NFL 2010

[skeptik]

Yeah, so I'm just gonna go ahead and leave these right hurr...




Anyway...the Dixon experiment is over, for now at least anyway. He has a ligament tear in his knee and will have surgery tomorrow. Obviously he won't be starting again this year. Tomlin said that IR is a possibility, but if they resort to that it would be to open a roster spot, because he should be good to play in a month or 5 weeks or so. Leftwich is going to test his knee in practice tomorrow, and either he or Batch will start against Tampa.

I find it really interesting to watch Tomlin's press conferences after these first two wins. He appears visually emotional and drained, demonstrating that he is really invested in his team and fighting for them, which I think is really important for them at this stage. Of course it's likely somewhat intentional as a motivating factor for the team (like when he said "Regardless of our demise being reported, we expect to win. We're pleased that we are 2-0 but we are not astounded by it. We're capable. We're a little bit annoyed to be quite honest about our premature reporting of our death.").

Casey Hampton and Max Starks will be back against Tampa Bay. The Hampton return is welcomed, although not urgent against an opponent like the Bucs when they have a more than serviceable backup in Chris Hoke, but Starks returning at tackle, although he's not Pro Bowl caliber, is clearly much better than the Steelers' second and third options at the position, and the Titans' speedy rushers took advantage of that all game long. Regardless, I expect the Steelers to be 3-0 going into the home standoff against the Ravens.

 

[Mort Divine]

With how well the Bucs have been playing I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled the upset.

 

[brooks55]

With how well the Bucs have been playing I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled the upset.

I like your thinking.

 

[skeptik]

Yeah, they really stuck it to the Browns and Panthers.

edit: Anyway, I also wanted, but forgot, to comment on how pleased I am with the Steelers' 2010 draft so far. Of course Maurkice Pouncey is doing superb for a rookie center, but he's also the best lineman the Steelers have, and it's made a tangible impact on their play (which will be even more evident once Roethlisberger is back and defenses aren't constantly putting 8 and 9 in the box). He was also the only lineman to play every snap against the Titans. Beyond that, Jason Worilds, the second round linebacker, had 3 special teams tackles in his first game (he didn't play against the Titans because of a shoulder injury). Stevenson Sylvester, the 5th round ILB, also has 3 special teams tackles and a forced fumble. Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown have already contributed on special teams as well, Sanders with tackles (also didn't play against the Titans) and Brown with a touchdown on the opening kickoff (his first official play in the NFL).

Thaddeus Gibson, Jonathan Dwyer, and Crezdon Butler have yet to dress. I don't expect the latter two to dress at all this year because they're the 4th RB and 5th CB respectively. Keenan Lewis, the 4th CB, will likely rarely dress either. When the Steelers play dime, they play 3 CBs (William Gay) and 3 Safeties (Will Allen), but they usually stick with the nickel because of how well Lawrence Timmmons covers. Of course Chris Scott is still on the PUP and Doug Worthington was released from the practice squad, mainly because there was simply no room.

 

[Mort Divine]

They held the best rushing duo in the league to less than 100 yards, and despite the Browns and Panthers being pretty bad, the Bucs not allowing any second half points is still impressive.

Freeman has improved a great deal from the time I saw him play last year, much better decision making, greater pocket awareness, very quick on his feet, knows when to throw the ball away.

I'm not saying they WILL beat the Steelers, probably won't, but I wouldn't be too surprised if they found a way to.

 

[Krow]

That hit on Vince Young is one of the nastiest I've seen in terms of just being smashed into the ground... the collective reaction in my house was "goddamn."

 

[skeptik]

They held the best rushing duo in the league to less than 100 yards, and despite the Browns and Panthers being pretty bad, the Bucs not allowing any second half points is still impressive.

Freeman has improved a great deal from the time I saw him play last year, much better decision making, greater pocket awareness, very quick on his feet, knows when to throw the ball away.

I'm not saying they WILL beat the Steelers, probably won't, but I wouldn't be too surprised if they found a way to.

The running game wasn't THAT bad. Their top 3 running backs averaged just a hair less than 4 YPC, which is adequate. But when your QBs are throwing picks and the defense is loading up the box knowing you're going to run, that tends to happen.

Let's just put it this way, I would be surprised if they lost. Tampa Bay in beating the Browns and Panthers have shown nothing to indicate that they can compete with a quality opponent. If they do somehow manage to win, it would most likely be a case of the best team on the field not winning.

@Krow, yeah, it was an awesome hit, though I'm marginally surprised there was no fine. Jeff Fisher wasn't happy about that play at all. He also insisted that Polamalu should've been flagged. Belly-aching after being shown that beating up on the Raiders is unimpressive imo.

Oh, and meet the Steelers' new starting quarterback:

 

[King Richard]

Colts are going to Denver. Colts will crush Denver like always. Nothing much to talk about really.

Btw, I almost felt bad for the Giants this past Sunday night, but my god the Colts looked amazing. That was reminiscent of the 2005 season when they blew everyone out.

 

[Mort Divine]

then choked in the playoffs lol

 

[King Richard]

THANKS FOR THE REMINDER BRO

SUPER *THUMBS UP*

 

[skeptik]

THANKS FOR THE REMINDER BRO

SUPER *THUMBS UP*

On an unrelated note, I just read some more encouraging news for the Steelers offense going forward. Rashard Mendenhall leads the league in broken tackles and yards after contact. Once Roethlisberger gets back and the offensive line is both healthy and in sync, the Steelers should have the potent offense they had last year, and hopefully even better.

 

[King Richard]

/wrists

 

[Badbird]

Ya I know, I was just being a smartass in response to your comment.

I don't give a shit if Peyton ever sets another personal milestone again tbh. I want to see more of these:

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:...kbhBEY&t=1&usg=__6P7ZaB-tPf79zYbpiRZNrax3Gt0=

FYP

 

[Dak]

The Texans are PI on almost every pass, and the refs aren't calling shit. This is so much bullshit.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

waiting for Dodens to come in with 8 paragraphs of bullshit.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

 

[skeptik]

Yeah, don't you hate it when people who actually understand something use their knowledge to break down what they experienced? I really much prefer short, half sentence bitch posts or "FUCK YEAH"s. Seriously though, I write as much as I do because I know there are other Steelers fans here and I hope that they read what I write and I hope that they learn something from it.

With that said, obviously I'm happy with the game. In case you didn't notice, there was actually an offense today. I guess that's the product of Charlie Batch actually practicing with the first team offense for the first time in 3 years. Ironically though, I don't think he performed all that great. His two touchdowns to Mike Wallace were underthrown and he was lucky the Bucs didn't make a play. On the first one, the rookie starting for the safety that just got suspended turned his back on the play and Wallace was able to fake him out. On the second one, Talib simply couldn't intercept the ball despite it being in his arms, and it bounced into Wallace's arms. And of course he made the mistakes everybody was complaining that Dixon was going to make with two ugly interceptions. I'm pretty sure he played well enough to start next week though. The offensive line didn't give up any sacks...the last time that happened was when Dixon started against the Ravens last year.

Rashard Mendenhall looked impressive against a less than impressive defense. 140+ yards on >20 carries is a good day. I liked what Isaac Redman was able to do as well, even though he didn't convert that 4th and 1.

The defense played very well, but not as well as in previous weeks. But they didn't need to either. They still stuffed the run and played the pass until junk time where the Bucs finally got a touchdown. I'm happy for the Bucs that they had the foresight to pick up LeGarrette Blount. He's such a talented back, and he showed it, especially on that 3rd effort touchdown. He may have off-field issues, but his on-field talent cannot be denied.

Although the game could have possibly ended differently, I'm really glad that Tomlin decided to use a lot of backups in junk time to get them some game experience, which will be important in the future. Two rookie linebackers, Jason Worilds and Stevenson Sylvester, teamed up for a sack, which was definitely nice to see.

 

[Dak]

I have to say I am impressed how the Steelers have handled themselves and performed in the absence of Big Ben.

As far as my Cowboys go, very little negative to say today except for the very beginning of the game and the garbage TD allowed at the end.

Roy Williams has looked good this year, looks like he finally has Romo's confidence, and for good reason. The defense had 3 takeaways, Ware had 3 sacks. Dallas has been running the draw more than any other type of running play since Garrett has been the offensive coordinator, and they finally got some running room with it today.

As a Dallas fan, it's nearly always obvious to me when the draw is coming, and I am sure that's the case for opposing defenses, so it is impressive they they still manage to run it effectivily.
What they cannot seem to do though is any running to the outside, and it doesn't help when Barber trys to do anything fancy. He needs to go back to punishing DBs, instead of stutter-stepping.

The biggest problem for the Cowboys was penalties (again). At least there were fewer presnap penatlies, but the various downfield penalties hurt.

The officiating was once again garbage. In the Cowboys favor, the officials did not notice time had expired at the end of the half, but they did not call PI on the Texans DB that tackled Dez Byrant before the ball got there on the deep ball to the end zone in the 2nd qtr (Bryant still managed to haul in the ball but came down out of bounds.)

The Cowboys ability to exploit the hole in the Cover two was excellent, and the Texans never seemed to adjust. Defense series of the game was holding the Texans out of the endzone with 1st and goal inside the one.

 

[Valerie]

Niners are making me cry.

 

[Badbird]

Pats D sucks but the O still kicks ass.