DOG: Who To Watch On Sunday

Here's something to watch for tomorrow during the Stillers-Bears game. The media has focused on our loss of Polamalu, the Bears loss of Urlacher, and Cutler's horrendous first game as a Chicago Bear. But I am going to give you what I believe to be the key matchups in tomorrow's game. As you may have guessed from the above photos, it involves line play which, after all, is where 90% of NFL football games are won and lost anyway.

The two Stillers to keep your eye on are 74-Willie Colon, our Right Tackle, when we're on offense, and 99-Bret Keisel, our Right Defensive End, when we're on defense.

Willie Colon will have his hands full trying to move Bears LDE Adewale Ogunleye on running plays. And he REALLY will have his work cut out for him trying to contain Ogunleye's pass rush. Ogunleye virtually lived in the Packers backfield last Sunday night. If he had spent any more time 3-4 yards behind Green Bay's line they would have started charging him rent! He beat Packer Right Tackle Allen Barbre like a rented mule. When the Packers assigned a Tight End to help Barbre, Ogunleye simply bull rushed the pair of them back into Aaron Rodgers. He was unstoppable. This cannot happen again this Sunday. Willie Colon must step up and battle Ogunleye to at least a stalemate. If a Tight End is needed to keep Ogunleye at bay, then the two of them better be able to stop him better than the Packers did. If not, it could be a very long afternoon for Mr. Roethlisberger.

On the other side of the coin, Bret Keisel needs to get his camping gear ready to stake out a hunting cabin in the Bears backfield this week. He will be facing Chicago's LG Frank Omiyale. Omiyale was putrid against the Packers and he allowed his man to get in Cutler's face so many times I'm surprised the Bear QB didn't throw 6 interceptions instead of just 4. Keisel has an opportunity to overwhelm this guy with superior athleticism. It is an opportunity Bret rarely sees. He needs to take advantage of this mismatch. It will be there for the taking because James Harrison will be eating Orlando Pace for lunch to his right while Fat Casey Hampton will consume all the Bears attention to his left. In other words Pace will need a TE to help with Harrison and the Bears center and right guard will be forced to give Casey his obligatory double team. That leaves Keisel one-on-one with a man he can and should beat.

So while the talking heads will be rehashing the same old names on the pregame talk shows. You are now armed with the information that will make you an astute football viewer for one week anyway. QBs, WRs and RBs may sell the tickets, but linemen win the games. And if these two Stiller linemen can do their jobs, next time you hear from me we'll be 2-0. HERE WE GO!

Keisel, Here We Go Again

Just like last year, we're losing a quality starter early. Like Aaron Smith last year, we will now be without Brett Keisel for up to two months. Does this mean McBean is in or will Orpheus Roye move into the starters role? Who knows. Get healthy, Deisel.....we'll need you for the playoff run.

Steelers Playing Sick

Well, it's really too bad there aren't 20 games in the regular season, because if there were, I think we'd be going to the playoffs. The Steelers have now won 5 out of their last 6 and the last 3 by a combined score of 84-13. It really makes you angry now to go back and think about some of the ways they lost earlier games. Some random thoughts from the game: Brett Keisel in his 5th year is showing that maybe he should have been starting 2 years ago instead of just now. Kimo always played the position well, but never had the sack numbers Brett is putting up. I was almost mad at Cowher for putting Holmes back out on the field after his fumble - now I'm glad he did. What a return. The other thing that surprised me about that return was the reception Santonio got when he came to the sidelines after the return. He must be well liked on the team because EVERYONE came over to him and the score was already a blowout. That told me something and it made me glad to see how the team responded to him after all the trouble he had at the beginning of the season. I've never thought of DeShaun Foster as a power back and to see him run over Anthony Smith and bounce off DeShea Townsend like a pinball was weird....especially after seeing Smith lay the wood to numerous players this year. How about that Kuhn? I was lobbying hard for him in the beginning of the year to make the team. He looks like a player. Davenport is very inconsistent as the big man in our rushing attack. On one play he looks like he can't be brought down and on another, he goes down easily in the backfield. I haven't quite figured him out yet. Not sure if the DumpTruck is the answer to the Bus yet. Will update playoff scenarios after tomorrow night's game between the Bungles and Indy.

Wow. Perfect Predictions So Far

Superb job by the front office. We signed Keisel the Deisel....let Kimo walk. Chris Hope took a walk and we signed a replacement before he left. We restructured Hartings. We signed Rodney Bailey to a very cheap contract and kept Tuman. Good solid players at backup prices. Depth and defense win Super Bowls. The thing that worries me is that Ike Taylor is drawing interest. I feel like he is now a core player. I would hate it if he walked. Townsend is still up in the air, but it is not the end of the world if he leaves either. The Steelers offerred Hope about 2.5 per year but he left for greener pastures. Have fun not making the playoffs in Tennessee, Chris. His replacement, Ryan Clark, is only making $7 million over 4 years....an outstanding Steeler contract. Don't forget we also signed a solid backup QB in Charlie Batch. He could be integral if Big Ben misses time again this year since Batch knows the offense well. After cutting Maddox it was great to see Charlie come back. I would now like to focus on getting Quincy Morgan signed. As I've stated here before, I like him to start at the #2 wideout position more than Cedrick Wilson just because of his size and blocking. Ced can play the slot. I'd love to make this 10 paragraphs - but I'm still in St Louis and trying to make a meeting! Go Steelers!!!!!