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More Steelers Parade Pictures 2005 Steeler season 2007 Steeler season Current Steeler Season Monday, January 1, 2007 -- Evening As for the Steelers, it does seem as if Bill Cowher will be leaving as head coach. At least, that is what the players seem to thinking. There's no word yet on when we will know for sure, but I think that we might hear sooner rather than later. There are already two openings with the Atlanta Falcons firing Jim Mora and the Arizona Cardinals fired Dennis Green. It is thought that Ken Whisenhunt would be high on the list for replacement with the Falcons. There was a retirement announced today with the Steelers, and that was Dick Hoak who retired after spending 45 years with the Steelers. Hoak was a running back with the Steelers from 1961 to 1970, and then was hired by Chuck Noll to be the running back coadh in 1971. Hoak remained in that position until this past season. Sunday, December 31, 2006 -- Sixteenth game of the season
The Steelers played the Cincinnati Bengals this afternoon. First half: I have to admit that the game was abit on the boring side, and the only thing of note in the first period is that neither side really seemed interested in winning. Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception, and I can only hope that one side decides to make a play to score. As the clock rolled down to the two minute warming, it looked like the Bengals were in position to score a touchdown to tie things up. However, a couple of false starts lost them yardage, and they had to settle for a field goal. In the second quarter, after an eight minute drive, the Steelers score a touchdown with Willie Parker. Cincinnati is really sucking, and even the announcers are saying that the Bengals seem lethargic. What's sad is that the Steelers are only slightly better than lethargic. This isn't a good game so far for either team. Score at the half was 7-3. Second half: This half wasn't much better than the first. You really have to wonder what is going through both teams' minds. There were a few nice plays, but nothing really great. At the start of the fourth quarter, after a 98 yard drive, Willie Parker had the balll slip out of his hands right before the goal line. The Bengals recovered the ball, and are now hoping to change their luck in the driving rain. Finally a great play! Carson Palmer threw the ball to Chris Henry for a 67 yard play that results in a touchdown. The Bengals really benefitted from the Steelers mistake on the goal line with the ball. Instead of a touchdown for the Steelers, we have a touchdown for the Bengals. Score is now 10-7. On the very next series, the Steelers got the ball down the field and Parker ran it in for a touchdown. Now the score is 14-10. Finally we have a football game! Carson Palmer got a rough hit by the Steelers, but came right back to bring the team down the field for another touchdown! It's about time the game picked up. Too bad it is in the fourth quarter! There is 2:47 left to play. The Steelers try to get the ball down the field to score a touchdown, but had to settle for a game tying field goal. There is 1:07 left in the game. I didn't think they would have a chance, but Carson Palmer heaved the ball down the field to Chris Henry. They are now in field goal range, but just lost 5 yards because they weren't ready in time for the play clock. However, they got the timeout call and got the yards back. Wow, what an exciting quarter! 12 seconds left, and the Bengals missed a field goal attempt. The game is going into overtime. The Steelers won the coin toss and elected to receive. Roethlisberger throws the ball to Santonio Holmes who runs down the field and make a touchdown. The Steelers manage to win a game that really sucked for three quarters until a really exciting fourth quarter. The Bengals had their destiny in their hands because all they had to do was win to make the playoffs--and they didn't! Sunday, December 31, 2006 -- Late Morning The Steelers are playing the Cincinnati Bengals in the early afternoon, but there is already alot of talk about Bill Cowher's future. Ever since the Steelers won the Super Bowl last year, and Cowher bought a house in North Carolina, there has been talk that this is Cowher's last year. When talks between Cowher and the team broke down earlier in the season, I think that it was obvious that something was afoot. It seems that Cowher wants more money and wants to spend time with his family. The local sports folks are saying that they will be rushing to the after game press conference that Cowher gives to see if a statement is made. I don't think that it will be mentioned then. I think that Cowher will make the announcment in a few weeks time. The question is: Who will replace Cowher? Sunday, December 24, 2006 -- Fifteenth game of the season
The Steelers played the Baltimore Ravens this afternoon. At first, I was planning on doing my usual game recap, but then I thought it would just point everyone to the November 26 game. The Ravens had the Steelers number, and the Steelers were just out there dazed and confused. The only difference between this game and the Nov. 26 was that the Steelers did manage to get some turnovers from the Ravens throughout the game (three times actually) and were able to get points on the board for one of them in the last two minutes of the first half after Mark Clayton bobbled the ball in the air and Deshea Townsend was able to come up with the ball. The Steelers turned that into a touchdown. Usually when the Steelers defence got the ball, the offense would do their usual flubbing. The Steelers were stlightly better in the second half than in the first, but Ben Roethlisberger was sucking up the field and kept on trying to act like various body parts were hurt. The only tood thing is that today's loss will finally silence those people who seemed to think that the Steelers actually had a chance to make the playoffs with their incredibly crappy play this year. The only teams that the Steelers could beat were teams that had more crappy or that had off days. Final score was Ravens 31, Steelers 7. Wednesday, December 20, 2006 -- Late Morning The Steelers have four players going to the Pro Bowl this year. The starters are Alan Faneca and Troy Polamalu. Casey Hampton and Willie Parker are on the reserves. This is Parker's first appearance in the Pro Bowl. Sunday, December 17, 2006 -- Fourteenth game of the season
The Steelers played the Carolina Panthers this afternoon. First half: Neither the Steelers or the Panthers were able to do much offensively in the first quarter, but the second quarter started out with the Steelers looking like they have been time warped into the game from last sesaon. The quarter started with Ben Roethlisberger do a fake hand off and running the ball in for a touchdown. The Steelers started making first downs after that, and almost got another touchdown off a play by Santonio Holmes on third down, but Holmes was ruled down before he held the ball over the goal line. I always think those moves where your body is not over the goal line, but you hold out your long arms and get the ball over the line as lame touchdowns. Anyway, at that point, the Steelers just went for a field goal. When the Panthers got the ball back, they weren't able to do anything and had to punt. That's when the Steelers blocked the punt and got the ball at the Panthers 10 yard line. With a few plays, Najeh Davenport ran the ball in for a touchdown. The score is now 17-0. I can assure you that as the Steeler fans are watching this quarter, they are sure that the Steelers are playoff bound. Steeler fans are an optimistic bunch. Second half: The Steelers had more trouble when they came back from half time and almost the entire quarter was past before they settled for a field goal to give them a 17 point lead over the Panthers. Willie Parker finally got a chance to run at the end of the third quarter, and he ran for a touchdown. Score is now 27 - 3. Santonio Holmes had a punt return that it looked like he fumbled, but there was a call against the kicking team so it was a "do over." The second time, Holmes caught the ball and ran 65 yards for a touchdown. Shortly after that, rookie, Anthony Smith had an interception. So far, the Steelers haven't had a penalty called against them. Charlie Batch is now in the game with less than 10 minutes left in the game. No more points were scored by either team and the game ends with a score of 37-3. Monday, December 11, 2006 -- Afternoon Some random thoughts about the NFL. Has anyone other than me noticed how the Indianapolis Colts seem to fall apart at the end of the season? Last year the team had an undefeated record going into the final few games of the season, and then just fell apart and started to lose. Everyone said that it really didn't matter because the team already had the bye in the playoffs sewn up, but look at where it got them. An elimination in their first playoff game. Another thing that I have noticed is that the Steelers nation doesn't see to want to admit that the playoffs just might, maybe, be out of reach for the team this year. I keep on hearing everyone talking about how the team still isn't mathematically eliminated just yet, and there is always hope. I'm not saying that the team should just skulk around like beaten cats, but the fans shouldn't be getting so hot about still having a shot. There are so many other teams that have a better shot than we do. I mean really! In order to have a shot the Cincinnati Bengals would have all three of their final games while we win all three of ours. Not a very likely scenario considering that the Bengals have been hotter than the Sahara, but who wants to listen to reason. Friday, December 8, 2006 -- Morning I made it back from the frozen tundra known as Heinz Field with nary a sign of frost bite. That's more than the Cleveland Browns could say after their trouncing by the Steelers last night. It was amazing what the cold weather could do to the Steelers because they played better last night than they have all season. Of course, it could be because they were playing one of the worst teams in the NFL. It would be hard not to look good when compared to someone who is really bad. However, the win should be a big confidence boost to them, and they will have some extra time off before they play next Sunday to recover from injuries. As for my experience at the game, I have to admit that I can't give any details of the action because I couldn't make out the players well enough to see who was doing what (unless they weren't in a pack of people) and I was far to cold to think of anything other than the fact that my toes and fingers were aching from the cold. I kept on trying to wiggle toes and fingers in the hopes that I wouldn't get frost bite, and I had a strong envy of all those people who had those hand warming packs. My multiple layers and comforter didn't seem to have any affect against the biting winds that swirled around the upper levels of the stadium. The other thing that I noticed is that there were several really drunk people wandering around the stadium at the start of the game. It makes you wonder how they were still getting beer. The fan experience for me was a sobering one because I am much more used to the fans at Pens games. Although they get may get rowdy, they aren't obnoxious, falling down drunks. The ones who weren't drunk were elitist about not being first timers at the game, and were pretty much rude and obnoxious. Thursday, December 7, 2006 -- Thirteenth game of the season
Thursday, December 7, 2006 -- Afternoon Today should be a busy evening for me. My boyfriend and I have tickets to this evening's Steelers game. He is very excited because he is a huge Steelers fan, and it is usually difficult to get tickets to the game. This year, it has become easier because the season ticket holders aren't as keen on the team because they suck, so more are willing to sell off their tickets. Unfortunately, the game is tonight, which is supposed to bitterly cold with wind chill factors close to zero with snow forecast. I'm just hoping that we don't get frost bite anywhere because it appears it only takes 30 minutes to get that, and sitting for 3-4 hours in freezing temperatures isn't a good thing. We are going to wear multiple layers, and take blankets. I'm just hoping that we don't get wet because that will make it worse. The Steelers are playing the Cleveland Browns. I"m not going to take my good camera--I'm going to take the smaller one, so I will be taking some pictures, but they probably won't be as good as my Pens pictures. Monday, December 4, 2006 -- Evening Finally, the Steelers have made the smart move of releasing Duce Staley from the team. The guy has been a non performer since he joined the team. Staley came into training camp out of condition and really wasn't interested in getting into condition and helping the team. I have an extremely low opinion of the lazy Staley, and if I had a Steeler jersey with Staley's name on it, I would burn it. Granted, I doubt that I would have ever purchased a Staley shirt because he just never struck me as a player who had his heart in the game. Today was Jerome Bettis' father's funeral. A good number of current and past Steeler players attended Johnnie Bettis' funeral. The family wanted the event to be a celebration of Bettis senior's life, and from the reports, they accomplished that. Several players, including villified Cordell Stewart, had very nice things to say about Johnnie Bettis. All I know is that he seemed like a nice guy from what we all saw of him in the media. Both of Jerome's parents were team parents and took all the players under their wing. Sunday, December 3, 2006 -- Twelfth game of the season
The Steelers played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers late this afternoon. I picked the Steelers to win in my Beat Bob competition, and I hope that they don't disappoint me. First half: The Steelers decided to kick off at the start of the half so they could receive later. The Buccaneers aren't able to do much in their first series, and have to punt after a sack from Joey Porter. Ben Roethlisberger threw another interception though, so he is back to his old tricks. Even though the game has just started, I feel like I am experiencing some deja vu. It seems that both teams are both at equal levels of sucking, and neither is able to do anything. With the first quarter almost over, larry Foote intercepted the ball, and this lead to a Steeler touchdown with Roethlisberger tossing the ball to Jerame Tuman. The Steelers have a 7-0 lead. In the second quarter, it was more of the same with Porter getting another sack, and Roethlisbergr almost getting picked off. Fortunately for the Steelers, the Buccaneers aren't much better so the play is fairly even with the defense on both sides showing their strengths. With the first half winding down, Jeff Reed got a 50 yard field goal. Second half: More of the same. So far, I am finding the game fairly boring and am having alot of difficulty in paying any attention to it. It's not that either side offensively is doing much of anything. At the start of the fourth quarter, Roethlisberger threw a touchdown pass to Heath Miller to make the score 17-0. Later in the quarter, the Steelers get the ball down into the red zone, but don't get a touchdown. They call up Jeff Reed for a 47 yard field goal, but he misses. score is still 17-0. Buccaneers got the ball down within field goal range and went for it with one second left. At least they aren't shut out as the Steelers were last week. Final score is 20-3. Wednesday, November 29, 2006 -- Afternoon Sad news for Jerome Bettis. His father, John Bettis, 61, died yesterday of an apparent heart attack. He was driving home from the gym when he must have pulled over to the side of the road. He was found by a doctor, nurse, and a hospital technician who attempted to administer CPR. Jerome has gone back to Detroit to be with his mother. My condolences to the Bettis family. Monday, November 27, 2006 -- Evening News on the Steelers injury front. Hines Ward had a broken bone in his knee and had surgery early today to remove the bone chip. It seems that the injury is not major, and Ward said on the KDKA news show at 5:45 p.m. that he does not expect to be out for long. He will definitely miss this Sunday's game, but hopes to be back for the Cleveland Browns game on Thursday, Dec. 7. Meanwhile, Troy Polamalu might not have had as bad an injury as originally announced by Bill Cowher yesterday. Troy has a sprained medial collateral ligament. He won't require surgery and will definitely miss the game this coming week, and possibly next week. Polamalu is feeling optimistic about his return. Sunday, November 26, 2006 -- Eleventh game of the season
The Steelers are playing the Baltimore Ravens this afternoon. The local sports announcers are making a big deal about how the Steelers will win this game, and they have to win to sustain the playoff talk that has been running rampant locally. For some reason, with a 4 win and 6 loss record, everyone seems to think that the Steelers are playoff bound. First half: The Steelers have the ball first, and they are unable to get a first down. So they have to punt, and of course, because the Steelers special teams suck, the Ravens get a good return. Within a couple of plays, they have a touchdown to take the early lead 7-0. Now let's see what the Steelers do on their second series. Willie Parker came out on the first play to get a first down, but got nada on his second run. The first quarter sees the ball goind back and forth between the Ravens and the Steelers. Hines Ward is playing and actually caught a first down pass. The Ravens get a sack on Ben Roethlisberger with around a minute left in the quarter. Roethlisberger got sacked again, and almost a third time for a safety. They were forced to punt. They can only get the ball off to the 35 yard line. The Ravens get a penalty for 10 yards, but they start running the ball through the Steelers. They are now on the one yard line after Jamal Lewis almost forced his way through three Steelers. But not to worry, Lewis gets in on the next play for a touchdown. Score is now 14-0. Roethlisberger gets sacked for the third time, and this time he is lying on the ground. From the replays, Roethlisberger's head was bouncing around alot. It was a clean hit--it was just that the offensive line just isn't all that this year. Charlie Batch is in now for Roethlisberger. The story now is that Roethlisberger has a chest injury and is probable to return to the game. With the aide of three timeouts and penalties on the Steelers, the Ravens get the ball within field goal range and get three more points. With eight seconds left in the game, Roethlisberger comes onto the field and take the snap and a knee. Half time. Second half: Well into the third quarter, we finally get something out of the Steelers with Roethlisberger sending a long pass to Nate Washington. The very next play was an incompletion that was almost challenged as a fumble. Steelers have another incompletion and have a third down and 10 on the Ravens 35 yard line. Roethlisberger is hit on the next play, fumbles the ball, the Ravens grab it and run it in for a 54 yard touchdown. Roethlisberger had no clue that a Raven was coming behind him for the sack. Roethlisberger had his fifth sack of the game. Roethlisberger keeps on getting sacked, and in the fourth quarter, he has seven which is an all time high for him. Washington missed a sure touchdown pass too, which didn't help matters. So the Steelers go for it on a fourth and goal, and Roethlisberger is caught by the defense again. No score for the Steelers. The Steelers are playing so poorly that the Ravens have pulled Steve McNair and are playing Kyle Boller. Corey Ivy intercepts Roethlisberger, and the Ravens get a field goal for the effort. Score is now 27-0. Roethisberger is getting sacked left and right, and has been sacked nine times in the game. I can't believe they are going it on a fourth down with 17 yards, but they have nothing else and don't want a shut out. However, there is another interception with less than two minutes in the game. It's over. The Steelers lose as the Ravens take the knee to run down the clock. The game was a pitiful one, and as the local sports casters said afterwards, the highlight of the game for the Steelers came when the final buzzer rang to end the misery. There was so bad news post game. Troy Polamalu injured his knee in the game and is out for the season. It sounds suspicious because nothing seemed to happen during the game, and the announcment was made very quickly. Well, as we have suspected since the beginning weeks of the season, the Steelers' year is done, and they are going out with a whimper. Sunday, November 19, 2006 -- Tenth game of the season
The Steelers played the Cleveland Browns this afternoon. First half: I missed the beginning of the first quarter, but neither side aws actually doing well. The Steelers weren't producing, and the Browns were having some issues with a turnover and missing a field goal attempt. Troy Polamalu played in the game, so the concussion must not have been that bad. The second quarter was a different story with Ben Roethlisberger throwing an interception that the Browns ran in for a touchdown. On the kickoff after the touchdown, the Steelers had a great return by Sean Morey. So there are the Steelers, in the red zone, trying to get a first down or a touchdown, when Roethlisberger throws the ball to Hines Ward, and the ball is intercepted yet again by Willie McGinest. Then the Browns didn't look like they were going to get a first down, then when they got a 63 yard pass. I think that Braylon Edwards, the receiver, would have made a touchdown if he didn't stop because he saw Polamalu coming at him. The Browns got the ball near the 10 yard line with a fourth and one, and take a time out to decide if they should do for it, or take the three points. They decide to go to for it because. They are going to measure to see if they got it, and they did. The Steelers were saying no, but they did. As Phil Sims is saying, the bad rain storm is favoring the offense. Even though the Browns aren't able to get a touchdown on three downs in within ten yards of the endzone, they do get the field goal to take a 10 to 0 lead. There is less than two minutes left in the half. So the Steelers have the ball again, and trying to get close enough for a field goal. Well, guess what? Yep, you guessed it. Roethlisberger threw another interception. There were two fouls on the play, a personal foul on Pittsburgh for a face mask and then one on Cleveland for hitting Roethlisberger after the interception. Cleveland has the ball on the Steeler forty three yard line. Polamalu almost had a late hit, but just missed the foul. They now have a third down and 10 on the 4 yard line, and makes the first down with a gain of 12 before going out of bounds. The half ends with a tipped ball that no one caught. The Browns go into the locker room having shutout the Steelers, and the Steelers go into the locker room with a huge interception problem. So far, in the game, Roethlisberger threw four times for three interceptions. All three were tipped. Second half: The Steelers get the ball first, and they aren't able to do anything with their first series of moves except to almost fumble the ball again. I knew I shouldn't have picked the Steelers in my Beat Bob pool. They haven't won two games in a row so far this season, and are just basically sucking. However, I just thought they would be better than the Browns. Great play when Kellen Winslow shoves Joey Porter aside and runs past him. The Browns have to punt after not making the down. The Browns had the ball, and fumbled the ball. The Steelers recover it. Now, let's see if the Steelers can do anything with it. Roethlisberger ran the ball down the field himself in an attempt to make a first down, but he wasn't able to do it, and the Steelers have to settle for a field goal. Jeff Reed was lucky because his kick hit the post and then went in for a field goal. The Steelers are finally on the board. In the fourth quarter, the Browns try to get another touchdown, but the Steeler defense holds them up, and they have to settle for a field goal. Score is now 13-3. The Steelers get a 43 yard kick off return, but have to go back because of two holding calls against them. Roethlisberger threw another that was supposedly meant for Ward, but was almost intercepted as Roethlisberger missed Ward by a mile. Cedrick Wilson caught a long pass, and then got a penalty for pushing off the defensive man. So now it is third down and 20 to get to the Steeler 39 yard line. He is able to get it to Wilson. Roethlisberger makes a run with the ball to get another first down. The Steelers are going with a no huddle and they are starting to move the ball down the field. Finally, after getting chased around alot by Browns, Roethlisberger is able to get the ball off to Santonio Holmes for his first career NFL touchdown. The game is now a three point difference. The announcers are practially wetting their pants with exclamations over the "magic" being back because of this series of plays--like the Steelers have been stinking up the joint for the past three quarters. The Browns come right back with a touchdown run off the kickoff return by Josh Cribbs. The Browns have an excessive celebration penalty for having players leap up to the fans in the stands. The Browns now have a ten point lead with a score of 20-10. The Steelers looked like they were making some good moves and then Roethlisberger got sacked, but it was a personal foul because he was grabbed by the face mask. Roethlisberger was almost sacked, but the defensive guy couldn't knock him down because of the NFL rule changes. On the very next play, Roethlisberger has all kinds of time to make a play, and can't do anything, and he gets sacked by McGinist. The Steelers are now within the 10 yard line. Ward gets to the two or one yard line, and isn't able to get across the line. There is another penalty though, and this time it is against Cleveland with a personal foul. That puts the Steelers one yard away. The call was because you can't grab the shoulder collar--but you know what, you can grab someone and pulling them down on the graund. Willie Parker gets in for a touchdown. Score is now 20-17. The Browns aren't able to do anything and have to punt with abit over three minutes left in the game. Wilson isn't able to get two feet inbounds on a long throw. Ward catches a long throw, but gets banged up in the knee. Because he can't get off the field in time, the Steelers have to use a time out. The Steelers have the ball at Cleveland 33. Holmes gets a long pass, but Roethlisberger is favoring his arm after another hit. The Steelers are in the red zone now. There are 39 seconds left and the Steelers are on the five yard line with a second down and goal. Roethlisberger threw the ball to Willie Parker, and he gets a touchdown. The score is now 24-20 with the Steelers in the lead and less than 30 seconds left in the game. Sunday, November 12, 2006 -- Ninth game of the season
The Steelers (2-6) played the New Orleans Saints (6-2) late this afternoon at Heinz Field. Joey Porter has been assuring the Steelers fans that the team will win today's game. We shall see if that is the case. First half: The Steelers have the ball first and get a kick off return of 39 yards by Najeh Davenport. Ben Roethlisberger threw a 37 yard pass to Hines Ward who runs the ball in for a touchdown. The Steelers finally get a score on their first series with the ball. The Saints had the ball, but coughed it up, and the Steelers recover it. The announcers aren't sure if the call might have been reversed if the play had been reviewed. The next play is off quickly though, and there is no review. The Steelers work their way down the field with nice plays by Cedric Wilson and Willie Parker. The ball was done within easy reach of the goal, and couldn't run the ball in, but then Roethlisberger made a nice pass to Heath Miller in the end zone. Score is now 14-0." target="_blank">Cedrick Wilson and Willie Parker. The ball was done within easy reach of the goal, and couldn't run the ball in, but then Roethlisberger made a nice pass to Heath Miller in the end zone. Score is now 14-0. The Saints got the ball, and put together a 12 play drive that got the Saints into the end zone. The score is now 14-7. The Saints got the ball within reach of the end zone, but were fourth and yards from the end zone. The decided to go for the field goal, and the score now in the second quarter is 14-10. The Steelers get the ball, but don't do much and have to punt. The Saints get the ball back and are now trying to get the ball down the field. Troy Polamalu had his clock cleaned on one of the plays, and he is sitting on the sidelines trying to clear his head. There was a somewhat questionable call with Aaron Smith hitting Drew Brees below the knees. It looked like he might have stumbled and caught Brees around the ankle. However, the officials called it. This set off Porter who started screaming at the officials. He'll get another fine for that. Reggie Bush got the ball, and ran 25 yards down the field on a hand off from a receiver. He dived over a slew of Steelers and into the end zone. The Saints have gone from 14-0 to 14-17. Yep, that's 17 unanswered points. It is also Bush's first touchdown this season. The Steelers get the ball, and with less than two minutes left in the half, they try to put some points on the board. They can't get a touchdown, and have to settle for a Jeff Reed field goal. The Saints have the ball with a minute left in the game, and then quickly get the ball to the 40 yard line. It looks like they want to get some points on the board to pull ahead of the Steelers. They get the ball to first and goal at the four yard line. In less than a minute, the Saints get a touchdown with a run in from Deuce McAllister. The Saints now lead by seven points. With only seconds left, the Steelers get the ball and fumble it. Fortunately, they recover it with 11 seconds left. Roethlisberger throws the ball down to Ward for a 25 yard completion. There is only one second left on the clock, and the Steelers call a time out. They try for a Hail Mary pass, but it is an imcompletion that is almost picked off. The half ends with a score of 24-17--Saints leading. Second half: Polamalu is out for the game with a mild concussion. The Saints have the ball first in the second half. The Saints aren't able to do much, and then the Steelers get the ball. They also aren't able to do much, and finally settle for a field goal, but Jeff Reed misses the kick. The Saints get the ball back, but Reggie Bush fumbles and the Steelers recover. The Saints are challenging the call, but it looks like it is a fumble. The call stands as it is on the field, and Roethlisberger throws the ball down the field to Wilson who makes the touchdown. The game is now tied. The Saints make some nice moves, but as they get to the red zone, Brees is under pressure and tries to run with the ball, and fumbles. The Saints come up with it, and try for field goal. it's no good because of a high snap. Parker just had a 72 yard run down the field, almost making a touchdown. The Steelers couldn't get the ball in at first, but they went back to Parker who got the touchdown. The Steelers lead now with a score of 31-24. The Saints aren't doing anything and have to punt again. The ball gets knocked into the end zone, so they wind up with the ball on th 20 yard line. Parker gets the ball and makes a 76 yard run--almost all the way to a touchdown. But he gets caught by his foot and dragged down at the four yard line. The Saints have not been doing well this half and the Steelers are excelling. So far Parker has 204 yards this game. Roethlisberger gives the ball to Parker and he runs it in for a touchdown. The Steelers now lead by 14 points. Drew Brees is doing a great job of moving the ball down the field, and he now has the Saints within 10 yards of a touchdown. What a play! The ball is snapped to Deuce McAllister who runs the ball in for a touchdown. Score is now 38-31. There are still eight minutes left in the game. We find out now that it probably wasn't an intentional snap to McAllister. It seems that it was a mucked up snap that McAllister pounced on and ran into the end zone. It looked like the Steelers were going to score again, but they couldn't get a third down and had to punt. It looks like the Saints just fumbled the ball after getting a first down. That pretty much means tha the game is over because there is just 39 seconds left. It is indeed ruled that, and the Steelers are seconds away from a win. The Saints don't use their last time out, and the Steelers win their third game of the season. Final score is 38-31. Thursday, November 9, 2006 -- Evening Willie Parker made some interesting comments about his fellow teammates recently. According to Parker, last year, the Steelers were hungry for a Super Bowl win. They really wanted it, and they played accordingly. This year, they are the champions, and it's hard to be motivated to want something that they now have. According to Parker, they really aren't trying very hard this year. There hasn't been alot of backlash against Parker from his teammates which tells me that Parker has called it right. Some may wish that Parker wasn't as vocal about the problem, but that may be the wake-up call for the team. Sunday, November 5, 2006 -- Eighth game of the season
The Steelers played the Denver Broncos in a late afternoon game at Heinz Field. The Steelers are playing in desperation mode because everyone agrees that it would be the end of any playoff hopes for them if their record is 2-6 after the game. Personally, I didn't pick them in my Beat Bob competition because I just don't think that because the Steelers need to win that they will win. Denver is 5-2 for the season and a strong competitor. First half: The Steelers receive the opening kick. 59 seconds into the first quarter, and Ben Roethlisberger is sacked on the third down in the first series. The Broncos first play is a long pass for a first down. Jake Plummer in the first series for Denver throws a touchdown pass to Rod Smith for the first touchdown pass that Plummer has thrown has thrown in the first quarter in 13 games. On the kickoff return, Santonio Holmes fumbles the ball and Denver recovers the ball. Within 21 seconds, the Broncos have a second touchdown pass from Plummer. In less than five minutes, the Broncos lead with a score of 14-0. Holmes gets the ball on the second kickoff, and this time isn't a fumble fingers. The Steelers have now gone two first downs with passing. Thank goodness for the almost intercepted pass that the Bronco defensive man dropped. The Steelers have go for a fourth down with 2. Roethlisberger throws the ball to Cedric Wilson who got the ball down to the ten yard line--almost to the end zone, and the dreaded fumblitis strikes. He loses the ball, and Denver recovers. The Broncos aren't able to do much with the ball, and punt. Holmes gets the ball again and fumbles yet again. This time, a Steeler recovers. They showed a clip of Bill Cowher and Deshea Townsend on the sidelines, and it looks like Cowher is asking Townsend if he can field the ball which means that Townsend (defensive back) will be going out to make punt returns. The first quarter ends and we go to the second quarter. The Steelers call a timeout after a few plays in the quarter, as they near the red zone. The ball is now on the 15 yard line after a catch by Heath Miller. Then a nice play. Roethlisberger has the ball, and he's running around, being chased by Broncos for several seconds. Finally he throws the ball to Willie Parker in the end zone. A touchdown and extra point now bring the score to 14-7. Denver just had a 53 yard punt return that was taken back because of holding on the part of the Broncos. The Broncos don't do much of anything with the ball, and this time, Wilson is out there for the punt return. The ball gets to around the 30 yard line, covered by Broncos who watch it bounce on the ground. Parker finally gets more than two yards and gets a first down running. The Steelers have suckitis going on. Roethlisberger and the team were moving down the field and again in the red zone. This time Roethlisberger lobs the ball up into the air and Champ Bailey comes down with the ball. This is Roethlisberger's first interception of the game, and let's hope it is the last. The Broncos aren't able to do anything with the series, and are forced to punt. Wilson again is in the back to field the punt. Wilson catches the ball at the 42 yard line, and just stands there. The Steelers aren't able to get the ball down the field and decide to settle for a field goal, but shockers of shockers, Jeff Reed misses a field goal attempt from the 40 yard line. The Broncos get the ball in the spot. The Broncos again can't do much against the Steeler defense. The Steelers get the ball and move it sharply down the field. They get the ball around the 30 yard line and call a time out with 44 seconds remaining in the half. Roethlisberger threw the ball down to the end zone, and it was almost picked off by Bailey again. 28 seconcd remain and the Steelers are on a third down with 10 yards to make up. They call their last time out. Roethlisberger hurried everyone off the field, and the field goal attempt occurs with 0 seconds left and this time it is good. The Steelers go to the locker room with the score 14-10. Second half: Just a minute into the second half, on their first series with the ball, Javon Walker runs the ball 72 yards for a touchdown. The Broncos come out firing and the score if now 21-10. It's the longest touchdown run that the Steelers have allowed since November of 2003. The Steelers are now trying to move the ball down the field and Parker is getting some good runs. There was almost an interception based on a deflection by the Broncos. In the next play, Roethlisberger gets sacked. It's now third down and 19. Roethlisberger throws the ball down the field and it is intercepted by Champ Bailey again, and the Broncos get the ball at the 20 yard line. The Broncos get to a fourth down, but then James Farrior kicks a Bronco which takes away the punt because he gets penalized with a personal foul. Unfortunately for the Broncos, they get a 10 yard penalty for holding. Eventually, the Broncos do punt, and the ball lands around the 45 yard line. The Steelers get it down to the under the 10 yard line. Finally, based on a Denver penalty, the Steelers have a first and goal from the three yard line. Finally Parker manages to get in for his second touchdown of the game. With 3:32 left in the third quarter, the score is now 21-17. It looked like the Steelers might have intercepted the ball, but Denver is challenging the call because it doesn't look like Deshea Townsend had control of the ball as he went out of bounds. It didn't look like he had control of the ball, and the officials agree after the review. The Broncos are now at 2nd and 10 with three seconds left in the quarter. Roethlisberger seems to love to throw the ball at the guys in white, and Denver almost picks off the ball. There was almost a safety when Roethlisberger was hoved into the end zone and ate some grass. The Broncos have the ball at the 34 yard line, and there is a flag. I see Cowher calling bullshit. Then they call the personal foul on the Broncos when number 27 was on the sidelines. The Broncos tell them off the problem, and the call is put against the Steelers. The Broncos get the ball on the 17 yard line after we come back from commercials. As Cowher keeps on telling us every week in his press conference, these types of penalties will come to an end. They don't because the players don't seem to listen to Cowher this seaons for whatever reason. The Broncos get another touchdown with a pass from Jake Plummer. Score is now 28-17. Hines Ward just went for 63 yard to get the ball down near the end zone. Roethlisberger gets sacked yet again. It's now second down and 21. Parker gets the ball down near the 14 yard line. it's now third and 7. Roethlisberger tries to run for it, and still falls three to four yards short of the first down. They are probably going to have to go for the field goal. Reed makes the field goal. Plummer makes another 62 yard touchdown pass, and the Broncos can't get a touchdown and have to settle for a field goal. The Steelers are now trying to rush the ball down the field with less than four minutes left in the game. They have to mae up 11 points. A pass was thrown to Ward near the end zone. He went to dive with it, and it looked like he didn't make it into the end zone when the ball was knocked lose and the Broncos came up with it. The play was reviewed because it was under two minutes. Ward was crying on the sideline. That was the fifth Steeler turn over. So far, the Steelers took the second of their timeouts, and the time is around 1:41. Denver punts with 1:30 left. The Steelers don't have any timeouts left. The clock is just ticking away as the Steelers are unable to get the ball past the 50 yard line. Roethlisberger keeps on getting hit with only seconds left. The last pass by Roethlisberger with 10 seconds left and fourth down, winds up in...you guessed it, an interception. It's number six in the game. The game is over and the Steelers are 2 and 6 for the season. I just love how the Pittsburgh sports analysts are saying that the Steelers outplayed the Broncos---yeah, they lost. That's how well the Steelers outplayed the Brancos. Three seconds left in the game, and there was a hail Mary pass that Edwards ALMOST pulled in, but it got away. The Steelers win a poorly played one and manage to stay out of last place in the conference. Sunday, October 29, 2006 -- Seventh game of the season
The Steelers are playing the Oakland Raiders today. Everyone expects the Steelers to win, and I have to admit that I picked them for my Beat Bob competition. I'm not that sure that the Steelers will win because they have been sucking so much this season, but thought that it might be the pick to make. First half: The Steelers receive the ball first and really don't do much with their first series and have to kick off to the Raiders. Fortunately for the Raiders aren't that great either. In the Steelers second series, Ben Roethlisberger on a third down with seven yards, threw a Hail Mary pass that got intercepted by the Raiders. Maybe I wasn't too wise to pick the Steelers. The biggest problem that the Steelers have is the penalty problem. The players keep on making moves that result in penalities, like the penalty against Joey Porter, back from his hamstring injury, for unneccessary roughness when he shoves a player out of bounds. Again the Steelers are fortunate that the Raiders don't do much with their interception luck--mostly because Randy Moss has sieve-like hands. Roethlisberger just got sacked for a loss of four yards in what seems to be turning into a battle of defenses. Roethisberger just threw another interception that is run in for a touchdown by defensive back Nnamdi Asomugha. As the announcers are saying, it was an ill-advised pass by Roethlisberger into heavy coverage. Score is now 7-0. The announcers are saying that Bill Cowher has said that the problem this year is that Roethlisberger is trying to make plays that aren't there. Now Roethlisberger just called a time out because he was confused about what he was supposed to do. Willie Parker is trying to run the ball with out any luck, and he just fumbled the ball. Fortunately, he also recovered it. Now we are are 3rd and 12. Roethlisberger is sacked on the down, and the Steelers have to punt the ball again. Oakland is now challeging the call that Roethlisberger was down because it looked like a fumble that Oakland recovered. So it is either a punt or a recovery. It looks like Roethlisberger is trying to recover the ball, but Derrick Burgess lands on it. Oakland loses the challenge and is charged with a time out. There is a low snap that results in a horrible punt that puts the ball on the 50 yard line (a 24 yard punt by Chris Gardocki. The Steelers are acting in the first quarter as if they really want to lose this game. The Raiders don't do much, and the ball goes back to the Steelers. An incomplete pass was called on a ball that was thrown to Cedric Wilson. It looked like Wilson had it, and Cowher challenged the call, but the call stood. The Steelers lose their second time out all in the first quarter. On the last play in the quarter, Parker runs into the middle of a pack, and obviously doesn't get anywhere. We really don't have a running game anymore. Finally, in the second quarter, the Steelers are starting to do something with the ball, and Roethlisberger gets a pass off to Hines Ward for a first down that takes them down to the 20 yard line. Roethlisberger just managed to get the ball out as he was falling to the ground. It was a bad move which wound up not costing us. They are now 3rd and seven, and wind up two yards shy of a first down. Back in the days of Jerome Bettis, they would have gone for it. Now they have to settle for a Jeff Reed field goal. Score is now 7-3. Finally, James Farrior sacks quarterback Andrew Walter and the Raiders have to punt. The Steelers manage to get the ball down to the 20 yard line, but can't get a yard to get a first down and have to settle yet again for a field goal. Score is now 7-6. The Raiders make a 48 yard kick off return to bring the ball down to the 50 yard line. The Raiders get the ball all the way down to within yards of the endzone, and none of the receivers could manage to get their hands around well placed balls. The Raiders settle for a field goal with four seconds left to play in the half. Score is now 10-6 in the Raiders' favor. Second half: The Steelers start out the second half with an unsportsman-like penalty against the Steelers. The Steeler defense seems to not really care that Cowher doesn't want them taking stupid penalties like that. The Raiders wind up getting the ball down near the 30 yard line, and run the ball to the 23rd yard line. The Steelers' defense is doing a good job of helping the Raiders getting the ball down the field. The announcers are saying that Cowher doesn't tolerate this sort of behavior, but it seems that this year, Cowher isn't like the past year's Steelers. Cowher is very wussy this year. The Raiders don't get a touchdown and settle for another field goal. The Steelers aren't able to do much with the ball, and the series ends with Roethlisberger getting sacked again. They have to punt. The Steelers are having trouble getting yardage with Willie Parker, and practically every time he has the ball, it's either a gain or loss of only a couple of yards. Roethlisberger just got sacked for the fourth time today (the Steelers have four sacks too against the Raiders' Walter), and the Steelers have to punt yet again. I was starting to get hopeful because the Steelers were moving the ball down the field when Roethlisberger is intercepted yet again. I think that the other teams have figured out Roethlisberger. They know that he tries to make the big play when under pressure. The Raiders aren't able to do anything with the ball, and the Steelers get the ball back. Finally, in the fourth quarter, Parker finds an opening and runs down to the 10 yard line where he is dragged down. Will the Steelers make a touchdown? Well, now they are at third and goal. And Roethlisberger gets picked off on the goal line. Chris Carr returns the ball 100 yards for a touchdown. Roethlisberger was chasing after him, and just pulled up at the end totally giving up. I knew something like that would happen. The score is now 20-6. That's two interceptions run in for a touchdown. There are still nine minutes left in the game, and the announcers are trying to say that there is still time for the Steelers to come back and win. Yeah, I suppose the Steelers can suck like a Hoover for three quarters and then almost half way through the fourth quarter come back to win it all. After alll, they only need two more touchdowns. Verron Haynes was injured in the play. The Steelers are now in their half of the field. Finally! Parker manages to get the ball into the endzone for a touchdown. The Steelers are now one touchdown away from the Raiders with 7:14 left to play in the fourth. Yes another personal foul--the third in the second half against the Steeler defense. This time, a Raider is grabbed by the back of the next after being down by Aaron Smith. Finally, the first interception by a Steeler when Porter intercepts the ball. Deshea Townsend was rolling oround on the ground as if he was injured, but he got up an walked later. Roethlisberger threw a bad ball to Ward, who managed to get the ball. Now the Steelers have the ball on the one yard line. Parker loses a yard for the team, Then Najeh Davenport loses four yards. Third down and the ball is on the five yard line, and the two minute warning stops play. Then the Steelers get a false start. They are now on the 10 yard line with a third down. Fourth down now, and they were only able to get the ball to the 3 yard line. It was first and goal at the one and is now fourth and goal at the three. They are going for it. My boyfriend thinks that it is going to be a quarterback draw. Incomplete to Santonio Holmes. Last year, Bettis would have had the ball. Now the Raiders have the ball at the five yard line. The Steelers take a time out with 1:32 left. The Steelers take the final time out at 1:30. Now they have to make certain that the Raiders don't get a first down. The Raiders aren't able to get a first down and have to punt the ball. The clock is now under the one minute mark. The Steelers have to hope that they block the punt. The clock is now at 45 seconds. The Steelers are now at the 39 yard line with 36 seconds left. They have to make up 61 yards for a touchdown. The Steelers are now in hussle mode, and Roethlisberger manages to spike the ball to stop the clock at 21 seconds. Second down and 10. Roethlisberger is sacked at the 46 yard line. Warren Sapp gets the sack. Roethlisberger throws the ball down the field, and it gets caught around five yards from the endzone, but the clock has run out. The Steelers lose another one in an upset. This team really sucks. We lost to a team that is so bad they only had one win so far this year. The Oakland defense is the worst in the league, but they were still better than our offense. It is painful to watch the Steeler games unless you are cheering on the opponent. Final score--Oakland 21-Steelers 13. Saturday, October 28, 2006 -- Evening it seems that Ben Roethlisberger will be starting in tomorrow's game against the Oakland Raiders. The game has been moved from its 1 p.m. time to 4:15 p.m. It seems that Roethlisberger has been doing fine since the concussion on Sunday. Monday, October 23, 2006 -- Evening There won't be any official comment from the Steelers about Ben Roethlisberger's condition. The story that folks are coming up with is that Roethlisberger had a minor concussion and will be checked by a neurosurgeon here in Pittsburgh. If it has been more serious, they would have had him checked out in Atlanta. Bill Cowher should give us the update on Roethlisberger's condition in his press conference tomorrow. Supposedly, the rumor is that Roethlisberger will be playing on Sunday. Sunday, October 22, 2006 -- Sixth game of the season
First half The Falcons had the ball first and quickly went through four downs and had to punt the ball. Everyone is saying that Mike Vick is overrated and paid too much for what he actually delivers. Personally, I still like Vick's scrambing ability. So the Falcons punt the ball, and Santonio Holmes received the ball, and fumbled it. The Falcons has the ball down near their red zone and threw the ball in for a touchdown. On the next punt, Holmes got the ball and ran the punt farther down the field towards the midfield. The Steelers don't realize that they have a real problem with their special teams and punt return, and they didn't prize Antwaan Randle El. The offense is still having problems gelling and almost had a pick off. However, Ben Roethlisberger had two good passes to Holmes and Cedric Wilson. So far, the Falcons had almost three attempted interceptions. If their defense didn't have such butterfingers, they might actually have the ball right now. The Steelers aren't able to get the ball into the end zone even though they had four downs under the ten yard line. They had to settle for another Jeff Reed field goal. The Falcons seemed to be moving the ball down the field fairly nicely. That is until Troy Polamalu intercepted the ball. the Steelers have the ball on their 35 yard line now. fortunately, the Steelers manage to get the ball down the field and Roethlisberger makes a touchdown pass to Hines Ward from the 11 yard line. Score is now Steelers 10, Falcons 7. The Falcons get the ball, but they aren't able to do anything with the ball, and it is punted off to the Steelers. Roethlisberger threw the ball down the field to Ward who funbled the ball yet again. Fortunately, Heath Miller recovered the ball. The refs reviewed the play because it didn't like there was a football move and a completion, but the review said that it was a completion. Roethlisberger was then able to throw the ball down to Holmes and the ball was on the 30 yard line. Cedric Wilson had a good game, catching the ball close to the end zone on a third down. The Steelers got to the third yard line. There was a rush to call a time out between the Steelers and the Falcons, and the refs saw the Falcons first, so the Steelers didn't get charged with a time out. In the next play, Roethlisberger threw the ball to Miller for a touchdown. The Steelers have a 10 point lead. The Steelers have a real problem with fumbles. It's not just one player either. It's the whole team. Roethlisberger fumbled the ball on the snap, probably because he and the center weren't on the same snap count, and the Falcons recovered the ball. Chad Brown gave a late hit to Vick that put the Falcons three yards from the end zone. The Falcons have a crappy record in the red zone, but on third down, Vick throws a touchdown pass. There is only a three point difference. All the Falcons points in the game to this point are the result of Steeler fumbles. The Falcons then come back with an onside kick and the Falcons recover the ball. Less than five minutes are left in the half. Michael Vick got his first three touchdown pass game by throwing another one after moving the ball down the field. There was a passer interference call about Deshea Townsend. The Falcons have pulled ahead of the Steelers with a score of 21-17. Vick hadn't thrown a touchdown pass since September 17 until this game. Roethlisberger sent a beautiful pass to Holmes that went for 36 yards. There is some question on the catch, and because it is under two minutes, there is a review on the play. Cowher starts arguing with the refs because there was a run of five to six steps, and there was no reason for a review. The catch is considered a completion. The next play has Roethlisberger throwing a touchdown pass to Nate Washington. There was an excessive celebration call on the play that was assessed on the kickoff. The call came because Ward and a few others joined Washington in the dancing. With almost a minute left in the half, The Falcons return the ball for 51 yards. It results in a 10 yard penalty when Reed trips the runner to stop a touchdown. The Falcons now have the ball on the 28 yard line, well in range of a touchdown. Vick throws the ball, and it bounces out of the receivers hands into James Farrior's hands. The Steelers are taking the knee to go to the locker room. Second half There weren't any huge plays at the beginning of the third period until Roethlisberger got hit by three players at the same time. Two were low, and one was up high--helmet to helmet. He was surrounded by caretakers and not moving for some time. It really didn't look good at all! I hate to say this, but it's almost like Roethlisberger has had a jinx sitting on his shoulder since the Super Bowl win. It looks like there is some movement on his part, and they finally got him to sit up. I think it was just the helmet on helmet that might have knocked him cold. Roethlisberger gets a hand up and he walks off the field, but he looks totally looped and limping. They reshowed the hit, and he got hits in the knees and head pretty bad. Roethlisberger is sitting on the sideline, and Charlie Batch is in the game. Wilie Parker muffs a play seriously, and fumbles the ball. The Falcons recover, and Vick throws the ball down to the three yard line. The Falcons get the ball on the one yard line because of passer interference. Roethlisberger was carted off the sidelines in the cart. It got down to the third down, and the Falcons did manage to get the ball into the endzone for a touchdown. Bill Cowher challenged the call at the last minute--right before the snap. From the reviews, it was clear that the Falcons got in, and the Steelers were charged with a timeout. Score is now Falcons 28--Steelers 24. Batch's first throw to Ward isn't complete, but then he gets one down to Wilson. Willie Parker gets the ball, bur really doesn't get any yardage at all. The Steelers really don't have a running game anymore. Ward gets a pass, loses his shoe, keeps on running and makes a touchdown run. Steelers pull ahead with a score of 31-28. I don't know if I would have called it a touchdown because he was out at the third yard line, and just reached out his hands and hit the red marker. I don't know why the NFL considers something like that a touchdown. The Falcons came right back though to bring the ball back down the field. Vick throws yet another touchdown pass to get the Falcons back into the lead. Algie Crumpler got his third touchdown of the game. The Steelers get the ball and aren't able to do anything so the ball goes back to the Falcons. The Falcons get the ball down into the redzone, but again can't get into the endzone, and settle for a seven point lead off of a field goal. Batch throws the ball down to Washington to get the ball in the redzone. Then Ward had a touchdown pass to tie the game. Roethlisberger was on the sidelines in his sweats congratulating both. Obviously it was just a bad smack on the head, and the team doesn't want to take chances. Michael Vick was almost sacked, but just managed to flip the ball off to get the first down. Vick had a hot streak in the game running the ball next for a first down. vick was chased into the sidelines on the Steeler side and Cowher laughed and joked with Vick. The Steelers called for a time out just right before the whistles were blown--and the Falcons made the 58 yard field goal. Now there seems to be some sort of controversy. Will the Falcons make the field goal again? They missed, but there was a flag for roughing the kicker. They get a five yard penalty and replay of the down. It was Polamalu who ran into him. Then Cowher called another timeout. Then the Falcons changed their kicker. The kick was just short. There are only 25 seconds left in the game and no timeouts. The Steelers had a false start with less than a minute. That is considered a 10 second penalty and since the game had only eight seconds left, the game was over. The game goes into overtime. Overtime The Falcons get the first possession in overtime. The Falcons are trying to do something with the ball, and then Vick throws a 26 yard pass and are just trying to get the ball closer into field goal range. They run the ball down into the redzone. Will they go for a field goal now? The Falcons go for a field goal, and they make it. The Falcons win in overtime. Sunday, October 15, 2006 -- Fifth game of the season
First Half The Steelers had the ball first and they came out fighting. Ben Roethlisberger threw a pass to Santonio Holmes that Holmes got down to the 25 yard line before he tripped on his big, old feet. Another pass to Cedric Wilson got the ball to the three yard line. After a few stumbling attempts, Willie Parker ran the ball in for a touchdown. The Chiefs got the ball and didn't get anywhere. Then the Steelers weren't getting anywhere. With less than a minute in the quarter, Roethlisberger threw the ball down the field to Nate Washington who ran the ball in for Roethlisberger's first touchdown pass of the season. At the end of the first period, the Steelers lead with a score of 14-0. The second quarter starts with more Steelers players slipping and falling. I'm not sure what the deal is because it hasn't been raining here in Pittsburgh since earlier in the week. Maybe it is a shoe problem. Finally, Hines Ward earns his salary by catching a ball farther down the field. The Steelers are close to getting the ball into the red zone. Ward gets a second pass that gets the Steelers down to the 17 yard line. Parker gets another run in for a touchdown. Jeff Reed makes another extra point kick, and the Steelers are leading by a score of 21-0. The Steeler defense is really shutting down the Chiefs. They are looking like a pretty good team today. Boy, the Steelers just can't be stopped! Najeh Davenport ran the ball 48 yards down the field, but got caught because he's abit on the heavier side. The ball was down in the red zone, and Roethlisberger threw the ball into the end zone, right into Ward's hands. The Steelers now lead by a score of 28-0. This has to be great for the Steelers' psyche. They need a good win to get back into the winning rhythm. And it is good for my Beat Bob competition because I picked the Steelers to win this game. The Steelers got the ball down the field and Jeff Reed go his 32 yard field goal with 1 second left in the half. The first half ends with a score of 31-0. Second half Holmes fumbled the ball on a punt return, but fortunately, Bryant McFadden recovered the ball. Holmes has fumblitis. That's not good for a punt returner. Darn! Then Parker had the ball and had the ball knocked loose. The Chiefs recover around their 20 yard line. Troy Polamalu intercepted the ball, and was running it down the field when he got pulled down by his hair. Larry Johnson was the culprit, who grabbed a hunk of Polamalu's hair, held on, and dragged Polamalu down, jerking him around by his hair. The announcers are shocked by it, because larry Johnson got hurt last week by someone grabbing and pulling him down by his face mask. Johnson got an unsportsmanlike penalty. We weren't able to do anything with the interception and the ball went back to the Chiefs. They finally score a touchdown. The Steelers get the ball back, and it looked like the team is going to shoot itself in the foot when Parker fumbles the ball. Fortunately, the Steelers recover, and start marching down the field with help from Parker, Davenport, and Ward. Heath Miller does a good job with blocking to allow the ball to get down the field. The fourth quarter starts. The ball is now on the four yard line. Damn! Then the Steelers get to the end zone, and it looked like the Chiefs has recovered the ball, but they didn't. It is now third and one on the goal line. Roethlisberger tried a quarterback sneak and didn't get anywhere. It is now fourth and goal at the one and they are going to go for it. Davenport tried to get it into the end zone and failed. So now it is first down going the other way. From the replay, it looks like he reached the ball across the line. Bill Cowher challenges the call, and it seems that Davenport did break the plane. Cowher threw the flag very theaterically the announcers say. The extra point is good, and the Steelers lead 38 - 7. With six minutes left in the game, both teams are playing backup quarterbacks. I think that the Chiefs have admitted to the fact that the Steelers are going to win. Chad Brown who just came back to the team this week after being gone for years (10 I believe) just got a sack to get the most sacks of any Steeler. The Chiefs had the ball, and Rian Wallace of the Steelers intercepted the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. Score is now 45 - 7. The Chiefs get intercepted yet again with a little over a minute left in the game. This time it was McFadden grabbing it in the end zone. The game is over for all intents and purposes. The Steelers win 45-7. Wednesday, October 11, 2006 -- Evening The Steelers had some injuries from practice today. Both Joey Porter and Deshea Townsend both had to leave practice today with hamstring injuries. This is not looking too good for the Steelers. I'm not sure that I would pick them to beat the Kansas City Chiefs this coming Sunday. Monday, October 9, 2006 -- Evening The talk around town all day has been the meltdown of the Steelers. Everyone has been playing Monday morning quarterback. Alot of people are finding fault especially with Ben Roethlisberger. I'm not saying that he did an outstanding job yesterday, but I think that the problem is greater then him. I can think of at least two occasions yesterday were Roethlisberger got the ball to the receiver to only have the receiver muff the play. The first was with Hines Ward where the ball got into Ward's hands to only bounce right back out. My understanding is that if the quarterback gets the ball that close to the receiver, it should be a completion. Nate Washington was another example. He let the ball slip through his fingers instead of grabbing on. We don't have any capable receivers--sure, yeah, blame double and triple coverage on Ward's problems. He needs some excuses. Also, the defense isn't stopping the other team from moving the ball. We couldn't have no punt or kick-off return capabilities. The team is just sucking and not playing well as a whole. Paul Zeise, one of the sports reporters here in Pittsburgh, thinks that the team is going to win most of their remaining games. I doubt it. According to the players, all is not lost because when they are the underdogs, they get it altogether. We shall see. Sunday, October 8, 2006 -- Fourth game of the season
The Steelers are playing an away game against the San Diego Chargers. My boyfriend has picked the Steelers to win the game, but I don't have that faith. I have used all of his picks in my Beat Bob competition this week, and he has done an excellent job. So far, out of 12 games, I have 11 wins! First half The Steelers weren't very productive in their first series with the ball, but then Ryan Clark intercepted the ball so the Steelers got it right back. YOu can't blame Ben Roethlisberger for all their offensive woes. He threw the ball right into Hines Ward's hand, but it bounced out of Ward's grasp. Then the Steelers tried a trick move by pretending to punt, but actually running with the ball. It didn't work, however, and the Chargers got the ball at the 50 yard line. So the announcers are now talking about how Roethlisberger was rubbing his right elbow in the warm-ups. They are wondering if he has a problem with the arm that accounts for the poor performance so far. They asked the coachs who have denied that there is a problem. Boy, I know the problem--it's Roethlisberger pretending there is an issue so he can use it as an excuse. Hence the 102 temperature when it was 100.2 and the broken toes that Coach Cowher denied existed in the 2004 season AFC Championship. I have to say that I don't think the reception problem is Roethlisberger's fault. He is practically putting the ball in the receiver's hands, but they just aren't holding on to it. Nate Washington is a good example--he just had the ball on his fingertips and let it seep through this fingers like water through a sieve. The Steeler defense has Philip Rivers number and have gotten a few sacks in. For our side, Najeh Davenport had a good run for a first down. Willie Parker just played full body pingpong to get to the 9 yard line. Will the Steelers be the first to score? Yep, they do, and Willie Parker is the person who gets the ball into the endzone. In the second quarter, Roethlisberger gets sacked four minutes into the quarter, and there was some question about whether the ball was fumbled, but it wasn't a play that was challengeable. Now Roethlisberger is finding every receiver. The first good throw went to Santonio Holmes, then Ward, and finally Heath Miller. The offense couldn't get the ball into the endzone, but they called on Jeff Reed for a field goal. The Chargers now have teh ball on the nine yard line and Rivers throws it to Malcolm Floyd who catches the ball in the endzone for a touchdown with less than two minutes left in the half (1.11 to be exact.) The referee has to review it, and there is a problem with the video display device that the referee has to use. So we are waiting, and waiting, and waiting for something to happen and the crowd is booing. Finally he is saying that the video display is malfunctioning, and he had to wait two minutes before saying there is a malfunction. The ruling stands. The score is now Steelers 10--Chargers 7. The Steelers quickly get the ball down the field, and Reed kicks in another field goal. Score is 13-7. Second half The Chargers come out fighting, but they are only able to get a field goal. The ball goes to the Steelers. Roethlisberger was flinging the ball all the way down the field to Santonio Holmes and the ball gets intercepted all the way down near the endzone. The Chargers now have the ball close to the midfield point. Cowher challenges the play because Holmes' arm hits the leg of the interceptor, Drayton Florence and that means that Florence would be down by contact at the 10 yard line. Cowher was correct, and the ball is moved back to the 10 yard line which is a 29 yard difference. Rivers gets the ball down the field and throws a touchdown pass to Antonio Gates. The Chargers now lead with a score of 17-14. Ward makes a catch and runs the ball down almost to the 50 yard line. Roethlisberger gets sacked right after that play, and there was some hope by the Chargers that there was a fumble. However, the refs said that Roethlisberger was down by contact. The Chargers really have rhythm on their side right now, and LaDainian Tomlinson has been getting some good yardage. Rivers is also handling the situation with aplomb. The Chargers are now down by the 10 yard line and close to another touchdown. Finally Larry Foote gets a sack, and the Chargers have to settle for a field goal. Score is now 20-13. The Steelers were doing good, making some nice first down moves. Then Roethlisberger threw the ball right into an area where there were only Chargers, and the ball was intercepted yet again, this time by Marlon McCree. Only 5:53 remains in the game. It's not looking good for the Steelers--or my Beat Bob football pool. So far in the season, Roethlisberger has thrown nine interceptions--two from this game. Meanwhile Philip Rivers is doing a great job. The Steelers use a timeout at the 3;43 time. The Steelers are taking another timeout just a few seconds later because the Chargers are moving the ball too well and eating up the clock. The Chargers now have the ball at the 7 yard line with 2;37 left in the game. Two minute warning. The Chargers can't score a touchdown and have to settle for a field goal to give themselves a 10 point lead. The Steelers now have 65 seconds to score twice. For some reason, I don't think it will happen. In seven minutes, only one minute of the game has been played. During the kick-off, the Steelers get a holding penalty and lose ten yards on the return. In the first play, Roethlisberger gets sacked. Cowher is just watching the play in shock. With 32 seconds left, Cedrick Wilson goes out of bounds. Then the Steelers get a false start and are on a third down. Roethlisberger then has to throw the ball away, and the game is over for all intents and purposes. The Steelers lose. Score is 23-13. Tuesday, October 3, 2006 -- Evening Poor Ricardo Colclough! He seems to have injured his neck in some fashion and is questionable for the upcoming game this Sunday against the San Diego Chargers. You have to wonder how much of the injury is because Bill Cowher doesn't want Colclough to play and doesn't want to admit that it is because the guy probably shouldn't have been playing for the team. Some of the local sports reporters are getting worried because they think that the Steelers might be in a losing mindset. Even worse, they surmise that the team might think that they can come back at anytime and win it all because they came back at the end of last season to win eight games in a row. I don't think that the Steelers are going to do that well this year because I think that they lost some important players over the past year that caused the team to gel as well as it did. The players individually weren't much but together Chris Hope, Jerome Bettis, Antwaan Randle-El, and Kimo von Oelhoffen just broke the chemistry of a winning team. I'm going to be surprised if the team has a winning record this year. Friday, September 29, 2006 -- Late Afternoon The Here We Go Steelers song is being rewritten. Well at least a lyric is being rewritten. There was abit that alluded to the fact that this year would be the one for the thumb. Since we now have that the lyric is outdated. The composer/performer, Roger Wood, let the Post Gazette hold a contest and the line, "The Steelers Nation has the best fans. We're from Pittsburgh the five-time Super Bowl champs" won the contest with 45.8 percent of the vote. Monday, September 25, 2006 -- Afternoon The sports talk shows after the Steelers game yesterday were filled with callers who wanted Ben Roethlisberger demoted and Charlie Batch starting the next game. That's a tricky one because although I think that Roethlisberger is rusty, I think that the rest of the team is contributing to the general stench of poor playing. Roethlisberger can throw the ball down the field as much as he wants, but if the receivers let it bounce off their hands, there's nothing that he can do. Our running game is poor. Willie Parker improved in yesterday's game with 21 carries for 133 yards, but for the three games it is 71 carries and 268 yards. That averages 3.77 yards per carry. Let's not even get started with the punt and kickoff returns. If we have anyone who can go out there, grab a football that is falling from the air, hold on to it, and run, we are keeping him in hiding! We had too many big changes over the off season and lost some folks were more important to our system than we realized. Too many folks are quick to call for the axe. I don't know how you can be a genius one day, and then an idiot the next. Don't get me wrong--I'm the first to bash a problem when I see it. I think that I was one of the first calling for the firing of Eddie O from the Pens. This time I think that people jumping the gun. It's only the third game of the season. Let's see how they are a month from now, and then talk. The Pittsburgh sports fan is very fickle and quick to change allegance. There was a hue and cry because Pittsburgh was 21st on the rank of cities based on loyalty of sports fans. Cleveland was first. No one could understand why the city was 21st. This is why! Give 'em a break guys! Sunday, September 24, 2006 -- Third game of the season
The Steelers play the Cincinnati Bengals this afternoon. Chad Johnson had been talking earlier this week about meeting the Steelers. Johnson is one of my favorites because he is so entertaining. He was saying things about the hit that he got last week and how he was sore from stitches in his chin, and not able to find his way home, and not able to eat solid food so he couldn't go to his favorite place, McDonald's, where he eats three times a day during the season. Johnson also said that he was going to meet Joey Porter at the 50 yard line to duke it out. Some folks actualle believed it, but they should know that Johnson was joking and buddies with Porter. Before the game, the two met at the 50 yard line and jawed at each other. First Half The Bengals had the ball first, but they didn't get anywhere and had to punt. The running game isn't doing that good, but Cedric Wilson had a 35 pass and run that got the Steelers down the field. Then Ben Roethlisberger threw the ball to Willie Parker for some more yards. Parker is having problem running the ball, but the Steelers are able to get the ball into the end zone by Parker running the ball in from the three yard line. I am alittle bit shocked because I have picked the Bengals to win. Granted, I would like to see the Steelers win, but I picked the Bengals in my Beat Bob picks. The Bengals get the ball, and Carson Palmer gets sacked and fumbles the ball twice. The first time, Quincy Wilson recovers the ball and gets a first down. The second time another Bengal falls on the ball. In the next few plays though, Palmer goes to throw the ball, and it is intercepted by Deshea Townsend. The Bengals seem to be having some problems getting to Roethlisberger. He is in the back with plenty of time to throw the ball. Start of the second quarter and the Bengals manage to intercept the ball in the end zone. Slowly, but surely, the Bengals put on a 97 yard drive that results in a touchdown catch by Chris Henry. The score is now tied at 7-7. The Steelers have the ball down on the Bengals 30 yard line, and the Bengals almost intercept the ball, and then in the second play Roethlisberger is sacked. Now with 1:13 left in the half, Jeff Reed goes for a field goal that is partially deflected, and no good. Now the Bengals are flying down the field and with 25 seconds left, they are down on the Steelers 20 yard line. The Bengals get the ball to the three yard line or so, and Palmer under pressure tosses the ball to Henry for a touchdown. The Bengals lead as they go to half time 14-7. Second Half The Steelers get the ball first to start the third quarter. As you can note from the first half, the team with the wind to their backs did the scoring. It is windy here in Pittsburgh today. The Steelers take advantage of the wind and a 15 yard penalty against the Bengals for a face mask to get close enough for a field goal. Willie Parker can only run when there is a hole. He really doesn't have the size to barrel through a crowd. Score now is 14-10. Palmer is throwing the ball to Henry when he got a bad hit from Clark Haggans. They are calling it a shoulder hit. Ike Taylor took the dropped ball for an interception. The Steelers have it at the seven yard line. After four tries, the Steelers are able to get Willie Parker into the end zone for a touchdown. The score is now 17-14 with the Steelers leading. It looked like the Steelers had the momentum when Roethlisberger throws the ball into double coverage. The Bengals have the ball now on the Steeler 24 yard line. The Steeler were quick off the line, and Townsend sacks Palmer. The ball goes free, and the Steelers get it because one of the Bengal players tried to pick the ball up instead of just falling on it. Haggans is the person who comes up with the ball. The Steelers have the ball as the quarter ends. It is still in their territory, so if the Bengals do their own interception, the Bengals may come back. The Bengals had a 4th and 1, and went for it. The quarterback sneak just managed to get them the yardage. Then in the first play after that, Haggans comes into sack Palmer. The Steelers have the ball, but aren't able to get anywhere. The cameras are showing Chad Johnson depressed on the side lines and they said that Carson Palmer went running after him to try to get Johnson back into the game. It seems that Palmer has been throwing the ball mostly to Henry and every now and again to T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Palmer gets sacked for the sixth time in the game. Luck is on the Bengals side. On the punt, Ricardo Colclough fumbles the ball. The Bengals recover it at the 13 yard line, and Palmer throws a touchdown pass to Houshmandzadeh. The Bengals grab the lead again with a score of 21-17. Verron Haynes fumbles the ball. The Bengals get the ball again and Palmer throws off a 30 yard touchdown pass to Houshmandzadeh again. The Steelers are getting killed with their fumbles. Score is now 28 to 17. That's two touchdowns in 54 seconds for the Bengals. The Steelers try to go into the end zone, and wind up with a 4th and 10, and they make it. Roethlisberger just managed to get it off to Cedric Wilson for 17 yards. There is 3:58 left in the game. Nate Washington bobbles the ball in the end zone, and they are back to a 4th down with 11 yards. They are going to go for a field goal this time. Reed makes is and the score is 28-20. The Bengals aren't able to get the ball down the field and there is still 2:53 left on the clock. That means that the Steelers will get the ball and might have time to score. The Steelers get a penalty though for taunting. That's not the sort of stupid penalty that they need. Bill Cowher does not look very happy. So they are now at the 11 yard line. Mike Logan denies that he did any taunting. Then Roethlisberger throws it to a location where there is only a Bengal, but there isn't an interception. Roethlisberger get sacked. There are two minutes left in the game and the Steelers now have a 3rd down with 11 yards. The Steelers make the first down, but there is only 1:08 left in the game. Roethlisberger uses a down on a spike. The Steelers have 57 seconds to make a score from the 47 yard line. The Bengals get called for roughing the quarterback. Now the Steelers are at the 30 yard line with a first down. The steelers are now down on the 21 yard line with 22 seconds left. As the Steelers are trying to hurry and score, the Bengals intercept in the end zone again. The Bengals have the ball with only 10 seconds left. The game is over and the Bengals have won. Wednesday, September 20, 2006 -- Evening There has been alot of controversy again over Ben Roethlisberger. The guy is wont to overexaggerate his illness. Hence, there was the time after the AFC Championship loss two years ago, when Roethlisberger said that his toes were broken. No one told Bill Cowher, and he told everyone that Roethlisberger's toes weren't broken. There is still controversy over that. Now the new controversy is Roethlisberger's temperature on Monday. Cowher is saying that Roethlisberger had a temperature of 100.4. Michele Tafoya, who made the statement on ESPN's broadcast of the game, is standing by her story. She said that she heard Roethlisberger had a cold, and that he told her that his temperature was 104. As she said, "When he said that, I thought, 'I can't believe he's out here.' If he said 100.4 to me, I would have said, 'That's not very high, unless it's a toddler.' I never would have gone with anything I didn't believe he had said." Either Roethlisberger misspoke, or he just overexaggerated his illness. Monday, September 18, 2006 -- Second game of the season
First Half The Steelers are playing the Jacksonville Jaguars. The biggest story of the game, of course, is that Ben Roethlisberger is playing 15 days after his appendectomy. Everyone is making a big deal of it, but I doubt that he would have gotten clearance from the doctor to play. There was a controversy when Bill Cowher wanted to challenge a play that wasn't considered a challengeable play. The big play of the first half was when the ball was tipped by James Farrior and then intercepted by Clark Haggans. The announcers for ESPN's Monday Night Football are saying that Roethlisberger is not playing that well, and he does seem to be having some problems connecting with his receivers. The first half ended without any score. To tell the truth, both sides are really sucking and not able to make any connections or yardage. There was no run longer than ten yards. I picked the Steelers to win in my Beat Bob poll for the week. If they win, then I have picked 13 out of 16. If not, then I get 12 out of 16. Second Half Roethlisberger is still playing. It seems that he had a fever of 104 this morning, and seems to be fine now according to Cowher. It's not Roethlisberger because no one seems to be able to run with the ball or catch it. In fact, on the first play for the Steelers in the half, Roethlisberger is sacked. Jacksonville scores first with just abit over five minutes left in the third period with a field goal. Score is 3-0. Time is running out and we are now in the fourth quarter and the Jaguars just scored another field goal with around six minutes left. The announcers are saying that this will be first time since 1981 when the defending Super Bowl Champs were shut out. Darn! With 4:53 left in the game, Roethlisberger threw an interception. It definitely looks like a loss. The Jaguars score with yet another field goal. The score is now 9-0. 1:44 left in the game, and Roethlisberger is intercepted again, and the ball is now on the one yard line for the Jaguars. The Jaguars are going to take the knee to run down the clock, and they win, shutting out the Steelers. Wednesday, September 13, 2006 -- Evening On the Steelers front, Ben Roethlisberger is expected to play against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night. It seems that they are just going to base his return on how he feels. Knowing Roethlisberger, he is probably going to say that he is feeling just fine regardless of whether he does or not. The bad news though is that Troy Polamalu might not play on Monday because of an injury to his shoulder. Polamalu is one of those players who makes things happen, and if he doesn't play, he will be missed. Thursday, September 7, 2006 -- First game of the season
First half The first quarter went by without much of note. Santonio Holmes made a beautiful flying catch--catching the ball right before he hit the ground. Willie Parker made a nice run on a 4th down and one yard move to get the Steelers a first down. The series resulted in a beautiful touchdown catch by Nate Washington. The Steelers take the lead at the start of the second quarter with a score of 7-0. Charlie Batch has been doing a good job so far in the game. He is cool, calm, and collected. With only abit over five minutes left in the half, the Dolphins got a good position from a punt return and tied the game with a touchdown. Score is now 7-7. Then Ricardo Colclough had a good kickoff return which was overturned because of holding, but then Parker got the yards back for them with a good run. Finally a pass interference is called on someone covering Cedric Wilson That fortunately got us a first down right before the two minute warning. A great throw by Batch to Hines Ward who just manages to get his feet into the endzone. We almost missed seeing that on television because they were busy showing a commercial. The Dolphins come back to score a field goal before the end of the half. Second half Things were not looking good for the Steelers when Batch fumbled the ball on the 1 yard line. The Dolphins scored a touchdown and took the lead--17-14. I was starting to get worried about the situation when the fourth quarter started and we were still behind. Then the miraculous happened. Heath Miller took a pass from Batch and ran it in for a touchdown. Total yardage was 87 yards which is the longest touchdown pass/run at Heinz Field. There was some controversy over this play because as NBC showed the replay, it looked like Miller was actually down at the two yard line. That whole breaking of the plane of the end zone always gets me confused because I think there are alot of questionable calls that turn into touchdowns. Well, the coach for the Dolphins, Nick Saban, had the opportunity to throw in the red flag to review the play. However, he waited until the last possible moment, threw the flag in underhand in a half-hearted way, and it landed behind the official. Since they didn't see the flag, the extra point continued, and then it was too late to review the play. Saban said that he threw out the flag before the play, but the replay showed that he half hearted threw it to land behind the ref. After that, Troy Polamalu intercepted a Daunte Culpepper pass. We weren't able to get it far enough down the field and attempted a field goal which didn't work. Then Joey Porter got into the act and had an interception that he ran in for a touchdown. Afterwards, Coach Cowher grabbed Porter and was happily yelling at him, and from what he said later, Porter just wanted to go off and celebrate, so Porter leaned over and kissed Cowher on the cheek. Boy, did that get people talking! Porter said after the game that he just loves the coach, and Cowher said that it was better than the time that he initiated a kiss to Joey. After that in the final two minutes, Porter sacked Culpepper and did his booting dancing. The final score was Steelers 28 and Dolphins 17. A win for the Steelers where everyone performed. Batch and Parker both did great jobs. Thursday, September 7, 2006 -- Evening The Steelers are playing the Miami Dolphins this evening in the first game of the NFL season. We were told that there would be a thrilling beginning and everyone should be watching at 8 pm. The game started at 8:30 pm. Well, all they had was some lame ass singing and Jerome Bettis entering the field in a bus. There was nothing of any really interest to watch. Fortunately, I went into the other room to watch the much more exciting Big Brother. More on the game later. Wednesday, September 6, 2006 -- Evening Jerome Bettis was in town with the NBC crew for tomorrow's night Steelers vs. Dolphins game. The Steelers gave Jerome a locker that is open to the public and has some of the things that Bettis used or that are associated with him. After the unveiling of Jerome's locker, he went to the Giant Eagle in Robinson Township to sign Super Bowl DVDs. He is going to be doing that until around 8:30 tonight which is an hour and a half from now. It seems that Jerome also made some comments in his role as a news analyst that the Steelers might not have an easy time of it this year. I have to agree. I know that some analysts are saying that the Steelers are going to have a good year and possibly be in contention for the Super Bowl again, but I'm not as hopeful. In other news, Brian St. Pierre was added to the active roster as a backup quarterback. Because of this Chidi Iwumoa was released. Monday, September 4, 2006 -- Late Afternoon There was some talk yesterday about what the Steelers would do with the quarterback position. Some of the local sports folks seem to think that they would bring back Tommy Maddox. However, I think that there is alot of bad feeling towards Maddox. Maddox didn't show up when the Steelers went to DC to be honored by President Bush. He also didn't show up for the ring ceremony. Also, the games that the Steelers lost last year can be laid at the door of Maddox's incompetence. Yeah, you can think it's just me, but there was a discussion on one of the ESPN about the Steelers results last year and this, and the concensus was that Maddox lost the games for the team. Anyway, I was in shock when I heard the local sportscasters talking like Maddox was a viable option. Thankfully, the Steelers didn't consider Maddox. They signed Brian St. Pierre to the practice squad. The thing is that Ben Roethlisberger is probably only going to miss two games at the most, and Charlie Batch is more than capable of being the starting quarterback. Sunday, September 3, 2006 -- Evening Bad news for the Steelers. The reason that Ben Roethlisberger wasn't at practice today is because he became ill right before practice and had an emergency appendectomy. Roethlisberger is going to be out for at least a week and will miss Thursday's first regular season game against the Miami Dolphins. Sunday, September 3, 2006 -- Late Afternoon One of my favorite Steelers, Ike Taylor has been signed to a five year, $22.5 million contact. I like Ike--as do so many people--because he is personable, good at what he does, and most of all, because he loves Pittsburgh. Taylor was saying from the beginning that he thought that things would be worked out with the Steelers because he loved the city and really wanted to remain with them. What was ironic is that I just saw a show about the day in the life of Taylor. The local Comcast On Demand selections have a whole slew of "day in the life" with various Steelers. The one with Taylor is from two years ago and even then he was talking about how happy he was to be a Steeler and how much he loved being with the team. I'm glad that things were worked out between them. Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger did not show up for practice today. Of co |
