Steelers Give Titans KISS of Death

Le’veon Bell ran his name into Tuesday morning’s headlines with a 33-carry, 204-yard performance in Monday’s 27-24 win in Tennessee. But Steelers assistant coaches Mike Munchak and Todd Haley deserve game balls, too.

Munchak, who spent the previous three seasons as the Titans head coach, is now the offensive line coach in Pittsburgh. His unit was off to a rocky start on Monday, as the Titans were able to get pressure on Ben Roethlisberger — sacking him five times and intercepting him once — en route to building an 11-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

But Munchak’s men deserve credit for taking over the game in that final stanza. Hailey deserves credit too for following a bit of advice that has sometimes alluded him since coming to Pittsburgh: KISS (keep it simple, stupid). Instead of sticking by an unsteady passing game, as many play-callers are prone to do when trailing by double digits late in ball games, Haley recommitted to the run.

“It was a great night for us in that we were down by 11 and had a chance to bounce back,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “Any time you can do that and gain victory, you grow from it and grow in the right ways.”

The win was reminiscent of old-school, smash-mouth Steelers football. Bell, who ran for just 36 yards last time out in a loss to the New York Jets, racked up 196 between the tackles alone.

When the Steelers finally regained the lead (courtesy of late touchdowns by Bell and Antonio Brown), Bell made sure they did not relinquish it. On Pittsburgh’s final drive, with the Titans trailing by three and needing a stop to get the ball back to their offense, Bell ran on eight of the first 10 plays before Ben Roethlisberger took a couple of knees to close out the victory.

The Steelers head into their bye week at 7-4, percentage points behind the Bengals for first place in the AFC North. If the season ended today, Pittsburgh would be the No. 6 seed in the AFC. In order to turn that penciled-in playoff berth permanent, the Steelers need do only one thing: keep it simple and hand the ball to No. 26.

Now That’s a Quote to Note

Fans of the NFL often get frustrated that so many stories leak out based on information from anonymous sources. “If you are brave enough to say it, you should be brave enough to put your name by it!,” according to their logic.

There are many valid reasons some league sources do not want their quotes attributed to them. Exhibit A: The following jaw-dropper of a quote from Redskins head coach Jay Gruden about embattled quarterback Robert Griffin III.

“Robert had some fundamental flaws,” Gruden said. “His footwork was below average. He took three-step drops when he should have taken five. He took a one-step drop when he should have taken three, on a couple occasions, and that can’t happen. He stepped up when he didn’t have to step up and stepped into pressure. He read the wrong side of the field a couple times. So from his basic performance just critiquing Robert it was not even close to being good enough to what we expect from the quarterback position.”

This is a quote that would have been better made anonymously. As it stands, the story for the rest of this miserable season for the Redskins will be the relationship between Gruden and Griffin.

The word out of Washington has long been that Griffin is coddled by upper management, giving him a sense of entitlement. This public statement by Gruden appears to be a last-ditch effort to hold Griffin accountable, while also serving as an indication that Griffin should no longer feel safe unless he accelerates his progress.

Gruden’s statement was in response to a quote Griffin gave after Sunday’s 27-7 home loss to the Buccaneers, in which he said no quarterback can excel without strong play from his supporting cast. Many people, right or wrong, took that to be Griffin throwing his teammates under the proverbial bus. Griffin’s remarks clearly irked Gruden, as they were the impetus for his rant, but Griffin’s words were hardly so out-of-bounds that they required a response of this nature from the first-year head coach.

Instead, it seems more like Gruden wanted to get this message out there and Griffin’s controversial quote simply opened the door. The same way Griffin cannot excel with better play from his teammates, Gruden cannot excel without better play from his quarterback. So Gruden threw Griffin under the bus (much like he felt Griffin threw his teammates under the bus), shifting some of the blame for this 3-7 season onto the quarterback that was forced upon him as soon as he was hired.

One thing is clear: this bus that continues to run over people in Washington will likely carry Griffin or Gruden out of town as soon as the season is over.

Holy Big-Play Receiver, Batman! It’s Commissioner Gordon

The Browns, who incredibly dropped from first to worst in the insane AFC North with Sunday’s 23-7 loss to the Texans, finally get back Josh Gordon from his 10-game suspension this week. Gordon, who led the league in receiving yards last season despite missing three games, should provide a major spark for a team that has been held to seven points or less twice in the last five weeks.

Some rust is to be expected, given the length of Gordon’s layoff, and Browns players are doing everything in their power to make it clear that Gordon’s return alone will not cure all that ails them on offense. Nonetheless, the excitement that accompanies seeing No. 12 back on the field is palpable.

“Josh is an elite receiver, he’s proven that, but you have to be very smart with how you handle him,” said Browns Head Coach Mike Pettine. “We really won’t know until the week goes on where he is mentally, where he is physically, how ready he is, how he’ll be able to contribute to our offense.”

Gordon’s first game back happens to come against a Falcons team that ranks last against the pass (281.2 yards per game). Atlanta, amazingly, is in first place in the NFC South at 4-6, despite being two games worse than the last-place Browns.

Gordon will be given every opportunity to torch Atlanta’s struggling secondary. If he can use this favorable matchup to get back on track — and the Browns can soon get back Jordan Cameron, who has missed the last three games with a concussion — Cleveland may just be potent enough to pass its way back into the postseason and snap an 11-year playoff drought.

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