Steelers 20 - Browns 13

In professional sports, all wins and losses count the same in the standings, statistically speaking.  Emotionally, however, it's a different story, and some wins are way, way sweeter than others.  The Steelers 20-13 win over the Browns yesterday was one of those, and we all know the reasons why.  To wit....

• It was the Browns, and it's always great to beat the heated rival from Cleveland.
• Those same Browns acted unbelievable chesty after their 21-7 win against the Steelers two weeks ago, so how great was it to see them humbled by the guy who, when training camp began, was the Steelers undrafted, free agent, training-camp-arm fourth string quarterback?
• The manner in which the Browns owners (Dee Haslam wearing that Myles Garrett stocking cap at last week's game), head coach (Freddie "The Buffoon" Kitchens wearing a "Pittsburgh Started It" t-shirt out in public, and at the Mr. Rogers movie with his family, no less), players (Garrett deciding eight days after the fact that, yeah, Mason Rudolph used a racial slur against him), and fans (the Mason Rudolph pinata in the parking lot last week), it all added up to making the Steelers comeback from a 0-10 deficit and sticking it to that team and all of those folks just so, so sweet
• (Browns owner Jimmy Haslam - Dee is his wife - was at one time a minority owner of the Steelers.  He obviously never learned anything about how to act graciously or how to effectively run a football team in those years that he was hanging around the Steelers' offices on the South Side.)

So the Steelers now sit at 7-5 and hold the sixth and final AFC Playoff spot "if the season ended today."  This is an almost unbelievable state of affairs given all of the circumstances that have surrounded the team this year, first and foremost being the loss of their bound-for-the-HOF quarterback at halftime of the second game of the season.  The Tomlin Haters, inexplicably, are still out there, but he has as strong a case to make for Coach of the Year as any other HC in the NFL this season.

And that fourth string quarterback?  

 Duck Hodges

Devlin "Duck" Hodges has now started two games and won them both.  He also came in relief in another one and pulled victory from the jaws of defeat last week in Cincinnati.  He has now developed a full scale cult following here amongst Steelers fans.  A colorful nickname and an underdog back story can do the for you.  I admit that I had no expectations for neither the team nor Hodges going into that one yesterday, which made the results all the more satisfying.

Of course, the season does not end today, so, what lies ahead for Rooney U?

•  @ Cardinals.  The Steelers should be favored in this one and should come away with a Win.
• Bills @ home.  The Bills are now 9-3 and had a coming out party on national TV against the Cowboys on Thursday.  When the schedule was released in April, this looked like a sure W, but now so much now.  Two terrific defenses going against each other.  Either team could win this one, but the final score might be 10-7 or 9-6.  Bet the "Under" on this one.
• @ Jets.  The Jets stink.  They lost to the Bengals yesterday, for God's sake.  This should be a W.
• @ Ravens.  Unless John Harbaugh decides to rest all his starters for the playoffs, the Steelers aren't going to beat Baltimore.  In fact, the Ravens could very well run the table right up to the Super Bowl in Miami in February.

The Steelers could, conceivably come out of this season at 9-7 or 10-6 and be playing in the Post-Season.  Would you have bet on that when they were at 1-4 with Big Ben out for the season?

Lousy Teams in the News

What I am about to write about falls in to the category of Old News, but I just can't resist.  At the NFL trade deadline last week, the League's two lousiest teams were very much in the news.

First off, the San Francisco 49'ers, now 0-9, made a trade with the New England Patriots and obtained quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.  Interesting deal, and God knows, the Niners needed a QB, but then coach Kyle Shanahan announced that Garoppolo would not be starting right away, and, in fact, it was highly possible that Garoppolo might not even play until NEXT season.

I will remind you that the 49'ers were 0-8 at the time of Shanahan's pronouncement, and are now 0-9.  Can anyone explain the HC's logic in this matter?  Can anyone explain why anyone would actually buy a ticket to see the 49'ers play?

Then there are the Cleveland Browns.  The quarterback travails of the Browns since they came back into the NFL in 1999 are well documented.  In an effort to improve themselves, the Browns had apparently made trade with the Bengals to obtain Cincy's back-up QB, A.J. McCarron.  Word is that the folks in the Browns front office and football staff were celebrating this deal and congratulating themselves over be able to pull this off, except for one minor detail.  They neglected to file the necessary paperwork with the League office prior to the deadline, so....No Deal.

As Bryce Harper might put it, that is a clown franchise, bro.

Of course, one might wonder just how good McCarron would have been anyway since the Bengals were willing to send him to a division opponent, but of course, these are the Bengals we are talking about.  In the end, you might say that the big winner in all of this was McCarron, since he doesn't have to go to Cleveland and play for the Browns, but, on the other hand, he is still stuck with the Bengals.

Let me end with this little proposition wager.  If I set the Over/Under for combined wins for the Browns and 49'ers at 1.5 for the rest of the season, how would you bet?  I would bet the Over because it is hard to go 0-16.  However, if I set it at 2.5, I would definitely go Under.

It's Playoff Time...and Other Football thoughts

(Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Yes, the Steelers put themselves in a jam by losing twice to the woeful Ravens this year, yes, they put themselves in jams by losing to teams that they should have beaten, and, yes, they needed help from the Buffalo Bills to back-door their way into the NFL Playoffs, but you know what?

Who cares???? THE STEELERS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!!!!

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And speaking of those Buffalo Bills, I happened across this meme on Facebook today, and its too good not to share:

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I am pleased to see that the Steelers have drawn the Bengals as their opening round opponent this year.  Yeah, the Bengals are better than in past years, but Marvin Lewis and Andy Dalton have yet to win a playoff game, and maybe this will be the year when that will change, but, all things being equal, I'd rather see the Steelers play Cincy than any other team in the draw.  As I have often said, you can always count on the Bengals being the Bengals, and I'll keep saying that until they prove me wrong.

I will say this, however.  The injury to RB DeAngelo Williams is alarming, and it brings back thoughts to last year when the Steelers lost LeVeon Bell in the last game of the season.  Unable to run the ball, they were swamped by Baltimore in the opening round.

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Back on September 10, I wrote a pre-season forecast post for the Steelers.  You can read it here http://www.grandstander.blogspot.com/2015/09/are-you-ready-for-some-football.html if you like, but among things that I said in that were:

I will also say this....if Number 7 goes down for any significant length of time, kiss a winning season and the playoffs good-bye.

Number 7 did go down early on and missed four games.   The fact they the Steelers, with Mike Vick and Landry Jones at the helm managed to go 2-2 in those games was remarkable.  Roethlisberger went on to have perhaps his greatest season ever, despite that clinker n Baltimore last week.

I also wrote this:

So, you want a prediction, here's one:  10-6 and in the Playoffs.

As they say, I believe I had that.  Unfortunately, I didn't bet on this with anyone.

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Is there a more dysfunctional organization in all of sports than the Cleveland Browns?  I the last eleven seasons, the Browns have employed five head coaches: Romeo Crennel (4 seasons), Eric Mangini (2), Pat Shurmer (2), Rob Chudzinski (1), and Mike Pettine (2), and now are looking for yet another one.  Owner Jimmy Haslem, who before buying the Browns had been a part owner of the Steelers.  The Steelers, as everyone knows, have had three head coaches in the last 47 seasons. Haslem, obviously, didn't hang around the Steelers front office much when he was in Pittsburgh, or if he did, he sure didn't learn anything when he was there.  

As was pointed out on the CBS telecast yesterday, each of the first four guys had been fired after losing the final game of the season against the Steelers, and now Pettine become Victim #5 in this peculiar litany.  What are the odds of that?

It can also be noted that the Browns once had and then fired Bill Belichick as their head coach, although to be fair, that was the "old" Browns of Art Modell that made that move.

In any event, good luck to whomever the poor guy is that the Browns hire to right this sinking ship.

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And speaking of predictions, how did Sports Illustrated do in it's pre-season NFL forecast?

Well, the twelve teams that they predicted, in order of playoff seeding, were:

AFC: Broncos, Patriots, Ravens, Colts, Texans, Steelers

NFC: Eagles, Packers, Seahawks, Panthers, Cowboys, Rams

They were right on four teams in the AFC, three in the NFC.  In the AFC they were wrong in missing the Bengals and Chiefs, and they were way wrong in calling for the Colts and Ravens, who both pretty much stunk this year.  In the NFC, they were way wrong with the Eagles, and the Cardinals, who are the #2 seed in the Conference, were going to be a last place team according to SI.  They also had the NFC East champ Redskins assigned to last place in that division.  They also had there Ravens winning the Super Bowl.

Well, as Yogi Berra might have put it, when it comes to predicting the NFL, you don't know nothin'. Nobody does.

Sunday Morning Football Thoughts

Pitt's 31-13 victory over Pitt yesterday was an impressive one and an important one.  It boosted their record to 7-3 and kept their hopes alive, however dim they may be, to capture the ACC Coastal Division and getting a chance to play in the ACC Championship Game.  It also proved that they could beat a pretty good team on the road, and do it in fairly convincing fashion.  With two home games remaining, it is not unreasonable to think that Pitt can fashion and 8-4 or even a 9-3 season, and a chance to play in an upper echelon Between-Christmas-and-New-Year's-Day bowl game.

Who saw that coming last December when yet another Pitt coach was fleeing Oakland to take yet another dream job, and the new guy would be coming in and reaping a less than complete recruiting class for his first season?  I should probably wait until the after the final game to see this, but I say that Pat Narduzzi now becomes one of the leading candidates for the Dapper Dan Man of the Year Award for 2015.

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On the Pro Side of the House, the Steelers take on the Hated Browns today.  By all rights, this one should be an easy W for Rooney U., but for the following reasons, it could also end up in disaster.  First and foremost, Ben Roethlisberger will be sitting out this one due to that injured foot, and secondly, the Steelers in recent years have shown an uncanny ability to lose to crummy teams, including these same Browns last year.  If you haven't already done so, I recommend Gene Collier's column in this morning's Post-Gazette, who spells out, in his usual entertaining manner, how this could be one big pitfall for the Steelers.

We will see how it unfolds on the Heinz Field greensward this afternoon.  In any event, the annual tilts with the Brownies are always fun to watch.

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Speaking of the Browns, for even the most hardened Steelers fans who harbor a lifelong dislike for the Cleveland football team, I am guessing that most of those people would concede that the Browns always had a classic uniform, as modeled by this guy:

As has become the case these days throughout  all sports, especially in the NCAA and now the NFL, the Browns went to new uniforms for 2015, and can we all agree that they are absolutely hideous?

I know it's all about marketing, and selling jerseys to the suckers fans who continue to put down big bucks for these rags.  The Steelers get criticized all the time for those bumblebee throwbacks that they wear, but at least they only pull those out for two games a year, and  the classic Black-and-Gold uni remains unchanged, although I do wish that they would go back to the "block" font for the numerals ("Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!")  Lifelong, die-hard Browns fans, and I know many of them, after having watched years of incompetence since the franchise came back into the NFL, have to really be sickened by this aesthetic nightmare of a uniform.

Some Baseball Thoughts...and One Football Thought

Spring Training camps have opened across Florida and Arizona this past week, so how about a couple of baseball thoughts and a cold and very snowy Pittsburgh morning?

Major League Baseball is very much in the news today because of procedures that will be implemented this season aimed at increasing the pace of play, which will eliminate some dead time in the course of a game, and, perhaps, shorten the average length of time it takes to play a major league game these days.  Personally, I am all for these changes, but, predictably, people who just want to take shots at whomever a sport's commissioner happens to be at any given time, and so-called Baseball Purists, are outraged.

"Baseball is the only game without a time clock.  You just can't DO this.",  seems to be a common response.

First of all, no one is suggesting this:

Baseball is still a nine inning game.  A team will still have to record 27 outs to win a ballgame.  No one is proposing four fifteen minute quarters or three thirty minute periods for baseball.  Strictly enforcing the time between innings, requiring that a pitch be delivered in a certain amount of time, and, most importantly, not allowing the batter to step out of the box after every pitch to readjust their batting gloves and protective cups, and eliminating the slow stroll by a manager while his bench coach decides if a replay challenge should be requested....these measures ARE NOT PUTTING A TIME CLOCK IN BASEBALL.

Will these measure reduce a 3 hour and twenty minute game to 2 hours and forty minutes?  Not likely, but even a three hour plus game will not SEEM that long, if there is not so much interminable dead time in game.

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In an move that is also no doubt related to the length of time it takes to play a ball game, the Cleveland Indians have announced that their home night games (not sure if it is all night games or just the Monday through Thursday games) this season will start at 6:10 PM, instead of 7:05.  In a town where the ball park is located in the downtown business district, this will be an interesting experiment.

Recalling the days when I was working, I can say for sure that I would have stayed in town after the work day ended at 5:00 and walked across the Clemente Bridge for a 6:00 game a lot more times than I ever left work, drove back home, changed clothes, and drove back into town for a ball game.

Plus, these games will end, give or take, sometime between 9:00 and 9:30, which is a big difference than between 10:00 and 10:30 to someone whose alarm will be going off at 5:30 the next morning.

I am guessing that a lot of teams, including the Pirates, will be paying attention to this experiment in Cleveland throughput this season.

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And now to football....

Speaking of Cleveland, is there a more dysfunctional franchise in all of professional sports than the Cleveland Browns?

Just this week, GM Larry Farmer, when he was not fessing up to illegally texting his coaching staff during games, announced that the Browns will strongly consider drafting a quarterback early, if not in the first round, of the upcoming draft. The is coming on the heels of the fiasco that was the Johnny Manziel experiment this past season, and on the heels of the news that QB Brian Hoyer, who has had a winning record as the Browns' QB, by the way, will not be re-signed by the team.  ( It should be noted that in the sixteen seasons since the Browns rejoined the NFL, they have started twenty-two [22!] different guys at QB.)

All of this is overseen by owner Jimmy Haslim, who was, briefly, a minority owner of the Steelers.  Neutral observers always will tell you that the Steelers are one of the NFL's model franchises in the operation of their team.  Either Haslim never hung around the office to see how things were done, or he wasn't paying attention when he was there, during his time with the Steelers.  He appears to be cut from the Dan Snyder Cloth, just another rich guy with a shiny toy who gets to hang out with real football players.

Too bad for the loyal fans in Cleveland.

Time to Award an H.A Citation

It has been some time now, but The Grandstander now sees the need to dust off a coveted award, The H.A. Citation, after reviewing the behavior if Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon.

A talented football player, Gordon led all NFL WR's in receiving yards last year, in spite of serving  a two game suspension for a violation of the NFL's collectively bargained substance abuse policy (emphasis mine).  However, Gordon has somewhat of a checkered personal life.

While at Baylor University, Gordon was suspended not once, but twice for substance abuse violations and was eventually kicked off of the football team.  He has had not one, not two, but three violations of the NFL's policy, and it was the third such violation that led to his being given a one year suspension from the NFL, a suspension that was upheld by the League in a decision handed down yesterday.

However, none of the above, believe it or not, has led to the awarding of The Grandstander's H.A. citation to Gordon.  No, it was Gordon's statement upon hearing the news yesterday that  - and I may not have the quote 100% accurate, but the gist of it is accurate - that he was shocked and "disappointed" that the NFL didn't express "better discretion and judgement" in the adjudication of his case.

So, it is for Josh Gordon's questioning the judgement and discretion of ANYONE ELSE in the entire world, let alone the NFL Lords of Discipline, that an H.A Citation is hereby award to Josh Gordon of the Cleveland Browns.

Josh, this one's for you!

(Photo courtesy of Dan Bonk Enterprises)