Do you hear that? Just listen. Nothing? It's no surprise you don't hear anything because finally the critics both in Pittsburgh and beyond have been silenced. It's amazing what beating the Patriots can do for the way a team is perceived. Heck, isn't everything about perception nowadays. The Eagles are still a bad team at 3-4, but everyone suddenly considers them a playoff contender. Meanwhile, the Giants are 5-2 and most write them off as an early round playoff exit if they even make it that far. Let this be a lesson that things aren't always as they seem. Right now most will consider the Steelers the class of the AFC. If they lose to Baltimore next week everything will change. So while it's nice to not have to defend the quality of the Steelers for a week, enjoy it while it lasts. You know I will as I go around the NFL.
STEELERS 25, Patriots 17
- The Steelers, after years of having Tom Brady toy with them like they were a Pop Warner team, finally learned how to stop the Patriots - don't line the corners up ten yards off the receivers. I've only been saying this since... Dick LeBeau took over as defensive coordinator. Had the Steelers employed this strategy in the Super Bowl (as they should have), "Sixburgh" would be an outdated term for the city.
- Even without key starters, the Steelers continue to impress and actually may be even more impressive than when they were healthy. As Mike Tomlin says, "The standard is the standard." I and all of the other NFL teams would agree, but nobody follows that more than the Steelers have in the last season and a half.
- I've given the secondary credit every week, but it's astonishing to me that nobody else has given this group the attention they deserve. How many times do they have to keep the league's top receivers in check before somebody mentions them? If they were playing poorly we'd hear nothing but how bad they are playing.
Around the NFL
- I was told last week that the New Orleans Saints were better than the Pittsburgh Steelers because the Saints destroyed the Indianapolis Colts and the Steelers barely beat them. Then the St. Louis Rams beat the Saints without Sam Bradford. Somebody better tell me what to think this week!
- Is it a stretch to say that Kevin Kolb is the league's worst quarterback? He is the reason the Arizona Cardinals blew their game against the Baltimore Ravens and he's the reason the Cardinals are only 1-6.
- I guess the Washington Redskins can be written off this year. They could be considered the worst team right now, if not for the winless teams left.
- There is no such thing as a college-style offense contrary to what the Denver Broncos tried to say this week. There is a pro-style offense which is the general idea of how an NFL offense is run. Then there are variations of offenses that college teams use such as the University of Houston's "Let Case Keenum throw the ball 60 times a game" style offense that they use. What the Broncos ran was not any of those things. Tim Tebow is a really good quarterback if you let him play his game, but the Broncos aren't doing that. Let the guy run. Run options, run quarterback draws and sweeps, run anything. So what if he gets hurt? Then you turn to Kyle Orton. But while Tebow is healthy you're going to have a darn good team that a lot of teams will struggle to stop.
- The San Francisco 49ers and homefield advantage should not be allowed in the same sentence, but for some reason it keeps coming up.
- The Seattle Seahawks aren't very good, but the Cincinnati Bengals looked mightily impressive against them. I still don't think they're ready to make the playoffs, but just maybe...
- Well it looks like the Philadelphia Eagles are back on the map. It's unfortunate because I was under the impression that they took this season off because I haven't seen to many mentions about them in my Facebook feed this season. Let's just say the weather is starting to look pretty fair for these fans...
- The San Diego Chargers must have been playing a meaningful game this week. Of course they were, because they lost to the division rival Kansas City Chiefs and with a very appropriate ending to boot. Now they are no longer in first place in the AFC West and if Carson Palmer plays well for the Oakland Raiders, third place may be realistic.
Here comes your unfounded vitriol towards Eagles fans again. 15 years on the season ticket waiting list, and I am something near number 20,000 in line. There is zero problem with the fans of this team being fair weather in any place, but your mind. We have been critical of an underperforming team so far this season, but losing three straight games on fourth quarter collapses will bring out the worst in people, throw in a fourth in that row where they didn't show up for the first half, but nearly come back after falling way behind, but can't come through on two final opportunities, and again the fans were turning pretty negative. A win against a Washington team, that had a winning record, but no one believed was any good didn't sway many opinions, but a thrashing of a solid Dallas team has people believe this team is "gelling," or turning the corner here. Then throw in the fact the Eagles don't have much in the rest of their schedule of teams with winning records, and suddenly you have what looks like a contender. This team was far from bad, there has only one loss by more than one score this year, and that was courtesy of a late game turnover in a game that they led in the fourth quarter; they did, however prove they couldn't play 60 minutes prior to this week. Offensively, this is one of the most talented teams in the NFL, LeSean McCoy is second in the NFL in rushing yardage, 40 yards behind Adrian Peterson, on 30 less carries, not to mention his prowess as a receiver. Then you have the receiving corps, which I don't even need to go into detail on, plus Brent Celek is really getting some receptions as the safety valve, which means Vick has been getting protection too. Some positive points here, at least.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, you mention the Giants, who are a team that has managed to be the Eagles opposite, three fourth quarter comebacks have brought them to their 5-2 record, two of them against the dregs of the NFL, and they were assisted in those two by the officials. They lost the game to the Cardinals when on the final drive of the game when Victor Cruz fumbled the ball totally untouched, but the referees decided, it wasn't a fumble because "he had given himself up." The game should have been over at that point, but they were given a second life, and took advantage of it, so credit them for that, and for scoring twice in the final 2-1/2 minutes to get that win against a woeful Arizona team. This week was similar, but it wasn't 100% anything even if the refs didn't blow another late call in their favor. Dolphins led for the majority of this game too before not showing up in the second half, leading to a fourth quarter demise. After their collapse the Dolphins were driving and converted an important first down to Brandon Marshall before he was called for a push off, the problem was, he never made contact with the defender, he just bit so badly on his fake he looked like he must have been pushed. Put another win in the Giants column shortly after that play, although with the Dolphins, there is zero guarantee they would have done anything after that first down, so who knows, just saying. The next thing with the Giants, is their schedule the rest of the way is brutal, looking at it, they may be lucky to go 2-4 in the next 6 games. The NFC race is far from over, and I am not saying it is, but I think the division will sort itself out by the end, with the Giants finishing third behind the two more talented teams, the Eagles and (this hurts to even say) the Cowboys.
The way I see the NFC right now, hell maybe the entire NFL, is the Packers and the rest though, so until someone beats them it is hard to argue against them, but I think some will fall out of contention. One of those in my mind is the Bears, their offense is simply Matt Forte, and that is not good enough, even if he a ton better than I thought. Their defense is still pretty good, but I just don't think this team is worth much more than 8-8, a step behind the Lions, and a galaxy away from the Packers.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rest, I have no real disagreements with you; the Steelers looked phenomenal this week. The defense made Tom Brady look pedestrian at best, so my hats off to them. Beat the Ravens this week (which is still a tall order), and the AFC is their playground. The Ravens have proven inconsistent though, pretty much playing to the level of their competition each week.
I have zero idea what is going on out in the AFC West now, other than the fact the Broncos are terrible, so I wouldn't even try, as each time I think I get that, the teams pull another 180. With the history, maybe the Chargers will pull it together to finish in first so they can choke in the first round of the playoffs. AFC South still looks like the Texans division to lose, although the Titans are better than I thought, even without an effective Chris Johnson.
Sorry, I started typing and found out there was a character limit on replies. This was originally one run on reply, had to make it two, but nice job summarizing as usual, even if we disagree on one major point.
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