Going Deep:

By Hombre de Acero

The apocalypse that was to be Landry Jones starting against the Patriots did not quite come to pass, although the Steelers still got Gronked to the tune of 27-16. They enter their bye week with a 4-3 record, hoping to return to full health before facing the Ravens. But before we can contemplate a trip to Charm City, this corner of Steelers Nation must first grapple with these 5 Smoldering Questions.

1. Landry Jones’ end zone interception was no doubt costly. However, Antonio Brown has taken heat for not doing more to contest the Malcolm Butler’s interception.

Do you think such criticism of Brown is justified, or is this a case of the ball being underthrown and Bulter having excellent position?

2. Last week we asked if there was a potential Red Flag raised by some of Antonio Brown’s comments. This week we turn to our attention to Cameron Heyward, who criticized his teammates for quitting.

Do you think that Cam Heyward is leveling a fair criticism at the rest of the locker room, and if you think it is, is Heyward right to voice such concerns in public?

3a. You might want to get out a pencil and paper for question 3 because we’re going back to high school Algebra class. Here’s the equation:

4(123 + 72 + 222 +140)/(-91) + (-97) = 0

Can you make sense of that with the naked eye?

OK, here’s the decryption code: In the last two season the Steelers have give up 123, 72, 222 and 140 yards rushing in the four games missed by either Stephon Tuitt or Cameron Heyward, all of which were losses.

Is this just coincidence, or is there an “X” factor that either of these two men bring to the defense?

Please note, remember to save your work because part 3b to this question comes next week!

4. Neither Mike Tomlin nor any of the members of the Steelers locker room were ready to accept any moral victories after the Patriots game. Good for them.

Fans however, do have some luxuries not afforded to the pros. In that sense, do you take anything positive away from the Patriots game, or was it simply a case of missed opportunities that will hurt the Steelers down the road?
5. Several years ago, in this column’s predecessor, I shared a time when I (sort of) jokingly implied that a friend should schedule a trip to France to propose to his girlfriend around the Steelers bye week, and asked readers if they’d ever planned a major life event around the Steelers bye week.

“Frank Wycheck” gave us a truly priceless answer. He candidly admitted:

Waited for a bye week to kick my girlfriend out once. Sundays were the only day we were both home for extended periods., and I didn’t want to deal with during a game. I know, i know..I’m horrible, but that was a long time coming. She was a very stressful person to be around at that time. I also needed another check to by a new TV, we used hers when mine broke.

Since then we’ve invited readers to top “Wycheck’s” story. Now you get your chance, either with your own experience or one you know about.
There you go folks.

My apologies to Hombre and all of you – the post was incorrectly schedules for tomorrow and I just noticed.