Football
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 huge problem and several of them were uncalled for. It appears as of the league and the referees are looking for the Steelers and, more specifically, James Harrison to make some kind of move so they can get penalized for them. Several calls were made that had no merit to them, yet the Steelers overcame them by shoving everything back down the Raiders’ throat. Rest assured, there are likely to be more calls from the league office apologizing for shoddy penalties that were not necessary. Too late for apologies, Mr. Goodell.
When he was named commissioner, I thought Roger Goodell would do a lot of good for the league. It appears with all of these safety issues that he is now turning the league into a laughingstock. It looks like the referees are looking for anything questionable, at least by the Steelers, to pull out the flags. This is getting out of hand and must be curbed. Mr. Goodell has better take a good hard look at his league, our league actually, and realize that he might just be messing up a good thing.
No, no one wants to see anyone get severely injured playing this game, but it is football. It is a physical, violent game played by modern day gladiators. They know they are paying the price for playing the game and they accept that. So, let them play. Pretty soon every quarterback will be wearing dresses and flags around their wastes, or the defenses may not even take the field because they are not allowed to do their jobs.
Taking this a step further, football 101 states that textbook tackling is hitting in the midsection and wrapping up the ball carrier around the waste and pull him down in that fashion. If the player is too strong, then the tackler just needs to wait for the cavalry. Too many defenders today want to just place a helmet or shoulder pad into the upper torso of the ball carrier, or in carrying out a block, and all of a sudden flags come out. When is it enough? And it is a subjective call by the referees. When does it stop?
Too many of these hotshots need to be noticed and make the highlight reel on the local news and on ESPN. Textbook tackling may be boring to some, but it’s called that for a reason and no one knows how to do it anymore. Coming back to the Steelers, when a player is hit in the midsection with the shoulder, or just when the ball is released (quarterback) why must that be a penalty? Or is that just when the Steelers play? It would be nice to get an explanation on that.
Okay, moving onto this week (and next). The Steelers travel to Buffalo to play the Bills, who pasted the Cincinnati Bengals last week in Cincinnati. So much for the Owens and Ochocinco show that was supposed to take the Black and Orange to the Super Bowl. Turns out that prima donna receivers aren’t worth as much as originally thought.
The Bills cannot be taken lightly. They will want a piece of the perennial contenders that are your Steelers and the boys had better be ready. The Steelers only have two opponents left with winning records left on their schedule (Ravens, Jets), but that means nothing. Take an opponent less seriously and they will come back to bite you. Taking a look at what is left on the schedule, it would be easy to say the Steelers could run the table. But, that goes against the mantra of one game at a time.
These Bills are far removed from their Super Bowl years. But they are proving to be gamers and would love to be spoilers. Since they are missing out on the race in the AFC East between New England and the New York Jets, they would love nothing more than to spoil the Steelers’ party.
No doubt, the penalties need cleaned up, regardless of whether they were called for or not. It is sure to be an issue addressed by Coach Mike Tomlin this week. If Ben is getting into a groove, that could prove deadly the rest of the way. If the rest of the offense is on the same page, then maybe they have picked up the pieces from the Patriot debacle and used that as motivation to go after their next opponents.
Buffalo is going to be a tough task after the way they manhandled the Bengals. But it says here that Steelers pride will be the difference. Steelers 31, Bills 10. Then, next week, the Steelers are back on primetime Sunday night against the Ravens in the grudge match after the Ravens surprised the Steelers earlier this season. This will be for a split in the season series, each opponent having beaten the other on the other’s field. The concern continues to be the pass defense and whether Joe Flacco picks apart the secondary and the entire defense. Also, the Steelers will have to pay attention to Ray Rice.
This game should have been a sweep attempt by the Steelers. But, there would be nothing sweeter than to exact revenge against the Ravens in Baltimore and the Steelers are more than capable of doing that. At present, both teams are keeping pace for the division lead, but the Ravens have the tiebreaker. The Steelers need to rectify that, and it says here they will. Oh, it will be a slobber knocker, but the Steelers will get it done. Steelers 24, Ravens 17.
The Recorder will not be published next week, so Sports Beat will give two Picks of the Week and two Upset Specials in lieu of that to keep up with the season.
Weeks 12, 13
Pick of the Week, New Orleans over Dallas, Thanksgiving (Season, 6 - 6)
Next week: San Diego over Oakland
Upset Special, Tampa Bay over Baltimore (Season, 4 - 8)
Next week: Detroit over Chicago
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 huge problem and several of them were uncalled for. It appears as of the league and the referees are looking for the Steelers and, more specifically, James Harrison to make some kind of move so they can get penalized for them. Several calls were made that had no merit to them, yet the Steelers overcame them by shoving everything back down the Raiders’ throat. Rest assured, there are likely to be more calls from the league office apologizing for shoddy penalties that were not necessary. Too late for apologies, Mr. Goodell.
When he was named commissioner, I thought Roger Goodell would do a lot of good for the league. It appears with all of these safety issues that he is now turning the league into a laughingstock. It looks like the referees are looking for anything questionable, at least by the Steelers, to pull out the flags. This is getting out of hand and must be curbed. Mr. Goodell has better take a good hard look at his league, our league actually, and realize that he might just be messing up a good thing.
No, no one wants to see anyone get severely injured playing this game, but it is football. It is a physical, violent game played by modern day gladiators. They know they are paying the price for playing the game and they accept that. So, let them play. Pretty soon every quarterback will be wearing dresses and flags around their wastes, or the defenses may not even take the field because they are not allowed to do their jobs.
Taking this a step further, football 101 states that textbook tackling is hitting in the midsection and wrapping up the ball carrier around the waste and pull him down in that fashion. If the player is too strong, then the tackler just needs to wait for the cavalry. Too many defenders today want to just place a helmet or shoulder pad into the upper torso of the ball carrier, or in carrying out a block, and all of a sudden flags come out. When is it enough? And it is a subjective call by the referees. When does it stop?
Too many of these hotshots need to be noticed and make the highlight reel on the local news and on ESPN. Textbook tackling may be boring to some, but it’s called that for a reason and no one knows how to do it anymore. Coming back to the Steelers, when a player is hit in the midsection with the shoulder, or just when the ball is released (quarterback) why must that be a penalty? Or is that just when the Steelers play? It would be nice to get an explanation on that.
Okay, moving onto this week (and next). The Steelers travel to Buffalo to play the Bills, who pasted the Cincinnati Bengals last week in Cincinnati. So much for the Owens and Ochocinco show that was supposed to take the Black and Orange to the Super Bowl. Turns out that prima donna receivers aren’t worth as much as originally thought.
The Bills cannot be taken lightly. They will want a piece of the perennial contenders that are your Steelers and the boys had better be ready. The Steelers only have two opponents left with winning records left on their schedule (Ravens, Jets), but that means nothing. Take an opponent less seriously and they will come back to bite you. Taking a look at what is left on the schedule, it would be easy to say the Steelers could run the table. But, that goes against the mantra of one game at a time.
These Bills are far removed from their Super Bowl years. But they are proving to be gamers and would love to be spoilers. Since they are missing out on the race in the AFC East between New England and the New York Jets, they would love nothing more than to spoil the Steelers’ party.
No doubt, the penalties need cleaned up, regardless of whether they were called for or not. It is sure to be an issue addressed by Coach Mike Tomlin this week. If Ben is getting into a groove, that could prove deadly the rest of the way. If the rest of the offense is on the same page, then maybe they have picked up the pieces from the Patriot debacle and used that as motivation to go after their next opponents.
Buffalo is going to be a tough task after the way they manhandled the Bengals. But it says here that Steelers pride will be the difference. Steelers 31, Bills 10. Then, next week, the Steelers are back on primetime Sunday night against the Ravens in the grudge match after the Ravens surprised the Steelers earlier this season. This will be for a split in the season series, each opponent having beaten the other on the other’s field. The concern continues to be the pass defense and whether Joe Flacco picks apart the secondary and the entire defense. Also, the Steelers will have to pay attention to Ray Rice.
This game should have been a sweep attempt by the Steelers. But, there would be nothing sweeter than to exact revenge against the Ravens in Baltimore and the Steelers are more than capable of doing that. At present, both teams are keeping pace for the division lead, but the Ravens have the tiebreaker. The Steelers need to rectify that, and it says here they will. Oh, it will be a slobber knocker, but the Steelers will get it done. Steelers 24, Ravens 17.
The Recorder will not be published next week, so Sports Beat will give two Picks of the Week and two Upset Specials in lieu of that to keep up with the season.
Weeks 12, 13
Pick of the Week, New Orleans over Dallas, Thanksgiving (Season, 6 - 6)
Next week: San Diego over Oakland
Upset Special, Tampa Bay over Baltimore (Season, 4 - 8)
Next week: Detroit over Chicago
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