Monthly Steelers Update??

Wow, so, I just saw that it's been a month since I've written anything about the Steelers. Oh, and in other news, the Steelers somehow snuck (sneaked?) out of Miami with a win today.

So why no writing on this lovely blog? Part of it is that the last month has been super-hectic. But also, what is there to say about those 3 games since the Tennessee game? You HAVE to feel good about how the team has performed, coming into this morning. 38-13 over Tampa. We killed them. It was lovely. 17-14 loss to Baltimore? A bummer, but really, not a big deal. 28-10 over Cleveland? Exactly what we needed in Ben's first game back.

So, let's get to today. What did we learn? Well, let's start on the offense, and work our way through. At QB, Ben looks very good. He still has some of that sketchiness to him - his two fumbles were not OK. He was trying to do too much. But, with that said, he's throwing the ball as well as ever. He sailed a couple this week, but that's done from a half-dozen last week, so we're headed in the right direction. He looked excellent in the 2-minute drill, and so I think Ben is well on his way to being as effective as ever.

Let's cover wide-out while we're at it. Hines looks as good as he's looked in years. Mike Wallace is the best deep threat in the league this year. Heath is a rock. Emmanuel Sanders has made some timely catches, and in a weird way reminds me of Santonio ALOT. A little undersized, but still lanky. And FAST. And great hands. And yeah, he fumbled today, but he followed it up with what seemed like 3 separate 40+ yard returns.

Let's then cover running back and o-line at the same time. Rashard didn't look great. But he looked worse as the game went on. The heat clearly had a major effect on the big guys, and it showed. I thought Mendy looked impatient, but I'm not sure how much of that had to do with him getting nailed in the backfield a few too many times, and as a result, feeling like he couldn't wait for his blocks to develop.

The play calling was a little bit curious. There were a few too many wide receiver screens. But it's clear to me that the heat really affected both sides of the game.

On defense, the d-line is starting to look pretty rough. I'm hearing that Aaron Smith may have a torn bicep (and is out for the season). I'm not going to lie, I'm not surprised. In the back of my mind, I assumed that we would be watching a Smith-less line at some point this year. What does that mean? Well, it certainly doesn't mean the end of our season. But Keisel needs to get healthy, and the Ziggy/Eason combo is going to need to elevate it's game. Which is most definitely doable. They're expecting to turn Smith's spot over to Hood at some point, so I'm excited to see what he can bring to the table.

With that said, we played with only 2 d-lineman at various times in the game, and that's when Miami's run game really started to heat up. It also hampered the offensive game. Early in the game, we were moving the ball almost at will. But it became clear that we were moving the ball TOO well, and the defense was wearing down as a result of it. Our ability to run the ball effectively is going to be key to our defense the rest of the way.

Linebacker. As usual, we have more talent they we know what to do with. LaMarr went out with an injury (unclear as to what's up with that), but I think that Jason Worilds has all the tools to step in and at least provide some pass-rush help. Woodley's pass-defense skills will be missed, though, and may limit what everybody else on the D can do blitz-wise.

The d-backs looked fine again. I really like how Ike Taylor's been playing, he is clearly the guy on that defense who felt most humiliated by their performance for much of last season, and it's showing in a positive way. He's playing tighter coverage, and is forcing throws into tighter spaces. Troy wasn't terribly involved today, but there was clearly concern over Brandon Marshall. He was not up near the line much today, and a lot of passes were underneath. Really, this defense will give up field goals all day long, and Miami took that all day long, essentially. And lost.

This team is going to be tough to beat, even without Smith. The defense just doesn't give up TDs, which means teams will be scoring 10-18 points most games. This offense will score 21 most games. And by my math, that translates into a lot of wins.

Big game in New Orleans next week, and I think it's unlikely that they throw 4 INTs next week. They'll be pissed, but it also won't be mid-to-upper 80s, which I think will allow us to open up both the offense and defense.

Steelers 19, Titans 11

I hate the Titans passionately.

I mean, they were the Oilers, which was bad enough, but Jeff Fisher. Man. When things aren't going his way, he pouts a lot. Which causes his team to pout. And it really is pathetic. I imagine he is the coach equivalent of Phillip Rivers.



So, what does one say about today's game? Well, 8 days ago, I was praying that we could find a way to be 2-2 when Ben comes back. Today, I'm thinking I don't care what happens the next two weeks. And I'm thinking that 4-0 is not out of the question.

There's not much to say about Dixon's performance. He didn't get a chance to do much, but I thought that he did well enough, creating offense even when he couldn't pass. He also made clear who is the best QB for the job (although if Leftwich gets healthy, he will get some snaps). But for all the people who were touting Charlie Batch, what can you say, except to note that he just wasn't getting the job done.

Actually, I'm going to reconsider that statement. The offense was 1000% predictable today. The computer on NCAA 11 does a better job of mixing things up. Now, I recognize that they were playing it safe, but the fact of the matter is that FGs don't win games.

So, as for the offense, you can't say much good, but I think it's as much on the play calling as anything else.

Let's talk about the defense. Lawrence Timmons - 15 tackles. Harrison - 11 tackes and 2 sacks. Troy with a pick and a leap over the defensive line for a tackle.

You know, I'm not going to say anything more about this game. The defense looked like they were playing a high school team. The Titans & Falcons are averaging 39.5 PPG against anyone but us. We've given up 10 PPG (and that TD for Tennessee was a gift after we started playing prevent). So, it was frustrating to see this game be close but the defense is perfect. End of story. Best in the league, bar none. I defy anyone to find a better a group.

The Latest NFL Poll

So, I was thinking, as I'm sometimes prone to do, why is there no national poll for the best NFL team at any given time? The original college football ranking system was created so that a national champion could be crowned, without having everyone play each other. But then, college basketball got in on the fun, and then created a national championship tournament on top of it.

So, the ultimate answer is that there is no good answer. And that is precisely why we are here today.

Everybody and their uncle is doing a "NFL Power Ranking", so I thought that it would be interesting to see how that all pans out, on a week-by-week basis, pretending that each individual was voting in a national poll. Additionally, since being "ranked" should be somewhat exclusive, I thought it only fair to include the top 15 teams as being ranked. So, I compiled a list of people who do weekly power rankings, who rankings I will use to create a weekly poll regarding the top 15 teams in the country at professional, American rules, outdoor football.

So, let's look at who will be on our panel for the year (the panel is primarily comprised of who I could find keeping up-to-date power rankings, and not so much their actual national reputation for being either informed or incisive):

Mike Sando, John Clayton, Paul Kuharsky and James Walker of ESPN
Don Banks and Peter King of SI
Pete Prisco of CBS Sportsline
Adam Caplan of Fox Sports
USA Today
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk
Pro Football Weekly
Pete Moran of Buffalo Sports Daily
Jeff (?) Zarbano of WEEI in Boston
Mike (?) Vensel of the Baltimore Sun
Adam (?) Fentress of The Oregonian
Bill (?) Ciskie of AOL Fan House
The Sporting News
Gary (?) Matzek of WTMJ in Milwaukee
DC Pro Sports Report Blog
National Football Post
SB Nation.com
ColdHardFootballFacts.com
Gil Braindt, Mike Lombardi, Joe Theismann, Pat Kirwan, Sam Wyche, Vic Carucci, Jason (?) LaCanfora and Bill (?) Brooks of NFL.com

If there's a "?" after their first name, it's because I don't really remember their first name, guessed, and may have been wrong.

So, that's 30 people who are either relatively reputable writers for national publications, or write for a variety of local "outlets". I did my best to be geographically neutral, and ended up with Boston, Buffalo, Washington, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Oregon. So, it didn't work out all that well, but it's other people's fault for not posting fucking power rankings.

Ok. So, here are the rankings for after Week 1 (first place votes in parens), total points, win-loss, last week:
1. New Orleans Saints (22) 440 pts, 1-0, 1
2. Green Bay Packers (6) 404 pts, 1-0, 4
3. Baltimore Ravens (2) 379 pts, 1-0, 5
4. New England Patriots 361 pts, 1-0, 9
5. Houston Texans, 272 pts, 1-0, NR
6. Indianapolis Colts, 260 pts, 0-1, 2
7. Minnesota Vikings, 224 pts, 0-1, 6
8. Pittsburgh Steelers, 214 pts, 1-0, 13
9-t. New York Jets, 159 pts, 0-1, 7
9-t. Tennessee Titans, 167 pts, 1-0, NR
11. Dallas Cowboys, 165 pts, 0-1, 3
12. New York Giants, 157 pts, 1-0, NR
13. San Diego Chargers, 114 pts, 0-1, 8
14-t. Miami Dolphins, 82 pts, 1-0, 15
14-t. Washington Redskins, 82 pts, 1-0, NR

Others receiving votes: Atlanta 37, Cincinnati 35, Seattle 18, Philadelphia 17, Kansas City 3, Arizona 1, Jacksonville 1

So, I think that it ends up being kind of interesting. Sure, after so many well-received teams lost, and the Saints won, it's easy for them to be at the top. But, I think that will change once they lose a game. Plus, someone, somewhere, thinks that Jags are the 15th best team in the league, and a lot of people think Seattle is better than Philly. If not for these composite rankings, you'd never know.

Now, I went back and went through all the pre-season rankings, but couldn't find them for the NFL people or a couple others in the group. Either way, here's how things looked before last week:

1. New Orleans (12), 282 pts
2. Indianapolis (5), 273 pts
3. Dallas, 230 pts
4. Green Bay (1), 222 pts
5. Baltimore (1), 204 pts
6. Minnesota, 201 pts
7. New York Jets (1), 181 pts
8. San Diego, 170 pts
9. New England, 143 pts
10. Atlanta, 107 pts
11. Cincinnati, 104 pts
12. Philadelphia, 53 pts
13-t. Pittsburgh, 45 pts
13-t. San Francisco 45 pts
15. Miami, 42 pts

Others receiving votes: Houston 36, New York Giants 21, Tennessee 19, Arizona 17, Carolina 3, Washington 2

So, there you go. An interesting list, I think, and one that gives some interesting indications about how people are feeling. I think I'll keep doing it each week, simply out of curiosity, but I will say that, in my opinion, no one has the right to rank Jacksonville in the top-15 for beating fucking Denver.

OK. That's all. I don't have a better way to close out this post, so, goodbye.

Steelers 15, Falcons 9

Yesssssssssssssss.

I feel that way for a number of reasons. Primarily, I feel that way because the magic number really is 2. If this team can get Ben back with at least a 2-2 record, we will be in prime position to make a playoff run. Looking at the schedule last week, it seemed realistic. Tampa should be a win. Beyond that, you have to think that this team could go 1-2 with 2 home games, even though it would be against good competition. To get that first win under the belt, 1-2 looks very doable.

Beyond that, though, I saw a lot of things to be happy about.

But first, let's hit the few things that were not good. Primarily, D-squared looked a little shaky. Amongst Jim Mora Jr's ramblings about the bravery of Matt Ryan, he made some very apt comments about Dixon's (un)willingness to turn his arm loose. He short-armed at 3, if not 4, sure-thing third down passes. He had open receivers, and all he had to do was toss it just a little bit harder, and the drives would continue. So, that was a little disappointing. I also thought that the interior line didn't get as much push on the Falcons' line as I would have liked. Pouncey can move guys, but there just wasn't the running room inside that I would have liked.

But a large part of that is confidence, and I think Dixon will get there. The throw to Mike Wallace was picture perfect, and it wouldn't surprise me if we see that 2-3 times next game.

But that's all the bad I saw.

What did I like? Well, the o-line did not take many penalties, despite a lot of blitzes from Atlanta (or a lot of formations with Atlanta showing blitz). And that hole for Mendy in OT? A thing of beauty. He got a hole like that one other time, in the first quarter, and Atlanta's SS stepped up and wrapped up Mendy's legs. He has 4.3 speed, and if he can get 2 of those a game, he'll break one, guaranteed.

Hines looks like Hines always does. For someone so slow, he sure seems to have a lot of time before anyone gets to him after a catch. Mike looked good on his two catches (he needs the ball more). Cousin Heath is Cousin Heath.

And the defense. Jesus. I wish I had something constructive to say, but they were simply awesome. The line was rock solid (especially while The Snack was in the game). Harrison and Woodley were as good as ever. Ike was getting his head around on every play, and looks like the CB we all know he can be (although, I'll eat my hat if he actually catches more than one a season). B-Mac was on Roddy White all day long. The result? Matt Ryan threw to Roddy White 23 times, and only completed 13. And for only 111 yards. FYI - that's a 69.3 rating throwing to your #1 target. Not how that's supposed to go, and a lot of that was thanks to McFadden. And lest we forget, Troy's back. Remember all of those late-game collapses last year? Yeah, that's not happening any more.

But let's not forget the real star of the day. Lawrence Timmons. He was everywhere. He was rushing up the middle, he was filling holes, he was making plays in coverage. He has safety speed, and linebacker size. And he's starting to play with a discipline we have not yet seen. So, watch out world, Lawrence Timmons might be the best linebacker on this team, and with Woodley, Farrior and Harrison out there, that means a lot.

So, what should you take away from this game? This team can win 3 games with Dennis Dixon. But more importantly, I want everyone to remember that Ben Roethlisberger (at least as of Week 4 of the pre-season) was in the best shape of his career, and playing as well as he ever has. If he means what he says - that he's newly committed to being a good teammate, a hard-worker, and a decent member of society - and comes back in Week 5 in great shape, and with a focus we have not seen during his young but illustrious career, I'll be damned if you can find a better team in this league.

But until then, I'm just hoping we can find one win in the next 3. Anything more than that will just be gravy.

Name the Asshat

So, this whole LeBron thing was kind of a big deal. You hear about it? Well, it really has been the gift that keeps on giving.

LeBron was a dick first. If I were any non-Jamesian actor in this whole fiasco, and we were actually a group of 5th graders, that would be my defense. So, look - can you hate James for going to Miami? I dunno. Not really. Personally, I think it's super-weak. I think a lot of people saw the LeBron free agency and hoped beyond hope that he would make a move that would give him the chance to create his legacy as one of the great players of all time (and at the same time make the Eastern Conference really interesting). Instead, he signed up to be the Scotty Pippen to someone else's MJ. No matter how good this team is, it will always be Wade's team. He robbed himself of a legacy, and robbed the league of some potentially awesome match-ups. But that doesn't make him an ass.

No, the hour-long special makes him an ass. He got some cash for a charity. A lot of cash. And I'll give him props for that. But that's the coldest moment of his life. Which is not a good thing (compare:

But yeah. He did Cleveland wrong with that whole thing. Not that they didn't deserve it. Just that it was a tough way to do it, busting them down on national TV like that.

So, now, let's talk about the city of Cleveland and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

So, Dan, Comic Sans, eh? Nothing says "I'm fucking pissed" like Comic Sans. But looking to the content of the letter, it's basically Dan Gilbert whining about how he's been "betrayed". What the letter really evidences, though, is the precise attitude that's keeping Cleveland down. The only good decision the Cavs have made in the last 10 years was to draft LeBron James, and there was really no choice there. Everything else, they fucked up. And now he's gone. And I can't blame him a bit, because if I'm that good a player, I don't want to entrust my fate to such a bunch of yutzes.

As for the city of Cleveland, get the fuck over it. You should have been pissed long ago that your owner and the management of your one modestly successful sports franchises was fucking things up so royally. You can be pissed, but can you really blame him for going? He didn't owe you anything, and if he did, he repaid it by sticking around that shitty franchise for 6 years.

But, worse still, we have Jesse Jackson.

So, is he really a reverend? Does it matter? Did you just insert the word "slave" into this whole discussion. Look, Dan Gilbert may be pathetic and whiner, but LeBron's skin color did have a fucking thing to do with how Gilbert felt. How does anyone care what this guy says anymore? The worst part is that I don't even think Jesse Jackson could think something that fucking stupid.

And that's when David Stern stepped in, to say that he thought everyone handled it poorly.

So, what does all this tell us? It tells us that everyone involved was dysfunctional. LeBron needs to mind himself a little bit better. Maybe he doesn't have the maturity to have his own team, which I would believe, after this past week's fiasco. Dan Gilbert, although perfectly willing to do things himself, appears to be incompetent and petty. You can pick which you'd rather be. Amongst all of this, David Stern has to wonder who was doing his job last week, because it's clear that it wasn't David Stern. He's the goddamn commissioner, and despite thinking that the LeBron "Decision" was not the right way to handle things, he did jack shit. Ultimately, it's his job to keep things like this from embarrassing the league, and he did nothing.

I know this probably wasn't my best piece, but I feel like I've been beaten over the head so thoroughly with all this shit, that I can't keep my thoughts straight while trying to write them down. So, with that, the dynasty is formed, Cleveland's resurgence is quelled, and Jesse Jackson showed he's more Rusch Limbaugh than anything else.

But maybe the LeBron-DWade pairing was a match made in heaven:

PSA

Don't click on any of the links from the Chinese-language comments on here.

And July 8th Shall Forever Be "LeBron James Choice Day"

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Another Go At It

I'm giving this another go. I know that I've been saying this with some regularity for a while now, but this is really going to be it. I mean it. I'm going to post once a day for the rest of time. Or at least the next week. That's my goal.

And there's lots going on right now.

I don't love the NBA. I love basketball. I love college basketball. But when it comes to sports in general, I enjoy the competition aspect of it the most. I enjoy watching the best go out and battle for supremacy. I'm not going to watch high school sports of any kind. But I will watch Nordic Combined at the Winter Olympics. Why? Because it's the best competing against the best.

So, that's why I don't love the NBA. Not because it doesn't feature the best players, but because the competition often comes secondary to personal glory. You can watch five minutes of a game and realize that. But that's OK, because it's still pretty entertaining. And once you hit the latter points of the playoffs, the game does change some, and you generally see better competition.

With that said, here's why LeBron should go to the Clippers. Or at least why the Clippers are better than every other option.

Cleveland: Been there, done that. I recognize that it's his hometown, but he can make it his hometown for the 40 years of retirement that will come after his playing career is over. He can move into the fucking Rock and Roll Hall of Fame if he wants to. But as for a playing situation, it's the same this year as it was last year. Not enough help. A bunch of sub-par supporting actors in a mediocre play. He may love the script, but this is like casting Tom Hanks in a movie with Brendan Frasier and Paul Blart. Yeah, they may be kind of big names, in that everyone knows who they are, but are you really expecting Hanks to put out an Oscar-winning performance with those guys out there with him? Cleveland is the worst situation for him, and the management there has made no indication that they have the competence to turn it around.

Chicago: Derrick Rose wanted Joe Johnson over LeBron? That's clearly just Rose taking a shot at LeBron. "Fuck that" - LeBron James on the Derrick Rose situation. Or at least that's what it should be. If Dwayne Wade can go out and recruit LeBron and Bosh, why can't Rose? Because he's got a bad fucking attitude. True, Rose can be great. But he will never come close to LeBron, and should realize that just maybe he could benefit from having the best player in the league on his team.

Miami: Well, c'mon now. Not only does that make the East boring (either the Heat win the conference and no one cares, or the Heat lose the conference and everyone becomes convinced that the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the league are now playing for the title), but it also diminishes LeBron's legacy. LeBron is uniquely positioned to be considered one of the BEST ever. Not just a great player. Not just a HOFer. But one of the best ever. When it's all said and done, you may be able to argue over Jordan or LeBron for best individual player of all time. But not if LeBron pulls this and goes to Miami. Not at 25. Sure, Malone and Payton did it in LA, but that was at the end of their careers. Garnett and Allen did it, too, but they were both older as well and in very different situations. No, LeBron needs his own team if he truly wants to reach that elite pantheon - to be that one guy for your generation who stands above the rest.

NY Knicks: Attractive, but I don't like it. LeBron needs competitors on his team, because LeBron enjoys himself too much sometimes. His enjoyment ultimately takes away from his team's ability to compete at the highest level. He needs guys who are going to be motivated on their own. And needless to say, that is not Amar'e Stoudemire.

NY/NJ Nets: Attractive. For sure. I mean, once you cut Devin Harris out of the picture, they're possibly a perimeter shooter away from being a really good team. You have a Lopez down low, you have a young, athletic PF in Favors, and you'd have LeBron. Plug in someone who can shoot, and I could play "PG" on that team, and we would win 60 games. But still, it's not the best situation of all.

Where is that, you may ask? In LA. With the Clippers. Why?
(1) Best supporting cast for LeBron. The Clippers dump old-ass Baron Davis, and plug LeBron in to essentially run the point. Besides, who else do you want with the ball in their hands? You have a solid big man in Kaman, down low. You have Blake Griffen at PF, who (I think) would be perfect - plays good defense, hustles ALL the time, legit post player, but also athletic enough to run with LeBron. You have a couple of GREAT rookies coming in, with Bledsoe and Aminu. And you have Eric Gordon, a guy who can shoot from anywhere, and is happy being that kick-out option.

And it's a true supporting cast. Everyone there is talented, but no one is bigger than LeBron.

(2) Sets up a natural rivalry with the only other guy who you could argue is better than LeBron, Kobe Bryant.

(3) It's a team with no history (like the Bulls circa 1984). It's LeBron's team to put his name on. Sure, they may never be the Lakers. But it's still LA, and in a city of 4 million, there's a new generation being born every day.

Now, he won't sign there because of Donald Sterling. From what I've heard, Sterling deserves to lose out like this. But if he could put all that aside, I think the Clippers become title conteders overnight, and have the basic parts in place to give LeBron multiple rings.

Back Like Your Spine

Too many things to cover in this post for it to ever have a sufficient title. Plus, my hope is that a really fucking lame title might catch our reader's attention on his (or her?) RSS feed.

Well, the talk of the town, and of the sporting world, has been Ben Roethlisberger. Lots of hullabaloo about this one, and I half-wrote a bunch of posts over the past few weeks on the subject, but never posted any, because I hadn't really figured out what exactly I thought about the situation. It's been emotional, I can admit that, and you really shouldn't ever make decisions based on emotions. That makes me think that maybe Roger and Dan should've waited on bringing down the hammer, but in the end, I can't say I'm especially upset with the punishment.

So, what really happened? I don't fucking know, and no one else really does. My best bet is that (based on what appear to be consistent reports) both Ben and his accuser were hammered to the point that neither of them can really remember what happened. I don't know if you've taken the opportunity to read the written statements The Smoking Gun has, but if you want some insight into how this all played out, I suggest you look there.

If you do go and read through the 25, or so, pages of reports (out of something like 580) that they posted online, you do get a glimpse into what the DA in Milledgeville was thinking when he decided not to file any charges. Around the water cooler, most seemed to think that the DA would, at the very least, peg him with something like "Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor" or "Providing Alcohol to a Minor" - a misdemeanor that would carry no jail time, little community service and/or probation, and would not result in any chance that good ol' Ben would end up on any Megan's Law website.

But that didn't happen, largely because of what's contained in the first written statement of the accuser, and in the initial police report from the night of the incident. Looking past all of the shady behavior (specifically, Ben's bodyguards leading this wasted girl to a back room, while blocking the door to anyone else) it seems pretty clear that no one remembers what happened in that back room (or at least the girl didn't). Her written report, the night of, indicates that she doesn't really remember what happened after a certain point (or at least doesn't remember enough to confirm any illegal activity). Her subsequent written statement, taken the next day, not only changes that but also appears to coincide perfectly with the written reports of her sorority sisters. As a lawyer, I can say that that is the kind of thing that raises MAJOR red flags in investigating any type of case.

First, if you don't remember something at the time because you're hammered, I've found that you don't wake up the next morning with a perfect memory of the incident - especially if no one else was there. As a matter of fact, I would say that I don't remember shit about some nights, except for what has been told to me by friends who were there. Second, this sudden change in story, that also coincides with identical stories from witnesses who didn't know anything the night before indicates that the story may not be reliable. The Milledgeville DA knew that was fishy, and clearly thought it was fishy enough to not move forward with.

Ultimately, all that we can conclude is this:

(1) Ben is a womanizer, and to its shittiest extreme. And not in the Jackie Treehorn, he treats objects like women-kind of way. Rather, it appears that Ben ventures into the grey area of consensual sex. And I think that by any upstanding human beings' measure, that's just not OK.

(2) Ben's behavior brought A LOT of bad press on the NFL. I think that ultimately, this story was overblown, and in a lot of ways, created by sports media who were looking for something to talk about during sports' dead time after the NCAA tourney. And when I say overblown, all I mean is that they act like this kind of thing doesn't go on with 90% of all athletes (NFL, NBA, MLB) at some point in their stardom. At the same time, Ben was out of line with his behavior, and doesn't have the privilege of hiding in the shadows. He's one of the few people in this country with an employment contract worth more than $100 million. As a result, he should expect that this kind of behavior will lead to the media trying to make it as much of a story as possible.

(3) No one can confirm that what happened in that back room was anything but consensual. I think most of us are repulsed by how he behaved. I know I am, and if that kind of thing had happened to someone I cared about, I'd want to beat the shit out of him. Still, no one can say for sure that he did anything that she wasn't OK with. For the last two months, one person in particular, who opinion I respect as much as anyone, has reminded me that when it comes to sexual assault cases, normal methods of proof just don't work. And while that may be true, while more often than not, when you're talking about people who know each other, it becomes a he said-she said-type of affair, the fact remains that, from my point of view, our country and our society is based on people being innocent until proven guilty. To think otherwise is to open the door for a lot of innocent people to be thrown in jail, and once you cross that threshold, you might as well throw every other freedom we have out the fucking door. He may be a piece of shit. He may have taken advantage of that girl. But we can't say for sure that it wasn't consensual. And as a result, you can't punish the guy as if he's a rapist. And that I know for sure.

So, what does all of this mean. What should it mean is probably the better question. Well, it should mean that Ben is going to have to pay the piper for making the NFL look bad, and for publicly treating this girl like her only value on earth is to get him off. And he is, to the tune of 4-6 games and something in the neighborhood of $2-3 million. However, we also live in a society of second chances. Lots of people get them, and a few make good on them. But I think that Mr. Roethlisberger should also have the opportunity to earn back everyone's trust and favor. That means putting in money and effort towards making everyone else more aware that there are lots of people who act just like he did. That means acting like a civilized human being when he's out in public. And that means being on the straight a narrow from here on out.

If he shows he can do that, I think I'll put my #7 jersey back on some day.

If he doesn't, and goes ahead and fucks up again, I don't think I have any issue with Dan Rooney booting his ass the fuck out of Pittsburgh.

I've decided that I'm going to save my other topics - hockey, Pirates ownership, etc. - for another post. So, keep us on your RSS and maybe I'll surprise you with another post later this week.

But not to leave you on such a sour note, here's a reminder about one of the Steelers' class acts.

http://www.conquestchronicles.com/2007/7/24/114554/529

An Brief Opinion on Team U.S.A. Hockey...

It's the 50th anniversary of the 1960 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team's Gold Medal victory in Squaw Valley.

It's the 30th anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice.

Is America's third Gold Medal in Men's Ice Hockey in the cards?

Well, two weeks ago, everyone thought it was impossible. One week ago, everyone thought it was improbable.

Twelve hours ago, all the doubts disappeared faster than Miikka Kiprusoff.

One week ago, the Americans, youngest team in the tournament by an average of four yeas, shocked the Gold Medal favorite Canadians on their own ice, in their own country. They did it by Ryan Kesler, Jaime Lagenbrunner and Zach Parise skating faster than the Canadians. They did it by Tim Gleason, Brooks Orpik and Ryan Suter blocking more shots than the Canadians. They did by Bryan Rafalski, the tiniest player on the ice, threading shots through the Canadians. And most of all the did by Ryan Miller, making the saves they needed him to make.

Against the 2006 Silver Medal winning Finns? The U.S. chased Miikka Kiprusoff, a Vezina trophy winner, after four goals in about 10 minutes. His backup, Vezina nominee, Niklas Backstrom, he gave up two goals in the span of 15 seconds.

Ryan Miller has played about 110 consecutive minutes without giving up a goal.

No team has taken less penalties in the tournament than the Americans.

Most remarkably, at no point of this tournament have the Americans trailed.

They've been an American classic in an Olympics full of them.

While this all could end magically or horribly tomorrow afternoon, one thing should be sure: the whole nation will be rooting for them.

However, in Pittsburgh, this certainly isn't the case. There's a shocking amount of Pittsburgher's rooting for Team Canada. They've abandoned their American heritage and hopped on the Canadian bandwagon in favor of one player: Sidney Crosby. Now I'm most certainly not a xenophobe (I think Al Gore is the most fascinating politician of the last 20 years), but I find this incredibly insulting and unpatriotic. And I love the Pens and Crosby.

In sports, we follow teams, not players. It's a rarity in today's sports landscape that a player stays with one team for their entire career. As much as we'd like to think otherwise, in the end all they care about is the money. Now I know this is borderline heretical, but what would happen if Sidney Crosby left the Penguins, and say went to Montreal or Toronto or the Rangers. Would all these fans stop being Penguin fans and start rooting for the Leafs, Habs or Rangers? I think not. We've even seen this in Pittsburgh already. Jaromir Jagr, while always second fiddle to Mario, was nonetheless a Pittsburgh treasure for nearly 10 years and helped reel in two cups. Without Mario in the lineup, Jagr was arguably the best player in the league. It took one messy contract dispute for Pens fans to turn on him. It's why you root for the team over the player.

Do I want Crosby to succeed? Sure. Most of all, I want him to stay healthy. But no matter what I feel about Crosby or any player, I'm an American, not a Canadian. The Olympics are one of the few events in the world where you can unabashedly root for your nation without political or religious subtext. As an American, it's hard not to get goose bumps watching the American crowd during the waning seconds of the Miracle on Ice, a nation united. We've got all got different view points in our every day lives, but the Olympics are one of the few venues we're united. To go into Canada Hockey Place, and beat the Canadians on their own ice at the game they invented, would be a national moment.

To not root for the scrappy, underdog, undersized, Americans playing for Olympic Gold with house money, well that's just plain absurd. It's a great story. And truth be told, I bet if you asked Sid himself, if you were an American, he'd tell you to root for Team U.S.A.

Why the Penguins Won't Win the Cup This Year:

They don't want it bad enough.

You saw it today.

Fran Tarkenton Is a Pot?

Last week, former Vikings/Giants great and HOF QB Fran Tarkenton chastised Brett Favre's play (and untimely INT) in the Vikes 31-28 NFC Championship loss. It's true, it was a bad, bad play. He shouldn't have made the throw, and may have cost his team a championship. But look who's talking...

For those of you who don't know, Fran Tarkenton was Vikings QB for 3 of their 4 Super Bowl losses (remember, they've never actually won). Mind you, it was Joe Kapp who was at the helm for the then-humiliating Super Bowl IV loss, but still, take a look at Tarkenton's career playoff numbers: 149-292, 219 yards, 11 TD, 17 INT, 58.8 rating. Sure, this was from a different time, but Tark's postseason rating is a solid 20+ points lower than his regular season rating. Also of note is Tark's performances in big games - specifically Conference Championships and the Super Bowl: 78-157, 888, 3 TD, 9 INT, 49.5 rating. That's over 6 games. That's really fucking bad, even by 1975 standards.

STFU, Francis.

More absurd talk from loud-mouthed, old, football players: TO has stated that if he had played with QBs as good as Montana and Young, he would be close to Jerry Rice's records. Now, Owens is really saying two different things at once here: (1) Garcia+McNabb+Romo+[name of shitty former-Bengal redacted for the sake of not mentioning his name in the same sentence as any of these guys] were not as efficient at getting the football to him as Montana and Young were at getting it to Rice. Or perhaps, more aptly, he didn't get thrown to as much as he would have with Montana and Young at the helm. (2) He is as good as (or at least comparable to) Jerry Rice, career-wise.

Let's hit the first point: I think we should start by noting that people threw more in 2003 than in 1990. Although Rice played in an unusual offense for his time, more passes have been thrown by Owens' QB than by Rice's.

Rice:
1985 - 16 GP - 550 pass attempts - 60.2% comp - 7.2 yds/att - 3,987 yards - 27 TD - 49/927/3
1986 - 16 GP - 582 att - 60.7% - 7.4 y/a - 4,299 yds - 21 TD - 86/1570/15
1987 - 12 GP - 501 att - 66.8% - 7.9 y/a - 3,955 yds - 44 TD - 65/1078/22
1988 - 16 GP - 502 att - 58.4% - 6.9 y/a - 3,675 yds - 21 TD - 64/1306/9
1989 - 16 GP - 483 att - 70.2% - 9.5 y/a - 4,584 yds - 35 TD - 82/1483/17
1990 - 16 GP - 583 att - 61.7% - 7.5 y/a - 4,371 yds - 28 TD - 100/1502/13
1991 - 16 GP - 522 att - 62.3% - 8.0 y/a - 4,167 yds - 29 TD - 80/1206/14
1992 - 16 GP - 480 att - 66.5% - 8.4 y/a - 4,054 yds - 29 TD - 84/1201/10
1993 - 16 GP - 524 att - 67.6% - 8.2 y/a - 4,480 yds - 29 TD - 98/1503/15
1994 - 16 GP - 511 att - 70.3% - 9.0 y/a - 4,362 yds - 37 TD - 112/1499/13
1995 - 16 GP - 644 att - 67.1% - 7.4 y/a - 4,779 yds - 29 TD - 122/1848/15
1996 - 16 GP - 550 att - 65.1% - 7.0 y/a - 3,859 yds - 24 TD - 108/1254/8
1997 - 2 GP - 432 att - 64.4% - 7.7 y/a - 3,432 yds - 20 TD - 7/78/1
1998 - 16 GP - 556 att - 62.4% - 8.1 y/a - 4,510 yds - 41 TD - 82/1157/9

Owens:
1996 - 16 GP - 550 att - 65.1% - 7.0 y/a - 3,859 yds - 24 TD - 35/520/4
1997 - 16 GP - 432 att - 64.4% - 7.7 y/a - 3,432 yds - 20 TD - 60/936/8
1998 - 16 GP - 556 att - 62.4% - 8.1 y/a - 4,510 yds - 41 TD - 67/1097/14
1999 - 14 GP - 560 att - 57.9% - 6.3 y/a - 3,526 yds - 14 TD - 60/754/4
2000 - 14 GP - 583 att - 62.8% - 7.9 y/a - 4,400 yds - 32 TD - 97/1451/13
2001 - 16 GP - 506 att - 62.8% - 7.0 y/a - 3,559 yds - 32 TD - 93/1412/16
2002 - 14 GP - 571 att - 62.0% - 6.3 y/a - 3,576 yds - 23 TD - 100/1300/13
2003 - 15 GP - 511 att - 58.5% - 7.0 y/a - 3,566 yds - 25 TD - 80/1102/9
2004 - 14 GP - 547 att - 61.4% - 8.0 y/a - 4,208 yds - 32 TD - 77/1200/14
2005 - 7 GP - 620 att - 54.4% - 6.3 y/a - 3,903 yds - 21 TD - 47/763/6
2006 - 16 GP - 506 att - 61.3% - 8.0 y/a - 4,067 yds - 26 TD - 85/1180/13
2007 - 15 GP - 520 att - 64.4% - 7.8 y/a - 4,290 yds - 36 TD - 81/1355/15
2008 - 16 GP - 547 att - 60.0% - 6.7 y/a - 3,448 yds - 26 TD - 69/1052/10
2009 - 15 GP - 441 att - 58.0% - 5.2 y/a - 2,789 yds - 17 TD - 55/829/5(Totals prorated, based on games played in a season)
Rice - 206 GP - 6,917 att - 64.4% - 7.9 y/a - 54,522 yds - 366 TD - 1,139/17,612/164
Owens - 204 GP - 6,728 att - 61.4% - 7.1 y/a - 48,318 yds - 342 TD - 1,006/14,951/144

So, what does this say? Well, Rice definitely had the better QBs. But really not by all that much. If you look at each player's career, they caught, roughly, every 4th pass thrown by their respective QBs. Now, that's a pretty impressive number - if your QB is completing 20 passes per game, you're catching 5 on average (80/season). You can make arguments that Montana/Young may have been better at getting the ball further downfield that Young/Garcia/McNabb/Romo/Bills, and to some extent it's true. Yards/completion have Montana/Young with about a .5 y/c lead. So, let's run with these assumptions:

(1) Owens catches 1 ball for every 4.103 completed by the QB on his team (presumably indicates how often he was open).
(2) With Montana/Young at the helm, 64.4% of passes thrown would have been completed while Owens was playing.
(3) The number of passes thrown would have remained constant.
(4) Owens would have averaged 0.54 yards more per catch, due to the higher quality of QB (15.4 rather than 14.9).
(5) The percentage of TD catches by Owens per reception will be 0.22% higher (14.5% rather than 14.3%).

So the results are this: 204 additional completions by QBs on Owens' team, while Owens is playing. That means, theoretically, Owens would have caught 50 additional passes over his career so far with Montana/Young at QB (new total 1,056 catches). Now, taking into account the 50 additional catches, we can assume that Owens would have had 745 additional receiving yards. Add in the extra .54 y/c, and that's another 570 yards. The extra 50 catches would have also translated to 7 TD receptions. Add in the extra .22% TD ratio, and you'll end up with another 2 TD receptions for his career. So, by my calculations, here are Owens' new, theoretical (although simplistic) career stats, through this point in his career: 1,056 receptions, 16,266 yards, 153 TD. When compared with Rice, he is still 83 receptions, 1,346 yards and 11 TD behind Rice (really, a whole season's worth).

So what does this teach us? Well, yeah, Montana/Young > Old Young/Garcia/McNabb/Romo/Bills. But that seems obvious. However, what also appears to be true is that Owens, though an incredible athlete and, for the first 14 years of his career, not THAT far behind Rice, it nonetheless seems clear that Owens is a distant second. Rice has outperformed Owens by nearly a seasons-worth of production over those first 14 years, and did so at a time when passing was far less prolific and receivers had many more obstacles to making any given catch.

But let's also look at Rice's career stats: From age 37-on, Rice managed to snag another 410 passes, for 5,283 yards and 33 TD. Those numbers are staggering when you think about it, because most players are toast by the time they hit 39 or 40.

So, even assuming that Owens had had the benefit of Montana/Young for the first part of his career, AND he would be able to play until he was 42 (a very tall order for a WR), he would have to average 82 receptions, 1,105 yards, and 8 TD a season to catch Rice. Rice's production at such an advanced age remains unprecedented. Looking at it, I'm actually not sure any other player besides Rice has ever had a 1,000+ season past age 35, nonetheless average 1,100 between 37-42.

So, I guess my conclusion is this: No, TO, no matter who you had at QB, you would not be anywhere near Rice's career numbers at this point. No one would be. In fact, the only way anyone will ever catch Rice is if they can match his longevity. So, until someone finds a way to be VERY productive at age 39, Rice will continue to be alone, miles ahead of the competition.

Back in December, I mentioned that Sid was playing the most dominating hockey of his career. I know I'm biased, but with all due respect to Ovechkin, Sid is the best player in the world right now.

Speaking of the Pens, Scott Burnside said about a month ago that the Devils were locks to win the division, that the Devils, 6 points up with 3 games in hand were uncatchable. The Devils are now 1 point up with 2 games in hand. Little surprised to see Burnside make such an ill-advised comment.

Lastly, I wanted to bring you a video model of what it might have looked like for TO if he had had Montana and Young at the helm:

Without them (but with Brad Johnson):

With them:

Dawning of a New Day

In the hopes of keeping anyone reading this sorry fucking excuse for a blog, I will be revising my writing habits. Rather than putting together long, verbose pieces that usually pull together about 12 different topics, I'm going to try to keep them short, sweet, and much more frequent.

So, here goes nothing.

• Brett Favre is still Brett Favre. Just when all hope seemed lost, and it appeared that Favre had finally settled into being a controlled, patient and smart QB, his season ends with an awful, across the body, on the run, into the middle of the field INT that, if he had run it, would have at least given Ryan Longwell a shot at a 48-yarder. But no, Brett is Wrangler man, and if there's one thing the Wrangler jean commercials have taught us, Brett plays like he's playing touch football, which means rolling right and throwing back across his body:

• The Pens are struggling in general right now, but a lot has been made of their struggling power play. However, a comment by Mike Milbury during the Pens/Flyers game on Sunday got me thinking. Milbury commented that people shouldn't be all that surprised that the Pens PP sucks this year, because it was only ranked 20th in the league last year. Now, some might say, hey, Gonch was out for 3/4 of the season, and we all know what he does for the PP. And it's true, the guy might be the best point man in the league - he can pass, he can skate, he can rip the puck, but he also knows how to get the puck on net, and towards friendly sticks, which might be the most important thing he does.
  
  But with that in mind, look at the 2 PP goals from Sunday: one was all Gonch's, but the result of a great screen. The other was Cooke redirecting in front of the net.
  
  So, I propose to you that what the Pens need more than anything is a guy like Ryan Malone.
  
  Compare the Pens powerplay for 2005-2008 with the power play from 2008-2010. Those first 3 seasons include Crosby's first which was a near-last place finish, a first-round exit and the loss in the Cup Finals. The last 2 are this year, and the Cup Champion team from last.
  
  2005-2008: 1336 chances, 265 goals, 19.8%
  2008-2010: 583 chances, 96 goals, 16.5%
  
  What's the one big change between the two periods? Ryan Malone. We're only talking about a difference of 19 goals over that period, but is it out the question to suggest that Malone's absence may have something to do with it?
  
  
• John Clayton was writing today that the Saints/Colts Super Bowl is proof that offense is more important now than defense. I disagree. The Colts are the league's #8 scoring defense this year, despite throwing in the towel against the Jets and Bills at the end. As for the Saints, yeah, they aren't great, but they won by forcing turnovers and making plays.
  
  And let's also not get too far ahead of ourselves. It's just one season. Look at the last 4 Super Bowl champs. Why did they win? Defense. That's crystal clear for the Giants and Steelers, and don't forget that the Colts' big run was fueled by a hot defense.
  
  Video (1:06) with thanks to the mersh (Btw: when you watch it, it's almost like they're trying too hard to look excited. I don't buy this "Saints fans are so great" bullshit. 99% of them are bandwagoners. Which, I guess is how you get your start, but still. Fuck that.).
  

Saints Video: Bourbon Street

Reflections on Predictions: Ruben's NFC North Preview

NFC North

Original NFC North Preview

Green Bay Packers
Predicted Record: 12-4 (NFC North Champs)
Actual Record: 11-5 (Wild Card, 5th Playoff Seed)
Verdict: Pretty close. Off by one game, and a few seeds.
I Said That? The perennially underrated pass rusher Aaron Kampman is switching to outside linebacker in the 3-4 which may cause some problems.
Last Word: Yeah, before he went out for the year, the Kampman as a linebacker was a full fledged disaster. Rodgers got sacked at a David Carr pace early in the year, but he's progressed into an elite quarterback and Charles Woodson might be playing the best of his career. They had some troubles early on, but aside from the heartbreaking loss in Pittsburgh, they've been on fire. Kudos for drafting Clay Matthews, who might have been the best defensive rookie.

Chicago Bears
Predicted Record: 10-6 (Wild Card)
Actual Record: 7-9
Verdict: Awful. I whiffed on this call big time. Truth is, they're not even as good as 7-9.
I Said That? Some people think he’s a cocky douche, I think he’s a gamer. He’s something the Bears haven’t had since I’ve been alive: a marquee quarterback. (But really you could go anywhere here).
Last Word: I pimped the shit out of Jay Cutler and he was unplayable at times. I based everything on the Denver Broncos model of Jay Cutler. Maybe he's just going through an adjustment, or maybe Chicago is where QB's go to die. I also liked Matt Forte, who had an awful sophomore slump and a "rejuvenated" Brian Urlacher who didn't make it out of week one. I'm genuinely sorry and disappointed in myself I let my personal hatred of Brett Favre dictate this division.

Minnesota Vikings
Predicted Record: 8-8
Actual Record: 12-4 (NFC North Champs, 2nd Playoff Seed)
Verdict: I was wrong, blinded by Brett Favre and Brad Childress.
I Said That? Skol Vikes! (To be fair, I wrote this from the viewpoint of my buddy Isaacs, who was absolute right on, save for Bernard Berrian long TD catches)
Last Word: Regardless of how you feel about Favre or the way he's conducted his decisions the past few years (fuck him), he had a great year, and playing in a dome clearly masked his inability to play in cold weather. He took the team away from the best running back in the NFL and made it his. The best running back in the NFL strangely developed a case of fumbleitis and Favre came in tossing 1 yard touchdown passes to Visanthe Shiancoe. The defense looks strong, and Percy Harvin is one of the most difficult players in the NFL to game plan for. Had they not played their worst football the last month, I think they'd be a sure bet for the Super Bowl. Now, not so sure. But I was wrong about them.

Detroit Lions
Predicted Record:4-12
Actual Record: 2-14
Verdict: Gave them too much of a benefit. They are still depressing.
I Said That? I guess the Jets and Lions got superexcited by the years Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan put up last year as rookies. Except Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan were both fifth year seniors. Stafford and Sanchez were true juniors. There’s going to be some learning curves even if he’s slinging the ball to Megatron.
Last Word: Yeah, that was spot on. Stafford probably had the better year than Sanchez (on a way inferior team). Stafford has a big time arm, and Detroit has a big time lack of talent. They're still pretty bad. At least they beat the Redskins and the Browns.

Reflections on Predictions: Ruben's NFC South Preview

Original NFC South Preview

New Orleans Saints
Predicted Record: 11-5 (NFC South Champs)
Actual Record: 13-3 (NFC South Champs, 1st Playoff Seed)
Verdict: Correct. Predicted them NFC South Champs, so I feel good.
I Said That?: Honestly, every year, one team jumps from mediocrity to a lucky season and NFC Championship Potential (some people use the word “fluke” to describe such). I think it’s New Orleans. They play offense better than any other team not named New England and the play in the NFC.
Last Word: Yeah, I was right. I bit on New Orleans hard and I was right. I had them in the NFC Championship, which still remains to be seen. I predicted silly things from their offense and I was right. Feel good.

Atlanta Falcons
Predicted Record: 10-6, (Wild Card)
Actual Record: 9-7, out
Verdict: Had them one win better and a playoff team, but they had their first back to back winning seasons, so it wasn't totally off base.
I Said That?: I’m not so sure they’re as big a fluke as everyone makes them out to be.
Last Word: A 9-7 record is respectable, and they're probably not a fluke. There's still work to do, but I like them going forward. Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and Roddy White all suffered some injuries this year. They played hard the last few games to finish .500. Definitely not a wasted season.

Carolina Panthers
Predicted Record: 7-9
Actual Record: 8-8
Verdict: Much better after they shit-canned Jake Delhomme. I was right this was just an average team.
I Said That?: Where does that leave us? 8-8. That makes sense. Jake Delhomme. Fuck. 7-9. Yeah, it’s 7-9, Jake sucks that much.
Last Word: Probably would have been right if they kept Jake in. I had the right reasoning, but I didn't think they'd be smart and remove Jake from the equation. They put Matt Moore in and won their last 3 games to finish at 8-8, so I guess in retrospect, they could have been 5-11. If they don't start Matt Moore next year, they are morons, he's got some potential. They clearly have the best 1-2 punch at running back in the entire league, so if Jake is out of the question, I think they have some potential next year.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Predicted Record: 3-13
Actual Record: 3-13
Verdict: EPIC WIN (for me) EPIC FAIL (for the team)
I Said That?: They just suck.
Last Word: Yeah, I was right. I also questioned the Raheem Morris choice. But then again, everyone else did. But what good can you pull out of that mess? Josh Freeman got some experience and Cadillac Williams didn't have a season ending injury? Yeah, I think that's it.

Reflections on Predictions: Ruben's NFC East Preview

At the eve of the NFL Playoffs, I'd thought it'd be fun to take a quick peak back at my initial NFC Previews for the season, whether good or bad, so in retrospect, here's the NFC, as I saw it.

Original NFC East Preview

NFC EAST

New York Giants
Predicted Record: 10-6 (NFC East Champs)
Actual Record: 8-8, no playoffs
Verdict: I was wrong.
I Said That: The defense is still stout, the defensive line was bad ass before they signed Chris Canty.
Last Word: They weren't the only recent Super Bowl winner who just gave up on the season. I was half right they didn't have a top flight wide receiver. Steve Smith blew up out of the gate, but tapered off down the stretch. While he's not top flight, he's a solid player. I predicted good things for the Jacobs-Bradshaw tandem, and many people now think Brashaw is the better player. Still, the defense was a fucking joke, especially down the stretch, giving up 40 points in three of the last four games with the Playoffs on the line, and their defensive coordinator got fired.

Philadelphia Eagles
Predicted Record: 9-7, out of playoffs
Actual Record: 11-5 (6th Playoff Seed)
Verdict: I wasn't totally wrong, they still have issues with consistency, I had them over .500, but they did make the playoffs.
I Said That: Their top three receivers are all under six feet tall (or barely six feet tall) run fast and shy away from contact.
Last Word: While this statement isn't totally wrong, it's intent was. DeSean Jackson is a stud and should not have been available in the second round. He's not strong, he's not a possession guy, but holy shit is he a game breaker who can win games all by himself. Jeremy Maclin had a solid rookie year and is going to be a solid NFL receiver. Westbrook, who turned 30, was injured and a general non-factor all year, so I feel good about that. This team is totally unpredictable week to week, so I honestly wouldn't be shocked by anything they do in the playoffs, (except win the Super Bowl, that would shock me).

Dallas Cowboys
Predicted Record: 8-8
Actual Record: 11-5 (NFC East Champs, 3rd Playoff Seed)
Verdict: Underestimated them, much better than I thought.
I Said That: The cliche is "addition by subtraction". This typically isn't a negative thing when Terrell Owens is involved.
Last Word: If I would have just added the name Miles Austin in there, I would look as prophetic as Darren Daulton. Miles Austin, a waiver wire pickup for my fantasy team, was without a doubt my favorite player to root for this year. That guy is fantastic. Romo turned the page and played solid, mistake free football (so far) the majority of the year and the Cowboys have a home playoff game, and Wade Phillips may still have his job. Could be frisky in playoffs, but probably a one and done with a solid foundation for next year.

Washington Redskins
Predicted Record: 7-9
Actual Record: 4-12
Verdict: They were way worse than I thought.
I Said That?: They brought in crazy Albert Haynesworth for crazy guaranteed money and drafted Brian Orapko (an ultimate boom-bust prospect) and converted Orapko to linebacker to help sure up the defense.
Last Word: Haynesworth is already a headcase for them. Orapko went boom and made the pro-bowl as a rookie. Jim Zorn. Enough said. He tried this play, twice.

WE SHALL BE HEARD!

See that glass?!?! IT'S HALF FULL! KNOW WHY?!?!

Word on the street: the Bruce Arians era is over. Something truly good has come out of this shitty season. Now, it isn't official, but I'm gonna celebrate now, in case it doesn't happen.

By the end, he was as hated as Michel Therrien. And although they had different issues, both were ultimately unable to adjust. And if you can't adjust, you're gonna get eaten alive. I remember distinctly making the complaint about a year ago that the reason you have a coach is so that they can formulate a game plan, and then make adjustments. Therrien never adjusted, and that was his problem. Well, that, and the fact that he insisted on having a fast, strong, talented team play a slow, plodding style offense.

Arians, on the other hand (and credit to a certain reader with whom I had this exact conversation) seemed to have a plan, but that plan did not provide for any contingency, such as not being ahead 31-0 in the first half. Really, Arians simply didn't understand how to call plays. He could draw them up, but really failed when it came to formulating a plan that would adapt based on how things progressed.

So, really, he was either stupid or lazy.

Either way, he is the fuck out. And the peasants rejoiced...

Really, though, only good things can happen from this. Bet this dude gets a call. You may hate him, but find me a team he's been associated with in the last 10 years that didn't have a really solid O.

P.S.: Charlie, have you ever been to Primanti's? Or Fatheads for that matter? Trust me, you'd love it here.

On the Future, Sports Ethics, and Patriotism

These are three pretty heavy topics, but fitting for this blog's return. Didn't really realize that it had been over 3 weeks since anything had gone up on this blog. Admittedly, losing to the Browns would be enough to make most people give up, but our hiatus was more a matter of circumstance and laziness than any kind of Steelers-induced depression. I think there are probably about 3 or 4 half-written posts sitting around that will never see the light of day.

Anyhow, I guess I'll take these topics in order: the future. What does it hold for us? That's probably what you're asking right now. You're also probably wondering what "us" is referring to. Well, I mean "us" as fans of the Steelers and fans of the footballs (not "us", as in "we" are members of the Steelers by proxy, because we aren't, because if we were, I'd have a lot more money and could post on this blog more than once every 3 weeks).

As I sit here, the Steelers are battling the worst division champs of the last decade (i.e. the '08 Dolphins, that's all I meant by that, because much of the team is still together)... Well, the Bengals this year very well might give them a run for their money, but that aside, the Dolphins are giving us a fight, when they really shouldn't be.

But moving on from there, the question is: when the defending champs miss the playoffs, what positives can we take from this situation? Well, in the spirit of optimism, let's look at the bright spots.

(1) Our Skill Players on Offense Are World-Class: Nothing need be said about Ben. He is the man. Regardless of whether you like him or not, he gets the job done. He's still relatively young, and can learn a thing or two still (specifically, getting rid of the fucking ball on 3rd down at the opponent's 20-30). You know, so we can avoid losing points every game because Ben takes a sack to knock us out of field goal position. But, of course, that's something that could easily be fixed with a little coaching, which, as we know, doesn't exist on the offense.

Mendenhall has all the tools to be an every-down back. He's big, fast, runs hard, can catch and can block. If you've missed his blitz pickup work this year, you clearly aren't watching their games. And I've heard a couple comments calling him "Fumblehall" which is clever but also a complete misnomer. Going into Sunday, he was sitting on 222 carries and 3 fumbles. If you look at the 21 players with 200+ carries, 3 isn't necessarily low, but it's far from abnormal. And let's not forget that one came while he was lying on the back of Browns defender, and had been for about 4 seconds. The rest of the country thought the play was dead, so let's not shit on Mendenhall because he did, too.

And I'll be short on the receivers, because they need very little. Holmes is 3rd in the league in receiving yards. Hines snatched his 6th 1000-yard receiving season. Cousin Heath finally came into his own, and Mike Wallace. Well, that boy is fast (and he catches the ball).

(2) Troy Polamalu is the best player in the NFL. PPG (in 4th quarters alone). With Troy: 0.0. Without Troy: about 37.

(3) LaMarr Woodley is quickly on his way to being our best pass rusher. Again, if you've watched him this year, the guy is awesome.

But now, for the bad (and there's more of it than good, shit...)

But remember, we wouldn't have known this if we had beaten the Chiefs/Raiders/Browns like we should have. And we would be falling victim to another playoff loss, and would be regressing rather than moving forward.

(4) Our offensive line is not so great. Well, we already knew this, but it's starting to become an issue. Wait. No, let's stop.

(5) Bruce Arians is incompetent. Our issues with the o-line are a matter of people having trouble picking up stunts, and Ben NOT HAVING OPTIONS UNDERNEATH. Oh yeah, and setting up the o-line to get fucking shredded. Last time I checked, play action only works when you run. Last time I checked, 5-WR shotgun sets on 3rd and 1 foreclose a lot of play options, and make the defenses job a fucking lot easier. Last time I checked, teaching the players how to be effective is part of the job.

And Arians is incapable of all of these. Fire the motherfucker, and hire someone decent, and you're going to see a positive change on offense.

(6) We really should have kept Larry Foote. Timmons has lots of potential. But he's still basically a rookie, and still gets out of position. That's due, in large part, to his amazing speed. But it does leave the middle open on running plays sometimes. The problem then is that James Farrior is really getting old. He's losing a step. He can't clog the hole, he can't cover in the flat, and he's just generally lost a step. Who's stepping in for him?

(7) Our DBs ain't no good. We need to do some work in the draft. Simple as that. How bad do I wish that we had gotten Darrell Revis rather than Lawrence Timmons 2 years ago? Well, a lot. And that's not because Timmons isn't a very good player, with a lot of promise. It's because our DBs are SO bad, that the upgrade of Timmons over Foote is nowhere near the upgrade of Revis over Will Gay. I hate to say it, but I think Gay loses his starting job next year. I also think that Ike Taylor is going to have to play much better next year for the sake of keeping his job. He's been too consistent over the last 5 years to lose his job over a few bad plays, but he's definitely lost his position as the team's clear #1 CB, and as an irreplaceable part of this defense.

So, I look at these as good things, because I think that this team is serviceable, and that with a little work in the draft, will be better in 2-3 years than it would have been if we had made the playoffs this year.

So that's my optimistic spin on the year.

So, now, on to what I call "sports ethics", or managing your fantasy football team in light of your love for your favorite team. My conclusion: in fantasy football, it is best to abandon all love for your favorite team, and pick the players you hate most, because that usually means that they're pretty damn good. Take, for example, my championship-winning fantasy football team (the starting lineup for most of the year, and the championship game last week):

QB: Philip Rivers. I hate this motherfucker so bad.



Don't you? Seriously, though, he gets good numbers. Not sure he can ever win in the playoffs. Still hasn't really proven it. But whatever. The dude was solid for my team, so I was able to profit despite my hatred.

RB1: Chris Johnson. He plays for the Titans, and I hate seeing him play the Steelers. But the boy is fucking awesome. Sure, he hasn't had Holmes/Faulk/Tomlinson-like TDs this year. But he's still silly good.

RB2: Lawrence Maroney. Despite the fact that he almost fucked me with his fumbling-at-the-goalline bullshit last week, he was really solid over the last 2-3 weeks of the season. Fuck the Patriots.

WR1 & 2: Vincent Jackson & Wes Welker. Again, a Charger and a Patriot. Fuck that shit.

DEF: Dallas Cowboys. Enough said.

So, before you ask, yes, Santonio and Heath were also playing at WR and TE for me. But if you look at the rest of my team, I fucking hate all those guys. But there's a reason. And I got past it. All the way to a championship.

So the lesson is this: being a real fan and being a fantasy player don't mix. You have to leave each at the door. I mean, you need to root for your real team first and foremost, and at the expense of your fantasy team. But you also have to leave your favorite team and those allegiances behind, and go with the best players.

I don't know if that made any sense.

Fuck Philip Rivers. Cocksucker. Hope he never wins a Super Bowl.

So, now for our last topic of the day: Patriotism.

This is kind of fucked up, but I'm having trouble not wanting to root for Team Canada, because Fleury and Sid will be playing for them. Yes, I have more allegiance to the Penguins than my country. Really? Well, no, just the Olympic hockey team. But still, I don't know how to feel about that.

Well, solved that problem... U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!