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Ben Roethlisberger may be out, but the Steelers will be just fine
Arguably the biggest upset of the season took place in Miami on Sunday as the Dolphins knocked off the 4-1 Pittsburgh Steelers. The Dolphins were fresh off of a 30-17 loss to the Titans in which they racked up a measly 200 yards of offense. The Steelers, on the other hand, had just beaten the Jets handily, dominating them en route to a 31-13 victory.
Everything indicated that the Steelers would once again stomp their AFC East opponent, but that was hardly the case. Miami upset Pittsburgh 30-15 behind Jay Ajayi’s 204 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
That wasn’t even the worst part.
To further compound the Steelers’ embarrassing and shocking loss, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went down with a torn meniscus in his knee and reportedly is undergoing surgery on Monday to clean it up. He doesn’t have a timetable to return, but knee injuries are never good developments for a player, let alone a Pro Bowl quarterback.
As bad as all of this sounds, the sky is not falling in Pittsburgh, Steelers fans. This is merely a bump in the road that they’ll be able to overcome, just as they’ve done repeatedly in the past.
It’s already the second time this season that the Steelers have been dominated by a team that was nowhere near as talented as they are. The Eagles, who look like a decent team but not a Super Bowl contender, beat up the Steelers to the tune of a 34-3 victory in Week 3.
Pittsburgh rebounded by crushing the Chiefs 43-14, then getting the 18-point win over the Jets. Does that mean they’ll bounce back against the vaunted Patriots in Week 7? No, probably not, given that Roethlisberger will likely miss the game due to his knee situation. Add that to the fact that the Patriots look like one of the three-best teams in the NFL and Pittsburgh is primed to lose that one, too.
So what? Even if they do lose, they’ll fall to 4-3. Assuming the Ravens beat the Jets on Sunday, the Steelers will be in a tie for first in the AFC North with a Week 8 bye next on the schedule. That gives Big Ben plenty of time to heal before a big Week 9 showdown with the Ravens, likely putting first place on the line.
As serious as Roethlisberger’s injury sounds, you have to remember one thing: It’s Big Ben. He’s dealt with as many ailments as any quarterback in the NFL, yet he’s never missed more than four games in a single season. He’s among the most durable players in the league despite getting injured seemingly every year.
The Steelers have become accustomed to playing games at less than full strength. From Le’Veon Bell’s suspensions to his injuries to Martavis Bryant’s ban, no team is better suited to overcome missing pieces. Consider last season, for example. Roethlisberger missed four games. In those games, Bell rushed for an average of 112 yards per game on 84 attempts. The Steelers went 2-2, losing to the Chiefs and Ravens.
It wasn’t the best outcome, but there’s no question it was manageable given the circumstances. Roethlisberger’s injury wasn’t the only one they had to overcome, either. When Bell went down with a season-ending injury against the Bengals, Roethlisberger and the passing game stepped up. The Steelers went 6-2 down the stretch to reach the postseason with Roethlisberger averaging a whopping 346 yards per game in that span. Again, it’s a different scenario when you lose your Pro Bowl quarterback instead of your All-Pro running back, but there’s no question the Steelers have the firepower to overcome Roethlisberger’s injury.
But what about their concerning trend of losing to lesser teams, you ask? It’s hard to explain why this keeps happening to the Steelers, but it’s simply a matter of them playing down to their competition – and it’s something they’ve dealt with in recent years. Since 2012, they’ve lost 11 games to teams well below .500. In fact, their opponents in those losses had a combined record of 19-61. The Steelers, on the other hand, were at or above .500 in all but one of those games. Obviously, that’s a worrisome trend for a team with Super Bowl aspirations each year, but it’s far from a serious issue.
In the next game following one of those disappointing losses, the Steelers are 8-2 (excluding Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins). Only twice have they lost a game after getting beat by one of those lesser opponents. Very rarely does Pittsburgh allow a shocking defeat to derail its season, let alone hinder the team in the next game.
This situation will be different if Roethlisberger can’t go, especially with their next opponent being the Patriots. However, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see them come out and beat the Patriots, knowing the way they play following an embarrassing defeat.
The Steelers are in no way a great situation with Roethlisberger hurt and the 5-1 Patriots next on the schedule. However, the world isn’t ending and their season isn’t over. It’s far from done, even if Big Ben is forced to miss a few games. Landry Jones will be tested and won’t play anywhere close to Roethlisberger’s level, but he’s not the worst backup in the league.
With Bell healthy and a wide receiving corps headed by Antonio Brown, he’ll be put in a situation to succeed, just as the Steelers typically do when faced with an injury. Lean on Bell with Roethlisberger injured and wait for him to return. It’s as simple as that.
And it’s not like the AFC North is particularly daunting. The 2-4 Bengals have one of the league's worst point differentials (minus-36), while the 3-3 Ravens simply feasted on an easy schedule to start the year. Since their 3-0 start, the Ravens have lost three straight and look mediocre on offense. And the Browns -- whom the Steelers still get to face twice -- are more terrible than ever.
This division is certainly winnable for the Steelers, and it won’t be an unworldly challenge for them to finish on top. Pittsburgh will be just fine, even if it does seem like the Steelers’ season is coming to an end fairly quickly.
