Are You Ready for some Football?!

I’m sitting at the Hyatt at the Pittsburgh Airport waiting for my Dad to pick me up and head to the game and I can’t believe another season is upon us. I know you’ve all heard ‘old people’ say it, but it’s true… time flies when you’re having fun. And, the last few years have been a blast for me.

I’ve been neglecting The Steeler Fanatic of late but, I’ve been incredibly busy building up my business, especially over the last 2 years. The good thing, I’ll be sitting in a Club Box from now on to watch the games and I can fly in and out of Pittsburgh instead of driving (that drive sucks by the way). My Dad and I are pretty excited about the Club seats.

Anyway, that’s why I haven’t been updating the Blog for a while but I’ll do my best to get some photos and my views of the games over this season. This is the 4th season I’ve had this Blog up and running and it has really provided for some great stress relief.

Here are some highlights I see this season.

Indy and Dallas coming into Pittsburgh for what I’m sure will be 2 outstanding games
The toughest schedule in the league… bring it on
3 fast, strong, healthy running backs
A linebacker crew that is sure to kick some serious A$$
Mike Tomlin can put Bill Cowher behind him and coach this team

That’s a few things that jump out at me right now and I’m sure there will be more. Stay tuned to The Steeler Fanatic for some great photos and a critique of the game later this week.

Written by Pat Lovell - The Steeler Fanatic
Pat has been following the Pittsburgh Steelers for over 30 years and is known worldwide as "The Steeler Fanatic". If you are interested in contributing to this website or would like Pat to contribute to your Blog, Website or Publication, Click Here.

New Video Section Added

I’ve finally added a section of Steeler Videos. I’ll be posting some of my favorite videos as well as putting together some highlight and tribute videos. If you have a favorite video or want to have your video added here, send an email using the Contact Us form.

Written by Pat Lovell - The Steeler Fanatic
Pat has been following the Pittsburgh Steelers for over 30 years and is known worldwide as "The Steeler Fanatic". If you are interested in contributing to this website or would like Pat to contribute to your Blog, Website or Publication, Click Here.

Another Myron Cope Tribute Video

Written by Pat Lovell - The Steeler Fanatic
Pat has been following the Pittsburgh Steelers for over 30 years and is known worldwide as "The Steeler Fanatic". If you are interested in contributing to this website or would like Pat to contribute to your Blog, Website or Publication, Click Here.

The End of A Mediocre Season….

Mike Tomlin’s first season as head coach of the Steelers has come to an embarrassing end. Overall, I think Mike did an OK job his first season, fighting through injuries and trying to see where he fits in the scheme of things. Tomlin needs to revamp this defense and get some solid performers in place if we are going to be in contention for the Super Bowl again. We need new corners, a couple down lineman and a couple more linebackers with some attitude. The offense doesn’t need major restructure just some lineman that want to protect the quarterback and everyone to come back healthy next year. Special teams have been up and down but mostly down, we’ve lost more games because we’ve allowed the big run back than we have for poor tackling on defense. So, all in all, I give his first season a C, he was average at best.

Onto last nights game against the pathetic Jaguars. How did we let this team off the hook and win in our backyard, twice! I can’t believe what I saw last night. I told my wife, after Garrard’s 2nd big run on 3rd down, we need a linebacker to sit back and ‘spy’ him so he doesn’t break off these big runs. I’m blown away that LeBeau didn’t put a ‘spy’ in, especially on that big 4th down to win the game. He was doing it all night, why the heck couldn’t they see that.

Ben, Ben, Ben… what can I say, he made some very bad decisions but I can’t blame him fully because the lineman don’t give a crap and don’t offer up any protection. I think they feel, he’ll scramble so why should we block anyway. The O line needs to be a HUGE priority for next season or we end up with the same scenario.

The defense played a pretty good game but really blew it on the big 3rd down plays and couldn’t stop Garrard from rushing for 1st downs when it was crucial. For next season, we need 3 dedicated, hard core pass rushers/run stoppers or it’s time to explore Tomlin’s 4-3 defense. Oh, please replace Taylor and Townsend with two above average corners, this experiment has run it’s course….

Can anyone stop the Patriots? I sure hope so and I would honestly like to see Brett Favre go out in style and win the Super Bowl.

Written by Pat Lovell - The Steeler Fanatic
Pat has been following the Pittsburgh Steelers for over 30 years and is known worldwide as "The Steeler Fanatic". If you are interested in contributing to this website or would like Pat to contribute to your Blog, Website or Publication, Click Here.

Steelers lose close one to the Jaguars

The Steelers made a valiant comeback effort, tying the game late in the fourth quarter, but Jacksonville came right back down the field and scored, defeating the Steelers 29-22 at Heinz Field.

The loss drops the Steelers to 9-5 on the season and has them tied with the Cleveland Browns, although they hold the edge in the AFC North because of head-to-head competition.

All-around, it was a performance that did not please head coach Mike Tomlin.

“I will be straight to the point this afternoon. We are not playing well enough to win right now,” said Tomlin. “That is the reality of it. We can’t look to anyone else to solve our problems. The answers to our problems are right in that room. That is what I just told that football team.”

Ben Roethlisberger completed only 16 passes for 146 yards, but had three touchdown passes, setting a Steelers record for most touchdown passes in a season with 29. He was often under pressure, getting sacked five times.

The Jaguars running back combo of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew hurt the Steelers defense that couldn’t find a way to stop them as they combined for 216 yards. Quarterback David Garrard completed 17 passes for 197 yards and threw three touchdowns, and escaped without a sack. The Steelers had one interception, but dropped several other opportunities.

Written by Pat Lovell - The Steeler Fanatic
Pat has been following the Pittsburgh Steelers for over 30 years and is known worldwide as "The Steeler Fanatic". If you are interested in contributing to this website or would like Pat to contribute to your Blog, Website or Publication, Click Here.