Steelers Season Wrap Up

Well, there was no miraculous alignment of the planets on Sunday to allow the Steelers to make the postseason. And I guess that's ok - they really didn't deserve it after that ridiculous 5-game losing streak midseason. They've got no one to blame but themselves. There have already been some coaching changes - the offensive line and special teams coaches have been dismissed, and rightly so. There were a few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing season - Ben Roethlisberger had a record-setting season in passing yards, and rookie Mike Wallace is a wide receiver you'll be seeing a lot of in the future.

I will hope for better things next year, when hopefully Troy Polamalu and Aaron Smith will be completely healthy and ready to go. And I'll be hopping onto the Saints' bandwagon for the rest of the postseason. Gotta have someone to root for!

Steelers Math

Due to the defending Super Bowl champs' mid-season slump, including shameful losses to Kansas City, Oakland and Cleveland, the Steelers are a long shot to make the post-season.

They're traveling to Miami on Sunday for the final game of the regular season, which they must win if they are to have any chance to grab a wild card spot. However, just the win isn't enough. They still need help. Here's how it shakes out:

Pittsburgh will secure a playoff spot if:
1) Steelers win + Houston Texans loss or tie (vs. Patriots) + New York Jets loss or tie (vs. Bengals) OR
2) Steelers win + Texans loss or tie + Baltimore Ravens loss or tie (vs. Raiders) OR
3) Steelers win + Jets loss or tie + Ravens loss or tie + Denver Broncos loss or tie (vs. Kansas City Chiefs).

Got all that? I'll be in front of the tv on Sunday with my laptop and and a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. But trust me, those are pretty long odds - most of those games would need to be upsets in order for everything to fall into place. I haven't completely given up hope, but let's say I'm not exactly burdened with an overabundance of confidence.

Go Steelers! (sigh)

Catching Up

It's been a while since I've checked in - I've just been really busy with all the holiday shopping, wrapping, baking, decorating, parties, etc...in addition to my ongoing piano lessons and volunteer commitments. Not to mention holding down a full-time job. No complaints, just not a lot of free time lately.

So what's been up? Several knitting projects completed, about 2 dozen cheesecakes baked, and the Steelers are circling the drain. I've also deployed my new snowblower with some success. Updates on everything that's been going on will be forthcoming now that I've got a bit of time to waste. Until then, Happy Holidays!

Steelers 24, Chiefs 27 (OT)

Another disappointing performance from the Steelers - a loss to Kansas City on the road. I thought there was a chance we'd see backup quarterback Charlie Batch in this game, but I thought it would be because Pittsburgh would completely blow out the Chiefs. Instead, Charlie got in the game when Ben took a knee to the head in overtime. No word yet on how serious it is. And Charlie also injured his wrist and will be out for the rest of the regular season, so things are looking awfully thin at QB right now. And shall we chat about the mind-boggling kickoff return coverage (or lack thereof)? That's 2 weeks in a row now that the Steelers have allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown. Been an awful lot of punts, interceptions and fumbles returned for TDs lately, too.

The team is really struggling right now, and there's going to be a LOT of desperation in the air Sunday against divisional rival Baltimore.

Going to get the Listerine now and try to wash the bitter taste of defeat from my mouth.

Steelers 12, Bengals 18

Pffft.

Arrrggghh.

Gah.

4 lousy field goals? That's it? Really?? Where's the team that won the Super Bowl last year? They sure didn't show up today, and pretty much just handed the AFC North to the Bengals. You're welcome, Cincinnati. Looks like the Steelers are going to have to earn themselves a wild card if they want to make the post-season. And to pour a little salt in the wound, Troy Polamalu went out with that same bum knee again. (MRI results pending.) Tough day to be a Steelers fan.

Steelers 28, Broncos 10

Big win for the Steelers last night in Denver! The game was a bit of a snoozefest at the beginning, but it sure got exciting later on. Tyrone Carter had a spectacular night filling in for the sidelined Ryan Clark - 2 interceptions, one of which was run back for a touchdown. Ben and Hines hooked up for another pair of TDs, and Rashard Mendenhall and rookie Mike Wallace continued to impress on offense. Troy Polamalu looked like his old self with a fabulous interception late in the game. He's just tremendous fun to watch.

So the regular season is now half over (boy, that went fast!) and the Steelers are on a hot streak going into next week's game. It will be a showdown at Heinz Field against the Bengals with first place in the AFC North on the line. Big game. Big, big game. Huge game that I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO WATCH ON BROADCAST TV BECAUSE THE STUPID NFL INSISTS WE ARE A BUFFALO BILLS MARKET.

Um, sorry about the shouting there. But yeah, because we are slightly closer to Buffalo than to Pittsburgh or Cleveland, the NFL seems to think we are all Bills fans. Hahaha. Not. My personal, completely unscientific estimate would be that this town is about:

• 60% Steelers fans
• 35% Browns
• 5% All Other

No one around here cares about Buffalo at all. But whenever the Bills have a road game at the same time and on the same network as the Steelers, you have to find a bar or a sympathetic friend with satellite, because it's the Bills that are going to be on the network broadcast. Grrrr. The local affiliates aren't happy about it either, for obvious reasons, and usually put up a crawl during the game along the lines of "WE ARE CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED TO BROADCAST THIS BILLS GAME. PLEASE DON'T HATE US OR MAKE THREATENING PHONE CALLS TO THE STATION. IT'S NOT OUR FAULT. WE'D MUCH RATHER WATCH THE STEELERS, TOO."

Ok, rant over. I will watch the Steelers-Bengals game somewhere on Sunday. Hope you can, too.

Steelers 27, Vikings 17

I was anticipating a big gunslinging quarterback showdown -Roethlisberger versus Farve - and that wasn't how the game played out at all. It turned into a defensive battle, and when it comes down to the defense, you gotta like the Steelers' chances. LaMarr Woodley returned a Farve fumble 77 yards for a TD, and Keyaron Fox ran back an interception 82 yards for a TD in the final minutes to secure the win. It was definitely the defense that came up big today, and handed the Vikings their first lost of the season. Hooray!

The Steelers have a bye next week, and then travel to Denver for Monday Night Football the following week. I have been pulling for Kyle Orton and the Broncos after all the Jay Cutler drama in the off season, but obviously that will be put on hold for a while!

Troy-O-Lanterns? Ben-O-Lanterns?

Look at my fun jack-o-lanterns:

Aren't they great?! I didn't freehand these or anything, so don't be too impressed. I used stencils to carve them. It was still kind of tricky, but I'm really pleased with how they turned out. And since my Mom wisely suggested using craft pumpkins instead of real ones, I'll be able to use them again in the future. My friend Train Brain, the Redskins fan, has threatened to come by and smash them. I don't think he would, but nevertheless, I think I'll put them in the windows instead of outside on the porch.

Any Steelers fans who admire them during trick-or-treating on Halloween will be getting DOUBLE treats.

Steelers 27, Browns 14

The Steelers were supposed to win this game comfortably, and they did. Big Ben had a tremendous game, throwing for over 400 yards. I guess the Steelers are going to be a passing team now? Ok by me. The third quarter was a bit of a circus -no one wanted to hang onto the ball, it seemed. There were roughly one million turnovers (ok, five..but that's still a lot) in about ten minutes. All ended well, though. And since Cincinnati and Baltimore both lost, the Steelers moved into a tie for first in the AFC North.

The icing on the cake was that I had to go to Cleveland today for work, so I spent an enjoyable lunch rubbing salt in the wounds of some friends/Browns fans.

Next week - Brett Farve and the undefeated Vikings. Should be a barnburner.

Steelers 28, Lions 20

It's a win, but I didn't think it was a particularly impressive win. Once again, the Steelers started out strong but seemed to take their foot off the gas late in the game when they should have been slamming the door shut. The Detroit Lions are not a good football team, and Pittsburgh should have crushed them. They didn't even cover the 12-point spread.

They can probably get away with this again next week against Cleveland, but after that, they've got the Vikings, Broncos and Bengals on the schedule. Their play this week has not exactly got me brimming with confidence. C'mon, Steelers!

Steelers 38, Chargers 28

Hooray! The Steelers returned to Heinz Field last night and finally looked more like the team that won the Super Bowl last year. The running game was much improved - Rashard Mendenhall had a monster night, rushing for 165 yards and 2 TDs. Heath Miller, rapidly moving up on my list of favorite players, had a pair as well. Things got a bit tight in the 4th quarter when San Diego put together a late rally - a recovered onside kick and a fumble recovery in the end zone made things rather tense - but the Steelers put together a 50-yard drive in the closing minutes and Jeff Reed sealed the win with a beautiful 46-yard field goal. Yay!

What made watching this game particularly fun was exchanging text messages throughout with my friend Vivacious, who was at the game in person. Next week - at Detroit. Don't want to jinx anything here, but I'm fairly confident that the Steelers will emerge from that game with a good result. :-)

Steelers 20, Bengals 23

Arrgghh. It's all my fault.

I watched this game with a bunch of friends, including my friend Train Brain, who is a Redskins fan. The Steelers were safely in the lead when I made one sassy comment about the ignominy of the Skins being the team that finally lost to the 0-19 Detroit Lions. Shortly thereafter, things went downhill quickly. Karma felt the need to dole out a bit of punishment.

So if you're wondering why the Steelers lost today, it wasn't the pick-six that Ben threw, or the TD pass that Limas Sweed dropped, or the field goal that Jeff Reed missed. It was me and my big mouth, as I was informed by all my friends who were present. I'm sorry, Steeler Nation. I promise to keep my big mouth shut next week against the Chargers.

Steelers 14, Bears 17

Bummer. Overall, I thought the Steelers seemed okay, not great. Ben and Santonio Holmes looked solid on offense. Tyrone Carter did an okay job filling in at safety, but he's clearly not the defensive force that Troy Polamalu is - the sooner Troy's back, the better. The rushing game was still not up to Steelers standards. Still, they played well enough to win, if the normally rock-solid Jeff Reed hadn't inexplicably missed a pair of field goals. Rats. I hope for better things next week at Cincinnati.

Still, there were a couple of very satisfying wins that I really enjoyed watching during Week 2. The scrappy Jets took down the venerated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots (sorry Dad), and the Giants spoiled the Cowboys' home opener at the gauche theme park that Jerry Jones calls a stadium. So there was still something to smile about on Sunday!

Steelers 13, Titans 10

Well, it was a bit of a shaky start. The running game was nonexistent, Troy Polamalu went out with a knee injury, and my jaw dropped when Hines Ward fumbled the ball when all he had to do was take a knee and let Jeff Reed make the winning field goal.

But Big Ben put together a winning drive in overtime, and a win's a win. I'll take it!

Next week - at Chicago, where I hope the Steelers defense beats up on that whiny brat Jay Cutler.

Steeler Football Tonight!

Yes, the countdown clock says there's still 28 days until the season opener. That's correct. Tonight is the first preseason game, against Arizona.

I know it's just an exhibition game. I know most of the starters will only play a series or two at most. I know this is mostly about seeing what the rookies can do and trying out new offensive/defensive schemes. I know it doesn't really matter.

Don't care. Still excited! After all, I'm pretty sure both teams still want to win. Go Steelers!!

169 Days to Go!

It's just been announced that the NFL season opener will be Thursday, September 10....Steelers vs. Titans. Can't wait! I've been experiencing football withdrawal symptoms since the Super Bowl, and I freely confess that I've re-watched the entire game at least twice since.

It's awesome that we'll be playing Tennessee...really looking forward to getting a bit of payback after last season's loss and the infamous Terrible Towel-abuse incident.

So, just to amp up my hysteria a bit, I've added a countdown clock to the sidebar. Mark the date on your calendar - it will be here soon! Go Steelers!!