Mendenhall is awesome. He doesn't get the ball nearly enough. The receivers did everything they needed to. Heath was curiously absent, and that surprised me a little. It was almost as if the offense was trying to make a point against this vaunted pass defense: (1) we aren't scared of anyone's rush and (2) we aren't scared of anyone's corners.
The o-line is starting to convince me that they are the right group of guys. They look great. I have zero complaints.
Defense was great, too. Troy is getting his explosiveness back. Ty Carter played MUCH better than the last time he started a game against a Denver/Chicago QB. We're getting pressure, everyone is playing with intensity... Orton made some plays in the passing game, but much like in years past, he only did so between the 30's, and that's really what matters. Ike made some solid plays. I still don't get why we give them 9 yards of space on 3rd and 8, but you can't argue with 3 offensive points.
I still don't get why Rashard doesn't get the ball 30 times a game when he's running like that. Ben is an awesome QB, but if you throw on 1st and 2nd all the time (or even most of the time), you limit your options on 3rd down. Establish the running game, and you'll get 3rd and 3's, which opens up the whole playbook.
Big win. Still too many mistakes, but the team that played on Monday night was the one that I envisioned when I said this was the most talented Steelers team in 30 years. They are really fucking good, and at every position.
Denver has a ways to go. They're good, and I still think they're better than San Diego (who, if we had been playing them on Monday night, would have lost 45-3), but I'm not sure they're ready to make a playoff run.
A few other thoughts for the week:
- Has anyone read this story? Well, just a quick overview: apparently some dude wrote in to Deadspin as part of a series about first-hand accounts of coach-normal person run-ins. Well, Deadspin (Drew Magary) published this, it turned out to be a bunch of lies, and they are now apologizing left-and-right for it.
Now, Deadspin's editor basically gave the response of, hey, don't blame us, the whole idea is that it's supposed to be first-hand accounts. But this one turns out to have been especially falsified, and it's forced me to rethink my general position that blogs (Deadspin included) should be able to post whatever they want - true or not - because no one reallly cares or believes any of the crap gossip anyways.
However, has Deadspin, for instance, gotten too big? Are too many people thinking they can make a name for themselves b/c the site will publish anything? Has Deadspin reached newspaper status, and as such, needs to start vetting like a newspaper (the real reason newspapers vet is so that they don't get caught up in giving misinformation)?
I dunno, but the ugly way in which Deadspin was taken advantage of is concerning, given their style combined with their size and exposure... - When is baseball going to realize that the current (salary cap-free) system is actually hurting the sport?
- Can the Pens lose more players? We're missing 2 starting forwards (Geno and Talbot), plus 3 starting d-men (Gonch, Letang and Brooksie). 12-0 in the last 7 periods? I can't say I'm worried, per se. It's only 3 games. And we're still 12-6 (pretty fucking good even in the NHL). That's still pace for 103 points. But we need people to start getting healthy, and staying healthy. Our defense is slow, it isn't moving the puck well, and as a result, the whole team is suffering. This streak doesn't really say anything about the team - maybe just that they can't lose half the starting lineup and still maintain a decent level of play.
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