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.
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.
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.
Somewhere in the middle of their lackluster performance in a Monday night game against the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers unlocked the key to their season.
The Steelers unveilved their no-huddle offense in a desperate attempt to jumpstart their plodding offense against the big, bad Ravens defense. It not only gave the Steelers some life against Baltimore but it probably saved their season. Coach Mike Tomlin and his staff implemented the no-huddle approach early against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday night and the result was a 400-yard output and a 26-21 victory for the Steelers.
The no-huddle offense allows quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to call his own plays at the line of scrimmage and have the offense dictate the matchups by keeping the same defense on the field. This is what Roethlisberger did at Miami of Ohio and this is what he did in the playoff run in 2005. It also keeps embattled Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians from calling all the plays. We've seen him call plays and you don't want Arians calling 100 percent of the plays.
One game doesn't make a whole season but this one loss has a different feel to it.The Pittsburgh Steelers not only lost a football game Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, but they also lost their identity and their spirit. The physical play that has defined the history of the Steelers under coaches Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher and the one constant Steeler teams usually can hang their hat on was nonexistent.Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio said last year that "you better bring you big boy pads whenever you play the Steelers." Well, these days you don't need too much padding when you play the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers. Against the Eagles, it was the Steelers who was on the receiving end of a demoralizing beating. The scoreboard read 15-6 but it felt more like 41-0.Who is to blame? Four come to mind: 1) the Steelers' offensive line, 2) quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, 3) head coach Mike Tomlin and 4) offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.The Steelers offense has a lot of loose ends it needs to tighten up and I don't think it can be fixed in one season. Basically, Pittsburgh needs to rebuild that offense from scratch starting with the O-line. It may be good enough to score against the Texans or the Browns but it is not good enough to scare the Eagles, Ravens, Chargers, Jags, Colts, Patriots, Cowboys and Giants.Philly's defense was great on Sunday but players tend to look faster when they're not being blocked. It looked like the Eagles had 12 guys on defense the entire game. I do give the Eagles credit for playing with a ton of energy and pouncing on a clear mismatch. I didn't think they could keep it up for 60 minutes, especially coming off an emotionally draining Monday night loss to the Dallas Cowboys. As Darth Vader would say, the Eagles were "Impressive!" Donovan McNabb looks strong. He's just playing out of his mind right now. But health has always been an issue with him and Brian Westbrook.I'm starting to have my doubts about Tomlin as head coach. Tomlin has yet to put his stamp on this franchise and all we know about him is he can't win without Bill Cowher's players. But first, he needs to give a hard look at his offensive line. Someone needs to lose his job for this unit to finally show some accountability. I mean nine sacks and countless hurries for a team that threw the ball less than 30 times! If I were Tomlin, I would start by benching right tackle Willie Colon in favor of Max Starks.But the play of the O-line was just 1/3 of the problem. Big Ben turned into BIG BEND. Roethlisberger needs to go back to QB school and learn how to throw the ball away when he feels pressure. His mechanics are just awful. His delivery hasn't changed since his rookie year and he holds on to the ball waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. BIG BEND also has poor footwork. He's off balance when he's flushed out of the pocket. He got away with that mess his first three years in the league but defenses have adjusted and now he has to learn to pick up the tempo when he drops back. The thing with Roethlisberger is this: When he's good, he's really good. But when he's bad, he's really bad. There is no middle ground with BIG BEND and that's because he has poor mechanics.The main problem for the Steelers is offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. He doesn't adjust. When your quarterback is getting heat, you shorten the routes of the receivers and throw to the hot spots, which is usually on the side of the blitzers. That's football 101!!!!The Baltimore Ravens are licking their chops and I am concern for Roethlisberger's health come Monday night because the Ravens are not as nice as the Eagles. When the Ravens smell blood, they will eat you alive!And then there is Jacksonville in Week 5.
There, I said it. Had to get that off my chest. Sometimes TV analysts, whether it is done intentionally or not, tend to favor one team over the other but this is getting ridiculous. I do understand where Madden is coming from since he was on the receiving end of some serious smackdowns from the Steelers over his coaching career, but Al Michaels should be an objective observer. A play-by-play guy should just do his job, which is simply call the game as it unfolds. But Michaels, who has parlayed one memorable line from the 1980 Winter Olympics into an entire career, always has to throw his 4 cents in every borderline play. Seems Madden's distaste for the Black and Gold has filtered through Michaels' veins through osmosis.
In the greatest gold-medal game in the history of men's basketball in the Olympic Games, Kobe Bryant proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he is the best player in the world.
When Spain got to within two points at 91-89 with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, the United States, a team loaded with a number of all-stars, called on No. 10 to close the game and all Kobe Bryant did was score 13 of his 20 points in the final quarter, including a dramatic four-point play that not only gave the United States an eight-point lead but it also resulted in Spanish stud Rudy Fernandez fouling out.
It seemed every time the Americans got in a tight spot, Kobe was there to pull them out of harm's way. He made a fall-away shot in the paint. He hit a runner over Lakers teammate Pau Gasol. Buried a 3-pointer from the corner. And he converted all his free throws.
Pau Gasol is seven feet tall but he just got taller in my eyes.
Gasol and his teammates on Spain's Olympic team was put in an embarassing position this week of having to explain why they agreed to pose for an advertisement that reflected a racist tone.
The ad showed members of the Spanish team using their index fingers to stretch their eyes to make "slant eyes" as part of media day in preparation for the Beijing Olympics. Gasol and his teammates thought the gesture was innocent and was not meant to be demeaning. But after a London paper recently published the controversial photo, Spain's men's basketball team was thrusted into the spotlight and needed to defend its actions.
Second-string quarterback Charlie Batch is lost for 4-6 weeks after suffering a broken right collarbone, his throwing arm, in the Steelers' first preseason game. The 33-year-old Batch injured his shoulder trying to scramble on a broken play. Another reason why preseason games are a waste of time.
Byron Leftwich, the former starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, will pay the Steelers a visit and could possibly sign with the team to serve as Ben Roethlisberger's backup.
Leftwich lost his starting job last year to David Garrard and was traded to the Atlanta Falcons. The former Marshall standout did not have a good stint with the Falcons and was released last February. Let's hope Leftwich signs because should Roethlisberger go down, the Steelers will be forced to turn to rookie Dennis Dixon, the team's fifth-round draft choice.
The Rooney brothers are in the middle of a family dispute regarding the financial future of the franchise.
Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu has not practiced because of a sore hamstring.
Left guard Chris Kemoeatu, the heir apparent to Alan Faneca (now with the Jets), was placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list because of a biceps injury.
Pro Bowl nose guard Casey Hampton, out of shape and overweight, was unable to finish the running drills on the first day and Coach Mike Tomlin also placed him on the PUP list along with Polamalu and Kemoeatu.
Punter Daniel Sepulveda was lost for the season because of a torn ACL.
No. 1 tailback Willie Parker, starting defensive end Aaron Smith and starting free safety Ryan Clark are all coming back from season-ending injuries.
