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.

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.

The Steelers got off to a slow start, but quickly turned things around and defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 24-10 at Heinz Field.

The win improves the Steelers record to 9-3 on the season and gives them a two-game lead in the AFC North after Cleveland lost to Arizona earlier in the day.

“It is great to get another win, particularly in our division and at home,” said head coach Mike Tomlin. “We did fall short of perfection like we have in just about every game we have played thus far, but the guys were resilient. They didn’t blink. They stayed the course and were able to get it done.

“You have to find ways to keep stacking the wins and sticking them with the rest of them and moving forward. We were able to do that tonight.”

Wide receiver Hines Ward had 11 receptions for 90 yards and had two touchdown receptions with the second being Ward’s 64th career touchdown, a new Steelers record as he surpassed John Stallworth.

“Hines Ward was Hines Ward tonight,” said Tomlin. “I am excited and happy for him. It is a tremendous honor and one he truly deserves. I’m sure he will continue to move forward and playing winning ball for us.”

Ben Roethlisberger completed 21 of 32 passes for 184 yards, two touchdown passes and rushed for a touchdown.

Written by Pat Lovell - The Steeler Fanatic
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It wasn’t pretty, but nobody said it had to be as the Steelers defeated the Miami Dolphins 3-0, improving their record to 8-3 and maintaining a one-game lead in the AFC North, while the Dolphins fell to 0-11.

The game was a defensive battle in adverse weather conditions, which delayed the start of the game and made the field tough to play on.

“I’ll start by saying it was great to get a win tonight,” said head coach Mike Tomlin. “It was a great team victory with a lot of positives to point to in the game, first and foremost, the work of our defense as a collective unit. Any time you hold someone scoreless, regardless of the conditions, it’s a great performance.”

Jeff Reed pulled out the win for the Steelers with a 24-yard field goal with 17 seconds left on the clock.

“It was a test of our character tonight,” added Tomlin. “It took 59-plus minutes to get that one done. Jeff (Reed) banged one home for us, and I don’t want to miss pointing out our long snapper [Greg Warren] and holder [Daniel Sepulveda]. In those conditions, it takes all three of them plus protection. It was a great win. We’ll stack it up with the rest of them and move forward.”

Ben Roethlisberger completed 18 of 21 passes for 165 yards, but was sacked five times. Hines Ward had nine receptions for 88 yards, while Willie Parker passes the 1,000-yard mark for the season while gaining 81 yards on the night.

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The Steelers remain on top of the AFC North with the 38-7 win, improving their record to 6-2 while the Ravens dropped to 4-4.

Linebacker James Harrison turned in a performance that those before him had to be proud of as he had eight solo tackles, one assist, three and a half sacks, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and an interception.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger played a phenomenal game, completing 13 of 16 for 209 yards and five touchdowns.

“It’s a great win for us tonight,” said head coach Mike Tomlin. “The men just responded to the situation the way we had hoped. We had some outstanding performances by some men. Ben (Roethlisberger), James Harrison of course, those two guys were spectacular, but I don’t want to devalue the team effort. I like the way this football team played tonight and we got the win.”

Roethlisberger left the game in the third quarter after going down hard and remaining down for several minutes following a 45-yard completion to Santonio Holmes. Charlie Batch came in for Roethlisberger for a series, and then Roethlisberger returned for one series, before being replaced by Batch for the majority of the fourth quarter.

The defense shut down the Ravens offense, which put up 58 points in two games against them last year, allowing Steve McNair 13 completions for just 62 yards and an interception.

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I’ve been out of the country for a couple of weeks and I’m ready to watch some NFL Football! I did get to see some Rugby while in England and to be honest, I found the game very interesting. It’s different than our football but with no pads and no helmets these guys are crazy. Luckily the Steelers had their bye week while I was gone so that saved me from missing 2 games.

I really like the position we’re in this year and the team is playing well. Barring a few injuries, we’ve looked good except for the Arizona game. I really think the Steelers overlooked them and counted that as a win before they played. You just can’t do that in the NFL. Plus going against half our old coaching staff made the loss even worse.

So, what’s in store for this year’s Steelers? I have a feeling it’s going to be a very tough post season for the AFC, with the Colts and Patriots both playing like championship teams, they are going to be hard to beat. Not impossible, but hard to get by. I think at this point, we are right there with the Pats and Colts and can’t wait until we get to play them.

Go Steelers!

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.

… more on that later..

The game today showed what Steeler fans have known since the Pre-season, the Big Bad Steelers are Back! A complete game today played by all facets of the team. The offense did a great job with Big Ben showing he has matured well and made some very smart decisions on the field today. The running game is solid with Parker and Davenport racking up some serious yardage.

Special teams has improved immensely, scoring a TD today and giving the offense great starting position when they had the chance. This game proves how important special teams is to a team both kicking and receiving.

The defense is BACK and I love it! Dick LeBeau is pulling out all the stops and it shows, thank goodness they didn’t switch to the 4-3..

Now.. to the title of this blog post. How on earth can the official make the call that the pass was incomplete on that play.. I’m dumbfounded. There are two calls that could be made on that play. Down by contact or Interception.. where in the hell did they come up with incomplete pass.. wow. It didn’t have an effect on the game but for goodness sakes, you had an extra two minutes to get that call right and completely blew it. Great job refs.. sheesh.

Next week we are off to St. Louis, lets just hope they don’t overlook this below average team.

Written by Pat Lovell - The Steeler Fanatic
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The Steelers wore their throwback uniforms on Sunday, but it was definitely the 2007 version of the team that came out and easily defeated the Buffalo Bills 26-3 at Heinz Field, improving their record to 2-0 on the season.

After not getting into the end zone in the first half, counting on Jeff Reed’s four field goals for their offensive output, the Steelers came on strong in the second half and scored two touchdowns to seal the win.

Ben Roethlisberger completed 21 of 34 passes for 242 yards, a touchdown and one interception. Willie Parker carried the ball 23 times for 126 yards, his second 100-yard game of the young season.

While the Steelers offense amassed 420 yards, the defense held the Bills to 223 yards and kept them out of the end zone.

It was great to see Batch come in and mop up while Ben was resting on the sidelines, couldn’t have been a better day.

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The Steelers’ Saturday night game with the Green Bay Packers was the home game debut for head coach Mike Tomlin’s game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The Steelers lost the game 13-9 to a 1-1 record in the pre-season. While the game didn’t go as sweet as it did against the Saints last week, Tomlin saw numerous negatives mainly from the backups. A fumble and a blocked field goal were a few things that went wrong for the team.

Last week, we saw that the Steelers’ starting unit was able to score on their opening drive by throwing the ball against the Saints’ secondary. Ben Roethlisberger looked as if he was back into his 2005 form. But, on third down, Roethlisberger was stripped from his blind side by Cullen Jenkins, who recovered the ball for the Packers. This was exactly one of the reasons why the Steelers failed to make the playoffs last season, many turnovers.

Like a true quarterback, Roethlisberger tried to bounce back on the following possession but couldn’t. His night ended 2 for 2 for 14 yards and 1 turnover on two series. Second string quarterback Charlie Batch went 3 for 5 for 97 yards with 1 touchdown, and third string quarterback Brian St. Pierre finished 10 for 23 for 99 yards.

The defense held their own just like they did last week. The starting unit made one play after another, showing a lot of athleticism on the field. Safety Troy Polamalu was everywhere on the field for the starting unit, both in Brett Favre’s face and in coverage of a receiver. In back to back weeks, the Steelers’ defense has held the opposing teams’ starting unit scoreless. Just as they did to Drew Brees, they made Favre look uncomfortable. The Future Hall of Famer went 2 for 7 for 7 yards against the Steelers’ rough neck defense.

So far in the pre-season, the Steelers’ starting unit has been looking good. Although that fumble worries me because it happened on the first possession. Imagine if they would have played throughout the whole game. We wouldn’t know how many turnovers they would have had.

I’m sure they’ll go back to practice and correct the situation at the offensive line, particularly Roethlisberger’s blind side. The starters have only turned the ball over once in the two pre-season games played, which is showing good signs from last season.The backs-ups didn’t play as well as they did last week. After a 6-0 in the first quarter, and leading 9-3 at the half, the offense failed to score and the defense gave up 10 points in the third.

I don’t know if the Steelers knew that the backup quarterback Aaron Rogers could run or not. If they didn’t, they were definitely surprised. The back-ups pass rushing was nonexistent in the game for the Steelers’ third units. Rogers got where he wanted anytime he wanted. They gave up 168 yards total passing and a touchdown and a 20-yard run to this guy.

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The line began forming presumably before the skies turned a ghastly purple, thunder rumbled and the rain began to pour. By the time Mike Tomlin, the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, saw the mass of people gathered around a sign advertising his appearance to sign autographs at the end of a recent practice, he was already drenched with water rolling down the brim of his cap. Up on a hill, the team’s owner, Dan Rooney, sat in an idling car, waiting to talk to his coach.

A team official gently suggested maybe rescheduling for a drier day. Another coach, probably any other coach, would have said yes.

But Tomlin glanced at the throng gathered in a sudden summer monsoon, all of them there for him, and shook his head. “As long as they’ve been waiting . . .” he said softly, letting his words trail off. Then he walked to a small tent at the front of the line, pulled out a black Sharpie pen, said “Hey bro!” to the first child in line. And he signed every mini helmet and Terrible Towel thrust into his hand, posed for pictures with each fan and laughed and shook hands until the crowd was finally exhausted.

Tomlin just gained a ton of respect from many fans including The Steeler Fanatic. Way to go Mike!

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.