Against the Titans - December 21, 2008

I'll start with the obvious statement: it seems the wheels came off the wagon this past week. We've already been traveling through our schedule with a spotty offensive line and special teams, and with a quarterback who gambles, Vegas-style, with each of his throws when flushed out of the pocket. But at least we had the consistent D to keep the other team's offensive numbers in check, no? It appeared to me that our D did not prepare well for the game and became a little too reliant on the media hype...and we watched the result. Suddenly team confidence begins faltering: Ben is throwing INT's and fumbling behind the line, the unflappable Reed is missing a FG and penalties are racking up. I have to hand it to the Titans: they played a tidy game and Collins stayed cool under pressure; we were thrown off our game. Anytime you see Roethlisberger with over 300 passing yards and a handful of lost fumbles, you know we're in trouble. I am hoping this dismantling of the defense will prove to be a good wakeup call to Tomlin about discipline in the home stretch. I'm channeling my dismay at this game using Wayne a la Wayne's World: "What the hell's going on? I lost my show, I lost my best friend, I lost my girl. I'm being sh*ton, that's right, sh*ton, and you know what really pisses me off....wait, where are you goin'? OK, things aren't that great, but I'll get 'em back, OK?"

Against the Ravens - December 14, 2008

As advertised, it was a real slug-fest in the trenches for the two defenses and painfully low-scoring. Knowing that M&T Stadium was going to be loud and hostile, I am still not sure why we did not utilize a no-huddle offense (Remember the Colts game in 2006?) and avoid those frustrating false start penalties early on. The defense, of course, to the end, played with heart and steel. I believe our special teams showed their warts, as evidenced by the muffed punt and the Ravens' favorable starting field position, time and again; this definitely has to be addressed before the playoffs. I am pleased that Ben Roe, Ward, Holmes and the O-line all engineered that final nail-biting drive to the endzone, but hope they know, for all of the fans' sanities, that it IS possible to score touchdowns during ALL four quarters of the football game within the playoffs?? ;) I will say that it was all worth it to see Ray "I Should Be in Jail" Lewis angry on the sidelines at the end. For that, I'll quote Tony Montana in Scarface: "Now you're talking to me baby! That I like! Keep it coming!"

Against the Cowboys - December 7, 2008

Another amazing defensive performance, shoe-stringing together a win when the offense was (no surprise there) sputtering. The offensive performance was so patchy and it certainly was not a play-off caliber performance either. It's always dangerous (and frustrating for team morale) to fail to convert scores from turnovers; we will face better teams than Dallas that will be able to handle the cold weather and not cough up the ball so easily. Nice of Nate Washington to show up to the dance and make some clutch catches; we will certainly need those types of plays since Ward is getting double-teamed more and more by those who want to draw more fines out of him. My larger opinion is that we should consider putting Leftwich in for those plays where we need a quarterback sneak into the endzone or for deep passing plays; Ben's injury is clearly holding him back in the short yardage situations. He seems too leery to scramble these days. To quote the NASA flight director in Apollo 13: "Let's work the problem people. Let's not make things worse by guessing."

Against the Pats - November 30, 2008

I have to say that there was some promising improvement in the o-line's play this week, despite the inclimate conditions, and the defense and special teams, like always, showed up to play a spirited four full quarters. Gotta love Harrison and Polumalu week in and week out. But I'm not altogether sure if it was that we were so good or whether the Pats just handed over the game: I would specifically finger Moss's dropped passes and Cassel's "uncharacteristic" (I hadn't bought into the Cassel = John Elway talk anyhow) skittishness around the pocket as pretty big culprits. Once again, Ben treated us to a stupidly thrown INT on the second play of the game: what was that all about??? I'm going to reserve judgment on this team, until I see another big road win. To quote Wooderson in "Dazed and Confused": "Patience, darlin', patience."

As a sidenote, in the wake of Plaxico Burress's suspension during the crucial final weeks of the season, quite more than 100 bucks says the Rooneys are privately thinking that, although we can't afford "premier" receivers under our particular salary cap, we unloaded one big loose ego grenade before it exploded.

Against the Bengals - November 20, 2008

Shall I offend Cincy fans everywhere by writing zero analysis and just putting: "Well, it was a W and a padding to our numbers"? I think it's safe to say there was a general expectation that we would win that game. But a sloppy, uninspired win, I'll admit. There were still the traditional issues that made an appearance: Ben Roe playing catch with the Bengals' secondary, who were simply surprised by Ben's pigskin gift and dropped it (had this been a playoff game, there would have been 3 INT's to contend with) and of course, our inconsistent o-line made the game interesting, allowing Ben to run around like a loon at times. Hats off to the special teams for good field position. Sorry, can't get excited about offing a limping division opponent; I'll quote Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights - "It's just not sexy, Jack...it's not sexy like how it should be."

Against the Colts - November 9, 2008

Well, to quote Jimmy Conway in "Goodfellas": "What - what is the ****in' matter with you? What are you, stupid or what?" I had to take a day to collect myself over that gem of a Steeler performance. Rather than focusing my complaints on the obvious touched-upon-by-Berman & Jackson issues (ie: Ben's continuous blind gunslinging into the waiting hands of the Colts' secondary as if he had the O-line from the Faneca era behind him or THE painfully inconsistent current O-line overall), I would like to point out, specifically, the newest target of my frustration: Mr. Justin Hartwig. Could I ask WHY every other snap was high?? We're not talking a few errantly-aimed snaps across the span of the game, which could be understandable. We're talking EVERY. OTHER. SNAP. Did you go to practice all week, buddy? Aim the ball at the QB's hands and THEN block. And then repeat that action. Sheeeesh.

MNF against the Skins - November 3, 2008

Hollow MNF win, don'tcha think, ESPN analysts? To quote The Wolf in "Pulp Fiction": "Let's not start sucking one another's &$#*s just yet." I felt that the Redskins' rushing offense was overrated going in; our defense picked them apart but I couldn't help but feel that the Skins had under-prepared for the defensive schemes and believed the media hype that Portis would dominate. On the other side of the ball, as I've been saying, ad nauseum: we can make it to the playoffs but we are not capable of going far without an acquisition for that o-line (we could afford to lose Faneca...really???). A nice performance by Leftwich, which I hope will motivate Ben to realize that getting rid of the ball quicker (even if to the er, sideline??) usually allows for fewer chances of head/arm injuries (does he NEED any more?), forces tighter coverage on the receivers, and gets us back to the rushing game we seem to have forgotten. We just don't have the o-line chemistry this season for Ben Roe to be gun-slinging at will. Also, can anyone explain why we're not running more slant plays in general?? They work, whether it's going to Ward, Miller, or even Parker, on the trick play occasion. So um, why not keep using them? Why do I feel like the coaches outsmart themselves??