As we have been told repeatedly, the Steelers kick off their 80th season in the National Football League tonight against the Broncos in Denver. Since the team is celebrating this milestone season with those horrid throwback Three Stooges-style uniforms, I thought I would celebrate it with their old logo, one that I always thought was a pretty cool one.
When last we saw the Steelers playing a game that mattered, the Vaunted Dick LeBeau defense was being picked apart and shredded in Denver by that master of the quarterbacking arts, Tim Tebow. Tonight they return to that same stadium and the Broncos have replaced Tebow with Peyton Manning, a slight upgrade in the position. So, I don't have high hopes for how Rooney U. might fare in tonight's contest.
As for how they will do over the course of the season, I think that they are a good enough team to win more games than they will lose, but will they be good enough to make the playoffs from a division that sent two other teams, the Ravens and Bengals, to the playoffs last season? On the plus side, they have a great quarterback and a corps of very good, if not great, receivers. The offensive line was supposed to have been beefed up via the draft, but injuries have reared up among that corps, so will Roethlisberger continue to run for his life and get beat up continually? I am also concerned with the running backs. They are counting on Isaac Redman to replace an injured Rashard Mendenhall. Redman has been okay as a short yardage guy and a fill in in the past, but it's still a question, in my mind anyway, if he can do it over the long haul.
On defense, younger guys need to step up to replace guys like James Farrior and Aaron Smith, while guys like James Harrison and Troy Polamalu are another year older.
Maybe this is a season where the team just takes a step backwards while retooling for another sustained stretch of Super Bowl caliber seasons down the road. With a QB like Ben you can never count them out, and the Bengals can always be counted on to be, well, the Bengals, so you never know, but let's call it a 9-7 season with the team missing the Playoffs. Hope I'm wrong.
Oh, one more thing, in my limited writing on the team during the practice game season, I continually talked about how everyone has been talking about Todd Hailey and the New Steelers Offense. I'm done kicking that one around. Let's see how the team actually plays on the field during the season. I will leave the Glorification and/or the Bashing of the Offensive Coordinator up to the experts who call into The Fan everyday.
As for the rest of the NFL, last year I thought that I would boldly cover my butt by naming a group of eight to ten teams, one of which would be the eventual Super Bowl winner. How could I be wrong if I did that, right? However, I failed to include the New York Giants among that pack of sure fire Super Bowl contenders. Amazing. As for this year, what the hell, I'll be bold and predict that the Green Bay Packers will defeat the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl.
I am also anxiously awaiting to see who the NFL will choose to be the halftime act at the Super Bowl. Early line favorites are The Beach Boys, Hall and Oates, and Duran Duran. Since the Super Bowl will be in New Orleans, possible dark horse candidates to perform could be Louis Armstrong and Al Hirt. The fact that both of those guys are dead shouldn't stand in the way of the NFL, considering what can be done with holograms these days.
As always, watch, but don't bet, and enjoy the football season!!
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