2011 NFL Regular Season: Another lost opportunity for Pittsburgh Steelers – NFL Special
The 2011 National Football League (NFL) regular season was another successful year for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They will not feel a need to rebuild any of their departments, if they look back at their past year’s performance.
It was yet another season the team failed in reaching the playoff and just remain thinking about the Super Bowl ring.
Apparently, they did not look ambitious or hopeful of making it to any of the two glories from the very start of the season and are satisfied to have finished the American professional football premier league with the most wins to their credit, yet again.
With the score tied at 12-4 points with their arch-rivals, the Baltimore Ravens, they finished atop the American Football Conference (AFC) North division.
It was a big achievement for them by any standards.
Reaching and playing a wild card game was considered another job well done by them, despite not being able to get past it.
At the end of the season, there was nothing as exciting for them as finishing at the top of the division and making it to the first round of the playoff phase of the American major football league.
This made their players and officials including coach, Mike Tomlin, contended with what they had done and achieved.
It is not clear if they had any other ambitions than to playing another season with most wins on the points table.
It was probably the only difference between the two sides that the Ravens were aiming high from their very first game, which happened to be against the Steelers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their first and then second game straight to the Ravens in the regular season, which became the most regrettable point of the season for them.
The two wins over the Steelers gave Ravens the tie breaker advantage and helped them claim the AFC North division title and a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
The only highlight and excitement of their side was their daring defence tackler, James Harrison.
The linebacker had lived up to his reputation for his rough tackles that he developed last year and kept making headlines every now and then throughout the season.
His infamous hits took so many twists and turns, knocking down more players with concussions, that in the end, he was handed down a single game-ban for his helmet-hit on Cleveland Browns’ quarterback, Colt McCoy, by the league office.
He became the only player to have been suspended by the league for his foul.
The penalty failed to discipline him and in Steelers' last game, McCoy challenged the NFL star, Tim Tebow.
Luckily for him, his hit was considered to be within the rules and he escaped the punishment.
It is not just that the Steelers had another relatively calm regular season with no big issues on the injuries front.
Almost all other teams are going through a phase of rebuilding with next season on mind.
From the Jacksonville Jaguars to Indianapolis Colts, almost all the teams are looking to mark a new football era in the professional football league next year.
The Steelers are away from the entire hustle bustle. They probably do need it, considering their performance, which was near to be perfect in the regular season, as all their targets seemed to be well achieved.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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