There are two reasons why the Pittsburgh Steelers will suffer yet another disappointing and underachieving season: Ben Roethlisberger and Bruce Arians. Big Ben's stature as one of the NFL's so-called star quarterbacks is diminishing by the week and his once bigger-than-life persona in Pittsbugh and around the league is getting smaller and smaller with each errant pass. Arians' reputation is also taking a major hit with his subpar play-calling and his inability to cure the offense of its ills, factors that should weigh heavily into his future with the team.

Some of the Steelers' misfortunes can be traced to the slew of injuries that has crippled the team through the first 10 weeks of the season. Running back Willie Parker's knee and shoulder problems has kept him in street clothes for five games; offensive tackle Marvel Smith has a bad back; Rashard Mendenhall (the team's No. 1 draft pick) is out for the year when he crashed into Baltimore's Ray Lewis; Casey Hampton has been in and out of the lineup with an assortment of ailments besides being fat and out of shape; offensive guard Kendall Simmons is done with a ripped Achilles; starting cornerback Bryant McFadden has his arm in a sling and has not played since the Cincinnati game; and now tight end Heath Miller is expected to be out for a few weeks with a sprained ankle and linebacker LaMarr Woodley missed last week's game with a calf strain.

Continue reading "BIG BEN IS PLAYING SMALL"

Before we crown the Lakers world champs for the 2008-09 season, let's taper down the myopia and look at this team from an unbiased viewpoint. The Detroit Pistons sent the Lakers back to reality after easily winning at Staples Center on Friday, Nov. 14. I discovered three things from that game.

First, I discovered that the Lakers are far from a great defensive team. They are doing better on the defensive end this year, but I don't consider them a lock-down team like the Pistons, Spurs, Celtics or even the Cavaliers. Time after time, the Pistons got wide-open looks and the Lakers were too slow getting to the shooters. The Lakers' greatest strength is their length, but if teams spread the court, like the Pistons did, you can expose some of the Lakers' weaker one-on-one defenders like Derek Fisher, Sasha Vujacic, Vladimir Radmanovic, Pau Gasol and Jordan Farmar, who are all good defending in space but struggle at times keeping guys out of the lane.

Continue reading "LAKERS ARE STILL NOT A FINISHED PRODUCT"

To avoid getting fined by NFL officials, the Steeler coaches and players did their best tap dancing routine around the questions involving how Sunday's against the Chargers was officiated.

If the coaches and players won't say it, I will. It sucked!

The Chargers were penalized once for five yards while the Steelers were flagged 13 times for well over 100 yards. The lone San Diego TD came after a questionable pass-interference penalty on Ike Taylor. A Willie Parker TD late in the fourth quarter was nullified because of a holding call. Hines Ward was called for a couple of ticky-tack holding calls. The list goes on and on. The worst call came with 15 seconds left when Troy Polamalu's fumble return for a TD was erased because the refs thought one of the Charger players threw an illegal forward pass. Lucky, the play didn't decide the outcome of the game but it just showed the lack of communication and lack of quality refs in a league that it worth billions of dollars.

Continue reading "REFS NEARLY COST STEELERS A WIN"

For Superman, it was Kryptonite. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's the New England Patriots.

For whatever reason, the Patriots and Coach Bill Belichick has the Steelers' number. Since 2001, the Steelers are 1-5 against the Patriots and two of those losses came in the playoffs at Heinz Field.

The first happened in the 2002 AFC championship game. The Patriots came into Heinz Field as heavy underdogs behind second-year QB Tom Brady. Brady got hurt in the first half, but backup Drew Bledsoe came off the bench to lead an improbable victory. The defining moments of the game were both turned in by Troy Brown. Brown returned a punt for a touchdown and returned a blocked field-goal attempt for another score to cap off a 24-17 Patriots victory and a trip to the Super Bowl.

It was de ja vu in the 2005 AFC championship game. Earlier in the season, the Steelers routed the Patriots behind rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger. In that game, the Steelers jumped all over the Patriots, 21-3, in the first half and ended New England's two-year winning streak with a 34-20 win. So, entering the AFC title game, the 15-1 Steelers were the No. 1 seed in the AFC and were again favored to defeat New England. However, Brady hit Deion Branch on a long TD early and Roethlisberger was picked off by safety Rodney Harrison right before halftime and he returned it for a TD to give New England a 24-3 lead. Pittsburgh mounted a short comeback in the second half but Branch sealed the Pats' third Super Bowl trip in four years when he scored on a reverse to make it 41-27. The loss was extra painful for the Steelers because the team entered the postseason on a 14-game winning streak and Jerome Bettis had intended to retire after the season.

Continue reading "PATRIOTS HAVE STEELERS' NUMBER"

Kobe Bryant is not the Lakers' most valuable player this season. What? Yup, sounds utterly ridiculous but it's true. Bryant may be the best player on earth, but the title of Lakers MVP belongs to Pau Gasol. As good as Kobe Bryant is (and he's very, very good), the game is still played inside-out. NBA championships are won with the big guys in the paint, not with the guys who make the "pretty" plays.
Since coming to L.A. in a trade from Memphis that still has the entire Western Conference fuming, Gasol has helped the Lakers win 42 of their last 52 games, a number that would have been higher had the 28-year-old Spaniard not sprained his ankle last March. The Lakers went 13-2 during Gasol's first month in purple and gold. After struggling to a 9-6 mark in March partly because Gasol was on the injured list for nine games, the Lakers posted a 7-1 record in April and are 13-1 in October and November. Simply put, the arrival of Gasol has calmed Bryant, made Phil Jackson's beloved triangle offense potent again and turned Mitch Kupchak into a genius executive overnight.

Continue reading "LAKERS ARE FUELED BY GASOL"