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Well, I can easily say that I'm glad they had this game early in the season. After last week's "not as close as the score tells it" 34-15 victory over Baltimore, the Steelers bumbled their way to a disappointing 41-20 loss today.

Maddox was again quite good (more on this later), throwing near 60% (28 of 47) for 336 yards. Burress had seven catches for 115 yards and Ward nine for 146. The defense played ho hum, giving up 122 on the ground (31 on a single run) and only 125 in the air. Then again, who needs an air game when you score via interception return, kickoff return, and three runs. The Steelers, contrarily, managed only 60 yards on the ground.

The running game indicates what I foresee as a possible "big" problem: the offensive line and Amos Zeroue's indecision. The latter may be caused by the prior, but the line simply didn't play well today. Many of Maddox' throws were rushed - with people in his face - and he was sacked four times. Of his three (two more than he threw all of last year) picks, two were tipped and thus really not ones for which I can blame him. The last one - the one from the KC five-yard line - I spread the blame over Maddox and the O line. It's true that Maddox had a man in his face, but he also seems to have missed Hines Ward in the left flats with enough room to get into the end zone as well. I think the offensive line's inability to hold a line - or create holes - is hindering Amos Zeroue's ability to find a hole, instead forcing him to bounce around, leading to lots of -5 to 2 yard runs.

The secondary had a few penalties, but with only 125 yards passing (and 15/21, with two interceptions by Chad Scott, returned for a touchdown, and James Farrior), they played fairly well. Frankly, I'm not really sure they were tested all that well.

Jeff Reed had a 51 yard field goal - congrats to him, the longest of his career. Verron Haynes fumbled for the second time in two games - this kid to keep his damn hands on the ball and stop coughing it up. It's cost us points both times.

Overall, a relatively "ho hum" week. Special teams didn't do well. The offensive line was, indeed, offensive. The D didn't do so well against the run and did quite nicely against the pass. Maddox played well, particularly when he had time to pass. Burress and Ward did well. Next week we're off to Cincinnati, so - fingers crossed - it should be a relatively easy week.

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