He’s held then too. Even after the game is over, he’s held. He’s held in the locker room, in his car on the his way home, and when he’s making dinner. He goes to bed at night with an offensive lineman’s arms wrapped around him. He’ll likely be buried with a couple of big, meaty arms from a left tackle around him.
Nah - after he rips them off, if he doesn’t beat people with them he usually just tosses them aside. It’s only a dirty rumor that he eats them.
I thought he fed them, miniature horses and various homeless children to his pit bulls?
No, that was Jeff Garcia.
Unfortunately, it looks like Chris Hoke is out for at least two weeks with an MCL injury.
Unrelated to that, I had to chuckle at these quotes from the Buccaneers regarding yesterday’s game:
What game were they watching? They scored a total of 6 points before a meaningless final touchdown against mostly backup Steeler defenders. They were down 28 to 6 at the half. The CBS guys kept updating the sacks, pressures and hurries stats, and it was entirely lopsided.
At what phase of the game weren’t the Bucs dominated yesterday?
Punting attempts and kick return yardage.
I think I played up the Marvel Smith part in particular up too much. He was absolutely the most egregious at it, but it seems there’s a systematic attempt to hold to some extent, which makes sense what with the grand conspiracy to allow it and all.
There are quirks to the officiating in the NFL. Certain star receivers tend not to get called for pretty blatant push offs where others wouldn’t for example. I don’t know if it’s bad officiating that sets a precedent for the next guy or what - I don’t think there’s a memo sent by the commissioner instructing refs to ignore it or anything like that.
Yeah, I realize. I mean - I haven’t saved years worth of copies of games under the expectation that I might need to prove a case out of it some day, so there’s not really much I can do.
I’m a fairly well informed layman. I watch lots of games, including generally breaking the line down play extensively. I know a guy who was an OL coach for a minor div 1a program who likes to share what he knows and he’s got a very good track record of predicting lineman success in the NFL. He’s explained a decent bit like specific techniques like kick step, or what holding actually is (and all the people who say holding could be called on every play are wrong - a lot of what lay people think looks like holding isn’t), etc.
If you know what holding is, and you can apply some sort of objectivity (which I realize you think I’m incapable of - but while my predictions get kind of silly, my actual analysis tends to be fair enough, like when 5 years ago I talked about Polamalu running himself out of the play too much until now where I admit he’s dominant and takes good gambles) then rewinding the DVR for locally televised game actually does cut it. It’s not as good as game film, but generally the line play is shown pretty well.
SenorBeef, in seriousness, and with due respect, you have a dramatic over-inflation of your football knowledge.
To wit, your sage evaluation of Polamalu “running himself out of the play early in his career.” Look at his stats from his second year in the league his first full year in terms of games played - he had his highest career numbers in tackles, second highest total picks and second highest passes defended. If you compare that year to his and his last full season (2008-2009), the two are very, very comparable.
I wasn’t making claims that required high degrees of expertise.
Keeping their endzone grass in mint condition. I think it was just rude for the visiting team to tear up the endzone grass like that.
I’m hoping they’ll keep Legursky in at Right Guard even after Essex is back to health. He looked OK there, especially in the running game.
Nah, it’s all about Mendenall’s spin. By spinning and letting them tackle him in the back instead of the stomach, that causes the down to be marked by where his butt contacts the ground, not his knee. Eyeballing it, it looks like an extra 1-2 yards. Spinning is key. Spin to win. I’m trying to think of a good nickname for this but all I got at the moment is “The Pittsburgh Pinwheel” which needs work.
Of course, someday he’s going to be spinning randomly when Ray Lewis severs his spine.
I have called him Spindenhall since day one. Madden A, all the way!
Did you notice Redman copying the spin? What will be his nickname?
Maybe the two of them can be “Washer and Dryer.” 
Or any connection with reality, or any ability to be empirically supported in any way.
I’m still trying to figure out how Polamalu was constantly running himself out of plays early in his career, in your opinion, yet had one of his best years in terms of tackles, picks and passes defensed in his second year in the league. What was he doing, running himself out of plays and then back into them?
Further, I can tell you that in Polamalu’s third year in the league, 2005, he was a huge factor in the Steelers making it to the Superbowl. Roethlisberger carried the team through the playoffs, but Polamalu was also a huge impact player throughout. I remember a third down stop against the Broncos where Polamalu came up in run support, launched himself sideways to avoid a block and make the tackle out in the flat.
So, despite the fact that you personally know someone who used to be a coach at a small school, you’ll forgive me I hope if your authority continues to not sway me in the least.
There are a lot of things that are true that it’s logistically difficult to prove. Quick, prove to me that James Harrison is held on every play! Surely you have digitized game footage on the internet ready to go!
The stats aren’t conclusive, the only include the plays he did make. And I want to be clear - I’m not saying Polamalu was bad, I’m saying Ed Reed was better, which was a common debate in those days.
In any case, there are plenty of ways you can blow a play without it being reflected on the stats sheets. You can play solid contain and drive your guy back into the defensive line and not get any stats for it, you can take out the lead blocker letting the guy behind you take down the ball carrier, etc. Polamalu still made plays early in his career and the stats reflect that, but he was was more likely to make a bad decision that lead to vulnerabilities elsewhere because he was neglecting those other responsibilites.
I don’t even know why it is you’re taking this hostile posture with me anyway. He’s the best safety in the league, it’s not like I’m bashing him.
Which of my claims require authority greater than that?
I made a poor choice to say “appeal to my own authority”, I just meant all I had to go on was my word for it, since the NFL doesn’t allow footage to be displayed on the internet by random people I can’t back up what I say with game footage.
Incidentally, I hate the Ravens way, way more than the Steelers - like, it’s not even on the same level - yet I’ve never claimed that they get special treatment from the league or anything like that. If the only reason I was saying that about the Steelers was my biased view, why wouldn’t I being saying it about the Ravens?
I would like to thank ESPN for placing the Steelers at number one in the Power Rankings this week. This is what is often referred to as the Kiss of Death, and I for one am eternally grateful.
Of course, they belong up near the top, but number one? I was happier when they were back at 18 to start the season because nobody expected anything from them. Now they have nowhere to go but down.
Oh, well. All they have to do is stymie the Ratbirds’ passing game and not turn it over on offense, and I think they’ll win this week. And when Ben gets back I’m thinking that they’ll be downright awesome.
I was thinking about this a lot in the past week: expectations vs reality. This season is nothing but good news for steelers fans. However, last year’s 0-4 run through the dregs of the leagues was one of the hardest stretches for me as a steeler fan.
I think I get much more enjoyment when the steelers are expected to be a bad team but win than when they are expected to be good and lose…especially to bad opponents.
I got Game Rewind for $50, and you can email clips.
It’s really awesome this year because they categorize the clips with the play by play, so it’s really easy to count up looks and touches.
Crappy part is that there is no reverse, since the name of the service is “Game REWIND” so why don’t they allow rewind?
Yeah, as I’ve said before, I am superstitious, and it always worries me when we are picked!