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.

At least my fantasy team won…

A week after getting manhandled by the friggin’ Browns, the New England Patriots marched in to Heinz Field and humiliated the Pittsburgh Steelers 39-26.  If the Saints game on Halloween was the low point of the season, this is the Grand Canyon.  Thirty-nine points are the most the once feared Blitzburgh defense has ever surrendered in a regular season home game.   The win also raises Tom Brady‘s career ownage of the Steelers to six wins against only one loss.

Where do I start?  The Black and Gold came out flat and predictable.  I swear run-run-DEEP BALL is all Bruce Arians has in his playbook.  Meanwhile, the Patriots had fire in their eyes.  Tom Brady was throwing hissy fits left and right.  Maybe it’s his time of the month.

Tommy Bieber marched his boys right down the field on their opening drive, throwing on our inept secondary at will.  The first of three touchdowns to Woodland Hills alum Rob Gronkowski was really the only “excusable” score of the night as William Gay had perfect coverage and was just beaten by a great throw and catch.  Don’t worry, Gay had plenty of bad plays left in him.

Bill Belichick is a genius, alright.  His brilliant strategy of “Find the guy Gay is covering and throw it to him for an automatic first down/touchdown.” is something only his keen analytical mind could concoct.  Gay couldn’t cover a fat girl in a sleeping bag.  Bryant McFadden was nice enough to lay out comfy 6 yard cushions for our guests.  In fact, I can’t think of anybody in the secondary, Troy Polamalu included, who played decently.  We’re ten weeks into the season and it’s clear this five DB nickel package they use against passing formations is NOT WORKING.

The Steelers offense didn’t fare much better.  Hines Ward was concussed on the final play of the first quarter on a helmet-to-helmet hit by James Sanders, snapping his streak of 186 consecutive games with a reception.  Actually, Hines was credited with a reception but the call was overturned on review.  Gotta admire the balls Belichick has for not only getting away with an illegal hit but challenging the play on which it occurred.  By the way, you watch, I GUARANTEE Sanders won’t be so much as fined for that flagrantly dirty hit.

James Harrison, you see, is the only player who pays for hitting people hard.

Speaking of James, did he play last night?  Did LaMarr Woodley?   James Farrior?  I must’ve missed them as the linebackers didn’t so much as harm a hair among Brady’s luxuriously flowing locks.  Much of it has to do with our revamped front three, who were pushed all over the field.  When the defense doesn’t get to the QB, we’re doomed because the secondary depends on hurried/bad throws to make up for their inadequacy.  Lawrence Timmons played but was hurt late in the game.  Losing him for any significant period of time will be an utter catastrophe.

The Steelers had only a little over 100 yards of total offense at halftime.   While Peyton Hillis gashed the Pats for 184 yards last week, Rashard Mendenhall never got on track.  Some of it is Arians clear lack of commitment to the run.  And some is the new O-line not getting much of a push.  Mendy had a couple nice runs toward the end of the half but the running game was completely abandoned when the Steelers fell twenty points behind in the third quarter.

While my fantasy team appreciates his epic garbage time performance, Ben Roethlisberger‘s gaudy numbers were piled up once the game was out of hand.  The revamped offensive line wasn’t great but wasn’t nearly as bad as some had feared.  They surrendered five sacks with at least three of them due to Ben holding the ball too damn long.   At this point it’s too late to teach the big doofus three steps-THROW! but this is why chucking the ball 35+ times a game is a losing proposition.  He simply doesn’t make decisions quickly enough or throw accurately enough for it to pay off.  For how badly the team played, the game wasn’t completely out of reach until Big Ben’s poorly thrown pick-six in the fourth quarter.

Not that his receivers are blameless.  Emmanuel Sanders is certainly no Mike Wallace.  He played like a rookie, dropping a number of catchable balls and running the wrong route on a pivotal play in the end zone.   Antwaan Randle El also got in on the act.  As much as I like ARE, he’s no Hines Ward when it comes to being a sure-handed safety valve.  We can survive losing Santonio but subtract both from the mix and this is a very mediocre group of wide outs.

As if terrible defense and a sputtering offense weren’t enough, our special teams also had their fair share of suck.  Jeff Reed missed a FG, actually a gloried extra point, as his Farewell Tour continues.  There’s a paper towel dispenser in for a rough night.

I apologize for the scattershot rambling nature of this recap but so many things went wrong last night, I have no idea where to focus my disgust.  The entire game was a complete disaster.  No running game, pitiful passing game, horrific secondary, zero pressure from the linebackers, Skippy being Skippy…  It’s a sad state of affairs when the Browns dominate teams (Saints, Pats) that blow out the Steelers.

After playing the Baltimore Ravens three times last season, including an epic AFC Championship game, it’s safe to say the Pittsburgh Steelers know this enemy quite well.  And if familiarity breeds contempt, these teams must outright hate each other by now.  Pittsburgh sports has a number of great rivalries, including Pitt-WVU who meet later today in their annual Backyard Brawl.   But I dare say none can compare to the Ravens and Steelers.

Earlier this week, the FOX medical drama “House” made a joke of the fact Omar Epps is a dead ringer for head coach Mike Tomlin.  In an ironic twist, Tomlin probably spent a lot of time this week thinking he was trapped in a medical drama.  The Steelers are getting absolutely hammered by injuries to key personnel.  Where’s Dr. House when you need him?

For those keeping score at home, Travis Kirschke continues to nurse a torn calf although he practiced this week and will probably play Sunday.  Of all the guys we could get back, Kirschke is the least important since Nick Eason and Ziggy Hood were doing a pretty good job in his absence.  LG Chris Kemoeatu sprained his MCL and looks to be out one, possibly two, weeks.  Undrafted rookie Ramon Foster will make his first NFL start.  Ben Roethlisberger has been monitored all week and seems to have practiced normally so should be cleared to play.  Finally, Troy Polamalu will reportedly miss a month with his knee injury which probably rules him out of at least the next two games.

The Ravens will be dealing with some injuries of their own.  Their best LB (sorry Ray Ray), Terrell Suggs, is out with a knee injury thanks to a heroic chop block by fabulous Brady Quinn.  One of their main corners, Fabian Washington, tore his ACL and is gone for the year.  Keep in mind this defense no longer has LB Bart Scott or S Jim Leonard, who went to the Jets this off-season along with mastermind D coordinator Rex Ryan, their new head coach.  The Ravens are going to be a hard-nosed football team no matter what but they are definitely weakened and depleted on the defensive side of the ball.

Offensively, Joe Flacco has taken another giant step forward from his already highly successful rookie campaign.  Last season, they tried to protect Flacco and keep him out of situations where the game rode on his shoulders.  This year, he’s been asked to shoulder more of the load and responded to the challenge.  Still, the Ravens remain a run-first and ask-questions-later team.  Flacco has the ability but Baltimore is lacking in quality targets for him. Last year’s top receiver, Derrick Mason, is 35 and coming off shoulder surgery.  If a team can effectively stuff the run, the Ravens run into trouble because their passing game seems limited to big play threat Mason and short safe outlet throws to emerging superstar RB Ray Rice.

Offensively, the story will be how Big Ben rebounds from last week’s brain rattling hit.  I would hope the Steelers try to lean a bit more on the running game to spare him unnecessary abuse.  Baltimore will have no qualms about dialing up the pressure and considering we’re playing with a banged up offensive line, one would think this is a good time for Bruce Arians to rein in his Flying Circus.  Of course the words “logical playcalling” and “Arians” seldom belong in the same sentence.

Finally, heads have rolled on the Steelers special teams unit.   CB Keiwan Ratliff and LB Donovan Woods have been cut.  Woods was just promoted from the practice squad as an alleged upgrade to the kick coverage but his only notable achievement last week was to get flagged to nullify a beautiful 35 yard punt return by Stefan Logan.  With the injury to Troy, they’ve used Ratliff as a safety in nickel and dime packages in addition to special teams.  Regardless of where he’s played, he’s constantly out of position and missing tackles.

Your newest Steelers are LB Rocky Boiman and CB Corey Ivy.  Boiman is an eight year vet who won a Super Bowl with the Colts back in 2006.  I don’t know anything else about him except he’s got a cool name.   Ivy played the past three seasons for the Ratbirds so we know him.  He was someone the Steelers repeatedly picked on as well as being the doofus that Limas Sweed obliterated in the AFC Championship game.  Regardless, their primary job will be to run down the field and make a lousy freakin’ tackle.  Hopefully they’ll succeed where others have failed miserably.

Believe me, the Steelers will need to be on their game in all three phases Sunday night if they want to escape with a win.  I know I’ve typed the words “Biggest game of the season” several weeks in a row but in all seriousness, this game is the season.  If the Steelers lose, they fall into a tie with the Ravens (one game behind with the tiebreak) and will be tied or a game behind three or four teams in the Wild Card race.  More importantly, a loss and I fear the team will mentally pack it in for the year.  Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Get ready to experience deja vu this Sunday night when the Pittsburgh Steelers face the San Diego Chargers.  If it feels like we play the Chargers an awful lot, it’s because we do.  In 2005, the teams played a memorable Monday nighter where Ben Roethlisberger was injured on the last drive of the game but the Steelers still managed to win thanks to a Skippy Reed FG with six seconds left.  The 2006 season saw Pittsburgh travel out to San Diego following their bye week and crap the bed to drop their record to 1-3.  Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.   We got a break from the Bolts in 2007 but made up for it in 2008 by playing them twice.  First, there was the infamous 11-10 game that should have been 17-10 if not for some of the most incompetent refereeing in recent history.  Finally, we met in the Divisional round of the playoffs, scoring a decisive 35-24 victory behind a huge game from Fast Willie Parker.

This year, the Chargers roll into Heinz Field with a 2-1 record.  Despite a significant decrease in production from the running game, their offense still ranked in the top third in the league last year. Philip Rivers posted the best passer rating in the NFL and has picked up right where he left off. Vincent Jackson and Chris Chambers make for a dangerous WR combo and TE Antonio Gates is still one of the best in the business.  Oft-injured RB LaDainian Thomlinson is showing the effects of having over 3,000 career touches and it’s anybody’s guess whether he’ll be suited up for the game on Sunday.  Fortunately for the Chargers, little Darren Sproules is emerging as a game-breaking weapon.

The Steelers offense will also have a bit of a different look.  FWP has been nursing a Turf Toe injury all week and his status is questionable.  He’ll probably try to go but if the injury hampers him too much, the load will probably fall on the detail-oriented Rashard Mendenhall.  Blocking for whomever carries the ball will be old friend Carey Davis, who was re-signed this week due to every fullback on our roster being out for the season.  I would like to amend my previous post to say when nuclear holocaust strikes, all that will survive are reality show airheads and Carey Davis.   Head coach Mike Tomlin has also indicated Limas “Butterfingers” Sweed will be riding pine in favor of veteran Shaun McDonald.

Defensively, the Chargers aren’t quit as intimidating as they once were.  Their unit really missed Shawne Merriman who went down and out with a knee injury after one game last season. The Chargers dropped from 42 sacks in ’07 to 28 last year and with the reduced pass rush, the secondary suffered tremendously. Merriman has already missed time this season with a groin strain.  See,  I told ya those threesomes were a bad idea.  Last I heard, he’s been practicing and is expected to give it a go this week which really makes a huge difference as far as their defense is concerned.

The Steelers will have no changes on defense, which is either good or bad depending on how you look at it.  Tyrone Carter, James Farrior, and Lawrence Timmons will be the guys most responsible for dealing with Gates over the middle.  If they play like they played last week, we’re in big trouble.  Also, would it be asking too much for what used to be the most dominating defense in the NFL to generate a turnover or two?  The team currently has 2 for the entire season to go along with a grand total of 4 sacks.  Both those numbers have to improve or this is going to be a looooong year.

The Pittsburgh Steelers earned an ugly 10-6 victory over the Cleveland Browns in a game so bad it was like watching the NFL version of a cripple fight.

Last year, the Steelers won a crucial late season game over Cleveland thanks in large part to some horrendous game management by head coach Romeo Crennel.  Proving an old Dawg never learns pretty much anything, Crennel outdid himself last night.  In a game plagued by howling wind (remnants of Hurricane Ike) and swirling rain, Romeo did his best to stymie any chance his bumbling offense had at putting points on the board.

The vaunted Cleveland offense has now scored a whopping total of 1 touchdown so far this season.  As much as I’d like to credit the voracious Steeler defense, they mostly did it to themselves.   The D-line did do a great job of stuffing the run but, as expected, the Browns superior offensive line pretty much kept Blitzburgh at bay.  Receivers were open and QB Derek Anderson had time to throw.  They just continually shot themselves in the foot time after time.  One drive was snuffed by a poorly thrown INT to CB Bryant McFadden (who had an up and down game in his first start), while another was ended by resurgent S Troy Polamalu’s INT (#2 this year).   That INT came after a chaotic drive to end the half where the Browns two minute offense more closely resembled a Chinese fire drill.

Worst of all was the gutless playcalling by Romeo and friends.  On a day where people around the NFL from Redskins TE Chris Cooley to Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan showed enormous balls, Crennel kept his playcalling so conservative even Sarah Palin couldn’t believe her eyes.  Down 7 with 3:39 to go and your offense knocking on the door, you don’t kick a FG.  For one, you’re going to need a TD to win anyway.  For two, you’re assuming that not only does your defense hold but they do so quickly enough that you don’t burn any time outs.  That many assumptions makes an ass of u and…  Well, just you.

So we had a game full of drives stalled with curious playcalling, many never getting off the ground due to penalties, and then the ones that failed due to drops.  In fact, supposed “superstar” receiver Braylon Edwards had at least two big receptions slip through his butterfingers on the way to a miserable game.

Not to be outdone, the Steelers had a really messy game themselves.  WR Hines Ward let several really catchable balls fall harmlessly to the ground.  The team was flagged for 7 penalties for 60 yards.  And head coach Mike Tomlin made a few bone-headed calls, namely an ill-conceived QB Sneak on third and short and calling a time out on a fourth down play where the Browns jumped off-sides.

Worst of all was the special teams play.  They did an okay job covering punts and kickoffs but the run backs were brutal.   RB Mewelde Moore employed the clever strategy of standing idle while watching punts hit the ground and then bounce 15 yards down the field.  The Browns punter was averaging 50 yards/punt when he was kicking INTO 55 MPH WIND!  On a late kickoff, RB Rashard Mendenhall (who strangely didn’t play at all on offense) did his best Barry Foster impersonation (in a bad way) by seemingly forgetting a kickoff is a live ball and then running into Carey Davis in an hurried attempt to field it.  The sheer badassery of Mister Woodley managed to frighten the ball out of bounds before the Browns could recover it but that could’ve been disaster.   Why can’t Santonio run back kicks?

Speaking of Santonio Holmes, his play was one of the lone bright spots tonight.  He made several spectacular catches and was the go-to guy.  Willie Parker chipped in with another 100 yard game.  And the offensive line once again looked pretty good, especially the Tongan Bulldozer Chris Kemoeatu.  C Justin Hartwig had some problems with DT Shaun Rodgers which isn’t much to be worried about because the dude is a freakin’ 350 pound behemoth.  I don’t think many centers can handle him one-on-one.

Still, a win is a win and I’ll take it.  The Steelers now take an early two game lead in the AFC North (really three games, due to the tiebreak) and with Baltimore and Cincinnati looking pitiful, putting distance between you and your chief rival doesn’t hurt.  Speaking of hurt, Ben Roethlisberger’s post-game interview with Andrea Kramer was both hilarious and disturbing.  She kept asking about the status of his sore shoulder and he kept blowing her off by talking about his offensive line.  Usually a player will smile or something when they’re jerking around the media but Big Ben looked very serious.  So either he’s comfortable being a dick or he was avoiding her questions because there really is something wrong.  And with respect to the other 52 men on this team, that is the one player we absolutely can’t afford to be without.