Andrew Modro's Pittsburgh Steelers fan blog

And there you have it, folks, the final from Heinz Field: New York 21, Pittsburgh 14.

I've only got a few things to say here.  First off, the Steelers' offense should be ashamed of themselves.  Second, the Steelers' defense are heroes and the offense should buy them all dinner.  Third, Mike Tomlin has a lot of butts to kick, chief among them Ben Roethlisberger's.  The Steelers should have had that game, and they lost because only half the team showed up.

Next week: the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field.  So far, the NFC East has Pittsburgh's number.  Will the trend continue?

Continue reading "Steelers' Offense Hands Win To Giants"

As reported by KDKA, Santonio Holmes will be facing misdemeanor possession charges after police allegedly found marijuana "blunts" in his car.  Holmes has been deactivated and will not play Sunday against the Giants.

Holmes has been Roethlisberger's favorite target for the past few games.  So I have to wonder what this is going to do to the passing attack.  Hines Ward is the natural choice for primary receiver, at least in my mind, but if the offense had been shifting toward Holmes, is it going to be difficult putting the ball back in Ward's hands?

Still no word on whether Willie Parker will play on Sunday.  At this point I'm going to anticipate seeing Mewelde Moore continuing as the main RB, backed up by Najeh Davenport.  I think Moore will turn in another solid performance against the Giants, so I'm not terribly concerned.  Better for Parker to get healthy.  We have plenty of other tough teams to face.

Continue reading "Holmes facing charges; no word on Parker; Polamalu pushing it"

Mewelde Moore hit the end zone twice and Byron Leftwich even got into the act as the Steelers turn the Bengals into creamed kitty, 38-10.  Speaking of hitting, Ryan Fitzpatrick hit the turf seven times thanks to the efforts of LaMarr Woodley, James Harrison, Lawrence Timmons and James Farrior, while for the first time this season Ben Rothlisberger was not sacked at all.

Moore had a 120 yard rushing day with two touchdowns on the ground.  He also added 14 receiving yards and another touchdown on five catches.  At this point, I have to ask -- if Willie Parker does come back from his close encounter with a hole in time to face the Giants next weekend, would it be worth it to put him in as the starter over Moore, who has had two fantasic games?  I have nothing but respect for Parker and want to see him back on the field, but Moore has delivered in the starting role, and I'm not so sure it would be wise to take him out and put in a guy who hasn't played in a month.  I say give Moore the start against New York, and if Parker is healthy, have him ready to play in the secondary slot.  Put Najeh Davenport or Gary Russell in the third-string role.  At this point, I don't think we're going to miss Rashard Mendenhall.  I think we could afford to trade him in the offseason after he heals.

Continue reading "Willie Who?"

Just in time to disappoint Steelers fans worldwide for the Bengals game, Willie Parker stepped in a hole and aggravated his sprained MCL.  Some details at http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/74034 for the curious.

If Parker does not play on Sunday the duty will once again fall on Mewelde Moore, whose 99-yard performance in Jacksonville proved, to me at least, that he's got the goods. I hope Willie recovers soon and avoids any more holes, but I'm not too terribly worried.

Continue reading "Quick Shot: Hole 1, Willie Parker 0"

I apologize again to anyone who may have been following along.  Things have been difficult for my family, and even though I've still been following the NFL and especially the Steelers, I haven't been in the mood for blogging.  I took some time to go over posts from the last few weeks, and you've all had some insightful comments.  Hello again, and I hope you have all been well.

The most common talk about the Steelers right now has got to be how fortunate the team has been to have their bye week right now.  The first five weeks proved absolutely brutal -- of course, that seems to be going around the NFL this year, with Week Six claiming Cowboys QB Tony Romo among others.   Willie Parker will be returning and fresh, backed up by Najeh Davenport and Mewelde Moore, and our ground game should punish the poor Bengals, who look to be anticipating more getting out of this season with their stripes still on their helmets than actually winning games.

Continue reading ""

I swear, I thought I was watching the Malone-era Steelers today.  Looks like the talking heads were on to something.

I don't blame Roethlisberger.  Far from; everyone else around him was falling apart.  So much for our improved offensive line!  And what is it about mid-range passes that our secondary just can't stop?  Ugh!

I'm not going to get angry, or cry doom, but this game sucked.  Sloppy, heartless and just plain bad.  Guys, you're just lending credence to all the naysayers.   You've got to play like you want to win.  McNabb looked like he wanted to win, and he did.

Continue reading "If you want respect, that isn't how to get it."

Okay, I'm quite annoyed by this point.  The Eagles are 1-1, yet are higher-ranked than the Steelers.  Okay, I can almost see that; they racked up some good numbers in their shootout loss to the Cowboys.  Donovan McNabb looks fantastic, too.  But the Steelers are 2-0, Willie Parker is having the season of his life so far, Hines Ward and the rest of the Pittsburgh receiver corps are at the top of their game, the offensive line has indeed improved in many respects and the Steelers' defense is simply shutting opponents down.  So why, pray tell me, are so many of the talking heads picking the Eagles to win?  And why do they have so many different reasons to do so?

It goes back to things like Don Banks picking the Steelers to go 8-8 and lose the division crown to the Browns.  Whether blatant or subtle, there is an ingrained lack of respect for the Pittsburgh Steelers throughout the sports media.  The slightest wobble, and the talking heads pounce, quick to condemn.  But week after week of solid football, and are they as quick to praise?  No.  Teams like the Patriots and Cowboys can do no wrong.  The Eagles come out and look solid in two games and suddenly jump ahead of a team with a better record.  The best Sports Illustrated's Dr. Z can manage for the Steelers in his "power rankings"?  Fourth, because he's making excuses for the Eagles.  Fourth is a damn good place to be, but when you've got receivers who throw the ball away before scoring, and you put up 37 and still lose... no, you're not better at 1-1 than the Steelers are at 2-0.  I can't lie about that twice in one post.  Ordinarily I like Dr. Z a lot, but I think he's got his pants around his ankles here.  Peter King, another guy I usually like, seems to think McNabb has suddenly become Superman.  What the hell, guys?

Continue reading "Harumph."

The remains of Hurricane Ike blew through Ohio on Sunday afternoon, conspiring to knock out the power in most of my county and prevent me from keeping up with the game on NFL.com (whose play-by-play page I find very useful, if a bit boring).  I finally found out what happened on Monday evening, and I'm glad I wasn't watching -- I would have had a heart attack!

My main concern right now is Ben Roethlisberger.  Playing with a separated shoulder is brave, but also dangerous.  Will be be able to play in Philadelphia, or are we going to have to rely on Byron Leftwich?  I have pretty much zero confidence in Leftwich, and I would rather not be stuck with him.  If only Charlie Batch hadn't been hurt...

But he was, and Leftwich is what we have to work with if Ben can't take the field against the Eagles.  Philly's coming off a Monday-night shootout in which the teams hung a combined 78 points on the board.  The Cowboys got the better end of it, but the Eagles didn't slouch... too much.  Donovan McNabb hit the turf four times, meaning that his offensive line might be weak -- something the modern-day Steel Curtain can exploit quite nicely.  McNabb's numbers looked great, but he's facing a different defense this Sunday, and if Roethlisberger is down, you can bet the Steelers will be even more heavily D-minded than usual.

Continue reading "The Quadrennial Cross-State... Rivalry? Not quite."

I apologize to those few of you who may have been regularly reading my ramblings.  This has been something of a hectic week, and a few days ago, I lost my best friend.  My dear cat Haplo, companion of fourteen years, shuffled off this mortal furball and is now preparing to watch the Steelers stomp the Browns for the tenth time in a row from a much better vantage point.  Miss ya, buddy.  Anyway, that kind of put me off wanting to do much of anything for a couple days, but here I am, back for the attack.

So far most of my posts have been rather analytical, talking about the team and stats and so forth.  But I'd like to look at the Steelers/Browns rivalry from a personal standpoint today.  This is the classic NFL rivalry to anybody from western Pensylvania or most of easten Ohio.  I went to college for a while in Youngstown, right in the epicenter of it all, and lemme tell ya, those were the best Sundays of my time there.  Everywhere you looked, it was black and gold or orange and brown (with the occasional black, white and red of the YSU Penguins thrown in).

Continue reading "Growing Up Rivals"

In a victory so emphatic that Ben Roethlisberger made way for Byron Leftwich, the Steelers opened their season with a 38-17 trouncing of the Houston Texans.  The Steelers let off the gas in the fourth quarter, moving to backup QB Leftwich and allowing the Texans into the end zone, but it didn't matter.  Nobody could stop the ground game, and the black and gold defense shut down Matt Schaub.

My three stars of the game for Pittsburgh:

Number Three: Hines Ward.  Two TD receptions, six catches total for 76 yards, a flawless performance once again.  The legend continues.

Number Two: Willie Parker.  Three rushing TDs, 138 yards on 25 carries.  The Texans couldn't stop him.  Parker has finally claimed the lead back role with authority.

Continue reading "Week One Wrapup: Steelers Romp Over Texans, 38-17"