Strange Days at Steeler Nation

Many people have asked me over the last couple of days about the Steelers loss to the Bengals. I am inclined to say that there is certainly no need to panic over the fact that they are 1-2 heading into their bye week, that this team is too good not to challenge for the division title and perhaps another Superbowl. But, there certainly seem to be some unusual things going on with this team. Among them:

-Why does Bill Cowher have two punt returners? One for balls inside the 20 (Santonio Holmes) and one for balls outside the 20 (Ricardo Colchlough)? All this after Cowher announced at the end of the preseason that Willie Reid had won the punt returning job. Curious.

-Najeh Davenport was signed after the first regular season game, presumably to be the Steelers short yardage running back. But, so far, he’s dressed for two games, and he has yet to see the field. Curious. In a related matter, Duce Staley has dressed for only one game, and he’s only been on the field for one play against the Dolphins. Why won’t the Steelers just cut their ties with El Duce, wish him luck, and send him on his way? Curious.

-I will say this: Don’t worry about Ben Roethlisberger. This guy is too good to play poorly for an extended period of time. A viewer actually called the station and said the Steelers need to bench Big Ben and start Charlie Batch. When we asked why: the person simply said: “Cuz Ben’s just not a good quarterback.” Apparently this person wasn’t watching last January when Roethlisberger turned in one of the best postseason performances by a quarterback in NFL history. Not curious. Ridiculous!

Time to panic, Steelers fans? No, of couse not. But the Sunday night game at San Diego is as close to a must win as it gets. If the Black and Gold don’t come out of So-Cal with a win, they could be in serious trouble!