By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH — During the few rough patches the Pittsburgh
Steelers encountered while winning the Super Bowl last season,
they emphasized their camaraderie and selflessness pushed them
through the tough times and set them apart from most teams.
Linebacker James Farrior said they were more like a family than
a football team. Players campaigned for teammates – not
themselves – to make the Pro Bowl. The team’s season highlight
film was called “Brothers and Champions.”
A season later, the Steelers’ much-admired team unity is being
tested by a three-game losing streak and the unexpected decision
to sit quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hours before one of their
biggest games all season
The Steelers (6-5), drooping after two overtime losses in as
many weeks, admittedly are a desperate team. The next 10 days
might tell them if they’re a divided team, too.
As former coach Chuck Noll once said, there are many problems
and they are great, beginning with some rarely-seen-in-public
infighting.
The Steelers’ players were stunned and unhappy upon learning
that Roethlisberger wouldn’t play in the 20-17 overtime loss in
Baltimore on Sunday night because of post-concussion headaches.
Wide receivers Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes suggested
Roethlisberger was letting the Steelers down by forcing them to
play the inexperienced Dennis Dixon in a critical game with
limited preparation.
Ward: “This game is almost like a playoff game. It’s almost a
must-win. I could see some players or teammates questioning,
like, ’It’s just a concussion. I’ve played with a concussion
before.”’
Holmes: “We would have liked for him to play. If he had the
opportunity, he should have played for us, but he didn’t. And we
didn’t get the job done.”
Afterward, coach Mike Tomlin explained the last-minute decision
wasn’t made by Roethlisberger, as some players apparently
thought, but was the team following a recommendation by
neurologist Joseph Maroon.
Ward and Roethlisberger have had their moments before, such as
when the quarterback lobbied for the team to draft a tall
receiver last year and Ward objected. Still, this is the first
time Roethlisberger has been so harshly rebuked in public by a
teammate, and it comes just as the Steelers are trying to save
their season.
Tomlin, always proactive in settling any issues, is convinced he
doesn’t have an estranged team.
“I’m not worried about a problem in the locker room,” Tomlin
said. “In that instance, maybe Hines was misinformed. I didn’t
give him the detailed explanation that went down in terms of the
decision-making. … I was more concerned with getting Dennis
ready to play.”
The Steelers faced nearly identical circumstances in 2005 – a
three-game losing streak and a season that appeared to be
getting away from them – only to win their final eight games and
the Super Bowl. The danger is they can’t realistically expect to
mount such a late-season drive every time they suffer a
late-season slide.
Still, the Steelers are in relatively good position in the AFC
wild-card race if not in the AFC North, which the Bengals (8-3)
should win unless they collapse.
Three of the Steelers’ final five games at home, and they meet
the Raiders (3-8) and Browns (1-10) in a five-day span starting
Sunday – a get-well-in-a-hurry stretch if there ever was one.
They also play the Packers (7-4) on Dec. 20 and Ravens (6-5) on
Dec. 27 at home and the Dolphins (5-6) on Jan. 3 on the road.
“I don’t feel it (the season) is over yet,” linebacker James
Harrison said.
To get turned around, the Steelers badly need the NFL’s No. 3
defense to quit allowing late scoring drives; they led or were
tied in the fourth quarter during all five losses. They also
could use the return of safety Troy Polamalu, although he could
miss one or two more games with his left knee injury. It also
might help if they got an interception or two by their
cornerbacks, who don’t have one all season.
“We will not go gently,” Tomlin said. “We will unleash hell in
December because we have to. We won’t go in a shell. We’ll go
into attack mode, because that’s what’s required.”
Tough words by Tomlin. He’ll find out soon if he has a team
tough enough to match them.
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