Stuff

Watching the New England Patriots Monday night was really something to see. You could probably count on one hand the number of times they lined up in a set that wasn't four wide with a tight end and Tom Brady seemed to have all day to pass against a very talented defensive line...Plus, he was throwing to guys who were relatively uncovered over the middle all night long. Did the Minnesota defense even show up? It reminded me (and Joe Theisman and Mike Tirico who kept bringing it up 450 times... which made me want to vomit due to the horrible memories) of the 2002 opener between the Steelers and Patriots where Brady came out no huddle, 5 wide, and threw for a gazillion yards on the Steelers defense. I really should hate the Patriots because they've inflicted so much pain and agony on my soul the past five years, but I just can't bring myself to doing it. They are simply so good from top to bottom that they deserve the respect and praise that they get.

And the bounces! Oh the bounces. On Sunday, Ben Roethlisberger throws a first quarter pass that gets tipped by a linebacker... and it bounces right to a waiting Raiders defensive back who takes it to the house for six.

Tom Brady throws a first quarter pass that gets tipped at the line... and it bounces to a wide open Laurence Maroney who doesn't have a Vikings defender within ten yards of him.

It's a crazy game.

Speaking of crazy, how about that REGGIE BUSH! Heres an AP report on Bush from this week.

I highlight this line:

Bush has been effective much of this season both running and receiving, getting clutch first downs that have helped sustain scoring drives, but he has rarely broken off big gains.

As of right now Bush is averaging an even three yards per carry and of his 70 rushes on the season only seven have gone for first downs. I don't know, but I have a hard time calling this effective running. He has over 40 catches, which is impressive for a rookie running back, but only 14 have moved the sticks, and he's still yet to score a touchdown on an offensive snap. I realize he is an outstanding physical specimen that also had a fantastic college career, but come on. Can we put the "Reggie Bush is great, Reggie Bush is effective" talk to bed until he actually becomes effective and/or great?

Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers offensive line aside, was there a player in the NFL that had a worse overall day than Reggie Bush this week?

- 6 rushes for 15 yards with a long of 11...... on 2nd and 22
- 4 catches for 5 yards...... with a long of 5
- He also managed to throw an interception into the endzone

I would love to see what something like DVOA and DPAR has to say about a game like that.

I'm in no way saying the guys a bust (because he's not, it would be foolish to say so) or that can't get better (because he can, and more than likely will) but he's simply not a great player yet.

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Games I watched this weekend besides the Steelers:

Falcons - Bengals
Saints - Ravens
Vikings - Patriots

Things I noticed in these games:

*Exact quote from Randy Cross: “Adalius Thomas just came in and boned Drew Brees.”

* The 3rd and goal, Five wide, Quaterback draw is still the greatest play in football. It works almost every single time no matter how slow, unathletic or uncoordinated the QB may be.

* Michael Vick reminds me a lot of Kordell Stewart, and by that I mean - when he's good...he's really good...and when he's bad...he's really bad. The last two weeks Michael Vick has been really good.

* Laurence Maroney is becoming one of my favorite players in the NFL that doesn't play for the Steelers. Prior to the draft I read a scouting report on some draft guru site (I can't remember which one, there is only 8 million of them) that said Maroney was a "System runner and was easy to bring down." Man, were those guys off.

Wow

Is there anything else that you can really say? This one brought back memories of the infamous Texans game from 2002...only much, much worse.

Yet again the Steelers found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and yet again there is a laundry list of culprits to point the finger at.

4 Turnovers?
4 more personal foul penalties?
An offensive line that played like a bunch of women...only softer?
A first and goal from the one with 2 minutes left in a 7 point game resulting in a turnover on downs?

Terrible effort all the way around and a very deserving end result.

The most disappointing thing about this season (and this game) is the way the offensive line has been punched in the face time and time again only to stand back and do absolutely nothing about it. Marvel Smith, Alan Faneca, and Jeff Hartings look like 3 guys who are closing in on the wrong side of 30 with a ton of physical miles starting to wear down on them, and the right side of Kendall Simmons/Chris Kemeaotu and Max Starks look like 3 offensive lineman that just aren't very good.

The Steelers used to stockpile first day offensive lineman like they were gold nuggets, and while they missed on some of them, they still made an effort to bolster the depth of the most crucial position on the field... and they managed to find some really good players in the process. Unfortunately, those players are getting older and there is absolutely no one behind them to help pick up the slack. Short term or long term.

Why is that?

The last four drafts the Steelers have taken one offensive lineman on the first day of the draft...Speedbump Max Starks at the end of the third round in 2004.

Speaking of Starks, he spent his day lined up across from Raiders defensive end Derrick Burgess, and to say that Burgess abused him all day long would be a laughable understatement. According to the measurements on NFL.com Starks has about 70 pounds of mass on Burgess, and I swear there were atleast 2 plays today where Burgess blew past Max without Starks even laying a finger on him, and a number of plays where Burgess simply threw him backwards like a rag doll.

- Willie Parker had a rather sub par day on the stat sheet, but what he can do? He runs hard every play and for more power than people give him credit for, but when there is nowhere to run...there is nowhere to run. And it's not like the bigger Najeh Davenport had any success either. First and goal from the one and the offensive line gets blown backwards on two consecutive running plays by one of the worst defensive lines in football? That says it all.

- The Steelers really missed Casey Hampton today, Chris Hoke is a good role player and good guy to have in your defensive line rotation, but he's no Casey Hampton in the middle of that line.

Example: On the play where Oakland went deep to Randy Moss (the one that was incomplete at the 2) the broadcast showed an endzone view on the replay... Chris Hoke was not only getting blocked by Jake Grove (and only Jake Grove) he was getting pushed down the field with ease...meanwhile, just to Hokes right, Brett Kiesel was fighting a double team and doing everything in his power to get a push into the backfield. Two plays later, Travis Kirschke of all people, emerged from the bench and lined up at nose tackle in place of Hoke. Kirschke initially pushed Grove back who then needed help from the right guard to block him. Despite drawing the double team, Kirschke still fought through it and made the stop on the screen pass before it could ever really develop. The next play Kirschke came through for a sack.

I'm not really sure what all of that means, but it's something that really stood out to me.

Edit: It was pointed out to me that Jake Grove was actually holding Chris Hoke on this play and was called for it....which changes things quite a bit. But I stand by my main idea...Casey > Chris

- I've been screaming for the Steelers to throw to Heath Miller more often all season, and it made me sick when he let a sure touchdown go through his hands. Right before Chris Carr turned into this years Aaron Glenn, the Steelers had a 2nd and goal from inside the Oakland 10 and Roethlisberger went right to Miller at the goalline....the pass was good...Miller was open...and the ball went right through his hands.

The very next play the Steelers season went running back the other direction for an Oakland touchdown.

- The Steelers have played 7 games and have as many wins as the Houston Texans, Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins, and Tennessee Titans.

Wow.

Ben Practices - Could Play

Supposedly Ben took all of his normal reps in practice yesterday and it's starting to look like he could be playing on Sunday in Oakland. This brings mixed emotions to some, to me, if he's medically cleared to play...then he should play. The Steelers and their doctors know what they're dealing with here - a franchise QB that had some head injuries - if there were any serious doubts here you would have to think that they would be smart enough to sit him out. The fact that it looks like he is going to play tells me they feel confident in his health right now.

- One argument i've heard is that he should sit out this week regardless of whether or not he's cleared to play because he's suffered 2 concussions in a 4 month span. I'm not sure I understand what one week off is going to do for him. Is there that much of a difference between 2 concussions in 4 months and 2 concussions in 4 months and a week?

- On the subject of Charlie Batch, i've heard some people on the yack shows this week say that Batch should start because "it's only Oakland."

Only Oakland?

Look, I like Charlie Batch a lot -I think that the Steelers could win with him - but when you start taking the mindset that "it's only Oakland".....well....thats when you start losing to Oakland. And the last time I checked, the Steelers were in no position to allow that to happen. They may be 1-5, but right now they are the only team that should be on the Steelers mind and every willing and able body that is healthy enough to play, should be playing.

I Love Steve Sabol

Okay, so maybe you weren't expecting that title, and honestly, neither was I. As I was flipping back and forth between game 3 of the World Series and the Penguins splashing of the Devils with Holy Water (More on this in a bit) I happened to catch an interview with NFL Films legend Steve Sabol. I can't recall what channel it was, who was interviewing him, or even what show it was, but Sabol had some inspiring things to say at the end.

As the interview was coming to a close the guy talking to Sabol asked him what it takes to do what he does...what are the key points to focus on when you do your job? The things you focussed on to get to this point?

Sabol thought for a moment and said (Major paraphrasing here):

Find something that you love to do, and do it. Don't worry about making moneyright away because if you find something that you love to do, and you do it enough, and you get good enough at it, eventually you'll make money.

I thought about that for a minute. How far could you take such a comment? Pretty far actually. For example: I recall an episode of Cheers where Norm Peterson was sitting at the corner of the bar drinking beer. Amazing, I know. Norm loved drinking beer. He did it a lot. Not only did he not make any money drinking beer, it actually cost him money. Perhaps lots of it.


Until one day a local brewmaster offered him the job of being a beer taste tester at his brewery.

I don't recall what happened the rest of the episode, but heres what i'm getting at:

I like doing this. What i'm doing right now. I've tried to work at my craft over the years on message boards, for a small handful of websites, and i've talked about my recent gig doing some stringer work for a small town paper with high school sports.

One of two things could happen here...

1. I could keep working at this and see where it takes me.

Or...

2. Sit on the corner stool of a local tavern and drink beer until a local brewmaster offers me the job of beer taste tester.

Steve Sabol and his father should both be in the Football Hall of Fame for their contributions to the game. Really.

Actually, it's pretty disappointing that they aren't in there. Steve. I love you. And i'm going to think about what he said when i'm trying to talk to some guy at the corporate help desk who tells me the Data Warehouse software will be up in 15-20 minutes only to have a company wide e-mail be sent out 25 minutes later telling me IT'LL BE DOWN FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Heres how bad my week has been. The highlight of my week to this point has been the fact that Ryan Wilson used one of my comments in his most recent blog update. Hmmmmmm. Rasberry preserves.


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If Tony Larussa is exhibit A as to why i'm rooting against the Cardinals this World Series (and he is) then these guys would be exhibit B.

Honestly. Anyone that willingly walks out of their house and enters a sports venue dressed like that, does not deserve to see their team win a championship. Ever. The very fact they are fortunate enough to see their team playing for a championship (and are very likely dressed like that as we speak) is enough to make me angry. The only redeeming aspect of this photo is the guy just to the left of the 334 sign that is clearly giving the finger to the camera. Yes, St. Louis. You are indeed #1.

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So after 8 games the Penguins are 5-3 and currently in First place in the Atlantic Division.

Last year after 8 games? 0-8 and in last place in all of the NHL. They'd get to 0-9 before winning.

Sid is playing like Sid, Malkin might be better than advertised and Marc-Andre Fleury is playing like the number 1 overall pick that he was. And this Jordan Staal kid isn't half bad either. I realize sending him back to juniors after the next game would be helpful in the future as you save a year of free agency...but I don't see how you could possibly send him back and still try to convince everyone that you're even semi-serious about winning hockey games right now. Forget the fact that he's already scored 4 goals for a second...he is one of, if not the best, defensive forwards on the team... His penalty killing for example has been fantastic (again, forgetting the fact that he's actually scored 3 shorthanded goals already) .

Sure, you could argue that he might not see enough ice time to justify him staying on the big club...but I have a solution to that little problem.

Put him on the ice more.

And as much fun as the new big 3 is to watch, it's a pleasure to finally have some capable role players on the team that actually fill some sort of purpose. Nils Ekman. Mark Eaton. Dominic Moore. Jarkko Ruutu. Ray Shero, you're the man.

I'm excited. As John Steigerwald (who I generally don't care for) said tonight, if the Steelers figure it out (which they still can and I think will) this has the potential to be quite a winter season of sports in town.

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If an NFL player gets busted for steroids, and no one pays attention to it......did it really happen?

So Shawn Merriman is a pretty good player and what not, and this week he actually got caught with his hand in the steriod jar (or needle, or whatever that stuff comes in) and the only real press it gets is about 5 minutes from Chris Mortensen on Monday Night Countdown. Crazy.

I caught Mike and MIke talking about this briefly (emphasis on briefly) and they compared Shawn Merriman to the NFL's version of Ryan Howard. A young 2nd year stud player that is among the best at his position, yatta yatta yatta, and they posed the question; what would the reaction be if this were Ryan Howard getting busted for steroids right now?

They both agreed that it would be the only story for atleast 52 weeks.

I can't say that I think they're wrong.

And I can't say why that is.

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So Major League Baseball and the MLBPA got together under the radar and hammered out a new CBA deal, and all I can say is...meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

It's basically the same thing as the last CBA which means we as Pirates fans have another 5 years of 45 million dollar payrolls to look forward to, no international draft, no salary floor (more important than a salary cap) and....well....more Ogden Nutting.

Color me excited.

One of the most glaring problems in my eyes is the lack of an international draft...what makes players coming from Japan different than guys coming from New Mexico? Or California? It would be like saying since Reggie Bush comes from California he is not subject to the NFL draft and can now sign with the highest bidder. Or perhaps, more accurately, it would be like saying since Evgeni Malkin is from Russia, he is not subject to the NHL draft and can now sign with the highest bidder. Thats probably a better example....

Whatever.

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How does Yadier Molina bat in game 2 of the world series...in the top of the 9th...with the bases loaded...and 2 outs....and a 2 run game...all while Chris Duncan - who in the regular season hit more homeruns than every player on the St. Louis Cardinals not named Pujols - sits on the bench twiddling his thumbs?

While watching the end of the game I had this instant message conversation:

SK55jasnwILLiamS: anderson and some banjo made 60 yarders
Adam17284: didn't the KC game end on some insanely long kick?
Adam17284: HAHHAHAHA
Adam17284: a homerun here would be fitting
SK55jasnwILLiamS: wow
SK55jasnwILLiamS: please
Adam17284: edmonds
Adam17284: got a shot
SK55jasnwILLiamS: is kenny rogers on steroids or something?
SK55jasnwILLiamS: hes fucking nuts
SK55jasnwILLiamS: roidrage
Adam17284: probably
Adam17284: TODD JONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Adam17284: rogers has that horse jaw
SK55jasnwILLiamS: holy shit
Adam17284: so it's possible
Adam17284: i don't understand why the steroids freaks don't question pitchers and the insanely fast speedsters more
SK55jasnwILLiamS: PUT IN CHRIS DUCNAN
SK55jasnwILLiamS: NO WAY
SK55jasnwILLiamS: PUT IN CHRIS DUNCAN
Adam17284: HE HIT HIM!
Adam17284: HAHAHA
SK55jasnwILLiamS: WHAT IS GOING ON
SK55jasnwILLiamS: PUT IN CHRIS DUNCAN
SK55jasnwILLiamS: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
SK55jasnwILLiamS: HES YOUR 2ND BEST HITTER
SK55jasnwILLiamS: and lefties kill jones
Adam17284: you know what
Adam17284: I agree
SK55jasnwILLiamS: i dont give a fuck about not having a backup catcher in extra innings
SK55jasnwILLiamS: you have to give duncan a chance
SK55jasnwILLiamS: thats bad
SK55jasnwILLiamS: bad bad bad bad
Adam17284: crazy
SK55jasnwILLiamS: .937 ops in the regular season
SK55jasnwILLiamS: 22 homers
Adam17284: up is down, the sky is green, cats living with dogs

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SK55jasnwilliams > Tony Larussa


Thats all I've got for tonight.

From Bad, To Good....To Worse.......

After starting off 1-3 and then having a weekend like last week where everything fell perfectally into place for us I thought the Steelers were sitting pretty...and then today happened, and in this heat of the moment so soon after the contest i'm not even really sure what exactly happened. I'm actually starting to think my view of football is really twisted from reality, my dad and brother are going to great lengths to try and convince me that todays game is not in the hands of the defense. Okay...fine. You can argue that Santonio Holmes fumble was costly (and you're damn right)...you can argue that Willie Parker and Ben Roethlisbergers fumbles were costly (and you're damn right) and you can even argue that the special teams played bad in general (and you're damn right again)...but here is my argument:

There is no rule that says you have to give up a touchdown right after a turnover. Or in some cases, one play after a turnover. As crazy as it is to believe, there is this novel idea of holding teams to field goals after turnovers, or even more novel...creating a turnover of your own to get the ball back.

After Santonio Holmes fumbled punt return early in the first quarter the Atlanta Falcons took exactly one play to score a touchdown. A 23 yard pass to Alge Crumpler.

After the Ben Roethlisberger fumble, the Steelers had Atlanta in a 3rd and 7 situation (a stop would have held them to a field goal attempt) and they allowed a 12 yard first down to Alge Crumler (again) and THEN had a roughing the passer penalty tacked on...result: First and goal..touchdown 2 plays later...on third down...to Alge Crumpler.

I'm starting to notice a trend.

I love the Steelers defense as much as anyone, and i'm not convinced that they are a long term problem, but today, they wet the proverbial bed and were the biggest factor in the Steelers loss. Giving up 41 points to a Michael Vick led offense is not acceptable in any league at any time, I don't care how many turnovers you had or how many onside kicks they recovered. Atlanta entered todays game as the worst Red Zone offense in the NFL...they were 31% on third downs...and Michael Vick had a Michael Vick like passer rating of 60 something.

Today? They were pretty close to perfect in the redzone, 50% on third downs, and Vick threw 4 touchdown passes...he had never thrown more than 2 in any game in his career.

- All that being said, there were two things about todays game that frustrated me more than the game itself. Which speaks volumes as to how frustrating these next two items were.......

1. Jim Nantz and Phil Simms.

2. The people I watched the game with.

Lets start with the latter. Normally I have two different groups I watch the games with when i'm not actually at the game...A group of my friends, and a group that consists of my parents, one of my brothers and a group of their friends. Today I was with the Parent group. I love watching games with my dad...we argue at times about the plays, sometimes heated, sometimes we get mad at each other, but we still have a blast, my problem was not with him...it was with, well.... everybody else.

To set the scene for you, we are in a basement of this house...a nice house, a quality basement, and about 20-25 people crammed in. It makes for a cozy atmosphere and what not, but every week it's the same thing...

Nobody watches the game (minus my dad and myself...we usually sit off in a corner by ourselves and scream at each other about why we're losing)....

Everyone is more concerned about who's winning the gambling games they have going on and trying to talk to me about work and some other garbage that has nothing to do with anything. I'm not there to chit chat with you about my job or to have small talk about who is moving in to the house across the street from me...i'm there to drink beer, eat food and watch football...not quite in that order, but for those reasons. Any order will do really.

I'm going somewhere else next week.

As for Jim Nantz and Phil Simms...they just suck.

- As brutal as todays loss was (much like the other 3 losses this season what we seemingly gave away for the taking) i'm still not throwing in the towel. There is still a lot of football left to be played and the Steelers defense is not going to play this bad every week, they may never play this bad again. The key is going to be keeping Ben Roethlisberger in one piece, if we can do that for a couple weeks at a time he appears to be back and better than...well...ever.

After putting up a near perfect game last week he was rolling along today with a 147.3 rating before getting knocked out (literally)...I thought that play could have been flagged, but there is no use in complaining about it...that stuff happens. Move on. It just sucks that he got hurt. No real word on the extent of his injury yet (atleast not that i've heard), but you can assume it's atleast a concussion....which would not exactly be a good thing. You would think somebody on the network coverage would have a report on such a significant injury to such a significant player but who has time for that when Mike Vick is playing? Usually when a guy gets injured the networks disguise a reporter as a team doctor and send them behind enemy lines to figure out what happened...but not today.

The Vick hype gets under my skin because to this point in his career he's been no more successful than Kordell Stewart was in his Steeler days, and everyone hated Kordell Stewart...in Pittsburgh and outside of Pittsburgh. Is he a talented player? One of the most talented i've ever seen. Can he be dazzling at times? Sure. Does that make him a great player? No. He's Kordell Stewart...which isn't exactly bad (really, it's not) but lets not make him out to be the 2nd coming of John Elway. At one point today Phil Simms actually made the comment "I see a lot of John Elway in Michael Vick right here."

John Elway by the way, is arguably one of the best football players in the history of football players, the only real comparison between Michael Vick and John Elway is the fact they have the same number on the back of their uniforms...all comparisons between the two start and end there.

On this particular play Vick ran around in the backfield a little bit (with little to no pressure on him) and threw a pass down the seam to a wide open Alge Crumpler, Simms was in awe of the pass and was going on about how "Not all Quarterbacks can make this play." I don't know, it seems to me that just about every QB in the NFL should be able to make such a throw, but I haven't spent the past 15 years watching Chris Simms overthrow wide open recievers down the seam so what do I know?

- Sadly, the Steelers had a 10 point lead today and lost the game. This goes back to my midweek posting where I commented on Bill Cowhers record with 10 point leads at any point in the game...i'm not sure what it means but two of the maybe 4 or 5 games that the Steelers have not won when they had a 10 point lead in the Bill Cowher era came at the hands of the legendary Mike Vick and the Atlanta Falcons (Todays meltdown and the 2002 sister kisser). Not sure what that means, except that Michael Vick has Bill Cowhers number.

- Stupid rule comments of the week:

Either you can have celebrations...or you can't have any. In two different games today i've seen two completely absurd unsportsmanlike conduct penalty calls after touchdowns. The one in the Steelers game and one on Antwan Randle-El in the Redskins game. Randle-El did nothing more than run into the goal post in a Steve Smith like manner...El got flagged. And after another penalty on the kickoff (on the kicker for removing his helmet for no more than a half a second, honestly, if you blinked you missed him remove his helmet) the Redskins found themselves kicking off from their own 5 yard line.

The Steelers penalty still has me confused...who was it on? What was it for? For three guys doing some weak jig in the endzone? For Hines Ward nudging a Falcons player who got in the way of the jig? Personally, I hate celebrations that take any ounce of planning and practice, it's one of those few things where I consider myself "old school"...you scored, great, do like Heath Miller, toss the ball to the official and go to the sidelines...

On the other hand, football is an emotional game...you made a big play and you're damn excited about it. So maybe a little celebration is okay... There just seems to be to much gray area here...why is it okay for ONE guy to do a weak jig and not get a flag...but if somebody else on his team joins in, it's not okay.

Lookin' at my sandles. Thats a paddlin'.
Lookin' out the window. Thats a paddlin'.
More than one guy celebrating in the endzone. Thats a paddlin'.
Paddlin' the School canoe...Ohhhh, you better believe thats a paddlin'.

If you want to cut down on the celebrations eliminate them all together and flag everyone.

Or...if you're going to deem some okay, allow all of them.

- Bill Simmons once wrote in a column that after your team wins a championship you should give them a five year grace period before complaining about them again. I've been thinking about that comment this season because, well, because we won a championship last year (WEEEEEE!) and are playing like...well...not like champions so far this season.

1. I spend a lot of money and devote a ton time to the Steelers (probably more than I should on both accounts)...tickets, merchandise, jerseys, hats...when they play bad, i'm upset. As I should be. As I have a right to be.

2. When you give somebody a 5 year grace period after a championship you do nothing but allow yourself to settle into an acceptable level of Baltimore Ravens like mediocrity...Thats not a good thing and that is not what I want to become.

When the game itself is actually going on, I find myself irrational and filled with knee jerk reactions...thats the heat of the moment, i'm used to it. Once the game ends however, and I take a step back common sense begins to rear it's head. Should I be frustrated right now? Yeah. But the last 8 weeks of last season were so much fun and brought me so much joy that I should be able to put up with a slow start the following season. Be reasonable Adam, be reasonable. It's not always going to be like last season, sometimes I lose that perspective.

- Oh My God the Raiders have won. I was rooting for them to pull off the 0-16 run but in a way i'm kind of glad that they managed to win one before we play them next week. I was actually kind of worried about going in there against a desperate team that was still searching for a win...to many bad things could have happened.

Dennis Greens seat meanwhile is white hot. Should be a great press conference tonight.

Mid-week Mayhem

It only lasted 42 seconds, but it was perhaps the greatest coaching meltdown of all time. It wasn't as long and drawn out as Jim Moras "PLAYOFFS?!?!" rant and it wasn't as subtle as Mike Ditkas "Did I drop the ball? Did I miss the kick? Did I throw the interception?" but it was most certainly better. I'm really not sure where Green was going when he started bringing up the Cardinals pre-season matchup against the Bears, but it made for great TV. I think the breaking point for Green was after his tirade, instead of another question from the press, all he recieved was a rather loud round of laughter...you can't really hear it on the youtube version but I picked it up quite well on the ESPN broadcast. I can't say I blame either party for their reactions, lord knows if I were sitting in front of that I would have been howling and had I been Dennis Green in that position I probably would have gone Joe Mikulik on them.

Whenever we watch Steelers games and the Steelers get up by 10 points the networks always seem to flash Bill Cowhers coaching record when the Steelers have a 10 point lead at any point in the game...it's something insane, like 120-2-1, and I always find myelf in awe of such a stat. Until that one guy in the corner of the bar always screams over at me "Hey Adam, thats a bullshit stat and you know it, you realize how hard it is to blow a 10 point lead and lose the game?"

Surprisingly, it's not that diffcult. Just off the top of my head this season I can count five games where a team had a 10 point lead and ended up losing in the end, and thats without doing any digging or research:

- Dennis Greens Arizona Cardinals have done it two weeks in a row (both times 14 point leads...actually, the 2nd one was a 20 point lead, but thats nitpicking)
- The Detriot Lions blew a 14 point 4th quarter lead at home Vs. The Minnesota Vikings
- The Oakland Raiders blew an 18 point lead at home to the Cleveland Browns
- The San Diego Chargers in the "Martyball game" in Baltimore.

One of the biggest reasons the Cardinals blew the game Tuesday Night was the fact that Edgerrin James suddenly forgot how to play running back...or he just happens to be stuck trying to run behind an awful offensive line, making his signing in the off-season another in a long line of Arizona Cardinals head scratchers. I mean, afterall, who could have predicted that Edgerrin James and the Arizona Cardinals were a bad mix? Just ignore the Michael Robinson to the Steelers prediction...and the stuff about Duce Staley (Man did I miss that one)......

After Monday nights 55 yard performance on what seemed like 200 carries James is now averaging a paltry 2.7 yards per carry...or just about what J.J. Arrington and Marcell Shipp averaged for the Cardinals last season...for a far cheaper price. Meanwhile, back in Indianapolis, Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes are averaging about 4 yards a carry for the Colts...or just about what Edgerrin James averaged for the Colts last season...for a far cheaper price.

Just maybe it's the offensive line?

Thats not to say the Cardinals would be any better today if they had Chester Taylor or some other random running back carrying the rock for them...because they probably wouldn't...my point is when you have an offensive line that is in disarray (and when you have Oliver Ross and Reggie Wells starting up front, you qualify as being "in disarray") spending 30+ million dollars on a running back probably isn't the ticket to fixing whats wrong with your team. Instead, the Cardinals probably would have been better served to take the Edge money and find some capable offensive lineman (Steve Hutchinson? Lecharles Bentley? *cough*) that could open up some running lanes for a slightly lower profile back that wasn't already 29 years old.

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I would like to address a topic that has been getting a lot of talk around Pittsburgh these days, it's actually been a semi-hot topic for the past 5 seasons. It's not the play of the quarterback (which was FANTASTIC on Sunday). It's not Bill Cowhers future or his new home in North Carolina. It's not even about the team itself.

It's the playing surface at Heinz Field.

I am no expert on football playing surfaces, I don't know whats good, whats bad or what type of cleats are suitable for what type of playing surface when the temperature is above 50 degrees in games North of the Mason-Dixon Line in January. Despite all of that, I can say with some level of confidence that the playing surface at Heinz Field is....well....not among the best in the league. And I could care less.

Myron Cope always used to get these calls on his post game call in show and before the caller could even finish his comment on the painted mud that was/is the surface of Heinz Field, Cope would be going off on a tangent about how "Jim Finks and Ernie Stautner played on dirt and mud and nobody complained about it because it was football and thats how it was supposed to be played."

Personally, I agree.

Enough about the field, if you're going to lay down carpet or carpet that looks like grass you might as well build a roof over the stadium and delay games when it rains. The elements help make football what it is. Deal with them. Has anyone suffered a major injury due to the Heinz Field surface? Or a minor one? I can't recall any...i'm sure there have been leg injuries suffered at the place, but I can't think of a single one where you could point at it and say "It's because of the field."

On top of that, the outrage about the field has put an end to the "Why is Duce Staley still on the team" calls......I miss those calls.

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Are you kidding? Page 73 - Johnson, Navin R.! I'm somebody now! Millions of people look at this book everyday! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name in print - that makes people. I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now.

There we go. On Friday I did my 2nd high school game for the Herald Standard as I took a drive south down I-70 to Brownsville, PA...or more accurately, Republic, Pa.

Hopefully this experience can be one of those things that I look back on and laugh about when I am a not so famous writer sometime in the future. Brownsville was playing host to Southmoreland who depserately needed a win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive...Brownsville on the other hand has been a conference whipping boy all season, losing every single game by an average score of 50-7...needless to say, I was expecting a blowout going in.

The stadium was about five or so miles past the heart of downtown Brownsville (a rather...scary place) in the two stop sign town of Republic. Driving down a narrow, winding two lane road I was finally in eye sight of the stadium...trouble is I ended up getting stuck behind the homecoming court who were driving around in 1987 Corvettes...the homecoming court ended up stopping just short of the entrance to the parking lot where the team busses, stadium crew, and yes...members of the media were supposed to park... I ended up sitting in my car for about 25 minutes waiting for the line of cars to move so I could park.

Eventually, things started moving and I approached the gate and handed my "press pass" to the rent-a-cop standing at the gate only to have him tell me, "you'll have to go back up around and park on the other side." I tried to explain to him that the paper told me I could park here, and he finally picked up his radio and started talking back and forth to another rent-a-cop at the other lot before they finally decided there was room for me...glory be.

The stadium itself was rather small and disgustingly outdated...it was 94 years old if it was a day, and I was actually afraid to sneeze in the press box for fear of blowing it over. Honestly, walking up to the stadium and looking at the surroundings it sort of felt like something out of the movie Deliverance.

I was sitting on the lower level of the press box next to the stadium announcer and his wife who was helping him spot players on the field...and you could tell this was small town High School Football. He'd announce tackles like this:

"And number 34........Um.......Mcknight on the carry tackled by.....oh....I don't know....about all of the Brownsville defense."

The game was one of the sloppiest football games that I have ever watched at any level, in the end there were a total of 9 fumbles, about 16 penalties and a team fighting for a playoff birth blowing a 10 point lead with under 9 minutes to play against a winless team that had not scored more than 7 points in any one game all season.

Following the game I was going to drive from Brownsville to Uniontown to the Herald Standard office so I could type my summary and story....it was about a 20 minute drive on some two lane back roads through the countryside. I actually made it into Uniontown with no problem before I was hopelessly lost on the city streets. I've only actually been to Uniontown like, once, and I forgot how big it is...it's actually a pretty decent sized city and an even bigger pain in the ass as just about every single street within the city limits is of the one way variety. So, if you miss your turn off by one block (like I did) you have to drive the entire way around the city in a giant circle just to get back to where you started before you try it once again...and again....and again. I decided to stop and ask for directions at a gas station (I think that violates a man law) and before the guy at the counter told me where to go he offered this warning:

"Just make sure your window is up and your doors are locked."

Encouraging.

I eventually found what I was looking for, did my work and didn't pull back into my driveway until after 1 in the morning. Still, it was a worthwhile experience as I for the first time had the chance to see what it was like to drive into Gods country and really work against a deadline (The first game I had everything in well ahead of time)...and hey, I had a great time on top of it.

The check didn't hurt either.

It's not much (really, it isn't) but it's a start. I'll take the experience where I can get it.

They're sending me right into my backyard this friday as i'm doing the Waynesburg Central - Greensburg Central Catholic game...which is like, 5 minutes from my house. I did the Greensburgh Central - Southmoreland game two weeks ago so I had a chance to get to know what GCC is all about, they have a couple Division I kids on that team and a coach that likes himself quite a bit. Max Suter is a Syracuse recruit at Running Back and Nick Sukay is headed to Penn State...should be fun, probably even a blowout.

Now We're Talking......

And just like that, with one day of football, everything changes. The Steelers offense returned from their three week vacation and combined with a little help from Carolina and Tampa Bay, the Steelers put themselves right back in it.

Here are the facts as we sit tonight:

- The Steelers are 1 game behind the division leaders Baltimore and Cincinnati
- The Steelers have 11 games to play
- The Steelers have 5 games against division opponents (including 3 games against the Division Leading Ravens And Bengals)
- The Bengals and Ravens have to play each other two times...this means thats one loss (or perhaps two) for those teams.

If the Steelers just take care of their own business from here on out and don't worry about anything else, they'll be where they need to be.

Today was just an all out thrashing of the Kansas City Chiefs, who really didn't even show up for the game. You had to know it was only a matter of time until Damon Huard realized that he was Damon Huard and totally fell apart. It wasn't that the STeelers defense hurried and pressured him (based on my memory right now anyway)...it was just that he's Damon Huard. Hell, the Steelers only had one sack today and that was from Chad Brown(!) on Brodie Croyle in the 4th quarter of a 45-7 game...

The biggest thing today, aside from the win, was the fact that Ben looked like Ben. For the third time in his career he finished with a passer rating over 150.

Thats fantastic.

Of course, it helps when your offensive line decides to pass protect for you and your recievers catch the football. I thought Nate Washington was going to be in for another long day with what I thought was a weak attempt at a long pass down the right sidelines...but he rebounded with a huge 47 yard touchdown grab to put the Steelers up 14-0 and he finished the day with a team leading 68 yards recieving...not bad.

Santonio Holmes meanwhile had a breakout day of sorts, he had a 50 yard catch on the Steelers opening drive (on a 3rd and long no less) and ended up with 190 total yards (recieving, rushing, returning)...to put that into perspective, Antwan Randle-El has 214 total yards all season. I'm really starting to feel like a stooge for arguing that the Steelers needed to re-sign El.

Willie Parker scored two more touchdowns from inside the 10 (forget that big back stuff, Parker can handle it down near the goal line) and Najeh Davenport finally carried the football, and carried it quite well. I'm not saying I want him to become "the new bus" (because I don't) but I just want to see him in the offense more...today was a good start to that.

I didn't really notice 2nd year guard Chris Kemeotu (I know I butchered his spelling but I didn't feel like looking it up right now, forgive me Chris) all that much, but I suppose thats a good thing. I'm not sure what he did do, but he didn't do much to stop the Steelers from putting up over 450 yards of total offense.

And finally, for the first time in 3 weeks, Troy Polamalu looked like he was playing with both arms again...incredible showing from Troy.

Quarterly Review

My second lengthy posting of the day, this one in far greater detail and chock full of stats, just demonstrates the absurd amount of free time i've had today. Enjoy......

As i've said before, I volunteer with the Football Outsiders game charting project, and because of this, every week I get these nifty spreadsheets that are just bursting with information...type of play, who it was intended for, where it went, what it went for, blah blah blah...the charter then has to fill in other relevant information; Blockers, rushers, why the ball was incomplete, who did what to whom, and who is responsible for your quarterback getting crushed. It's pretty cool. I've been doing the Steelers games (or a half from each Steelers games) and every 4 games of the season i'll do one of these since all of the information is right there for me and so easy to access......


Steelers Offense

Passing

One night while my brother and myself were chugging back cold ones and discussing nothing of importance, the topic of the Steelers came up and he started talking about how the Steelers only ever throw to one side of the field. I never really thought about it and I never really noticed it, actually, I just sort of brushed it off. Turns out Jeff was right. Sort of.

Looking at the play-by-play sheets (which are sorted with ease) the Steelers passing chart breaks down like this thru four weeks:

Right side: 50 Passes
Middle: 42 Passes
Left Side: 36 Passes

Okay, so it's not a huge difference, and they're actually pretty balanced as far as the middle and right side go, but there is a clear preference (so far) as to whether they are going to the left side or right side.

As far as individual recievers, below is a list of the Steelers pass catchers, sorted by number of passes thrown in their direction and the completion percentage on said passes.

Hines Ward: 13 For 33 - 39%
Cedric Wilson: 6 For 21 - 28%
Verron Haynes: 13 For 19 - 68%
Nate Washington: 9 For 17 - 52%
Santonio Holmes: 7 For 14 - 50%
Heath Miller: 9 For 13 - 69%
Willie Parker: 10 For 11 - 91%
Dan Krieder: 1 For 2 - 50%
Jerame Tuman: 1 For 1 - 100%
Najeh Davenport: 1 For 1 - 100%

- It's not a surprise to see Parker, Haynes, Krieder, and Davenport so high on the completion percentage scale, they're mainly catching screen passes and dumpoffs and they should be around 70-80%...the problems are...

- Only 39% when throwing to Hines Ward? 28% to Cedric Wilson? Its a bad thing when your two starting recievers are the two worst at having passes completed to them.

- Of the plays i've charted (about half of the offensive snaps) I've counted 6 dropped passes by Steelers recievers
*3 by Nate Washington
*2 by Santonio Holmes
*1 by Hines Ward

The problem with the dropped passes, aside from the fact they're dropped passes which on it's own is a bad thing, is where and when they've come. Three of those drops came on third down plays thus ending drives. One drop, by Nate Washington, came in the endzone late against Cincinnati on a drive that the Steelers eventually had to settle for a field goal.

To be fair to Santonio Holmes one of his drops came when he tried to make a leaping grab against the Bengals only to have Keiwan Ratliff hit him low and flip him heels over head...it would have been a nifty catch if he had pulled it off...but it still counts as a drop. The other two drops came in San Diego, both on 2nd down plays on drives where the Steelers ended up punting, one by Ward that hit him right in the chest, and another by Washington on a perfectally thrown ball down the left sidelines.

And we wonder why the franchise QB is struggling? It's hard to play well when you have drives ended by dropped balls, especially on third downs and in the endzone.

- Heath Miller really is amazing, this season after four games 69% of the passes thrown at him have been caught, last season that number was at 75% (which was the 3rd highest among all NFL Tight Ends) yet he ranks 6th on the team in terms of the number of passes thrown at him. It's crazy. One of these days they'll realize what they have and take advantage of it. What they're doing here would be like if the Ravens suddenly stopped throwing to Todd Heap so they could get the ball in the hands of Devard Darling or Clerance Moore. Or try to get the ball in their hands.

- To further expand on the tight end thing, the Steelers this season- with Ben under center- have only thrown out of two or more tight end sets six times. Six. In Bens first two years they threw out of two tight end or more sets 115 times...his passer rating on those plays?

136.2, including a mind boggling 15:1 TD:INT ratio and over 10 yards per pass attempt.

I have no real theory or reasoning as to why he performed so well out of those looks but there had to be something to it. Perhaps the option of having two tight ends created some favorable matchups over the middle for him to exploit? I don't know. I'm just thinking out loud. But the lack of the Tight End in the Steelers offense continues to make me scratch my head.

Steelers Offense

Rushing

Jerome Bettis is gone, Duce Staley models NFL merchandise on the sidelines (i'm loving the grey sweatsuits), and Najeh Davenport hardly plays. Despite that, I don't think the running game has been all that bad, I wish they'd use Davenport more, not because Parker has played poorly (he hasn't) but because they need to get someone else involved...i'm not doubting Parkers ability to "carry the load" i'm doubting his ability to carry every single running play, which is what they seem to be doing, minus the token 3rd and 22 draw play to Verron Haynes that picks up 6 yards.

The rushing breakdown:

Left end: 14-49-4.9
Left tackle: 11-31-2.8
Left guard: 11-43-3.9
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Left Side Total: 36-123-3.4
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Middle: 38-188-4.9
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Right end: 11-78-7.1
Right tackle: 10-13-1.3
Right guard: 6-10-1.8
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Right Side Total: 27-101-3.7

Opposite of the passing chart, the Steelers running plays have usually gone up the middle or to the left side of the offense. It's no shocking revelation that their best averages are around the ends with a speed back like Willie Parker, but he's been no slouch up the middle either...the real concern is how inept they've been running behind Kendall Simmons and Max Starks. Perhaps that explains why they almost never do it?


The Steelers Defense

There isn't really much here that I can comment on, I haven't charted enough of the defense so get a good idea of whats going on but here are some quick hitters:

- Of the plays i've watched, the Steelers have brought 3 and 4 rushers more than they brought 5 or more...meaning they don't really "blitz" a lot. Which i've been talking about for weeks. Most of the Steelers pass rushes this season (of the ones i've watched) are of the four man variety...just because a linebacker comes on the pass rush does not make it a blitz.

3 D-lineman + 1 linebacker = 4 man rush = The type of rush most teams use on most plays. Not a blitz.

- Brett Kiesel is a monster and is silencing all of the doubters that felt Kimo Von Oelhoffens presence would be missed in the run stuffing department. Kimo was a great player for a long time for the Steelers, but Brett Kiesel is going to be a great player for a long time as well.

- The Steelers bring rushers from everywhere and anywhere. The pass rush isn't limited to just linebackers and lineman.... corners, safeties, nickel backs, dime backs backup linebackers...hell, pretty much everyone except Chris Gardocki is an option to rush the QB....this is what makes Dick Lebeaus defense so great and so confusing to opposing offenses. It's not the numbers that are coming, it's who is coming and from where. On any given play Tyrone Carter can be blitzing and Aaron Smith can be dropping off into coverage. It's a beautiful thing.

A Laundry List Of Problems

As with any team thats losing the Quarterback is going to get the brunt of the blame...and as usual with most losing teams, the Quarterback isn't the only culprit. Take last nights debacle for example, every single member of the Steelers from head coach Bill Cowher on down to Sean Morey had blood on their hands for this one. And the previous two for that matter.

It's not just one guy, it's not just one thing, it's a laundry list....

1. I originally thought on the fake punt play in the first quarter that Chris Gardocki was not on the field, which made me absolutely furious. Think about it, a fake punt with no punter? Why not just line up and go for it?

Later, I was proven to be wrong as Chris Gardocki was indeed on the field.....spread out wide on the sidelines. Doing what mind you, I have no idea, but he was out there. As soon as they lined up I said out loud "WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING?" And as Bryant Mcfadden(!) ran around on a reverse and was tackled two yards behind the line of scrimmage I let loose a tirade of profanities that would have made George Carlin proud. I have a number of problems with this play call...the first being, why the hell are you doing it? You're punting from mid field early in the game, you have an oppurtunity to atleast turn the field position battle in your favor and pin a young QB, making his 4th career start, in the shadows of his own goal posts. Beyond that...why are you putting the ball in the hands of Bryant Mcfadden? I love Bryant Mcfadden...but I love him as a cornerback. Not as a runner. For his career the ball has been in his hands exactly one time.....an interception in the endzone....I would love to know what provoked Bill Cowher in his weekly meetings and game planning sessions to smack himself in the head and say "LETS GET THE BALL IN THE HANDS OF BRYANT MCFADDEN!"

I don't get it.

If you were going for the element of surprise, then job well done. You shocked the hell out of me. Unfortunately, I don't play defense for the San Diego Chargers who simply were not buying what the Steelers were selling on that play.

2. Before this season I was convinced the Steelers were deep at Wide Reciever, I probably said so on this very blog, and once again, I was wrong. Our recievers, up to and including Hines Ward stink. Speaking of which, let me go off course here for a second...

I've never been a big Hines Ward fan. I know a lot of Steelers fans love him, but I don't. I always liked him, but I never considered him one of my favorites. Thats a personal thing, I generally don't go for the skill position players, i'm the guy that wears the Alan Faneca jersey and screams for more emphasis on the Marvell SMith - Igor Olshansky matchup. A couple years ago my parents bought me a Hines Ward jersey, why, I don't know....I don't recall asking for one, but there it was.

To this day I have never worn it. Not because I didn't like the gift, simply because i'm not a big fan of Hines Ward.

Mainly because I lost a lot of respect for Ward when he held out and started talking about how he had to worry about his family while he's only making 2 million dollars a year instead of 6. The day he held out I said dump him....I was convinced the Steelers wouldn't cave and give in....and as is becoming a trend in this posting...I was wrong. They gave him the money. I guess this irked me because the Steelers have never really done this before in the past....why for Hines? Why Hines, but not for say.... Rod Woodson?

My main argument was that the Steelers would be paying Ward top dollar, the most they'd ever pay him, for probably his worst football...and for once in this posting...I can say I was right.

Since Ward caught 112 passes back in 2002 he has gone: 95, 80, 69 and so far this year 13 (which puts him on a pace for about 52).

Last night he had a 2nd and long (Or was it a 3rd and long?) pass hit him right on the "8" of his jersey...only to have it bounce off of him and fly 30 feet into the air..the Steelers were lucky it wasn't picked. The hamstring has been a lingering problem that isn't going away any time soon and he seems to have lost the half step he couldn't afford to lose...the end result for the Steelers is a blocking reciever thats going to catch 50-60 passes and have the following cap hits the next four years:

5.75 Million
5.8 Million
5.85 Million
7.8 Million

He'll be 32 in the 7.8 million year and probably playing the worst football of his career. I don't like that.

Anyway, back to the rest of the recievers...Cedric Wilson ended up getting yanked in the 2nd quarter in favor of Santonio Holmes and Nate WAshington dropped atleast two more passes giving him atleast 5 or 6 on the young season (including one in the endzone late in the Cincinnati game). His first drop last night was on a ball that ben threw with dumbfounding accuracy...it was a perfectally placed ball that he fit in over the chargers DB and placed right in Nates Hands about 30 some yards down the left Sidelines....only to have Nate alligator arm it and drop the ball. Perhaps it's time to work Santonio Holmes and Willie Reid into the passing game a little more often. Of course, all of those guys should be playing 2nd fiddle in the passing game to Heath Miller, who as we stand today, is the teams best pass catching threat. And thats not a bad thing. Whats bad is they aren't taking advantage of that.

3. The Steelers defense played really well the first 3 games, and they dominated for about a quarter and a half last night...and then Phillip Rivers took over. All I can really do with this is tip my cap to Rivers and say job well done. The Steelers took LT out of the game and made Rivers beat them...and he did. He was actually quite impressive and I don't think it was anything the Steelers didn't do to stop him, but more of what Rivers did to beat them.

4. The Steelers offensive line has played 2 really good games (Miami and Cincinnati) and two really bad games (Jacksonville and San Diego)...to be fair, and to credit give'emthaboot over at MGS...the two really bad games did come against two outstanding defensive fronts...as the old cliche goes, the guys on the other side of the ball get paid a lot of money too. Still, I lost track of how many times Mike Phillips, whoever he is, came up the middle unblocked last night. Or off the edge. Or from anywhere. The most noticeable one to me was on Bens 2nd interception when Phillips came charging through the Steelers line after it parted like the red sea...he was in Roethlisbergers grill before he could even get set to throw and then a lot of bad things happened.

No question, Ben needs to play better, no one was expecting 0 touchdowns and 7 Interceptions after 3 games (that sounds really bad), but every other guy needs to step it up as well. All of them. It's a team game.

Unfortunately, its also a business, and in this business it's a what have you done for me lately type of thing and three bad games from your quarterback is a big "no-no" no matter what he did prior to this.

The calls for Charlie Batch are premature at best...my dads still on his "ben's done" fix (and he's still crazy, my dad, not Ben) and after the game in the bar last night people ready to jump off of bridges...or to throw Ben off the bridge...This is unfair to #7.

As I said before, I thought a Super Bowl winning QB in this town would be set for life, and as i've said before in this post....I was terribly, terribly wrong on that.

When you have a 24 year old QB (Think about that) and in his first two years he has:

- Helped lead you to an AFC Championship game
- Helped lead you to a Super Bowl Title, including 4 straight playoff wins on the road
- Finished among the highest rated passers in the league in both years
- Finished 2nd to only Peyton Manning both years in terms of Yards Per Pass Attempt (a crucial and relevant passing statistic)

You don't yank him after 3 games.

#1, he's clearly better than what he's played. #2, he's done to much for your team to treat him like that. Charlie Batch isn't making a damn bit of difference when your line isn't blocking and your recievers aren't recieving.

All of that negative stuff being said...I'm still not giving up on this season. Being 3 games down is rough, but the Steelers still have 5 divisional games left (1 Vs. Cincy, 2 each Vs. Baltimore and Cleveland) and a ton of ground can be made up right there. Oakland and Tampa with the rookie Gradkowski (at home no less) should be winnable games (you'd hope?). New Orleans is a nice feel good story, but again at home this should be winnable as should this week Vs. Kansas City and Damon Huard and the suddenly human looking Larry Johnson (amazing the impact an offensive line can have, isn't it?)....The toughest non-division game left looks to be the Denver game...which again, is at home. It's another long haul and another deep hole...but it's possible. Just need to take it one week at a time and pull our heads out of our asses.

Ramblings

Here we go with another "THE STEELERS LOST TO MUCH, THEY'RE DOOMED!" article. And more imporant than that...the Steelers appear to be sinners. I'm scared.

- The Steelers ground game isn't the problem, as Mr. Robinson suggest seems to suggest. Willie Parker has had two outstanding games and one game where he (and the rest of the Steelers offense) ran into a Jacksonville firestorm that played their collective butts off. I'm really not sure what else he could do, he's making big plays, he's grinding out the short yardage plays and getting the "tough yards" and he seems to not only be bigger than what he was last year, but stronger as well.

- The notion that the Steelers were a run first team last year is still 110% wrong. The Steelers were not a run first team, especially in the 2nd half of the season and in the playoffs (when they played their absolute best football).

High rush totals =/= run first team.

This misconception might bother me more than any of the other ones out there about the Steelers (some of the others being: Antwan Randle-els 30 catches a year are cannot be replaced, Jerome Bettis 1 yard carries cannot be replaced, etc. etc. etc.).

The Steelers Pass/Run ratio in the first half of games last season was somewhere around 52/48...in the second half of games it was somewhere around 33/67....the slight edge to the pass in the first half of games makes the Steelers a pass first team during the 2005 season... the heavy advantage to the ground game in the 2nd half means they had a ton of leads late and had no real need to pass the ball. And i'm not talking 6 point leads where you hold on for dear life because you're afraid to put the ball in the air...i'm talking blow outs in weeks 1 and 2, two blowouts against Cleveland, a couple dominating games against Minnesota and Chicago...the Steelers approach this year hasn't been any different than their approach last season, the only difference is this year Ben hasn't been the unstoppable machine he was in the first half of games last season. Of course, he still has plenty of time to fix that.

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Watching the Yankees and Tigers right now and I am absolutely fascinated with this Alex Rodriguez stuff. I've never seen a guy so good, that is so hated, for no real reason. What exactly has this guy done wrong to make the Yankees nation and every analyst in baseball turn against him? More importantly, what has he done to warrant hitting 8th in todays lineup?

8th.

Let me repeat that.

8th.

I realize he's having a bad series, but 8th? The best player in baseball? The defending American League Most Valuable Player?

8th?

The A-rod isn't clutch perception is just that....a perception. Once again, a little research and analysis by the national talking heads would show that not only has Alex Rodriguez been a fine post season performer in his career, he's actually been better than his teammate, the super clutch Derek Jeter.

For example:

.305/.393/.534
.307/.379/.463

You know which line belongs to A-rod and which one belongs to Jeter? Heres a hint:

The better one (the first one) belongs to A-rod. Even more alarming to the Joe Bucks and Bob Costas' of the world is the fact that Jeter actually has a slightly worse line in the playoffs than he does in the regular season for his career.

Regular season: .317/.388/.463
Post Season: .307/.379/.463

Insanity, I know.

I realize the difference between Jeters regular and post season lines are insignificant at best...actually, they're pretty unnoticeable, but my point remains the same.

It's not like he elevates his game to legendary proportions in the post-season, he simply keeps doing what he did during the season. Which is fantastic, but lets not blow it out of proportion to make him be some sort of playoff superman that never makes a mistake and will always come through. He's simply a really good player. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I don't think i'd ever root for the Yankees as a team, but I was rooting for Alex Rodriguez this post-season...unfortunately it didn't help much.

On the plus side atleast we won't have to sit through a Subway series (lowest rated world series of all time by the way)......
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Can the Penguins make it 2 in a row tonight? It sure would be a nice start, actually it would be a fantastic start compared to the debacle the month of October was last year. It's probably not a good thing when you matched your first month win total from last season after the first game of the current season.

Actually, the game the Penguins played on Thursday night was one of the best games i've seen them play in about...three years. No joke. I saw blocked shots, back checking, forechecking, team defense on the penalty kill, outstanding goaltending, and...well...just a lot of all around good hockey.

Obviously, guys like Sid, Malkin, and Stall are going to get all of the press, but the role players that Ray Shero brought in this off-season could have a huge impact. Dominic Moore for example was a godsend on the penalty kill unit, not to mention guys like Jarkko Ruutu and Mark Eaton.

The only real negative from the game was the alarmingly high number of penalties that the Penguins took. They actually played 1/3 of the game shorthanded, including a pair of two man disadvantages that were over a minute long...the absurd number of penalties is what led to the Flyers sizeable advantage in shots on goal, but Marc-Andre Fleury stood on his head and played perhaps the best game of his young career. As good as they played on the penalty kill (and they played excellent) the object is to avoid putting yourself into those situations.

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

On Friday night I had a chance to actually cover a high school football game for a local smalltown paper. I think it went well, they sort of reworked my opening paragraph and now I think it looks like one great big run on sentence, but that doesn't bother me.

I got a chance to watch one of the best teams in the state beat up on a team that was clearly outmanned from the start. Central has a couple Division I kids on that team, Suter is a Syracuse recruit and Sukay is headed to Happy Valley to play for pants poopin' Paterno. Surprisingly Southmoreland played them tough for over a quarter and then Central just opened it up.

I had to keep all of the stats for the paper myself, find a way to talk to the Southmoreland coach, and race back to my house to type the article, type the scoring summary and stats, and e-mail it into the paper...I made my deadline, everything was cool, and i'm hoping they ask me to do some other games for them.

I was so focussed on watching the game and getting all of the stats (and thinking about how I was going to write the article) that I really didn't think of anything to ask coach Pritts...as I was standing there waiting for a chance to talk to him I had like 800 things going through my mind, eventually he came over to me and I said, "Coach, you guys played them really tough in the first quarter and looked like you had a chance, then in the 2nd quarter things just went downhill, what happened?!?!?!?!?"

As soon as I finished my sentence I thought to myself "bad question dumbass, he's going to flip out."

He laughed and said "I wish I knew" and then started talking about big plays and what not. He was actually a pretty cool guy and seemed pretty easy going...in other words, he was the complete opposite of Centrals coach who is...well...yeah.

Southmoreland has an outstanding stadium and the press box was quite nice, granted, it's in the middle of nowhere and takes a couple of windy, narrow, two lane back roads get to, but i'd like to go back. During the game I ate countless plates of free nachos and drank about 42 bottles of complimentary water, but hey, they said help yourself.

I was sandwiched in between the radio guy and the two stats guys from Central, the radio guy made more mistakes than Bill Hillgrove and at one point dropped the advertisement he was reading out the window of the press-box into the stands down below and proceeded to say, "OH SHIT" directly into the microphone. Needless to say I was howlin'.

At one point he managed to call a player as being tackled (when he was still running) and everyone seemed to give up on the play only to have the kid fumble the ball...no one was watching...except for me, I screamed "FUMBLE" out loud and everyone went crazy trying to see what was going on.

From that point on people kept checking my stats sheet against theirs to see if they were right.

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Pirates Year In Semi-Review

Last week the Pirates season mercifully came to an end, a season that began with high hopes (as always) only to have them crused in the bottom of the first inning of the first game (as always) when Bill Hall hit an 88 MPH Oliver Perez fastball about 600 feet to straight away center field.

This season marked the 14th straight losing season for the not-so battlin' buccos and the 2nd straight year that they managed to lose over 90 games. But it wasn't all bad...Freddy Sanchez led the National League in hitting and doubles...Jason Bay continued to prove himself as one of the premier players in the National League...and...well....yeah.

My 2006 Pirates Awards:

Best Player (MVP): Jason Bay

Some would say Sanchez, and he would be deserving, but i'm still going to go with Bay. To say he had some slumps during the season would be an understatement, yet he still managed to put up top shelf numbers all the way across the board ranking in the top 10 in the NL in Homeruns, Walks, On-Base Percentage, and OPS. He also managed to become only the 3rd Pirates in the past 30 years to have 100 walks, 100 runs scored, and 100 RBI in the same season, sure, thats one of those meaningless ESPN stats, but who cares? It's a hell of an accomplishment.

Worst Player (LVP): Humberto Cota

He was only the backup catcher (eventually the #3 catcher) but that doesn't excuse his overall suckitude as a baseball player this year. His season was so bad that i'm not even going to talk about it any further. He just sucked.

Best Pitcher: Mike Gonzalez

Worst Pitcher: Oliver Perez

The Moneyball Award (Best Value): Freddy Sanchez

He made $352,000 dollars this year which is essentially the mininum for a player of his service time... and in return the Pirates got an All-Star, a batting champ, a doubles leader, and an .850+ OPS. He might have been the best value in all of baseball this season.

The Dave Littlefield Award (Worst Value): Sean Buranda

Total 2006 Salary for the three headed free agent monser: 18 Million Dollars.
Total 2006 Stat Line: .259/.310/.who cares

Most Surprising Player: Freddy Sanchez

Biggest Disappointment: Joe Castillo

Rookie Of The Year: Matt Capps

Best Front Office/Management move: Not trading for Hank Blalock

Worst Front Office/Management move: Pick one.

Sean Buranda? Chris Duffy and Jack WIlson hitting 1 and 2 in the batting order? Victor Santos? Shawn Chacon?

Minor League Position Player Of The Year: Andrew McCutcheon

Minor League Pitcher Of The Year: Tom Gorzelanney


What the Pirates need for 2007...

- Atleast one more (probably two) impact hitter to help Jason Bay... he's a remarkable player but he can't do it himself.

- They need to do something of relevance this offseason, if they're going to spend 15+ million dollars on players they need get a difference maker...hopefully a left handed/switch hitting difference maker that could find himself on the trading block...Adam Dunn? Mark Teixerra? Nick Johnson?

- Some damn creativity. Jason Bay is allowed to hit higher than #4 in the lineup. Speed in the leadoff spot is useless if the guy can't get on base. Your #2 hitter should be your best hitter, not your best bunter. You're allowed to platoon more often, especially at catcher.

- The rest of the division to keep crapping the bed. Only much more of it.

Thats about all I've got right now

Some Good...Some Bad...Some Ugly

Musings from a day of watching football and drinking beer.

- The Ravens and Chargers ended up being a pretty decent game but neither team did much to stand out. Both teams came in undefeated but both had that "well who have they played?" question hanging over their records. In the first half it looked like it was the Ravens who were overated and finally getting exposed by a team that was capable of winning a football game...and then in a Chargers like manner, San Diego managed to find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Phillip Rivers looked pretty good when he was throwing the football....and then the 2nd half came and Marty Ball took over. I understand the concept of killing the clock with a lead, but it's a little more effective when you have more than a 6 point lead early in the 3rd quarter.

As for the Ravens, for the 2nd week in a row they played absolutely miserable football for 57 minutes only to pull a win from their butts in the final seconds. The talking heads will credit it all to Steve Mcnairs leadership and moxie...I credit it to two teams "choking on applesauce" when the chips were down.

- As it turns out, all of the talk about New England Patriots demise may have been a little premature. No, they aren't what they were when they were winning 3 Super Bowls in 4 years, but they've still got Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck....and as cliche as that sounds (and I hate cliches) it's true. Plus, this Laurence Maroney kid has a shot to be something special...absolute beast.

On the other side of the field you have the Cincinnati Bengals who for the 2nd week in a row were absolutely manhandled physically...only this week they weren't lucky enough to have 5 turnovers handed to them on a silver platter. The Bengals problems are starting to become crystal clear.

They're soft.

Very soft.

Again.

Their front 7 on defense is an absolute disaster against the run (again) and the secondary is even worse (again)...I lost track of how many times Maroney just threw defenders to the ground and bounced off tacklers...And as usual, when Carson Palmer was faced with a little toughness and adversity he absolutely melted down in the 2nd half.

With this loss the Bengals have now lost 6 straight home games to playoff teams. No, the guard hasn't changed yet.

- The Sunday night game was over before it started and I really can't think of anything interesting to say about it except for the fact that John Madden found a way, for some reason, to work a Brett Favre reference into a Bears-Seahawks game. And not just one reference. Multiple ones. He kept referring to Grossmans ability to roll out of the pocket and throw the ball away as a "Favre like play."

Yeah. Appearantly Brett Favre invented scrambling out of the pocket and throwing the ball away to avoid a sack or an interception...who knew?

After the game on ESPN resident loud mouth Sean Salisbury was proclaiming Rex Grossman to be "one of the best Quarterbacks in the NFL."

Hey Sean. It's week 4.

- Reggie Bush watch: 11 carries, 22 yards, long of 5. Superstar.

- I can't believe that I am going to say this, but there were actually a couple of interesting things from the Houston Texans-Miami Dolphins game. Blasphemy, I know.

1. The Miami Dolphins stink.
2. David Carr has the highest passer rating in the NFL.
3. #1 pick Mario Williams had the first 2 sacks of his career and broke up a potential game tying two point conversaion attempt late in the game (think anyone will point it out? Or will they be to busy fluffing a 28 yard Reggie Bush catch?)
4. I will repeat #2 because it deserves being repeated: David Carr has the highest passer rating in the NFL.

Personally, i'm really pulling for Carr and Williams to do well. Mainly because the Texans were the media whipping boy this offseason for re-signing Carr and doing the unthinkable and taking Mario Williams over Reggie Bush and local hero Vince Young...

Carr has never really been a bad Quarterback when you consider his surroundings...Mainly a bad supporting cast and a horrific offensive line...this year it looks like Gary Kubiak is letting him get outside the pocket and make plays on the run (Where Carr seems to be best) and the early results (for Carr) have been tremendous.

- The dream is still alive for the Oakland Raiders to pull off an 0-16 season. Blowing an 18 point lead at home to the Browns is just......wow.

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Freddy Sanchez officially won the National League batting title yesterday finishing with a .344 average, Only Joe Mauer (American League) had a higher average this season. I've been Sanchez' biggest critic this year and I still have questions about his future, but I really hope i'm wrong about this guy in a big way because it doesn't seem like he's going anywhere anytime soon.

In other Pirates news, John Perroto of the Beaver County Times reported yesterday that the Pirates are going to make Jason Schmidt "their top free agent target."

Them and 29 other teams.

Schmidt would obviously be an upgrade to the pitching staff but there are so many things wrong with this speculation I don't even know where to start. First of all, John Perroto throws 200 rumors a week against the wall and I can't remember one that has ever stuck. Ever.

Aside from that, when Schmidt was here the first time around he was absolutely miserable (by his own admission) and will probably demand a contract of around...10-12 million a year. Is this the best use of resources for the Pirates? 10+ million a year on a 33 year old pitcher that has a history of arm/shoulder problems and was absolutely terrible in the 2nd half of this season?

Heh...when you look at it like that, he would be PERFECT for the Pirates....

Bye Week Thoughts

I used to think that I took sports way to seriously. Then I heard this clip from a Michigan talk show the day after Michigan States 4th quarter meltdown against Notre Dame. I really can't build up the hype and introduce the clip any better than the guy in the link did so you'll just have to read and listen...it's about 15 minutes long and well worth every second of it. It honestly sounds like he's starting to cry at one point and I love how the other two guys in the studio try to calm and sooth his emotions only to have their attempts shot down.

Looking at this guys bio page on the shows website he has this to say about his job:

Q: Worst part of your job?

A: People. Seriously, sometimes I question mankind and basic intelligence levels.

After hearing that meltdown, that answer makes me laugh. I wonder what he thinks of the intelligence level of guys that would like to replace their coaching staff with HR Pufnstuf and Tedy Ruxpin?

His show this week should be tremendous as well because Michigan State followed up their wonderful and inspirational performance against Notre Dame by losing at home to ILLINOIS!!!!! Seriously, thats bad. Not only did they lose at home to Illinois, they lost to a true freshman quarterback going by the name of "Juice Williams." At home. For homecoming.

Fantastic.

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Games on the schedule for me today:

1:00

CBS: San Diego at Baltimore
FOX: Dallas at Tennessee

4:15

CBS: New England at Cincinnati

8:15

NBC: Seattle at Chicago

For once it looks like a solid day from start to finish. The Dallas at Tennessee game would be a wonderful oppurtunity to break out the new Terrell Owens drinking game for the first time and the Baltimore and Cincinnati games should be wonderful to listen to.... Two bandwagons rolling out of control with the momentum of run away freight trains. I swear, if I have to listen to how the Bengals "got their revenge" on the Steelers and "smacked them around in their house" I might pull a Mikey V.

Speaking of which...

The Steelers absolutely dominated that football game. I thought that after watching it the first time, I thought that after watching it the 2nd time. The Steelers handed it to the Bengals with stupid mistakes at the worst possible times. I'm confident the Steelers can fix that. I'm not confident the Bengals can fix getting physically manhandled on the line...mainly because that is the exact same thing that plagued them last season and they have the exact same players on those units....for the most part.

Carson Palmer looked lost, confused and downright bad at certain points in the game...

- On one three play stretch in the first half Carson Fumbled. Fumbled. And threw an interception
- After spiking the ball to stop the clock late in the first half he then had to call a timeout at the line.
- He spent the entire 2nd half running for his life...except for 2 plays. The 2 plays following fumbles.
- I counted 4 fumbles, 2 picks, and about 7 sacks on the day for him.

If winning a sloppy week 3 game is enough to get you revenge for losing a playoff game in your house (after you had not one, but two 10 point leads) then you probably have your priorities out of whack as a professional athlete.

Meanwhile, Baltimore struggled to win a game against yet another winless opponent as Matt Stover had to kick a 52 yard field goal with 20 seconds left to put them over the woeful Browns. Steve Mcnair had his 2nd straight mediocre performance- although that is overshadowed by the fact he was actually able to play in 2 straight games - and has anyone pointed out the fact they are 3-0 against 3 teams that are a combined 0-8?

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Quick Thoughts...


- Pirates season comes to an end today as Shane Youman battles Matt Belisle at PNC Park...ah, the beauty of September baseball...

- Freddy Sanchez holds a 3 point lead over Miguel Cabrera in the batting race and Sanchez is 3-7 lifetime Vs. Belisle...

- Penguin season starts on Thursday and the thought of Mark Recchi-Ryan Malone-John Leclair line scares the bloody hell out of me.

- Edmund Nelson should never be allowed on TV. Ever.