Talk about a bad day in Pittsburgh.

I don't even really want to write much about yesterday but I figure I may as well offer some kind of opinion. Too many mistakes, way too many. Typical Steeler football in the Superbowl's of recent memory, only this time they were facing a much more dominant team. Turnovers always rule the day and in the end like always, defense won a championship. Only it wasn't the Steeler defense that we know and expect to win these games. Being down by 3, you feel like you're going to get back into the swing of things and bring the trophy home to Pittsburgh.

Unfortunately penalties and lack of discipline result in a game ending drive allowing the Packers to kneel down in victory formation and celebrate. Was it because we all had this sense of self entitlement? The fans of Pittsburgh, including myself, come to expect championships now, and perhaps this was the wake up call. Roethlisberger just wasn't making all the right decisions, he made several good ones, but the ones he didn't make were costly every time. Including one where he missed his check down which would of gone for a first down and extended a drive that otherwise fizzled out.

Injuries all over the field on both sides, but in the end Green Bay's defense would not relent. Without Woodson his backup continued to blitz just as if Woodson were on the field. Clay Matthews forced a fumble on Mendenhall and really I was expecting him to cause one somewhere, sadly I have to give him credit he's some kind of freakish athlete.

I guess I feel less bias because I'm still just shocked at the fact that the Steelers didn't win. Unfortunately I was one of the people who basically expected the Steelers to win, had no concern over Green Bay and was just left stunned by the fact that they couldn't pull it off. Been a long time since I've seen this team lose in the Superbowl, but it hopefully will be another 15 years before it happens again, and with frequent returns.

With the lock-out looming over the league and contracts that need tinkering, veterans who may retire, and a myriad of other concerns coming into the off season will the Steelers still be in shape for Superbowl runs? Will Dick Lebeau come back to try and win another Lombardi after falling short this time? Will Hines Ward stay with the team or will he retire? There are a lot of questions that will need to be addressed in 6 months, including our draft pick. Here is hoping we use it on some kind of CB to help supplement a secondary that could use a little bit more depth.

Then there was the disaster of a game by the Penguins vs the Capitals in D.C. 3-0 Goose egg laid by the Penguins started off the day on a very, very low note. Trying not to be a superstitious person I didn't want to allow it to cast a pall on the rest of the afternoon, but it was a tough pill to swallow. I could handle the Pens losing, it was the regular season, but to see the Steelers lose too, it's a lot to take in a day.

I don't even know where to begin with the game yesterday afternoon. It reminded me too much of a game of NHL 2011 against my roommate, who is from the NoVA, DC area so it is of course, Pens vs Caps. Sadly it was reminiscent of a game where I wasn't doing so well as the Penguins, and period after period it just kept looking similar. Even down to Tyler Kennedy breaking up a play by Neuvirth along the boards trying to play the puck and dishing it off to Staal facing an empty net. If Staal wasn't D'd up he's got an empty net. The slot just wasn't there for the Penguins and they kept forcing the play there anyway.

Then the turnovers. Turnover city, population Penguins. They are going to have to work on the possession of the puck over these next few games. Bylsma is testing new lines so there are going to be some new combinations of guys together on the ice. Crosby is supposedly due back to Pittsburgh this week, however he is still rehabbing from the concussion. The Pen's are 3 points behind the Flyers (75) and 5 behind Vancouver (77) which honestly is not too bad considering they were without Staal for 35 games or so, Sid for going on 13 games, Malkin now for 8 or so games, Letestu gone for 6 weeks, and yet are still putting together wins. I suppose it's just a blessing they all understand the Bylsma system so well.

So long Football Season, welcome to full time Hockey Season. We get more Sunday Hockey on NBC and of course, it's getting close to the trade deadline. Pens need help at Center, there is cap room after the Malkin move to Longterm IR, will Shero make a move?

So I heard there were these important games tomorrow.

So, just in case anyone forgot, there is a huge day for Pittsburgh tomorrow going on in a few cities that aren't Pittsburgh. First off, the Penguins are going to face the Capitals at the Verizon Center in D.C at 12:30pm, then of course, there is this little game called the Superbowl, that the Steelers will be a part of.

After the Steelers beat the Jets I was making comments that if you see the Steelers win this weekend against the Packers you can expect the word Dynasty to be coming out of the mouth of anyone who covers football. Well apparently that has already started as the ESPN AFC North blog has a posting about the Steelers being the next Dynasty if they win.

Dynasties... The Steelers were one in the 70's, and if you ask me are well on their way to being a Dynasty in the new era of football. 3 Superbowl appearances in 6 years is no easy feat. Sure the Steelers have not gone back to back unlike those teams of the 70's but they still get there the year afterward. They are definitely one of the most hated teams in the NFL now, simply because of their winning ways. That's alright though, when the Patriots were in Dynasty mode everyone hated them too because of their greatness. It's easy to forget to take off the jealousy blinders and hate something or an organization simply because they succeed where the other organizations didn't, but I digress.

It's hard to deny that Ben Roethlisberger is one of, if not, the most clutch QB's when it comes to 4th quarter come backs, and playoff victories. He has always been in my category of top 5 QB's of the current era, and if he wins this 3rd Superbowl will vault to my top 5 QB's of all time list. Roethlisberger doesn't put up the big fantasy numbers the league looks for now, and he doesn't always make sound decisions off the field, but what he does do, is win games. Many, many games.Whether it be with long bombs to Wallace, play action bootlegs that turn into runs for touchdowns, or handing the ball off to Mendenhall for the rush, he finds ways to dissect the defenses he faces and win games.

At the beginning of the year when Roethlisberger was suspended for 4 games, nearly everyone, except for Steeler faithful, wrote off the Steelers season, most saying we'd go 0-4 or 1-4 at best! Well without Roethlisberger they were 3-1 as we all know, and when he came back he led the team on a war path back to his old stomping grounds, the Superbowl and primetime football. It's almost as if when Roethlisberger makes it to the playoffs he turns on this whole new mode in himself and plays football like a man on a mission.

The Steeler offensive line is going to have a lot of work cut out for it with Green Bay's tendency to blitz, and the insane power of Clay Matthews, who for all intents and purposes should of been born a nordic viking. Woodson will also be blitzing and usually causes problems and turnovers when he reaches out to attack QB's. Steelers O'line wants to win one for Flozell as he has no rings, well you boys are going to have to work hard to earn it. It's good to see Flozell has fixed his false start issues this year and only did it for a bit early on in the season which was excellent to see his improvement from his time as a Cowboy.

The Steelers are a team that worked through the dark times, and forgot about Neil O'Donnell and went on to win 2 Superbowls with 2 coaches in 4 years. Now they're back again and even though they're the underdogs, which is how we like it, are well on their way to the Stairway to Seven and NFL infamy. Don't discredit the Green Bay faithful however, if you ask them they deserve this and the Steelers don't because they've got the most already. Well to the victor go the spoils, not the most deserving. So if you want it, go out there and take it, but until the smoke clears tomorrow, I'll take experience and history in the Superbowl paired with a strong Defense and an Offense with sick sick weapons on it over the Pack attack.

Just remember, Dynasty is going to be a word us Steeler Nation faithful will have to get used to. Good or bad.

Here we go Steelers, here we go. Number 7 by number 7, walking the stairway to 7.

James Harrison doesn't care if you don't like his opinion.

James Harrison... Talk of the league this year due to some not so clean hits, and some clean hits that got fined anyway is still in the spotlight during Media Day. In a league where Harrison gets held on almost 99.99% of his pass rushes and gets .1% of those called against the holding team, Harrison as we all know by now has been fined over 100 large just for the act of doing his job. Well, according to Harrison he has 100,000 reasons why he isn't going to keep his mouth shut about this business with protecting players, yet wanting to add 2 more games for extra revenue.

"Before, I might've been a little more quiet about the fines and everything because I was hoping to get a little bit of money back...Right now, after they fined me $100,000, I have 100,000 reasons to speak my mind."

He knows the league wants just the money, we know the league wants just the money, and for the most part we all know exactly whats going to happen. Either 2 more games are going to get added in or we're probably not going to see football next year, which is an entirely sad concept and I don't even want to think about it.

James Harrison has been to the Superbowl. You might remember he holds the record for the longest touchdown return in Superbowl history off an interception, the media doesn't seem to want to remember this feat of heroism however and continues to ask him about the hits he levied this year instead of talking about his on field accomplishments.

Harrison decided to really let it out again, ""If you ask me a question, I'll give you an answer," going on to say, "I'm not worried about anything. This is a free world. I can say what I want to as long as I don't cuss you or anything else. I can say what I want to. It's my opinion."

Bottom line here? The guy is pissed off, he's had to run through a gauntlet of a season dealing with Goodell, reporters, and players, all trying to tell him to play the game he's played his whole life, differently. You'd probably be a little pissed off too. Hopefully he takes this situation and uses it as a motivator to do something else amazing in Superbowl XLV.

Here we go Steelers, here we go!

Media Day 2/1/2011

So it's Media Day leading up to the Superbowl now that the teams are in Dallas, and so far it seems like it's all smiles and fun for the Steelers. Troy Polamalu's hair has made several appearances so far. Including a resting place atop Brett Kiesel's beard. Both iconic hair styles beard or normal depending on preference, appear to of gotten their own celebrity followings. Troy's hair thanks to the hilarious Head and Shoulder deal he made, and Kiesel's beard just for being an epic lumberjack beard.

 Then Hines Ward got in on the bandwagon for Troy's hair and donned the hair for this interview:

 

 Ward was said to look like the return of Rick James, change that press desk to a DJ booth and it would look pretty crazy. 

I couldn't find a video to embed but here is Mike Tomlin's first Press Conference at media day courtesy of NFL videos.

There are 5 days until Superbowl 45. I still need all 10 fingers and toes to count down this event because of my excitement for it. Number 7 by Number 7.

ESPN and Chris Mortensen, Liars.

So apparently today ESPN's Chris Mortensen decided that he was going to stir up trouble in Pittsburgh insinuating that Dick Lebeau was going to coach Defense for the Arizona Cardinals. First off, who in their right mind, after being inducted to the hall of fame -very emotionally I might add- on his way to a third Superbowl in 6 years, want to up and change teams next season? Secondly, where in the world would Mortensen get this information other than fabricating it in his own mellon? Finally, why in the world does ESPN always feel so inclined to misreport things?

Lebeau shot down the allegations saying to NFL network: "I promise you, if I'm coaching, it will be the Pittsburgh Steelers." Lebeau was also reported by Fox Sports as saying: "With this defense, with this group of men, they'll have to run me out of here." So really, there is the news from the mouth of the man they're trying to pile mud on top of. Steelers or bust for Dick Lebeau.

Super weekend for the Black and Gold!

Well, what a rush this weekend was eh? First we saw the Penguins come out and play 3 periods of strong hockey against the Carolina Hurricanes without their two supernovas. Then we got to watch them Stillers come out and put up 24 unanswered points in the first half, seemly stamping all of their tickets to the Superbowl only to turn around in the second half and let up 19 unanswered and scare us all half to death! This was one of those games where you "Buy the whole seat but you only need the EDGE!"

This picture sums the weekend up fairly well:

*And as a bonus, heres the video thanks to "Pensareyourdaddy" at thepensblog.com


This isn't the first time Fleury has skated out onto the ice during the 3 stars demonstration waiving a Terrible Towel and wearing a Steelers helmet, this one is currently on my wall from 2009:

 There is just something about those Powder Blues...

So I want to talk a little bit about the game. First off, did anyone see Sanchez pick his nose and rub it on Brunell? That's hilarious, if you didn't it's here:

The first half went as phenomenally as you could expect for a first half to go in an AFC championship game. The Jets had spent all week working on Plastering our wide receivers that they forgot we had Rashard Mendenhall. Rashard had a touchdown on the opening drive and 95 yards in the first half. It didn't stop with just Rashard, after a long run in the early going Isaac Redman came out and was dicing the Jets for big gains himself, it was as though we couldn't be stopped on the run in the first half, not so much the second half.

Roethlisberger was playing surgical football up until Maurkice Pouncey went down. This is probably the most devastating of the injuries we've suffered next to Troy and Aaron Smith going down this year. This kid started every game for us, every single one and he came out like a 6 year vet. Making adjustments, reading the defense, and taking up space for Ben. When he went down it just about broke my heart. If we win the Superbowl for anyone this year, it's going to be for Pouncey. Pouncey's been replaced by Jeff Saturday for the pro bowl next week.

Back to Roethlisberger though, I said he played well up until Maurkice went down because well, after that Ben threw 2 picks and fumbled 2 snaps, one of them costing us a Safety and collectively stopping the hearts of thousands of Steelers fans.  I read an article today saying Roethlisberger was clutch... I just didn't see it on the field. While he did only get sacked 2 or 3 times all game, one of them being the botched snap for a fumble. The other came on a key drive that would of eaten off much of the clock, though the Jets did that for us later. In the first half I can assure you Ben could do no wrong, he was on fire and we couldn't be stopped. When we needed a big catch he found Miller for huge gains, someone who wasn't there in week 15.

Speaking of people who weren't there in week 15, where was Troy Polamalu yesterday? I heard his name only mentioned once in the 3rd quarter, and it coincidentally must of been on Sim's mind as well as he remarked about it right after I thought about it, of course, this was after Polamalu finally made a big tackle. He wasn't there during the 3 almost interceptions thrown right at Laamar Woodley and he wasn't near the one that Ryan Clark dropped or the one near Ike Taylor. What does that mean? The Jets spent all week learning how to throw away from the Hair. Didn't stop him from being a factor though because it still kept Sanchez on his toes enough to where he almost threw 5 or 6 interceptions, Defense has to make these picks.

Either way, the Steelers hung on to win the game, and it is largely in part because of this amazing effort by Ike Taylor and good awareness by William Gay to get the fumble recovery;
I remember watching this and saying to myself: "It's going to go to review, and we are going to get this one after that disaster of a call on the opening drive."  Sure enough, Phil Sims read my mind and saw it going to review before it did, and it of course, went under the hood. Thankfully we didn't get screwed over and they realized that the crown of Ikes helmet hit the ball before anything else and caused it to get jettisoned into the air, picked up by Gay and run in for a 24-0 lead before the Jets kicked a field goal.

February 6th is going to be another big day for the Black and Gold of Pittsburgh, Penguins will face the Capitals in D.C at the Verizon Center at 12:30pm, and the Steelers will face the Packers in Arlington, TX after all the pregame B.S is done around 7:30ish. Get ready for our ultimate day anyone who bleeds that Black and Gold. If you didn't get vacation time, or the day off, call out sick we've got a hell of a holiday coming.

Time to get ready for the 4th Superbowl of my lifetime and #7 by #7 for the Steelers this year.

A little bit of a hiatus won't keep me away.

Lot's going on in the Pittsburgh sporting world lately. Between the Jets and the Steelers suddenly being all good times for each other, trade rumors for Malkin, and allegations that Sid is going to boycott the All Star Game, it's a pretty big week for news. I'd like to touch on Crosby's concussion a bit more, the allegations about the All Star Game and the upcoming Pens VS Red Wings game tonight at 7:08pm at Consol.

Crosby's Concussion gate:

A lot of people still question this 'Mild Concussion' that star Center Sidney Crosby suffered earlier in the month. He was expected to be sidelined for a week, but we're now going on the 13th day since this all started. Many would of figured that Sid would be back on the ice sometime near the end of the week last week for Boston, but we didn't see him. This didn't deter the Penguins however as they still went on to win 5-2 against a Boston team that has frustrated them greatly the previous 2 appearances.

Crosby, after a recent decision by Bylsma to not address the media, finally did so about his condition; "I've definitely gotten better..." Crosby said, "It's kind of on and off. As far as symptoms, it's mostly headaches and that kind of thing. Some days you feel good, you feel like you've had progress, and there's other days that are a little bit tougher."


In terms of the All Star Game, there have been a series of rumors lately stating that Crosby's agent made comments leading towards Sid boycotting the ASG because of the lack of fines and overall lack of attention paid to the two hits to the head he took during the Winter Classic and the Tampa game on the 5th. Crosby has shot these rumors down, going on to say; "I'll be there if I can be there. I still haven't ruled out being there." So the 'Kid' wants to play in the ASG but will he? We already know he won't be a captain, which in my opinion is a good thing as it will take some of the spotlight off of Sid for now. The two Captains nominated for the ASG fantasy draft are Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes and Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings.Wonder if Crosby gets picked last would Fleury say give him some crap for it?

Yet here we are, looking at a huge "rivalry" game against the Detroit Redwings at home tonight, with no Crosby to be seen on the ice, missing his 6th consecutive game. I emphasize the rivalry portion of this game because while it isn't a full on bad blooded rivalry the memories are definitely still fresh in the minds of the players on each team who were there to do battle with each other, through 7 brutal games two years in a row, for the NHL's ultimate prize. Even with Crosby out the Penguins still are lucky to have Pavel Datsyuk out of the lineup for the Wings along with both of their star goalies, Osgood and Howard are both out with injuries leaving an unproven netminder in Joey MacDonald, between the pipes against the Pens.

It's a shame not having Howard out there, since he's actually saved Crosby from a fight or a head hunt just this last year in March. They call this a fight, but really Howards facewashing of Crosby just keeps him out of an even bigger fight against Zetterberg, and Bertuzzi.

The Geno Effect

So usually when this kind of thing happens, when the Pen's are going on without their star Center, we look to the other rising star, Evgeni Malkin. However, as of late Geno hasn't been the Geno of the 08-09 season, where he went on to put up incredible numbers(113pts) in the regular season and leading the playoffs in scoring with 36pts in 24 games. Going on to win the Conn Smythe trophy and of course, Lord Stanley's Cup. The 09-10 season saw a decline in Geno's performance where in his 67 games played he put up 77points but like the rest of the team, appeared to be in some kind of hangover after hoisting the cup, however Malkin was battling on and off again knee ailments.

As it stands right now, Malkin is 3rd on the Penguins in scoring, at 36points, but this is through 41 games. Is it an issue with the lines Geno plays on? You might think so, but Malkin has spent just as much time on a line with Kunitz and Crosby as he has on a line with Cooke and Talbot. Now that Crosby is injured Geno's been moved around to a couple of other lines as well, specifically tonight, starting at Center with Dupuis and Kunitz as his wingmen. The lines are noticeably one of the biggest factors, in the 08-09 season Geno was paired with Ryan Malone and or Petr Sykora, both of which were averaging 18-20 goals a season, where as Cooke and Talbot average about 7-10 goals a season. Is this the factor that's leading to his lack of stellar performances?

Due to the drop off in point production it's no wonder that people are crying to trade Geno or getting all caught up in the whirlwind of trade rumors that is already floating around, but Penguins GM Ray Shero said it best when speaking about the GM of the Wild Chuck Fletcher: "When Chuck goes to Minnesota, they have players, but they ain't these guys. It's not close," Shero said. "It's a lot more difficult for Chuck, that's for sure. Whenever Chuck calls and says, 'What are you up to,' I say, 'Chuck, I can't give you Crosby or Malkin, that's all I can tell ya.'"

Shero seems pretty adamant that he won't be dishing out Malkin, so for now, lets just drop the trade allegations already.

Ravens vs Steelers rematch proves that the Steelers are still AFC North top dogs:

A shootout, who saw that coming in the AFC north rematch between two of, if not, the two biggest rivals in the NFL today? I certainly didn't see it coming, maybe a 17-14 nail biter but a 31-24 bunker buster? Yowza. The speculation leading up to the game was that the turnover battle was going to be the key indicator of how this game was going to go. At the half, the Ravens were winning the turnover battle with a +2 including 14 points off turnovers, at the end of the game though the Steelers ruled the day with a huge performance from Ryan Clark defensively to come up with not only a forced fumble but also a huge interception to keep the game alive.

The play that really set the whole game into winning formation for the Steelers was this amazing catch by Antonio Brown, one of two Rookie wideouts, along with Emmanuel Sanders who has been nothing but money, earning the young receiving duo's nickname of "Young Money". This catch, energizes the Steelers  and turns the tide of the momentum for good in their direction, helping them go on to lock in another AFC championship game this weekend against the Jets.

All and all, Saturday was a good day to be a Pittsburgh Fan.

For tonight lets lay down the law against Detroit!