FAN: Boldin Bolsters Shitbirds

Great. Anquan Bolding was traded to the Ravens where he will get a new $28 million dollar contract. Now our crappy corners will have to cover him twice a year for four years. The Browns and Bengals...don't you feel sorry for them? The Ravens offense may really take off this year. It's a good trade and sign for them. I'm actually impressed. I'm wondering what we'll end up doing. If Ryan Clark signs elsewhere, Troy's hammies will blow out by week 4 again this year trying to cover everyone else's ass.

Still A Dog Barks, We Listen

Since The Dog lives in the greater Baltimore area and hears many things concerning the Ravens - I decided to post his email to me this morning about the state of Stiller Nation vs. the Ravens long term outlook. What he says is quite wise in my opinion. Remember last week he said that people were complaining that they had to pay for playoff tickets already instead of being ecstatic.

"I'm approaching it as a good thing.

1. We are totally eliminated from playoff consideration. Why is this good? So we can all stop deluding ourselves that we still have a good team. We most certainly do not.

2. We got a good ole ass-kicking by a divisional rival. Why is that good? So we can wake our asses up and see the work that is ahead of us. Embarrassment is a powerful motivator.

3. Our power run is over. Why is this good? Because our window of real opportunity to win championships was from 2002 - 2005. We should have won in 2004 if we were going to win back to back championships. That was probably our best team of that era. The window is closed now and it's time to rebuild again. Too many key players getting old, retired, hurt, or gone via free agency. A good hard look at personnel is needed and will happen now that this season has been certified a disaster. Had we gone 10-6 and squeaked into the playoffs I doubt the necessary changes would have been considered.

4. Chuck Amato was fired this morning at NC State. Why is this a good thing? Cause it opens up an opportunity for Cowher to retire/resign, move to Raleigh with his family, and begin his life's work as a college football coach. I tell Ravens fans that this was good for us and they shut the bleep up. They don't understand enough football to see that this is a temporary setback. They are on top of the world right now, as they should be. They are blinded by success (as usual). I don't know what it will take for them to see that once Steve McNair is gone they will be right back to where they were last season. Their window is this year and maybe next. Then they will have to get a new QB, MLB, LT and a WR possibly a RB and start building again. Their disappointment has been delayed until January."

I'm sure I'll be revisiting some of those opinions in the very near future since I don't have the playoffs to look forward to. May as well start looking at the roster to see who is where on their contracts and the like.

Holy Poe!

I can't ever remember the team getting their asses handed to them like that before. After thinking about it, I think a lot of the blame for this poor showing has to go on the offensive coaches. After getting pressure in his face all day almost getting killed before halftime, why weren't they able to counter what the Ravens were doing on the defensive front? It sure wasn't on talent alone as the Steelers have one of the better offensive lines in the league with 2 Pro-Bowlers on it. Where were the rollouts? Where were the screens? Where were the 2-step drops? He was getting heavy pressure on consecutive plays. You can't allow the other team to keep compounding their confidence like that. The offensive line's meltdown was every bit as bad as the Colt's was against us in the playoffs last year. Still, the offense was able to enter the red zone 4 times. This seemed like it was the Ravens Super Bowl. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cleveland upset them Thursday night. Playoff hopes are now at 1% since they are not yet mathematically eliminated. Good job, Ravens. They looked like the '94 - '97 Steelers out there today. Big back. Power running. Key 3rd down throws. Lots of sacks. Solid special teams. I expected if we lost to get beat by turnovers. We just got plain beat.

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.