Big Lead Sports Bar

10/08/2007

BEAT DOWN

STEELERS (4-1) 21
SEAHAWKS (3-2) 0


Today is undoubtedly a busy day for excuse-makers in Seattle, because they can't blame this one on the refs. No, the only ones to blame for Sunday's atrocity were the Seahawks themselves, for an utterly embarrassing performance on nearly every level. Unless you consider zero points and 144 yards of offense a good performance.
Not only were the Steelers missing Troy Polamalu, Casey Hampton, Bryant McFadden, and Hines Ward, but San Antonio Holmes went down in warmups and was out of action on Sunday. I think even Steely McBeam was nursing a hammy. But did it matter? Obviously not.
Seattle was missing Deion Branch, who sprained his right foot in the second quarter. They were also missing Shaun Alexander, who didn't show up at all on Sunday. Wait, he did play? I didn't even notice.
Big Ben was unconscious on Sunday: 18-22, 206 yards and a TD, without the service of his top two receivers. He somehow pulled off the impossible, winning a game 21-0 while throwing to Cedrick Wilson, Nate Washington and Willie Reid. Big Ben's biggest fan (literally) was clearly enthused about the performance.

There were several plays worthy of discussion from yesterday's game. One was Ike Taylor's interception before the half, which clearly killed any possible momentum the Seahawks might muster. After this game and the Super Bowl, Matt Hasselbeck clearly sees Ike Taylor in his nightmares. It was a huge play from a supercharged Steeler secondary who raised their game sans Polamalu and McFadden.
Another memorable play was Allen Rossum's punt return at the one yard line. I was wondering why he would try to field a punt at his own one when half the Seattle coverage team was surrounding the ball. But apparently a player can field the ball and advance it without the possibility of a fumble, because Seattle had illegally touched the ball. So all's well that ends well. Except for when Rossum fumbled a punt return. Memories of 2006 came flooding back.
Yet a third memorable play was Najeh Davenport's 45-yard rumble, which, as cliches go, immediately made him "another Bus" (at least in Don Banks' mind). A reminder for the 857th time: just because a running back weighs around 250 and wears a Steeler uniform, he does not automatically become Jerome Bettis.
While not a tremendously exciting game, it was an important one to win as far as momentum goes. We stay a game up on Baltimore, who won despite scoring only 9 points. Clearly, the addition of Willis McGahee is paying huge dividends there.
Now the Steelers go into the bye week at 4-1 after a nice bounce-back win, as opposed to 3-2 and on a two-game losing streak. The next game is a Sunday nighter on October 21 at Denver, who may or may not be featuring Travis Henry at running back by then. Of course, if the Broncos play like they did yesterday, when they did have Travis Henry, his presence won't make much of a difference. Hey Mike Shanahan: you got blown out by Norv Turner. NORV TURNER!
More thoughts:

--Yet another touchdown by a Steeler tight end on Sunday. Steeler Nation is ecstatic.

--Anyone catch the appearance by The Emperor Chas Noll before the game?

--Your NFL rushing leader at the moment: Fast Willie Parker, with 507 yards.

--Proof of the strong play from the Steeler secondary: Seattle completed 2 passes in the second half.

--The Steelers are 3-0 at home, winning by a combined score of 84-19. I like those numbers.

--This was the second time Seattle's been shutout in Mike Holmgren's nine seasons behind the wheel.
--Four of this week's top five rushers: Michael Turner, Kenton Keith, Brian Leonard, and Sammy Morris. Not exactly Ladainian Tomlinson, Larry Johnson, and Frank Gore.
--I guess Matt Leinart's broken collarbone fixes the Cardinals' QB controversy. And I'm sure Rams fans were thrilled watching Kurt Warner drop their team to 0-5.

--New Orleans keeps coming up with new and innovative ways to lose, at witnessed by Sunday's last-second field goal loss at the hands of Carolina. Last year's NFC Championship seems like 20 years ago.

--Congrats to Trent Green for setting the NFL record with his 900th career concussion. And nice touch by Travis Johnson for standing over Green and taunting him while he lay motionless.


--That Tennessee buzzsaw keeps going: they somehow win a game while committing 5 turnovers.

--Was that two-minute drill by Green Bay the worst since Philadelphia's in the Super Bowl? It's got my vote. We'll see how it affects Joesportsfan's Top 7 Ridiculous Brett Favre Quotes.

7 comments:

Joey Porter’s Pit Bulls said...

I had the feeling the Steelers deactivated Hines Ward and held out Santo Holmes just so Holmgren, Seattle fans, media, etc., couldn't whine that THEIR starting receivers, D.J. Hackett and Deion Branch, would have made all the difference.

Cotter said...

If I were Seattle, I'd blame this one on Donovan McNabb...works for Philly

GMoney said...

No thoughts on the DOMINATION by the Skins over the "#1 offense" of Mike Martz???

Joey Porter’s Pit Bulls said...

I'm too disturbed by the pictures accompanying this post.

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

No gmoney... and that would be because this is a Pittsburgh blog.


Yeah, I'm telling you what JPPBs, that picture of Favre in the tight rolled-up jeans shorts is the stuff of nightmares!

OHHHH you mean the fat chick? That's a pretty obvious photoshop job BTW.

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

By the way, look behind the people in the upper left of the Favre picture.

Is that a poster of someone in an old Pirates uniform?!?!

omnivore43 said...

Without Troy, Dick LeBeau seemed to blitz less and drop more DBs into coverage. Seatle was clearly not ready for this, and they looked totally incompetent. Seeing how well this worked, shouldn't we try this approach more even with Polamalu in the game? I know its against the rules to say anything bad about the magical zone blitz, but this game it was pure coverage that got the job done.