MAURKICE POUNCEY: ANOTHER IN A LONG LINE OF GREAT CENTERS

First there was Ray Mansfield.

Then Mike Webster.

Then Dermontti Dawson.

Now Maurkice Pouncey.

The Steelers have been blessed.

THE STEELERS WILL FAIL

Arians can thank offensive genius Roethlisberger for his job.

The Steelers will fail in the playoffs, probably in the first game (whichever round that may be in) because Ben Roethlisberger thinks he knows so much about football that he can judge offensive coordinators. Actually, truth be told, Arians is the only guy in the league who would let Ben call plays by drawing them on the ground in the huddle. If this is the only reason the schmuck is still around maybe we need to change QBs as well. Ben, just get out on the field and TRY to play well and leave the big decisions to those who know better. Since the Steelers will fall, I think Arians will be looking for work in January. I might even fire him before he can leave the field after the final game, a la Bill Cowher. 

OVECHKIN!

"What, me worry?"

Tell me how ALexander Ovechhkin (Ovechicken to those who know and hate him), can go year-after-year trying to take peoples' heads off and accumulate the same number of PIMs as Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin? It was suggested to me that the NHL "needs" him on the ice. Hmm, to kill whom?. Crosby and Malkin get their minutes basically on what I might categorize as non-violent penalties (hooking, holding, interference) and, for some reason, so does Ovechkin since his charging and boarding penalties go uncalled. So Ovechkin gets to stay on the ice because he's "needed" by the NHL and, so I guess then, Crosby and Malkin are not needed? Tell me how this "helps" the NHL. Makes sense to someone.

"Gary, you got a lotta 'splainin' to do!"

    

"Da!"

NFL REVIEW CHANGES

NFL: After seeing the terrible call on the next-to-next-to-last GB interception against 

the Giants I suggest, ALL scores (TDs and FGs) and changes of possession (including 

on-side kicks) be automatically reviewed in a War Room similar to that of the NHL. 

That means no more on-field reviews. There will be no challenges or other reviews, 

period. There is no way a play such as that should stand just because a coach is out of 

challenges.

STEELERS V. PANTHERS

"Nice" game but nice doesn't win championships, guys. 

GOOD news:


1. Heath is back. God if they had only had them last week. Thank you fine-able hit at Baltimore.


2. SOMEONE in the defensive backfield, whose name isn't Troy, intercepts a pass. Please continue this trend.


3. Offense scored some TDs.


4. Nice to have Hines show up in the offense again.




BAD news:


1. When you're playing a team that is 2-12 you need to score TDs every time you have a opportunity.


2. Still do not understand the offensive game plan, if there really is one. Hopefully, someone will pull the pacifier out of Ben's mouth next year, have him grow up, and and next year Arians will be gone Arians.


3. As I stated many weeks ago, I am not encouraged that, realistically speaking, the "season" has come down to the final game in Cleveland.

STEELERS v. JETS

Opening kickoff for TD + safety (bad call?) + too many injuries + NO big defensive plays + another TERRIBLE non-call (holding against Sanders) = wheels coming off.

MY FAVORITE MIKE TOMLIN EXPRESSIONS

1. "Get a hat."


2. "Put your hand in the pile."


3. "Get a seat on the bus."


4. "I have no interest whatsoever in doing 'Hard Knocks' and hopefully Art Rooney feels the same way."


5. About the league office watching Steelers defensive players for illegal hits, "It would be hard for me to care less about what those people watch for."


6. "You are what you put on video tape in December."


7. "...particularly when you get to stadiums where the lights are on."


8. ..."light on your feet; thoughtfully non-rhythmic."


9. "Two dogs, one bone."

TRUE or FALSE: MY NO. 1 CONCERN IS STILL THE STEELERS' PASS DEFENSE?

True, for the following reasons:


1. Numbers 43 and 56 are the ONLY guys on the defense, other than perhaps Brett Kiesel (sorry), who have good enough hands and the football instincts to intercept a ball that's thrown in their vicinity.

2. Bryant McFadden has been so up and down the past few weeks that he can't be depended upon in a big game. Wait a minute, what's that in his hand? Has this photo been altered?

3. The effectiveness of pass rush has fallen off. This started against the Patriots and since then has only been truly successful against the Raiders (the game following the loss to the Patriots). Also, I am starting to become disenchanted with the 3-4 defense, particularly against very good QBs (a.k.a. Tom Brady).

4. You can't play bend-but-don't-break pass defense against everyone (e.g., against Tom Brady). Sorry, Mr. LeBeau. 

I guess this is where I posit my defensive strategy against the Patriots. You have to play a 4-3 to consistently beat them. You need four BIG pass rushers, not three and an LB. AND you have to take away the short passing game. Brady MAY beat your deep occasionally but he will KILL YOU with the short game, especially without a good pass rush. For the Steelers my strategy against the Patriots is a 4-2-5; four bigs, 2 LBs, and 5 DBs with press coverage.

5. I just read that Troy won't play against the Jets. Really, I'd rather have had him against the Jets than the Bengals but, who knew? This puts even more pressure on the offense against a much better defense than the "Bungles" and could be fatal.

JETS DEFENSE WATCHING FILM OF OPPONENTS HAMMERING BEN ROETHLISBERGER WITH IMPUNITY

THE ROAD TO A STEELERS FIRST ROUND BYE

 
1. Beat the New York Football Jets. Jets: 2009 Overachievers, 2010 Underachievers









2. New Orleans defeats Baltimore. New Orleans at Baltimore











3. Defeat the (now) 1-11 Carolina Panthers. 

4. Coast into Cleveland and leave without any significant injuries (no need to win if 1., 2. and 3. occur).

5. SEE YOU IN ROUND 2 OF THE PLAYOFFS.

"THE GUY WAS JUST TRYING TO TACKLE YOU."

This is the excuse-de-jour offered by NFL referees for ignoring "penalties" (head slaps, late hits, etc.) committed against Ben Roethlisberger. Yes, Mr. Goodell, and exactly what the hell does that have to do with the price of Nike knock-offs in China? If you saw a befuddled No. 7 petitioning the referees (Terry McCauley and Walt Coleman) the past two weeks this is what he got in return. 


Right now I'm waiting for Mike Tomlin to come down off his pedestal and start challenging this situation. With his players it's expected that they do whatever is necessary. Mike? Would BIll Chower have overlooked this on a now week-by-week basis? THAT Bill Chower of the "shove a photo into the ref's pocket at half-time over a too-many-men-on-the-field penalty." He would be apoplectic, spitting on every striped-shirt in the tri-state area. Mike gives them the "big eyes."


As Mike Prisuta said, "If it's not a conspiracy it's selective incompetence."

DREAM ACT--FOR WHOM?

Another initiative put forward by people who obviously value U.S. citizenship so lowly they feel it should be given away like candy. 


The crux of the DREAM Act is that illegal minors would be provided citizenship if they attended college or served in the military. 


Firstly, I don't think non-citizens should be permitted to serve in the military at all. I know some want to prove their loyalty to the U.S. by doing so, and that is noble. But I would only go for it if all CITIZENS were required to serve in the military. This is the case in many countries including Norway. What could a non-citizen's other motivations be for wanting to join the military? It could be a motivation such as that of Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hasan's. Yes, he is a U.S. citizen but did it make any difference in that case? A non-citizen could be more likely to commit such an act, or perhaps spy. We even have citizen lunkheads doing that (Wikileaker Bradley Manning).


Secondly, how does attending college equate to anything with respect to citizenship? Now that colleges are simply liberal propaganda factories. Funny how once getting a "liberal" education resulted in a broadening of one's views not narrowing. Further, under what requirements will these illegals be admitted. Surely their qualifications will not be as high as many U.S. citizens. If they could get a quality education in their own country they might not even be here. Therefore, they will be admitted at lower standards than the citizen competition. It's bad enough we've lost millions of jobs in this trying time. It would be a crime to then cheat citizens out of a college education.


Rosanna Pulido, Chicagoan and one-time candidate for Congress attended a rally against the DREAM Act. She said the following:

The Dream Act is not a dream for most Americans. It is a nightmare! It is a nightmare for the millions who are unemployed, it is a nightmare for the many who have waited to gain United States citizenship legally, and it is a nightmare to those who have played by the rules and pay high rates of college tuition. Where is Senator Durbin’s sense of justice? Is he just playing politics with the aspirations of hard working Americans? Is he playing politics with Martin Luther King, Jr.? American citizenship is too highly valued to be given away to those who break our laws. I have a dream. It is a dream different from Senator Durbin’s dream. I have a dream that once and for all we will reward those who follow the law in the United States, not break the law. If you have this same dream, you will oppose the Dream Act with me.

Enough said. 

STEELERS-RAVENS II -- REPRISE

Some things left out:


BAD


1. Sanders--This may take a while but, remember to not run out of bounds on punt coverage. After all it was Game 12.


2. Johnson--Remember you're on the place kick group so the team doesn't have to waste a time out to get your fat ass on the field.


3. Ward--Not much talk about the absolutely subpar (a.k.a. poor) game played by number 86. Maybe people are willing to give him a pass because of his resume but I think it's significant. Age can catch up to you in a quick hurry. I still rankle when he, after 13 years, talks about how people didn't think he was "fast enough, big enough, good enough" to play in the NFL. Hines, you proved them wrong, now get over it before you retire; and please don't mention it in your HOF speech.

4. Rookie receivers--Run the right routes. So far this season your screw-ups have cost the team some big plays.


GOOD


1. Kemoeatu--Nice job trying to run over people after your fumble recovery since it was against the Ravens but, next time, just fall on the ball.

2. Wallace--Generally a good job. Let's just hope the offensive coordinator figure out a good way to use you, unlike what has happened to Heath Miller.


3. Ben--More props on a fine game under adverse physical conditions.

STEELERS-RAVENS II--SAME-OLD SAME-OLD; AND WE LOVE IT!

Did you expect anything else? Nose-breaking, head concussing, nerve-racking, superman-ish, smash-mouth football with testosterone crashing wave-upon-wave for 60 minutes. NFL--THIS... IS... FOOTBALL! I can't believe these two teams survive two games a season against one another let alone the occasional three. 

THE BAD

1. Officiating--Since the Cincinnati game I've been saying this almost every week; that was the worst officiated game I've ever seen. (I missed the first quarter but I guess Baltimore could complain about their seven penalties in that period.) I'm becoming more convinced that there is some sort of conspiracy against the Steelers this year. There is no other explanation for it. (More on this in another blog.) THEN there was the non-call. yeah, that one. You can't convince me that if James Harrison had made that hit there wouldn't have been a flag.

2. Running game--What running game? Well, I'm a bit conflicted about this. My strategy would have been to go to an up-tempo all-passing game plan. No one would have expected that. Use the pass to set up the run especially against the Ravens who go balls-out to stop the run and are a bit susceptible in the secondary.

3. Will ANYONE please block Terrell Suggs? I think I saw what has to be the worst blocking attempt ever by Hines Ward last night going after Suggs on the first-and-goal run after Sanders' catch. Watch it again and tell me what you think.

I've got to get a shirt like this made for next season, substituting Ravens for Steelers of course.

4. Offense play calling--I'm certain now that the only reason Arians is still with the Steelers is because Ben loves him. Why, I don't now. They need someone who will force some pocket-discipline on him. I can hear it over the headphones: "Ben, this is Bruce. Here we wanna use the bunch-right-gun triple-pump-scramble. Just find somebody to throw to; if not, take the sack."

5. Sanders--After a good catch at the Baltimore 3 he lays there like a dead mackerel when the smart play is to get up, roll, crawl, whatever to the end zone just in case you haven't been touched. Brown came over and tried to drag him up but he was brain dead.

6. Ward--This could have been his worst game ever. The aforementioned attempted block on Suggs, several other poor or non-blocks, a critical dropped ball on third down, etc. But the tape Hines.

7. Lawrence Timmons must be hurt. He's done very little after a tremendous first 5 games.

8. Sepulveda--What now? First, tell him to stop trying to tackle on kick coverage. It's two season's in a row he's been hurt in that way. His injury displays another weakness in having your punter as your holder. If Sepulveda is done you're now brining in both a new punter AND a new holder. Not exactly what you need at a critical juncture in the season. The other weakness is you give up the potential for a fake kick with no "skill" player as your holder. I suggest next season the backup QB holds.

THE GOOD

1. Troy, Troy, Troy--No wonder the Steelers' D was so bad without him last season.


2. Can we assume Ben has finally learned to throw the ball away instead of taking sacks and putting the offense in a hole? Or was it that he just didn't want his schnoz rearranged any further.


3. Bruce Arians CAN call a good play occasionally. The "hitch" to Mike Wallace in the third quarter with Ward going in motion on the opposite side and re-setting in the backfield. Let's try that sort of thing more often.


4. Ben--Breaking loose from Suggs on first down at the 9 and buying room to backhand a pass out-of-bounds, saving a sack. I guess that's why he's "that guy."


5. Then again, there's the call for a run on first (AND second) down at the Baltimore 3 after the pass to Sanders. Who the hell didn't see THAT coming?!?


6. Sanders--Great tackle on the kick off following the Steelers' TD. Exactly what was required at that moment.


7. Redman--Hot read and great catch and run for the TD. Now why can't the WRs do that?


8. Did I mention Troy?

Pelosi Galore

Did you see Pelosi's face while Rangel was giving his "censure" speech? Christ, I thought Kennedy had died again! No, this isn't it.

Penny wise and pound foolish...

Listen up, people in Congress! I commented on this the last time it came up. You are morally obliged to continue unemployment benefits. Let me repeat for emphasis: YOU ARE MORALLY OBLIGED TO CONTINUE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS! YOU are the ones who created this mess, maybe not you personally, but YOU as an institution. YOU have already approved to spend HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to do... what? And NOW you blanch at a measly $12 billion? Yeah, continue to hurt the people affected the most by this disaster. Smart.


P.S. $12 billion is only 1.54 percent of $780 billion.

NFL, let's cut the bullshit!

All right. I've watch that goddam play ten times frame by frame and if there is any helmet-to-helmet contact AT ALL it's due to Fitzpatrick's head snapping forward after Harrison hits him squarely in the chest with his face mask. Harrison makes impact in a crouch and from the moment of impact the top of his helmet never changes position relative to the ground. That is, he doesn't "ride up" Fitzpatrick's chest resulting in the crown of his helmet impacting the QBs chin. Also, the referee has the flag out and is in his windup almost before Harrison falls to the ground on top of him. 


Goodell, stop running around in women's underwear and call off the fucking dogs! You've created such a goddam mess that no one knows WHAT the hell a clean hit is any more! Pretty soon you're going to have to hand out cards to fans entering the stadiums with diagrams indicating what is "now" legal contact. It's an "I can't tell you what an illegal hit is but I recognize it when I see it" kind of thing. That ain't gonna cut it, Pal. "You're ruining Christmas!"

Mercy, sire!

I would love to see a professional sports team web site with NO ADS. I think I could then die in peace. Come on, aren't you guys making enough money to subsidize a web site for crying out loud? How much do you pay to maintain the site anyway. You've probably got some sort of intern running it or, if you don't, you probably should. It's really not that difficult anymore. Give us ONE stinking break, huh? Tickets are already a fortune, hot dogs are $5, beer is about $72 a gallon, with sodas not far behind. Whaddaya say?

"The veil is off the hypocirsy."

Thanks to Mike Prisuta of "Talkin' Steelers Football" for the accurate 6-word analysis of the Harrison v. Seymour fine controversy. Listen to the discussion at Talkin' Steelers Football - 11/23/10.

Steelers Rip Raiders

I was glad Tomlin got my memo about Randle El's sub-par play and the need to activate Antonio Brown. In spite of going through every O-Lineman on the roster and a season's-worth of poor officiating the defense dominated and the offense managed to accumulate 35 points. 


I had commented prior to the game concerning the irony that the offense had only managed to score more than 27 points once since Mr. R's return after getting a season-high 38 in Game 3 at Tampa Bay with Charlie Batch at QB. After a four play start to the game (for the second consecutive week), the offense was opened-up a bit by Bruce Arians. The defense returned to pre-New England form and, at the end of the first half, the outcome was basically decided.


They go into Buffalo next week against a Bills team that has won twice after losing their first 8 games. I don't think a Steelers letdown or a Buffalo trifecta is in the offing. So barring any additional O-Line injuries or an offensive disaster... Steelers 30 Buffalo 10.


Oh, and the new kicker did fine; 5 XPs means a good game all around.