Monday morning recap - week #14

Steelers: You guys, this team...I mean, holy shit. How?

I'm not going to lie, watching football on Thursday was hard considering the piss poor sportsmanship game on Monday night, not to mention the paralyzation of Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier. A pall was over the entire week while news trickled out from Steelers headquarters giving us very little beyond his moving from a Cincinnati hospital to a Pittsburgh hospital and then that he had spinal stabilization surgery. He won't be playing again this year, but no one cares about that. What we want to hear is that he has movement in his lower body and his future is bright. Last night Michelle TaFoya told us Shazier's spirits are positive and Tomlin said he is "shockingly good". Which is scary to me hearing that, but it is something to hold on to. Shalieve We love you #50!

• Interesting information that came out this week after that Bengals game was that the Steelers admitted that the Baltimore Ravens are the enemy, but the players respect their team. Unlike their feelings on the Cincinnati Bengals. The Baltimore Ravens were also the first team in the NFL to tweet their support for Ryan Shazier, and I respected that immensely.
• Fifteen Steelers wore special cleats in tonight's game to honor Ryan Shazier. Many had his number #50 and some had his face and his jersey, but for me, the best honor was from James Harrison who honored Ryan Shazier by warming up without his shirt on, something Shazier does every game.
• Then Rosevelt Nix, who stopped the Ravens on the first play of the game, jumped up, pulled up his jersey to show us a #50 shirt underneath, pumped his fist, and I cried. So much more than football.
• The emotions were high and the Steelers rode it, making stops on the defense and scoring on the offense, putting up 14 points bing, bada, boom, but the Ravens weren't going to let them take the game and run away. They came back with their own 14 points and at halftime, we fans knew it was going to be another long half late into the night.
• Unfortunately, without Shazier's quickness and leadership, our defense struggled. Just once this year I would like the defense to score.
• At some point, you knew this coming back and winning streak wasn't going to pan out. As I typed that in the fourth quarter, believing it, Ben threw to Antonio Brown for major yardage and suddenly hope sprung eternal. At some point, I guess I'll start believing in this team.
• The pass interference call has been huge in the last two years for the NFL. The problem is that both offense and defense push and prod, hold, and stiff arm. How the hell do you decide who is the one to call it on? I gotta give it to the refs when that call is flagged because I don't know how you can tell who is the culprit or not. 
• Steelers penalties (101 yards) as always on a night where we needed to have none. Listen, I want to win as much as those guys on the field. Hell, there are times I feel I want it more sitting in my armchair here at home, but I can guarantee that I'm not going to take down the opposition's fans. Please. Stop with the penalties!
• But once again, these guys kept playing. No giving up when I surely think they have. 31-23 and Nix gets his first touchdown. Miss the two point conversion to put it 31-29. Ravens score to go ahead 38-29. Steelers answer with a Bell touchdown 38-36. Defense holds. Roethlisberger back down the field. Boswell kicks. 39-38. Defense holds. Steelers win! Unbelievable comeback once again. 
• Ben Roethlisberger became the first person in NFL history with 3 games of 500+ passing yards. Wow. Take that Brady! Okay, now I'm feeling cocky!
• The Steelers then left Shazier's helmet on the field after the game. Cue the tears once again. #Shalieve

Other:

• The Texans quarterback Tom Savage was knocked to the ground after completing a pass. His head hit the turf, his hands began shaking uncontrollably, and he rolled on to his side and then on to his stomach, yet the man RETURNED to the game. WTF? How hard is this to understand? There is a concussion protocol. How can the powers to be not understand that? Ugh. How about we start fining and suspending those who don't follow it?
• Kudos to Cleveland's Duke Johnson Jr. who knelt after his touchdown and prayed for #50, the Steelers Ryan Shazier. Just shows that for many this game is just a job and not life.
• Crazy game of the week was the snowy field in Buffalo, New York. I don't think I've ever seen a field with that much snow. It looked like more than a couple of inches and at times the teams looked like they were jumping into snow banks. In the end, the Bills back up quarterback who played the last sequence and won the game, lay in the snow making angels. 
• The Cleveland Browns played great today but lost to the Packers in the end, and god love them, you gotta feel for those goobers and their fans.
• Philadelphia is on fire! Even after their main man went down and out with a knee injury, their back up, who once was the main man, Nick Foles, came in throwing like a crazy man while chaos reigned in the pocket. He kept his cool, made huge plays and secured the win.
• But...Eagles fans are certainly holding their breath waiting to hear word of their main man, Carson Wentz. Wentz ran for a touchdown and got drilled low by two defenders and immediately went to the locker room with a knee injury. Sucks to be on a roll and have your big guy go down. Steelers fan know that feeling.
• The Seahawks/Jaguars game got a tad heated, especially toward the end. Several Seattle players were clearly frustrated and then it got totally out of hand. Seattle's Sheldon Richardson threw a punch and was ejected from the game. On his way to the locker room, Jaguar fans threw trash at him and he took offense. Words were exchanged, Richardson started toward the fans, security got involved, more trash was thrown, and Richardson tried to climb the wall to get to the idiots. Totally out of control. The NFL is seriously going to have to work hard this offseason to fix their reputation. And fans need to get a hold of themselves. Jeez. 
• But lets give it to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Remember how in the beginning of the season they were the team that all the "experts" were saying wouldn't do well? They have the number one defense and are leading their division. Take that everybody!
• Odd news that I found on Twitter was the fact that the Miami Dolphins have registered every player on the roster to vote. Now that is positive and the first honest and responsible thing a team has done thus far when it comes to social issues.