Sep 7, 2013 5 min read

I’m still stuck on 8-8.

I said in this space several weeks ago the Steelers, going into training camp, looked like an 8-8 team. Four exhibition games later, I haven’t seen anything to change my mind. Heath Miller is still out, and Mike Wallace is still playing for the Miami Dolphins.

They each scored eight touchdowns last year for a team that settled for field goals way too often. Did you see anybody in the preseason who is going to provide those 16 TDs?

Neither did I.

The Steelers had arguably their worst running game since the days of Hey-diddle-diddle, Rogel-up-the-middle, last season, and the leading rusher, Jonathan Dwyer, was cut. Le’Veon Bell may be the best running back they’ve had since Jerome Bettis, but it’s kind of hard to tell when he’s carried the ball four times and just took off a boot that was protecting his injured foot a few days ago.

If you’re the Steelers, it’s not a good sign when your coach is spending time at his first Tuesday news conference talking about picking up players on waivers.

That’s what Mike Tomlin did. He also spent a good bit of time talking about “Mesko The Punter,” which is how he referred to Zoltan Mesko. The punter should plan on getting a lot of work this season.

Maybe the Steelers will prove all of us doubters wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time, but, if you ask the question, “What did you see in the preseason to lead you to believe that the Steelers will improve on their 8-8 record?”

The answer has to be nothing.

Even if you include the Ravens getting blown out in Denver Thursday night.

What about the Steelers makes you think they would have done any better against the Broncos?

• If the NFL used the same video replay system that is used in college football, the Raven-Broncos game Thursday night might have had a different outcome.

A third-down pass to Wes Welker from Peyton Manning was ruled a catch and a first down by the officials. The replay clearly showed the ball hit the ground before Welker caught it, but Ravens coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t challenge the call, and eight seconds later, the Broncos picked up big yardage on a catch-and-run play. That led to a touchdown and took the lead away from the Ravens for good.

With the college system, a replay official in the booth would have seen the replay and notified the referee, who would have stopped the game and overturned the call.

If getting it right is the objective, it should be getting it right all the time, not just when the coach has a challenge left and is alert enough to use it.

• The Jameis Winston legend, if there is one, will be traced back to the Monday night in Pittsburgh when he completed 25 of 27 passes against Pitt in his first game at Florida State. He might become the greatest quarterback in the history of football, but I could have completed at least 18 of those 25 passes.

He had receivers running wide open all night and had all night to throw to them.

Pitt’s defense was as bad as Winston was good.

• From now on, it would be a good idea for NFL teams visiting Denver to save the cost of a hotel room and leave their kick returners at home. There were 14 kickoffs Thursday night between the Broncos and the Ravens followed by 14 touchbacks. Kicking off from the 35-yard line at 5,280 feet above sea level is a waste of time and an insult to the intelligence of football fans everywhere.

• If a scientific poll were taken in Western Pennsylvania asking people to choose their preference, the Pirates in the World Series or the Steelers in the Super Bowl, which would win? I’m going to guess Steelers.

• The Cincinnati Bengals won seven of their last eight games last season.

• The website, Coldhardfootballfacts.com, has a new feature that measures the intelligence of NFL teams. In 2012, the Steelers were 10th dumbest.

Teams with a final score of minus-5 on the site’s intelligence index (go to the site to see how they compute it, please) are 56-106-2 against the spread since 2010. Bet against the dumb teams and get rich. The dumbest team, by the way, was the Philadephia Eagles.

• Bill Cowher told a Pittsburgh radio station that running back Felix Jones was a nice pickup by the Steelers. Of course, he also thought Kent Graham was a nice pickup.

• I think Manning needs to come up with an entrance dance in the tradition of Ray Lewis. Maybe slap on a few tattoos. Something to draw a little more attention to himself.

• Peter King of Sports Illustrated, one of the most widely read NFL writers on the planet, is the latest to stop using the name Redskins in his writing.

It’s one more sign that it’s only a matter of time until the name is changed.

John Steigerwald writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.