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Hines Ward: Steelers offense has to carry team

Pittsburgh Steelers v Houston Texans

HOUSTON - OCTOBER 02: Wide receiver Hines Ward #86 of the Pittsburgh Steelers drops the ball after taking a hard hit from cornerback Jason Allen #30 and strong safety Glover Quin #29 of hte Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on October 2, 2011 in Houston, Texas. Houston won 17-10. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

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Heading into the season, a small decline from the aging Steelers defense was fair to expect. That’s happened thus far.

I thought the emerging Pittsburgh passing attack would make up for any defensive decline. That hasn’t happened at all.

“It’s time for the offense to step up and carry this team because the defense has carried us for many years now. And now they’re going through this situation,” Hines Ward told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We need to be there for our teammates and for this organization, we have to go out and make more plays.”

Forget about carrying the team. Start with not ruining the team. The Steelers offense has more giveaways than any team in the league. They have given up the third-most amount of sacks in the league. The offensive line has rotated spare parts, and they don’t run block well.

Pittsburgh’s defense has been run over at times, but they’ve played well enough since the Week One meltdown.

The offense has been the bigger problem by far, and that doesn’t figure to change Sunday. The Titans have given up the fewest points in the league.