Who will take snaps for Steelers?

Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era

Nov 24, 2009 09:29 EST

Pittsburgh

By MATT PAWLIKOWSKI, Correspondent

As the Steelers ready themselves for their biggest rivalry game of the year, a prime-time matchup against Baltimore on Sunday night, there are many questions to be answered this week after a stunning 27-24 defeat at the hands of the Chiefs.

First and foremost, who will be behind center at kickoff?

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was injured in Sunday's overtime period after taking a knee to the helmet.

"He took a blow, needless to say it was a concussion-oriented thing," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Sunday. "I don't have a lot of information in terms of where he is or his level of availability. We will have more information as we proceed."

While no official diagnosis was given, Roethlisberger was examined on Monday, undergoing a battery of tests due to NFL guidelines established a year ago regarding concussions, to establish whether he can play Sunday night.

If he is unable to play against Baltimore, the Steelers may have to go with unproven Dennis Dixon, who has just one game on his resume, because veteran Charlie Batch injured his wrist in the Chiefs game and may miss the rest of the season.

Tomlin will discuss the situation at his press conference this afternoon as the Steelers had no official word Monday.

But there are other, more pressing issues to be addressed heading into the game, such as turnovers, giving up the big play and especially special teams. For the fourth time in five games, the Steelers allowed a touchdown via a return, this time as Kansas City's Jamaal Charles raced 97 yards for a score to open things up.

"I've been here for 12 years and I've never seen this many touchdowns scored on our kickoff team in one season," Hines Ward said. "We have to rectify it; we have to get guys on there inspired to play."

Once in a season may be a fluke, twice a cause for concern, but four times in 10 games is a real problem.

Then there were the red zone woes. True the Steelers outgained the Chiefs by a huge margin (515-282), but turnovers and a lack of attention to details proved fatal. Tight end Heath Miller let a ball slip out of his hands that was intercepted, Mike Wallace fumbled a reception, and Roethlisberger forced a ball into quadruple coverage which was picked off and returned 94 yards.

Rashard Mendenhall, who had 81 yards rushing and 36 yards in receptions, thought the team did better when it got to the 20, but added there is still room for improvement in the red zone.

"We've worked on it, and every game and situation is different," Mendenhall said. "We did look better there, but we didn't win. You have to be on the top of your game to win and we didn't do enough on offense to do that."

Surprisingly, the Steeler defense, which was ranked first in the AFC heading into the game seemed to lose focus in the second half, especially the secondary — as they surrendered a number of big plays to quarterback Matt Cassel, who was listless in the first half.

Ike Taylor dropped an interception on the Chiefs' winning drive and Chris Chambers burned the secondary on the next play, basically securing the victory.

"Not every guy was on the same page," safety Ty Carter said. "Every guy is accountable for themselves. We made mistakes. We have six hard games ahead of us and we have to put this behind us, because it's hurtful."