No more arguing about strong passers playing weak secondaries or or ultra strong defences shutting down a weak runner, or any other weak/strong scenario that can be brought up to explain the success/failure of the last two weeks.
Today, the gloves come off, the bayonets get fixed, the trenches empty, and whatever other war metaphor you choose will happen all over the NFL. Hell, even the Monday night game between Denver and KC will likely be a full fledged battle royal.
This weekend’s games will set the tone for the rest of the NFL season, mark my words (which are merely repeats of what some real sports analysts have been saying).
I’m lovin’ it, Bay-Bee! ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!?!
The highlight of today’s games has got to be Patriots-Steelers. The games I’m getting here are Raiders-Eagles (snooze with an easy Eagles win), Patriots-Steelers, and Cowboys-49ers. I’m gonna watch the games on CBS, but the one I’m interested in is the Steelers game. If the Steelers can beat the Patriots, they will be one game from tying the Patriots record for consecutive regular-season wins. A lot on the line in this game–I predict that this will be a playoff preview, probably of the AFC championship game.
Arrrrggghhh!!! Randel El if we lose by less than a TD I’m gonna kick your ass! Yes, yes, if Hines had caught the ball and scored you would have looked great - but he didn’t and you don’t! Keep the freakin ball!
Randle El fucked up and broke a cardinal rule, sure. But we were beaten in every single phase of the game. Absolutely beaten. We are the Patriots bitches and I couldn’t be more disgusted.
Our special teams were awful. Our offensive line was horrid. Our quarterback looked shaken and made really stupid mistakes. Our defense couldn’t stop a thing. Our coaching was pathetic.
One basic observation - just because Willie Parker showed that he could run inside doesn’t mean that you never run him outside again.
Well, that was one hell of a game. It’s really too bad that there had to be a loser. The Patriots played through some devastated injuries and never gave up, taking what seemed like an insurmountable lead into the last two minutes. The Steelers showed their resiliency by tying it up with a pass from the injured Ben Roethlisberger to the injured Hines Ward. Then came the coup de grace, a quick drive for the winning field goal.
I give the Pats credit. It was a hell of a game. However, the Steelers showed that they were for real, too. Were it not for that moronic lateral early on by Randle El it may have gone the other way. But hey, every team loses. This is but a hiccup on the way to collecting the Vinny. I’m just glad I got to see it.
How? In the second half, they shut down our running game, pressured Ben so much that the passing game was a non-factor, and our pass defense was non-existent. It was a miracle the game was as close as it was.
Ben played the entire second half with a bum throwing shoulder, and even with the lack of production they had the heart to tie it up with 1:30 left against the champs.
That proves to me that the team isn’t the gutless wonders they have been in past years. Before Ben got hurt they were doing just fine. If he can stay healthy Pittsburgh will be quite successful this year.
The only positive is that, contrary to last year, the Patriots aren’t looking to avenge a loss against us in the post season. Because we all know from last year how bad it is to be on the Patriot’s shit list.
Two times that points were probably taken off the board. There was that stupid idea of a lateral of Randel-El’s, but then there was the field goal that was taken off because of a false start. I swear, was it just me or did Kendall Simmons get penalized like five times between jumping and holding?
The Steel Curtain looked pretty good, you have to admit. Sure, some points were given up, but look at the sacks, INTs, hurries, short runs, etc… Impressive, even for a losing effort against the Superbowl champs.
In other news:
The premeir RBs LT2, Westbrook, and Alexander played like they were football gods today.
Oh
My
Gawd
Will Preist dominate tomorrow’s game?
Oh yeah, welcome back, Culpepper.
This was an awesome day for real football, y’all. (I told ya so)
Airman Doors
That was quite a good game today. Of course, being in Boston, you can guess where my football loyalties are. Still, I must admit that was one Hell of a rally the Steelers were able to pull off late in the 4th quarter. Equally incredible was Vinatieri’s last moment field goal. Geez, that guy has won how many games for the Patriots in the last few seconds (particularly the Super Bowl) ?
It was a fun game to watch. It could have easily gone the Steelers way; on the other hand, scoring with a minute twenty left was just teasing the fans, there was no way they were going to stop the Pats from getting that FG and everyone had to know it. I can understand that they can’t be greedy with the clock management when they need the TD to tie, but why didn’t Cowher use his last TO to at least force the action a little, maybe save a little time for hope?
Then, there’s the point of view that everything went wrong for the Pats (two red zone turnovers to negate points, several key injuries, general lack of a running game), and Brady still picked apart the Pitt secondary. The game probably wasn’t as close as the final score, which is even more discouraging because it was at Pitt.
Either way, with the non-showing so far by the Ravens O, I think Pitt will win the North pretty easily. Could even beat Indy at home in the playoffs if the seeds wind up right. Unfortunately for Steeler fans, I don’t see them getting around the Pats unless something crazy happens; fortunately for Steeler fans, crazy stuff routinely happens in the NFL.
[QUOTE=The Patsies, while still potent, cannot sustain losses like Tedy Bruschi and Ted Johnson combined with the losses of big name cornerbacks over the last few years and still compete. It’s been a good run, but it’s over. Pittsburgh is going to run wild all over them in Week 3.[/QUOTE]
As a New Englander and Pats fan, I thumb my nose in your general direction.
