"Redemption Sunday is coming for us in the form of the Baltimore Ravens."

- Mike Tomlin

Let me just say at the outset - I'm not exactly in what I'd call an "approachable" mood today.

Having the hard drive of your only two-year-old laptop fail harder than the Bengals on Sunday will do that to you.

I'm entering day three without a usable laptop...and I feel like I might as well join the God damned Peace Corps at this point...

Either way, please pass the Xanax.

Now, both Steve and I have noted unreal levels of negativity from Steeler nation over the past 24 hours or so.

We lost to the Chiefs. How unfortunate.

Big Ben may have received a concussion on Sunday (doubtful). How unfortunate.

Chuck Batch hurt his wrist, jerking off to the idea that he might start against the Ravens. How unfortunate.

Polamalu's out for another three or four weeks. How unfortunate.

As a wise, ancient Chinese philosopher once said - "Shit happens."

And as Tomlin always says - "All men experience adversity."

But if the season ended today, the Steelers would still be the six seed in the AFC playoff race.

Of course, the season isn't ending today.

The Steelers still have six games in which they play the Ravens twice, the Raiders, the Browns, the Packers and the Dolphins.

So let's address the woes.

And let me say right now, if your only contribution to this discussion is "Fire Mike Tomlin," or "Fire Bruce Arians," this isn't the blog for you. However, as Domski said to me the other day, "I could see firing the special teams coach." But we'll get to that...

Big Ben first...The only way anyone will ever keep Big Ben off the field is a sledge hammer to the face. But it doesn't really matter, because we already know he'll be playing on Sunday...

Chuck Batch...By virtue of CB's injured wrist, the Steelers backup QB is now Dennis Dixon, and the Steelers are expected to add former Pitt Panther, Tyler Palko to the practice squad either today or tomorrow (I've heard conflicting reports). All I can say is - let's just hope we don't have to worry about who our backup is...

Troy Polamalu...At this point, it's hard to dispute that the Steelers aren't the same defense without Troy. They're certainly still better than 85% of the rest of the NFL defenses, but Troy's clearly the glue that binds it all together. Over the next month, assuming Troy returns for the Packers game, the Steelers play the Ravens, the Raiders and the Browns. These should all be winnable games if the Steelers respond to the situation they've put themselves in.

And then, there's the Special Teams. I have no words for this unit that you could say on TV before 10 PM. Domski's all for putting starters in to cover kicks, and I can't disagree. What else do you want me to say?

Here's your update on the Ravens. They're 5-5, Terrell Suggs is out for six weeks, and starting Corner Fabian Washington is out for the year (they'll be starting a rookie in his place), among other things. But no matter what's going on with the Ravens, the Steelers need to focus on themselves. This is THE must win game of the season. Only fitting that it's against the Ravens. In Baltimore. In prime time.

If the Steelers have any hopes of making the playoffs, a loss would be unacceptable.

So, guys, let's have it...what are your thoughts on the current state of affairs?

Oh, and PS - Sorry for the lack of images...next time I've got more than 10 minutes to write a post I'll be sure to include some pretty pictures.

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