Beat Miami and Whatever Happens, Happens

Most of the publicized talk about the Steelers (or, in the case of LaMarr Woodley, from the Steelers) this week has centered on games extraneous to what will take place Sunday in the stadium named for Jimmy Buffett's second rate take on Corona.

Which would be fine if a win over the Dolphins on the road were a given. Despite blowing a pivotal game last week (even though they came back valiantly from a huge halftime deficit) against Houston, Miami is still a good team at home. 4-3 may not seem like the strongest home record ever, but bear in mind their other two home losses are against Indianapolis and New Orleans and it's not quite so middling.

Ricky Williams is likely to be consigned to his sideline hot box for this game - a boon, no doubt. Still, the Wildcat gave the Steelers fits against the Browns and was really the only reason Cleveland had any offense at all. Without Williams, it should be easier to contain, though Miami will probably give the Steelers more looks from Pat White out of the formation, which will give the defense enough pause to not stack everyone on the line.

Hines looked shaky the majority of the week, but it looks as though he's giving it a go. While Polamalu had pegged this as a game he might return to the lineup, he was already a scratch by midweek. It will truly suck if the Steelers' season ends without Troy getting another game on the field, but better for that than jeopardizing his long-term prospects. Somehow the offensive line, despite improved play most of the season has majorly regressed. The chief offender in that slump is the guy who looked to have made the biggest jump in play earlier in the year: Max Starks. Even in victory, he's been embarrassed the previous two weeks, not to mention horribly in the loss to Cleveland. The Dolphins' secondary is far from the best, but their front seven is capable of wreaking some hack, posting the fifth most sacks in the league. For the Steelers to even be alive to watch what happens later in the day, Starks needs to find his game one last time this season.

We all know the scenarios by now. The Steelers need to take care of business have either Houston and the Jets or the Ravens to lose. Or they need the Jets, Broncos and Ravens to fall. Each scenario requires at least one victory by a team with nothing to play for against one fighting for its life. Not impossible, to be sure, but not all that likely to happen either. Oakland could beat Baltimore at home, but probably won't. Belichick could be enough of a dick to want to run Houston out of the playoffs himself. But the need for a Jets loss in either scenario at home against a Bengals team that will rest players makes it highly doubtful that the Steelers will get the breaks they need. The fact remains that winning one of any of the numerous games they allowed to slip through their fingers over the course of the season and the Steelers would be in right now. I can understand Woodley's frustration but don't agree that teams are trying to keep the Steelers out so much as they're interested in resting players and avoiding injury. Even if they are trying to block out Pittsburgh, that's their prerogative. The Steelers had an opportunity to control their destiny and blew it. At the very least, wins the last two weeks allow us one more day with a vested interest in what goes on. If that's all it ends up getting us, Steelers fans can't say they were cheated.