Rich's Sports Beat

I was about to write about the Steelers not wanting this game bad enough, based on how the first half unfolded. I was more concerned with how injuries were going to affect the outcome of this game. Then I had to remind myself that this is the Steelers and the Ravens. This is not a football game. This is a street fight, an alley brawl, and it is not going to score any style points. This is all about who wants it more. At the end of the game, the Steelers wanted it more and went out and proved it. Ben Roethlisberger went into the game with a specially fitted boot to go over his bad foot. Turns out that was the least of his problems. On the first series, taking a paw to the face, he got his nose bloody and battered. No flag, no penalty, and a minimal fine. Later in the game, Heath Miller took a vicious shot that would have decapitated most men. He walked off the field under his own power, albeit with a concussion. A mere immortal among mortal men. Go figure. Most men would ha...

Now, that’s more like it. I was glad to be wrong. Not about the result. About the score. I thought the Raiders would have made a better, and closer, game of it last week. After they kicked the opening field goal, the Steelers responded with 35 unanswered points. After the debacle last week two weeks ago against New England, the Steelers answered the bell and came out swinging, figuratively and literally, against the Raiders. The physical nature of the game brought back memories from the days of yore. Ben Roethlisberger threw three touchdown passes and ran for another. Rashard Mendenhall rushed for another touchdown and was the only running back to account for 11 rushing touchdowns . Isaac Redman scored his first NFL touchdown in garbage time and effectively put the icing on the cake. Yet, the Steelers can do better and they must do better as they head down the stretch. Coming back after the New England mess was a sign of pride and character. However, the penalties were a h...

If you stayed up Monday night, then you saw the end of a game that should not have been that close. Perhaps shades of last year when the Steelers lost five in a row after starting out 6 – 2 on their way to a 9 – 7 record. Injuries were the order of the evening, as if the Steelers could afford to add more injuries to their already depleted roster. But this team just keeps on plugging away and that is a testament to the players stepping up and answering the call and coach Mike Tomlin’s mantra that the standard does not change. Fill ins are expected to perform. This game should not have been that close and should have been a blow out. Settling for field goals (and one miss that would have put the game away) is not what the doctor ordered. When you score touchdowns, you put the onus on the other team to try and play catch up. When you kick field goals, you give the other team life and the defense a moral victory. The difference between three and seven points is that important. Ri...

Much will have been said and written about the Steelers loss to the Ravens this past week and most of it will likely be true. Plenty of blame to go around for what happened at Heinz Field last Sunday and all of it justified. Penalties are inexcusable and uncalled for. Oh sure, penalties are going to take place. That is just the nature of the beast. But mental penalties, like false starts, are not justified. If you are an offensive lineman or someone on the line, it is your responsibility to know the snap count and not jump before the ball is snapped. Plain and simple. But this loss could have, and should have, been avoided. The offense could have played better, as could have the defense. Jeff Reed will have gotten his share of the blame, as well he should, and the ultimate insult is losing at home, which the Steelers should almost never do. I have never been sold on Heinz Field being an advantage for the Steelers like Three Rivers Stadium was. There is no deafening noise ra...

As was hoped and expected last week, the offense came out its slumber and put big points on the board as the Steelers jumped all over Tampa Bay and made a statement that they are going to be reckoned with as the season moves along. Charlie Batch started and threw three touchdown passes (two to Mike Wallace and one to Hines Ward), Rashard Mendenhall rushed for another and the icing on the cakes was Brett Keisel’s 79 yard interception return for a touchdown. This is what the team and the offense needed to cure the woes of the first two weeks. While it may stir a minor controversy, Charlie Batch has to start this week versus the Ravens at Heinz Field. Despite two interceptions, he did nothing to warrant being returned to the bench. This week is the key game of the first four. It is the first division game, at home, and will set the tone for the division and the rest of the season. These two teams simply do not like each other. While there is grudging respect, I think both teams wo...

Boy, is it good to be wrong, and I am so glad I was wrong! I thought it was going to be a tall order for the Steelers to go into Nashville and knock off a Titans team that practically dominated them for the years the teams had met in Tennessee. The law of averages caught up, as they always do, and the Steelers delivered a message to the rest of the league. “We are more than just one player, and our defense will kick your ***!” Yes, you can thank the Steeler D for this win, what with the seven turnovers and four sacks, not to mention the way it treated running back Chris Johnson. The opening kickoff for the touchdown did set the tone for the rest of the day and the defense brought its lunch pail to work and delivered the hits, the punches, and the shots to a Tennessee team that was not prepared for this physicality. What is still disturbing is the inability of the offense to get into the endzone after eight quarters of regulation. The only offensive player to record a touchdown t...

It is now official. Football is now underway. College football completed week two of its season and the NFL kicked off last weekend. By now, we know what happened Sunday at Heinz Field. Dennis Dixon was the caretaker of the offense and didn’t do anything (outside of one interception and some low throws) to put his team in jeopardy of losing the game to the Atlanta Falcons. A win in week one, mission accomplished. This game was close, right down to it going into overtime, the third time this has happened in as many games that these two teams have played. It is a mystery as to why Atlanta and Pittsburgh have such close games in recent years. It was a battle of field goals until overtime, although Jeff Reed had a chance to end it in regulation with a kick into the open end, which is normally a reliable kick from Reed, but the winds can wreak havoc on any kick from that spot. Nonetheless, he kept the Steelers in the game with his other three made field goals and allowed them a cha...

Last weekend, the college football season kicked off and none too soon for many people, including me. High school football got its traditional start the Friday evening before, and now the NFL will complete the trifecta by getting its season started this weekend. Football will now be in full swing. The NFL season officially kicked off Thursday evening with the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints hosting the Minnesota Vikings in a rematch of last year’s NFC Championship game. The full tilt continues Sunday and concludes with a double header Monday Night. Here, then, is Sports Beat predictions for each division in the NFL, as well as a preview of the Steelers Atlanta Falcons opener Sunday at Heinz Field. Beginning in the AFC East, it is coming down to the New York Jets and the New England Patriots for division supremacy. The Jets have the young quarterback in Mark Sanchez and arguably the best corner in the league in Darrelle Revis. The Jets also went out and got LaDa...

Ugly is a four letter word. Not in the traditional sense, mind you. But this very easily defines what happened in Denver Sunday night. Dennis Dixon got his chance to run the first team offense and subsequently threw two picks, one for a touchdown. We all found out that running the first team is a lot different than running the second or third team. Anyone who knows football knows that. At this point, it looks like Byron Leftwich’s job to lose going into the regular season opener against Atlanta. The other side of that coin is Keenan Lewis with two personal foul calls on defense while filling in for Bryant McFadden. Neither call endeared itself to head coach Mike Tomlin, who rightly pulled Lewis from the game and got in his face to tell him what he did wrong and that it would not be acceptable behavior. Lewis responded by busting out some protective glass on a sign on the way to the locker room. Tomlin is making him pay for the damages which, again is the right thing to do. T...

*Week two of the preseason took the Steelers to New York to face the Giants in their new stadium in the Meadowlands. Ben Roethlisberger saw his first playing time, and his first start, of the preseason and he was very Ben-like. While he played much longer than anticipated, he did not throw a touchdown pass. It was probably more getting the rust off and allowing him to get his timing back in game action. The balance continues as Coach Mike Tomlin much prepare his quarterbacks for the regular season and allow Ben to get his reps so he at least has some line of cohesiveness with his receivers. Byron Leftwich threw a near perfect touchdown strike to receiver Mike Wallace. The first touchdown of the game for the Steelers showed that Leftwich still has his arm and that Wallace is likely to take his place as the number two receiver behind Hines Ward, and will be the deep threat the Steelers will need to stretch the field. Dennis Dixon led two scoring drives, albeit against second and ...

Well, football fans, you’re withdrawal is now officially over. Despite the fact football began two weekends ago with the Hall of Fame game, it actually began around here for most folks with the Steelers playing the Detroit Lions last Saturday evening. It was an eventful game, to be sure, what with the weather delay, the question surrounding whether Ben Roethlisberger would play, how the other quarterbacks would look, and how the 2010 Steelers would begin their preseason. There is going to be an argument about whether Dennis Dixon should get the start the first four to six games of the season over Byron Leftwich. The theory seems to be that Dixon has not shown the coaching staff he is capable of working the entire offense and they have to downsize the playbook in order to get him on the field. There is no question he delivered against the Lions, yet it was against the second and third teams. This will be an ongoing situation - Leftwich or Dixon? Having said that, Leftwich had a m...

*There are those who I will call casual football fans and only watch the Steelers, which is fine. When the Steelers play, and the game is over, football is done for that day. If they play on Sunday or Monday nights, then these casual fans believe that is the only game on and insist on doing something else until that game comes on. Again, that’s fine. To each their own. Then, there are those of us who are football junkies or, as I like to say, students of the game. We follow players and teams from all over the league and remember players from those teams from days gone by. That is the category I fall into and I don’t apologize for it. Everyone is different, but football has been in my blood every since I was a kid. I bring this up because I have watched every Hall of Fame induction ceremony ever since I can remember. This year, the Pittsburgh connections continued, with Rickey Jackson and Russ Grimm both from the University of Pittsburgh, and Dick LeBeau, defensive coordinator...

*Retirement. Most of us look forward to this aspect of our lives. Many will put in 40 years, or more, in a career and look ahead to when they can enjoy the fruits of their labors. Then, there are those fortunate enough to be able to retire early and can still enjoy the good life. Those of us who are considered regulars (regular, common people) think that everyone feels the way we do. Well, guess again. The world is a lot different today than it was 20, 30, even 40 years ago. No one spends 40 years at one job anymore. The world has changed. Today, an individual can hold, on average, 10 different jobs during the course of their career. Yet, we still have to put our time in before we are able to retire comfortably and with no money worries. And that is becoming even tougher to do. Why do I bring this up in a sports column? Most of our leisure time is spent watching some kind of sporting event. Either as a casual fan, or as a sports junkie (like me). The average career lifes...

Steelers training camp has arrived and summer is now officially over! While August is upon us and will be here Sunday, training camp means the beginning of the end of summer. This means the regular season will not be far behind and with it, autumn. It is been more than worth the wait. Here is the training camp schedule for those who wish to make the trek to Latrobe, or just want to keep up with what is going with your Black and Gold: Friday July 30 – Players report Saturday, July 31 – Practice at 2:55 p.m. Sunday, August 1 – Practice at 2:55 p.m. Monday, August 2 – Practice at 2:55 p.m. Tuesday, August 3 – Practice at 2:55 p.m. Wednesday, August 4 – Practice at 2:55 p.m. Thursday, August 5 – Practice at 2:55 p.m. Friday, August 6 – Night Practice at Latrobe Stadium 7:00 p.m. Saturday, August 7 – TBD (Dick LeBeau to be inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame) Sunday, August 8 – Practice at 2:55 p.m. Monday, August 9 – Practice at 2:55 p.m. Tuesday, August 10 – Practice at 2:55 p.m. ...

Questions, questions, questions. That seems to be the theme of the 2010 Pittsburgh Steelers as training camp opens in a week (a week from Friday, to be exact). Players will report on Friday July 30 and the first practice will be Saturday July 31. This will be one of the shortest camps in recent memory, and a lot of work needs to get done in that time frame. One issue that has been resolved is Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s contract, which he recently inked a three year extension to take him to 2014. Two years remain on his present contract, so he has the security that his predecessors had before him (Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher). However, many issues still occupy this football team. Tops among them is the quarterback situation. Ben Roethlisberger will be allowed to participate in all training camp activities and all preseason games. But, when the season starts, he will not be allowed anywhere near the practice facility or Heinz Field on game days. This is how strict this suspension is....