Cannon Firing Line
No Joy in Mudville
By Ellis Cannon
PSR Publisher

We held off writing this column with the December issue's print upon us with the hope we'd find out some things about the Steelers after their Monday night game against the Dolphins. Following the Jets loss in November, perhaps we'd have an opportunity to write-off what happened in Jersey as perhaps a blip on the screen, or a game that offered more sinister signals to at least be aware off over the league's final month.

Turns out the Jets game could very well have indeed offered more sinister signals to at least be aware of over the league's final month after all. Because, as it turned out, there was no reason holding off to see what we could learn about the Steelers when they suited up against Miami at Heinz Field.

Because we learned nothing.

The Dolphins quagmire was not about scheming as much as it was weather. It had less to do with adjustments than it did surviving the conditions. The game was less about execution than it was the field.

So, if there were problems the Jets game uncovered, they were left masked by fate, weather, sod and slop.

And you thought nothing good came out of the lowest scoring game in Monday Night Football history, one that had some wondering if the game should have even been played?

If we had known things would have played out like that, we could have had this column written about something else, rather than adding last-minute stress. Really, it's not like folks around here haven't debated the field issue once or twice.

Blame it on economics, stubbornness or something in between, just about everyone has had a theory on this for years. Here's another - preference.

We always felt Bill Cowher didn't have a problem with the field during its annual disintegration because he considered it a competitive advantage. The way we see it, Mike Tomlin considers it just the opposite - a competitive disadvantage. His resume and background reek of speed - he wants it as much as he can get it. Surely on offense, definitely on defense. That's where his teams are headed. Playing on a surface that impedes, rather than enhances that element, doesn't work.

Faced with another national television audience in early December, a telecast that would surely offer endless highlights of the field from the Monday before, the league kept an official around to work on the lawn all week. The Steelers, in perhaps an obituary of sorts, acknowledged the field conditions were "less than satisfactory" for a Monday night game.

So change is on the way. Either fewer teams on the field or a faker, faster track. Of course, if there was a college football stadium in town…no, we'll save that column for a month where we don't have to push the print deadline - because there's nothing new about that topic either.

Ellis Cannon's SportsLine Pittsburgh" airs weeknights, 6-8 p.m., on FM NewsTalk 104.7. Ellis is also a regular contributor on the "#1 Cochran Sports Showdown" aired Sundays at 11:35 on KDKA-TV.