Well, last time we finished up the Steelers had just beaten the Bengals in Cincinnati, and they did it without the benefit of Chad Johnson putting any assistant coaches in a halftime headlock. Before moving on to the Week 9 matchup, here's some random stuff that I found (if not noteworthy, at least) mildly amusing at the time.... Here's a headline that caught my attention:***"Man fined $300 for impersonating Roethlisberger"I'm guessing you can see where I'm going with this. That's right, my first thought was: They actually arrested Tommy Maddox for his performance in the Jacksonville game? And my second thought: What the hell took so long?
... Speaking of the secondary, the Tribune-Review should win some kind of award for actually writing an interesting article in yesterday's paper on Ike Taylor. The fact that I learned something, should be considered a milestone. Anyway, here are a couple of emails that me and my buddy Andy sent back and forth yesterday morning:Week 8: Baltimore RavensANDY: Did you read the article about Ike in the Tribune? Interesting.Who knew that Ike's mom was not only Russian, but has also been in space. Pretty amazing stuff.
ME: Yeah. The first part was kind of weird, but considering that paper usually writes crap, it was pretty good.
ANDY: I had to look up what a cosmetologist was. I thought maybe Ike's mom was a fortune teller until I looked it up.
ME: I think a cosmetologist is a russian astronaut.
Yep, this game was frustratingly close. In fact, the Steelers could've very easily lost. But they didn't. And given that Mr. Maddox would be front and center in the rematch, that was a good thing. Still, there were some highlights worth recounting:
... If the Steelers' game plan was to keep throwing to Hines on the first drive until Chris McAllister went crazy, it almost worked. The highlight had to be when Hines caught a one-handed pass on a crossing route, and as he neared the sideline, instead of going out of bounds, he lowered his head and tried to donkey punch McAllister into the end zone. Later in the game, Hines made McAllister look silly when he tip-drilled a crappy Roethlisberger pass over McAllister's head. Of course Chad Williams promptly knocked the crap out of Ward, but he popped up smiling. I'm guessing there aren't many things more frustrating than laying the wood to someone only to see them (a) get up smiling, while (b) still holding the ball. The funniest comment of the night came from Ward concerning this play:... Ben got knocked around pretty good in this game, and one of the early hits he took eventually led to him having midseason surgery. During this post I also covered, for maybe the 50th time, the little myth that Roethlisberger is a game manager and can't bring his team from behind. I suspect this meme will be revived for the 2006 season because, well, most sportswriters are lazy, and also because Ben struggled in the Super Bowl. Whatever.Q:Talk about the hit on you when you caught the ball that was bobbled up into the air.
A:"I got the crap knocked out of me. But I caught it. Ray Lewis looked over and gave me a wink and said it was a hell of a play. It’s just me going out and competing. I just want to do whatever it takes to help this ball club. But whoever hit me, knocked the crap out of me."
It was also about midway through the season that readers started to get a little nervous about the state of the Steelers defense. For example, Countertorque had this to say:
"I've really been feeling that the Steeler D has been more lucky than good. The drive stats put them at #8 on points per drive, but #18 on yards per drive (prior to this game). I realize that forcing turnovers involves some skill on the defense's part, but I'd really feel more confident if there were more 3 and outs. Have they stopped an opening drive yet this season?"Followed by Eric's comment:
"the defense is really bugging me. they're just average so far this year. i feel like farrior and foote can disappear for entire quarters and it seems like the d-line is making way too many of the plays.And here's what I wrote at the time:
so far this season the d-line accounts for 13.5% of the tackles and about 20% of the sacks.
last year the d-line had 14% of the tackles and 27% of the sacks.
so the numbers say i'm full of it but i've never been one to let pesky things like facts get in the way of my arguements. ahhh sports fans."
I mentioned that the defense has been fond recently of giving up points on opening drives. (And some of you left comments voicing as much -- and more) Against Baltimore they also let Anthony Wright throw for 255 yards. While it was certainly frustrating to watch, looking at the larger picture, this unit did a pretty good job (although, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dropping f-bombs like it was my job as Anthony Wright and Derrick Mason played 30-yard catch all night long). Someone asked Cowher at the post-game press conference if he was upset with how the defense played, and he basically asked how could he be upset when they only gave the Ravens field goals after the first drive. It's hard to argue with that, especially when you consider that Baltimore did an outlandishly good job of pass protecting virtually all game (except for the next to last play, when Keisel sacked Wright to set up the second-worst fourth-down-to-keep-the-game-going-playcall right after Kelly Holcomb and the Bills the night before).... And there was that whole punt team snafu that almost single-handedly sunk the Steelers' battleship. When long snapper Greg Warren made his way to the sidelines, you half-expected him to strip down to hid
The best part of that punt debacle (well, it's the best part since they won the game; otherwise it wouldn't be all that funny) was that Morey almost got tripped up on the snap as the ball nut-megged him, he then had the presence of mind to pick up the ball, run right, and toss it back to Chris Gardocki (and if you're Gardocki here, your thought process has to go something like this: "Oh crap, botched snap! Sean fall on the ball, fall on it! Oh great, you picked it up!?! Whatever you do don't toss it back to ... Oh crap, here it comes! Maybe I should kick it ... No, I'll throw it ... Just don't whiff like Garo Yepremian!" And then it goes dark because some wide-eyed Ravens defender just knocked the snot out of him. Thanks Sean.) who then threw it back to Morey. My buddy Andy at first thought it was a fake punt designed so that Morey pitched the ball to Gardocki who in turn threw it back to Morey. All that was missing was Mularkey sitting in the press box looking bewildered when the Steelers didn't pull the play off.But hey, a win's a win. Even if it meant that Roethlisberger would miss a few games while he recovered from knee surgery.
... And just in case you need a pick-me-up, this should do it.
Week 9: Green Bay Packers
This might have been the ugliest Steelers victory of the season. Charlie Batch was basically taken out of the freezer for this one (he was the guy next to Austin Powers in the meat locker) and to say he looked rusty would be unfair to guys like Jon Kitna and, dare I say, Tommy Maddox. The only difference, of course, is that Batch was still able somehow eke out a victory. It was also Duce's first real action of the season, and he scored the decisive touchdown late in the game. Brett Favre played like Brett Favre, version 2005, and Samkon Gado got his first extended action of his career in this game. Also, Tyrone Carter registered his first interception with the Steelers.
Other than Batch's obvious struggles, the defensive woes were again the theme of the day:
... Um, they might want to, you know, think about stopping teams on third down. The Packers ended up 8 for 17 on third down conversions, but at one point they were 8 for 12. I guess there are several ways of looking at the last five possessions, but it still doesn't change the outcomes of the first 12. Third and 1 is one thing, but when teams are regularly converting third and 10's, it might be time to think about mixing up the scheme.Yeah, that's right. Both Farrior and Parker got hurt in this game and would end up missing time. People tend to forget this little fact when saying the Steelers struggled during the middle of the season. Granted, neither of these guys play QB, but there were some concerns about the defense around this time, and part of that might've been because of various injuries (remember also, that Porter had knee surgery during training camp and wasn't 100 percent until later in the season).
[...]
Despite the third down problems, the defense still made more than enough plays to win the game. Bryant McFadden had a big sack and Polamalu had a fumble return for a TD (and also recovered a fumble earlier in the game). And any time Tyrone Carter gets a pick, that's an added bonus. Of course, James Farrior started the second half on the bench with an ice pack on his knee, and Willie Parker hurt his ankle, but both injuries didn't seem serious.
... Oh good times. Scroll down a bit and read Bill Simmons' whining about the Colts spanking the Pats. Here's what I wrote at the time:
Yeah, it's really hard to feel sorry for a guy who spent the last four years gloating like it was his job (OK, it was his job ... at least to write about the gloating, but you get my point).So, I'm just curious, ARE WE GONNA EFFIN' FIGHT!?! Ha ha. Where's Nelson Muntz when you need him?
And I think it's pretty funny that he mentions Manning's teammates pretending to like him. I was actually thinking the same thing about Brady. NFL Network's Thursday night Game of the Week was -- you guessed it -- the Colts - Pats. Say what you want about Manning, but Brady's a spaz. My favorite scene was when he was stomping up and down the sideline (while the Colts offense were stomping up and down the field ... to the tune of 40-21 at that point) yelling to no one in particular, but in earshot of everybody, "Are we gonna fight! Are we gonna effin' fight!" And then he slammed down his water bottle, sat on the bench next to Tim Dwight and put his head in his hands while Dwight looked straight ahead with that, "God, I hope I don't get cut right on the spot" look on his face.
Week 10: Cleveland Browns
I actually think the Steelers would've won this game even if Tommy Maddox had started. In fact, it might've been his best shot at a victory all season. That said, I'm glad Charlie Batch gave him a two quarter head start before admitting that he broke his finger. Also, the Batch injury immediately led to talk that Antwaan Randle El should be the starting QB. And honestly, the only person who seemed to think otherwise was Bill Cowher. And I'm including Maddox.
Once again, the Steelers defense was slow out of the gate. The first Browns series included a lot of Reuben Droughns running over Chris Hope, which led to this observation:
... Even though he didn't do much after the first half, Reuben Droughns proved to me that it's not the system in Denver that made him look good, it's Reuben Droughns that makes Reuben Droughns look good. Geez, this guy is a beast, and Chris Hope has the cleat marks across his chest to prove it. I heard several people wonder why Hope kept getting steamrolled by Droughns. I have an answer: Droughns often had a full head of steam, he must weigh 240 (there's no way in hell he's 215), and he's really, really strong. And look, if you're depending on your free safety to stuff an opposing teams imposing running back on a regular basis, you first might want to ask why the hell the front seven are getting so manhandled that the free safetey has to make the play in the first place.Yep, that's when I was sitting shotgun on the Hope Bandwagon. As it stands, I'm hanging one with one hand, inches away from falling off completely. What can I say, I'm a waffler.
Despite having some trouble with Droughns, I thought Hope played really well. Yes, he dropped that easy touchdown, but he also knocked the crap (and the ball) out of Antonio Bryant in the second half on a play that most assuredly should have ended up on "Jacked Up" but didn't (one more reason to hate ESPN). And you want to hear something really wacky? Paul Zimmerman, in the Troy-covered SI actually thinks Hope might be an All-Pro, moving past Brian Dawkins. Yeah, I'm a homer and all, but I'm not quite sure even I'm willing to make that leap. Don't get me wrong, I think Hope is one of the underrated players on this team, and I think the Steelers would be foolish not to re-sign him, but I'm also not yet ready to say he's better than Dawkins. He could be, but just not yet.
This had to be my favorite play from the game:
Polamalu was all over the field Sunday night, but my favorite play -- easily -- was when Troy torpedoed himself into Trent Dilfer as the QB tried to run for a first down. To his credit, Dilfer took the hit, but oddly, he got up, chased down Polamalu, and tried to yell at him about the hit. Troy seemed oblivious, and was making his way back to the huddle, but Dilfer looked visibly upset, although I'm not quite sure why. Either way, it was funny, so thanks for the laugh Trent.The only time I saw Dilfer this worked up, was during Super Bowl week, he was an analyst on Total Access, and he had to defend the Seahawks.
... Like most things ESPN-related, the three stooges in the booth grew stale:
Of course, by the end of the evening, even I was tired of hearing the Sunday night crew slurp Polamalu. Troy could've taken a dump at midfield and Theismann, McGuire and Patrick would've billed it as "halftime entertainment."And Steve offered this comment as further proof of the idiocy (as if we needed it):
With about 6:00 to go in the 3rd, they flashed a graphic on the Steelers' run / pass ratio for the past few years. The 2004 numbers: 61% run, 49% pass. I'm not sure, but I think it was Norman Einstein who was reading the numbers.The Steelers were 7-2 at this point and headed to Baltimore for the rematch. Unfortunately, the star QB was out, and so was the backup. Which meant that Tommy Maddox was in real danger of being benched for a WR who played QB in college. And honestly, part of me thinks that Cowher stayed with Maddox because he couldn't bring himself to say, "Uh, yeah, Tommy, you're not going back out there. You're so bad we're replacing you with our emergency QB. You know, El -- the little guy who played QB in college. Now sit down." In retrospect, maybe he should've had that talk.
Brilliant work by the ESPN stat jockey, and by the mouth that read the results without correction.
Alrighty, free agency won't start until this weekend, so we'll talk about that early next week, as well, I'm sure, as some ACC tournament stuff.
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