Steelers: Here We Go! After a shaky start and an up and down mid season, the boys pulled it together and clinched the wild card berth to the playoffs. A win on Sunday gives us the division win and home field advantage, but I'm not getting ahead of myself. I'm just enjoying this win.
My buddy - I have to start with my Steelers watching buddy Scott. He loves this team with passion and gets so worked up, definitely more than I do, but the man has little faith. Scott has Direct TV and when he is home on Sundays (his daughter plays soccer so a lot of Sundays he is traveling) we are sitting on the couch together watching Steelers football. When we aren't together we are texting. He is so knowledgeable that any time a flag is thrown he tells me why before the ref does. My role is to talk Scott off the ledge when he gets down. At the beginning of the season all I heard was negative. "Season over. A 5-12 losing record. We'll be lucky to get 5. Who loses to the Jets? Our defense is old. We suck." I've heard it the last three years. It got so bad at times I was glad I was home in my Steelers room watching alone and ignoring Mr. Negative's texts.
Yesterday he wanted me in my place beside him to watch us win. When we did I let him have it. His wife let him have it. We mocked all the negative things he said all year long. He smiled and took it like a man. He will be at Heinz Field this Sunday watching the boys in person. Despite us being in the playoffs, he will still take it to heart, wanting that win for a better berth and he will still text me if we play lousy telling me we don't belong with the other AFC teams, telling me we suck, telling me blah, blah, blah. I'll try to pump him back up, remind him to have faith, tell him to enjoy the moment with his family. Ah, Football.
James Harrison - The defense may be old. Harrison, who retired earlier this year because no team wanted him and then came out of retirement to help the Steelers when injuries hit, may be old. But yesterday he and the rest of the "old guys" played like age had nothing to do with football. Harrison, who sat out last week due to a knee injury, is loving football again. He had 1.5 of the season record 6 sacks yesterday and lived up to his beast nickname. He was pushing, shoving, and knocking down the Chief's offensive line like they were bowling pins. I think his intensity brought heart and sparked the rest of the defense. It was a beautiful thing to watch.
Chiefs decision - At the end of the half, down by four points, the Chiefs opted to go for it on fourth down instead of kicking a field goal. Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons stuffed Jaamal Charles behind the line of scrimmage for the save. Instead of being down by 1 with the ball again after halftime the Chiefs went into the locker room with the momentum on the Steelers side.
Phantom Taunting Call - The worst call of the night came after Lawrence Timmons stuffed yet another Chiefs player, Travis Kelce, on third down. Timmons rolled out of bounds and Steelers William Gay ran up to Timmons, crossed his arms, and walked toward him as if he were admiring his teammate. The refs flagged Gay for taunting. Uh? Taunting his own teammate? Twitter, CBS, fans, and other sports analysts went nuts. Terrible call. There won't be a fine for Gay from the NFL this week I'm sure. Second non-fined call on the Steelers two weeks running.
Cheap shot - Ben Roethlisberger went down after completing a pass for a touchdown after a trip from Chief's Vance Walker. Ben was in the pocket looking for Antonio Brown in the endzone. Walker was wrestling with Steelers David DeCastro, and seeing Ben beside him, stuck his foot out to trip up Roethlisberger. It didn't work. Ben stumbled, got right, threw the touchdown, and got hit hard. He left the field limping with the team doctor, but returned soon after much to the delight of those sitting in Heinz Field.
Other:
Lightning - Our area in Florida is the Lightning Capitol of the US and yesterday after the Bucs game some folks from Wisconsin got introduced to that fact on their way out of Raymond James Stadium after the Packers beat the Bucs. Lightning struck a truck owned by a man from Wisconsin ripping up a nice portion of his roof and sending everyone around the truck to the hospital.
Clausen hit - Jimmy Clausen got Chicago's start at quarterback after the team benched Jay Cutler for the last two games. At one point, Clausen ran for the first down and was hit helmet to helmet by Lions' Ziggy Ansan. Clausen didn't appreciate that and jumped up yelling at Ansan. The Lions Jason Jones pushed Clausen as if to shut him up and suddenly both teams were circling. Got to give Clausen some credit. He's a feisty little dude.
Clay Matthews - This guy absolutely loves his hair, doesn't he? Anytime we switched to watch the Bucs/Packers game the camera was on Matthews running his fingers through his hair or flipping his head back like a shampoo model. Someone needs to let him know that his wet, sweaty, long hair is not attractive to those of us sitting at home.
Colts - What is going on with the Indianapolis Colts? What is going on with Andrew Luck? The Colts were killed yesterday 42-7. While the fans might not be happy I'm not too worried about them. They have secured a playoff spot and Luck is never down for long. I'm hoping we don't have to play them again.
Dropped Balls - Someone must have greased the Colts' receivers gloves yesterday with butter as they dropped pass, after pass, after pass. It was really kind of embarrassing and made a great drinking game.
Chargers - Got to give props to Phillip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers for their comeback win in overtime against the 49ers on Saturday. Down by 21, the Chargers scored four touchdowns to put it into overtime where they won after a fumble by the 49ers.
Eagles - I picked these guys at the beginning of the year to be the winners. Not happening now. After losing their starting quarterback, they held on behind back-up Mark Sanchez, but as always Sanchez began unraveling and the Eagles' mistakes that they seem to make every game became more pronounced. With Dallas' win yesterday the Eagles aren't even going to make the playoffs. Sigh. Well, I can't always be right.
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