Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.
Signs the Steelers’ troubles can’t be fixed merely by the return of Rashard Mendenhall, James Harrison and Troy Polamalu, whenever that occurs.
Signs that this 2012 season has already taken a sharp and perhaps irreversible turn for the worse. Signs that the problems — and they are many — might not be fixable this season.
Bad signs, too, especially for a team that, after coming out of its bye week by facing Philadelphia at Heinz Field on Oct. 7, plays three of its next four on the road. The Steelers (1-2) have lost four of their past five away from home.
ONE HALF ISN’T ENOUGH
The defense, statistically the NFL’s best last season, can’t get off the field in the second half. The Broncos and Raiders had eight meaningful second-half drives between them. The result? Eight scores. The Steelers have been outscored 44-37 in the second half despite a 14-0 edge over the Jets on Sept. 16.
“We’ve got to close out,” Mike Wallace said. “If we want to be a playoff, Super Bowl-caliber team, we’ve got to be able to close out games.”
ONE DIMENSIONAL WON’T WORK
Ben Roethlisberger is off to the best start of his nine-season career, playing at a level only the megastars do; he is 82 of 120 for 904 yards, eight touchdowns, one interception and a rating of 109.2 that was 120-plus the past two games. Three receivers already have 15 catches or more.
But the running game (195 yards in three games) is abysmal. And when was the last time a Steelers coach tried three different running backs in the same game in an effort to generate yardage, as Mike Tomlin did Sunday by using Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer and Baron Batch?
Mendenhall appears to be close to returning. For this running game, it can’t occur soon enough.
“The more we run the ball, the better we’ll get,” an optimistic Willie Colon said.
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