Steelers-Giants Recap

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a lead late in the fourth quarter at home and lost. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked five times, hit at least another dozen times and threw four interceptions. The team was 1 for 10 on third down, 0 for 4 on fourth down and had 8 penalties for 59 yards, many of them pretty stupid penalties. Plus, the Steelers defense who led the league in sacks coming into the game, failed to register a sack and rarely put pressure on Eli Manning. It was clearly not one of their best games.

However, let’s take a step back and put everything into perspective. The Steelers are 5-2 and have a one game lead over Baltimore, who they already defeated, in the AFC North. The 5-2 record is tied for second best in the AFC with New England and Buffalo behind only the undefeated Tennessee Titans. The Steelers are 5-0 against AFC teams, a very important playoff tie-breaker, which along with the Titans, is the best in the conference. Yes, the team has some work to do, but there’s no need to panic...yet.

A few thoughts from the game:

- Why was Dick Stockton so concerned about players getting out of bounds early in the game? Twice in the first half (Heath Miller’s catch on the first drive and Carey Davis’ catch with 12+ minutes left in the second quarter), Stockton stated that the Steelers failed to get out of bounds after making a catch.

- Ryan Clark and Brett Kiesel both played amazing games.

- Stupid Toyota commercial. I’m going to have "save by zero" in my head all day.

- Nate Washington has turned into an extremely solid receiver.

- The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror XIX" looks really good. Unfortunately, I feel like I’ve seen the whole episode already during all of Fox’s commercials.

- Am I the only person wondering why Justin Hartwig, the Steelers’ starting center, wasn’t able to serve as the back-up long-snapper? Doesn’t Hartwig make a living snapping the ball and then blocking the guy in front of him?

- Can the Steelers have another bye week? I’m writing this on Sunday night, so I don’t know the health status of Ryan Clark, Greg Warren, Mitch Berger and any other Steeler. Regardless, with Willie Parker and Bryant McFadden already out, it seems like the team could use a week off to get healthy.

I will be at FedEx Field for next week’s Steelers-Redskins game. If I was told that the Steelers could only win one of these two games against the Giants and Redskins, I would gladly take a Steelers win against Washington.

More about the game is available on the Post-Gazette website.

Super Bowl XLII Notes

Everything has already been said and written about this year's New York Giants-New England Patriots Super Bowl, but I want to add my two cents anyway.

If you were tired of Peyton Manning commercials, prepare yourself for many Eli Manning commercials or more advertisements featuring both Manning brothers.

David Tyree's amazing catch was Swann-esque. (Swann as a wide reciever; not as a candidate for Pennsylvania's Governor.)

In the third quarter, the Patriots had a 4th and 13 from the Giants 32 and decided to go for it. Why not try for a 49 or 50-yard field goal? If you have that little confidence that your 2nd year kicker can't make a field goal from that distance in a dome, you need to get a new kicker.

Bill Belichick's short-sleeve sweatshirt looked silly.

Earlier this week, Plaxico Burress predicted a 23-17 victory for his Giants. Tom Brady's response: "We're only going to score 17 points?" No, you only scored 14 points.

When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell came to the podium to present the Vince Lombardi trophy, I thought he was going to say, "To Arlen Specter, I'll call you in a few days. Please get off my back."

Congratulations to the New York Giants! A nation is extremely happy that you defeated the Patriots!