You know that I’ll be here. Could you ever really doubt that?
I think the offensive line is coming together. No sacks and very little pressure on Batch today, but even more importantly, about 200 rushing yards, 143 of them coming from Mendenhall. I love seeing the running game developing - doing what is needed in tough games, and blowing it open when it can. It’s very nice to be able to bust it in on the ground when we get inside the 10. I’ve missed that greatly during the Willie Parker era.
I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves here, but I’m starting to get chills of excitement thinking about this defense. How awesome are they? At all levels, they have so much talent, and are playing out of their minds. How many picks would Ike Taylor have if he wasn’t born with four feet?
It was good to have some non-offensive commentators for the game today, except Tasker kept talking about Steeler fans traveling well. He doesn’t seem to get that Steeler nation is in fact nation wide. Most of those Steeler fans at the game today probably live down there.
Here we go Steelers, here we go!
Mind-boggling isn’t it?
All phases of the game looked good today. I’m encouraged by the things we aren’t complaining about. Special Teams aren’t spoiling the show, turnovers aren’t spoiling the show. Only one of Batch’s interceptions was significant today and even that was only of temporary significance. I love that the defense can rotate out the starters and opposing teams can’t target any one guy for a few plays. We can take Polamalu out and Will Allen is not a liability. The entire defensive line can rest and not cost big chunks of yardage. They took out Timmons and Farrior together several times and Fox/Foote were more than adequate. That depth will be huge over the course of the year.
I’m not quite as sold on our offensive line though. They played well of course but I’m not sure they’ll be able to hold off pressure against teams like the Saints where they could wind up in must-throw situations. Naturally I will be quite happy to have them prove me wrong. 
Oh, don’t get me wrong - I don’t mean to overstate my confidence in the O-line. I know that the season is young yet. It’s just good to see that it can get the job done at least some of the time.
I don’t know about you, but all I hear right now is crickets. Where are the usual bandwagon riders? Where’s Browns fan telling me to sniff Shaun Roger’s nutsack? How about Bengals fan, telling me about how good they are?
It’s amazing how they all disappear when the Steelers win 3 in a row on the back of a 4th string quarterback and a monster defense, especially when Carson Palmer and whatever buttboy the Browns are starting are perfectly intact. And, of course, we have Ravens fan. Undefeated. That is something you will never see this year, full lineup and all. Next week the Steelers defense is coming for Flacco and Rice (and Boldin, etc.). Count on it.
What? Did you have something to say? Go ahead, be cocky. A team playing someone older than I am at quarterback is winning the division, with wins against preseason playoff-bound Tennessee and Atlanta. So please, feel free to talk. I welcome it.
Are you retarded? What am I supposed to say here? I already said I was stupid to discount the Steelers like I did. Am I supposed to keep talking smack or something for the sake of consistency or what?
The Steelers have impressed me so far this year. Their defense has been outstanding and they’ve taken full advantage of their opponents’ weaknesses each and every game. Kudos to them on a strong start.
I knew what you meant. I feel the same way. That was the unit I thought would be the weakest even before Colon and Starks went down with injuries. They’ve got the job done so far and Pouncey looks like he’ll be a superstar (as linemen go).
It never stopped you before.
So wait, which is it? I always talk smack no matter what, or I slink away when the Steelers do well?
The latter, at least this year.
So much for those last-place Steelers. Tell me how much the Steelers offensive line sucks compared to the Browns. I miss it so much. How about how the Steelers get all the calls. In a 38-13 demolition there must have been some non-calls. What’s up?
Life’s a bitch, ain’t it? Right, Bengals/Ravens fan?
Ok, what was it that I was supposed to post here? Was I supposed to rush to this thread after the game and say HEY GUYS YOU MIGHT’VE WON BUT YOU STILL SUCK?!?
Make fun of me if you want, but demanding that I must post smack on cue whenever you want and if I’m not I’m somehow failing is just bizarre.
Already admitted I was wrong and stupid.
This is just stupid. First, I said this in 2007, and by any reasonable measure I was absolutely correct. You guys keep harping over and over on a point that YOU WERE TOTALLY WRONG ABOUT and yet you think this somehow will embarass me. Will you be saying this same thing in 2020?
I think I’ve only said specifically that Marvel Smith holds constantly and rarely gets called on it, although I could go further - the Steelers most certainly do receive consistent favor on the calls and non-calls they get. I’ve heard the same from disinterested observers.
Was I supposed to be watching your game to tally up the bad calls?
Oh, don’t mind me. I’m simply gleeful that the Steelers have won 3 without Ben. I can’t say that I won’t be back next week with bitterness if the Steelers lose to the hated Ratbirds, but as I said in the OP, one win will do. Three was unexpected if not downright miraculous, and hoisting people on their own petard is what I do.
That said, because I am who I am, feel the Pittsburgh Steel. It’s coming for your beloved Brownies, and no amount of wishful thinking will save you from it.
I may pay for this later, and I am content to do so, but until then I am gleeful.
Was just looking at the standings and noted this rather amazing stat, given that we’re with our fourth string quarterback. While, of course, most of this comes from the latest blowout, it’s still interesting to note.
The Steelers currently have the biggest positive point differential in the league through three games at +39.
The amazing part? Number 2 and Number 3 on that list are the Steelers’ first two opponents this year.
Tennessee is +36 and Atlanta is +31.
Wow.
And I was joking about the Steelers being in last place. Would I like to see them there? Sure. Did I really think they’d finish behind the Browns? No.
And no, life is just fine. The Bengals are 2-1 and have a couple games in a row where they need to fine tune their passing game and they will be set. The Steelers have played better without Ben than anyone thought they would. Maybe they will play worse when he comes back?
I’ve come to like your posts on other topics very much, and I appreciate your straightforwardness and integrity in comments like this.
Here, however, I have to say come on. I mean, you were totally geeked out about the Browns offensive line, and particularly about their pass blocking, weren’t you? I kind of don’t want to even go into it all again, but I don’t think anybody arguing that matter with you was wrong, let alone TOTALLY WRONG. I admit that I may have used hyperbole to mock the degree to which you were claiming that pass blocking affected games, but I still maintain that run blocking is far more significant in controlling a game. We may need to agree to disagree about all that.
This however, is completely tiresome bullshit. How does that work? Is there a concerted effort to give favor to the Steelers among the leagues refs? Is this done at the direction of the league, or is it something that the officials have gotten together to do? How do they keep everyone quiet about it? Are all the refs from Pittsburgh, or are they drawn from Steeler Nation?
If it’s not a concerted effort, how does a systematic preference for the Steelers emerge? Do they have some kind of charm and charisma that evokes favor from otherwise unbiased refs during each game?
I’m very curious how you might explain the mechanism behind your conspiracy to favor the Steelers.
Additionally, if you are right, I should look at the season stats and see the Steelers at the bottom of the list in terms of penalties called and penalty yards. Last year, the offense ranked 23rd in penalties called and 17th in penalty yards, and the defense ranked 12th in penalties and 6th in penalty yards against them. In 2008, the offense ranked 12th in penalties called and 8th in yards against, and the defense 12th, 7th in yards against.
So, in terms of stats, its very hard to justify an argument that they get special favors from the refs. Perhaps you might argue that they still do, but that the refs somehow calibrate their calls so that their conspiracy is not so obvious. Somehow, they penalize the team to the point that they are in the top 10 for penalty yardage against them, but in such a way that it doesn’t really hurt the team.
If the latter is your argument, I’m really looking forward to you explaining a little more how they pull that off without anyone finding out.
ETA: I’m also very interested in why this conspiracy is being conducted.
Eh, I’m big on honesty. If I fuck up I’ll admit it.
This is a silly thing to rehash but you’re forgetting key parts. I did argue against your (and others’) dismissal of the value of pass blocking in offensive linemen because you essentially brushed it aside as worthless. But - and this is the part you forgot - I made the case that the Browns line was better at run blocking too. Their efficiency numbers were better, their line-adjusted yards football outsider stuff was better - it’s just that their total numbers weren’t as good because the defense sucked so they were playing from behind a lot. So I made the case that they were hugely better in pass blocking and marginally better in run blocking. You only remember the pass blocking stuff because I argued against the “rah rah I’m a real manly football man and I’m not some pussy who cares about passing” macho bullshit that dismissed the value of pass blocking out of hand.
But that’s not even the point. The point is that it’s just fucking bizarre that you guys try to make fun of me by pointing out an argument that we had 3 years ago that I was correct about. How in the world do you think that’s scoring points against me? Airman Doors occasionally throws in the straw argument that implies that I was claiming that the Browns were going to the superbowl due to their line play or, and therefore since the team failed, obviously I was wrong.
So this whole thing doesn’t make any sense to me. It wasn’t valid grounds to make fun of me at the time - because everything I said was substantiated and correct - and yet years later, you guys still bring it up as though it somehow insults me when you’re just both reiterating how wrong you were and also pointing out how strangely obsessive you were over that one particular argument.
I understand this sounds like sour grapes, conspiracy minded, partisan sports fan type stuff. I’m not willing to claim there’s a systematic bias in all regards in favor of the steelers. I have, however, harped on the specific point that for some reason Marvel Smith was allowed to get away with stuff I’ve never seen anyone else consistently get away with.
How could this come to be? I would guess that officials review a lot of game tape to see how their counterparts had handled certain calls, and something of a precedent starts forming. Maybe they let Smith get away with a little at a time and it started gradually getting worse and they never quite reached a threshold where they decided to start calling him on it. I don’t know.
I do know that I watch a lot of football. I also watch in detail, often watching plays several times over, and generally focus on line play. I’ve also seen quite a few Steelers games in my time. It wasn’t just against the Browns that he’d get away with some pretty blatant shit, although he’d do some ridiculous over the top neck pull tackling shit to Kam Wimbley all the damn time and I bet it wasn’t called more than twice during his entire career here.
This would only be true if you were to assume that they had the league average penalties. I’ve seen teams get completely hosed in officiating and then have apologists say “well, it was 14 penalties vs 12, practically the same, so the officiating was fair” when the reality was that one team was commiting shitloads more penalties than the other, so having them called evenly is the injustice.
I can see why you’d dismiss my claims out of hand, since it sounds like typical bitter rival “oh they get all the calls type stuff”. It’s not like I have game tape to show you, so I’m really only appealing to my own authority, which I realize isn’t worth much. But I’m not alleging a conspiracy on as grand a scale as you think - I probably have made general statements along the lines of the Steelers getting all the calls, but in this case I’m more referring to specifically holding penalties against the Steelers’ line, most egregiously but not limited to Marvel Smith, who I know was only the tackle half the time over the last few years.
So it’s really just a conspiracy to favor Marvell Smith? Yeah, I do believe that the most parsimonious explanation is mere blind partisanship. You really haven’t presented any particular evidence. It’s cute that you feel you have any authority to appeal to, though. Are you a professional scout? Coordinator? Where does your expertise come from? Just rewinding the dvr for locally televised games doesn’t cut it.
The refs have to make up for letting James Harrison be held ON EVERY SINGLE PLAY!!
How could he be held on every single play? On a lot of plays he drops back in pass coverage.