So much for class.

Mike Tomlin used his weekly press conference to talk positively about the Pittsburgh Steelers and their playoff chances.  He spoke highly of overrated quarterback Joe Flacco and even said nice things about obnoxious loudmouth Terrell Suggs.  Hopefully someone other than Jonathan Scott tries to block him this time.  The closest Tomlin came to uncouth trash talk was when he referred to the Ravens as “a very salty group.”

Meanwhile, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh used his press conference to show why he’s the perfect leader for a gang of thugs.  “I was glad we broke his nose,” Harbaugh commented to reporters yesterday.  To which the Baltimorons in attendance giggled with glee.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find out the coach who represents the area and the reporters who live there have taken on the low-class behavior typical to that decaying hellhole of a city.

Say what you like about Brian Billick but at least he always kept the fact his team was the dirtest bunch of cheaters in the NFL to himself.  It’s nice to know the Ravens are lead by a man who is not only proud of his team’s goonish behavior, he endorses it.  Newsflash for you, Johnny Boy, what Haloti Ngata did ILLEGAL.  He was fined $15,000 for his disgraceful actions and should have been suspended if not for the NFL’s anti-Steeler bias.

I wonder what would happen to Tomlin if the Ginger Dictator got wind of him encouraging his players to take cheap shots at their opponents?

Then again, this isn’t the first time the Ravens have publicly admitted to their criminal tendencies.  Ray Lewis broke Rashard Mendenhall’s collar bone during a particularly hard-hitting contest back in 2008.  Afterward, he and Suggs talked of “a bounty” being placed on certain Steelers’ heads.  The NFL, under the direction of known Steeler hater Ray Anderson, conducted a sham of an “investigation” before quietly sweeping it under the rug.

Ray Lewis did make a great hit on Rashard.  But then he had to jump up, thump his chest, and point at him so the rest of his defense could see Mendy was laid out.  Typical punk-ass behavior from “God’s Linebacker”, although what else do we expect?  Lewis would be in jail if it weren’t for football and Suggs would probably be his girlfriend.  That way he could put his purty mouth to use for something other than talking trash he seldom backs up and whining when his team loses.

Gotta love the Raven Way as endorsed by their very own leader.  Put bounties on the other team’s players.  Try to kneecap the other team’s star linebacker on an extra point attempt (as Chris Chester tried to do to James Harrison in their last meeting).  And attempt to break the nose of the quarterback who owns you.

Pure class.

Despite not scoring a single offensive touchdown, the Pittsburgh Steelers cruised to an easy 23-7 victory over the hapless Cincinnati Bengals yesterday.  It was far from a pretty, at least offensively speaking, but this Steeler team has clearly learned from last year’s mistakes.  They find a way to win the games they should win instead of playing to level of their competition.

Although when it comes to the Bungles, it’s almost impossible to play that low.

Cincy scored on their opening drive which would be their one and only fleeting moment of competence.  And even that was tainted by massive assistance from a clearly biased officiating crew.  Had they not been gifted 20 yards and a spot on the 1 yard line thanks to a ridiculous pass interference penalty against Ike Taylor, the Bungles wouldn’t have crossed mid-field until late in the fourth quarter.  The only question was how long the Steelers sputtering offense would allow them to hang around before putting the game away.

Ben Roethlisberger is made of iron.  Or steel.  Or adamantium.  Whatever your super-strong metal of choice.  I don’t think even Ivan Drago could break him.

Big Ben took the kind of beating usually reserved for pinatas or Tom Cable’s ex-wives.  Cincy’s four sacks don’t begin to convey the number of hits this man absorbed, most of which were so very very late I could time them with an hourglass.  The amount of filthy and illegal shenanigans the Bengals got away with was absolutely disgraceful.  The Steelers got so fed up a mini-battle royal erupted after the game.  Although nobody was victimized more than Big Ben.  Following one sack, a cowardly Bengal attempted to knee his broken nose.  Later, another sacker fell on his broken-sprained ankle.  On just a single play, Ben was smacked upside the helmet (again), then horsecollared (again) when he escaped to discover not a single flag from the refs (again).

To prove they did indeed have yellow hankies in their pockets, the officials threw them quite often on the Steelers offensive line.  LT Jonathan Scott is now the 2nd most penalized linemen in the NFL.  Unfortunately, most of these flags are justified.  Even though I did appreciate Steeler Nation greeting the officials with a “Refs, You Suck!” chant.  That began shortly after two consecutive holding penalties turned a 1st and 10 at midfield into a 1st and 30 deep in our own end.

Naturally, the Bungles are who we thought they were and a leaping 29 yard snag by Hines Ward got us off the hook.  Hines had a fantastic game, catching 8 balls for 115 yards.  Guess local windbag Mark Madden will have to postpone his next “Hines is nearing the end!” rant for a couple weeks.  Mike Wallace (5/78) also made a nice catch later in the game although the highlight reel play was Antwaan Randle-El’s brilliant one-handed stab to set up the Steelers first FG.

Rashard Mendenhall redeemed himself for last week’s cowardly performance.  Although he finished with only 66 yards, they were tough yards.  As with Ben, the O-line did him no favors.  Instead of finding a hole, he just had to put his head down and plow forward.  Isaac Redman only had 1 carry which is kinda ridiculous since I don’t care how young or in shape Mendy is, he’s going to be a beaten-up shell unless they start splitting some of his workload.

Ben and Rashard combined on one of the best screen passes you’ll ever see.  It started as a flea-flicker, which was quickly blown up by a Bengal in the backfield.  Ben somehow managed to shot-put the ball back to Mendy, who took it 9 yards.  I understand trying to manufacture offense but as usual B.A. does it in the dumbest way possible.  He actually called a Dennis Dixon play with Banged-up Ben under center.

Seriously, who the hell calls a QB Draw with a guy who has a broken-sprained foot and surgically reconstructed snoot?   Bruce Arians, that’s who.

One coach who had a good day was Dick LeBeau.  Games like yesterday’s are exactly why I have little tolerance for armchair coaches who criticize him for “not making adjustments” or claim “the game has passed him by” or whatever nonsense.  LeBeau is the not only the best defensive mind in football, he may very well be the best D-coordinator ever.  If there is a breakdown, it’s because the players either aren’t talented enough or screw up an assignment.  With Arians or Mike Tomlin, it is fair to question their decisions.

In LeBeau We Trust.

The defense played absolutely lights-out, forcing three turnovers while holding Cincy under 200 yards of total offense.  As I predicted in Know Thy Enemy, they switched Ike to T.O. which allowed Ochocinco to have his best game against the Steelers in forever.  However, neither Tweedledumb nor Tweedledumber were much of threat with a complete lack of running game (34 total yards!) and inept QB play holding them back.  Oh, Carson Palmer, how far you have fallen.

Funny thing was, Troy Polamalu narrowly missed an interception by jumping a route early in the game.  So on THE VERY NEXT DRIVE they run the exact same play and this time Troy gets the Pick-Six.  Soaring into the end zone on a wing and a prayer wasn’t exactly the best move for Troy’s gimpy ankle but given our lousy offense, I don’t blame him.  Early in the fourth quarter, LaMarr Woodley also jumped a route for an almost identical looking Pick-Six.  Then to close out the game, Troy picked off his former USC roommate one last time as a farewell present.

On the attempted run-back, or in this case limp-back, Troy looked around for somebody to lateral to.  He spotted Bryant McFadden by himself about half way across the field and launched a silly pass to him which B-Mac was luckily able to fall on before disaster ensued.  Despite being up 16 with the game sealed, LeBeau, channeling Clint Eastwood in “Gran Torino,” grabbed Troy by the shoulder pads and gave him an earful.  Again, how many coaches would chew out any player, let alone the team’s biggest star, after they basically win the game for you?   That’s Dick LeBeau and that’s why the players call him Coach Dad (He did give him a hug a few moments later.  Troy is a sensitive young man.).

Shaun Suisham continued to be the Anti-Skippy, steady and dependable with 85% less peroxide.  Good thing since he has been our most consistent weapon as the Steelers have now scored two offensive TDs in three games.  Don’t buy any of this stupidity about the Bengwads D playing a good game.  The line is a complete mess with Ben getting harassed and/or smashed every time he drops back and precious little running room for Mendy.  And now the Jets come to town!

Buckle up your chin strap, Big Ben.  It’s going to be another looooong afternoon.

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall spent his off day in Monroeville helping fans over at the FedEx Office get their packages out in time for the holidays.  It’s part of FedEx’s national “Pack and Ship” promotion giving customers a chance to win 2011 season tickets by simply going online and registering at www.fedex.com/packwiththepros. Given Mendy’s occasional butterfingers, I sure hope none of those boxes were marked “Fragile.”

After playing the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday, perhaps Rashard can share a few packing tips with Marvin Lewis. When this season is over, he’ll be boxing up his belongings as he seeks gainful employment elsewhere.  Hey, I hear Pitt is in the market for a new head coach.  Once he’s finished babysitting immature clowns like Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, dealing with nineteen year old frat boys will seem like a walk in the park.

STEELERS DEFENSE vs. BENGALS OFFENSE

Credit where credit is due:  Owens absolutely tortured the Steelers in the first meeting between the two teams.  Since then, the Bengals have lost four straight as T.O. thinks of new and creative ways to throw his team under the bus.  He’s only signed for this year so it’ll be interesting to see who’s the next sucker to take him.  Despite being more cancerous than an asbestos jock strap, somebody will give him a contract.   Hello, Dan Snyder!

Cedric Benson has completely fallen off the map while Carson Palmer has struggled to the point there are whispers in Cincy that it may be time to take a quarterback with what appears to be a top 5 draft pick.  I think Palmer would benefit greatly by getting away from the stench of failure which follows this franchise.  Put him on a team like Minnesota or San Francisco and I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins Comeback Player of the Year.  There seems little point in keeping a 30 year old QB who’s never won a playoff game around when the entire team is need of rebuilding.

Remember, the Steelers had a Comeback Player of the Year of their own by the name of Tommy Maddox on their roster when they drafted that Ben Roethlisberger fella.  Smart teams always plan two steps ahead.  Then again, the Black and Gold are the ideal for how to run a franchise while the Bengwads are pretty much the poster boys for what not to do.

Anyway, back to the match-up.  The Steelers have a crappy secondary.  Bryant McFadden is coming off his worst game of the year and Willie Gay was the guy T.O. repeatedly torched the first time.  When the Steelers play a good QB capable of getting the ball off quickly, problems ensue.  Which is why despite a 20 point fourth quarter deficit, Palmer was able to bring the Bengals to within a completion on 4th and 5 from likely pulling ahead.   Hopefully, Dick LeBeau will learn from his prior mistakes, stick Ike Taylor (our only decent corner) on Owens, and then dial up enough pressure to cover everybody else’s shortcomings.

STEELERS OFFENSE vs. BENGALS DEFENSE

The first game saw the Steelers build a huge lead thanks to a fumbled kickoff, a blocked punt, a Palmer pick, a missed Bengals FG, and a TD pass by Antwaan Randle-El.  While you can certainly count on the fact a gutless team like Cincy will always find a way to lose, you can’t expect they’ll make that many mistakes.  Then again, the Steelers played an uncharacteristically sloppy game with Hines Ward fumbling, Big Ben throwing a lazy INT, and Skippy missing a crucial boot.  If both teams bring their “A” games, I don’t like Cincy’s chances since that match-up is roughly the equivalent of bringing a knife to a bazooka fight.

Our offensive issues in that first meeting were largely due to the fact the offensive line was absolutely decimated as the game progressed.  The bad news is the O-line is still a mess.  The good news is Flozell Adams, despite a high ankle sprain, practiced the past couple days and is expected to play.  The even better news, particularly if your name is Jonathan Scott, is the Bungles rank dead last in team sacks with a pitiful 14 all season.

Heath Miller, still suffering from post-concussion symptoms thanks to the dirty cheap shot by Jameel McClain, is not expected to play.  Ginger Dictator, if you’re reading, I would like to propose a simple rule change.  Instead of random fines or the Wheel of Justice, how about when a player is concussed thanks to a helmet-to-helmet hit, the guy who hit him is suspended until the injured player is cleared to return?   McClain losing $40,000 while we lose Heath for an extended period of time is hardly a fair trade.

Big Ben has practiced after the emergency nose job and other than wearing a plastic nose guard should be good to go.  By “good to go,” I mean “beaten to hell.”   I’ve seen pinatas suffer less abuse than Ben did last week.  But he’s a gamer and after a quarter or two, I expect he’ll be right back into the groove he found last week.  The Bengals give up points in bunches (fifth worst in the league) so scoring shouldn’t be a problem.

In many ways, this game is the key to the rest of the Steelers season.  Pittsburgh has only one tough game remaining after Sunday (the Jets next week) with two gimmes against the Panthers and Browns to finish out the year.  And if anybody watched that debacle Monday night, you know the Jets are far from unbeatable.  So I fully expect a 3-1 record down the stretch.

That would put the Steelers at 12-4 and almost certainly ensure a first round bye.  With the injuries this team has suffered, I believe they need a week off if they hope to make any noise in the postseason.  While on paper the Black and Gold are clearly the better team, Cincy always seems to find a way to play the Steelers tough.  A loss here and the Jets game becomes almost a must-win (which, as I said, isn’t impossible but far from a sure thing) as does playing out the string against the two bottom feeders.  So, for once, let’s hope the Steelers do things the easy way, win the game they should win, and turn their attention to next week’s battle of the titans.

Preach on, Ryan Clark.

A day after the Baltimore Ravens unrelenting thuggery was on full display for a national television audience yet was somehow missed by the stripe-shirted men actually paid to watch the action, the NFL has levied fines for their goonish behavior.  Of course as Clark points out, it’s too little, too late.  The entire point of protecting quarterbacks or banning helmet-to-helmet blows is to discourage them from occurring during the game.

If players knew they wouldn’t suffer any consequences until 24 hours after the fact, I’m sure a few of them wouldn’t mind footing the bill for mussing up Tom Terrific’s pretty boy looks.

The major fine came in the form of a $40,000 debit for Jameel McClain’s attempted decapitation of Heath Miller.   Apparently beheading is legal according to Sunday night’s officiating crew.  I’m shocked McClain was fined at all since the last couple helmet-to-helmet blows (including the filthy cheap shot which knocked Hines Ward out of the Patriots game) went unpunished.   I see the key to getting in serious trouble is to commit your malicious actions in prime time.

Or play for the Black and Gold.

The other fine was a pitiful $15,000 slap on the wrist to serial punk Haloti Ngata for smacking Ben Roethlisberger in the face.  Big Ben underwent minor surgery yesterday to restore his herculean nose to its former glory.  Ngata’s in the wrong line of work.  There are tons of airhead Hollywood celebutards who’d pay ten times that amount to have their coke-lined honkers reconstructed.

Besides wishing Ngata was penalized by the two refs WHO WERE STARING RIGHT AT HIM when he smashed Ben’s snoot, I was hoping for a real fine.  James Harrison writes check in $25,000 increments for far less because he’s “a repeat offender.”  Meanwhile, Ngata is a well-known goon, among the league’s dirtiest players, having been fined $10k less than two weeks ago for a late hit.

Why has his amount gone up a mere $5,000 while Silverback’s jumped from $5k for his german suplex on Vince Young to $75,000 for the sweet annihilation of Mohammed Massaquoi back down to $25k for the bogus flag on Ryan Fitzpatrick?

Because the Ginger Dictator has no freakin’ clue, that’s why.  Everything the league does is based on the random whims of this power-hungry despot.  Actually, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he has his big-boobed secretary personal assistant spin a color-coded Wheel of Justice and wherever it lands, that’s your fine.  I can just picture him jumping up and down and shouting, “Big money!  C’mon, big money!” whenever a Pittsburgh Steeler comes up for judgment.

Now that I think about it, no wonder Bret Favre hasn’t been punished for eye-raping a Jets employee with vile pictures of his love gun water pistol.  Despite a mountain of evidence he sexually harassed that poor out-of-work ho, the league has dragged their feet for almost three months.  Clearly, Ginger promised Jenn Sterger she could be the league’s secret Vanna White if she keeps quiet long enough for #4 to pack up his Wranglers and fade off into the sunset.

It finally makes sense!

Ben, Ben, Ben!!!

Despite suffering the second most famous broken nose in football history, Ben Roethlisberger manned up to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to a thrilling 13-10 come-from-behind victory over the despicable Baltimore Ravens.  Those expecting a war of attrition weren’t disappointed.  It was an absolute battle with Steelers falling by the wayside left and right.  When all was said and done, Big Ben and the defense both emerged with not only a crucial win but perhaps their finest performances of the season.

The tone was set on the third play of the game.  The Steelers unveiled their Pistol Offense in order to protect Ben’s broken-sprained foot.  Issac Redman caught a screen pass and took it 14 yards for a first down.  The Ratbird who pushed him out of bounds made sure to twist his ankle in an obvious attempt to injure his opponent.  That was just the first of a series of illegal acts as the Ravens played the most disgraceful brand of football I’ve seen in years.

A few plays after the Redman cheap shot, Haloti Ngata delivered a reckless palm strike to Ben’s schnozz on a drive-killing sack.  Ben’s magnificent nose was broken in grotesque fashion.  Now, I don’t own a striped shirt but I believe there is a foul known as “hands to the face.”  However, the ref’s flag stayed snugly in his pocket as the NFL’s obvious vendetta against the Black and Gold continued in full force.

The only score in the first half occurred two drives later.  Starting from their own 8, Joe Flacco hit Anquan Boldin with a 61 yard bomb over Ryan Clark‘s head.  A handful of plays later, Joey found Boldin standing all alone in the end zone for a 14 yard touchdown.  With the exception of two long passes, the Steelers defense continued their ownage of the vastly overrated Flacco.

Bryant McFadden was absolutely brutal on this play.  The Steelers smartly bracketed Boldin with B-Mac and Troy Polamalu.  Boldin cut right into the the double coverage but as Flacco rolled away from pressure, Boldin ran to an open spot.  McFadden just stood there with his thumb up his ass.

B-Mac was B-ad last night.  Some will blame his piss poor showing on a sore hamstring but his running didn’t seem to be that affected.  He was just making idiotic decisions all game long.  After a Big Ben INT gave the ball to the Ravens at their own 2, McFadden let them off the hook by covering the wrong man on a 67 pass play to convicted murderer Donte Stallworth.  Field position in a game like this is huge and that play flipped the field to Baltimore’s advantage even though it didn’t wind up costing the team on the scoreboard.

The Steelers mounted their first nice drive of the game to close out the half.   Starting from their 15, Ben moved them all the way to the Ravens 38.  On third and 10, Ben hit Hines Ward right between the numbers and Hines dropped it.  I wonder if Hines will tweet the lord’s name in vain like that whining heathen Stevie Johnson did after his blunder last week.

Ben picked up where he left off to start the second half.  A 23 yard catch-and-run by Mike Wallace set up a 45 yard Shaun Suisham field goal.   Sure is nice to have a sober field goal kicker for a change.  It’s a lot easier to put the ball between the uprights when you only see two of them.  Suisham, it should be noted, was also punting at this point after Danny Sepulveda suffered an injury to his plant leg.

Their next drive contained a play which will long live in infamy among Steeler Nation.  Utilizing a quick short passing game, the Black and Gold began moving the ball much more effectively.  Ben rolled away from pressure and attempted to hit Heath Miller down the seam.  Baltimore LB Jameel McClain CAME IN LATE and LAUNCHED his body HELMET FIRST into Heath, laying him out with a helmet-to-helmet hit.  With the exception of Richard Seymour’s criminal act a few weeks back, this was without a doubt the filthest play perpetuated by an NFL player since the so-called “new rules” went into effect several months back.

Of course, he wasn’t flagged.

Naturally, I expect McLain to receive a $5,000 slap on the wrist and a statement from the Ginger Dictator basically saying, “Oops.”  No excessive fine, no suspension.  Never mind if this was James Harrison, he would’ve been flagged for looking too mean.  Never mind if it was ANY STEELER, the ref would’ve not only flagged him, he would’ve been tossed from the game.

Shortly after Miller was assaulted, Flozell Adams hobbled off the field.  He got caught in the wash and had his ankle rolled up from behind.  For those keeping score at home, the Steelers were down to their third string tight end (Matt Spaeth was scratched before the game), their third string RT, and had no punter.  On the next play, Ben rolled away pressure again as his foot seemed to magically heal as the game progressed.  He hit Emmanuel Sanders, who had a bad drop earlier in the half, for 28 yards to the Baltimore 2.  Two runs netted negative yardage.

The running game was lousy yesterday.  Rashard Mendenhall is clearly afraid of the Ravens.   In the first half, he totally bailed on a screen pass in one of the more cowardly acts you’ll ever see.  On rushes, he’d tap his feet like he was expecting Cheryl Burke to come out of the stands and invite him on Dancing With The Stars.  Somebody clued him in later and he eventually started to just pound it straight ahead but it was a pretty forgettable effort from Mendy.

Despite battling injuries, cheap shots from Raven thugs, and biased referees, this was a fantastic nine minute sixteen play drive which not only shortened the game but gave the defense time to rest.  Regardless of whether you think they should emphasize the pass or run, the bottom line is long time-consuming drives on offense are necessary if you want to see this defense play at a top level.  It’s no accident the D got stronger and stronger as the night wore on.  Ordinarily, settling for three points after a nine minute drive would be a let down although, strange as it may sound, they did well to salvage a FG out of that mess to pull within 4.

The Steelers D, who finished with 4 sacks and did a great job harassing inept Flacco into making mistakes, forced two consecutive three and outs on the pitiful Baltimore offense.  With less than five minutes left, the Ravens took over deep in their own territory.  B-Mac had another brain fart, getting called for pass interference on a ball Flacco skied 10 feet over Mason’s head.  Two plays later, Troy came flying in on a blitz and tomahawk chopped the ball out of Joey’s hand.  LaMarr Woodley scooped the fumble and returned it to the Baltimore 9.

On the Steelers first snap, Ben pulled off a play for the ages.  Terrell Suggs, who had a monster game, had Ben dead to rights.  After grabbing him by the helmet (NOT CALLED), Big Ben managed to rip himself free and, with T-Sizzle draped all over him, shot-putted the ball out of bounds to save the sack.  After an incompletion to Hines, Ben hit Redman with a screen.  Redzone earned his nickname by breaking three tackles and muscling his way into the end zone.  It was an outstanding effort by a player who shows week after week he deserves to be here.

With Baltimore only a FG away from a tie, the game was still far from over.  Boldin had catches of 16 and 19 yards to move the Ravens to mid-field.  B-Mac threw in one last pass interference penalty to make things uncomfortably interesting.  After an incompletion and two short screens for minimal yardage, the Ravens faced a 4th and 2 from Pittsburgh’s 31.  The swirling winds in godforsaken Baltimore made a 50 yard FG attempt an iffy proposition so coach Jim Harbaugh elected to go for it.  James Farrior managed to get his hand up enough to force Flacco into a difficult throw which fell incomplete for the turnover on downs.

And just like that, the Steelers vaulted into sole possession of first place in the AFC North.  Despite battling crippling injuries, biased officiating, and absolutely disgraceful play by the Baltimore Ravens, the Black and Gold managed to pull out a decisive victory.  It was the kind of signature win this team needed to get momentum late in the season.  With three of their last four games against inferior opposition, this win could very well gain the Steelers a much needed first round bye which with the mounting injuries may prove crucial to having any kind of playoff run.