Steelers-Falcons Recap

Full disclosure: I missed the entire first half of Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Atlanta Falcons game. I had a good reason though. $200. That’s how much I made working as a soccer referee for 4 games Sunday morning. The plan was for the games to end at 1:00 meaning that I’d only miss part of the first quarter. Unfortunately, since these were playoff games, we had to have a winner. Naturally the last two games had to be settled by penalty kicks meaning that I wasn’t finished until closer to 2:00. You really don't care, do you? Well, anyway, while I completely understand if you want to go elsewhere for your recap, I hope that you'll read my thoughts on the game below since you might appreciate my insight that you can’t get anywhere else.

- Congratulations to Hines Ward for becoming the first Steelers player with 11,000 yards receiving. He is also the first Steelers player with 11,001 yards receiving, 11,002 yards receiving, etc.

- It’s so nice to have Troy Polamalu back. He probably is the one player that the Steelers can’t afford to be without. 5 tackles and an excellent interception that should have given the Steelers the win in regulation (thanks Jeff Reed!) is a solid day’s work. He’s just so much fun to watch.

- Antwaan Randle El may want to consider calling for a fair catch as a punt returner. He got blasted at the start of the fourth quarter and was lucky not to fumble.

- David Johnson deserves a lot of credit for Rashard Mendenhall’s game-winning TD run. Without his block springing Mendenhall, the run would have been a five-yard gain.



(This photo is by Jared Wickerham of Getty Images. Seeing how happy the guys on the sidelines are makes me smile.)

- Did Ziggy Hood play yesterday?

- Atlanta’s Roddy White is a Top 5 receiver in the league. There were several occasions where Bryant McFadden had excellent coverage, but White still made the catch.

- Solid game for Lawrence Timmons. 11 tackles include 3 tackles for a loss. I expect (hope?) a new blog post about the game immediately!

- At the end of the game, FOX announcer Dick Stockton made a reference to Hines Ward as Dennis Dixon’s alter ego. Does anyone know what this is supposed to mean?

- A burger and fries followed by desert featuring a giant chocolate chip cookie, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream was quite tasty but not a great combination.

- Chris Johnson and the Titans offense against the Steelers defense should be fun next week.

Steelers-Vikings Random Thoughts

You can find a full recap on Sunday's Pittsburgh Steelers-Minnesota Vikings football game anywhere on the internet. However, I'm here to provide my thoughts on items you probably won't find elsewhere. (Please note that I made some of these observations on Twitter yesterday.) I apologize if this looks like a Peter King or Larry King column.

* Who made a worse attempt at a tackle: Jeff Reed on Percy Harvin’s kick-off return or Brett Favre on Keyaron Fox’s interception return?


(Favre's tackle attempt looked worse live and on video than in this picture.)

* The Steelers are not going to win many games where David Johnson has more receiving yards than Hines Ward.

* I miss the Alcoa fantastic finishes commercials.

* How was Casey Hampton offsides twice? Isn't the ball directly in front of him?

* I was really impressed with Vikings’ WR Sidney Rice.

* Miller Lite asks what greatness tastes like. I think it probably tastes like chicken.

* Did Ziggy Hood play?

* I was surprised that Mewelde Moore played instead of Willie Parker after Mendenhall’s fumble.

* Watching the Packers-Vikings game a few weeks ago, DE Jared Allen was the most dominant player on the field with 4.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Against the Steelers, he had only 1.5 tackles and no sacks.


Finally, congratulations to Lara M. on winning the Sean's Ramblings First Contest. Lara's prediction that Ben Roethlisberger would throw for 210 yards was the closest of any other entry, though in actuality, not very close as he threw for only 175 yards. I'm sure that she is happy that we were not playing with Price Is Right rules.

Thanks again to the orientalwatchsite, a website of affordable Men's Watches by Orient Japan, for providing this great prize. (Please visit their website.)


Photo by Peter Diana / Post-Gazette