The eagerly anticipated 2009 NFL season will kick off with the traditional Thursday night match-up featuring the defending Super Bowl champions. This year, that game will be your six time Lombardi Trophy winning Pittsburgh Steelers against the newly Albert Haynesworth-less Tennessee Titans.  Not only will we get a chance to see old friend Chris Hope, we’ll also get a chance to present the Titans’ prized free agent pick up, WR Nate Washington, with the ring he barely kinda somewhat helped us win.  It’ll also be a chance to meet up with infamous Terrible Towel stomper Lendale White and ask him how his little act of desecration worked out for him.  Sooner or later people will learn that messing with the Towel only leads to bad things happening for you and your team.   LenWhale should know, what with his horrid performance in the colossal choke job they turned in during the AFC Divisional Playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens.

Speaking of the Ratbirds, sources in the league have leaked the info that the big bad guys in purple have asked the NFL not to schedule either of their games against us in prime time. I guess getting whupped three times in one year is more than the poor wittle Wavens can bear and they don’t want their double humiliations this year broadcast to a nationwide audience.  Gotta love Baltimore.  They act so tough, thump their chests, and talk all kinds of trash about bounties and being the better team yet when it comes time to actually back up their actions, they whine and cower like a bunch of pussies.

Anyway, mark your calendars for September 10th.  That will be the date when your beloved Black and Gold begin their march toward yet another glorious year.  Man, that seems like so far away…

Don’t forget to post your guess in the first ever NPC BRLTCFB M&M Contest for your chance to win over a pound of customized Pittsburgh Steelers M&M’S.

The Baltimore Ravens descend upon Heinz Field once again this Sunday for the AFC Championship game. To say our rivalry just got kicked up a notch is like saying there have been a couple arrests made in Baltimore.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a number of rivals throughout the league. The Cowboys, the Titans, the Fighting Belicheats, and of course the Cleveland Browns. However, with the exception of the Brownies, we don’t play any of those teams twice a year every year. And Cleveland, well, geography may make us rivals but on the field the Browns haven’t been a threat to us in twenty five years. Which makes the fact the Ravens are easily Public Enemy #1 to members of Steeler Nation all the more ironic considering Baltimore would be Cleveland if not for a greedy little jagoff of an owner. Then again, who can blame someone for wanting out of Cleveland?

The True Rivalry as I like to call it basically was born in 1999 when Brian Billick became head coach of the Ratbirds. He, along with a couple guys named Lewis (Ray and Jamal), brought about an era of winning which culminated with a Super Bowl victory the next year. The following season, the Steelers dethroned the champs by eliminating them in the Divisional Playoff Round behind the brilliant play of a resurgent Kordell Stewart. Since then, bounties and on-field incidents have marred the games between these two teams as mutual respect has quickly turned to a healthy hatred. The Ravens returned the favor on the Steelers back in 2006 when they crushed us twice, ending any hope of defending our most recent championship.

You can read my analysis of our first two bloodbaths here and here. Not much has changed other than the continued development of QB Joe Flacco. Baltimore coach John Harbaugh seems to still have his young QB on a tight leash although to his credit Flacco has shown steady leadership you rarely see in a rookie. How much he can do, or is allowed to do, will be the story of the game. Also key will be the turnover battle. Baltimore was, frankly, outplayed by Tennessee last week. If the Titans didn’t make so many mistakes, they had the game in hand. QB Kerry Collins threw a stupid pick deep in Raven territory while RB Lendale White fumbled away another red zone opportunity. See what happens to people who stomp on the Terrible Towel, Tubby?

Another big thing will be what happens on the injury front. The Titans’ RB Chris Johnson was ripping off big gains early on. When he went down, the momentum dramatically shifted. In the first Pittsburgh-Baltimore battle, players were going down left and right. Since things can be altered dramatically with one play, let’s hope the Steelers can stay on the field. As it stands now, S Troy Polamalu and C Justin Hartwig are the only players dinged up. Hartwig seems good to go. Everybody seems to think Polamalu will be fine come game time but he clearly didn’t look like himself last week so let’s hope a week of rehab was enough and nothing happens to exacerbate the injury further. On the Ravens side, CB Samari Rolle and LB Terrell Suggs, two of their better defensive players, are hurting. Rolle is apparently a definite out but Suggs seems to want to give it a try although playing with a badly separated shoulder would likely limit him to being a 3rd down pass rusher.

Of course, Tennessee didn’t have their two best defensive players when they creamed us a few weeks back so even if neither one plays, don’t assume that means our offense is going to samari roll all over them.

Mike Tomlin makes his first appearance in an AFC Championship game. Previous coach and this site’s inspirational founder Bill Cowher was 2 for 6 in Championship games over his 15 year tenure. Interestingly, one of those wins came against the Indianapolis Colts lead by QB Jim Harbaugh, the brother of our opponent’s coach. Now it’s time to see if Tomlin’s regular season hocus pocus can turn the Cinderella Ravens back into pumpkins and send the Steelers to the fancy Ball in Tampa.

Over the previous three hours, the Tennessee Titans did something similar to the Pittsburgh Steelers, ending any hopes of a number one overall seed with a devastating 31-14 victory.  To call it the worst loss of the season would be a bit of an overstatement.  However, to say the game didn’t raise a number of alarms heading into the playoffs would also be a case of looking at the world through Black and Gold colored glasses.

The Steelers played a flat and listless game, showing little of the fire which ignited them to four straight victories over top ranked teams.  The first quarter was better suited to Halloween than Christmas as it was one horror after another.   First, LB James Harrison was lying on the ground with an injured hip.  Then QB Ben Roethlisberger was piledriven on a scramble which resulted in a fumble and backup Byron Leftwich loosening up on the sidelines.  Although Ben didn’t miss a snap and Silverback did return to the game later on (even collecting his 16^th sack, a new Steeler record), injuries to our star players were not what we needed this close to the post season.

Most disturbingly, we finally learned why Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians might not be patient with our long neglected running game.   The Titans, playing without key run-stoppers Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch, were ripe to be run on.  Arians obviously read the injury report this week because he dialed up run after run.  Unfortunately, Fast Willie Parker only managed 29 yards on 18 carries.  Brutal.

Almost as brutal as the draw play Arians called at least three times yesterday and lost 5-8 yards EVERY TIME he tried it.  Does this numbskull react to what is happening in front of him at all?  He also tried his beloved Empty Backfield set several times and every time Ben ended up sacked or running for his life.  I don’t know if its arrogance or stupidity which compels him to keep trying plays which fail over and over again.

I’ll go with stupidity.

When we couldn’t run on a terrible Indianapolis run defense, I figured it was due to FWP just coming back from injury.  When we couldn’t run against the mediocre San Diego run defense, I figured it was due to weather conditions.   Now that we couldn’t run against a team missing their key run stoppers, I’m starting to think maybe we can’t run against anybody at all.  And one dimensional teams seldom last long in the playoffs.

Not that the passing dimension looked all that hot either.  Big Ben had a miserable game, fumbling four times (losing two) while throwing two picks for good measure.  Once again, he fell into the trap of thinking he had to do everything himself and in trying to be Superman he wound up looking like the Joker.  The fumble where he was concussed, for example, was a perfect example of this shortcoming.  From the Tennessee 7 yard line, Ben scrambled around trying to make a play.  Without even looking at the end zone (where Nate Washington stood wide open), he put his head down and tried to plow forward himself.  Moving slightly faster than a club-toed sloth, he got swarmed at the one.  His other turnovers were all similar in that he tried to force passes or make plays where plays weren’t there to be made.  Also, Ben scrambling to buy time for a big play is good, Ben scrambling to try and pick up first downs/TDs is NOT GOOD.

Previous weeks, our offense has been varying shades of bad but our magnificent defense has bailed them out.  This week, thanks to that idiotic cover by the fine folks over at Sports Illustrated, our defense was merely good when it needed to be great.   For the first time this year, they allowed over 300 yards of total offense.  The most egregious defensive lapse occurred in the third quarter when RB Chris Johnson blew by the entire defense for a 21 yard TD on Fourth and one.  A similar defensive lapse occurred in the second quarter when WR Justin Gage scored on a 31 yard bomb.  Single player stats for the Titans don’t look all that impressive but their inability to stop big plays was really the uncharacteristic weakness of the defense yesterday.

The 17 point loss was the worst defeat for the Steelers this season.  Next week is a bye week with a meaningless game against the Cleveland Browns and then a real bye week before hosting a divisional playoff game at Heinz Field.  At this point, it is too late to work on things we need to improve on or worry about correcting deficiencies we’ve seen all season long.  We have the team that for better or worse is what it is going into this year’s playoffs.  We have a great defense, as long as it stays healthy.  Injuries to Harrison and S Ryan Clark (who popped his bad shoulder out again) got banged up yesterday but will hopefully be okay in a couple weeks.  We can’t run the ball and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.  We can pass the ball but letting Ben Roethlisberger chuck it 30+ times is an iffy proposition between his penchant for mistakes and the offensive line’s mediocrity (they gave up 5 more sacks yesterday).

Last minute miracles are great but it’s not something you can count on happening week in and week out.  Luckily for the Steelers, they only need three more to hopefully get where they want to go.

Going into this season, the Tennessee Titans were considered an afterthought in a division which contained the perennially powerful Colts and up-and-coming Jaguars.  Although they also made the playoffs last year, losing to the Chargers in the Wild Card Round, people seemed to think Jacksonville was the team primed to make the jump to the next level when Peyton Manning and company began their eventual decline.

The Jags were quickly exposed as an overrated farce of a team while Indianapolis stumbled out of the gate due to injuries to key players.  Meanwhile, Tennessee got off to a fast start and never looked back.  Throughout the majority of the season, the Titans have consistently been ranked the top team in the AFC.  While it was easily justied when they were undefeated, the team has gone 2-2 over the past four games and could even wind up losing the #1 seed in the playoffs if they were to lose this weekend.

While their opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers, have marched through the toughest schedule in NFL history, a close examination of Tennessee’s year reveals an assortment of creampuffs and pushovers.  Rather than just knee-jerk declaring them the best team in the AFC due to their record, it becomes more and more apparent that this is a team whose reputation is built on a lie.  In fact, going week by week through their schedule, it becomes more and more clear that this team hasn’t beat anybody at all.

1 – Jacksonville W (17 – 10)     Jacksonville (5-9) stinks.

2 – Cincinnati W (24 – 7)       Cincinnati (2-11) stinks.

3 – Houston W (31 – 12)     Houston (7-7) came on late but stunk early.

4 – Minnesota W (30 – 17)     Winning record but Gus Frerotte?  Really?

5 – Baltimore W (13 – 10)    Rookie QB on a team that we beat twice.

7 – Kansas City W (34 – 10)     KC (2-12) stinks.

8 – Indianapolis W (31 – 21)     Manning, Harrison, and Sanders were all hurt.

9 – Green Bay W (19 – 16)     Green Bay (5-9) stinks yet came thisclose.

10 – Chicago W (21 – 14)     Kyle Orton?

11 – Jacksonville W (24 – 14)     See above.

12 – NY Jets L (34 – 13)      Jets are overrated yet blew them out at home.

13 – Detroit W (47 – 10)     Detroit (0-14) really really stinks.

14 – Cleveland W (28 – 9)       Cleveland (4-10) stinks.

15 – Houston L (13-12)        Another loss, this to a non-playoff team.

From what I’m seeing, they have two quality wins (Baltimore and Indianapolis).  The games against the NFC North teams don’t count because that division is the NFL’s version of a Cripple Fight.  Two of them don’t have quarterbacks, the one that does has no defense, and the fourth is the Pittsburgh Pirates of football.  Every other game is either against a bottom 5 team or a loss.  Color me unimpressed.

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.