Week 16 GPR - Quoth The Ravens, "We're Number One!"

Going into last night's possible Super Bowl preview game, I was prepared to leave San Francisco in the Number One spot even if the Ravens managed to squeak out a narrow victory over the Niners.  However, the total decisiveness of Baltimore's 33-19 victory last night, left me with no choice other than to move them into the top spot after NFL Week 16.

That game also shifted the calculus in a big way for the League MVP Award away from Brock Purdy and towards Lamar Jackson.

1. Ravens 11-4 (Last Week: 2)
2. 49'ers 11-4 (1)
3. Lions 11-4 (3)
4. Dolphins 11-4 (5)
5. Eagles 11-4 (4)
6. Bills 9-6 (7)
7. Browns 10-5 (9)
8. Chiefs 9-6 (6)
9. Cowboys 10-5 (8)
10. Rams 8-7 (Unranked)

As you can see, the Dolphins, Bills, and Browns moved up in the standings, while the Eagles, Chiefs, and Cowboys each dropped.  The Bengals dropped out of the Top Ten and the Rams moved into it as they now become "the team you don't want to have to play in the first round of the Playoffs."

Speaking of the Bengals, how about that can of Whoop-ass opened upon them by the Steelers on Christmas Eve.  The Steelers are barely breathing when it comes to the possibility of making the Playoffs, but they are in fact still breathing because the Bengals reverted into being the Cincy Bungles, something that it seems you can always count on.

So in what has been a disappointing season, let's shine a little light on Sunday's hero, third string quarterback Mason Rudolph, who turned in the best performance by a Steelers QB this season.

And, of course, we also got to enjoy yet another visit from our old friend, The Crying Bengals Lady.

Steelers now 4-1 in the AFC North with the Baltimore game in Week 18 remaining.  Baltimore may well be the best team in the AFC, if not the entire NFL, at the moment, but anything can happen when the Steelers and Ravens match up.  We may not see a Steelers playoff game this year, but there would be some level of satisfaction in a 5-1 division record if it happens.
  

Steelers 28 - Ravens 24

At this point, we all know that the Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens on the road yesterday to push their record to 7-0 and their lead in the AFC North to two games.  You probably also know that the Steelers overcame a poor (to be kind) first half and outscored the Ravens 21-7 in the second half to win 28-24, a game that they seemed destined to lose.

Some of the narrative that seems to be emerging after the game from the talk show circuit is "the Ravens lost this one more than the Steelers won it."  Maybe, maybe not, but the scoreboard never lies.  My personal favorite, though, is "if Lamar Jackson doesn't turn the ball over four times, the Ravens would have won."  To which I say, so what?  The fact of the matter is, Jackson DID turn the ball over four times.  Isn't that part of the game?  Doesn't the effort put forth by the Steelers count for something?  Should the touchdowns the Steelers scored off of the two interceptions count for only four points instead of seven?  If, if, if....  You know the old saying, if the Queen had testicles, she'd be King.

The fact of the matter is, the Steelers-Ravens game yesterday was fantastic, and it  was exactly what you would expect from a Steelers - Ravens game, and I would be saying that even if Minkah Fitzpatrick had not been able to tip away that last pass from Jackson that might have won the game for Baltimore.    Did you see the one graphic CBS put up on the screen yesterday?  The overall score between the two teams at that point in the game in the Ravens-Steelers series stood at 971-971.  That is almost unbelievable.

The two teams meet again at Heinz Field on Thanksgiving Night, and that will be a perfect way to end the holiday.  It's another game that should be settled by less than a touchdown.  In the meantime, the Steelers next three games are @ Cowboys, Bengals, @ Jaguars.  They should be favored in every one of those games and could - could -  come into that Ravens game at 10-0.  I am guessing that they will lose one of those games, and the team that I fear the most, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, is the Bengals.  Joe Burrow appears to be doing some pretty good things down there in Rhineland.

So, until Jim Nance gives an "Hello, friends" in Dallas next week, enjoy some scenes from yesterday's game.

Three TD's Zero INTs

James Conner scores

TJ Watt sacks Lamar Jackson

Minkah Fitzpatrick deflects pass 

on last play of the game.

Steelers 31 - Ravens 27

I watched the Steelers' big Christmas Day match-up with Ravens amidst the bustle of a house filled with family following a superb Christmas dinner, so it was festive atmosphere in the household, and the two teams sure gave us a whale of a contest as a Christmas gift.

By now, you all know what happened.  A 31 point fourth quarter that was an inverse of the Dallas game of a few weeks.  This time, it was the Ravens who lost a late lead, only to gain it back in the closing minutes, only to cough it up again in the closing seconds of the game on the spectacular play at the goal line by Antonio Brown pictured above.  This was the culmination of a 75 yard drive led by Ben Roethlisberger that took fifty-nine seconds to complete.  

In a game wherein Big Ben threw two almost soul-crushing interceptions, he came back in the fourth quarter to lead the Steelers on not one, not two, but THREE fourth quarter touchdown drives to pull out this come-from-behind win that clinched the AFC North for the Steelers and the third seed in the AFC playoffs.  Let's pull out all the cliches for this one...when the chips are down, when you're back is to the wall, when the cold wind blows,  when hope is gone, and your team is down, and facing long, if now impossible odds, to pull out a victory, is there any quarterback you would rather have leading your team than Ben Roethlisberger?  As great as Terry Bradshaw was, and he WAS great, if he started a game poorly, or threw a couple of critical interceptions (as Ben did yesterday), chances were that that was the Bradshaw you would have seen for the rest of the game.  Not so with Roethlisberger. As long as he is manning the controls and the game is within reach, the Steelers will have a chance to win the game.  He has done it time and again over the course of his career.

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So, here is what I had to say back on September 9 when the Steelers were about to begin the season:

In 2016, the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to win twelve games, win the AFC North Division and gain first round playoff bye, win the AFC Championship, and win the Super Bowl.  I'm not going to make a prediction as to who they will play in the Super Bowl, because, who cares?  The Steelers are going to take home that seventh Lombardi Trophy.  

If you count them up, there are five predictions in that paragraph:

1. The Steelers will win twelve games.  Okay, so the best they can do is eleven wins.  I'll take it.
2. The Steelers will win the AFC North Division.  I believe I had that.
3. The Steelers will gain a first round playoff bye.  Didn't happen, but they will be at Heinz Field in the first round against the #6 seed. Again, I'll take it.
4. The Steelers will win the AFC Championship.
5. The Steelers will win the Super Bowl.

I am standing by Numbers 4 and 5.

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Speaking of Terry Bradshaw, he was in the news again last week for his comments about Mike Tomlin who, according the Bradshaw, is just "not a very good head coach".  Is he kidding us?  Bradshaw has spent most of his post playing career making outrageous comments about Steelers coaches, and this is just the latest.  He is quite good in his role as a Fox studio analyst/talking head, but he has been at it for so long that he as become, as someone has noted, a caricature of himself, and this comment seems to support that theory.

My buddy Jim Haller has urged be to bestow one of these upon Old Number 12:

However, for all that Bradshaw has done for the Steelers as a player - there are those four Lombardi Trophies, after all - I just can't bring myself to bestow an official Grandstander  H.A. Citation upon him.  He deserves better than that, but he also deserves NOT to be taken seriously when he makes such ridiculous comments as the ones he made about Tomlin last week.

My Super Bowl Pick

I currently hold a 4-6 record with my NFL post-season predictions, so I am guaranteed, for the first time in three years of doing this, a losing record in this prognostication department, but I'm going to give you my thoughts anyway.

First off, I am looking forward to the game.  I think it is a match-up that has the potential to be a very entertaining football game.  The opposing quarterbacks, Colin Kaepernick and Joe Flacco, have easily been the most dominant players in this playoff season. and they have certainly earned the right to be on this big stage.  I am somewhat surprised to hear so many people here in Pittsburgh, some of them close friends, who profess to be football fans, say that they have no interest in the game, and probably will watch very little, if any, of the game.  I don't get it.  If you are a pro football fan, why wouldn't you want to watch the Super Bowl, especially one that appears too offer an exciting and competitive match-up?

As to the game itself, I will be rooting for the Forty-Niners.  I really couldn't care less that this will mean that they will tie the Steelers with six Super Bowl wins.  Hey, all you Steelers Nation folks, that doesn't lesson the Steelers accomplishments, and it doesn't really affect YOUR life one way or the other.  I like Jim Harbaugh, despite his tendency to go berserk on the sidelines, Kaepernick is a very exciting player to watch, and I will show my own Black & Gold Bias here by not wanting to see the Steelers most bitter rival, the Ravens, win the big one.

That said, my call for the winner of the big game?

I'm calling for a Ravens win because of the play of Joe Flacco.  He has certainly made a believer out of me, not only for his play in these playoffs, which has been stellar, but for his body of work over the last few years.  Need I remind anyone that he is 3-1 against the Steelers over the past two seasons?  And like it or not, I think there is something about this "Let's Win It for Ray Lewis" fever that seems to be enveloping the Ravens.  Yeah, it's way over the top, but so was the Jerome Bettis Fever that gripped the Steelers on their Super Bowl run in 2005.  It's hokey, corny, and hard to take for the non-fans, but sometimes, it is meaningful for the team involved.

(By the way, the closest thing that I have to an NFL Insider tells me that Lewis is a "good guy." Respectful to the game, a class act and a true leader on the field, and that the "praise-the-Lord" bit of his is genuine and not something he just turns on for the TV cameras.  This doesn't make me do a 180 and become a big fan of Lewis, but it does temper my opinions somewhat.)

So there it is: RAVENS over the Forty-Niners come Sunday in Super Bowl Whatever the Roman Numeral Is.

The Games of Sunday

Someone made the comment on Facebook that NFL Conference Championship Sunday is better than Super Bowl Sunday, and it is hard to argue that point.  The games of two days ago are certainly a case in point with two home, higher seeded (one a #1 seed at that) teams losing and NOT SCORING a point in the second half of each game.  Remarkable.

And here's an amazing fact about the upcoming Super Bowl of which you might not be aware.  The opposing coaches are brothers!  Can you believe that?  Two guys born of the same parents, who grew up in the same house, are actually going to be coaching against each other in the Super Bowl.  I can't believe that no one has mentioned that before.

Anyway, some thoughts and comments on the two games on Sunday, many of which I had previously shared on Facebook.....

• Concerning the results, the Bad News: Two more weeks of Ray Lewis b.s.  The Good News: We won't have to see a thousand or so shots of Bob Kraft in the Owner's Box during the Super Bowl.
• Before you point it out to me, yes, I know I went 0-for-2 on my predictions for these games.
• As mentioned in my pre-game comments, the Atlanta coaches certainly did figure out a way to stop Colin Kaepernick from running all over the place on Sunday.  Too bad for them, it turns out that Kaepernick is a pretty good passer, too.
• I saw Julio Jones did more for the Falcons in three quarters than the Steelers "Young Money" troika of Wallace-Brown-Sanders did all season.   
• The ease with which Frank Gore could get in the end zone when the 49'ers were inside the ten made me wonder if the SF offensive line is THAT much better than the Steelers line, or were the Steelers running backs that much worse than Gore.
• While I did believe that New England would beat Baltimore, I did feel that Baltimore had a reasonable chance to win.  That they won with such dominance and comparative ease amazes me.
• Even though he was on the losing side, Wes Welker is an amazing football player.
• Did you catch the look of complete disbelief on Tom Brady's face in the fourth quarter, particularly after throwing that interception that sealed the deal for Baltimore?
• Speaking of Brady, am I the only guy who thought that his foot was aimed just a bit too high on that Baltimore defender when he slid towards the end of the first half?  Ty Cobb would have loved it, but Czar roger should relieve him of some cash, in my opinion.
• When Matt Ryan threw that incomplete pass on fourth down from the 10 yard line late in the game, how many of you flashed back to Neil O'Donnell against the Chargers in the '94 AFC Championship Game?
• So, Bill Belichick goes true to form and refuses an interview with CBS after losing the game.  (a) Stay classy, Coach, (b) aren't coaches REQUIRED to do such interviews with the NFL's network partners?, (c) if so, will coach Bill be fined by Czar Roger?, (d) Shannon Sharpe now becomes a folk hero, and (e) to take another point of view, did we really miss anything by NOT hearing from Coach Bill?
• Contrary to many Pittsburghers, I do not find the Harbaugh Brothers repellent, in fact, I kind of like both of them (even if I don't care for the Ravens), and I think the Brothers Coaching Against Each Other is a pretty cool story, even if it will get beaten to death over the next two weeks.
• I also know that despite what they may say in public, I am pretty sure that each brother wants to beat the hell out of each other.
• Speaking of coaches, was it Walt Harris or Dave Wannstedt who thought Joe Flaco wasn't worth playing at Pitt?  Yeah, I know, hindsight is 20/20, but still...
• As for me, I will be rooting for San Francisco in the Super Bowl for the following reasons.  (1) In like Jim slightly better than John, (2) I don't like the Ravens, (3) the Ray Lewis sycophantry, (4) The Colin Kaepernick Story is a very cool one, and (5) unlike many Steelers fans, I am not threatened by the idea that a 49'er win will tie them with the Steelers with six Super Bowl titles.