Steelers-Lions Recap: Turkey Win

If three strikes in a row in bowling is called a turkey, what do you call three sacks in a row in football? For the sake of this post, we'll call this a turkey as well.



With Pittsburgh leading 28-20 late in the fourth quarter, the Steelers defense decided to finally pressure QB Daunte Culpepper instead of playing a prevent defense that allowed Detroit to get back into the game. Let's set the scene. After marching down the field and scoring on a Dennis Northcutt (who must be approximately 58 years old) touchdown, the Lions defense forced the Steelers into a three-and-out. Then, Culpepper led another successful drive leading to a 1st and 10 from the Steelers 21 with less than 2:00 minutes remaining. Momentum was totally on Detroit's side, but that's when things changed. LaMarr Woodley and William Gay teamed up to sack Culpepper for a loss of 6 yards. Second down was Gay as the cornerback sacked Culpepper for a 5-yard loss. Lawrence Timmons then completed the turkey with a 13-yard sack. The Lions tried a Hail Mary pass on 4th and 34 but that fell innocently to the turf meaning game over.

In continuing with my fabulous theme, Sunday was the first time the Steelers played in Detroit against the Lions since the Jerome Bettis/coin flip game held, wait for it, on Thanksgiving. Plus, Ben Roethlisberger had THREE touchdowns (one each for Hines, Heath and Mike Wallace) and James Harrison had THREE sacks. As a result, turkey for everyone!


(Too soon for this picture?)

The most important key to the Steelers victory was the fact that I wore my Louis Lipps jersey for the first time this season! You may be skeptical, but the Steelers are 43-3 when I wear the jersey (this record may not be correct).

In other random notes, I made a last-minute decision to watch the game at Fast Eddie's in Fairfax. It's much nicer watching a game at a Steelers bar rather than a bar/restaurant that shows all games. (I'm looking at you Champps and Buffalo Wild Wings.*) However, I can't wait until the Virginia law stopping smoking in bars/restaurants goes into effect. I'm going to smell like smoke for days.

There were some smaller televisions showing other NFL games. The guy next to me referred to the Washington quarterback as Jason Candle. He also called Ravens QB Joe Flacco, Shane Falco. I don’t understand how either of these are insults.



Overall, the Steelers are now 3-2 heading into next week’s game against the Cleveland Browns. The team is now one game behind the Cincinnati Bengals and tied with the Baltimore Ravens in the division. Basically, the team is in pretty good shape at this point of the season and will hopefully get a healthy Willie Parker and Troy Polamalu back next week.


* I've been a Buffalo Wild Wings customer on many occasions, but I have never had a football referee or baseball manager ask me my opinion on a play or coaching decision. To be fair, I haven't visited a Buffalo Wild Wings recently, so perhaps this is a new feature.