FAN: They Ride

I hardly have an opinion on the game yesterday. I would rather watch paint dry then to rehash the game. There were many things I didn't particularly like. I wasn't even going to post - but it's still killing me. Why did they have to go for so much so soon when they started their last possession? Is it just me thinking that? I've seen Ben in this situation countless times before and he typically has to get in rhythm before throwing deepish. You live off WR screens all year where you can usually get out of bounds any time you want and you shy away from them here? I don't know, maybe in the big picture they did what Cincy wasn't expecting them to do in this situation, but I thought they should have started off shorter and getting Ben in rhythm.

I also thought throwing a challenge flag in the first series would have been a good idea. Typically I don't like using them early but I thought it was very apparent he didn't get two feet down. It would have forced them to punt and taken 3 points off the scoreboard.

Who knows. I'm just glad I'm not still 25 working in an office full of raging Eagles fans. A loss like this would have stayed with me through Wednesday easily. I think I let this one go emotionally at around 4:25 PM yesterday.

Note to Jeff "Skippy Skeeve" Reed: The next time one of your kicks is being returned and it's a no-brainer that the return man is going to be within 5 yards of you within the next three seconds.......do one of two things......either A. lay down and roll towards the ball carrier angling yourself to either pin him to the sideline or force him back to a trailing player or B. pick the spot on the field you think he will be in within the next three seconds and hit the dirt making like a snow angel. You can cover far more real estate while waving your arms and legs than you can standing up and spinning in a 360. M-kay? Why the Special Teams coach can't spend 10 minutes at every practice teaching these guys how to break down a ball carrier is beyond me. You don't have to tackle him! Break him down! Slow him down or force him out of bounds you flaming idiot. Remember when Norm Johnson killed that return man? Wow. Give me 25% of that effort you baffoon.

That's My Grill

Chad done stole my grill! WTF? Steeler fans, if we've ever needed to not play down to the competition, tonight is the night. With the Patriots, Cowboys, Ravens and Titans lined up - we really need this win. If we smack the Bengals and Browns around and split the other 4 games mentioned above - we'll be 11-5 and win the division. At 10-6, maybe the Ravens tie us. If they win the next game against us, I'm not sure who would win the tie breaker. Winning tonight will certainly make things a lot easier. The Bungles are still the Bungles, but Marvin has challenged them to win out. Chad is sitting because he's selfish, but they may play better as a team without him. He's a poor man's Dennis Rodman. He said when he came into the league he was the best wide receiver in his family, taking a good natured jab at first cousin Keyshawn Johnson. I seriously doubt Chad will last long enough to eclipse the numbers Keyshawn put up. Not only that, Keyshawn typically played hard. Bill Parcells loved him and that's all you need to know about his toughness. Back to tonight's game, I see Ben having time to throw and I think tonight the running game will be back in full force. I want to see "33" smacking some bodies in short yardage situations. Here we go......

They Are Who We Thought They Were

Wow. I mean I expected to win, but geez. The Bengals are in complete disarray. They need to fire several people and I fear the head coach might be one of them. Maybe he can come back to Pittsburgh if LeBeau retires anytime soon. Some random thoughts from the game:

When the announcers said at the very beginning of the game that the fumbled snap was a product of the bye week, I say patooties. They still practiced the entire week leading up to the game. They are professionals. They've been snapping and accepting snaps for a long time.

When the announcers said Bruce Arians' offense has evolved, I was thinking, "evolved into what exactly?" I love how they wait for a 39 yard play before they say that. If Hines is tackled right after the catch, does he make the same comment?

I forget who said it, but after an immediate hit of a returner by Ryan Clark, the one announcer made a comment about the Steelers always being good in the kicking game. Huh? What? Are you shitting me? Has he watched this team the last 4 years, cause I have. This is the first year in a long time that I haven't been holding my breath on every kick...and I'm not completely past it yet.

Najeh makes me nervous catching kickoffs. Do you see how high he catches it before tucking it away?

That rookie Rivers got welcomed to the NFL bigtime courtesy of Hines Ward. He'll never do that again without looking around. I think having Hines out there is enough to make those guys nervous on plays like that.

It took 5 guys to tackle Heath Miller. I think Heath and Spaeth are the best 1-2 TE combination in the league. Also, if that announcer said "Two Tights" one more time I was going to throw something through my new TV.

Mewelde Moore may be the free agent pickup of the year for any team in the league. had they not signed him, where would we be?

I've seen maybe 20 games where Leftwich has QB'd. Has he always had that big and slow of a windup, or was it more pronounced today?

Did you see Carson Palmer on the sidelines? He's a young man and he already looks like a 45-year old science teacher. He's like Phil Mickelson. When Phil was 27 he looked 40. Damn! As I get closer to 40 I pay a lot of attention to those things!

TJ Talks The Talk and Collapses Like A Yugo

This clip is pretty good. It's a hit put on TJ Hoosyermamma yesterday as he came across the middle against San Diego. He gets popped by McCree, and then Dan DierDork goes off on McCree for two solid minutes.....and he's wrong. He calls McCree "Bush League" and implicates he will be heavily fined. I think he owes McCree an apology myself. He claims he hit TJ "way too" early. In fact, he hit him less than 1/2 of a second early at realtime speed. He claims he lead with his helmet. I disagree completely. I'd like to know who was in the booth with the old man because he should have corrected him. While McCree had every chance to light him up with the crown of his helmet, only the side quarter of his helmet touched Hoosh. He without a doubt turned his head to avoid a much harder hit. To me, it looked like he lead with his shoulder all the way, and his head ended up taking maybe 30% of the blow. For Dan to just rant and rant about it doesn't make it any more true. Man, I hated him on MNF and I was hoping he was out of the league. I guess not. I didn't miss him. He's old and boring. Good lineman. Bad announcer. TJ loves to strut his stuff and egg on away crowds and run his mouth. Remember, this is the guy who cleaned his shoes with a Terrible Towel last year in Pittsburgh. People get more jacked up to play you when you do that. He has to know that.

Ho Hum

Good news for the week - I lost, I mean won the Cut Throat pool I was in. Don't get too excited, I had to share that honor with about 11 other people. Stupid Jacksonville! Talk about stupid, the Steelers fumbled THREE times today. They couldn't be stopped on offense, yet they managed to stop themselves...again. 2-4. There is no way we can finish the season 9-1 to end up 11-5. The Steelers path to the playoffs this year is going to be winning the division. We'll have to root for the Bengals and Ravens to fall flat on their faces and win the division with a 10-6 or 9-7 record. I can't believe with the talent on this team that they can continue to lose in this fashion. For Christ's sake - put Hines Ward back there to return kicks. These are drastic times. I can't even believe Cowher can look at his Special Teams players right now. Holmes is really lucky he is turning into dependable pass catcher. I think they outpassed the Falcons by more than 150 yards. They were 7-11 on 3rd down and Atlanta was 8-16. Had Nate Washington set himself and not flinched, we may have won that game. Reed isn't money from that distance, but he can make them. My attitude is totally changing about sports the older I get. I had a ton of yard work to do todayand the second Mort's kick went through the uprights I got up, changed clothes and went outside. No big deal. Maybe that's what winning the Bowl last year did to me. We got ours. I can relax a little. Losing games is one thing - handing games to the Bengals and Falcons by not holding onto the ball is crazy. What's really funny is that after Oakland - Denver and the Saints are waiting for a shot at the champs. Do you realize if they keep doing this, they could end up being 3-6! We need a 5 or 6 game winning streak badly. As a matter of fact, we need A win badly.

Maurice Maurice Maurice

This is almost funny. He was pulled over and 4 loaded weapons were found in his SUV. Not two. Not three. Four. Also, he was wearing a bullet proof vest at the time. One has to wonder just where he was going? Probably to a drug deal. Where else would you be going with 4 loaded weapons and a bullet-proof vest? Oh, that's right.......he had a tryout with the Bengals yesterday!

Cornholio, Thy Name Is Carson Palmer

This is too good to be true. <------Click It! I only know Cornhole to mean one thing and it isn't something you'd name an event unless it's in San Francisco and sponsored by Mrs. Richard Simmons. Cornhole? Ouch! How the hell does one play Cornhole? Not sure, but it sounds like Carson has been playing for a long time....and he LOVES it. I wonder if his nickname was "Rosie" growing up? Check back next week when we see if Rosie Palmer prefers pitching or catching. I hear in December when the playoffs start the Bengals QB will be spending his off-time putting together a PocketPool Tourny. Yipes. I hope the Stiller fans treat him to some Cornhole signs when he comes to Pittsburgh this year. Damn, I thought the boy was bright. I was wrong.

Props to AA for bringing this to my attention!