The Steelers bring a 5-2 record into the bye week.  It’s probably not far from the record most people guessed but the team took a very odd path in getting there.

 Last week the Steelers took care of the Vikings thanks to some splash plays from the defense.  The game was an odd one for the Steelers on Offense due to some strange play calling.  However at the end of the day, Pittsburgh went up early and never gave up the lead.

 Despite Mendenhall averaging 6.9 yards per carry, the Steelers did not choose to grind it out versus the Vikings.  Nor did big Ben continue his over-the-top passing attack — he only averaged 6.7 yards per attempt in this outing.  The offense humming along thusly in second gear put up 13 points over the game.  One can only assume that this game plan was to minimize the chances for the vaunted Viking D-line to have an impact on the game.  That end was accomplished to some extent with no sacks for Jared Allen.  However Ben was still sacked 4 times and hit 3 more times.

 The real star of this game was a fired up and swarming Steelers defense.  The defense, as expected, shut down Adrian Peterson so well that with a 1^st and goal on the Steelers 1 yard line, the Vikings only gave him one shot to get a touchdown before trying Favre against the Steeler D.  Favre had no better luck and the Vikings were held to a field goal on that drive. 

Defensive captain James Farrior had a monster game with 15 tackles and a sack.  Whenever the team was in a critical situation, they held their responsibilities beautifully.  Farrior was instrumental in containing Peterson as well as the underneath passing attack.  Of course the highlights of the game were two defensive returns of turnovers for touchdowns.  Those plays are notable for the players’ hustle in getting down field to block.  On the second return, this year’s first rounder Ziggy Hood could be seen sprinting alongside Ryan Clark as they escorted Keyaron Fox to the endzone. 

From an injury standpoint, Timmons and Kirschke were nicked up a bit.  Considering the bye week both I believe are expected to return for the Denver game.  Ryan Clark’s status for the Denver game is still up in the air.  The Free Safety had life threatening medical issues after a previous trip to Denver that resulted in the removal of his spleen and gall bladder.  I think it’s likely he will not play and the position will be filled by backup Ryan Mundy with help as needed from Deshea Townsend and Keiwan Ratkiff.  This should be a good opportunity for Mundy to prove himself.  The performance could be pivotal with Clark entering free agency after this year.