Jesus Christ. What a sublime ass kicking. What the hell did James Harrison have before the game? 3.5 sacks, a pick, a fumble recovery, countless hurries, and a partridge in a pear tree. That’s a career, let alone a game.
Steve McNair aged before my eyes tonight. What was once great has withered away to nothing. If it had been anyone but the damn Ratbirds I’d feel sorry for them, but in this case all I can do is laugh.
The Ravens are lucky that Pittsburgh called off the dogs at the half or it might have been 138-7 at the end. It was almost ridiculous. No, actually, it was ridiculous. Bring on the Patsies. If the Steelers play like this against New England Nick Buoniconti will be drinking champagne yet again.
That’s okay. They’ve got a future at quarterback. They drafted that Derek Anderson kid in 2005. What ever happened to him anyway?
Oh, right. Well… they’ve got Boller.
What about the odds that my Ravens would be kidnapped en route to Pittsburgh and replaced with cunning simulacra made of elephant poop? Actually, scratch that “cunning” bit. Anyone who says the Ravens played like crap is attaching some novel meaning to the word “play,” because my Baltimore boys apparently thought this was another bye week. Jesus Christ. Memo to Billick: if it don’t throw the ball, it ain’t a quarterback. Put Boller in, and trade McNair for a draft pick or a promising wide receiver. If you can’t trade him, fire him outright and use his paycheck to buy the rest of the team some new gloves with sticky-tack on them. Steelers fans, gloat away: the Ravens got thrashed, pulped, and stomped. The gutters outside M&T Bank Stadium are flowing with the spit of every fan who drove past the stadium this morning. The entire city is uniformly disgusted with their performance, and you guys have every right to be proud. The Ravens players showed up to the stadium, put on their uniforms, and completely failed to play football; the Steelers punished them appropriately.
I mean, come on! I haven’t seen a shellacking like that since… well, since last year’s first Ravens-Steelers game!
I don’t think we’re particularly proud of that victory. It was an embarrassment to watch the Ravens performance even as an opposing, rival fan.
Of course, from what I hear, apparently Murderin’ Ray thinks you guys are poised to strike and are in the thick of things.
Uh huh. You have to have a stifling defense to support a typical Baltimore Ravens offense. 38 points and nearly 300 yards (largely in one half of the game) isn’t especially stifling.
For a while there, I thought the Steelers were going to pull their usual stunt of losing to teams they should beat and beating teams they should lose to. Nice work by the defense at the end!
OK, that’s what I missed. I was running errands for all but about the last 5 minutes of the game. I heard the Steelers’ last touchdown on the radio in the parking lot, then came in just before they announced the result of the challenge.
That game was a bit too close for comfort. I don’t know what the guy for Cleveland took before the game, but Jesuschristo! he was nuts on those returns. If not for those it would have been another spanking. As it was, the Steelers finally showed up in the second half and took the Browns to school.
It shouldn’t have been that close, and in retrospect it really wasn’t, but nevertheless the Steelers escaped with a big division win and cemented their hold on the division. Next stop: playoffs. But before then, they have to beat the Patriots and really give Bellichick something to be angry about.
Even down 15 I wasn’t worried (although I did put on my Bettis jersey for luck). It was nice to see us score after that runback, when we could have folded.
Do you know how many yards of offense the Browns managed to gain? 163. That’s it, for the game.
They kicked our ass on one drive, and on special teams. Otherwise, they were just as bad as they were in week 1. We just completely played down to them, which is a Steeler tendency that I had hoped would be gone along with Cowher’s bad sweaters.
In all seriousness, you know what the Browns needed to win that game? It wasn’t a better defense - the Steelers were taking care of not scoring on their own (fucking reverses and half-back passes?). No, the Browns would have won if they had a decent offensive line. Up 21 to 9, they should have taken the air out of the ball - that’s how you put a game away. It just doesn’t appear that they could do that. As painful as the first Browns’ drive was for the Steelers, it’s much more deflating to experience a drive like that to open the second half when you’re trying to catch up.
Sure, the Browns gave up no sacks. But more importantly, they got no first downs in the second half until the last desperation drive. That’s why they lost the game.
It’s a perennial given that the Steelers will kick the crap out of your running game, regardless of who gets off your team bus that day. However, I don’t ever recall seeing them at the top of the league in pass defense too. I just love seeing that column of Steelers emblems on that page!
So, how 'bout those Jets? They finally showed up to play. That flea flicker was well-executed, the defense held tough early, it actually looks like they might be competitive today.
Of course, I’m jinxing the Steelers this week. This is the third time that I’ve watched the game from home. The other two? Yep, Arizona and Denver. Ominous indeed.
But I think the Steelers will adapt and overcome and pull this one out, in spite of the hex I’ve accidentally placed upon them.
