Steelers: I'm going to be honest. Ninety percent of me didn't believe we would win this game. I'm glad the ten percent of me knows her stuff and obviously overpowers the majority.
Officials - I'm starting with this because these guys, especially the head ref, earned their money in last night's game. Bill Vinovich and crew were outstanding. That game was rough, crazy, and someone could have seriously been injured if not for those guys in the zebra stripes. Vinovich maintained calm and poise and at one point told both coaches to get their team in control or he would start sending guys to the locker room. I was impressed with how well they did in keeping that game from getting out of hand. Kudos to all of them.
Rough - The Ravens are nuts. I really believe that. Ever since I read the Sports Illustrated article where I learned how John Harbaugh talks to his locker room before playing the Steelers I decided that as long as he was in charge the Ravens would be nuts. There were times in the game that their players just made dumb, uncalled for mistakes that could have resulted in someone being out for the season. I realize that there are times that is unavoidable, but because both teams were playing for keeps stupid came crawling out of the woodwork way too often.
Mental vs Physical - The Steelers were in the Ravens head after our defense began to come awake. The Ravens retaliated with force. Let's see...Ray Rice played for what team? These are adults that have got to learn to man up and walk away from taunting. Either that or play like the Steelers did.
Big Ben - He threw for six touchdowns last night that gave him another NFL record. He is the first quarterback in history to have back to back games with six consecutive touchdowns. Woo Hoo! More important to me is how he conducts himself in his interviews. He is all about his teammates and giving them the credit. He talks about having a lot of work still to do, about the ones that got away, and about how proud he is of his guys. That's a far cry from who he was four years ago in front of fans and cameras. I hope he is this guy elsewhere in his life too, proving that redemption is possible.
Troy Polamalu - Gone from the game at the end of the first half after making a tackle and getting pounced on. He is said to have a knee sprain and whatever the hell that means medically what we fans hear is that Troy is gone from the game. And that is never good for the Steelers.
Terrell Suggs - My buddy calls him a thug and he certainly lived up to that title last night. He was assessed several penalties, but the worst was his hit on LeGarrette Blount after the whistle had blown the play dead. In real time it looked like the hit had crippled Blount with broken legs and the entire stadium, as well as the announcers, were heard gasping and booing. Upon slow motion replay it wasn't as nasty with the hit coming to the hip and thigh, but the fact that Suggs had already stopped running and tackling and was walking off to suddenly come at Blount at a full run and tackle was uncalled for. He was flagged, but that kind of stuff is what makes everyone inside and outside the NFL cry "dirty".
Mean Joe Greene - His number 75 was retired at last night's game, only the second player to have this done in Pittsburgh. His story is a cool one. When he was taken as the Steelers pick in 1969 no one outside of Texas had any idea of this kid. He soon changed that and now no one else in the Steelers organization will wear the number 75. He was my favorite player along with Terry and every day I sit at my computer he watches over me as I have his name and number painted on my wall above me.
Halftime Ceremony - I thought it tacky that CBS did not show the halftime retirement of Joe Greene's jersey. Yeah, I know. Money, money, money needs to be made, but this was Mean Joe Greene. Mean! Joe! Greene! What he meant in Pittsburgh, and what he meant to the Steelers organization, and what he meant to kids all around the world in the 70's who loved coke...come one. The station could have showed a portion of something. Thank god for the Internet where I was able to watch his private ceremony, as well as the one on the field.
Speech - Joe Greene fired up the defense and the rest of the team by giving the pre-game speech. He kept it short and simple and told them to get out their and do some butt kicking. No wonder our guys played like they did. Greene had one of those personalities that I talk about on this blog. If he thought a teammate needed to step up, he told him. So when he told the team to kick butt...well, they did exactly that. Now if we could just have Greene do that every week we would be good.
Other:
Bucs game announcers - Thom Brennanman and David Diehl drove me crazy with their after-the-fact discussions that had no bearing on the live game. They showed us plays that they felt controversial, but that the officials obviously didn't because no whistle was blown. They kept rambling on about plays that had happened two plays previously where again no whistle was blown and no challenges issued. I finally had to turn the sound off.
Mike Glennon - He can throw, but in this day and age of bomb throwers the poor Bucs quarterback can't even light the fuse. He also is such a weeny, little thing that I worry someone is going to crush him on the field and he'll just disappear in a poof of smoke and everyone will wonder what happened to Mike Glennon.
Arizona - I better start paying more attention to this team. I knew I should have have changed my pick at the last minute. The Cardinals demolished the Cowboys in their own stadium, and I swear they just kept running all the way back to Arizona.
Chargers - Whoa. What happened here? They are playing like the Steelers were in the beginning of the year, but even we didn't lose three in a row. Maybe they need Joe Greene in their locker room. Has anyone called Dan Fouts?
Brady vs Manning - I don't get as caught up in this nonsense as the media does. Jeez, this is all they talked about for a whole week. Even Terry Bradshaw and company had a round table discussion about who they would take as their quarterback. Here is the scoop. Tom Brady is jealous of Peyton Manning. He always plays well that first game and he usually wins. Which is fine with me. Because when it really counts, the playoffs, Manning will win. Especially if he was beaten once before by that team. I'd take Peyton Manning over everyone anytime anywhere.
Tony Gonzalez - His head is so perfect with the back drop of the NFL Network GameDay that I feel like I'm watching a cartoon. I could say the same thing about Michael Strahan over at Fox. They just have these perfect, chiseled features that makes me forget all about what they have to say.
Eagles - Oops. Lost their quarterback Nick Foles to what is being reported as a broken collarbone. Just when you think you have a team... Former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, he of the wishy washy maybe today I'll play or maybe today I won't stepped in as the back up and brought home the win. Fans are wondering though if he can continue to be the leader this team needs. I think this is Sanchez's time to man up and show the NFL what he believes he has always been capable of.
No comments:
Post a Comment