Week 4 - Steelers 23 Ravens 20 (OT)

Steelers 23 Ravens 20 (OT)

The Steelers wore their throwback uniforms and extended their 14 game home winning streak on Monday night with a brutal game against the hated Ravens (aka - the Old Browns). The Steelers defense carried the day with 5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 1 fumble recovery for a TD by LB Lamar Woodley. LB James "Silverback" Harrison had another monster game with 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble.


Sadly, rookie RB Rashard Mendenhall was hurt on a brutal hit by Ravens superstar LB Ray Lewis and will be out for the season. Steelers G Kendall Simmons was also hurt and will be out for the season. It will be interesting to see how the Steelers react to these injuries.

Congrats to Ben Roethlisberger for surpassing 1500 career pass attempts. As you know, this now qualifies Ben's career statistics for official League records. To that end, here's great article by Kerry J. Byrne from ColdHardFootballFacts.com that details where Big Ben stands against the QB legends of the game. An excerpt:

As of today, Roethlisberger boasts a career passer rating of 92.52.

It's a number that puts him -- officially -- at No. 5 on the list, one spot behind No. 4 Tom Brady (92.91) and one spot ahead of No. 6 Joe Montana (92.26).

Here is the top of the all-time leaderboard in career passer rating:

1. Steve Young -- 96.81
2. Peyton Manning -- 94.25
3. Kurt Warner -- 93.52
4. Brady -- 92.91
5. Roethlisberger -- 92.52

It's no coincidence, by the way, that every player in the Top 5 has won at least one Super Bowl. Passer rating has a lot of critics, because it's so unwieldy. But it's also a pretty good measure of success and typically has a high correlation to winning football games.

Roethlisberger's top-five spot in Yards Per Attempt is probably more impressive than his top-five spot on the all-time passer rating list.

After all, YPA seems to have a higher correlation to winning than does the more complex passer rating formula. The difference is not too great. In fact, the two often move in lock-step (just look at the example of Big Ben, No. 5 all-time in both categories). But YPA often seems to be a more telling stat and it tends to cut across different eras more often than passer rating (which clearly favors contemporary passers).

Here is the top of the all-time leaderboard in yards per attempt:

1. Otto Graham -- 8.63 YPA
2. Sid Luckman -- 8.42
3. Norm Van Brocklin -- 8.16
4. Warner -- 8.14
5. Roethlisberger -- 8.10

All were champions. In fact, the top three were multiple champions, and No. 1 on the list is the greatest champion.

 

What an amazing player!!


College Football:

(4) Florida 30 Mississippi 31
Holy smokes! Florida lost to Mississippi. Apparently Florida QB Tim Tebow stood at the post-game interview podium and apologized for the football game. For his poor passes. For his costly fumble. For his failed fourth-down run. He took all the blame for this one - even though Jevan Snead and Mississippi deserved plenty of credit. Sheesh.

Fortunately, USC also lost to Oregon State and Georgia lost to Alabama. What a crazy weekend for the top ranked teams.

New Mexico Lobos 34 New Mexico State Aggies 20
This is the biggest rivalry in New Mexico. For those who don't know, the Lobos play in Albuquerque and the Aggies play in Las Cruces. Santa Fe doesn't have a university nor a football team. Otherwise, the Lobos beat the Aggies for the 6th straight time. Boo-yeah!!


Albuquerque U12 Boys Soccer:

The Alameda Artillery beat cross-city rivals The Paradise Valley Pummellers 6-4. The Artillery welcomed their star goalie Josh back and played a fast game on our home field.

Goal Scoring:
Hector - 2
Andrew - 2
Joseph - 1
Eduardo - 1


New Mexico News:

Here's a 3-camera live music video by Albuquerque band Daffodil, "Hammer" is a heavy, melodic instrumental song that kicks all sorts of arse.

Enjoy and thanks for reading NMSteelerFan!