Monday NFL recap - week 5

Steelers: I feel like I say the same thing every week, every year. But baby, I will take this win!

1st play - On the first play of our possession, on the punt return, Robert Golden was called for holding. A penalty? I was shocked. Seriously? It set the tone for me for this game, and it wasn't the tone I was looking for.

Quarterback run - I like the running quarterback despite the risk of injury. There are times when the it is just plain necessary. I don't know if Ben has been told not to run. I don't know if he is like me and afraid of falling down. All I know is he missed two key runs that would have gotten us first downs, and just when I typed those first two words he ran to get the first down that ended the game and gave us the win. See.

Polamalu penalty - Okay, he can make huge defensive plays that other safeties can't, but his jumping over his players to break up the offensive line and the snap isn't working this year. Last week he was penalized and this week he was penalized. While I get that I could be writing about how that move worked, and had it I would have been thrilled, but he is doing it at the wrong time during key moments and those penalties are too costly.

Penalties - Oh, let's just mention these again too. I kept track this time making little hash marks on my paper, and as each mark was made my blood pressure went up. My buddy put it best; undisciplined. I blame the coach. Tomlin has got to discipline these guys and these guys have got to stop making stupid penalties. I was shocked to hear we were the second team in penalties, but when I checked that statistic myself I found us .5 behind the 49er's. Probably number one after this game.

Interception - Finally. A pick from Brice McCain (who?) that resulted in a touchdown. And it was a great pick. McCain was paying attention, saw the ball coming, stepped in front of his man, Allen Hurns, got the pick and ran it into the end zone for the score. Beautiful. Monkey off the defense's back for this week.

Other:

Peyton Manning - New record from my boy! Second in all time touchdown passes with 503, five behind the leader, Brett Favre. Does the man just keep racking up the points and the records? Yep. But what is so great about Peyton Manning is how humble he is. "I do think about how many people have helped me throughout my career. I just think about how graterful I am for that help and support. Football's the ultimate team game." Love him.

Bucs - It has been a long week in Tampa Bay for Steelers fans. I am a Bucs fan, but my Steelers come first and losing to the team where you reside is terrible. It was worse because the media and the Bucs fans acted like they were this phenomenal team. The Steelers gave that game to the Bucs, and apparently the Bucs were paying attention last week because they came out this week and did the same thing with the Saints. The Bucs had 9 penalties for 115 yards and handed that game in overtime to New Orleans.

Colts - Thank you Indianapolis. Great final play from the defense to break up a great Joe Flacco pass that would have been a score had he caught it.

Quarterback run - Andrew Luck and Jake Locker did what I kept yelling at Ben Roethlisberger to do. They ran when they had to they both scored on their runs. Locker, the Titans leader, got drilled in the end zone by a Browns defender, which brought out the whole quarterback running argument, but that hit was a dirty hit as Locker cleared the end zone way before he was hit. Christian Kirksey, the defender, will pay for that forearm to the head, but it doesn't change my mind. Sometimes quarterbacks are going to have to run. Either that or their teammates are going to have to step up better.

Dez Bryant catch - Huge. Romo to Bryant for major yardage in overtime that got the Cowboys within field goal range. He had to leap in man to man coverage for that catch, bobbled it a bit and caught it again. The field goal was good and the Cowboys won. Huge play. That is what it is all about.

Comebacks - The Cleveland Browns were down 28-3 and everyone counted them out. Next thing you know it was 28-10 and then 28-15 and then 28-22 and then suddenly 29-28 and the game was over and the Browns were the ones jumping up and down the field. That is the way you fight. The Steelers play these guys next week, barely beat them in week one, and do not have the fight within them. I'll enjoy this week as long as I can. The St. Louis Rams too made a run at a comeback, but fell short. Either way I just like to see that fighting spirit instead of giving up and quitting.

Penalties - Well, the Steelers aren't the only ones. Most heartbreaking and the stupidest penalty this week? Kansas City's twelve men on the field.

Lions kickers - They keep missing. Last week the Lions signed Alex Henry to replace rookie Nate Freese who couldn't hit between the uprights. This week Henry too missed three attempts, the last one the deciding factor in the game. Ouch.

Bose - They are the official headphones for the NFL this year. So that means no more Dre Beats...at least during interviews. Oh, no! Say it isn't so! I didn't know this before the game started, but I did notice that the headphones the players were wearing were pink this week, and I wondered, as I always do during NFL October, if the money used to provide players with pink headphones couldn't have been better spent on breast cancer research.

Patriots - And speaking of comebacks...I knew it. I knew I should have gone with the Patriots. Say what I will about Tom Brady, the man is a fighter and he can motivate his team to pick up the pieces of last week's debacle and come out kicking and clawing. New England stuffed the Cincinnati Bengals and handed that team their first loss of the season.