I just want to start this post by saying that I'm sitting in the Philadelphia airport en route to Columbus, OH for a weekend trip, and at my gate, I see not one, not two, but THREE people wearing Steeler gear. Outstanding work, Steeler Nation.
Count us as members of the Ben Roethlisberger Fan Club, or as Mondesi's House calls it, the Benwagon. I know its been disputed a lot over the past few weeks, but I still don't see how anyone can still rate Carson Palmer ahead of Roethlisberger. The tired old "he's on a better team" argument doesn't work anymore for Ben. Palmer has more weapons at his disposal and has done much less with them. Period.
Ben proved his value last Sunday with a great game against Cleveland. With the exception of a first-half interception, he was flawless. And he even ran for 49 yards and a score (the crucial 30-yard scamper in the fourth quarter). One of the problems I've had with Roethlisberger in his short career is that he has forced some balls into bad spots in the defense instead of tucking it in to run. The message seems to finally be getting through to him from the coaching staff. When Roethlisberger is playing like he is right now, there's not a QB in the league (except for Brady and Peyton Manning) that I'd rather have.
The receiving corps again impressed against the Browns. Is it time to recognize Heath Miller as one of the top five tight ends in football? Given his blocking ability and receiving acumen, I'm ready to put him up there.
Looking ahead to this week's game against the Jets, I must admit that I'm a little worried that New York will move the ball on the Steelers' defense. I don't have a very good explanation for this, but its just a hunch. With the Jets starting Kellen Clemens and having a bye last week for him to work with the first team offense, New York will certainly provide more of a challenge than if it had started Chad Pennington.
Also, I know its been said on a few other blogs, but Mike Tomlin, please, be careful with your challenges. Its not a good sign that Tomlin's challenge success percentage at the end of the year is likely to rival that of a Pittsburgh Pirates' player's batting average (if he's lucky).
Showing posts with label It's easy to make fun of the Browns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label It's easy to make fun of the Browns. Show all posts
11/16/2007
9/18/2007
Week Two - Steelers 26, Bills 3
Another week and more of the same from the Black and Gold, with a dominating defense and an efficient offense leading the way in the win over a clearly inferior opponent. So what does that mean? Honestly, I'm not sure. Does the Cleveland win look better now because the Browns outlasted Cincinnati in a 51-45 shootout? Sure it does. Is Cleveland any good? No, they're still bad. The Bengals' defense is just worse. And Buffalo played pretty well in week one against Denver, but J.P. Losman and company had about as much success against the Steelers as Idaho Senator Larry Craig had in Minneapolis International Airport.
The Good
The offensive line looked better than in week one, opening good holes for Willie Parker and Deuce Davenport while giving Ben Roethlisberger the time he needed to look downfield when the plays called for it. Fast Willie had the usual bounce in his step and did a good job of breaking runs outside when the opportunity arose. Matt Spaeth caught his second touchdown in two weeks, leaving him on pace to shatter the team's single-season record of touchdown receptions by a tight end. The defense was aggressive and didn't allow Losman to get comfortable. Rookie tailback Marshawn Lynch had a couple of nice runs along the way to 64 yards, but for the most part, the Steelers were able to use the early lead to force Buffalo into throwing the ball. Larry Foote did a nice job of getting interior pressure that led to a few sacks by the outside linebackers. LaMarr Woodley looked good after subbing for James Harrison in the second half. And DeShea Townsend continued to play well and hold off Bryant McFadden for the starting corner spot opposite Ike Taylor. Oh, and Daniel Sepulveda only had to punt one time.
The Bad
For the second week in a row the Steelers should have had the game in hand by halftime but couldn't convert on some prime chances. Last week it was the numerous drives starting in Cleveland territory - this week it was the offense driving down the field but settling for field goals. As a result, the Steelers only led 12-0 at the half instead of at least 20-0 as it should have been, and when Buffalo ran the opening kick of the second half back to Pittsburgh's 30-yard line, it looked like the Bills might climb back in the game. Speaking of that play, even though the story is that Mike Tomlin didn't see the replay of Terrance McGee stepping out of bounds on that return, someone associated with the Steelers had to have seen it, right? It was obvious that he was out of bounds, and luckily the lack of a challenge flag didn't come back to hurt the Black and Gold. James Harrison got stretchered off at the end of the first half but was okay and wanted to come back to the game in the third quarter, which the doctors had to convince him was a bad idea.
The Ugly
It might be a theme on here with Alex Smith and Matt Leinart playing Pittsburgh in the next few weeks, but man, it must be tough for a young quarterback to have to try to solve Dick LeBeau. In week one, Charlie Frye (who'd played a few games against the Steelers in the past two years) played so bad that he got traded two days later. And he was replaced by Derek Anderson, who looked awful against Pittsburgh but managed to bounce back with five touchdowns against Cincy. Week two saw Losman give it a shot, and he failed to impress. He was 15 of 25 for 154 yards with no TDs, no INTs and one fumble lost, but the Bills offense never really threatened. That's certainly not a good sign for the aforementioned Smith and Leinart. And in a criticism of the CBS broadcast, how could Harrison's neck injury be ignored during the halftime show and only shown when the broadcast team came back for the call of the second half? Not only is that bad to ignore a possible news-worthy event, but especially since it was just one week after Buffalo's Kevin Everett suffered a potentially paralyzing injury, and this was Everett's team involved in maybe another such situation seven days later! Luckily Everett's prognosis is much improved and Harrison is fine and should play this week against the 49ers.
Up next: San Francisco (2-0)
The Good
The offensive line looked better than in week one, opening good holes for Willie Parker and Deuce Davenport while giving Ben Roethlisberger the time he needed to look downfield when the plays called for it. Fast Willie had the usual bounce in his step and did a good job of breaking runs outside when the opportunity arose. Matt Spaeth caught his second touchdown in two weeks, leaving him on pace to shatter the team's single-season record of touchdown receptions by a tight end. The defense was aggressive and didn't allow Losman to get comfortable. Rookie tailback Marshawn Lynch had a couple of nice runs along the way to 64 yards, but for the most part, the Steelers were able to use the early lead to force Buffalo into throwing the ball. Larry Foote did a nice job of getting interior pressure that led to a few sacks by the outside linebackers. LaMarr Woodley looked good after subbing for James Harrison in the second half. And DeShea Townsend continued to play well and hold off Bryant McFadden for the starting corner spot opposite Ike Taylor. Oh, and Daniel Sepulveda only had to punt one time.
The Bad
For the second week in a row the Steelers should have had the game in hand by halftime but couldn't convert on some prime chances. Last week it was the numerous drives starting in Cleveland territory - this week it was the offense driving down the field but settling for field goals. As a result, the Steelers only led 12-0 at the half instead of at least 20-0 as it should have been, and when Buffalo ran the opening kick of the second half back to Pittsburgh's 30-yard line, it looked like the Bills might climb back in the game. Speaking of that play, even though the story is that Mike Tomlin didn't see the replay of Terrance McGee stepping out of bounds on that return, someone associated with the Steelers had to have seen it, right? It was obvious that he was out of bounds, and luckily the lack of a challenge flag didn't come back to hurt the Black and Gold. James Harrison got stretchered off at the end of the first half but was okay and wanted to come back to the game in the third quarter, which the doctors had to convince him was a bad idea.
The Ugly
It might be a theme on here with Alex Smith and Matt Leinart playing Pittsburgh in the next few weeks, but man, it must be tough for a young quarterback to have to try to solve Dick LeBeau. In week one, Charlie Frye (who'd played a few games against the Steelers in the past two years) played so bad that he got traded two days later. And he was replaced by Derek Anderson, who looked awful against Pittsburgh but managed to bounce back with five touchdowns against Cincy. Week two saw Losman give it a shot, and he failed to impress. He was 15 of 25 for 154 yards with no TDs, no INTs and one fumble lost, but the Bills offense never really threatened. That's certainly not a good sign for the aforementioned Smith and Leinart. And in a criticism of the CBS broadcast, how could Harrison's neck injury be ignored during the halftime show and only shown when the broadcast team came back for the call of the second half? Not only is that bad to ignore a possible news-worthy event, but especially since it was just one week after Buffalo's Kevin Everett suffered a potentially paralyzing injury, and this was Everett's team involved in maybe another such situation seven days later! Luckily Everett's prognosis is much improved and Harrison is fine and should play this week against the 49ers.
Up next: San Francisco (2-0)
9/10/2007
Week One - Steelers 34, Browns 7
Mike Tomlin did something that no other Steelers coach has done - he won his first game in Cleveland. Of course, those other coaches presumably played against real Cleveland teams rather than the pseudo-professional squad that took the field on Sunday. Here's a question for you - if you're a Browns fan, is it worse to follow this team than it was to deal with Art Modell taking your franchise to Baltimore and then watching the Ravens win a Super Bowl? The incompetence was evident throughout the game, but the lowlight for Cleveland was clearly the muffed punt snap by punter Paul Ernster, who was signed Saturday because starter Dave Zastudil decided to tell coach Romeo Crennel over the weekend that he felt like he might hurt the team if he played with an injury. Maybe Crennel should have flipped a coin to decide who his punter should have been. Wouldn't be a new strategy for him. Anyways, back to the travails of Ernster, who couldn't field a perfect snap and then finally retrieved the ball and kicked one off the side of his foot while on the run. If that wasn't bad enough, the Browns were whistled for FOUR penalties on the play. Just a few plays later, Ben Roethlisberger hit Hines Ward for a beautiful TD pass and the rout was on. Anyways, here's the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of this week's game.
The Good
The defense played great for Dick LeBeau on his 70th birthday. The pressure on the quarterback looked much better than last year, especially from the linebackers. Ike Taylor had a sack and an interception in his first step toward recovering his 2005 form. Roethlisberger was efficient, and threw four TDs and no picks. Even though his percentage wasn't great, you can chalk up a lot of that to dropped passes. And the Steelers even threw to the tight ends, with Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth catching touchdowns!
The Bad
The aforementioned dropped passes would have come back to haunt the Steelers against probably 30 other NFL teams. Luckily this was Cleveland. The offensive line wasn't exactly dominant, especially in the first half before the Browns basically gave up. Allen Rossum looked like he was intent on proving Tomlin right for trading for him a week ago, but in his haste to field and return every punt that went his way, he left me with a feeling that a similar attitude this week could lead to one of those fumbled punts that troubled the Steelers throughout 2006 and have already made Andy Reid want to try some of his sons' drugs in 2007. And the wasted field position in the first half makes me nervous for the future. And Cedric Wilson wasn't very involved in the offense, so I'm sure we'll hear from "Plaxico Without the Height" pretty soon.
The Ugly
The Browns. Plain and simple. Its hard to tell how good this Steelers team is because Cleveland played one of the worst games I've ever seen an "NFL" team play. The Steelers should have been up 35-0 at the half, but despite the wasted opportunities, the game was still never in doubt.
Up next: Buffalo (0-1)
The Good
The defense played great for Dick LeBeau on his 70th birthday. The pressure on the quarterback looked much better than last year, especially from the linebackers. Ike Taylor had a sack and an interception in his first step toward recovering his 2005 form. Roethlisberger was efficient, and threw four TDs and no picks. Even though his percentage wasn't great, you can chalk up a lot of that to dropped passes. And the Steelers even threw to the tight ends, with Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth catching touchdowns!
The Bad
The aforementioned dropped passes would have come back to haunt the Steelers against probably 30 other NFL teams. Luckily this was Cleveland. The offensive line wasn't exactly dominant, especially in the first half before the Browns basically gave up. Allen Rossum looked like he was intent on proving Tomlin right for trading for him a week ago, but in his haste to field and return every punt that went his way, he left me with a feeling that a similar attitude this week could lead to one of those fumbled punts that troubled the Steelers throughout 2006 and have already made Andy Reid want to try some of his sons' drugs in 2007. And the wasted field position in the first half makes me nervous for the future. And Cedric Wilson wasn't very involved in the offense, so I'm sure we'll hear from "Plaxico Without the Height" pretty soon.
The Ugly
The Browns. Plain and simple. Its hard to tell how good this Steelers team is because Cleveland played one of the worst games I've ever seen an "NFL" team play. The Steelers should have been up 35-0 at the half, but despite the wasted opportunities, the game was still never in doubt.
Up next: Buffalo (0-1)
8/27/2007
Bizarro World of Passing Stats?!?
I know its preseason, and that most defensive coordinators are pretty vanilla with their schemes, but some of the quarterbacking numbers from this weekend's preseason games were ridiculous. Check out these 11 starting quarterbacks and what they did. Two of them (Rivers and Romo) played into the first possession of the third quarter, while Tom Brady played into the second possession of the third quarter and Drew Brees didn't even finish out the first half. The rest played the entire first half before putting on the baseball cap and enjoying the rest of the game.
Ben Roethlisberger – 13 of 25, 247 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Philip Rivers – 20 of 29, 282 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Matt Leinart – 10 of 16, 196 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Tony Romo – 14 of 22, 197 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Eli Manning – 17 of 25, 146 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Rex Grossman – 13 of 20, 211 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Peyton Manning – 23 of 27, 233 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Tom Brady – 17 of 22, 167 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Vince Young – 13 of 19, 162 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
J.P. Losman – 9 of 20, 180 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Drew Brees – 17 of 19, 182 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
So to recap, this group of 11 starting quarterbacks went 166 for 244 (68% completion percentage) for 2,203 yards, with 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions this weekend - while playing about one half each! That's a quarterback rating of 111.4. That means they averaged going 15 of 22 for 200.3 yards for about one half of play. Breaking that out to a four quarter average, these guys would be somewhere around 30 of 44 for 400 yards and three touchdowns each. That’s just sick - whether the defenses were blitzing or not. What's next, Brady Quinn shaving his head and turning into a competent quarterback???
Ben Roethlisberger – 13 of 25, 247 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Philip Rivers – 20 of 29, 282 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Matt Leinart – 10 of 16, 196 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Tony Romo – 14 of 22, 197 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Eli Manning – 17 of 25, 146 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Rex Grossman – 13 of 20, 211 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Peyton Manning – 23 of 27, 233 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Tom Brady – 17 of 22, 167 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Vince Young – 13 of 19, 162 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
J.P. Losman – 9 of 20, 180 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Drew Brees – 17 of 19, 182 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
So to recap, this group of 11 starting quarterbacks went 166 for 244 (68% completion percentage) for 2,203 yards, with 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions this weekend - while playing about one half each! That's a quarterback rating of 111.4. That means they averaged going 15 of 22 for 200.3 yards for about one half of play. Breaking that out to a four quarter average, these guys would be somewhere around 30 of 44 for 400 yards and three touchdowns each. That’s just sick - whether the defenses were blitzing or not. What's next, Brady Quinn shaving his head and turning into a competent quarterback???
8/12/2007
Would It Have Been Too Much to Ask Them to Settle It On the Field?
Anytime the Steelers struggle, at least we as fans have this to remember - at least we don't root for Cleveland. Tortured Cleveland fans now get to cheer for a team where coach Romeo Crennel decided yesterday's starting quarterback via a coin flip! Crennel couldn't decide between Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson (Where was Brady Quinn? Getting a manicure or something?) so he went to a coin toss. I wonder if he went with the same rules as the NFL game coin toss, where the call has to be made before the toss (after the 1997 Thanksgiving Day debacle with Jerome Bettis against the Lions). Did Frye get to call it since he's technically the incumbent? And if this had happened in Pittsburgh, would the coin toss have been carried live on all of the local networks? Frye did win the toss, for what that's worth. That may be his only victory of the year.
7/17/2007
Good news for Browns fans!
Guess what, Cleveland? As if your last place ranking by SI.com's Peter King wasn't enough, now a water pipe burst at your stadium and the Browns have canceled Family Fun Night as a result! I'm sure that a photo of Brady Quinn deliberating screwing with the pipes will pop up on the Internet sometime soon.
7/12/2007
The Quinn Quiz
With all of the random funny Brady Quinn pictures floating around the Internet (Thanks, Deadspin and Mondesi's House!), we decided to blur the line between fact and fiction and show you a set of photos with Quinn in them. You just need to decide if they are real or fake. Which is real and which is fake? Or more appropriately, which pictures have already been taken in real life and which are sure to be snapped in the next few months? Ladies and gentlemen, starting at quarterback for your 2007 Cleveland Browns, #10, Brady Quinn!
Brady in a pink shirt, grabbing some kid's junk.
Brady with Hollywood Hulk Hogan.
Brady with Bret Michaels of Poison fame (and also a big Steeler fan).
Brady with former NBA player John Amaechi and *NSYNC star Lance Bass
Brady with the Village People on the cover of the re-release of their Greatest Hits album.
Brady in a pink shirt, grabbing some kid's junk.
Brady with Hollywood Hulk Hogan.
Brady with Bret Michaels of Poison fame (and also a big Steeler fan).
Brady with former NBA player John Amaechi and *NSYNC star Lance Bass
Brady with the Village People on the cover of the re-release of their Greatest Hits album.
7/03/2007
Catching Up on the News
Before we get to the latest from Steeler Nation, we'd like to extend our apologies for the lack of updates in June. No excuses, though. July marks the start of training camp, so we're going to ramp up our coverage of the Black and Gold as they make the trek to Latrobe. Soon, we'll be releasing a weekly schedule of updates and what you can expect from IWIWAR once the 2007 regular season begins.
LeCharles Bentley wants to make a comeback from his patella injury turned staph infection, and he even thinks he'll be back for the season opener against the Steelers. LeCharles, have you met Casey Hampton? Maybe you should consider waiting until week two.
Scroll down on this link until the arrests for Copley Township. Not only did the Pittsburgh guy get arrested for fighting a Cleveland fan (in Ohio, too!) at a bar, but his lady friend got arrested for pulling another female out of the car and fighting her. Can't wait for that season opener!
Its good to see that (Face Me) Ike Taylor didn't charge Anthony Madison any rent for staying in his apartment. And its also great to see Ike mocking someone for dropping passes, giving his penchant for struggling to make easy interceptions the past two years.
LeCharles Bentley wants to make a comeback from his patella injury turned staph infection, and he even thinks he'll be back for the season opener against the Steelers. LeCharles, have you met Casey Hampton? Maybe you should consider waiting until week two.
Scroll down on this link until the arrests for Copley Township. Not only did the Pittsburgh guy get arrested for fighting a Cleveland fan (in Ohio, too!) at a bar, but his lady friend got arrested for pulling another female out of the car and fighting her. Can't wait for that season opener!
Its good to see that (Face Me) Ike Taylor didn't charge Anthony Madison any rent for staying in his apartment. And its also great to see Ike mocking someone for dropping passes, giving his penchant for struggling to make easy interceptions the past two years.
5/08/2007
Tale of Two Cities
Courtesy of Mondesi's House is this outstanding image which shows the difference between a pair of AFC North franchises.
4/27/2007
Draft Day Blues
Every year I get so excited for the draft. I read everything I can get my hands on, stalk Mel Kiper, obsess over team needs and make guesses about every pick. During and after the draft I am the most optimistic Steelers’ fan in the world. In my mind Omar Jacobs was just like Vince Young except he played at a smaller school and Fred Gibson was the answer to Plaxico leaving. The draft is such a day of optimism (assuming you aren’t a Browns fan, look at from 1999 on, just brutal) as well as the only real football news between the Super Bowl and the opening of mini-camps. I usually look at the Friday before the draft like Christmas Eve. Just get it over with and get to the next day so I can open my presents!
But this year has been different. I have had trouble getting too excited about it. I still read every mock draft that I can get my hands on and scrutinize every player Todd McShay says the Steelers might take, but I haven’t been nearly as obsessive about it. Maybe I’m too busy at work, but I think it has more to do with the weakness of the draft this year. At the Steelers' pick there is nobody I am really excited about. Last year we were predicted to draft a receiver from my favorite college team which was exciting and when we actually moved up to draft Santonio I was thrilled. It is so much fun to follow a player from his freshman year through the college years and into the league. Well, at least until he starts dropping punts and fumbling the ball every time… No, no. I’m staying positive.
I seriously doubt Pittsburgh is going to be calling Teddy Ginn or any other Buckeye on the first day. It looks like its cornerback, an O/D lineman or a hybrid player who can play outside linebacker until we make the switch from the 3-4 to the 4-3 where the player will be an end. I trust Kevin Colbert and staff greatly. I imagine Tomlin will step aside his first year and trust his more experienced front office. I am confident that the Steelers will produce a solid draft and I hope we will get value out of the middle rounds. It's just that when you look back to 1997 and every year except maybe Kendall Simmons year I was so excited about our first round pick:
2006 Santonio Holmes WR Ohio State
2005 Heath Miller TE Virginia
2004 Ben Roethlisberger QB Miami (OH)
2003 Troy Polomalu S USC
2002 Kendall Simmons OL Auburn
2001 Casey Hampton DT Texas
2000 Plaxico Burress WR Michigan St.
1999 Troy Edwards WR LA Tech
1998 Alan Faneca G LSU
1997 Chad Scott DB Maryland
Some worked and some didn’t but I thought they all were going to be superstars. I really don’t feel that way this year but I hope I’m wrong.
In the end I hope with the number 15 pick in the 2007 Draft the Pittsburgh Steelers select Darrelle Revis from Pittsburgh, just for Mario. It is fun to get watch a player develop from college and the Steelers can use the cornerback help. If you can grab one of the two best cornerbacks in the draft at a position of need you have to do it, right?
Sorry Ike (possibly my favorite web site ever)!
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