Big Lead Sports Bar

10/19/2008

STEELERS WIN HOME GAME IN CINCINNATI

STEELERS (5-1) 38

BENGALS (0-7) 10

ROETHLISBERGER 17-28, 216 YARDS, 2 TD

MOORE 20-120, 3 TD

HOLMES 5-89

When the Steelers signed Mewelde Moore in the offseason, it registered barely a blip on the radar, probably because of the little $102 million contract signed by a certain franchise QB around the same time. In fact, on the day of Moore's signing, I made as big a deal out of his standing outside of a Barnes and Noble in full Vikings garb as his offensive output. To say Steeler Nation was not exactly enthused by the signing was an understatement. But that's OK...we can leave the glitzy, big-name signings to Jerry Jones. And he clearly knows what he's doing.

But Mr. Moore is quickly making a name for himself in a Steeler uniform - and he didn't even have to pose in front of Barnes & Noble. 134 yards and three touchdowns on a given Sunday in October will do that for you. When combining such an effort with another dominant defensive performance, which included seven sacks of Ryan Fitzpatrick, you get a 28-point margin of victory. Steelers 38, Bengals 10. Or as we could say yet again, Hammer 38, Nail 10.
After three quarters, the score was 17-10, which was unsettling for a variety of reasons. But the Steelers would widen the lead thrice in the final 15 minutes, with touchdowns from Nate Washington, Moore, and Hines Ward, allowing the team to arrive home with a 5-1 record and a two-game lead in the AFC North. The loss dropped the Bengals to 0-7, just a defeat away from starting the season 0 and ocho. Or should I say cero and ocho. I don't know, I took Latin in school, not Spanish.
The Steeler defense had another good day at the office, allowing the Bengals a total of 212 yards while somehow holding the Fitzpatrick and Cedric Benson-led offense in check. Let's just say the Steelers' opponent conjured up no memories of the Greatest Show on Turf Rams; but you play who you are scheduled to play, and the Steelers had a strong performance.
James Harrison, Lawrence Timmons, and Lamarr Woodley each sacked Fitzpatrick twice, and James Farrior finished with 11 tackles. The defense also forced two Fitzpatrick fumbles, recovering one. I'm guessing Harvard doesn't have a class in holding onto the football.
As you've probably heard, all this defensive mayhem helped Large Ben raise his career record in Ohio to 11-0. Of course, it helps that the only two teams in Ohio are the Bengals and Browns, which have as many Super Bowl rings as you or I (and yes, Cleveland fans, I know you dominated the league pre-merger in the '50s; spare me your emails; I'm sure you get great satisfaction from those wins). But 11-0 is 11-0.

Game Notes:

--Hines Ward probably won't be getting a Christmas card from Bengal LB Keith Rivers, whose jaw Ward broke on Sunday. The play was not penalized, which means Ward should probably expect a fine of $10-$15,000 from Roger Goodell this week.

--Uninformed Bengal LB Brandon Johnson saw a double-standard at work on the unflagged play, because Rivers is not a quarterback. Are you implying that the league protects the quarterback position unlike any other position? Surely you jest, Mr. Johnson.
--Bengals safety Chinedum Ndukwe hinted that retribution will be forthcoming for Ward when the team meets again. If I've learned one thing over the years, it's that when Chindeum Ndukwe says he'll get you, he'll get you.
--Limas Sweed sighting! One catch, 11 yards. Hey, you've gotta start somewhere. By the way, I was at Wal-Mart on Saturday and I saw a guy wearing a Limas Sweed jersey. I'd love to see the line of thinking behind that purchase.
--Heath Miller had two catches, bringing his season total through six games to...18. That's on pace for 48, which would actually be one more than his 2007 total of 47. That statistical analysis was dedicated to the people who keep saying Miller doesn't get the ball as much as he did last year.
--How do you spell big play? N-A-T-E W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N.
That's a 48 and a 50-yard catch in consecutive weeks for #85. Maybe that's why the Steelers gave him nearly a million and a half in 2008.
--Cincinnati is 0-7 for the fifth time since Mike Brown and Kevin McClatchy bought the team in 1991. OK, it was just Mike Brown, not Kevin McClatchy. Let's just say they have similar results.
--The Bengals achieved their initial first-down of the game with 4:57 left in the first half. Thankfully, the Steelers had built up an insurmountable three-point lead with all the Bengal ineptitude in the first 30 minutes.
--For those wondering, here's Chad Ochocinco's game-by-game stats against the Steelers:

2001: 5-52 and 2-25

2002: 7-71 and 7-152

2003: 4-77 and 6-117-1 TD

2004: 4-54 and 5-80-1 TD

2005: 4-94 and 5-54 (4-55 in playoff game)

2006: 1-11 and 4-53

2007: 5-51 and 6-86

Average: 4.6 catches for 69.8 yards
--Family Guy had a parody of the Mean Joe Greene Coke commercial on their new episode last night. Hopefully I'll get a video clip of that sometime soon.
--It's late October. The Steelers are 5-1 and first in the AFC North. Pitt is 5-1, first in the Big East, and 17th in the country. Penn State is first in the Big Tenleven and third in the BCS. I'd think the demanding football fans of Western Pennsylvania would have little to complain about, although I'm sure they'll find something.
--Next-up for the Steelers: Plaxico Burress and the 5-1, Super Bowl Champion New York Giants.
Seeing Tom Coughlin coach against the Steelers without Mark Brunell, Fred Taylor and Jimmy Smith at his disposal will be odd. It should be a tough matchup for the Steelers. Hopefully some of their wounded warriors will be back in the saddle by then, as long as they don't step in any holes before 4:15 on Sunday. Expect roughly 1,852 mentions of the 2004 quarterback draft class, which included Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Phil Rivers, and of course, JP Losman.

6 comments:

Real McCoy said...

Not only did Penn State win the game. They stay in 1st place in the conference, break their long losing streak to Michigan, and possibly most importantly they covered the spread with the long TD with barely over 2:00 left and it looked like Penn State was willing to run out the clock.

RedHawks Hockey said...

what's wrong with a limas sweed jersey? i bought one. 20 bucks. authentic. well 'authentic'. one of those knock offs but its still sweet. or should i say sweed. its like people who bought a timmons jersey last year. its a long term investment. just you wait.

mondesishouse said...

If it was only $20, I could see where someone would buy one. By the way...who's selling jerseys for $20?

Unknown said...

That wasn't the only episode they've made fun of the mean joe greene commercial. There was another. I'll dig around and find the clip...

Chip said...

There's a store down the Strip District that sells authentic knockoffs for $20. I forget the name but it's like down the block from Peppi's

By the way, speaking of Jerry Jones, has anybody else read all the Cowboy blogs begging for him to bring in Bill Cowher?

Man, that would be worse than seeing him take over the Browns.

RedHawks Hockey said...

I got it on eBay. I had my polamalu jersey stolen last year when I was at school (why anyone would steal a steelers jersey at Miami university in oxford Ohio is beyond me, but that is neither here nor there) so I've been looking online for a while and the sweed was the cheapest plus I feel that limas has a large upside. There are lots of jerseys on eBay. Also jerseyhotsell.com has great deals on jerseys, especially authentic pens jerseys for 50 bucks or so but the site is hard to use because it is Chinese and it's poorly organized