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polamalubeast
09-19-2012, 02:22 AM
If there’s a Steelers theme for the week, it’s this: Beware the Black Hole.

No, not the one that seemingly swallowed up their running game.

The Oakland Raiders (0-2) would appear to be just the floundering opponent a banged-up team wishes for at this stage of the season, especially with the chance to heal during an upcoming bye week.

The Raiders haven’t finished above .500 in 10 years. They’re off to their usual poor start. A bad long snapper and some ill-timed penalties cost them in a 22-14 loss to San Diego, and they were blown out Sunday by one of the NFL’s worst teams, losing 35-13 to the Miami Dolphins.

New coach, new season, same old Raiders. And that might be the Steelers’ biggest worry as they head to timeworn Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum — the last remaining multipurpose stadium to house an NFL and Major League Baseball team — on Sunday.

Twice in the past six years, Steelers teams coming off Super Bowl victories were tripped up by terrible Raiders teams, perhaps a forewarning as the Steelers (1-1) prepare for the only game in the first half of the season in which they will be heavily favored to win.

During their last visit to the so-called Black Hole in 2006, Ben Roethlisberger threw four interceptions only a week after receiving a concussion in Atlanta. The Raiders returned two for touchdowns, including a 100-yarder by Chris Carr, and upset the Steelers 20-13 — the last time that 2-14 team won all season.

“In my wildest dreams, I didn’t think I would be playing this badly,” Roethlisberger said then.

Under the NFL’s current concussion standards, he probably wouldn’t have played at all.

Roethlisberger also was getting over a concussion three years later when the Steelers were upset by the Raiders again, a last-minute 27-24 loss at Heinz Field on Dec. 6, 2009.

That loss to a 5-11 Raiders team, and another five days later to a 5-11 Browns team, ultimately cost them any chance of repeating as Super Bowl champions.

Former Seton-La Salle quarterback Bruce Gradkowski threw three touchdown passes in the final 8½ minutes for Oakland; an 11-yard game-winner to Louis Murphy with nine seconds remaining came with backup safety Ryan Mundy in coverage because Troy Polamalu was injured.

Polamalu (strained calf) might not play in this one, either. Coach Mike Tomlin didn’t sound optimistic Tuesday, saying Polamalu and linebacker James Harrison (knee) still aren’t ready to practice.


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/2625095-85/raiders-game-steelers-season-tomlin-yards-team-polamalu-oakland-practice?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tribunereviewsteelers+%28Stee lers+Stories%29#ixzz26tk5cwMI
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