I want to know why teams ever try to block a punt. I’d like to see the statistics on how many blocked punts occur vs. how many roughing the kicker penalties extend drives. To have a 3 and out drive turn into a 17 play TD drive because of a roughing the kicker penalty on a 4th and 21 is infuriating. Regardless, the Steelers’ offense completely disappeared at just about the same time Legursky went down with an injury. Hopefully both he and Polamalu come back healthy for next week’s game.
Week in and week out, my man. You know as well as I do that this is normal.
Of course, losing Hoke, Legursky, and (oh, geez) Polamalu as well as being without Big Snack and Silverback from the get-go doesn’t help. The first half they barely touched Ben, but in the second half after the injuries they were all over him. the backups just aren’t that good. Ben went for a few homers today, but he simply overthrew the ball. He hits those and we’re talking right now about a blowout. Of course, if mom had balls she’d be my dad, too.
Like you said, a win is a win. But man, they really do torture their supporters, don’t they? Watch, they beat (or lose to) the Ravens and the Patriots by a combined 7 points. You never know what team will show up, but you can usually be sure that the game will be exciting at the end.
Aww, poor you. You’re such a good fan for sticking through with all of the torture of being a fan of a team that’s successful every year. Need a hug?
They’re not successful every year, but I can see how you might think so because the Browns suck harder than a brand-new Oreck and 4 wins is a hell of a season. It’s OK, I understand, I’m a Pirates fan, too.
Here’s a quote:
I would argue that a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback is a marquee player, especially on one of the most popular teams in the league, but he’s right in that he gets no calls from the referees. It’s been well-established that he’s had his nose broken, suffered a concussion, and had a broken foot, all with no roughing calls, so I think he’s got a legitimate point.
That said, what do you think of him saying that publicly? It’s not so much what he said but how he said it. For one, calling out the NFL and the referees won’t help his cause. Second, that’s billboard material for teams. It’s certainly not something I would have done.
It would be nice to see him protected as well as some of the other quarterbacks. I make allowances for the fact that he can get away from things that would take other quarterbacks down, but some hits are pretty obviously late or flagrant and should absolutely draw a flag.
EDIT: Down in the comments section someone makes the case that Brady actually gets FEWER calls per 100 passes. I would suggest that the cause of that is the fact that Pittsburgh’s offensive line sucks and they get to Ben with alarming regularity, whereas Brady rarely gets touched but when he does a flag flies.
Your whole posts assumes facts not in evidence, to wit, that Roethlisberger gets no calls from the referees.
It assumes nothing. When your boy Ngata broke his nose with a blow to the face, where was the flag? This year when he was hit late in the end zone and sprained his ankle to where he had to wear a special shoe, where was the flag?
Take a guess how many RTP penalties Ben drew in the last two years. Go ahead.
[spoiler]One.
[/spoiler]
I’m not saying that he gets every call that he should get. I don’t think any quarterback does.
I’m just not buying into your argument that he never gets calls that he deserves, nor your implication that there’s some sort of intentional blindness on the part of the officials when it comes to Roethlisberger.
You trying to take over Diogenes’ role as the “zebra conspiracy” guy?
You’re right. Never is too strong a word, as it did happen once in the last two years. “Almost never” hits the mark, though.
It’s not like I have time to pore over game film that I don’t have access to and link you to Youtube videos documenting all of the occasions of late or excessively violent hits he’s taken over the years. You’d think that the fact that I’ve watched all their games AND have a boatload of people more knowledgeable than me making the same argument really ought to be good enough. You’ve seen it yourself with the aforementioned Ngata hit. That’s but one example.
I could buy the referees as a whole having a bias to a certain playing style, but not about any certain player. I’d believe players were throwing games before that. I think if Ben wasn’t such a load to bring down, he’d get a few more calls but also wouldn’t be given the chance to get away or throw balls away like he does.
I agree, but you still have to admit that he gets penalty-type hits more than once every two years. For all the talk about protecting the quarterback, Ben gets crushed and has nothing to show for it.
He’s got the touchdowns and Superbowls that go along with the refs not stopping every play when he is “in the grasp” of a defender.
Given his stats after contact, he should be asking for fewer calls.
Aaron Smith placed on IR for the third straight season. Hard to believe this won’t be the final straw for the big guy. He’s had a great career. Not many non-Steeler fans recognize how important he was to our defense, especially against the run and in freeing up space for the linebackers to do their thing. I thought he would retire when he found out his son had cancer a couple of years ago. Time for Hood and Heyward to show what they’re made of.
Yeah, I’m thinking he’s done. Any thoughts on his Hall of Fame credentials? He’s been a quiet lynchpin of the line for years, but is that enough?
EDIT: Looking at the stats, he doesn’t have a chance. Too bad, he really was much better than the stats reflect.
That seems to be the fate of the 3-4 lineman. The linebackers get better stats because of them but their own stats don’t reflect their ability. Maybe Richard Seymour could garner HoF attention some day.
Woohoo, another win. I know it was only the Cards, but I’ll take it!
The AFC North is having a pretty good year when the basement is 3-3.
Is the AFC North still the only division with every team having a winning record?
Anyway, the Steelers looked pretty good today. No fumbles or picks from Ben, a hint of what we might see from Mike Wallace against the Patriots’ Helen Keller defense, a pretty good defensive performance against Fitzgerald (and Wells until they knocked him out of the game), and they finally finished a game strong.
They still can’t get the running game untracked, though. It’s still a O-line issue, but they did better today in protection than they have all season, so it’s still an improvement. I’m thinking that if they hold the Patsies to 2 touchdowns or less they have a very solid chance of winning next week.
Recently the refs have even been taking away some of his ability to get away and make plays. Today against the Cardinals, the refs blew the whistle, awarding a sack to the Cardinals, with Roethlisberger still standing fully upright, and about to throw the ball, with a defender lying on the ground and holding his ankle. I’m pretty certain the defender would never have gotten Ben down like that, and I’m 100% positive Ben would have been able to get the ball away.
That’s the second time this year I can remember where the refs have whistled a play dead and awarded a sack when Ben was not going to get taken down. They’re allowing him to get hit a little harder because he’s such a hard guy to take down, but they’re also starting to take away some of that advantage with these early whistles…
Holy shit, I found something even more surprising.
Total defense:
- Cincinatti Bengals 278.5 yards/game
- Pittsburgh Steelers 279.0 yards/game
- Baltimore Ravens 286.2 yards game
and… drumroll
- Cleveland Browns 291.0 yards/game
AFC North owns the top 4 defense spots. Nuts.