Mewelde Moore's Style Should Not Be Overlooked by the Steelers

(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has a strong sense of style. It is evident in the way he presents himself, in his manner of speech, and in his approach to the game.

Constantly stating that "style points do not count" does not eliminate the fact that his Steelers also have developed according to his style, and that style translates directly into our ability to score points, which certainly do count.

After watching the Steelers lose to the Chicago Bears last Sunday, I saw some elements of their style that inspired me, yet I am left with nagging reminders of other consistencies in the ways in which they have managed to lose.

Chalking up a loss while fighting to the last gasp is both comforting and disheartening. How many times did last year's Detroit Lions let a lead slip away as the game wound to a close?

I would never place the Steelers in the same category as the Lions; however, I am simply stating the obvious fact that a close loss counts the same as a blowout.

This year, the Week One victory over the Titans showed again that the Steelers are a team whose offense has a style that mirrors that of their quarterback: Fight to the end no matter how grim things appear.  

Fighting to the end not only won them the Super Bowl, it also worked against several teams last year, most notably the Ravens.

I watched plenty of Steelers games in the late 1990s when the team would be sitting on a sure win, only to strut along the sidelines as their opponent dug in to snatch the victory. The late '90s Steelers teams lacked the urge to fight to the end, and that attitude is critical to any great team.

Conversely, the painful struggle at the end of their Week Two loss to the Bears reminded me a little of the style that was seen in the 2007 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the wild card round of the playoffs.

On that cold slushy Sunday, the Steeler offense was slow to get on track against the Jaguars, but they found their heart and dragged the team to a fragile one-point lead in the fourth quarter.

With our proud defense deflated, we were the ones left to take a beating at the end of the game. In both games, our opponents were the ones kicking the game-winning field goal.

That scenario will always be out of style in Pittsburgh.

I feel that when Tomlin uses the word style, he attaches to it a connotation of beauty or elegance.  

I would guess that is why he does not want the team to get caught up on the concept of "style."

Yet "The Drive" and "The Catch" did not occur at the end of blowout games; they emphatically punctuated wins in very close games that could have gone either way.  

The countless times those plays have run on highlight reels underscore the height of their value to football. Those plays define style.

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