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.
It's funny, really -- Philly's in the same state, but there's no real fire in a Steelers-Eagles showdown. The NFC is another world, and we only see the Eagles once every four years, roughly, thanks to the way schedules are constructed. After butting heads with the Browns, this game seems almost like a non-event, except for the fact that the Eagles look tough this year and could hand us our first loss if we aren't careful.
Does anybody even remember the last Steelers-Eagles game? (November 7, 2004 at Heinz Field. Steelers 27, Eagles 3. Not much of a game.) How many of you know that the Steelers and Eagles were once the same team? (The 1943 "Steagles" resulted when the Steelers and Eagles united because their rosters had been worn thin by military service. The Steelers would go in to unite similarly with the Chicago Cardinals, rendering "Card-Pitt", in 1944.) And that seems to be about the size of it, as regards history between the two teams of Pennsylvania.
It ought to be a good, physical game. Here's hoping the 2008 Injury Parade will take a week off, though.
Keywords: pennsylvania, philadelphia eagles, pittsburgh steelers, steagles
