Mid Week Ramblings

Since the Steelers are off this week and talking about Sundays game continues to anger me, lets take some time and discuss one of the more interesting stories in an otherwise uninteresting year of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball.

Of course i'm talking about Freddy Sanchez.

Aside from being an All-Star this season, Freddy seems to have cemented himself as the National League batting champion, which is an incredible accomplishment. Among the 4 million pre-season prediction rags on the market i'm willing to bet my life that the words "Freddy Sanchez" and "National League batting champion" were used in the same sentence...exactly zero times. And I know there is still a week left in the season, but this race is over. I heard Tim Benz say this morning that even if Sanchez goes 2 for 20 over the final week of the season Miguel Cabreara (he's the guy in 2nd) would have to hit something insane like .450 over the final week just to catch Freddy. Neither one of those things is likely to happen.

Despite this, i'm still not sure what to expect from Freddy in the future. Perhaps being a fan of the Pirates for the last 14 years has left me somewhat cynical, but I think a lot of people are setting themselves up for some disappointment when Sanchez doesn't repeat his exact success next year.

- Hitting .340 is not something that people just do. It's rare. Very rare. Since the strike year in 1994 there have usually been about 2-3 players per year that hit above .340...a more accurate number is 47. That is the actual number of times someone has accomplished the feat since then. And of those 47 times....

* 9 belong to people who played half of their games in Coors Field.
* 4 belong to Tony Gwynn
* 3 belong to Barry Bonds


Alex Rodriguez has only done it once in his career... same goes for Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols and Vladimir Guerrero. These aren't just good players, they're hall of famers. In the case of Rodriguez and Pujols...guys that could be considered among the best to ever play the game when their careers are finished.

- My other big concern (my biggest concern actually) is Freddy Sanchez' alarming lack of walks. It would be an extreme understatement to say that Freddy rarely works a free pass. On a team that ranks 26th in the Majors in walks, Sanchez has the lowest walk rate on the team...which is downright bad. To go beyond the Pirates, there are 79 players in the National League who qualify for the batting title and Sanchez ranks 74th in Walks per Plate Apperance.

The guys below him:

Juan Pierre
Paul Loduca
Clint Barmes
Jeff Francouer
Ronny Cedeno

Yuck.

The guys just above him?

Jack Wilson
Preston Wilson
Pedro Feliz
Juan Encarnacion

Neither list is a who's who of baseball super powers.

When I look at Sanchez walk and strikeout rates they actually remind me a lot of Randall Simons. And thats not a good thing. We all remember Randall Simon...enjoyed meatball subs, hit a sausage in Milwaukee, used to bat .300+....and then he just crapped all over the place (perhaps a result of the meatball subs?)...

Randall Simon actually taught me a lot about baseball because I was pretty excited about trading for him prior to the '03 season. I saw a guy hitting .310-.320 every year and thought, hey, he's always going to do that...and then he didn't. And then I felt like an idiot.

Walks are an important part of baseball and they are not just 4 mistakes thrown by a pitcher..they are something that can be earned. Something that needs to be earned. And something any good hitter needs to be able to do. When Jason Bay goes into a slump he is still somewhat helpful to his team because he can still work a walk and get himself on base (which could eventually lead to a run)...when Randall Simon slumped...he was a complete and total zero because he couldn't work a walk, never got on base, and ultimately led to zero runs. Same thing applies to Sanchez if he continues to walk 28 times in 600 trips to the plate. Luckily this year he never slumped.


Just to put this point into it's proper perspective:

Player	AB	Walks	Strikeouts
Sanchez	540	29	51
Simon	488	25	45

The above table shows what each player has done in their average big league season. As surprising as it may be, Simon actually walked at a slightly higher rate than Sanchez, and while our last memories of Randall Simon are of a slow clod hitting .230 fumbling around the field, you can't forget that for the first 3 years of his career he hit over .300 while slugging somewhere around .450-.460 (FYI: Freddy this year is slugging around .470....around .400 last season) Eventually, the lack of walks did him in.

None of this means that I expect Sanchez to drop off the face of the planet next season like Simon suddenly did, because I don't, mainly because I think Sanchez is a better hitter than Simon...i'm just outlining some of my concerns.

I still think the Pirates should entertain trade offers for Sanchez, it would be a bold move and probably draw a lot of fire and brimstone from the fan base, but the Pirates need to man up and do something to acquire another real difference maker in their lineup (along the lines of a Jason Bay type of player)...the only way they're going to do that is they offer up a real player while his value is at it's highest point.

Sell high.



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Penguin season is just around the corner and to prepare for it the team packed their bags and headed up to West Point to take in a little boot camp. And if there is one guy in the sports world that could benefit from the use of automatic weapons it certainly could be Jarkko Ruutu.

I don't know how many other teams have done such a thing, or what effect it might have on them, but the thought of Marc Andre-Fleury going through boot camp is enough to make me chuckle.

Thats about all I got.

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Parting thought for the day:

If Terrell Owens took a shit...and no one reported it....did Terrell Owens really take a shit?

The Morning After.......

Pittsburgh is crazy, and leading the craziness yesterday was my very own father, who is usually Mr. Sanity when it comes to Steelers football. But yesterday he was crazy, and in the midst of his craziness said the craziest thing I heard of all the crazy things I heard yesterday. Follow that?

In talking to him after the game he said, and I quote:

"I predict that Ben Roethlisberger is going to be another Kordell Stewart and completely fizzle out after 2 years."

Dad. You're crazy. It was one of the few times we had a major disagreement about a Steelers player...we argued it for atleast two hours last night and he wasn't giving in. Crazy.

It seems we've got ourselves the start of a good old fashioned quarterback controversy. And that makes me want to vomit in terror. I always thought that a quarterback in Pittsburgh would have to do nothing short of win a super bowl to gain the respect of even a small majority of Steelers fans.

I could not have been more wrong.

I tried to explain to my dad about small sample sizes and how you shouldn't be fooled by them. DAD. IT'S TWO GAMES!

"He's played a lot of bad games."

His craziness was not stopping.

I decided to look into his claim, so for my benefit, his benefit, and the benefit of all you...here is a complete listing of Ben Roethlisbergers passer ratings from his first two years in the NFL (including playoff games)....

82.5
74.6
101.1
107.4
125.5
126.4
109.3
63.0
104.9
66.9
158.0
33.6
84.8
125.1
57.8
78.1
158.3
139.8
93.7
105.4
93.2
85.0
58.7
94.2
109.0
99.0
120.0
34.1
148.7
95.3
124.9
22.6

- 32 career games.
- 20 games with a passer rating over 90
- 15 games with a passer rating over 100
- 1 Perfect game (158.3)
- 1 near perfect game (158.0)

Just for comparisons sake, lets see where Ben is compared to a few hall of fame Quarterbacks and a couple guys that could eventually end up in the hall of fame after their first two seasons:

Dan Marino: 104.4
Ben Roethlisberger: 98.3
Carson Palmer: 90.1
Joe Montana: 87.2
Tom Brady: 86.0
Jim Kelly: 83.5
Peyton Manning: 80.5
John Elway: 67.9
Troy Aikman: 61.9

Look at it this way, when Ben Roethlisberger should have been a senior in college, he was one game away from the Super Bowl. The very next season, he was winning the Super Bowl, and while he had bad stats in that game, he didn't really play a bad game. I'm as big a stats guy as there is, but every once in a while you do have those intangible moments that stand out about everything else...and if it wasn't for 3rd and 27 or a block on a blitzing safety to keep a wide reciever reverse pass alive...Super Bowl XL might have been different. He has set thebar and expectations so high that pretty much anything he does this season could be looked at as a regression.

He had two bad games this year. He was a problem in those two games. He's not a problem for the long term.

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I'll tell you who might be a problem for the long term though, and that is Hines Ward. Last year I wrote an article at MGS about this and if you ignore my emotional call at the end (which I wish I hadn't put in because it was sappy and stupid) and my plea to sign Antwan Randle-El instead (How was I suppossed to know Dan SNyder would be signing checks with a stamp again) and my prediction about Hines leaving the Steelers you'll see that Ward is following the trend nicely. Or not so nice if you're a Steelers fan. Which is why I link the article in the first place...

His touches are going down, his hamstring is becoming a lingering problem, and he's starting to hit that age.

Concern? Maybe.

The positive is it should open some chances for Heath Miller who, in my view, should be the Steelers #1 target in the passing game.

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After 3 games Willie Parker already has 71 carries and 8 pass catches....thats 79 touches in only 3 games. After 3 games last year he only had about 51 touches. This might be a concern to some who still feel he can't "carry the load."

That doesn't really concern me though, why can't he carry the load? He's percieved as a small finese back but he's got some power and strength in that body, and his build isn't any different than Ladanian Tomlinson, Clinton Portis, Warrick Dunn, Priest Holmes, Tiki Barber, Marshal Faulk and Curtis Martin.....all guys who have or currently are "carrying the load" for their teams.

What is a small concern to me though, is this:

This year the Steelers have r un 81 designed running plays...71 have gone to Willie Parker. Thats not how the Steelers operate their running game. Last year three different backs carried more than 75 times...two carried over 100 times...Why aren't they getting the other backs (Like Davenport for example) involved in the running game?

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Dad, you're crazy.

Free Chidi

Ricardo Colclough today did his best to become the new Tommy Maddox. And thats a very bad thing. Personally, and i'm not joking about this, I would cut him tonight (perhaps right now) and re-sign Chidi Iwouma tomorrow. I realize Chidi will never see the field on 1st, 2nd, or 3rd down but unlike Ricardo Colclough, he atleast had a role...a role that he filled extremely will. It's a little confusing and frustrating that the Steelers just tossed him aside. I don't get it.

Now, a lot of people are going to start going crazy about Ben Roethlisberger...most namely, the talking heads in the media, but heres the thing: Don't be fooled by small sample sizes.

Yes. Ben has played bad the last two weeks....at times, very bad. But his first two years in the league (where he was excellent) are a much better indicator of what the Steelers have at QB as opposed to the first two games of the season. Now, here are my knee jerk questions concerning todays debacle:

1. Why on first and goal at the 5 yard line do you even think about putting the ball in the air after your o-line mauled, clawed, destroyed, and ripped the Bengals defense to shreds the entire way down the field?

Legit question in my eyes. Just because you don't have Jerome Bettis back there doesn't mean you can no longer turn to the running game to stuff it in. And besides, why DID we sign Najeh Davenport?

But even beyond that, Willie Parker played the game of his life today, granted it was very easy for him running through 20 yard holes, but he picked up big gains, tough yards, touchdowns, first downs....everything. You got down to the 5 by running...run it in.

Cincinnati's defense is at their best when the ball is in the air, the less the ball is in the air against them the better.

2. Why, with 8 minutes left in a 3 point game is Ricardo Colclough returning punts with a 30 mph swirling wind?

As soon as Colclough went deep to return this punt Tunch Ilkin screamed out "WHY?!?!?"

An excellent question. And when looking at it in hindsight there better be a damn good answer. But I somehow doubt there will be. The Steelers drafted WIllie Reid for this very purpose (to return punts) and he's yet to dress for a game. He really Tommy Maddox'd it up today and did everything in his power to hand the game over to the Bengals. That play was the crusher.

3. Why is Ricardo Colclough even on the team?

Can anyone remember a time where Ricardo Colclough made a play? Any play? I remember him returning a punt for a touchdown in the pre-season (A punt that he fumbled and picked back up) but other than that? Silence

4. Why are Willie Reid and Najeh Davenport on the team if they aren't going to dress/play?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

1-2 heading into the bye (which could not come at a better time as it turns out) isn't the end of the world, even if Baltimore wins this week. It's an uphill battle, but thats okay. The frustrating thing about this game is its going to allow the asshat Bengals to run their mouths even more even though they still have yet to really accomplish anything. They don't hand out trophies for being 3-0. It also sucks because the STeelers really did dominate this game at times....Badly even....the first and third quarters (and the first half of the 4th quarter) come to mind. They had the Bengals down barely breathing and stupid plays let them right back up.

Thats not cool.

Honestly, I don't think i've ever seen a Steelers team self destruct like that. Ever. At any point.

Stuff

Just a few quick hits right now....

- I'm starting to get the feeling that the Cincinnati Bengals don't like the Pittsburgh Steelers very much. Carson Palmer claims he hates everything about the team: The city. The players. The Stadium. The Fans. The Colors...

And now T.J. Houshmanzadeh is joining in the fun.

- Earlier this week Chad Johnson said something along the lines of "i'm feeling angry and looking to take it out on someone." That someone? Steelers linebacker Joey Porter who Johnson said, "I'd like to meet at the 50 yard line before the game."

I'm not sure what that means but wouldn't it be wild (and fitting) if that turned into another William Green thing?

- I'm really starting to develop a strong hatred for this particular Bengals team, not only because half of their team has served some sort of jail time, but because as a collective unit they might be the cockiest group of players the NFL has ever seen that has yet to do anything of any relevance. Atleast when the Ravens were at the height of their asshattery they won a few playoff games and had a Super Bowl to brag about. What does Cincinnati have? One winning season in 15 years? And the media darling Marvin Lewis...is it just me or does he always have that terrified look on his face on the sidelines?

- Hey, guess who the Oakland Raiders are working out? Oh yes. None other than Turnover Tommy. When discussing the worst Quarterbacks in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers a lot of recent names will probably come up. Many will list Kordell Stewart (and they'd be very wrong) , others would talk about the short lived career of Jim Miller, some might say Kent Graham....I will say Tommy Maddox.


- More in depth thoughts later....I'm kind of pressed for time right now.

Upon Further Review

First of all...I would like to give a big "thank you" to Blitzburgh from MGS for creating this awesome banner at the top here for me....and some mad props to myself for acually figuring out how to get it displayed up there. Excellent job all the way around. Now...onto the business for the day......

Like I said a couple days ago, i'm taking part in the football outsiders game charting project, and this week I was assigned the 2nd half of the Steelers-Jaguars game...so yes, that means I had to actually watch the worst part of the worst game all over again. Heres what I found before I poked my own eyes out in pure terror.

When Pittsburgh had the ball

The two most dominating players in the 2nd half were without question middle linebacker Mike Peterson and cornerback Rashean Mathis. Peterson, aside from having a butt load of tackles in the running game, also managed to find himself around the ball in the passing game. I charted 5 passes where Peterson was the closest defender...The Steelers did manage to complete 3 of those passes but not one went for a first down.

As for Mathis, the Steelers did nothing on his side of the field. Seriously. Nothing. In the 2nd half they threw 4 passes at Mathis and all 4 were incomplete, 2 of which were intercepted while he managed to break up the other 2. I don't know what he did in the first half but he was fantastic in the 2nd half. The only passing play where the Steelers gained any yardage on Mathis in the 2nd half was the play where he was flagged for pass interference on Cedric Wilson...

- Before I watched some of the game again I originally thought the Jaguars were mainly using 4 man rushes...and they very well could have earlier in the game, but in the 2nd half they did a lot of 5-6-7 man rushes and really made life for Ben Roethlisberger miserable, sacking him 3 times and hurrying him atleast 6 times...

- On Ben's first interception i'm thinking that Santonio Holmes made a bad rookie mistake and ran a wrong route...on the play the Jaguars rushed 6 and the Steelers left Verron Haynes in to block, Ben had enough time and threw down the right hash only to have Holmes keep sprinting up the field with his head down. He didn't turn around until Rashean Mathis was running in the opposite direction with the ball. Holmes didn't really redeem himself on the next drive when he was going over the middle on a 3rd and 3 play...Roethlisberger hit him with a pass that was slightly behind him but a ball he still should have caught...and he didn't. On the night Holmes was targeted on 4 passes (all in the 2nd half) and only one was caught. His best play came early in the 3rd quarter on a Jacksonville punt, Holmes was positioned inside his own 5 yard line and called for a fair catch and #31 from the Jaguars (Scott Starks) was getting ready to set up to down the ball... just as the ball was coming down Holmes delivered a solid hit on Starks knocking him off balance and allowing the ball to bounce into the endzone for a touchback. The play kept the Steelers out of the shadows of their own goal post and gained them about 18 yards in field position. Nice heads up play.

When Jacksonville Had The Ball

As usual the Steelers defense did not "blitz" very often in the passing game, a lot of 4 man rushes with some 5 man rushes thrown in...only 3 times in the 2nd half did the Steelers bring more than 5 guys on a pass rush (Leftwich was 1 for 3 on those plays while being hurried once)...

- The defensive line played a strong game, Fred Taylor had a couple of nice runs but for the most part he wasn't a real factor in the game...the biggest problem the Steelers had were a few short passes that turned into big gains due to missed tackles. Tyrone Carter had perhaps the biggest whif of the night on a 3rd and 5 pass to Reggie Williams in the 4th quarter. On the play Troy Polamalu came on a rush up the middle but rookie tailback Maurice Drew made a tremendous block keeping him from Byron Leftwich...Williams then caught an 8 yard pass and turned into a 42 yard gain. The Steelers looked to be in a zone and Deshea Townsend was the closest defender on the play and he actually had a chance to make a play that would have minimized the damage... but Matt Jones stepped in front of Townsend and completely took him out of the play. After that Williams was free down the sidelines with only Tyrone Carter in front of him...the sad part about this play was it wasn't really an "open field play"...Williams had only two options: 1. Run right at Carter giving him an easy tackle 2. Cut back to the middle of the field.

Naturally he chose option 2 and blew right past Carter. I think this was the play where Cowher chewed him out on the sidelines. As he should have.

- James Farrior, Larry Foote, and Clark Haggans all played excellent games, especially Farrior who was active in the run game and solid in the passing game. I saw two passes where Farrior was the closest defender, and while both passes were completed, none went for first downs. The 2nd play was the most impressive as it came in the 4th quarter shortly after the Tyrone Carter meltdown. It was 3rd and 3 and the Jaguars ran a screen pass to the speedy Maurice Drew, it looked like the play was set up to perfection and would go for an easy first down, if not a touchdown, only to have Farrior fight off the block of guard Chris Naoele and stuff Drew one yard short of the first down. It was a big play because it forced Jacksonville to kick a field goal which kept it a one possesion game for the Steelers.

- Ike Taylor was the closest defender on 5 passes in the 2nd half. 3 were completed, all for first downs - Two to Matt Jones, one to Reggie Williams. To be fair, the one completion to Jones was a play where the STeelers were playing in a zone defense. Jones got behind Taylor and managed to find a small opening between him and free safety Ryan Clark...Leftwich fit it in nicely. The biggest misconception about Taylor is that the Steelers just put him out there on the other teams #1 reciever and say "cover him."

They don't do that. Atleast not all the time. I'm sure he'll spend a lot of time getting to know Chad Johnson this week, but on Monday night he saw snaps lined up over Matt Jones, Ernest Wilford, and Reggie Williams. Like everyone else on the defense, he moves around, and like everyone else...plays a lot of zone coverage in the secondary.
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And now we can finally put Monday night behind us. Lets move onto a fresh start this Sunday at Heinz Field against the hated Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals may have beat up the Browns on the scoreboard last Sunday, but the Bengals are littering the injury report coming into this week. Starters Rich Braham (Center), David Pollack (Linebacker), Dexter Jackson (Safety) and Chad Johnson (pain in the ass) all suffered injuries in the victory...the first 3 are already ruled out for Sunday. I haven't heard anything about Johnson but he supposedly suffered a concussion when Browns Safety Brian Russell introduced himself (over on the right) on a late 4th quarter pass. The question I have is this: Why was Chad Johnson in the game at that point? And why was MarvinLewis throwing passes? Okay...thats two questions, but both are pretty legit I think. You're winning by what seemed like 200 points....just sit on the ball and go home happy.

Chad might have still been a little woozy from the hit when he made this comment after the game:

"A key thing, one of our coaches said, was that we're going into Pittsburgh but we don't have to beat Pittsburgh. The last time we checked, we were the division champs even though they won the Super Bowl."

What? Perhaps one of his coaches was the one that took the hit in the head. Can anyone explain to me what this means?

But again, lets be fair...all of Chads marbles weren't quite in the sack after the game...for an example of this, Click here to see Chads post game locker room interview. I honestly felt bad for the guy. That had to be one helluva shot.

"How did Bodden do?"
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I have really no idea what to expect this Sunday. It has the feel of one of those games that could be a tight back and forth slugfest or an incredible blowout either way....I don't think there will be any in between.

The Bengals are coming in with some injuries and hopefully Ben shook off all the rust on Monday night.
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I noticed in one of the comments Toni asked about Maurice Clarrett and his fall from grace. And what a fall it was. I really don't get people like this. Heres a guy that is loaded with God given ability to play football...and he has the brain power of a gnat. As it stands now he's going to jail for 3.5 years for...a whole bunch of shit. He robbed a guy, carried a concealed weapon, and was picked up a couple months ago with a car full of guns, a hatchet, a bottle of vodka, and a bullet proof vest...the night before his robbery trial...and a half mile from a key witnesses house.

(Insert your best Cincinnati Bengal joke here)

Anyway, getting back to Toni's question...he asked about Maurice Clarrett and "the other guy" that came out early and tried to fight the NFL and if they could ever play in the NFL....The other guy was Mike Williams, and yes, he is playing in the NFL.

In theory.

He gets a uniform.
He gets a paycheck.
And oh yeah...the Detriot Lions used a first round pick on him (top 10 pick to exact).

But does he "play?"....well...not very well and not very much.

This is his 2nd year in the league and after Matt Millen decided to blow a top 10 pick on a Wide Reciever (for the third year in a row) he's already playing his way out of Detriot (and soon out of the NFL). He's by all accounts lazy, slow, out of shape, and has been caught a few times sleeping through team meetings. When he shows up to them. He's lost his job to a couple of undrafted guys over the year and 2 weeks he's been in the league and he could potentially be an addition to "The Mt. Rushmore of First Round Busts."

What A Let Down

But hey, it's a long season. It's not how you start...it's how you finish. It's only one game. It's not a sprint. It's a marathon.

Did I miss any?

Okay, so that game stunk. And I felt really bad last night, not because we lost one of the uglier games you'll see all year, but because I became everything I ever hated and was filled with knee jerk reactions the entire game flipping out left and right. Thats not cool. Everytime we play a clunker like that I tell myself I need to step back, maybe take a week off and do something else for a Sunday...but I never do. And I probably won't now. The game last year for me was the Indy game...I think this game may have been it this year.

After sleeping it off and waking up this morning common sense took over. Like I said all week, thats a solid Jaguars team...they did after all go 12-4 last year despite missing Byron Leftwich for a handful of games. They were going to be a handful, and they were...

- I haven't had a chance to watch the game again (and I still will) but the things that seemed to stand out on first glances were that the Jaguars seemed to be stopping the run with anywhere between 4 and 6 guys. Anytime the other team is stopping your running game with their base personel you're not only in a world of trouble in the running game, you're in a world of trouble in the passing game as well.

- Am I the only one not buying that Ben 104 degree temperature thing? I'm no doctor, but if a guy has a 104 degree temperature 2 weeks after a surgery i'm not thinking flu symptons, i'm thinking something else. Like an infection. Right? If he had a 104 degree temp he not only would not have played (or played the full game anyway) he probably would have been in a hospital bed.

Of course, when dealing with this story you must think of the source.

ESPN.

I wish I could remember who said it because it's such an amazing quote, but "ESPN is to Sports what MTV is to Music."

Thats a fantastic quote because it's true.

Joe Thiesman and Tony Kornheiser are an insult to the industry and the entire ESPN broadcast is a travesty. However, theres always a however, Tony Kornheiser did take a step towards helping his cause by calling out Joe Theisman something fierce... Somewhere in the 2nd half Theisman remarked that "Ben is back" and talked about how amazing it was he was playing, or something like that, and then two players later Theisman says "Ben just doesn't look comfortable to me tonight, not like we've seen him in years past" to which Kornheiser instantly screamed "YOU JUST SAID HE WAS BACK TWO PLAYS AGO!"

Theisman completely ignored the criticism and kept talking. What ESPN sees in these guys is beyond me.

And how about Dwayne Wade? Instead of talking about the real reason the Steelers offense was struggling (their offensive line getting whipped by the Jaguars defensive line) they felt the need to bring in Dwayne Wade and talk to him for 8 minutes and keep giving him camera shots. It looks like t his is going to be a weekly thing for Monday night games. Color me excited.

Back to the game...

- Ben Roethlisberger absolutely should have played. No questions asked. He was cleared to play, he was ready to play, he needed to play. Your starters are your starters for a reason, when they're healthy...they play. And even though it was an ugly performance in an ugly game with ugly support it's good to let him shake it off in that game as opposed to coming into this Sundays game like that. The rust should be gone.

Hopefully.

- Troy did not look like troy. He made one great break on one of the 200 quick tosses that JAcksonville made to break it up, but beyond that...not much going on. Perhaps the shoulder was bothering him?

- What the hell was Santonio Holmes doing last night? Everytime the ball was thrown to him he either had his head down sprinting up the field or looked shocked and surprised that it was even coming his way. He did however have a heads up play on that early punt to block the gunner and get the touchback...not that it makes up for his poor route running the rest of the game though...

- Willie Reid...MIA.

More thoughts later........my lunch hour is coming to an end.......

It's Monday........

And that means it's gameday. Personally i'm so excited that I could just jump up right now and start screaming for no real reason. I'm feeling good right now because my dad has "the banner" hung up outside their house. They have this Steelers banner that they started hanging up on the front porch two years ago...I think my mom stole it from work or something, she's a real rebel when she wants to be...so the tradition has started that every game day my dad hangs this banner (and ONLY on gameday) and the Steelers have some incredible record when it's hanging there. So we got the banner mojo going for us. Lets see how that goes...

I don't know how well he's going to play but just seeing Ben Roethlisberger on the field in a meaningful game is going to be fantastic. I'm sure he'll have some rust being as he's coming off a couple week break and the fact that he just had a part of him removed, but i'm liking the fact he's out there. It has to be a real confidence boost and inspiration for every other guy on the roster. And expect to see Cedric Wilson get more involved in the offense today, I am. Ben and Ced had something going in the 2nd half of last season all the way through the playoffs and they seemed to pick it up in the pre-season as well.....

It looks like the Jaguars big guys are all going to be in there...Marcus Stroud and Mike Peterson to be exact...after being questionable most of the week. Mike Peterson might be the most underated linebacker in the league and Marcus stroud, as i've said before, is just a massive pile of humanity......

I wonder if we'll see some of that no-huddle offense? It wouldn't be a bad idea, especially when Stroud and Henderson are out there...make em work. Wear em out. Don't let em off.
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Other week 2 comments....

- The Clevleand Browns stink, but it's not because of a lack of effort. They seem to play hard and first round pick Kameron Wimbley looks like a player, unfortunately a lot of effort and a good player here or there doesn't make up for an overwhelming lack of talent. And it's a shame that Kellen Winslow is such an asshole, because not only is he a talented individual, he also plays with a ton of passion..when he got the ball on Sunday he ran like a truck.

But he's an asshole.

The Bengals took some lumps in this one, 2nd year linebacker David Pollack broke his neck (seriously, he's out for the year and maybe beyond) and center Rich Braham and safety Dexter Jackson also left the game with injuries that will keep them out, combine those guys with Levi Jones and TJ Houshmanzadeh who sat out the game and if you have to wonder why guys like Chad Johnson were still in the game late in the 4th quarter when the game was well in hand.

No harm you say?

Brian Russell...meet Chad Johnson.

On a late crosing route over the middle Browns safety Brian Russell laid the wood to Chad Johnson...the ball ended up flying wildly into the air and into the hands of another Browns defender...but that didn't matter. What mattered was Johnson left the game with blood dripping from his mouth all over his jersey and was said to be "pretty out of it" after the game...turns out he has a concussion. I can't stand Chad Johnson but I hope he's okay. Concussions are serious business and you never want to see anyone get hurt like that, but what in the world was Marvin Lewis thinking? The game was over.

- The game of the day was the Giants-Eagles game which say the Eagles build up a 24-7 lead heading into the 4th quarter only to see the younger of the Manning Boys lead a wild comeback which featured a total meltdown by the Eagles which was capped off by Defensive Lineman Trent Cole kicking Giants player in the business...this ended up making Jay Feelys fiel goal attempt to tie the game a 35 yard kick instead of a 50 yard kick.

Nicely played.

Speaking of nicely played, how about Plaxico Burress? On the game winning TD Eli floated a prayer off of his back foot down the sidelines and Burress went up and grabbed like he never did in Pittsburgh and rolled into the endzone for the game winning TD....and then the play got good.

Upon entering the endzone Burress chucked the football about 80 rows back into the stands, ripped off his helmet, and proceeded to yell plain as day for the cameras to hear "GET THAT SHIT OUTTA HERE. GET THAT SHIT OUTTA HERE"

Thats how you celebrate.

--------------------------------

- It's amazing how many teams in the NFL look completely hopeless right now. Oakland, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Tennessee, Green Bay, Detriot and Houston just look terrible. One of these teams has to win a game. I think.

- Reggie Bush watch! 6 rushes. 5 yards. Long run of 6. Welcome to the NFL.

- The New York Jets Laverneous Coles and Jerricho Cotchery scored two of the most amazing touchdowns that you may see this season...unfortunately they came in a loss.

It's Almost Monday

...And that means it's almost time for another Steelers game. I can't take these 11 day breaks between games as i'm really starting to crave a Steelers game right now...I think i'm starting to get the shakes.

It's looking like Ben Roethlisberger is going to start tomorrow and Troy Polamalu was upgraded to Probable...so thats a good thing. Both things actually. The call to start Roethlisberger actually drew some criticism from the talking heads on NFL live (Mark Schlereth and Mike Golic) this week...both felt it is a "mistake" to send #7 into the game because "they don't really need to right now." I'm not sure I buy what they're selling here.

They don't really need to?

Let me see if I understand whats going on here:

He is the Steelers best quarterback.
He claims he is ready to go.
The doctors claim he is ready to go.
The coach claims he is ready to go.

He should go.

While those guys can't see any reason to start him, I can't see any reason not to start him. If your horse is healthy you ride him. And he by all accounts is healthy. So lets ride.

Sticking with Ben for a minute...one of the things that drives me crazy is this national myth that the Steelers "protect" Roethlisberger and that he "rarely has to win games for them because they are a run first team."

Pardon me for a second...but thats bullshit.

While it's true that the Steelers run the ball more than any other team in the league this does not make them a run first team.

The Steelers back in the B.B. years (Thats Before Ben) were a run first team...it was Jerome Bettis left, Jerome Bettis right, Jerome Bettis up the middle, Screen pass to Amos Zereoue....if you watch the Steelers games from last year you'll see that the Steelers came out in the first half by throwing...no, they didn't throw a Peyton Manning like 200 times, but their run/pass ratio was usually somewhere around 50/50 and often times close to 55/45 with the 55 actually being...the pass.

The playoff run was an excellent example of this... especially the Indianapolis and Denver games.

Amazing Ben Roethlisberger stat of the day:

In 2005 Ben had a 144.7 Paser rating in the first quarter. That was by far and away the highest number in the NFL...this is how he wins games for the Steelers, by staking them out to early leads and then turning it over to the ground game and defense.

I'll have more on this at a later time......a more detailed analysis if you will.
------------------------------------

The Jaguars are another one of those teams that have this fear of Steeler fans taking over their stadium...some teams force you to buy tickets to 6 other games if you want the Steelers game...others, like Cincinnati, won't sell to people in the 412 area code (which is just fine for those of us in Western PA that live in the 724 area code)...Jacksonville?

They have teal night.

Teal night? Someone even created a myspace account to promote the idea.

At first, I thought this was one of the wierdest happenings of the early NFL season...and then Cleveland showed up with this:
Wow.

The Dirty Brown Towel...A Cleveland Original. How fitting. Leave it to the people who burned down a river to come out with this. An actual dirty brown towel (A roll of used Charmin ultra perhaps?) might have been a more accurate representation of their team.


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- I've read some rumblings that close to 30,000 Steeler fans are expected to show up in Jacksonville tomorrow night. I'm not sure about that large of a number, but it also wouldn't surprise me.

- The Browns, 3 minutes into this weeks game look just as awful as they did last week. And I'm really starting to hate the Bengals more than I ever hated the Ravens...which is saying something. Waive that Dirty Brown Towel with pride.

- This is going to be a really tough game tomorrow night. Having Ben back and knowing 43 will be in there is important...but it's still going to be tough. Thats a good football team down there and they are always up for "Pittsburgh week" as they call it.

Should be a good one.

Lets ride.

It'sThursday......

And that means it's only 4 days until Monday. And Monday means those three guys that annoy the crap out of you will be showing up in your house on that box in your game room that shows you football.

If you read the Football Outsiders website (and you should if you knew what was good for you) you'd know what the 2006 Pro Football Prospectus is (and you'd buy a copy you cheap bastards) and if you turned to pages 449 and 450 you would see a satire of ESPN's Sunday Night Football trio written by yours truly. Thats right. Somebody actually published something with my name on it in a book. My uncle asked for an autographed copy. We thought about setting up a tray table outside of the local Barnes and Noble to do a book signing and see how many people would stop...okay, maybe not.

One of my smaller goals that I hope to achieve with this thing (assuming anyone actually reads it) is actually writing something relevant enough on here to make Football Outsiders Extra Points (and if you read Football Outsiders you would know what that means).


I mention all of this because today as I was finishing up some things at my desk I checked my e-mail and saw one in the in-box from Aaron Schatz (He's the big cheese at Football Outsiders)... He said that by mid-season I could probably have a satire for ESPN's new terrible threesome of terror. I never really thought about it, but I suppose he's right. Think about it. Joe Theisman is still collecting a paycheck to broadcast games...And you know what that means. Stories of which assistant coach he spoke with last night and what they had for dinner, obvious contradictions from one sentence to the next...sometimes obvious contradictions in the same sentence... and his incredible knack for pointing out the obvious. I swear with God as my witness that he said "The key to being a good wide reciever is making sure you catch the ball" in a game last year.

Joe Theisman is to the NFL what car wrecks are to Nascar.

Sadly though, Paul Maguire (my favorite) has moved on something else.....I think I heard him doing a college game earlier this year..... and I must say that I am absolutely lost without him. Without Paul Maguire telling me where to look or how quick someones feet are the game has lost all meaning. Taking over as the third wheel is Tony Kornheiser. Kornheiser at one time had a fantastic radio show and is the co- host of ESPN's PTI ...on the radio and on a talk show I like him. In the broadcast booth he's simply a bastardized version of Dennis Miller....and any version of Dennis Miller is a bad thing.

Seriously, listen to the game this monday. Right after Joe Theisman makes some comment about how Ben Roethlisberger has brain damage and should have played more in the pre-season Kornheiser will step in with a 5 minute joke about something related to that comment and the punch line will be some 14th century Queen from some country us beer swilling simpletons have never heard of.

Of course I base that prediction on the assumption that they are not in the middle of another Jamie Foxx interview.

Last but most certaintly not leastwe can't forget about the women of the NFL. Before the Steelers-Browns game at Heinz Field last year I was standing in a walkway on the 100 level of Heinz Field and noticed Suzy Kolber walking around, notepad in hand, bothering members of the Cleveland Browns who were trying to stretch before their ass kicking at the hands of the Steelers... I assume the notepad had the complete list of pointless questions that render pointless answers that always seem to make their way onto my TV set during a turnover or touchdown...she approached Antonio Bryant, spent a few minutes talking to him, and started walking towards the Browns bench where she spotted some lineman taking a seat on the bench. She approached him and began talking (probably asking him just what it feels like to be playing ina game like this...or what it means to him) when I yelled out "HE DON'T WANNA TALK TO YOU!"

It was one of those perfect moments whwere everyone else in the stadium stopped talking at just that moment so only my drunken call could be heard echoing throughout the stadium. The guy sitting on the bench instantly laughed out loud and a security guard standing on the sidelines looked up with a chuckle.

Suzy never looked.

Speaking of Suzy, Pro Football Talk was reporting earlier this week that Suzy Kolber got herself into some hot water when she went on TV and began talking about the things she saw during a Washington Redskins practice she was attending...PFT reports that their "source" said that Suzy "Screwed the pooch on this one" by blabbering things that were supposed to be kept confidential.

I'm not sure how much of that I believe, mainly because:

A. Pro Football Talk is often times full of crap
B. I've seen reporters do this before
C. No one listens to Suzy Kolber anyway

My main problem isn't really these particular announcers on ESPN, it's all announcers on TV. Most of them do nothing but detract from the game because they feel the need over analyze something that isn't there, add something witty or in the case of guys like Joe Buck....add drama where there is no drama to be added.

Speaking of Joe Buck, if his name were Joe Smith would he have taken the same career path? I ask the same question for Chip Caray.

----------------------
Sticking with a similar subject, it was announced earlier this week that the Pirates will be ending their eternal partnership with KDKA radio and switching over to 104.7 next season. To that I say IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME. We can only hope now that they will be ending their eternal partnership with losing, but we have to walk before we can run and i'll take my positive steps where I can get them.

The only thing the Pirates had going with KDKA was tradition and history. One of the arguments i've heard against such a move is from the old timers who argue that "on a clear night you can pickup a Pirates game on KDKA in Ames Iowa"....or something like that. Thats all well and good, but what about us local yokels who don't live in Ames Iowa?

I live in Greensburg. Greensburg is roughly 30 miles from Pittsburgh. I have not been able to pick up a Pirates game on KDKA in years. Hell, I haven't been able to pick up KDKA for any reason in years. Clear night. Rainy night. Any night.

Do they still broadcast Paul Harvey?

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Ken Rosenthal thinks the Pirates need to target Nick Johnson this off-season. Adam agrees. There is only one problem with this suggestion.

Why in the hell would the Nationals trade Nick Johnson?

And if they would trade him, is there anything the Pirates could realistically offer (or should offer) to get him? Assuming Jim Bowden lost whats left of his mind and did put Nick Johnson on the trading block would the Pirates even be in the ballpark in terms of an acceptable return? This isn't some run of the mill schlub here...this is one of the best hitters in the league who also happens to be on the correct side of 30. The fact he's left handed is just icing on the cake.

Thats not cheap.

Heres what i'd do:

I'd offer a package centered around Freddy Sanchez.

Blasphemy, I know. Everyone loves Freddy and trading the guy that might win the National League batting title would be a "horrible PR move" and blah, blah, blah.... But he's the one guy on the team not named Jason Bay that could help land you a legitimate impact hitter (which they need). And unlike Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez is likely to regress next season. It's a simple example of selling high. Sanchez' value is never going to be higher and it has nowhere to go but down...unless you think the Pirates stumbled upon a late bloomer who also happens to be the present day Tony Gwynn....I have my doubts.

It would be risky. It would be bold. And it will never happen. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't.

--------------------

The only real Steelers comment I have today is that Troy Polamalu practiced the last two days. And thats good.

Some other rumblings around the NFL...

- The Titans are thinking of trading Billy Volek, the Chargers and Chiefs are said to be interested. The Chiefs make sense with Trent Greens injury and the Chargers probably want some insurance for Phillip Rivers....but what are the Titans doing? I'm no GM but I don't think "trade your best quarterback" is high atop many teams lists of things to do today.... but again...i'm not a GM.

- Bill Parcells is thinking of keeping two kickers on his active roster this week because Mike Vanderjagt is still nursing his pulled va....ah...forget it. It's bad enough the guy is a total headcase but now he's forcing you to waste a roster spot on some guy named Shaun Suisham.

Whatever It Takes

Najeh Davenport hasn't played a down for the Steelers but thats not going to stop me from already liking him. Today (or yesterday?) he spoke for the first time on his signing with the Steelers...

I run hard and I play hard. You're going to get hurt. This is a contact sport, a violent contact sport. Unless you're out there with battle armor on you're going to get nicks and bruises, and I got a couple of them........I'm ecstatic, whatever they want me to do, fullback, running back, special teams. I think they brought me in to exemplify some of the things they've been missing that the bus brought. I have jitters now. This is what I do.

Outstanding. It's impressive that he not only shows the right attitude (Whatever they want me to do) but that a player from the university of Miami actually used the word "exemplify" in a sentence.

Compare this to the goings on out in Oakland right now...

As a guy over at MGS said today, "things are bad when Randy Moss is your best leader."

How scary is that?

I only saw about 2 minutes of the game last night but from what i've heard Art Shell was lost, the Raiders might have the worst talent in the NFL, and Ron Jaworski was the best analyst of the night.

The lowlight of the night for Oakland came from a guy that wasn't even in uniform - disgruntled Wide Reciever Jerry Porter - who according to various reports was seen laughing and pumping his fist in the air when Aaron Brooks was sacked for the 9th time on the night. For those of you that don't know this little nugget of information: Aaron Brooks plays on the same team as Jerry Porter. Porter however claims it wasn't that bad, his excuse? He was reacting to a fan in the stands and "wasn't really paying attention to the game."

Thats better. Much better.

I just read tonight that when Porter learned that he would be deactivated for the game he called NFLPA President Troy Vincent and asked him if he was required to show up for the game. Vincent said he should go. So he went and made an ass out of himself.

If the Raiders had a set they'd cut him yesterday. But they don't. So he'll stay. Making the entire situation even more hilarious is the rumor that he's recently been parking his car in Al Davis' own personal parking space. You just can't make that stuff up. It reminds me of that Seinfield Episode where George Costanza did everything in his power to get fired from the Yankees so he could take a better job with the Mets. What will Porters next move be? Running onto the field in a skin-toned body suit? Dragging the Raiders Super Bowl Trophies around the parking lot with his car (After he removes it from the boss' parking space)? Your guess is as good as mine.

"I want people to say now THERES a guy that got canned."

KenWhisenhunt was a genius not taking that job. As was every other credible coaching option that turned them down. As a quick side note...did you know that at this time last year the Raiders offensive coordinator was running a bed and breakfast in New Hampshire? Perhaps thats why their offense (And Defense as well I suppose) played like a bunch of women and completely whipped men last night.....

I'm really starting to wish that I hadn't taken Lamont Jordan in the first round this year.

To make a long and pointless story short, Jerry Porter was upset with his role in the Raiders offense...he demanded a trade...they didn't trade him...he's now a jerk....he's always stunk as a player. Can you imagine what would have happened if a Steeler player were caught on the sidelines laughing and pumping his fist as Tommy Maddox fumbled a snap on the 20 yard line in overtime? Or as he was getting sacked for the 200th time in a game? If the coach and front office didn't get him the fans would. It would be complete and total anarchy.

And whats the deal with players from WVU? Jerry Porter? Mike Vanderjagt? Adam "PacMan" Jones? Chris Henry? Between them you've got 5 arrests this off-season (6 over the past two years), a kicker that thinks he's the best player in football and appears to be a total headcase, and a guy that roots against his own team and tries to get fired.
----------------------------------

I missed Bills press conference today, which means I probably didn't miss much except 200 variations of the exact same question and 200 variations of the same answer........

Reporter 1: "Is Ben going to play Monday night?"

Bill: "We'll see where he is after this week of practice."

Reporter 2: "If Ben is healthy, but not quite 100% would you consider starting Charlie Batch again?"

Bill: "We'll see where he is after this week of practice."

Reporter 3: "What do you think of Bens recovery? Will he be able to play?"

Bill: "It is what it is."

Reporter 4: "If he doesn't play will he dress and be the #2 Quarterback?"

Bill: "We'll see where he is after this week of practice."


I love it.

My opinion is if he is medically cleared to play, and he wants to play (and you know he does), then he should without question play. If it comes down to it again I would be comfortable with Charlie Batch calling the shots... but if your horse is ready... you ride him.

I fully expect to see #7 under center on Monday Night.

The most concerning part of todays Press Conference was the announcement that Troy Polamalu is listed as questionable for the game with a slight shoulder injury. The Steelers say it's not serious (and it probably isn't) and i'm sure he'll play (he'll play), but I had no idea he was even hurt. The fact he's questionable is what makes me take a second look...usually 48 or so guys are listed as "probable" and you know they'll play...but that questionable gives me a slight worry. Of course, the week is still young and he could very well be upgraded to "probable" before the week is done...

The rest of the injury report (as best I can find):

Probable:
Hines Ward
Max Starks
Nate Washington

Questionable:
Troy Polamalu
Ben Roethlisberger

Some Jaguars Injury Notes:

As noted yesterday, Reggie Hayward is out...middle linebacker Mike Peterson missed practice on Tuesday with a Knee Injury...massive defensive Tackle Marcus Stroud missed practuce on Tuesday with an Ankle Injury...and rookie Tight End Mercedes Lewis returned to practice after sitting out week 1 with an Ankle Injury....



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In case you needed further proof that Ron Cook is a bumbling idiot, take his column from yesterday about how the Steelers need to watch out for Reggie Bush on November 12th. He's not an idiot because of the notion that the Steelers should watch out for Reggie Bush (because they obviously should)...he's an idiot because the timing of this column is complete absurd and the basic premise at this point in the season is absolutely pointless.

Key points in the title of his column: November 12th.

Hey Ron......we don't look ahead to November 12th when it's September 12th. You're a full two months ahead of time. The title of your column should have been: "Hey Steelers...watch out for John Henderson...or Mike Peterson....or Fred Taylor....or Byron Leftwich....or any other member of the team we're actually playing this week."

You can't get to tomorrow without getting through today.

And why Reggie Bush and the Saints? Why not talk about how they need to watch out for Chad Johnson next week (he's a good player too...a better player than Reggie Bush)....or their game 3 weeks from now in San Diego against Ladanian Tomlinson (At this point a far better version of Reggie Bush) and the Chargers? It looks like he just needed something to write about and just piled on the endless Reggie Bush hype.

Hey Steelers.....don't worry about Reggie Bush right now.

-------------------------------

Antwan Randle-El made a costly mistake at the end of last nights game for Washington...no, he didn't blindly lateral a ball behind him costing his team atleast three points in a three point loss (Sorry, I just can't let it go) but he did potentially cost his team a shot at victory. Late in the 4th quarter with the Redskins trying to put together a drive to tie the game Randle-El caught a pass on 3rd down....emphasis on 3rd down....he made the grab and instantly ran for the sidelines, which was good, the Redskins were out of timeouts. But he got to the sidelines and stepped out of bounds one yard short of the first down marker.

Instead of first down it was now 4th down and John Hall was forced to attempt a 48 yard field goal to tie the game. Thats a difficult kick for any kicker...and naturally, after a player makes a boneheaded move like that, Hall shanked the kick badly and the Redskins lost by three. Had Randle-El ran 3 more feet before stepping out of bounds the Redskins would have had atleast one more play in an effort to get Hall a few yards closer and giving him a more makeable attempt...granted a field goal would not have won the game at that point, but it would have given them a fighting chance in overtime.

I have a difficult time not liking Antwan Randle-El. He was a favorite of mine during his time in Pittsburgh and he always seemed like a solid guy...and then there was that Super Bowl thing....but he sold out. He took the money (when he said it wasn't about the money - when it clearly was) and now plays for the most mediocre team 110 Million dollars can buy. He's going to miss what he had here.

Of course, i'm glad that I even got a chance to see the play happen. Can you believe that ESPN interrupted the Jamie Foxx interview to show us that football game? For about 20 minutes of the 3rd quarter (or maybe it was the 2nd, I can't keep track because any time Joe Theisman talks time stands still) ESPNs new terrible threesome was joined in the booth by actor Jamie Foxx...why? I have no clue. The topic of discussion? Movies. Academy awards. Clinton Portis' wardrobe. Jamie Foxx.....basically everything but football. Every once in a while someone would ask a question and Tony Kornheiser (the raw rookie on the crew) would actually have to step in and say "Hold on, lets watch this play first"....what a novel idea. Football on TV....showing....FOOTBALL!

It's bad enough the NFL broadcasts have to work a five minute commercial break in after every kickoff, timeout, change of possession, score, play, etc. etc. etc....but now the games themselves are becoming one gigantic commercial. Enough is enough.

Jacksonville Week

For the 4th straight year the Jacksonville Jaguars appear on the Steelers schedule, and for the 3rd time in those 4 years it is a prime time meeting down in Jacksonville. I'm not sure what it is but i've had a deep burning hatred for the Jaguars ever since they came into the league. I think it goes back to the mid-late 90's when they were the Steelers primary rival in the old AFC Central. The Browns were gone, the Bengals stunk, and the Ravens had yet to become the annoying group of thugs and and criminals that they are now...so that left Jacksonville. Tom Coughlin annoyed me. Mark Brunell annoyed me. And i'll never forget Fred Taylor taking a dump on the Steelers defense that long Sunday Night back in 2000.

Nothing would please me more on Monday night than to turn the Jaguars into a giant collection of helpless kittens.

- It looks like Jaguars defensive end Reggie Hayward will be missing this game (and the rest of the games this season) because of an injury he suffered during yesterdays game against Dallas. I admit that I don't know much about Reggie Hayward as a football player but I do recall a pre-season game earlier this year where Hayward got credit with half a sack on a play, jumped up, pointed to the crowd and then proceeded to point at his name on the back of his jersey. It was one of those "look at me, I made a play, look at who I am" type of moments. It proved to be helpful as few people around the league actually know who Reggie Hayward is.

- It could be tough sledding for Willie Parker up the middle as John Henderson and Marcus Stroud are not only excellent defensive tackles, but are two massive piles of humanity. Thats almost 700 pounds of defensive tackle clogging up the middle of that line. Two things come to mind about that :

1. Najeh Davenport could play somewhat of a role in this game.
2. I'd love to see some of that no-huddle offense to make sure Henderson and Stround stay on the field and can't get off for a rest.....Wear 'em down. Wear 'em down. Wear 'em down.

- Watching the Jaguars yesterday they seemed to sleepwalk through the first half, even hearing some boos from the 20,000 or so fans that actually show up to Jaguars games...but they managed to hang around in the game until Drew Bledsoe could have his weekly meltdown for Dallas....and Meltdown he did.

------------------------------------------------

Football players are smart. Very smart. Some may lack common sense or good judgement...Some may not know who the 2nd President of the United States was or what Einsteins theory of relativity is all about...but these guys have brain power. Thanks to dwolfrules over at MGS who pointed this out in a recent Ryan Wilson blog....inside of this link is a PDF download for the 2003 New England Patriots playbook (and various other NFL playbooks from the past)...take a few minutes and try to digest what is going on.

Outside of one year of Jr. High Football where I spent most of the time as a scout team running back getting pounded into the ground (thats another story for another day) I have no real experience playing organized football. Despite this, I still like to fancy myself as a rather knowledgeable football fan as far as schemes, plays, and some technique is concerned...for example: I know the difference between a cover-2 defense and a cover-3 defense...I know what the zone blitz is supposed to be about and I know good zone blocking when I see it (I think)...but after taking a look at this supposed NFL playbook for a solid half hour...I had no damn clue as to what the hell was going on.

Imagine having to come into an NFL training camp and being expected to know that thing inside and out. And if you don't? You get the Omar Jacobs treatment.

Ouch.

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Listening to the Monday morning Quarterbacks today was hilarious and downright pathetic at the same time. Appearantly if you won yesterday, you're going to the Super bowl. And if you lost? Well, you might as well just kill yourself because your season is done and you've done nothing but bring shame to your family and friends.

Okay...maybe not. But thats what it seems like.

For example...

After hearing endless pre-season hype about the Carolina Panthers and what would be an unquestioned run to the Super Bowl, many of the same talking heads and experts that built that hype machine managed to implode it today because of their opening week loss to Atlanta.

Nevermind the fact it's only one game (THE FIRST GAME!). Or that they were without their best player. Or that they'll still probably be in the playoffs despite this loss....it's time to panic.

I hate ESPN.

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Breaking news this afternoon... the Patriots finally did something with holdout Wide Reciever Deion Branch...they traded him to Seattle for a first round pick. Seattle is going balls to the wall in an effort to not only get back to the Super Bowl, but actually win it this time...and when they come up short again they'll surely have someone different to blame it on.

They've spent some serious coin and resources on guys like Branch, Nate Burleson, and Julian Peterson, all of which begs the question...

Why didn't they just keep All-Pro Guard Steve Hutchinson who is more important to their team than all three of those guys combined?!?

An injury prone linebacker, #4 Reciever, and #2 Reciever =/= The best interior lineman in Football.

And that doesn't include the 1st and 3rd round draft picks they lost to acquire Branch and Burleson.

Week 1 Thoughts....So Far...

So I spent the early part of today flipping back and forth between the Saints-Browns game and the Chiefs-Bengals game and I saw a common theme in both contests.

The Browns and Chiefs offensive lines looked to be in shambles.

You had to think it was a bad sign for the Browns when on their first play from scrimmage Braylon Edwards had a 74 yard touchdown called back on a holding call. Sadly, things didn't get much better. It took until the 3 minute mark of the 2nd quarter for the Browns to even record a first down and everytime they managed to make some sort of play it ended up getting washed out on a holding call. It must really suck to be a Browns fan.

I thought all things considered Charlie Frye did what he could. He spent a large portion of the game running for his life and trying to avoid the relentless pass rush of the New Orleans Saints....and thats a testament to how bad the Browns o-line played on this day, relentless pass rush and New Orleans Saints used in the same sentence.

Geez.

On the other side of the ball Reggie Bush showed me a few glimpses of talent...but for the most part he looked like just another rookie. Seemed to be dancing around a lot, especially on punt returns trying to make every play into a highlight reel run instead of just taking what was there for him. I'm sure if he were back in his USC days he would have turned some of those plays into 60 yard touchdown runs, but today? 5 yard losses and minimal gains.

The only positive for the Steelers today was this game. It seems only natural that the Browns would be in the AFC North basement all by themselves after only one week of play.

As for the Chiefs-Bengals game...

The Chiefs need to get their offensive line fixed and they need to get it fixed now. Trent Green was under pressure all day and Larry Johnson had a very "blah" day on the ground. And then things got ugly.

I don't ever want to hear the Bengals or a Bengals fan complain about cheap shots on QB's or QB's being taken out...the hit by Robert Geathers on Trent Green seemed to be just as borderline and about 1000 times more vicious than the KVO hit on Carson Palmer last year. The vision of Greens head snapping back and bouncing off the ground like a super ball is enough to give your own head hurt.

The Chiefs defense looked like it always does....sloppy. Derrick Johnson looks like a player and i'm sure Ty Law will end up with a Ty Law type season...but the rest have a ways to go. A bad o-line, a bad defense and no backup Quarterback is a recipe for disaster.

I didn't see one down of the Bucs-Ravens game but i'm sure a 27-0 blowout on the road will get the Ravens hype machine and bandwagon (it's over there to the right...I think thats Ray holding the umbrella) rolling out of control.

By 4:15 and a 6 pack of Yuengling later the Cowboys and Jaguars were starting. The first quarter looked like this game was going to be a blowout, I even remarked to my cousin who was watching the game with me that "I hope the Jaguars look this sloppy next week." Then the 2nd half started and Jacksonville made a comple 180 and took control of the game. The Terrell Owens show is still old but nowhere near as old as the Manning Bowl, which i'm about to watch now.

I really like Peyton Manning. He's a great quarterback, he seems like a decent enough guy, and I really think he gets some unfair criticism about "not coming up in the big games" or whatever it is people say...it seems to be the old Bill Cowher plague, and by that I mean when he losses, it' s a big game....when he wins, it doesn't count...but with all that being said this Manning Bowl crap thats hitting the fan this week is enough to make me want to scoop my own eye balls out with a spork.

Two things:

1. It's not Manning Vs. Manning because Peyton and Eli are never on the field at the same time.

2. Eli Manning, at this point in his career, sucks.

Reviewing The Defense

Last night while I was battling some insomnia (or something like that) and trying to forget a rather long weekend I decided to watch the Steelers-Dolphins game again. I started off just watching the game in a casual manner, but quickly decided to focus on the play of the Steelers defense. This game was a great example of what Dick Lebeaus defense is all about...guys rushing the passer from anywhere and everywhere at any time...but not really so much in a "blitz" manner. The Blitzburgh name is oldhat because it really doesn't apply. This isn't a blitzing defense, the majority of the rush comes from 3 or 4 guys...the trouble for opposing offenses isn't how many are rushing, but who is rushing and where they are rushing from.

Not counting defensive lineman, I counted 12 different linebackers and defensive backs rushing at Daunte Culpepper from every possible angle. Some other observations:

- I paid special attention to Joey Porter and his play...of the 40 passing plays the Dolphins attempted Joey Porter only "rushed" the quarterback 14 times. Sometimes Lebeau had him lined up in a defensive end position, other times he had him upright in his natural linebacker position...but the majority of the time he was back in zone coverage.

On the 14 rushes I saw:

* 2 sacks
* 2 hurries
* Double teamed three times
* On one of the rushes Culpepper went on a designed roll away from Porters rush
* Two quick passes out into the flat

Porter and Clark Haggans spent a lot of time lined up at the ends while Aaron Smith and Brett Kiesel showed their versatility lining up inside....on one play Clark Haggans actually lined up next to Aaron Smith inside.

- After further review Ike Taylor played a little better than I originally thought. He still missed quite a few tackles he shouldn't have missed (including one absolutely brutal stiff arm at the hands of Chris Chambers) but in the first half he did play a solid corner. Still, it was not one of his better games. The short passes at him turned into big gains and there were 3 passes in the 2nd half on the sidelines that he got beat on. One on 3rd and long after the Charlie Batch fumble. He needs to play better....and he will.

- The Steelers front 7 was fantastic against the run, especially the defensive line as Ronnie Brown had absolutely zero holes to run through... One of the most underated players of the game, in my view, was the 3rd and 2 at the midway point of the 4th quarter. It was after the fumble and Miami was on a clock killing drive...Miami needed a first down to keep the drive going and they tried a toss to the left to Ronnie Brown...Ike Taylor gets credit for the tackle but it was actually Brett Kiesel that made the play happen...Kiesel fought off his block, shot into the backfield and forced Ronnie Brown to cut back towards the middle of the field where a blitzing Ike Taylor was waiting for him to make the stop...play over. Drive over. Game over.

All three down lineman played a fantastic game...as they always do.

- Bryant Mcfadden absolutely crushed Randy McMichael and Daunte Culpepper in the 4th quarter...he's the most physical corner on the team and is going to be a fantastic player for a long time.

- Another Ike Taylor play that I originally missed... on Troy Polamalus interception it was Ike Taylor that blitzed off the right corner and rushed Culpepper to float a hopeless pass into triple coverage down the sidelines. The Steelers corners seemed to be rushing at Culpepper all night... By my count Twnsend rushed 4 times, Colclough twice, Mcfadden twice, and Taylor 3 times.

- After a rough and inconsistant pre-season Ryan Clark had a solid debut for the season. He didn't do much to stand out in a positive way, but he also didn't do much to stand out in a negative way.

Najeh Davenport

The Steelers announced today that they signed free agent Running Back Najeh Davenport to a one year contract....to make room for Davenport on the roster the team waived recently acquired Running Back Patrick Cobbs and may try to put him on their practice squad if he clears through waivers.

The Steelers acquired Cobbs right after the final pre-season game and he never even suited up for the opener...because the draft pick they traded for him was a conditional pick it's likely they will not have to give one up because of todays move.

As for Davenport, he gives the Steelers the "big back" they seemed to be looking for since Jerome Bettis retired after last season...he'll probably take over the short yardage/goal line situations while Verron Haynes continues to play his 3rd down role and Duce Staley continues to work as a clothing model for NFL.com official team gear. He's 6'1, 247, and runs pretty well for someone of his size...the biggest knocks on him over the years have always been his durability (only 39 games in 4 years), trouble with fumbles and the fact that he once took a dump in some co-eds closet during training camp.

If he stays healthy (a big if) he could be a steal of a pickup at this point in the season...he's always produced when on the field and could excel in short yardage situations for the Steelers.

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Ray Ray is already in the news and proclaiming that "Pittsburgh ain't ready for us."

Strong words from a guy that was shopped around the NFL this off-season for a 2nd round pick...with little to no interest. While Ray Ray is usually just blowing a bunch of smoke up our butts with his interviews and "smack talk" he may actually be somewhat right in this instance. Pittsburgh may not actually be ready for them...but not because they're inferior or intimidated or whatever it is Ray Ray was trying to play here...the first game against Baltimore is still 11 weeks away. The Steelers don't look ahead 11 weeks. Right now the only team on the minds of the black and gold are the Jacksonville Jaguars... nobody else matters right now, nobody else counts. And if Ray Ray and the Ravens want that game in 11 weeks to matter they should be trying to figuring out how to beat Tampa Bay on Sunday, not looking ahead to week 12. Realizing that they're already behind the Steelers in the standings before they even play their first game might help a little as well...

Or maybe not.
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Joey Porter rolls Daunte Culpepper. How does it feel?

1-0

I haven't had a chance to watch the game again so these are my foggy thoughts from last night...

I may not have seen the game on tape, but I did manage to catch some early morning highlights and i'm not surprised to see ESPN making a big deal about Heath Millers touchdown and Nick Saban not being able to challenge it, even though he clearly dropped (emphasis on dropped) the red flag well before the extra point was kicked. Nick Sabans a funny guy, he has that tough guy image that he's built for himself but when the chips were down he just simply wet the bed.

It is the coaches responsibility to get the refs attention when he wants to challenge a play.

Mr. Saban obviously is not aware of this little nugget of information. Following Heath Millers touchdown Saban could be seen casually standing on the sidelines, hand in pocket, looking up at the jumbotron...just as the Steelers lined up for the extra point Saban pulled the red challenge flag out of his pocket and casually dropped it at his feet......where no one in stripes could see it.

Toss it like a man. Make a scene. Run onto the field. Do SOMETHING. Don't just stand there and cry because no one saw your half hearted attempt at a challenge.

Sticking with Heath Millers touchdown....what a play. When the Steelers fumbled at the 1 yard line and Miami then went on a 7 minute drive I had some serious doubts about the Steelers ability to come back.

Foolish me.

Taking over on their own 13 the Steelers came out with Hines Ward lined up in the slot (which was a common theme on the night) and sent him into motion....mass confusion seemed to erupt in the Dolphins secondary and when the Steelers came out with a playaction fake it was all over. Miller found an open seem down the right hashmark and homestead Charlie dropped in a strike...the big man did the rest.

Other stuff:

- Charlie Batch did his job and then some. Simply managing the game, protecting the football (minus one goal line fumble we'd all like to forget) and throwing in 3 touchdown passes for good measure. Ended the game with a 125 passer rating which is rather Roethlisberger-esque.

- Ike Taylor....eww. I thought he played an absolutely terrible game and others must have agreed. Early in the game the rotunda on the great hall side had a giant banner that said "IKE TAYLOR MAFIA" and about midway thru the 3rd quarter it disappeared. It seemed like Miami singled out Taylor as a guy to attack and they did from the ground and from the air...short passes that Taylor turned into big gains, sideline passes that Taylor couldn't get to and one endzone pass that was an easy interception that Taylor simply dropped...story of his career.

Last year I got into several arguments about who was more important to the Steelers defense, Troy Polamalu or Ike Taylor....I said Troy Polamalu everytime....I stand by that.

- As for Troy, the reason he's turned into a great player is because he simply is a great player...doesn't matter who is playing the free safety spot next to him. Guy was simply everywhere last night. Right after the fumble Culpepper floated a pass out into the flat that Polamalu broke up, almost turning it into a Steelers touchdown...the reverse he blew up on the same drive was just a thing of beauty...the fact Miami got a 5 yard gain on the play was simply a fluke.

- Antwan who? This team is absolutely stacked at Wide Reciever. Hines Ward had a typical Hines Ward game, Nate Washington not only caught a TD but fought for a key first down on a reverse, and Santonio showed some of his ability by snagging a bullet third down pass across the middle from Charlie Batch. Cedric Wilson was shut out on the stat sheet but he did draw a 40 yard pass interference penalty and should have by all rights had another one earlier in the game...

Nate Washington had his first two regular season grabs (including his first TD) but he seemed to have a slow start. He dropped a 3rd down pass over the middle on the Steelers first drive...The next pass in Nates direction was a sideline pass that Washington didn't seem to make a play for...almost like he waited for the ball to come to him instead of him going for the ball...I could be wrong on that but thats what it seemed like from the upper deck....regardless of what happened, he made up for it later.

- Joey Porter is quite simply an animal. Missed the kiss though...

More Pre-Game Thoughts

Two posts in a day....somehow I don't think this is the last time that will happen.

- Looks like due to some unexpected stuff i'll be at the game tomorrow....

- It looks like the Steelers released Special teams ace Chidi Iwouma to sign...ugh...Brian St. Pierre to the active 53 man roster for tomorrow night...I really hate to lose Chidi especially when it's for a guy you only really need for one game. Hopefully Chidi is just "on hold" with the team and brought back after Thursdays game when St. Pierre gets released again...assuming Chidi lasts that long. He's built quite a reputation around the league as a special teams player and it's not beyond the realm of possiblity that somebody signs him.

- Stay healthy Charlie.

The Day Before

Months of anticipation begins to turn to hours of uncontrollable nerves as kickoff approaches....




- The Miami Dolphins seem to be a trendy pick to not only make the AFC Playoffs but to make a deep run as well...pundits point to the 6 game winning streak they ran off to end last season but i'm not as eager to jump on the Dolphins bandwagon because of that...take a closer look at that 6 game winning streak:

The Dolphins Bandwagon: Now accepting riders.

Week 12: 33-21 win at Oakland (4-12)
Week 13: 24-23 win Vs. Buffalo (5-11)
Week 14: 23-21 win at San Diego (9-7)
Week 15: 24-20 win Vs. New York Jets (4-12)
Week 16: 24-10 win Vs. Tennessee (4-12)
Week 17: 28-26 win At New England (10-6)*******



At first glance that final win at New England looks to be a quality win, but I give it a massive * because those were the New England Patriots in name only. Anyone that was anyone in that game for the Patriots sat on the bench to keep healthy for the upcoming playoffs...in the end the 6 game winning streak was a bunch of narrow victories and nailbiters against the cellar dwellers of the league. The week prior to the start of this winning streak the Dolphins took a 22-0 shutout right on the chin against perenial NFL whipping boy Cleveland....ouch.

Even when you include the New England game the combined record of the above teams is a paltry 36-60...

To be fair...the Dolphins do have some things to hang their hats on...

1. 6 game winning streak is still a 6 game winning streak no matter who you played. I guess.

2. They added a top notch Quarterback this off-season in Daunte Culpepper. When healthy and not turning the ball over at a Tommy MAddox like rate he can take over a game by himself...unfortunately for him he failed in both areas last season...and even if he does struggle you have to assume he's better than what they were running out there last season.. ..Right?

3. Perhaps the most encouraging thing for Miami entering this season is the sorry state of their division. The Patriots have their own sets of issues (their best offensive player not named "Brady" holding out and unlikely to ever play for them again...core players that are getting a little long in the tooth) and the Bills and Jets at this point are nothing more than glorified college football teams trying to survive in the NFL. Second place is all but guaranteed with an outside shot at the division if things break just right (or wrong, depending on your perspective) in New England...

Even with that it's hard to imagine them making a serious run at the Super Bowl with that offensive line and secondary. ...And don't discount the loss of Ricky Williams to that running game. As flakey as he may be he was still a valuable asset to their offense last season and when you combine his loss and the early season suspension of Sammy Morris that leaves the running game in the hands of Ronnie Brown....and....Ronnie Brown.

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The Pirates finally found a team in the National League worse than them...with last nights 6-5 victory over the Cubs the Pirates finally broke out of the cellar and climbed into 5th place in the National League Central.

As a good friend of mine once said, "Progress is a cold monkey best eaten raw."

Thats about the best way I can sum up yet another disappointing season of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball. Whatever that even means.

But hey, it's not all bad...Jason Bay hit two homeruns last night which gives him an outside shot of being the first Pirate in......well.....a long ass time to hit 40 homeruns in a season. And Freddy sanchez appears to be a lock to win the National League batting title which deserves more press than it's getting (which is none).

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Malkin Is Coming!

Atleast another team in town besides the Steelers has a bright future in front of them...the Penguins finally signed russian phenom Evgeni Malkin yesterday ending a two month soap opera which included him signing a contract in Russia, leaving his Russian team the next night, and being smuggled into America in the trunk of a car.

Okay, I made that alst part up...I think. Regardless of how he got here the important thing is he DID get here. I don't know how many games the Penguins area going to win this season but with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and perhaps Jordan Staal in uniform they'll be worth the price of admission every single night.

So....You Even Going To Watch The Game?

It doesn't take much to send some Steeler fans into a frenzy -Usually an early season loss or a two interception game does the trick -but when your franchise player and starting Quarterback has to miss the season opener because his appendix flares up? Well, thats just mass hysteria.

Since the news of Bens surgery hit the wires late Sunday afternoon i've had no fewer than six people (and as many as 400..or so it seems) ask me if i'm even going to watch the game on Thursday Night. One person I know who actually has tickets to the game is contemplating not even going.

What?

I realize Ben Roethlisberger is a popular player and the "face of the franchise." But when the final person today asked me if I was going to do the unthinkable and actually watch a Steeler game not quarterbacked by Ben Roethlisberger I finally snapped into a fit of rage, pounding the table and yelling, "I'm not a fan of the Pittsburgh Roethlisbergers...i'm a fan of the Pittsburgh fucking Steelers."<