder than its defense to keep the Broncos from scoring.

"Can't you make them line up in a way that is more challenging or something?  This is too easy"

The Steelers held the ball for 14:24 minutes compared to a mere 36 tics of the clock for Denver in the third quarter, and yet, Pittsburgh was outscored 7-3 in the frame.  In two possessions and less than two minutes Manning tossed passes to lonely Bronco receivers and put up 15 points.  Meanwhile, the Steeler offense possessed the ball for over 15 minutes in a desperate attempt to keep Peyton off the field for as long as possible (and managed 10 points in the process).

The whole hot mess was so awful to watch that I could hear my TV sobbing midway through the fourth quarter as the Steeler secondary inexplicably yielded 15-yard buffers to Denver receivers, while putting absolutely no pressure on the QB.  And, the holes in the Steelers' defensive line were so big that someone on crutches could have easily maneuvered through them.  No wonder Denver receivers and running backs were laughing in Pittsburgh's face all night.

The performance wasn't nearly as bad on the offensive side of the ball, as there were moments of genuine excitement.  Big Ben led an impressive touchdown drive in the final two minutes of the second quarter to put Pittsburgh up 10-7 at halftime.  Mike Wallace (remember him) grabbed a touchdown pass to start the fourth quarter, and the Steelers were up 19-14.  However, this is when the fun stopped as Denver scored 17 unanswered points thereafter (6 coming off an INT return for a TD with under 2 minutes to go).

While Steeler nation may want to complain that we were without James Harrison and Ryan Clark (thank you NFL scheduling for the latter), it shouldn't.  This is the same defense that let Tim Tebow pass for 316 yards in a playoff win (before he got fired and sent to the Jets where they didn't even let him throw a  single pass today).

"I can't believe that lack of coverage" (sobs with joy)

By the way, the Steelers play the J-E-T-S next week in Pittsburgh.  I wonder if they'll let Tebow start just to try and make things challenging for themselves.  It wouldn't.  This "d" is freaking dreadful.

It's going to be a long week, so pass the alka seltzer.

Side notes:

The Steeler Face was 10-5 picking games last season, and 0-1 in the playoffs.  He starts this season 0-1.

If you have Redman and Dwyer on your fantasy team, start Dwyer next week.