Bye week comes at right time for reeling, ailing Steelers
PITTSBURGH 鈥� Since being reinstituted during the 1990 season, there have been two prevailing schools of thought when it comes to the NFL蘑菇视频 bye week.
The first sentiment holds that the bye stalls momentum, either good or bad. Secondly, the break provides the league蘑菇视频 32 teams with some needed rest.
The Steelers, now 4-3 and losers of two in a row after Sunday蘑菇视频 27-16 loss to the New England Patriots at Heinz Field, will certainly welcome the respite to regroup. Perhaps more importantly, they need to recover physically.
With all due respect to Landry Jones, Cobi Hamilton, Chris Hubbard, L.T. Walton and the patchwork lineup the Steelers fielded against New England, they can鈥檛 make up for the absences of Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Heyward, DeAngelo Williams, Marcus Gilbert and Marcus Wheaton, five of the Steelers鈥� key contributors, all of whom have been sidelined with injuries.
Whether the Steelers will have any of the aforementioned healthy, or Bud Dupree and Ladarius Green, for their Week 9 game at Baltimore remains to be seen. But some extra time off can鈥檛 hurt.
鈥淭his is the bye week we get,鈥� said linebacker Jarvis Jones. 鈥淲e have to live with it. We鈥檙e not going to seek comfort and try to sugarcoat what transpired (Sunday). It happened. We鈥檙e definitely going to watch film from it, learn from it. We鈥檙e going to figure out a way to get better from here out.鈥�
The Steelers will have just two practices this week 鈥� Tuesday and Wednesday 鈥� to seize the day, as Jones put it, to correct what ailed them against New England: mainly missed tackles and blown red-zone opportunities.
鈥淥bviously, it蘑菇视频 going to always be good to get your players back, but we still felt like we could win that game,鈥� said running back Le鈥橵eon Bell.
They will return to practice next Monday in preparation for the Baltimore Ravens, who have defeated them in each of the last three meetings. A loss to the Ravens would drop the Steelers to a precarious 4-4, the same record they had after eight games last year when they required help just to qualify for the postseason.
While the Steelers have lost coming off their bye week the past two seasons, this year could be different if they can get Roethlisberger back to health. Roethlisberger, who missed his first start following surgery to repair his torn left meniscus, is expected to miss anywhere from 2-6 weeks.
The Steelers offense, which has been looking to average 30 points per game, has scored just 31 combined points the past two weeks. Over that same span, with Heyward out with a hamstring injury, the defense has zero sacks and has given up 181 rushing yards per game.