Kovacevic: Tomlin v. Harbaugh? No mas!

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- It takes a lot to get people in this part of the world talking about Pittsburgh's football team when Pittsburgh's hockey team is in town, but the buzz over the Steelers' loss in Baltimore was everywhere from sports bars to the MTS Centre concourse before the Penguins and Jets faced off.

"Rough day for Pittsburgh already, eh?" I overheard one blue-clad fan say to another.

"Oh, yeah," the other came back. "I couldn't believe that."

They, of course, had no clue as to how bad it really was. They couldn't have.

It's not just that the Steelers committed maybe the greatest collective gag of the Mike Tomlin era. Or that Baltimore had 19 guys on injured reserve and were down to a fourth-string quarterback plucked off a playground somewhere. Or even that the Ravens had precious little motivation while the visitors had everything on the line.

No, it's that Tomlin, if we're searching beyond the symptoms for an actual cause, had his hat handed to him by John Harbaugh.

Again.



Since Tomlin's most recent playoff victory, that coming against the other Jets following the 2010 season, the Steelers haven't won a playoff game. You know that part already, and you're likely to hear it a billion more times the next few days. But here's more: Tomlin is now 9-10 against Harbaugh, including 3-8 since that playoff win. And in those 11 meetings, the Steelers have topped 20 points twice, 23 once.

Even now, when things have never been darker in Baltimore under Harbaugh, half of the Ravens' six measly wins in their past 17 games have come against the Steelers.

That's not some any-given-Sunday thing. Not when it happens this often.

• DeAngelo Williams might have been a sentimental favorite to be team MVP previously, but he should be a cinch to get the vote now. He's the only player to show up every time his number was called, above and beyond, certainly on the offensive side.

And to think, losing Le'Veon Bell was supposed to be the dagger.

• This is a repeat of a repeat but, before burying the secondary too deep, ask yourself when was the last time you saw an edge rusher sack the quarterback. The last one came from Arthur Moats against the Colts a month ago. In the three games that followed, it's been all blanks. None for James Harrison, Jarvis Jones, Bud Dupree ... nobody at all.

Hm. Maybe the Steelers should draft another linebacker first.

(Ducks for cover.)

• I'll save the rough stuff for the post-mortem, should it come to that, but the utter disregard of the cornerback position by Tomlin and Kevin Colbert has reached the point where it requires an Art Rooney II intervention. Feel how you will about Rooney's last intervention -- and I'd much rather still have Bruce Arians over Todd Haley -- but the fact remains he's the only one with the authority to make a meaningful change in this thinking.

It isn't 1977 anymore, gentlemen, and a single Mel Blount-type won't come riding into town to save us all. A wholesale shift in approach is required.

• What a damned shame. All that offense. A generational group. A chance to really achieve something in a vulnerable AFC field. And they take the week off.

• Witnessing a rather demonstrative -- though visibly amicable -- exchange between Jim Rutherford and Kris Letang late Sunday night in the Penguins' corner of the MTS Centre lower concourse, I'm more convinced than ever that Rutherford meant it when he said it was the team's call to sit Letang even though the latter had been cleared of concussion symptoms.

Good for the GM. Players will almost always play, if given the choice. So the choice was taken away.

• This was the shoulder check to Letang's head by the Wild's Jarrett Stoll:



A league being sued for concussion malpractice deemed nothing wrong with that hit beyond the two-minute minor called by the referee.

Never will lawyers in any suit have so much public sentiment on their side.

• There is no earthly reason why Sergei Plotnikov's next shift shouldn't be in Wilkes-Barre. He's been an abject failure from the first day, and he's actually regressing, if that's even possible. Watch him away from the puck. You won't believe it.

• The other night in St. Paul, I asked Nino Niederreiter, the Wild forward who pushed Olli Maatta into that open bench door a month ago in Pittsburgh, if the NHL could or should legislate against doors being open during play.

"Oh, for sure," Niederreiter came right back, kind of surprising me. "But here's the thing: If you do that, you've got to have longer benches because you're going to need room for that guy who's coming off to get there safely. If you did that now, his skate's going to come down on a teammate and cut somebody."

But, I responded, if the benches get longer ...

"Right. Exactly. Fewer seats."

Which means less money for owners. So forget it.

• Rutherford wants to trade for another defenseman. But there's none to be had, he told me here a couple nights ago. I believe him. Look around the NHL right now. There's almost no activity, other than teams filling emergency holes as the Canadiens just did by acquiring goaltender Ben Scrivens. A dead market is a dangerous market.

• Is there any rational person who can argue the Pirates are better now than when we last saw them walk off the field at PNC Park?

We all get so caught up in analyzing individual moves, myself included, and that can be fun. But the answer to the above question is the only one that matters. And the only teeny, tiny way in which I could see the answer being affirmative is if this management team is more convinced than they're letting on that Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon are ready to contribute to the rotation.

• I roll my eyes at about 95 percent of the nonsense that gets tossed at Bob Nutting, if only because about 95 percent of it is either factually incorrect or farcically over the top. But I've also steadfastly stated that the Pirates' payroll has been about $10 million-$15 million below where it should be when compared to the Brewers, a team with a highly similar revenue stream. That needs to change, and early indications toward 2016 suggest it won't.

If not now, then when?

• On the bright side, my goodness, the Reds should be terrible. And don't forget, it was the Reds and Brewers, more than anyone, who kept the Pirates from the Central crown.

• Reporting and/or broadcasting can be rough businesses, but Tim Neverett always worked with a warm smile, and he treated those around him with genuine affection and respect. The Pirates' loss is Boston's gain. Best wishes to a good man and his family.