Christmas arrived early for members of Steeler Nation as they watched their team come from behind to pull out a thrilling last minute victory over the arch nemesis Baltimore Ravens, 13-9.  This win is truly the gift which keeps on giving as the Steelers have now clinched both an AFC North title and a guaranteed first round bye.  Also, thanks to Yuletide favors from the Houston Texans, next weekend’s tilt with the Titans is set to determine who has home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

I’m not one to say “I told ya so.”  Okay, I am.  But in this case, you have to trust me when I say I knew after Baltimore’s second offensive series the Steelers were going to win the game.  For all the praise heaped upon rookie QB Joe Flacco, much of it well-deserved, it was clear when the Ravens chose to run the ball on 3^rd and long that they had zero confidence in Flacco’s ability to do anything more than manage the game.  You can’t hide your quarterback in the NFL because sooner or later they all have to make plays.

Of course, Flacco didn’t exactly inspire confidence right out of the gate.  His third pass of the afternoon was batted skyward volleyball-style by Can’t See Me Ike Taylor where it was snatched out of the air by S Ryan Clark.  Flacco only completed 1 out of his first 8 passes and finished the game a miserable 11 for 28 for only 115 yards with no TDs.  Although Blitzburgh only had 2 sacks, he was clearly bothered by the pressure as he danced around the pocket while repeatedly rushing passes or overthrowing his targets.  He may be a good one for many years to come but now is not his time.

The Ravens defense lived up to their billing.  They are a hard-hitting bunch who make you scratch and claw for every inch of turf you gain.  They created two turnovers and did a good job stopping the run while preventing any big plays in the passing game.  The one surprising thing is despite blitzing at least 75% of the time, Baltimore managed only 3 sacks, one of which was due to the only dumb play QB Ben Roethlisberger made all game.  He ran around for way too long and by the time he decided to throw it away, Terrell Suggs was all up in his grill causing a sack-fumble.

In fact, the Steelers played a pretty sloppy game for the first three quarters.  They were losing the battle for field position (as is usually the case because of their horrid punters, although Mitch Berger did manage to break the magical 40 yard average and made a sweet tackle on a long return.).  WR Santonio Holmes fumbled to kill one drive.  Ben fumbled to end another.  Several of their best runs were called back on holding penalties.  The only thing keeping the game close was the beautiful violence of their defense repelling Baltimore at every turn, limiting them to three FGs despite excellent field position.

Today’s defensive standout was last year’s first round draft pick LB Lawrence Timmons.  He made the two most important plays of the game in the fourth quarter.  After the Roethlisberger fumble, Baltimore was on their 30 with a chance to drain valuable time off the clock.  Two runs went nowhere and then on third down Flacco hit Derrick Mason between the numbers.  Timmons obliterated him at roughly the same time causing the ball to go flying through the air where Deshea Townshend narrowly missed his second huge INT in two weeks.  Still, forcing a punt and the subsequent Steeler drive which netted 3 points was where the momentum of the game shifted.

Timmons second big play, and pretty much the play of the game, was his strip-sack of Flacco with four and a half minutes left.  Even though Baltimore recovered, the loss of yardage took them out of field goal range.  Had they gotten three, all they would’ve needed was another FG to pull out a win at the end.

Despite their understandable struggles against a really good defense, the Steeler offense actually looked decent this week.  I already mentioned the line, which afforded Big Ben ample protection considering he chucked 40 passes.  They put together one of their nicest drives of the season in the first half, mixing pass and run in a possession which chewed up six and a half minutes and resulted in a FG.  Bruce Arians clearly wanted to get the ball into Fast Willie Parker‘s hands as he called a number of runs and screens for him.  We all like Mewelde Moore and he may have saved our season by stepping up like he did but when you watch FWP make his darting cuts, turning 3 yard gains into 7, you realize what a major weapon he can be.  Although they fell away from running in the 2^nd half, Arians did show a bit more patience and desire to mix up the playcalling.

Speaking of mixing things up, one of the awesome things about our receiving corps is you never know who is going to have a big game.  Last week, Heath Miller and Santonio Holmes were the go-to guys.  This week, Hines Ward (8 for 107) and Tiffin Thunder Nate Washington (5 for 76) stepped up.  Of course, none of them would’ve done anything without Ben putting the ball right on the money.  He isn’t flashy and it’s not always pretty but the man is CLUTCH.  As I said earlier, in the NFL you need a QB to make the throws when you need them made and Big Ben does that.

Before I wrap this up, I have to mention two controversial plays which no-nothing sportscasters and whiny Baltimorons will no doubt cry about for weeks to come.  On the Steelers first FG drive, they converted a 3^rd and 1 which looked iffy.  Unfortunately, unless you’re standing on the field exactly parallel to the line of scrimmage, it’s hard to tell exactly where the markers are.  The Magic Yellow Line is not official and is oftentimes a good half yard off.  The second and most discussed call was Holmes’ game winning TD.  The refs blew it.  I’d like to justify their explanation but it seemed to be “his feet were in the end zone so it’s a TD” which I believe is wrong as you’re supposed to go by where the ball is.  However, Ray Lewis of all people made the most reasonable comments on the situation; the call may have cost them those last 7 yards but the allegedly super-awesome D giving up 90 yards prior to that is where the blame should lie.

Well, my fellow Black and Gold fans, it’s been a long road but we have accomplished what many thought was impossible.  Despite the toughest schedule in NFL history, we’ve amassed 11 wins, won our division, and earned a first round bye.  Best of all, this team seems to be peaking as we move into the final two games of the season.  I don’t want to sound greedy but I’m starting to believe the Steelers’ list of accomplishments isn’t finished yet.

Whoops.

Looks like Anthony “Booger” McFarland isn’t about to use the Terrible Towel as his personal Snot Rag of Doom any time soon. According to the Beaver County Times, the reason my witty headline went for naught is he failed his post workout physical. Shocking, I know, considering the reason he was released in the first place was he failed a physical. Guess that Wolverine-like healing factor the Steelers thought he possessed didn’t kick in yet.

I apologize for jumping the gun in bringing you the exciting news that we signed Booger. Serves me right for reading a Post-Gazette headline entitled “Steelers sign McFarland” and then seeing ESPN‘s news ticker confirm the news and believing them both. I should obviously know better than believe our city’s largest newspaper and the undisputed leader in sports. In the future, I promise to bring you all Steeler news three or four days late, thus ensuring the information is indeed accurate.

Speaking of exciting and accurate information, one signing I can confirm is the Steelers have re-signed defensive end Nick Eason. This is no doubt a case of having to settle for your second choice because your first one didn’t pan out. Kinda like in high school when you end up going to prom with that dorky girl you used to fling paste at in Kindergarten because the cute blonde cheerleader you really wanted to go with didn’t pass her physical. I suspect the clap.

Eason will be returning for his second season in Pittsburgh after coming over from the Brownies. That right there should tell you he’s a shitty player because the last good thing to come outta Cleveland is Drew Carey. Seriously, though, I admire the Steelers desire to keep their own players instead of acquiring other teams’ scraps but that’s only admirable if the guy, you know, CAN ACTUALLY PLAY. All available evidence suggests Eason cannot.

Which is a bit of a problem considering you’d want a back-up who could actually step in for, one might say back up, the starter. When Aaron Smith went down last year, Eason was given the start. And, as I’ve recounted serveral times, the rush defense blew. He was immediately replaced by Travis Kirschke. And the rush defense still blew, but it blew slightly less.

After the season ended and the tears from the Jacksonville loss had dried, head coach Mike Tomlin said the Steelers needed to get younger and better in the trenches. I don’t always understand Tomlin’s coachspeak but I guess by “younger,” he meant re-signing the 34-year-old Kirschke and by “better” he meant re-signing the guy who had to be replaced for poor play. Perhaps Tomlin knows something we don’t. Maybe he’s hoping that Ryan “Steely” Mcbean will, in his second year, gain the bulk, strength, athletic ability, and knowledge of the defense which will allow him to contribute to the team in a useful way. At this point, I’d give anybody a shot to break up the law firm of Kirschke & Eason.

Player Personnel Director Kevin Colbert would like to address the defensive line with a 2nd or 3rd round pick but we also need offensive linemen and there’s the big tall drink of water Ben Roethlisberger wants at reciever so, as I always tell my father, you can’t please all your mistresses. Once you’re past the third round or so, you probably won’t find any better quality than you already have. In which case, I hope they keep Booger’s number on the speed dial because, hey, maybe that healing factor will kick in eventually.

None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. The big goose egg. No, not the approximate nutritional content of a bag of Cinnamon Sun Chips, the snack fat people eat to pretend they’re eating healthy, and my latest game day food of choice. I’m talking about the number of sacks the Steelers much maligned offensive line surrendered to Cincinnati this Sunday.

Granted, nobody was about to confuse the Bungles with the New York Sack Exchange or Blitzburgh when it comes to rushing the quarterback. They were on the lower end of average in the NFL in that category. However, the past three weeks we played teams dwelling in the cellar of those standings, yet still managed to offer them Ben Roethlisberger on a silver platter time and time again. Not this week, though. Cincinnati arrived with 18 sacks as a team and guess how many they’re leaving with? 18 baby! Good bye. Thanks for coming. See you next year.

Overall, I’d have to say last night’s game on the soggy tundra of Heinz Field was, top to bottom, the best game the Steelers have played all year. It couldn’t have come at a better time, as barring a miracle, next week we take on the Greatest Team In The History of the Universe (from now on referred to as GTITHOTU). You might also know them as the undefeated New England Patriots.

Sure there were a few worrisome spots. The Injury of Mysterious Origin™ to Najeh Davenport severely cripples us at running back. As John Madden pointed out, something strange is afoot regarding his foot because he wasn’t even listed on Friday’s final injury report. And Willie “Like Buttah” Parker had a terrible time holding on to the football, losing two out of three fumbles, although luckily the one that got returned for a touchdown was the one they overturned. Sure the ball was slick but nobody else had that much trouble so either Willie needs a new pair of gloves or needs to learn the fine art of Stick’um. But why dwell on the negatives when there were so many positives?

WR Hines Ward had a career day, catching 11 balls for around 100 yards and two scores to surpass John Stallworth as #1 on the Steelers all-time receiving TD list. He made the big catches in traffic all day long. Big Ben, managing to stay upright and not running for his life every third play, made the throws he needed to make in less than ideal conditions and scored a big touchdown to jump start the offense. And for the first time this season, our special teams actually played quite well. William Gay and Lawrence Timmons had some nice open field tackles on coverage which give me hope that aspect of our team is finally on the mend.

Our defense turned in another stellar effort. The line and linebackers hurried and harassed Carson Palmer all day long. Despite the injury to Troy Polamalu, the secondary did an outstanding job covering Cincinnati’s Big Two + Chris Henry. CB Ike Taylor was especially wet blanket-esque, totally stifling Ocho Cinco for most of the game. If our secondary can bring their A-game next week, things could get very interesting in Foxboro.