First of all, there are three quarters of regulation football that come before the fourth. Not that any Charger team during your tenure has regularly remembered this yet, but if you cared to remind them, that’d be dandy.
Second, fire Rivera already. I was on the fence about it last year, but after that…ye gods, man. I haven’t seen a secondary so committed to sucking mind-bendingly stupendous quantities of shit-encrusted monkey ass since, well, the 2003 Chargers. Every single Pittsburgh passing down saw a minimum of two defenders standing around with their thumbs up their asses ten yards downfield and fifteen yards from anyone wearing a black jersey. Send them in, have them cover somebody (like, say, oh, maybe, hmm, lemme pick a name out of a hat here HINES WARD)…anything, as long as it’s something.
On the plus side, Rivers shines in the clutch like he always does (although see point one re: other quarters), and the Charger special teams were beyond reproach.
Also, credit where credit is due; Pittsburgh played a hell of a game, especially the offense. Well done to Ben and the boys; they came in fired up, and reminded everyone why they are the defending champs.
Sucks to lose, but ah well. It’ll just make it that much sweeter when I’m there in person on the 19th to watch the Bolts beat Bronco butt.
If that damn game had 15 minutes of overtime like the Bengals v Browns game had, why the Chargers were going to…???
Sorry about the anti-Steelers rant guys. That was over the top. I can’t help but harbor deep dislike for them though. Please allow this pathetic Bengals fan his hate-filled jealousy. They’ve been kicking our asses for so long it’s a nightmare. Well shit, every other team until 2004 has been kicking our asses, too.
It’s a weird and ugly dementia to have to get over.
Random thoughts:
[ul]
[li]Some people, maybe many people, feel Champ Bailey is overrated but every time I’ve seen a team challenge him like Dallas did he has come up big.[/li][li]Cris Collingsworth is actually a pretty decent commentator. I’m not used to hearing any actual insight during the game any more. It’s refreshing. On the other hand, Joe Theismann is a drooling moron who needs to get the fuck off my TV as soon as possible.[/li][li]Drew Brees is scary good and they seem to be putting it together defensively. The Saints will be a tough team to bring down this year.[/li][li]The Steelers can’t get Polamalu back soon enough so they can finally unleash the LBs.[/li][/ul]
I like Collinsworth, for the most part he’s very insightful and attentive. I wish he’d learn the concept of less is more on occasion though, there’s something to be said for just shutting up and letting us see the game.
I want to use the Browns/Bengals game as more evidence of a point I’ve been trying to push for a few years: the QB is the most significant factor in whether or not sacks are taken. People will typically blame the offensive line for almost every sack - and in many cases it is indeed poor O-line play, but more often it’s the QB. Decision making time is the most important factor, and then pocket presence.
In 2007, Charlie Frye played behind a great O-line and took 5 sacks in the first half of the first game of the season. The O-line wasn’t getting him killed, he created his own sacks. Then Anderson comes in and plays 15 games - taking 14 sacks the rest of the season. Hmm, 5 in one half, less than 1 per game for the rest of the year, behind the same O-line…
For the first few games, the Browns - or I should say Quinn - had given up the most sacks in the league. DA gets in there and we had one sack - and it was his fault - Thomas had his guy blocked and DA ran outside the pocket for no reason and gave the defender an easy sack.
Which is not to say that the Browns O-line is great. The left side is, and the rookie center looked great today - but the right side still sucks. Still, if there’s a QB that gets the ball off quickly who can burn the blitz, he’s going to take way fewer sacks. A sack-prone QB behind a great O-line will take more sacks than a savvy QB working behind a sieve.
Tried to edit this in, but the board is being slow.
Anyway, I don’t mean to devalue pass blocking. There are many more options than sack/no sack. Good pass blocking will allow your QB to have the option to look to longer-developing routes, not force checkdowns so much, allow him to make something out of a broken play, and generally improve the passing game. And of course there are plenty of sacks that are on the O-line almost entirely. But I’m saying the biggest factor in the number of sacks taken is the QB.
I used to like Collinsworth, but last night he was getting on my nerves. I muted him almost everytime he spoke.
I agree the Steelers need Troy back - but I think I’d rather have him sit out one more game and come back healthy. If he comes back too soon he risks bigger injury.
I think you’re right SenorBeef. A third reason for sacks is the WRs not getting open or making the right reads against zone defenses. Actually the same goes for interceptions on that one. A few years ago Eli Manning had int issues but it looked to me like his receivers were at fault. Anyway, being a Steelers fan I’ve seen all the units getting blamed for sacks after last season but clearly most of it was on Ben. When the offensive line gives up the sack it happens fast. Protection breaks down and they’re on the QB before he can make any reads at all. When the QB causes it by being slow to make his read or the WRs cause it by misplaying their side of the ball you see the sack take longer to develop. Some of the Steelers sites have been doing a good job breaking plays down frame by frame so you can see the linemen chipping blocks and sliding protections. It makes a world of difference when you have Peyton Manning or Drew Brees making those lightning-quick reads that’s for sure. The offensive co-ordinator has some responsibility too in making sure there are outlet receivers or hot routes designed into the plays.
Then you missed the quote of the game from him: ‘Pittsburgh is kickin’ their stinkin butts!’ My new ringtone!
For sure. Tyrone Carter really isn’t a bad safety but so many plays have been designed around Troy’s ability that we’re suffering for it now. He lines up at the line of scrimmage when he’s responsible for a deep zone, lines up 10 yards deep when he’s responsible for blowing up a gap, etc. Offenses just can’t account for everything he’s capable of. The best part is Lawrence Timmons will be just as disruptive when his ankle heals.
7-0 Vikings. Favre was 5 for 5 with a TD on that first drive. His first ever TD against the Pack (well, at least the firstintentional TD against the Pack).
Completely off topic from the game at hand, but Michael Crabtree is flying to San Fransisco to resume talks with the Niners. Deion Sanders was hinting that a deal was almost certain last night on the NFL network. Considering how good the Niners look it will be interesting to see if it’s true and what Crabtree ends up getting, and a certain Fantasy team hopes he’s on the field sooner than later.
