Kovacevic: Finally serious about secondary now?

This was awful.

And then it was awesome.

And finally, in the Sunday evening aftermath of the Steelers' amazing-only-if-you-haven't-been-watching 34-27 bounceback over the Broncos before a throbbing record crowd at Heinz Field, at least three truths were self-evident:

1. This team's got some serious teeth.

"Oh, we will fight you," as Arthur Moats put it much more succinctly.

I've never covered a team that's tougher, physically or spiritually. They were down by 17 in the second quarter, devastated repeatedly by Brock Osweiler and Denver's dynamic receivers, dreadful in every way ... and sunk in everyone's minds but their own.

"We got it together," David DeCastro said. "We got it together right here."

You'd think he was referring to the locker room. Nope. He was thumping his heart.



2. This offense is unstoppable.

The Broncos' defense strutted here with the NFL's No. 1 ranking, and the Steelers crumpled it up, spit on it and flung it in the trash can. Ben Roethlisberger threw one dunce-worthy interception late, but he also threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns, all in the sizzling second half. Antonio Brown caught -- sit down for this -- 16 balls for 189 yards and two of those touchdowns, including this slicing 23-yarder for the winner:



My goodness. That's gorgeous. "Beautiful football" is what Ramon Foster called it.

I didn't even mention Martavis Bryant's 10 catches or Markus Wheaton's six. Those would be headline-worthy in most other contexts. Not this one.

If Denver can't stop this group, who can?

"They played good," the Broncos' superb cornerback, Aqib Talib, would say after a long day of chasing Bryant's long shadow. "They made plays in big situations. We needed to tackle better. Kudos to those boys."

Kudos, indeed. And raspberries all around to all the experts declaring this Denver defense among the best of the past decade, some of whom also forecast that the Steelers' offense would be no match. The 34 points and 377 yards settled that score resoundingly.

3. This secondary remains rotten.

Sorry, but I'm going to be that guy when it comes to this still-sore spot. Because for all the defense did to right itself, the cold fact is that Osweiler, as pedestrian a pro quarterback as one will uncover this far south of the CFL, somehow did all this in the first half:







Oh, for real. Stop and stare at that third one a bit more. That's Osweiler dumping off to Demaryius Thomas, after which Thomas stiff-arms Antwon Blake into next week and coasts by Will Allen for the sort of touchdown one expects to see when varsity scrimmages against JV.

And that second one up there, the 61-yard touchdown in which Emmanuel Sanders was so open he applied to Verizon to have his own area code, Blake was sent on a corner blitz, Allen froze, and all concerned were treated to the comical sight of a middle linebacker being the last man back.

Allen conceded it was rough but also expressed satisfaction in the second half:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYnsNfwKMJE

Others in the secondary shared similar sentiments.

"We had to believe in ourselves and go get it done," William Gay said.

"Every man knew what he had to do," Mike Mitchell said. "That's what we did."

It's impossible not to respect that. Nothing is harder at the top level of sports than climbing off the canvas. The Steelers did that as a collective, no group more than the secondary. The Broncos were 8 for 8 on third downs in the first half, 1 of 9 in the second half. That's astounding. Osweiler completed 14 of 18 passes in the first half, 7 of 28 in the second half. That's absolutely mindblowing.

Huzzah to them all.

But justifiably proud as the Steelers were -- and I've rarely seen this locker room pound so much chest -- the only downside of remaining in contention is that, well, hey, the bar has to be set at actual contention. And this team can no more afford to have a wildly swinging secondary than it can to lose Big Ben or AB.

Being blunt here, it nullifies everything else they do.

This must start with the coaches.

Mike Tomlin blamed the defense's first half on communication breakdowns, harkening all the way back to the opening loss at New England.

"You give them credit: They went up and down the field. But we did a lot to aid that," the coach said. "We were kicking our own butt, in terms of blown calls and things of that nature. ... So much of that was about self-inflicted wounds, things we were doing to ourselves."

I have no doubt Tomlin's correct that this occurred. But I've also got no doubt that this was ... what, Week 15? Foxborough was eons ago, Keith Butler wasn't exactly making his NFL debut as a coordinator, and it's beyond rationality to point to poor signal-calling as the primary problem.

So let's bypass all that and cut to the chase: Blake can't tackle people wearing cleats. He also can't cover anyone and can't read off anyone.

He needs to watch from the sideline.

Everyone, including Tomlin, was downplaying the coaching adjustments made in the second half, and I get that: Coaches see that as showing weakness, as something their players can exploit. But the fact is two very large adjustments were made.

One was a schematic move to take away Sanders eating them alive from the slot position, right down the middle of the field. Opponents week after week have attacked this, because the Steelers under Butler have used a lot of Cover 2 that concentrates on closing off the sidelines, but it never should have come into play this week. Not with Sanders' longstanding ability to work the middle and not, for crying out loud, given that no one this side of the Rockies should know Sanders better.

The other move, and the more obvious one, was that Brandon Boykin took the field in Blake's stead. Not 100 percent of the time -- Blake was still deployed in the dime -- but enough to have made a real impact.

This, of course, should have been the case since, oh, the second week at Saint Vincent College. But better late than never. Whatever got into Tomlin, Butler and Carnell Lake to bury Boykin on the depth chart, it needs to stop. He's no Mel Blount, but he's no Blake, either. It's time for him to get up to speed and, fortunately, the Ravens and Browns offer two test-mode opportunities for that.

But more is needed. And by that I mean more pass rush.

They teach you in business to build from your strengths. Well, this defense has two terrific down linemen in Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt and a flock of first-rounders at linebacker. So stop dropping linebackers into coverage, as if Dick LeBeau were still here preaching "tackle the catch," and start hanging a raw steak around the neck of the opposing quarterback. Go get him. Go hard. Do more stunting with Lawrence Timmons, as happened in this game. Do likewise with Ryan Shazier, even if his pass coverage on this day -- team-best three passes defensed, including two timely ones near the end -- was outstanding. Turn Bud Dupree loose. Get James Harrison back to full health and bench Jarvis Jones.

Stop being stubborn. Scrap the soft zones. Send in the brigade. Cutting down the quarterback's time to throw by even a half-second will make more difference than any scheme or personnel switch.

Sitting back and waiting for the secondary to come around will only spell out sitting at home for the playoffs.

This team deserves so much better than that.