Rarely do I jump on a chance to give my editorial opinion by actually writing up an article, but after listening to the ongoing narrative week after week that the Pittsburgh Steelers are ‘just lucky’, or they can’t ‘handle inferior teams’, that they’ll always be looking up at the New England Patriots, I started feeling this itchy little irritation at the back of my throat that made me want to cough really loudly.

There have been plenty of opinions offered by armchair general managers and sofa coaches rapidly beating the keys on their laptops or hitting the send button repeatedly on their Twitter account to go around this season, and some – yes, some – of those opinions have been valid. As someone who works closely analyzing NFL teams, especially the Steelers, I spend a ton of time (most of my time, actually) paying attention to small details, film recap, what is and is not said by the team and on-field trends that seem to be addressed one week and then reappear at the most inconvenient times (like dropped passes and missed tackles). Trust me, I feel the frustration.

When Colin Cowherd decided on Monday to go off on a three-plus minute tirade about how the Steelers can’t possibly be real contenders because they have “no formula”, I sat down and actually tolerated his annoying voice to listen to what he had to say. The video ended and I hit the pause button, shook my head and thought,”Well, he had a couple good points but what the hell does he equate the taste of Starbucks coffee being the same regardless of what location you ask for your double mocha latte with skim milk or the fact that McDonald’s has crappy cheeseburgers that are crappy whether you’re in Beijing or Boise with professional football?!”

Don’t worry, I’ll share Cowherd’s rant soon, but I want to talk about his basic premise – that the Pittsburgh Steelers can’t be real contenders in the NFL in 2017 because they do not have a formula. He didn’t say a formula to win, or a formula to improve. In fact, Cowherd spent more time making metaphors about movie directors, fast food and how he has a love connection with the New England Patriots than really explaining what formula he believes the Steelers should have.

This statement is probably Cowherd’s most concise talking point:

“There is a reason the Pittsburgh Steelers are all over the map, play great in big games, horrible against bad teams. Because the Pittsburgh Steelers have no formula. They are not a tight, well-oiled system. They are not a buttoned-up, brilliantly coached formula. They have none. They just win based on stars. They are utterly reliant on stars making big plays. And the good news is, right now, they’ve got them.”

No offense, Colin, but most teams that are successful are reliant on stars making big plays. What would those favored sons over in New England have without the Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski love-fest, or how do the Cowboys win when Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott are on the field at the same time but stumble when they aren’t? Why have the Denver Broncos not been more successful even though Von Miller continues to be a nasty guy on defense? Why does the NFL send players to the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Is it because winning teams are just packed with nothing but stars? Football fans know differently. Every team relies on their playmakers to do just that – make plays. Big ones. Splashy, fancy, thrilling ones. Rarely does any single NFL team in any given season have nothing but future Hall of Famers on their rosters. That’s just fact.

Now, pulling back a little bit, I want to give Cowherd at least a couple props. First, he is correct in saying that the Steelers have been forced to rely on “stars” – Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell, Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Heyward, Ryan Shazier to name guys that are consistently highly ranked by PFF and considered the playmakers on the roster week-in and week-out – to win games this season. But, that’s too simplistic. If you have stars, why would you not play them or create a game plan around them? That seems to be a formula for failure, right?

Second, Cowherd is correct in saying that the Steelers have been all over the map. They’ve been inconsistent week-to-week and there has yet to be a game outside of the thrashing of the Tennessee Titans that the Steelers met the expectation (as unrealistic as it is) to go out and hand their opponent an embarrassing loss. Has it appeared that they’ve ‘played down’ to teams that they statistically should have ground into the turf? Sure. Look around the league this season, however, and you can find at least two games every week where the “favorite” in a matchup couldn’t walk away with a win. That’s the nature of pro football. It’s unpredictable. Don’t believe me? Ask anyone who plays fantasy football what this season has been like as they’ve tried to set their lineups filled with “stars”.

Against the Packers, the Steelers had a few issues that could be playoff-hope killers. They need to do better at wrapping up and making sure they finish tackles. They need to shut down the big play on defense and turn the big play on offensively. This team needs to get guys out there in practice and work on catching drills. Fundamentals. Limit penalties. It’s all basic stuff, right? It’s the things that drive us into a near-epileptic state when we see the Steelers fail in those areas. We expect more from professionals than we do the Pee Wee players on Saturdays at the local YMCA field.

Ask the players what bothers them about their performances and the honest ones will tell you that it was the little things they didn’t take care of or do better. They know when they haven’t played their best games. Good players make adjustments to make sure they correct those issues.

Cowherd goes farther by saying,

“Ask yourself, when’s the last time you turned in, you missed the first quarter of a Patriot game, you turned the TV on, looked at the score and went, what the hell? No, they’re always up 14-0. But with the Steelers, you miss the first 12 minutes, you tune in– what the hell? You’re trailing to the Packers? You’re getting dominated by the Colts?”

NFL Preseason: Week 1 (Jaguars 31 – Patriots 24), Week 2 (Texans 27 – Patriots 23). Oh, wait, preseason games don’t count. Regular season Week 1 (Chiefs 42 – Patriots 27) – New England may have been up at halftime but they allowed Kansas City to score 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Against the Panthers (who won, 33-30), the Patriots were down 16-17 at the half. If you look at the games the Patriots have played this year, you’d be able to send Cowherd a great Twitter message telling him how wrong he is that the Patriots are “always up 14-0” and then troll him about how no one has ever looked at a New England game and said, “What the hell?” That would be fun, actually. Troll away.

Cowherd continues:

“New England never has a problem with their locker room. The Spurs never have a problem with their locker room. Because players know what to expect driving to work…New England has enough talent, but a great formula. Pittsburgh’s got great talent and no formula. And that’s why New England will and has dominated Pittsburgh.”

Deflate-Gate. Spy-Gate. Brady possibly being dishonest about whether he re-entered the Super Bowl with a concussion? Never mind, those were never a problem in the locker room. And besides, since I cover the Steelers, primarily, I am just sour grapes about New England beating Pittsburgh. (Sigh)

Cowherd may be all about the formula. Maybe he has OCD and it really bothers him when teams, or bands, or artists, or fast food restaurants, decide to not be one-dimensional or predictable. Maybe he has to reach for the antacids every time an NFL team decides they’re going to switch from the no-huddle to a base offense because their opponent is giving them a certain look that they think they can exploit. All I know is that, while formulas like recipes make us feel like there is order in the universe, they do not always remain rigid. In fact, winning teams are ones who have a playbook (or formula) that is fluid, adjustable, multi-dimensional. Teams that stick to formulas at all costs? See the Cleveland Browns through 12 weeks of play.

Now that I’ve said my piece, I’d love for you to take the three minutes to listen to what Cowherd had to say and then leave a comment. Is he right? Are the Steelers a floundering ship at sea because they don’t have a formula that is obvious to us as fans, as analysts? Or is he just jumping on the bandwagon that unless the Steelers win every game by a large margin they are an undisciplined, lackluster team that has no hopes for seeing the playoffs in 2017? You have your 15 minutes…take it.