I’ve watched this video twenty times and you know what? It never gets old!

Don’t get me wrong. When it happened, I was not happy. On the contrary, I was concerned because the Pittsburgh Steelers were only up by a field goal. It definitely appeared that the undefeated Minnesota Vikings were closing in on the tie if not the go-ahead touchdown. Then the Steelers defense rose to the occasion, picking off Brett Favre and leading the Black and Gold to glorious victory.

So now I can gloat.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I’m not a fan of Will.i.am Gay. For one thing, he acted like a complete moron at the Super Bowl Victory Parade. But what really grills my cheese is the way he poses and celebrates after making the most ordinary of plays. I’m not some old geezer. I don’t mind guys celebrating, say after catching the winning TD pass in the Super Bowl. However, Gay seems to think tackling somebody for a two yard loss is worthy of a choreographed dance straight out of an episode of Glee.

Thanks to Brett and his Fighting Wranglers, I have a new reason to dislike Gay. He sucks at football. If you saw the game, you probably noticed they targeted him all day. He blew one play where he was supposed to blitz but stopped long enough for the ball to go lofting over his peabrained head. On a crucial third and long, Gay totally whiffed on trying to tackle Percy Harvin. He misses a lot of tackles because he doesn’t wrap people up so much as dive desperately at their feet hoping an ankle falls into his mitts.

I didn’t worry much when Bryant McFadden left to join the Arizona Cardinals Pittsburgh West. After all, B-Mac only started one year and was routinely beaten out by ninety-five year old Deshea Townshend. Hindsight being 20/20, I realize we’re going to miss him. Gay has blazing speed but is a lousy tackler with mediocre coverage skills. Maybe Mike Tomlin, who started out as a secondary coach, can coach him up but I’m not holding my breath. We’ll have to make due until next year when either rookie Joe Burnett is ready to start or we take a better corner in the draft.

In the meantime, I’ll relish the irony of the above play. Gay has spent this season trying to draw attention to himself and his meager accomplishments. Well, he’s got attention now. From this point forward, whenever a “Best Plays of 2009″ highlight package airs, I’m sure you’ll see the clip of young Will.i.am getting JACKED UP by Purple Jesus. Be careful what you wish for…

Watching this video sends a shiver down my spine.  It makes Al Pacino’s “one more inch” speech from Any Given Sunday seem lame by comparison.

That fiery orator is Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown.  He’s a member of the Lucky Genes Club as his father was legendary NFL coach Paul Brown.  Hopes were high that some of his father’s genius was passed down to his son when Mike assumed control of the team in 1991.  Unfortunately, despite Mike’s charismatic leadership, the Bungles have only managed to accumulate 102 wins against 188 losses.

The Bengals were featured on HBO’s documentary/reality series Hard Knocks.  We were given the chance to witness the inner workings of an NFL franchise from the first day of training camp up through the start of the regular season.  This gave us the opportunity to witness behind-the-scenes moments like Mike Brown addressing his players.  I don’t know about you but his words sure inspired me.

My favorite part was when he said their terrible season, “Left us open to criticism from the media, who mocked us.“   What criticism?   Oh, he probably means things like, “Mike Brown drafts worse than Al Davis.”   Or “Trojan provides more protection for Carson Palmer than Mike Brown.”

No doubt thanks to Mike’s inspirational pep talks, the Bengals seem to have an air of confidence about them.  Chad Johnson Dick Ochocinco has vowed to make our cornerbacks kiss his baby or da baby or something about a baby.  Not to be outdone, our superstar wide receiver Hines Ward has vowed that he’d gladly obliterate LB Keith Rivers‘ jaw once again, despite Herr Goodell (Sieg Heil!) passing more rules to pussify the game.  Cincy comes in to this Sunday’s game at 1-1, the same record as your World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers.  Not to put too much emphasis on such an early season game but division games are crucial at any time of the year and after last week’s debacle in the Windy City, the Steelers really need to right the ship before they need an pep talk of their own from Ambassador Rooney.

Sports Illustrated released their semi-annual list of the best owners in sports. To no surprise, the Rooney family were named the best owners in the NFL. When you helm the most successful franchise in football history, you deserve all the accolades which come your way.  Just think, if not for some horse at some race track back in 1933, the late great Art Rooney doesn’t win the $2,500 he used to buy the team that would some day be known as the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I hope everybody’s wearing green, bought their corned beef and cabbage for dinner, and enjoying a nice cup of Irish Coffee (easy on the coffee, heavy on the Irish).  Or, if you’re like me and are currently employed at a place of business which frowns upon showing up half in the bag, my drink of preference this time of year:  Shamrock Shakes.  I’m not really a milkshake drinker since I’m somewhat intolerant of milk products, let’s call it lactose impatient.  However, I do have a weakness for those frothy green concoctions.  Maybe it goes back to my comic book obsessed childhood when I refused to drink any form of dairy so my parents bought them and convinced me drink them by telling me they were “Hulk Juice.”

How does any of this relate to football and/or the Pittsburgh Steelers?  Well, our beloved owner, Dan Rooney, is a proud Irishman himself.  He’s also a proud supporter of President Barack Obama.  Despite being a lifelong Republican, Mr. Rooney finally realized the folly of his ways and shifted his support to the charismatic Democrat who is trying his damnedest to lead us out of the abyss our inept former Commander-in-Chief landed us in.  While there is no way to accurately measure how valuable his support was, President Obama did manage to carry the state of Pennsylvania by a narrow margin, thanks in large part to rousing success in the Pittsburgh area.

President Obama has decided to reward Mr. Rooney for his support by naming him the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. Mr. Rooney has long been interested in and involved with Irish issues as far back back as 1976 when he co-founded the American Ireland Fund which provides money and support for programs designed to foster peace in Ireland.  He’s been officially involved with the Pittsburgh Steelers since 1960 when he was named Director of Player Personnel until Chuck Noll came aboard and he ceded the position to his brother while moving up to Team President.  Mr. Rooney has been an involved but not meddlesome owner for the better part of the past 25 years.

Although his son, Art Rooney II, has since assumed his father’s role with the team, his acceptance of this position will be a pretty big change for the NFL, who is used to him taking a leadership role on important issues, and for the legendary franchise that is used to having their beloved boss in his office or on the practice field every day of the year.

st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:”";
mso-padding-alt:0pt 5.4pt 0pt 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0pt;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;}

Her name is Kate Mara.

This Sunday, her loyalties will be divided like those of nobody else. Kate, you see, is the perfect fusion of two of football’s greatest families. Her father, Chris, is the son of legendary New York Giants owner Wellington Mara. Her mother, Kathleen, is the daughter of Tim Rooney, one of Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art’s boys.

Kate is an actress. She’s probably best known for playing a nutjob analyst on the greatest show in the history of television “24.” The reason I chose that picture of her is besides the fact she’s hot (duh), it perfectly sums up her mixed heritage. You have the pretty, stick-thin actress aspect which represents her New York side and she’s toting a big-ass shotgun which has Pittsburgh written all over it.

I know this doesn’t have much to do with football but would you rather read the 528th article about the Class of 2004 QB Draft or gawk at Kate? Anyway, on to my preview of this week’s tilt between the New York Football Giants and our Pittsburgh Steelers.

STEELER DEFENSE vs. GIANTS OFFENSE

They changed the offense under coordinator (and Steeler castoff) Kevin Gilbride by getting rid of so many deep pass patterns and utilizing more short patterns and come back routes. These safer throws help cover QB Eli Manning’s greatest weakness, his accuracy, which is key to his sudden emergence as an elite quarterback.

Nevertheless, the strength of this offense is the running game. Brandon Jacobs is far better than given credit for since he averaged 5.0 yards a carry and is very unfun to tackle because of his size. He’s not Reggie Bush by any stretch, but he’s far more elusive than say Christian Okoye was. Derrick Ward was supposed to be featured on passing downs and as a change-of-pace back but his explosive ability has many saying he should be given equal chance to carry the ball. This two-headed monster is complimented by a third excellent back in Ahmed Bradshaw.  They will be coming at the Steelers all day so Blitzburgh better be ready to clamp down on the run or the entire playbook opens up to the Giant offense.

Their O-Line deserves a lot of credit for their success running the ball as they have quality run blockers at four of the five positions. Rich Seubert is a severely underrated left tackle. Chris Snee is really good, although he does struggle with penalties. Plus he’s married to head coach Tom Coughlin’s daughter so he knows if he doesn’t play well, he’ll likely be sleeping on the couch when he gets home.

While run blocking is a strength, the line does have questions when it comes to protecting the quarterback. One of the key players last season was Kareem McKenzie. McKenzie has always been known as a run blocker over a pass protector. However, last season he put it all together in time for their stretch run. If McKenzie had struggled in pass protection like he had in previous years, it would’ve been nearly impossible for their offense to do anything with two offensive tackles needing help. David Diehl, the other weak link, is a good run blocker, but led the league in sacks allowed as he simply can’t keep up with good speed rushers.

The Black and Gold Wrecking Crew of LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison should get some pressure on Eli. This will be key as in their embarrassing loss to the hapless Browns they reverted back to their pre-Super Bowl form of Manning running around ragged, forcing things, and making bonehead mistakes.

Because he knocked off the hated Patriots, I’ll always be a fan of Eli. But realistically, he only played really well in week 17 last year, was about average against Tampa, and then only attempted 18 passes in the Dallas game. He was terrific against the Packers but if you watch the Super Bowl, he started making those bad decisions again and was just incredibly lucky. His highest season QB rating is only a 77.

Manning’s big weapon in the passing game is another old friend, Plaxico Burress. If you remember all the reasons we weren’t sorry to see him go they still apply here. Yes, he came up really big in the playoffs last year but considering how many big games for the Steelers where he pulled a disappearing act, it’s almost too little too late. He’s Eli’s favorite target and with his size, he should give our smallish corners fits. CB Bryant McFadden has a broken forearm and will be out several weeks so the nickel corner will now be the unfortunately named William Gay.

STEELER OFFENSE vs. GIANTS DEFENSE

The G-Men run a 4-3 scheme that is based on the scheme that the Eagles use as D-Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was a longtime assistant under Jim Johnson. This means lots of blitzing, stunting, and changes in coverage. This also means we’re facing nearly an exact copy of the defense which sacked QB Ben Roethlisberger approximately 37 times in our only loss of the season.

Except the Giants D has more talent. They held opponents to an 83.4 QB rating last year. They were solid against the run (3.8 yards allowed per carry) and led the league in sacks. We’ll learn if our revamped offensive line has really improved since the Philly debacle or if it has simply been a result of playing sub-standard teams. LT Marvel Smith is still recovering from the back spasms he experienced three weeks ago so his return is uncertain. If he can’t go, the $7 Million Dollar Man Max Starks will actually have to earn his grossly inflated pay. He looked decent last week against Cincy but c’mon, it’s the Bungles. RG Darnell Stapleton continues to impress but he will be tested against the Giants excellent DTs.

Of course, I again refer to the Browns game where immobile statue Derek Anderson had all day and night to throw the ball. The Giants have suffered a lot of loss on defense, notably the retirement of Michael Strahan and the season-ending injury to every hooker’s nightmare Osi Umenyiora. Whether or not these losses have finally caught up to them or if that game was just a fluke will deteremine what happens on offense for Steelers.

Barring any last second incidents such as walking under a ladder or breaking a mirror, Pothole Willie Parker should finally return from his sprained knee. Mewelde Moore has been nothing short of spectacular in his place so I wouldn’t expect a heavy workload for FWP. In fact, I’m sure they’ll split the carries until he works himself back into game shape.

Loosening up the Giant D will likely fall to Big Ben and his receivers. One reason the Pats were such favorites last year was on paper the biggest weakness for NY is their corners. Sam Madison is a gamer. He was supposedly done 3 years ago and he doesn’t have nearly the quickness or athleticism he had back then but somehow manages to hold his own. Corey Webster was horrible last year but then played the game of his life against Randy Moss. Aaron Ross didn’t put up good pass defense stats either although he’s a great blitzer.

Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, and the Tiffin Thunderbolt Nate Washington should be able to work against this secondary. The Browns passing game had little problem and even pathetic Cincy kept their game competitive because they could throw on them. As long as our line keeps Ben upright, there will be plays to be made. That’s one big “if” though.

Both teams are currently 5-1.  Both teams also have yet to play any real stiff competition.  This week will be a huge gauge of exactly how good they truly are.