And In The End.....

Well, that was certainly a disappointing end to the Steelers season last night at Heinz Field.  

Here are my thoughts on the game....

• Le'Veon Bell was surely missed. 
• Dri Archer stinks.
• Not having to worry about a weapon like Bell, the Ravens were free to concentrate on teeing off on Ben Roethlisberger and blanketing the receivers, and that is exactly what they did.
• Having had what might be the best season that a Steelers QB has ever had, Ben was surely off the mark last night.
• Stupid, stupid, STUPID personal foul penalties.

But in the end, it was the defense that cost this game for the Steelers.  After forcing Baltimore to go three-and-out and punt on their first possession, the Steelers did not stop the Ravens once (the kneel down at the end of the first half doesn't count) until late in the fourth quarter, at which point this one was pretty much decided.  This is not to let Roethlisberger and the offense, which settled for FG's instead of TD's early on, off the hook, but this one falls on the Steelers defense.

Oh, and the Ravens were pretty good last night.  They thoroughly earned this win.

Looking back, eleven wins, a division title, and a trip to the Playoffs were more than most people expected this year from this bunch, but getting bumped in the first round always leaves you with a sour taste in your mouth.

Forty-five days until pitchers and catchers report to Bradenton.

Let's Salute the 2014 Steelers

Unlike the long 162 game grind of a baseball season, an NFL season consists of only 16 games, but, played out over four months, it is still a long season in its own way, and what we have learned from the Steelers in 2014 is that one should never jump to conclusions early or mid-way through a season.  The players who should have been cut and the coaches who should have been fired  back in early October, are looking pretty good and pretty smart now sporting their AFC North Champions t-shirts.

Back on December 1, following another inexplicable loss, this time to the Saints at home, the team stood at 7-5, and I wrote the following in The Grandstander:

The best thing the Steelers have going for them is the fact that they play the division leading Bengals twice.  Simply put, they HAVE to win both those games.  If they don't, it probably won't matter what they do in the games against the Falcons and Chiefs

Pretty prophetic, huh?  Going into last night's game, I had full confidence that the Steelers would take care of business against the Bengals, who once again proved that there are few things more dependable in pro sports than the Bengals imploding and losing a game that they had to win.  Turns out that the NFL schedule makers did the Steelers a huge favor in having them play Cincy twice down that final stretch.

To me, one of the most encouraging things I saw in the Steelers' final two games against the Chiefs and the Bengals was the fact that the Steelers defense showed up strong in both games and played a major role in those victories.  Whereas before that, I felt that while the Steelers "Killer B's" offense could match up to any team in the post-season, and that the defense would be their downfall, now I see a ray of hope that the Steelers might be able to sustain a deep post-season run.

Of course, the negative to last night's game was the injury to Le'Veon Bell.  One quarter is a small sample size, of course, but we saw last night that Josh Harris and Dri Archer do not equal one Le'Veon Bell.  His teammates voted him their MVP for a reason.  And was I the only one last night whose mind flashed back to the 1976 AFC championship game against the Raiders when Reggie Harrison tried (and failed) to replace the injured Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier?

We'll see, as they say, how this all plays out against the Hated Ravens on Saturday.

Some other "quick hit" thoughts....

• Yes, they finished well, and won 11 games, but those losses to the Bucs, Jets, and to a lesser extent, the Browns and Saints, will be forever inexplicable in my mind.  I guess that that is - say it with me now - why they play the games.
• Speaking of the Browns, remember how they strutted and preened after beating the Steelers?  I hope that they, and their fans, enjoyed that one week in first place.
• And for gag job of the year, how about the San Diego Chargers yesterday?  All they had to do was beat a non-playoff team that as playing with their back-up QB, and they blew it.  Of course, long-time watchers of the Chargers and Phillip  Rivers should not have been surprised.
• And how about the act that Ndamukong Suh did up in Green Bay by stepping on Aaron Rodgers?  As you know, this is not the first time Suh has done this stuff, and now the NFL has suspended him for the Lions playoff game.  I'll bet his teammates really appreciate that.

Steelers 42 - Bengals 21, and Other Football Thoughts

There are very few absolutes in life - the sun will rise in the east, the Pope will always pray for peace, the Yankees will always spend vast amounts of money.  That's about it, but there is another one that you can take to the bank with as close to absolute certainty as there is in professional sports, and that is this: with rare, very rare, exceptions, the Cincinnati Bengals will almost always revert to being, well, the Cincinnati Bengals.

Facing the a home game against the Steelers wherein a victory would just about put a death knell on the Steelers playoff aspirations, and increase their own playoff possibilities, the Bengals took a 21-17 lead into the fourth quarter and proceeded to allow the Steelers to score 25 straight points in the space of about nine minutes.  That ain't easy, but if any team has shown a historical propensity for such happenings, it is the Bengals.  I don't want to sell the Steelers short here.  They thoroughly earned this victory in what, for three quarters anyway, was a close, hard fought, and pretty good football game.

The Steelers are a flawed team, especially on the defensive side of the ball.  They give up too many long plays, often for scores  - it happened twice today - but the offensive unit sure seems to be peaking at the right time of the season.  Ben Roethlisberger continues having one of his best seasons ever (despite some inexplicably bad games this season), Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown are having Pro Bowl seasons, and the offensive line appears to be among the best in the league.  Can they make a deep run in the NFL Playoffs?  Given the weaknesses of the defense, probably not, but the trick is to get into the Playoffs.  To do that they will need to win at least two of their remaining three games, with one of those wins coming in the season finale against the Bengals.  Once you get into the Playoffs, anything can happen, as the KayCee Royals can tell you.  I know, I know, different sport, but still a good analogy.

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Because Marilyn and I went to a play this afternoon, I only watched the Steelers game via my DVR recording, beginning at around 4:45.  Did you realize that you can watch an entire NFL game in about ninety minutes or so this way?  Terrific.

Anyway, this circumstance meant that we listened to the radio broadcast of the game for the twenty or so real time minutes of the fourth quarter that transpired during our drive home.  It would take a writer much, much, MUCH better than I to describe just how incredibly bad the radio team of Bill Hillgrove, Tunch Ilkin, and, yes, Craig Wolfley is.   On the long incompletion  that Andy Dalton threw to A.J. Green with Cincy down 28-21, Hilgrove described it as, and I may not have it exactly here, but the gist is correct: "A guy came and knocked the ball away, pushed Green out of bounds and another guy almost intercepted the ball."  The two "guys" in question were, I might add, Steelers with whom, presumably, Hillgrove is familiar and should be able to identify by name.  I might also add that Tunch made no effort to step in a identify who those two Steelers defenders were.

Awful, and the Steelers and their broadcast partners should really move onto some fresh blood next season.  The glory days of "turn down the TV sound and listen to Fleming and Cope on the radio" are long gone.

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I see that the college football playoff committee has settled on Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, and Ohio State as the first ever college football final four.  I think it's a just line-up.  All the pre-weekend hype centered on whether or not TCU should be ranked ahead of Baylor if all teams held serve over the weekend.  All teams did hold serve, and all but still undefeated FSU won in blowouts, including fifth ranked Ohio State.  It seems to me, and to some knowledgeable football people out there, that as the season progressed, it became apparent that Ohio State, despite playing in a weak Big Ten, was certainly among the four best teams in the country, and maybe even the best team.  The advanced metrics crowd will surely argue that this is not the case, but they passed the "eye test" to me, and, apparently, the twelve person committee, so I like the line-up.

I also like that Alabama and Ohio State will be matched up in one of the semi-final games.  With two such cheerful, outgoing, and likable coaches like Nick Saban and Urban Meyer going head to head, gosh it's going to be tough to decide which guy you would like to win more.

Saints 35 - Steelers 32...Some Thoughts

Some thoughts on yet another Steelers loss to a team with a losing record....

• If you watched the game, you know how misleading that three point deficit in the final score really is.
• I was sure glad to see Ike Taylor return to the line-up.  Made you realize how little you missed him in his absence.
• Yep, the QB had a bad game yesterday.  When that happens, others, particularly your defense, should step up to compensate. They didn't.
• There sure is a huge drop off at the WR position after Antonio Brown.  Martavis Bryant has shown flashes that he can become an elite receiver, but yesterday showed that he ain't there yet.
• This season is going to come to a close and the Steelers are going to find themselves STILL in the position of having to replace veterans Keisel, Polamalu, Harrison, and Taylor.  This will be at least the third season in a row that those needs have to be addressed.  Will it finally happen?
• The best thing the Steelers have going for them is the fact that they play the division leading Bengals twice.  Simply put, they HAVE to win both those games.  If they don't, it probably won't matter what they do in the games against the Falcons and Chiefs.

This season the Steelers are celebrating the 40th Anniversary of their first Super Bowl Championship team, and good for them.  Yesterday, they had a reunion of surviving members of that team. There were two notable absences, QB Terry Bradshaw and LB Jack Lambert, both Hall of Famers.  Despite the fact that he has a job with Fox Sports that requires him to work on Sundays, Bradshaw will no doubt be criticized severely by Steelers faithful for not being there.  Lambert will get a compete and total pass from those same people.

Make of that what you will.

Steelers 51 - Colts 34; Ben Breaks All the Records

I know, I know.  In my post this morning I said that I did not feel optimistic about the Steelers chances against the Colts today and even used the word "thrashing" as a possible result in today's contest.

This guy had other ideas.

• 522 passing yards, a new Steelers records
• 6 TD passes, a new Steelers record
• No interceptions
• His second career 500+ yards passing game, a new NFL record
• His 100th win in 150 starts, the fourth QB to ever do that

Remember two years ago when rookie QB Robert Griffin III was the talk of the NFL, and Washington came into Heinz Field and Ben and the Steelers thoroughly whipped both Griffin and his team?  I said at the time that it seemed that Ben Roethlisberger had decided before that game to remind everyone just exactly who the best QB on the field really was that day.  I think that the same thing happened today.

Not to take anything away from Andrew Luck. He had over 400 years in passing today as well, but he also threw two critical interceptions, and committed a really stupid grounding penalty that resulted in a safety for the Steelers in the fourth quarter when the game was, conceivably, still up for grabs.

Also, those receivers other than Antonio Brown who looked so bad for the first six weeks, seemed to have caught on to the NFL game in the last two weeks.  Also, Mike Tomlin, who everyone wanted fired a few weeks ago, seems to have gotten pretty good in the last two weeks.  Same for Todd Haley, and although I am still not a fan of his, that fourth down and inches call of the roll out pass from Ben to Heath Miller from the Colts ten yard line for a TD was brilliant!

And lo and behold, the Steelers are back in the hunt in the AFC Central, with games against the Ravens next week and two with the Bengals late in the season.  I guess we really need to see how an entire sixteen game schedule plays out, and I include myself in that because I sure as hell didn't see coming what I saw this afternoon.

Here we go.....

Sunday Morning Sporting Thoughts

Some thoughts and comments on the Sports Scene on a Sunday morning....

When Pitt lost to Iowa last week after an almost dominant first half gave them a solid lead, well, you could say that that was tough loss for the Panthers.  When Pitt, a twenty point favorite, lost 21-10 yesterday to the University of Akron, and appeared listless and uninterested throughout the game, well, there is only one word for it: BAD.   As in, that was a really BAD loss for the Panthers.

The good news is that Pitt is still undefeated, 1-0, in the ACC.  No one expects them to run the table in conference play, but they had better not have any more awful performance like yesterday's over the remainder of the season.

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In the game story in today's Post-Gazette, this quote fairly jumped off the page and smacked me in the face:

"We don't play for the fans," Pitt wide receiver Manasseh Garner said. "We play for each other and for our families. That's one of the big things the coaches say, and I firmly believe that. The fans are with us when we win and sometimes they're against us when we lose, so we're definitely not playing for the fans."

Now, Garner is a kid and can be excused, I suppose, for saying something stupid, but the young man needs to learn a lesson that every college student needs to learn: Never, ever publicly criticize the paying customers.  That is bad, very bad, for business.  And if the Pitt coaches are teaching that, then perhaps THEIR bosses need to  impart the same lesson the them.

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The Pirates will play their 162nd and, maybe, final game of he regular season today and they STILL have a chance to win the NL Central Division crown.  What a season and what a month of September this has been for the Pirates.  I will be writing a more complete wrap-up on the Bucs' regular season once it officially ends, but for now, all I will say is Fabulous Job, and I can't wait for the Playoffs!

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Back to Pitt football.  

Akron brought its marching band to Heinz Field yesterday, and since Marching Bands are part and parcel to the Pageantry of College Football, it was fun to see them and hear them perform.  However, a big Bronx cheer goes out to the University of Pittsburgh for dispatching the Akron band to the upper deck of the north end-zone at Heinz Field.  It took the band the better part of a quarter to get to their seats and then get back to the field.  In a stadium that was only  - and I am being generous here - half filled, do you mean to tell me that the that University couldn't have found space for the visiting school's band in the lower bowl of Heinz Field?  I mean....

Oh and by the way, the only thing keeping me from presenting an H.A. Citation over this is the fact that I don't know exactly who gets the full blame for this rather unsportsman-like act.

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The Steelers, sitting at 2-1, face a game today with the God-awful Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  This figures to be an easy win for the Steelers, but, at the same time, nothing that the Steelers have done yet has inspired the populace to start planning for Black and Gold themed Super Bowl parties.  Add to this steaming little bouillabaisse the fact that the team's already suspect defense has already been so decimated by injuries and, dare I say it, ineptitude, that they have signed ancient Brett Keisel and lured similarly ancient James Harrison out of retirement (and rumor has it that Joe Greene has started working out seriously down in Texas, just in case), well, no game can be taken for granted.  The Steelers not only need to win today, I think that they need to make a statement today in so doing.

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On a  more serious note concerning Joe Greene, if you have not yet seen the NFL Network's documentary on Greene, you really need to do so.  Not sure when or if the Network will be rerunning it, but it is an absolutely terrific look on the Greatest Steeler of Them All.

Steelers Prediction 2014

Since I probably watched the equivalent of about a quarter and a half of the Steelers during their practice game season, I won't pretend that I did a lot of in depth analysis of the team as they head into the 2014 season.  Therefore, my prediction is going to be based strictly on a gut feeling.  

This feeling is based upon the fact that the NFL is structured in such a way that no team stays on top forever, and that all teams will go through peaks and valleys.  The smart teams with strong organizations are able to ride out the valleys in such fashion that the periods of time in which they are in those valleys are short ones.  The Steelers, I believe, have proven themselves over time to be both a strong and a smart organization, and it is for that reason that I believe that they are ready to emerge from the two year valley that has produced consecutive 8-8, non-playoff seasons.

The money boys in Vegas has set the over/under line for Steelers wins at 8.5, so I say bet the OVER.  The Steelers are going to win 10 games this year and make the playoffs.

I will also make the following observations, for whatever they are worth.....

• One thing we do know is that since the end of last season, the Steelers have gotten younger and they have gotten faster.  The question is, have they gotten better.  I will don the rose colored glasses of a Yinzer Fan, and say that they have.  I hope.
• That said, the fact that they felt the need to re-sign a 36 year old Brett Kiesel is worrisome.
• All bets are off, prediction-wise, if Ben Roethliberger gets hurt and is lost for any significant (i.e., two or more games) length of time.

Okay, let's get ready to play real games that count with a look at the Old School Steeler logo,

and a couple of old school Steelers heroes.  I don't have to identify these guys for you, do I?