A few thousand fans, teammates, and others gather to bid their beloved Donald Driver farewell.

I live in the land of Cheeseheads and these guys love their Packer football.  It’s palpable through all the news segments seen on the local stations 365 days out of the year.  It is a pretty special franchise, and as a diehard Steeler fan, it’s difficult not to give this franchise and its fans a nod of respect.  This week they get a big tip of the hat from me…. the problem is, it makes me feel embarrassed at the same time of my own beloved Steelers.

Donald Driver retired from the Green Bay Packers at the end of this season.  Everyone around here knew it was coming.  After 14 seasons, he decided it was time to hang’em up.  After six straight 1,000 yard seasons from 2004-2009, Driver’s production dropped off significantly.  2010 and 2011 saw a decline by more than almost half.  Younger and faster talent hit the field, and Aaron Rodgers honed in on those targets.  Driver was starting to take a back seat to the offense.  In 2012, Driver could be seen on the sidelines while the rest of the offense was marching down the field.  For those games I caught here locally, it was difficult to watch.  I’ve met Driver, and he is one class act.  I don’t think there is one Packer fan out there who wouldn’t want to see him end his career with one final hurrah and Super Bowl win.  And if that couldn’t happen, at least let him end on his own terms.  That’s exactly what happened for Driver, and he even had a big party to go out in style.  On Wednesday, Donald Driver officially retired from the NFL in front of 2,000 fans (who waited out in the bitter cold for hours to get tickets to the event) at Lambeau Field.  There were tears, but there were many more smiles.  There was a lot of Packer love from teammates, friends, family, and even the team president.  What a great send off – there’s even a street named after him now: Donald Driver Way.

Wouldn’t that have been great if Hines Ward got the same kind of final farewell?  A confined conference room at Steelers headquarters with just the media and some players somehow doesn’t give me the same warm squishy feeling.  The irony is thick…

Ward and Driver have had very similar careers that it borderlines creepy.  Ward played for one team for 15 seasons.  Driver played for one team for 14 seasons.  Both were fan favorites.  Both played with an extra level of intensity that made their presence infectious.  They both finished with over 10,000 yards and over 50 TD’s in each of their careers (Ward 12,083, 85;  Driver 10,137, 61).  They are both Super Bowl champions (Ward 2, Driver 1).  Ward was named Super Bowl MVP in Super Bowl XL.  They both have infectious personalities and smiles.  They are both class acts.  Now this is where it gets weird – they both competed in Dancing With the Stars, and they BOTH won.  Even more creepy: the football seasons following their dancing crowns saw them at their lowest production and their subsequent retirements.

Seems only fair that they should get similar send offs from their teammates and fans.  Except that’s not what happened.  Driver was able to walk away and got a big send off from his team.  Ward wanted to play one more year.  Just one.  That’s all.  The Steelers didn’t see value in that and cut him.  No one else wanted Ward either it seemed, and he was practically forced to retire.  Now I know it would have been more or less a dog and pony show at the time, but shouldn’t the Steelers have at least allowed Ward to announce his retirement in a bit more style and fanfare than that cold and depressing presser?  Why couldn’t he have bid a final adieu in the Steelers Hall of Fame at Heinz Field – a place where he will end up enshrined?

As I watched highlights from Driver’s retirement party, it made me reflect back to last year.  And, it made me think that the Steelers were a bit too apathetic to one of their own greats.  Hines Ward was done wrong, and it’s a scar that will forever be on the Steelers organization.  Hines Ward may have had all the better numbers over Donald Driver, but Driver went out the way a champion and Packer ought to go – he at least has that over Ward.  The Packers get the tip of the hat this week for being the better organization when it comes to legacy players like Donald Driver.  I hope the Steelers learned their lesson with Ward…. or maybe the Post Gazette will make a killing with all the one page ads retiring players will buy in order to give their retirement speeches.

James Jones won't be leaping his way to Pittsburgh any time soon. Credit: Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

It’s time once again to analyze the crazy musings about the Steelers from some guy named Lambert.  What’s on tap for today from our Gather.com friend?  Why it’s his two cents about Wallace and how the Steelers would be smart to replace him by shopping for another receiver.

This isn’t the first time that Lambert talks nonsense about how the Steelers might and should deal with Mike Wallaces unwillingness to sign with the team.  In his first whiff Lambert thinks the Steelers would best off to trade Wallace to Carolina because Steve Smith needs a younger replacement.  Not realizing that the Steelers would never trade their receiver for a lineman (as Lambert suggets) for many reasons, Lambert falls flat in his argument of the validity of such a deal.

Today Lambert continues his out of touch reporting on the Steelers with the idea that the Steelers would look to someone like James Jones of the Green Bay Packers for an option to replace Wallace.  Once again, where to begin?  First we have to look at the kind of receiver James Jones is for the Packers.  Jones is a #3 or #2 at best with most teams in the NFL.  The Packers receiving core is more crowded than a Permanti’s at noon on a Thursday.  Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Tori Gurley, Diondre Borel, Donald Driver, and Jermichael Finley.  That’s a pretty big depth chart.  Finley, of course, is their star TE, but he is a favorite of Rodgers.  Jones signed, strangely enough, last season after the Packers snagged Cobb.  The writing was on the wall that it was a crowded roster and that he would be hard pressed to get big numbers.  Jones does run a really nice shoulder fade – something that Wallace lacks – but that’s about it.  You could call him a one trick pony.  Hmmm, where have I heard that before.

Looking at comparison between the two receivers – Wallace and Jones – they are pretty different.  Wallace runs a 4.33 – one of the fastest in the NFL.  Jones runs a ‘slow’ 4.59.  In fact Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders are both faster than Jones.  So in no way can Jones ‘replace’ Wallace with his speed.  Unless there be rockets in them shoes.

Jones’ stats are also significantly less than Wallace’s.  Even for a pass happy team with Rodgers and Co., Jones caught only 38 passes for 635 yards and 7 TD’s in 2011.  Wallace had over a 1,000 yard season and had 8 TD’s.  The argument can be made that Jones’ numbers suffered because of the crowded roster.  But, you could say the same thing could happen were he with the Steelers.  Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Jerricho Cotchery, Hines Ward, Heath Miller in 2011.  Plenty of depth there.  Hines is gone, but the Steelers picked up Toney Clemons in the draft for a possible replacement at the #4 spot.  So where would Jones fit in all of this on the Steelers roster?  Without any significant talents, such as Wallace’s speed, Jones would just fall to the middle of the depth chart.  $2.3 million is a steep price for a #3 or #4 guy.  Cotchery is set to make $825k in 2012 to put it into perspective.  Not a great deal.

Speaking of deals, Lambert never actually states what the Steelers would use as a bargaining chip to trade for Jones.  Wallace?  Timmons? Clark?  Kind of hard to make a convincing argument if you don’t actually list the other half of the deal.

‘Like it or not though losing Wallace is a huge blow for the Steelers. His speed and skill are almost impossible to duplicate, let alone replace.’  - Erik Lambert

Like it or not, Lambert, your notion of trading for Jones is not a good one.  And, once again, it shows your lack of understanding of this team.  The loss of Wallace is not a huge blow – mainly for the reasons I listed above with the Steelers depth at a set of hands (Pope now included).  He may be ‘the talk’ within the media, but that’s because it’s the only dramatic thing happening at camp right now.  Otherwise it’s business as usual in Latrobe.

Nice try, Lamby.  ’Til next time.

On Sunday, the NFL’s fourth best defense faced off against the league’s number two rated unit.   So naturally what resulted was a crazy wide-open game where both teams combined for a shade under 1,000 yards of total offense.   Defense?  We don’t need no stinkin’ defense.   And when the smoke cleared, the Pittsburgh Steelers had ended their five game losing streak with a heartstopping 37-36 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

The tone was set early.  On the Steelers very first play from scrimmage, Ben Roethlisberger rolled right and unleashed a 60 yard TD bomb to rookie Mike Wallace.  The pass was slightly underthrown but DB Jarrett Bush never looked back for the ball allowing Wallace to make a great catch.  I’m sure nobody was happier than offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who has been doggedly trying to hit this play all year.   By the way, Bush is apparently GB’s version of Will.i.am Gay because the Steelers tortured him all day.

Of course, the thrill of that play was bittersweet.   Once Arians got a taste of passing success, the Flying Circus was off and running.   On our next drive, Ben followed a 28 yarder to Heath Miller with three consecutive misfires.   Green Bay took the ball at their 17 and provided some fireworks of their own.   Aaron Rodgers fired a gorgeous pass over the middle to Donald Driver, who broke free of a feeble tackling attempt by useless Tyrone Carter and outran the rest of our secondary for an 83 yard TD.

The Steelers answered right back with a nice drive mixing Rashard Mendenhall runs with short play action passing.   They were also aided by Green Bay’s sloppy play, as the most penalized team in the NFL got flagged twice on this drive.  A 12 yard catch-and-run by Santonio Holmes set them up with a 1st and goal from the 2.  Mendenhall scored a Bettis-esque  TD by bouncing off hits and bulling over four different Packers to put the Black and Gold up 14-7.

On their next possession, the Steelers caught a huge break.  Rookie LB Clay Matthews blew by LT Max Starks and crashed into Ben just as he was preparing to throw.  Everybody from the Fox commentators to Ben himself seemed to think it was a fumble.   I don’t usually agree with Aikman and Buck since their hatred of the Steelers is ridiculously obvious but even I thought it was a fumble.  However, the only opinion that matters is the ref’s and he called it an incomplete pass.

Starks was horrific yesterday.  Matthews ran right around him like a $10 million human pylon.  I don’t like when people jump down his throat because LT is a very difficult position and he’s been a solid performer but this is the second straight game where he’s crapped the bed.  This week he was beaten for at least two of GB’s five sacks, contributed to a couple others, allowed all kinds of QB pressure, and was penalized three times for good measure.

Anyway, the non-fumble non-sack still forced a punt.  Rodgers zipped yet another pass down the middle for a 49 yard gain.  I would like to blame somebody for this travesty but I don’t have my copy of the playbook handy and lord knows I don’t want to blame Ryan Clark for something he wasn’t responsible for.   Let’s just say both Carter and Clark whiffed on making a tackle and were bailed out by, I can’t believe I’m typing this, Willie Gay.  Gay’s hustle was very important because GB sputtered and then Mason Crosby shanked his FG attempt wide right.

Things quieted down for a couple series until a sack of Ben and a good punt return set GB up at mid-field.  Rodgers completed a bunch of short passes over to Gay’s side which brought them to the Steelers 14.   From shotgun, GB spread the defense across the field which allowed Rodgers to scramble untouched into the end zone.  The Steelers answered right back when Ben hit Heath for another 28 yarder then followed with a pass to Santonio for 33 more.  Once again, a sack set the Steelers back in the red zone.   But they still managed to score on a nice looking screen pass to underutilized Mewelde Moore.

And this was just halftime!

The third quarter was relatively quiet.  The Steelers had the only notable drive thanks to a pair of screens to Mendy, who was awesome catching the ball out the backfield to the tune of 6 catches for 75 yards.   Where has this been all year, Arians?!?!   Mendy followed a 25 yarder with an apparent 14 yard TD.  However, the Football Gods got revenge for the non-fumble non-sack by flagging Miller for a bogus offensive pass interference penalty which negated the score.   The Steelers settled for a Skippy Reed FG which sent them into the fourth quarter up 24-14.

Ugh.  A fourth quarter lead.   I remember once upon a time when a fourth quarter lead was money in the bank.   Then again, half the banks in this country failed this year so maybe that’s still an appropriate comparison.  In any case, I hate fourth quarter leads nowadays because all they do is give the Origami Curtain an opportunity to torture Steeler Nation in new and unexpected ways.

It started with a 13 play 70 yard TD drive where GB converted on FIVE third downs.  Once again, not to assign blame or point fingers but the TE scored over the middle when Clark got all turned around and couldn’t make a play.  The Steelers answered with some Ben to Hines love.   A 29 yard catch-and-run set up a 34 yard FG.  The Pack answered by unleashing a photon torpedo to Jordy LaForge Nelson for 27 yards.  On the next play, GB, who only ran the ball 8 times ALL GAME (and we thought Arians was bad), gashed the defense for a 24 yard rushing TD from Ryan Grant.  I don’t know what happened there but it looked like a Black Hole opened up in the middle of the field.  More Ben-Hines love in the form of a 54 yard bomb resulted in a 43 yard Skippy boot.  That’s not a gimme at Heinz Field, folks.  That kick pulled the Steelers back ahead 30-28.

At this point, Mike Tomlin made one of the most boneheaded coaching decisions in Steelers history.   Channeling his Inner Belichick, he called for an ONSIDE KICK up by two with four minutes left against one of the best offenses in the league.  Is he daring the Steelers to fire him?   Why not just grab Pam Oliver’s mic and shout, “My defense sucks!” while you’re at it?

Predictably, the attempt failed when Ike Taylor didn’t let it roll the necessary ten yards.  Green Bay took advantage of the short field to take a 34-30 lead on a 24 yard TD pass.   Rookie Joe Burnett, who rotated with Ike and Gay regularly all game, slipped making a cut and James Jones walked in for the score.   The Packers then converted a 2 point conversion (somebody must’ve had money on the game) to take a six point lead with two minutes left.

And that’s when Big Ben turned back the clock to the glory days of 2008.  In a comeback for the ages, Ben coolly led the team down the field.  He was aided by some fantastic catches by his receivers.  Heath caught a 22 yarder along the sidelines while Santonio had a huge 32 yard reception on fourth down.  The Steelers got a break when a pick was erased by a GB penalty.

Still, this was the Ben Roethlisberger Show and Big Ben did not disappoint.  In his finest game ever, he completed 29/46 passes for 503 yards.   Most impressively, he tossed three TDs against zero INTS.   This was a new Steeler record for passing yardage and one of the best performances by any NFL QB in the past decade.  With this game, Ben has silenced all his doubters and established that he belongs right up there with Drew Brees and Tom Brady among the league’s best signal callers.

Anyway, a frantic last minute drive, aided by numerous GB penalties, ended up with the Steelers on the Packer 19.  Two incomplete passes wound the clock down to 3 seconds left in the game.   In a play that looked eerily similar to the one which brought Pittsburgh their sixth Lombardi Trophy, Roethlisberger threw a pinpoint accurate pass to Mike Wallace, who dragged his toes while falling out of bounds.  An extra point later and the Steelers pulled off a Chrismukkah miracle.

Now, I’m as excited by this win as anybody but let’s keep our emotions realistic when using the p-word (playoffs).  It feels great to see the team play like champions but there were a lot of breakdowns yesterday.  They managed to overcome them because they finally showed some heart and intensity for a change.  It was a great win, albeit one where Big Ben almost superhumanly took the team and single-handedly saved them from the embarassment of another blown lead and a sixth consecutive loss (not to mention saving Tomlin from a riot).   But a win is a win and that may be the best Christmas present any of us could have asked for.