Post Game: Steelers-Giants

I couldn't get to post game thoughts last night, but Peter King and Don Banks pretty much some up my short and long-term thoughts:

King
Did you see the Giants out-Steel Curtain the Steelers?

Banks
Something's just missing from this Steelers team, and even though Pittsburgh might wind up winning the AFC North once again, my sense is that it won't be a deep run into January for Mike Tomlin's team.

It isn't time to throw in the (terrible) towel because we lost one game, especially considering it was to one of the top teams in the league, but the injuries keep piling up and our offense is too inconsistent to win against top teams. The O-line isn't completely at fault (see this article), and missing Santonio surely hurt, but we haven't had any type of rhythm since week 1. There is still plenty of time to get this fixed (see 2007 NY Giants Super Bowl run), but until we do, the talk of the Steelers as a legitimate threat to make the Super Bowl is certainly premature.

One other quick thought. Although losing a game is rarely palatable, the "best" teams to lose to are those from the opposing conference. Tie breakers for division titles are (1) Head-to-head (2) Division Record (3) Conference Record. Tie breakers for non-division teams are (1) Head-to-head (2) Conference record. Since the Steelers haven't lost to anyone in the division or the conference, they hold the tie breakers in these categories.

That said, I would prefer we beat the NFC East's Washington Redskins next week.