Rashard Mendenhall came into this year with pretty high expectations, both in fantasy football and real life football. He has been a bit of a disappointment in both facets this year, and those of you who needed him to come through on Thursday against the Browns to clinch a playoff spot, he was pretty frustrating on Thursday.
Mendenhall only recorded 76 yards on 18 carries and failed to catch a pass out of the backfield. That's good for just over seven points, and for a player as important as Mendenhall, that's just not going to get it done.
He had the opportunity to make this at least a passable game when Mike Wallace's touchdown was overturned and the Steelers got the ball on the two yard line with a good chance to score. They handed the ball off to Mendenhall four times in a row, and each time he failed to get into the endzone, being tackled violently by Chris Gocong on a couple of those carries. It was emblematic of the evening for Mendenhall.