Yay, Steelers! Yesterday's game was pretty uneventful save one silly Ben Roethlisberger decision. And as was pointed out in the comments yesterday, the offensive line was sparkling. But something I've noticed through the first half of the season is that the o-line dominates (or, at the very least, does well) against the crappy defenses, and often looks overmatched against better defenses (or, in the case of the two losses: the Cards and the Broncos ... but you get my drift).Also, as GlennW pointed out last week, the Steelers, according to Football Outsiders, are the most variable offense (and defense, too -- I'm too lazy to look it up) in the NFL. That means they're one of the most inconsistent outfits in the league. When you're allegedly a playoff team, that's a bad thing.
But whatever, Pittsburgh dominated Cincy, Carson Palmer's numbers looked nice on paper, but he didn't make a big play all day, and even though Kenny Watson had some nice runs, keep in mind that the Steelers were showing two down linemen for most of the second half. I would hope the Bengals could run on that formation.
Random thought: I think it's hard to understate how important Aaron Smith is to this team.
And finally, Houshmazilly got jacked up (again), and Chad Johnson lost his gold fronts. Awesome.
A couple of nerds were discussing this in the comments yesterday afternoon, and it was something that crossed mind mind as I watched the Patriots dismantle the Redskins. Why, exactly, was New England going for two fourth-and-shorts in the second half up 38-0?
I wrote earlier in the week for AOL that blowouts in professional sports -- particularly the NFL with all the supposed parity (yeah, right, says the Dolphins) -- don't really exist, but I have no idea what Bill Belichick was going for with those calls. Here's the thing, though: what happens when Tom Brady gets split in half during garbage time because Albert Haynesworth goes ape shit on him?
Well, other than all the bitching and moaning from Pats' fans about all the injustices in the world, I'm guessing not much. But to the bigger point: does anybody have a problem with New England going for it twice on fourth down in the second half?
I'm cautiously going with no. It ain't right, but like Gretz said Bowden said: "I'll stop trying to score when they stop trying to score." I mean, let's be real here, this is the big leagues."
|