Sunday, December 06, 2009  Steelers-Raiders post-game thoughts
Though the players won't admit it, it has become painfully
apparent the Steelers' secondary just cannot play without strong
safety Troy Polamalu.  Without anybody in their secondary other
than Polamalu who can consistently catch the ball, the Steelers
just don't scare anybody.  Oakland's Bruce Gradkowski threw a
number of balls up for grabs in Sunday's 27-24 win over the
Steelers and the Raiders either came down with the pass or saw
it fall harmlessly to the ground.  We already knew that catching
the football was not Ike Taylor's strong point, but now it's
become apparent that neither can anyone else, sans Polamalu.
And the group is also playing without any confidence as well.
It's not a good combination.  Opponents are obviously targeting
Willie Gay play after play and Gay has not been up to the
challenge at all.  In fact, after Gay was beaten a couple of
times Sunday, defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau just started
sending him on corner blitzes