On the Steelers: Biggest pain is stunning defeat

By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

No one said it afterward, few wrote it and coach Mike Tomlin practically castigated one member of the media for even asking him about it Sunday after the Steelers' stunning AFC wild-card loss in overtime to the Denver Broncos.

Yet, it has been the elephant in their locker room all season -- no, not Casey Hampton -- and reached its zenith in Denver. The Steelers ultimately could not overcome the large number of injuries to hit them.

The standard took too many hits, so many that had the Steelers somehow managed to pull out a win in Denver, an ugly Saturday in Foxborough, Mass., loomed. They might have had to ask for volunteers from the audience in order to field a team. And if Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow could drop 316 yards on 10 completions against them, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady would have come to the table Saturday with a knife, a fork and a voracious appetite.

"You know better than that," Tomlin instructed one member of the media from Pittsburgh who dared ask him how injuries might have had their effect on the game. "We don't live in that world. We don't make excuses in regards to injuries."

No one asked him to make excuses, and those who know Tomlin realize he would never allow injuries to serve as a reason for anything. No one else in the NFL cares, first of all. And he and the Steelers do not want to sound as if they are whining.

But injuries are the reason the Steelers will not play Saturday in New England.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12010/1202485-66-0.stm?cmpid=steelers.xml#ixzz1j2BDzy1A