Archive for Steelers

The Steelers 2010 Season

{ February 4, 2011 @ 6:45 am } · { Steelers }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

I’ve been a Steeler fan for a long time.  I sat through some pretty tough years, and recently my patience has paid off.  Ben Roethlisberger has been the most exciting player I’ve ever seen, Tomlin has taken over for Cowher in a transition smoother than anything I could have ever hoped for, and we’re on our way to a third NFL title in my lifetime.  I love it.

I wanted to take a minute and give my joepinion on all things Steelers this season.  I’d like to give you my top five Steeler Highlights from 2010.

5) The Rookies: Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown have been electric, especially in the post season and the last few weeks of the regular season.  Ward and Wallace have really been spectacular, but looking at the last few games, some of the biggest plays couldn’t have happened without the two rookie wide receivers.  Sanders has more yards than Ward in the playoffs so far, and Antonio Brown has an amazing hand-and-helmet in the playoffs to help send the Steelers to the Super Bowl.  These receivers are a big help for a quarterback in a run-centered offence, when he is usually only called upon to make places on tough third-and-shorts and daunting third-and-longs.  Couple the WR’s with the pro-bowl rookie center Pouncey, and you can see why the Steelers are known for their amazing ability to find grade A talent in the draft.

4) Big Ben and Tomlin: With all that happened in the off-season, it’s remarkable that things have been as calm as they have been around the Steeler organization this season.  This is due to Ben being kind, calm, and collected with the media, and Tomlin being Tomlin; cool.  The guy is made of ice.  I watched nearly every press conference with Tomlin this year, and every time the conversation moved from football and toward the issues from the off season, he let the media know that wasn’t going to happen.  Ben has been changing his image, which should never have been dragged through the mud by the media in the first place, and Tomlin has helped by keeping the media’s focus on the games, shinning light on Big Ben’s amazing contributions to the team and the spirit of the Steeler organization.  Now if only Goodell would shut his mouth and do his job proper, maybe we could really move forward.

3) The Replacements: The offiensive and defensive lines have been marred all season by injuries.  From the loss of Pro-Bowler Aaron Smith to the loss of Willie Colon, and even the recent scare with our Pro-Bowl rookie center, Pouncey, the Steelers have had all the makings of a team that should have been.  The players who stepped up made it happen this season.  There have been some tough moments, but in the end we can look back at the play of people like Ziggy Hood and be happy that these players of the future got to show the world that this aging Steeler team has some warm bodies on the bench, ready to jump in and keep the ball rolling.  Because of them not only have we had a successful season, but the fans got some great looks at some players that may be starters soon.

2)The Beard: With the loss of so many people on the line, it took the work of veterans to keep the ship afloat on the field.  Of these veterans, Brett Keisel has been one of the most seen this season, as his new look and positive never-say-die attitude really helped push the back ups.  He had an amazing interception for a TD this year, three sacks,and  seven pass deflections.  He has been a standard with the media all year, and never let anyone stop believing in his team even when the chips were down.

1)The Sack: I could write about this all day.  Instead I’ll just show you.  You could probably guess most the things I’d point out, like the timing needed to execute this kind of play, or the sheer athleticism…aw shucks…there I go writing about it.

It’s almost unfair, really.

Free Big Ben!

{ May 12, 2010 @ 7:48 am } · { Steelers }
{ Tags: , , } · { Leave a Comment }

Sit down.  Let’s talk.
.
So, Big Ben is out 4 to 6 games.  Why is this happening?  Well, I’ve got a couple of ideas.
.

I thought we lived in America, where you're innocent until prove guilty.

Let’s take a look at what we know.  Big Ben gets into a college club and has sexual relations with a woman in the bathroom.  She’s 20.  Bodyguards are standing around to make sure no one sees anything.

.
The woman then claims it was rape.  We don’t know if that’s true.  Ben is saying it didn’t happen like that, but yeah, they did it in a bathroom.  Who do you believe?  It’s he said/she said, and I’m not going to claim to know what really happened.  And guess what, neither should the NFL.
.
What ends up happening is that the people who are supposed to find out what really happened, i.e. the police, end up killing the case because there simply isn’t a case to be had.  So, all we know for sure is that Big Ben went to a club full of college students and had sex in a bathroom.  If the cops can’t pin anything else on the guy, then that’s that.
.
Still, the NFL decided to give Ben the same sentence as Michael Vick.  That’s right, having sex in a bathroom is just as bad as running an illeagal dog fighting ring, killing animals with your bare hands, and serving time in jail.  OH!  And lying about the whole thing to the Comissioner’s face.
.
That makes sense…right?  Yeah, you’re right, it doesn’t make any sense.  So here’s my theory.
.

I murdered and tortured countless dogs and encouraged people to bet on dog fights, but at least I wasn't accused of rape by a drunk college student and then had the case thrown out due to a lack of evidence.

There are a lot of people out there who listen to sports radio.  Unfortunately, I’ve become one of them.  “Heartman and Friends” on Fox Sports Radio brought up a question I heard on other talk shows- “Is Ben getting preferencial treatment because he is a white quarterback?”  Personally, I think this is garbage.  Every chance this Heartman character gets to say anything bad about the Steelers, he takes it, especially when it comes to Big Ben. But when I started hearing this from multiple sources, I started to lose it.

.
THE REASON BIG BEN WASN’T DELT WITH AS QUICKLY OR AS HARSHLY WAS BECAUSE HE WASN’T CONVICTED OF ANYTHING!  Why can’t people get that through their skulls?  So, Goodell probably hears about this rumor and doesn’t want to be called  a racist, and so he pulls the trigger, essentially for no good reason.
.
And it probably helps a lot that Big Ben will be returning just in time for a Sunday night game against the Super Bowl Champ Saints. No way is that a coincidence.
.
That’s my opinion.
.
Also, people have said this was an accumulation type of a punishment.  They say it has to do with the motorcycle accedent, the OTHER allegation, and the one that was just thrown out.  To that I say BS as well.  We’re talking about one instance here, and the motorcycle thing happened years ago.  Let’s move on.  I have, and I’m a Steeler fan.  That accedent affected me more than most.
.
Finnally, my opinion on Big Ben and his role with the Steelers:  Big Ben, in a lot of ways, is exactly what people think about when they think of the Steelers.  He’s gritty, he can get a little sloppy, but in the end he’ll win the game, even if it means sacrificing himself and throwing himself over linemen and taking a hit.  The Steelers are a grinding, in your face team, and Ben is a big part of that right now.  We don’t have the same run-game we used to, so we’re lucky to have him.
.
He belongs in Pittsburgh.  I couldn’t imagine him anywhere else.  There’s no way that the Steelers can afford to lose Ben.  End of story.  He wins games.  Say whatever you want about the guy in the locker room or in clubs, we’re talking about a guy with two rings.  And I know, he had the lowest QB rating in Super Bowl history, but people quickly forget all the amazing plays he made to get to that game.  That playoff run was spectacular.  I’ll never forget it.  He helped the Steelers win three tough road games in the playoffs to get there.  And the second Super Bowl- well, we all remember the most magnificient drive in Super Bowl history, don’t we?
.
So, in closing, shut up about the guy and give him a break.  He did nothing wrong, and if he did he would be in jail.  Goodell, you’re a tool, and you’ll see that when half your league’s star players are out on 6 game suspensions

The Steelers (March)

{ March 18, 2010 @ 8:28 am } · { Steelers }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

It's good to be a Steeler fan.

I know a lot of people aren’t going to care, but the Steelers have been doing some interesting things these last few weeks and I want to touch on them a little bit because, guess what, I’ve got an opinion on the subject.

Anyway, I’m a big Steeler fan.  I have been for years even though I live in Los Angeles .  It’s funny being a football fan in Los Angeles .  Not funny “ha-ha,” more like funny “who’s your team?”  By that I mean, “who’s your team” becomes the number one question of the fall for football fans.  I know Las Vegas and Salt Lake City and Portland don’t have teams, but we used to.  In fact, we used to have two.  But when the Rams and the Raiders took off there were a lot of refugee football fans lost in the mix.

I started watching football when I was really young and I didn’t want to be a fan of either of the LA teams at the time,

One thing I’ve been missing is Randel-El’s ability to throw the ball and mix up the game with some trick plays.

mostly because I’m a jerk and I like getting people upset.  But now that both teams are gone and not doing so well, if you’re a football fan in LA you’re one of three things: A Raider or Ram fan from the pre-90’s, a former Raider of Ram fan who moved over to a new team (the Chargers are a popular choice), or you’re someone who loves a different team because you’re smart.  I’m smart.  I’m a Steelers fan.

I picked the Steelers because they’re awesome, but I didn’t pick them when they were doing well.  I had to sit through the choke at the SuperBowl, I had to sit through Slash and Tommy

Maddox, but damn it, now it’s all worth it.  A new QB and two rings later, everyone likes to call me a bandwaggoner, but much like Emilio Estevez in Young Guns 2, I’ve got my scars.

I miss the way things were when Bettis was around, and Coach Cowher, but there have been a lot of great changes happening also.  I saw a lot of great players leave the team in good times and bad and I hoped that we’d see them again.  One person who left that I thought we should get back was Plax.  I was wrong about that.

But recently two players have returned to the Steelers that I hoped would return, Larry Foote and Antwan Randle-El.  Normally this would never happen, but it just did because of policy changes in the front office.

Any Steeler fan will tell you that Joey Porter brought a lot to our defence. I know he’s available, and it might be wishful thinking, but I’d love to see him back.

My opinion?  It’s great.  Well, so long as they keep using their head it’s great.  I mean, imagine if Plax came back and the Steelers had to deal with that gun situation.  The Steelers are a great organization and I imagine that many players have wanted to come back after leaving, and they may have been players we badly missed (Joey Porter, maybe?), but we have to be careful who we allow to come back.

Both players returning the field next season will bring added experience and talent, and that’s something the team needs.  I say second chances in this case can be a good thing if you do your homework and pick the people who want to come back for the right reasons.  I like that Foote is ok with being Timmon’s back up (one of the reasons he left), and I like that Randel-El isn’t expecting to be a number one receiver.  I think they have the right attitudes coming onto a team like the Steelers.

These guys have something to earn out there, and I have a feeling they will.  I’m really looking forward to this season.

And for anyone wondering how I feel about Big Ben’s legal issues: Two Super Bowl rings earned Ben the right to my support in these troubling legal times.  His right as an American citizen earns him the right to a fair trial.  Let’s wait and see what happens.  My money is on this girl being just like the last: crazy and after some dough.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.