The Raiders always seem to be one of the Steelers’ antagonists during seasons in which they miss the playoffs.

The Steelers lost to a 2-14 Raiders team in Oakland on the way to finishing 8-8 in 2006.

The Steelers lost at home to a 5-11 Raiders squad while going 9-7 and missing the playoffs in 2009.

That motif continued on Sunday, when the Steelers blew a 10-point lead and lost to the previously winless Raiders on a last-second field goal to drop to 1-2.

The Steelers also started 1-2 in 2006 and 2009. That doesn’t seem to bode well for the 2012 Steelers.

The 2006 and 2009 teams were coming off Super Bowl championships. A Super Bowl hangover has been used as the blanket excuse for the demise of those teams.

But, was it really a Super Bowl hangover? Perhaps, something bigger is at work here.

The Steelers haven’t made the playoffs for three straight years, since they went every year from 1992-1997.

After reaching the playoffs in 2001 and 2002, the Steelers sank to 6-10 in 2003. The Steelers didn’t reach the Super Bowl in 2002, so there obviously was no Super Bowl hangover. It had more to do with the fact that they needed a franchise quarterback, and they got him when they drafted Ben Roethlisberger in 2004.

Roethlisberger has taken the Steelers to three Super Bowls, winning two of them. However, he has yet to lead the Steelers to three straight playoff appearances.

Neither has Mike Tomlin. While Tomlin has matched Bill Cowher’s Super Bowl resume with two appearances and one win, Cowher took the Steelers to the playoffs in his first six seasons.

Since then, the Steelers seem to suffer from a “Third-Year Syndrome” that keeps them out of the playoffs every third year.Steelers games online.

That honor goes to Pittsburgh’s Ryan Mundy going helmet-to-helmet on Darius Heyward-Bey, requiring a neck brace and stretcher for Heyward-Bey. But later in the fourth, on what would be the Raiders’ game-winning drive, Steelers DE Ziggy Hood was locked up with Oakland guard Mike Brisiel when his left knee was taken out from the side by tackle Willie Smith. The hit straddled the line between cut block and chop block, but the Steelers were immediately furious. LB Larry Foote began jawing with the refs, as did Hood as he was being helped off the field.

In the Oakland Coliseum, the visiting team’s and referees’ locker rooms are across the hall from each other, and both must take the same tunnel off the field. After the final play, Foote made a beeline for the locker room to get there at the same time as the officials. Jory Rand of CBS Pittsburgh saw what went down.

Scoring is up across the league, and defenses will eagerly tell you a big part of that is the refs. Naturally more inclined to swallow the whistle than draw attention to themselves by calling a penalty that doesn’t exist, the refs are letting the already-borderline-dirty tactics of linemen go unexamined. Pass-rushers have already complained about the absence of offensive holding calls. And if we know anything about football players, it’s that they’ll push and push to see just how much they’re allowed to get away with. For Larry Foote, a frustrating no-call in a frustrating game in a frustrating young season was just his breaking point.

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With Ryan Clark’s return to the lineup, it was thought a move could be made to release either veteran safety Will Allen or rookie S Robert Golden, but nothing on that front has been confirmed.

The Steelers also added cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke before Week 1, and Van Dyke saw a few snaps on special teams in that game.

Van Dyke was added when the Steelers placed offensive guard David DeCastro on injured-reserve with a designation to return after Week 8. The Steelers have not confirmed where Van Dyke sits on the depth chart yet.

Those four, along with Ryan Mundy, Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor, Keenan Lewis, Cortez Allen and Curtis Brown make up the Steelers’ secondary.

There’s no law against keeping 10 defensive backs (five safeties and five corners) but it’s not typical.

The pending absence of linebackers James Harrison (knee) and Stevenson Sylvester (knee) could be part of the reason rookie Adrian Robinson made the roster in the first place, but now, considering the Van Dyke signing, it doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere. Robinson saw very limited snaps on special teams in Week 1.

Despite Steelers coach Mike Tomlin saying before Week 1 rookie running back Chris Rainey would be his return man, that did not happen. Antonio Brown returned punts and Emmanuel Sanders returned kicks.

Projected Inactives (as of Wednesday):

QB Charlie Batch, NT Alamed Ta’amu, RB Rashard Mendenhall, OL Kelvin Beachum, LB Stevenson Sylvester, either James Harrison or Adrian Robinson, either Robert Golden or DeMarcus Van Dyke

Offensive Depth Chart:

QB – Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich, Charlie Batch

RB – Rashard Mendenhall, Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer, Chris Rainey, Baron Batch

FB – Will Johnson

WR1 – Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders

WR2 – Antonio Brown, Jerricho Cotchery

TE – Heath Miller, Leonard Pope, David Paulson

LT – Max Starks, Mike Adams

LG – Willie Colon, Kelvin Beachum

C – Maurkice Pouncey, Doug Legursky

RG – Ramon Foster

RT – Marcus Gilbert, Adams
Defensive Depth Chart:

LDE – Ziggy Hood, Al Woods

NT – Casey Hampton, Steve McLendon, Alameda Ta’amu

RDE – Brett Keisel, Cameron Heyward

LOLB – LaMarr Woodley, Jason Worilds

LILB – Larry Foote, Stevenson Sylvester

RILB – Lawrence Timmons, Brandon Johnson

ROLB – James Harrison, Chris Carter, Adrian Robinson

LCB – Keenan Lewis, Cortez Allen, (DeMarcus Van Dyke)

SS – Troy Polamalu, Will Allen

FS – Ryan Clark, Ryan Mundy, Robert Golden

RCB – Ike Taylor, Curtis Brown, (DeMarcus Van Dyke)
Special Teams Dept Chart

P – Drew Butler

K – Shaun Suisham

LS – Greg Warren

PR – Brown

KR – Sanders