Steelers 15 - Falcons 9

Thoughts and comments from The Grandstand on the Steelers opening day victory....

• After paying little or no attention to the Steelers throughout their exhibition schedule, I found myself anxiously awaiting and looking forward to watching a game that actually meant something.
• The Steelers defense certainly looked the part of a championship team yesterday, but I worry about them holding up over sixteen games. It seems that there are a lot of guys on the far side of 30 on that side of the ball.
• On the other hand, youngsters Ziggy Hood and Lawrence Timmons seemed to this untrained eye to have had nice games yesterday.
• It would also be nice to see Steelers defensive backs other than Troy Polamalu actually make an interception. William Gay did a great imitation of Ike Taylor when he dropped one right in his mitts yesterday.
• No complaints here about Dennis Dixon. You didn't really expect him to be Ben Roethlisberger - or even Tommy Maddox - out there, did you?
• And speaking of Dixon, I hereby propose that the cliche about a young, untested QB being asked to manage the game be permanently abolished. I think Jim Mora Jr. used it about a half dozen times BEFORE the kickoff yesterday.
• Well, Ron Cook did say that the Steelers had no chance of winning unless Rashard Mendenhall had a big day.
• Saw an old friend this morning and when he asked me how I was, I pulled out the old chestnut, "I'm like Jeff Reed. I can't kick." I think I first heard that one when Gene Mingo kicked for the Steelers. Totally unfair to hit Reed with that line, but I couldn't resist.
• Had the Steelers ended up losing in OT, we'd have been pretty down on Reed for missing that 30-something yarder at the end of regulation, but in retrospect, aren't you glad he did? Ending a game on a 50 yard TD run from scrimmage was a lot more exciting.
• The old Sage of Saline Street, Frank Sproule, always said that nothing was more exciting in football than a long run from scrimmage. I'm sure he was smiling down as he watched that one yesterday.
• I continue to be amazed, year after year, at just how good a football player Hines Ward is. Thirteenth year in the league, 34 years old, and he just seems to get better every year. Best Steelers receiver ever, and, yes, I did see Lynn Swann and John Stallworth play.
• Coach Mike seems to be taking some heat for his decision to go for a 55 yard FG before halftime. You can check out Bob Smizik's blog at post-gazette.com today for a full defense of Tomlin on that call, but I have to give you this classic quote from Smizik's blog post on the subject:
• "Many football fans are not happy unless they can show themselves that they’re smarter than the coaches. An extreme few, who have a grossly overinflated opinion of themselves, go so far as to dictate lessons to the poor, stupid coaches via the Internet."
• I spared myself the pain of listening to a single play of the Steelers radio play-by-play guys yesterday. After listening the Bill Hilgrove on the Pitt game the day before, I reminded myself of the old Beano Cook line: "haven't (we) suffered enough?"
• On a Steelers related matter, allow me to share a birthday story with you. On Saturday evening, which happened to also be my "Jack Ham Birthday", we head over to St. John Neumann for Mass and see that a fundraiser raffle is being held (surprise!) that featured five Steelers related items as prizes. I buy my three-tickets-for-$5 and put one ticket in the bag for two Steelers-Browns tickets, and two in the bag for a handsome woolen Steelers jacket. Yesterday afternoon, at just about kickoff time, the phone rings to tell me that I had indeed WON the jacket. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, indeed!!!! It's a beauty, and you will all no doubt be envious of me when you see me sporting this jacket when the weather turns cool.
• As Gene Collier said this morning, at least the Steelers won't be 0-4 when Roethlisberger returns from NFL Elba.
• Finally, I saw some Super Bowl caliber commercials during the game telecast yesterday. The two bears who decided to got to McDonald's for dinner, the FedEx delivery guy who used pneumonics to remember people's names, and, finally, a new ETrade baby commercial!