Steelers 19 - Bills 16....and Some Thanksgiving Leftovers

The Steelers were lucky to escape Buffalo today with a 19-16 overtime victory. As I watched this game unfold, there was something unsettling about seeing how the Steelers thoroughly dominated the Bills yet only held a 13-0 lead at halftime. As the second half unfolded, and the team was unable to go anywhere offensively, thanks in large part to numerous penalties, it was hard to get a good feeling about the team, not only in today's game, but in where they might be going as the season unfolds. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't have a good feeling that this team will be able to make a deep run in the Playoffs with the way they are currently playing and how they are currently constituted.

And they do need to do something about all the penalties. It was easy to laugh off 160+ yards in penalties when thrashing the Raiders last week, but another 100+ yards today in a game that was a dropped Buffalo pass in the end zone away from a defeat is another matter. That will never fly against Baltimore next week.

Now, what better way to end the Thanksgiving weekend than looking at all the leftovers in the Mental In-Box.....

• Congratulations to the North Allegheny Tigers for their win over Woodland Hills last night and claiming the WPIAL Quad-A Championship. It was actually a pretty entertaining game. Nice to see that my tax dollars have brought home the WPIAL hardware to the University of North Allegheny!
• I am no expert on high school football, but I am willing to bet that the playing surface at Heinz Field last night was the worst field that either NA or WH played on all season.
• An interesting drama is being played out in the Bronx right now involving the contract negotiations between the Yankees and their free agent short stop, Derek Jeter. Who knows how accurate they are, but reports are that Jeter is asking for a five or six year deal for between $22 - $24 million dollars a year. The Yankees, these same reports say, are offering three years at $15 million a year, and Hal Steinbrenner has already issued statements about how "we've already made these guys rich." The Little Stein's bluster aside, you can see the Yankees point of view here: Jeter will turn 37 in June, and would be 41 at the end of a five year deal, coupled with the fact that Jeter showed signs of slipping this past season, well, would you want to sink that much dough in somebody who may be well into the back nine of a great career? On the other hand, he's DEREK JETER. The Face of the Franchise and the key player on the team that has won five World Series titles over the last decade-and-a-half. How could he possibly wear another team's uniform?
• My guess is that if push really comes to shove, the Yankees would let Jeter walk. You can talk about player greed all you want, but nobody - nobody! - is greedier than a team owner. They would take a PR hit for it, no doubt, but they would weather the storm, pay a gazillion bucks for Cliff Lee or Carl Crawford, and keep on winning, and ten years from now, Jeter will be invited back to Yankee Stadium to have his number retired and his monument unveiled in a tearful all-is-forgiven ceremony.
• Having said that, I really think the two side will work it out. They both need each other. Still, it is a fascinating play to watch.
• Hey, here's a wild thought: How about Bob Nutting opening the purse strings and making an all out pitch to land Derek Jeter? Yeah, pay him his $20 million or whatever and have him be the steadying hand that will mold the Pirates Youth Corps into a champion. It's not like the Pirates can't afford it, and it's not like he wouldn't be a huge improvement over Ronny Cedeno. Can you just imagine the splash THAT would make. Plus, it would drive everyone in New York absolutely NUTS!!!
• I wonder how Tiger Woods celebrated Thanksgiving this year?
• I came home on Thanksgiving Night and switched on the Jets-Bengals game for about 20 minutes or so. They have gone to a three man booth on the NFL Network this year. The two color men are, get this, Matt Millen and Joe Theisman. Not sure who the play-by-play guy is, he seems decent enough, but God help him for having to work with these two guys. Millen, who was arguably the worst NFL front office guy in history after his disastrous run with the Lions should have no, zero, none, nada credibility with the audience. How did he get hired for that gig? And have you ever read a media critic, or even had one of your buddies say to you, "You know, I just love Joe Theisman doing commentary on a football game." As I said, I watched for about 20 minutes on Thursday and was exhausted just listening to those two clowns.
• I spent this morning as part of the crew hanging Christmas wreaths on twenty light poles in Stonebrook Village. The crew consisted of four guys, of whom I was the youngest by about 15 years, the wife and daughter of one of the guys, a pick-up truck, a step-ladder, and long pole used to lift the wreaths to the proper height on the poles. Don't worry, the McCandless EMS crew did not need to be summoned. It actually was a pretty fun morning!
• There's no way of ever knowing, but I wonder if the 2010 version of Jeff Reed would have gone 4-for-4 today up in Buffalo.
• Nice to see Dejon Kovacevic back on the Pirates beat on the Sunday Post-Gazette this morning, and his note that it is only 77 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.