Former Steeler Ryan Clark Rips His Old Team on ESPN: ‘Who Can They Beat?’
He’s fed up
After jumping out to the best start in the NFL, the Steelers are in free fall.
Pittsburgh’s 11–0 start no longer looks so impressive after dropping three straight to Washington, the Bills and, on Monday night, the Bengals. Three turnovers, paired with an inability to get anything going on offense, were enough to let a team quarterbacked by Ryan Finley beat the division leaders.
Ben Roethlisberger, who, according to an Adam Schefter report earlier on Monday, intends to play an 18th season next year, played like a guy who should be thinking about hanging them up. He completed 20 of 38 passes for 170 yards and was responsible for all three Steelers turnovers (a pick, a fumble and a pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster that set JuJu up to get blasted by a defender and cough up the ball).
After looking like Super Bowl contenders earlier in the season, the Steelers are limping toward the finish line right now. Nobody can feel good about their playoff aspirations right now, not even a guy who used to play for the team.
After the game, former Steelers defensive back and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark appeared on SportsCenter to give his thoughts on Pittsburgh’s skid. He didn’t hold back.
“Kenny, who can they beat? You tell me, who can they beat?” Clark said. “Can they beat the Colts? No. Can they beat the Tennessee Titans in the playoffs? No. Can they beat the Cleveland Browns? We know they can’t beat the Kansas City Chiefs. We know they can’t beat the Buffalo Bills. We look at this team play offense, they are playing at such a deficit each game, there’s no way that they’ll win.
“Tonight, they were getting stopped behind the line. You couldn’t convert third-and-ones, fourth-and-ones. The pass game was inefficient. There weren’t drops but there were the incompletions, the were passes that were blown up, the interceptions by the Cincinnati Bengals. They made the Cincinnati Bengals look like an All-Pro, Pro Bowl–caliber defense and they haven’t been that all year.
“And so you think when you’re playing the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns, some of the better teams in the AFC, that the Pittsburgh Steelers can win? They were 11–0, and that was fool’s gold.
“You’re now losing players on defense, you have injuries on offense and you have a quarterback that can’t seem to make the right decision when that is what you’re expecting him to do. As a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, as an alum, I am sad because I don’t see them winning a game in the playoffs.”
The Steelers haven’t scored more than two offensive touchdowns in a game since Week 11 against the Jaguars. And this isn’t a team with a defense as fearsome as the old Troy Polamalu–James Harrison teams. If Pittsburgh wants to make some noise in the playoffs, it’s going to have to score points, and that just hasn’t been happening of late.
And the path to a playoff win could get a lot rockier depending on what happens over the last two weeks of the regular season. If the Steelers lose to the Colts next week and the Browns beat the (surging!) Jets, then Week 17’s game in Cleveland is for the division and home-field advantage in the first round.
The best of SI
Which NBA teams will be the most fun to watch this year? ... Where do the Patriots go now after missing the playoffs for the first time in forever? ... How can the Dodgers improve on a roster that just won the World Series?
Around the sports world
Ohio State will have plenty of bulletin board material ahead of its playoff matchup with Clemson after Dabo Swinney ranked the Buckeyes 11th in his final coaches poll ballot. ... John Calipari has asked freshman Cam’Ron Fletcher to “step away” from the team after he was visibly upset over his lack of playing time in Saturday’s loss to North Carolina. ... The Lions fired their special teams coach after he went rogue and dialed up a fake punt.
Two minutes of Charlie looking exactly like Tiger
The Steelers got off to a really, really bad start
LeBron must be on speaking terms with Kyrie again
So that’s a no
I’ve been in home detention for nine months
I like Tyler Glasnow a lot more now
Andy Reid was born with a mustache, right?
Pretty tricky
This is just a normal thing she does now
A massive brawl—featuring a flying karate kick to the face—broke out during a U-17 game in Brazil
Not sports
The Russian opposition leader who was poisoned by the FSB duped one of the spies responsible for the attack into revealing how it was carried out. ... Disney is producing a Mandalorian spinoff show centered on Boba Fett. ... Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is making a documentary about the Beatles.
2020 mood
A good song
Today is the last Hot Clicks for a little while. I’m taking some time off for the holidays, but I’ll be back on Jan. 4. I’ll also have a special year-end Clicks on New Year’s Eve. (On a related note, I saw Christmas Vacation for the first time over the weekend. Rectify that if you haven’t seen it.)
Email dan.gartland@si.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.
