This week shows a nice mix of picks. About 50-50 from the totally unscientific look I did briefly this morning. That makes my superstition a little more comfortable.
I do think that this will be a bigger test than we have had. Here’s hoping it is a good game!
Go Steelers!
Oh, it’ll almost certainly be a good game. But will I be happy at the end of it? Time will tell.
13-10 Steelers, with at least one significant, perhaps even season-ending, injury on each side.
Ah, the one out of two times a year when I become a Ravens fan…Go Ratbirds!
Opposite for me - there’s nothing lower than the Ravens so I root for the Steelers on these weeks.
Quietly, with mild disgust.
We’ll take what we can get.
Gaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Holy hell these guys are trying to kill me! 38 seconds and we can’t hold them?
Kudos to the Ravens for some great play and for not giving up. It was a good game.
Bengals in 3rd place after losing to the, ah, you know…that alleged franchise from Cleveland. Fuck. Kinda ruined the TO show today. Ah well. Time to get right and stomp Tampa Bay at home and then come out of the bye ready to beat the good teams.
Jesus, Carolina almost beat the Saints!
Is it just me or is the NFL kinda crazy this season?
FUCK.
Is this how it’s going to be, the defense choking at the end like last year? Jeff Reed choking away the game, again like last year?
At least the Bengals lost. That’s all for now, at least until I sober up, which may be next week for all I know. One thing I DO know right now is that the better team lost. The Ravens barely got by a 4th string quarterback. Ain’t that a bitch?
No biggie. We knew 4-0 without Ben was unrealistic. 3-1 going into the bye week without too much on the injury front looks pretty good. Hopefully the coaching staff will rest up the defense and put the screws to the WRs to get them back in sync with Roethlisberger.
We can agree, finally. Flacco is the most fellated, non-accomplished QB in the NFL.
You can’t manage to win the ones I wouldn’t mind if you won?
Bastards.
Tell me about it.
I now predict you to finish 5th in the AFC North.
I have to admit, as drunk and depressed as I am that was pretty fucking funny. I didn’t know there were 6 teams in the AFC North.
Where I’m sitting there’s twelve…until I pick the conference in the middle…
That was sure disappointing, but it’s definitely not the end of the world. That’s probably the best the Ravens have played all year and the worst that the Steelers have. I still like our chances relative to the rest of the division.
I say this because as good as Batch has been in comparison to Dixon, yesterday showed his limitations. He got pretty good protection, but whereas with a lot of time Roethlisberger will typically find the open guy or make a play happen, Batch ended up looking like a rookie with his head cut off, running into his own linemen and being indecisive about whether to take off running or try to keep the play alive. And even with that, the defense still had to respect the deep ball. Imagine when our passing game is even more complete, and people have to respect the deep ball as well as stay on their receivers as long as Ben is able to typically keep plays alive.
The most frustrating things about yesterday’s game was how flat footed our defense looked. Not only could they generate no pressure on Flacco, but they couldn’t cover anything down field. They looked lost pre-snap, and were often not getting off on the ball because they were looking around. I have no idea why they should have been so unprepared.
Our offense killed itself with pre-snap penalties too. And please, take the double reverse page from the playbook and rip it into a million little pieces.
Don’t get what I say next wrong. The Steelers beat themselves. However, there appeared to be an official along the near side who really wanted to tag the Steelers. That phantom call on Harrison for defensive holding was bullshit, and someone over there also tried to flag Taylor for hitting the receiver when the ball was slightly overthrown. At least the refs got together and overruled that bullshit. The defensive holding call, however, kept that drive alive and led to points for the Ravens. The final call, the holding on the kick that gave the Ravens 10 extra yards on the punt was the tickiest kind of tack as well. It didn’t make McFadden’s coverage on the final touchdown as awful as it was, but it did help the Ravens out a ton. Again, those calls were pretty typical, and the kind of thing that a good team on a good day overcomes. The Steelers were not a good team yesterday, but the idea that the refs are trying to hand them games certainly was not supported by the calls yesterday.
A 4th string quarterback that’s better than your 2nd or 3rd. I admit that Batch is not a top QB, but he has been your backup for that last 50 years. The Ravens don’t look good, the Steelers do… however much I hate to admit it.
So. Can Ben practice now. I know Sunday was the last day of his suspension. That allows 2 weeks for him to get back in rhythm.
Ben practiced with the receivers today. By the sounds of things he had some extra zip on the ball and really impressed everyone. Say goodbye to the running game again. The next game is against Cleveland and they don’t have good depth in the secondary. I think they’ll spread them out early.