Waking up Monday morning last week, Pittsburgh fans felt good about a lot of things.
The Steelers suddenly had life after beating the Ravens, and the Penguins were on a four game winning streak.
But this Monday morning felt a little different.
A brutal loss to the Oakland Raiders and a three game losing streak by the Penguins had fans grasping for something positive to hold on to.
It started with the Penguins’ loss to the Colorado Avalanche, getting shut out 1-0.
It was unfortunate to see a dominating performance that didn’t produce any results. The Pens just so happened to run into a brick wall in the form of goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
Then they had to sulk over that loss for four days, only to allow three third-period goals by the New York Islanders in a 4-3 loss on Friday.
This loss could be better explained by the lackluster goaltending in the third period by backup Jeff Zatkoff. With that being said, he didn’t get much help from his defense in that period.
The next night, they traveled to Toronto, Canada to take on the Maple Leafs. After seemingly dominating the first period of play, they only had a 1-1 score to show for it. They ended up being outplayed in the final two periods, losing 4-1.
Oh wait… the week still wasn’t over yet.
The “red hot” Pittsburgh Steelers still had a chance to salvage the Penguins’ wreckage. All they had to do was beat the Oakland Raiders.
Then there came what could only be classified as an embarrassment.
The Steelers kicked off the ball to the Raiders, who took it back to the 14-yard line. They were moved back to the 7 due to a holding penalty. So far so good, right?
Well, the defense must not have known that quarterbacks are indeed allowed to keep the ball and run with it after faking a handoff, because Raiders’ QB Terrelle Pryor fooled EVERY SINGLE DEFENDER on the option play.
The defensive linemen were giving each other high fives, thinking they stopped RB Darren McFadden for a minimal gain. Then they realized Pryor was walking into the endzone.
So, not the ideal start to end a bad week on a good note, but, hey, at least Shaun Suisham hasn’t missed a field goal, right?
Well… almost. He made a 47 yard field goal in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 14-3.
That’s when it all went oh so very wrong.
A long Pittsburgh drive sparked by a turnover was stopped short of the 15 yard line on third down, so they brought on “Mr. Perfect” to knock in a chip shot.
Oops… it hooked way right as soon as he made contact. No good. That ended the half with a score of 21-3 Raiders.
Another drive, a long methodical one, was also halted in the red zone. This time, even closer at the 14-yard line. No way he misses this one, right?
Ugh, nope. Lightning struck twice, pulling it wide right again.
After not scoring in the third quarter, the Steelers scored two minutes into the fourth, making it 21-10, on a pass to Emmanuel Sanders from Ben Roethlisberger.
Then with less than two minutes remaining, Le’Veon Bell scored. Emmanuel Sanders then scored on the two-point conversion to cut it to 21-18.
However, the Steelers last chance was from inside their own 10-yard line, needing two Hail Mary passes just to get in field goal range.
They got one, but the clock ran out in the process, putting an end to the misery of that week.
Fear not, Pittsburgh fans. Better days lie ahead.
The Penguins have since rattled off two straight wins against the Hurricanes and the Bruins.
As for the Steelers, well, what else is there to do? They’ve already taken away Ping Pong and Pool for everyone.
