Dispelling a few common Steelers misconceptions

There’s a need to address three common misconceptions regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In Week 8, I attended the Steelers’ home game against the Washington Redskins. Sitting in the second-to-last row of the stadium in section 538, I heard a pair of Steelers fans behind me talking about Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown.

I don’t remember the specifics of what they said, but, in general, they felt Brown deserved to be paid more than Wallace on the basis that Brown provides good gains on third down and catches the ball better than Wallace, whose speed they thought didn’t really matter. I turned around to these gentlemen and said, “I would rather have the guy who’s scored 22 touchdowns the past three seasons than the guy who has four.” The rest of the game, I heard no more talk of how Brown was better than Wallace.

This brings up the first misconception: Wallace doesn’t deserve to get paid what he does.

To acknowledge the men’s points, though, Brown is a great receiver. He topped 1,000 yards last season, runs great routes and always seems to come up big for the Steelers on third downs.

But Wallace is the fastest receiver in the league, and in an age when passing game is the hot trend among NFL offenses, he’s a top commodity worth big money (he will make $2.7 million this year before becoming a free agent at the end of the season). Wallace topped 1,000 receiving yards the past two seasons and will likely do it again this year if Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger returns.

Steelers fans everywhere remember watching Plaxico Burress catch a game-winning pass from Giants quarterback Eli Manning to upset the undefeated Patriots in the 2007 Super Bowl. Pittsburgh can’t afford to let Wallace be lost in the same way.

The second misconception is that Jonathan Dwyer is the Steelers’ best running back.

The Steelers’ struggles in the running game this season are well-documented, and for good reason. Through 11 games, their rushing attacks rank them No. 22 among 32 NFL teams, with 101.5 yards per game.

Historically, Pittsburgh is well-regarded for its ability to run the football, dating back to the days of Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier in the 1970s. But this year, in terms of success running the football, the Steelers have been at the opposite end of the spectrum.

This week, much to the pleasure of yinzers everywhere, Dwyer — a 2010 sixth-round draft pick out of Georgia Tech — was moved to the top of the Steelers’ depth chart over Rashard Mendenhall.

Dwyer is not Pittsburgh’s best running back. Mendenhall is.

Don’t get me wrong, Dwyer is a quality back who hits holes hard and can break through arm tackles with his size. And he did deliver two back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances earlier this season, albeit coming in the two best games of offensive-line play this season.

But Mendenhall is Pittsburgh’s best option.

If the Steelers hope for a postseason berth and any success in the playoffs, they will need a quality running game, and that’s where Mendenhall will need to step up. This season, knee injuries have held him out of all but four of Pittsburgh’s 11 games to date, so he has not been himself, nor has he had the chance to show his worth.

Now Mendenhall is finally healthy, as far as Pittsburgh fans and media are aware, and should have the shot to be the Steelers’ feature back.

In the prime of his career at 25 years old, he has already posted two 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He would have three if not for the injury he sustained at the end of last season, which caused him to miss Pittsburgh’s final game and left his stat line at 928 yards and nine touchdowns.

Mendenhall is a proven commodity, and within him lies the key to the running game’s success in the Steelers’ final five games, all of which are must-wins if Pittsburgh hopes to find itself playing football in January this season.

Charlie Batch is a capable back-up quarterback.

It’s difficult to find a franchise quarterback in the NFL. But even more difficult, as Pittsburgh has learned the hard way, is finding a capable backup, or backups, at that position.

Batch’s presence on the roster has severely hurt the Steelers the past few seasons, especially in Week 12 against the Cleveland Browns.

Batch frequently missed open receivers and underthrew Wallace multiple times. “Checkdown Charlie” missed Heath Miller out of the backfield, throwing a two-yard pass over his head and out of bounds. Batch also threw a slant pattern behind Wallace, resulting in Wallace bobbling the ball and Cleveland picking Batch off, one of the three times he was intercepted.

Don’t get me wrong — Batch is a great guy. He filed for bankruptcy in 2011, mostly because of the large amounts of money he donated to underprivileged children in the Pittsburgh area.

But being a nice guy does not earn you a spot on an NFL roster — playing your position well does. And, as Steeler fans witnessed Sunday, the quarterback who will turn 38 years old in a week no longer does so.

Write Nate at njb32@pitt.edu.