Steelers Beat Broncos in Denver

In front of a national audience and on Monday Night Football, the Steelers put a beat down on the Broncos in Denver. I’ll admit, I was a little uneasy about this game and thought there was a chance for the Broncos to come out on top in this one, if it was close in the 4th quarter.

Going into the 2nd half, I thought, here we go, another 2nd half collapse by the Steelers. This was one of those times I didn’t mind being wrong. After a few mistakes in the 3rd quarter, Ben decided he was going to take control of the game.

Wow, is all I can say about Ben and his performance last night. The guy gets a lot of criticism about his play and unwillingness to get rid of the ball. I say this is a good competitive trait and not a downfall. Ben played a damn good game last night and showed his critics that he is a good quarterback. Strike that.. a great quarterback.

The offensive line gets a ton of criticism from everyone (me included) but they are creating some huge holes and running lanes for Mendenhall. I was impressed with the time Ben had on a lot of the passing plays, sure they collapsed a few times and made some assignment mistakes but overall, they played well.

The defense played at their level of smash mouth football and completely stopped the Broncos from running the football. Actually, they stuffed the run and with the pressure on Orton they controlled the flow of the game. Troy brought his A game, Carter made some big plays, Kiesel played a great game and the line backers kept Orton hurried and under pressure.

This creates some urgency with the Bengals coming to town this weekend, I think this is a MUST WIN game for the Steelers, they have to beat the Bengals at home to stay on top of the AFC North and set themselves up to win the division.

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 Beat Brett Favre and the Vikings

The Vikings and Brett Favre came into Pittsburgh this Sunday, 6-0 and confident. Riding the wave of a resurgent, recently out of retirement, aging Quarterback that is having an incredible year.

Enter, the Pittsburgh Steelers Defense…

The Steelers love to face teams like the 2009 Vikings. The Vikings were unbeaten, boasting a very tough defense, and have the best running back in the league. Oh, yeah, they have Brett Favre.

I talked to several people this week and I was very confident that we could beat the Vikings. We just need to accomplish a few small tasks. Stop Adrian Peterson and pressure Brett Favre into making bad decisions. Sounded easy enough to me.

In the first quarter, we did just that. We stopped Peterson and we hit, hurried and sacked Brett Favre. The battle of the punters/kickers was about to start and I was confident that our kicker Jeff Reed would take a “fighting stance” and win this game for us. (Sorry, had to get that in there some how).

However, Reed almost cost us the game near the end of the 4th quarter. The Steelers defense, led by Brett Kiesel, forced a fumble and Woodly returned it for a touchdown to go ahead by 10 points, 20-10. Forcing the Vikings to score twice to tie or take the lead. On the kickoff following the TD, Reed had a chance to tackle, knock down or divert the runner and pretty much gave up on the play thus allowing the Vikings to score and bring the game back to 3 points, 20-17.

Enter, the Steelers Defense, again….

The defense saved the game once again, intercepting Brett Favre in the closing minutes, Fox returned the interception 82 yds for the touchdown and putting the game out of reach for the Vikings. 27-17.

This was a great win to head into the bye week and gives our players a much needed rest.

Bring on the Broncos…. (could they still be undefeated on Nov. 9th?)

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 Win Home Opener in Overtime

What a day.

I started the day getting up at 5am, eating breakfast, checking email and heading out on the road to Pittsburgh. I arrived at my Dad’s house around 1pm and was on the road to the game by 2:30. We got to our spot in the parking lot around 3:30.

We headed into the stadium around 6:30, walked through the Great Hall to see the new Super Bowl XLIII trophy (it was awesome and I’ll post a photo here in a while). We headed to Club West early for some food and and were in our seats early. It’s not every year, you open the season as the reigning Super Bowl Champions. I knew they would have a great opening ceremony and I was right. They started with a video montage of the Super Bowl, raised a giant 6 time champs flag and fireworks. The crowd was loud, proud and ready for some football.

Leading up to the game there were many activities going on around the stadium. Tim McGraw was live in Point state park, The Black Eyed Peas were there as well and they both played songs for the beginning of the game. I’m not a big fan of either, so it was ok for me. The excitement and enthusiasm of the crowd was great though.

Kickoff!

This is a good place to start the critique of the game, ladies and gentleman, we have a kick/punt returner and probably the best since Randle El left. Logan started off with a 40 yd kickoff return and did a great job all game. He’s going to be a big help this year.

The Offense was a little flat at first but Ben hooked up on a few nice passing plays. He also proved to me that he needs the pressure of the clock to make him very good. He was exceptional at the end of the half, the end of regulation and the OT. He is cool as a cucumber when the clock is ticking.

We are going to be in trouble unless Tomlin gets this running game in shape and that starts with the offensive line. We have 4 healthy running backs and need to take advantage of this now. Total Offense Grade = C (the running game brings this average way down) Big Ben and the WR crew Grade = B+

The Defense… wow. Troy came out and took control of the game early. He was in on every play, made some great tackles and a highlight reel interception. That one hand grab was incredible. We stopped the run and until Troy went out hurt, we dominated the Titans. After Troy went out, the Titans took advantage and did very well. Defensive Overall – Grade B+

The punter… Sepulveda was a stud and I am glad he is back. He backed the Titans up several times and bailed us out of some situations with his leg. Special Teams Grade = A

We played well when we needed to and walked away with a big overtime win but it cost us Troy Polamalu and the O Line is going to be criticized for a week. I think they are down playing Troy’s injury, the official report is MCL ‘sprain’ and after seeing that injury on tape, he is going to be out 8-12 weeks (in my opinion) and that will hurt us.

A great day and I’m glad I went to the game, it was a great time.

Go Steelers.

Pat

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 NFL Season is Here! I’m Ready for Some Football

Ok, first let’s remember that The Steelers are going into this season as the defending Champions and 6 time Super Bowl Champs! I’m still riding the high of going to the Super Bowl with my Dad, Son and Cousin, it was a weekend that will go down in history as one of the best weekends of my life.

I’m also very excited to be going back to the game and seeing the 6th trophy and welcoming the Champs back to the NFL! We are definitely in contention to make a repeat visit to the Super Bowl. Yep, I said it. We have a very good chance with pretty much the same team as last year. Actually, right now we are a better team than last year.

But I digress, I’m ready for some football and glad the pre-season is over at the same time. Thank goodness, we got through the pre-season with minor injuries but a couple do worry me.

Big Ben and Willie Parker both are going into week 1 with injuries that could end up much worse if not healed properly before they start playing. I’m really hoping Ben stays healthy and this injury doesn’t bother him all season. Willie, on the other hand, can be replaced pretty quickly with Mendenhall, so that’s not too bad.

I’m not going to critique the pre-season play, I’ll wait until after Thursday before I give a review and prediction of this year’s team.

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.

Steelers Release Players to Adjust Roster to 53

Steelers reduce roster to 53
Saturday, September 5, 2009

PITTSBURGH ? The Steelers finalized their regular season roster today by releasing 21 players and placing another on the Reserve/Injured List to reach the NFL-mandated 53-player limit.

The team’s final roster includes three quarterbacks, four running backs, six wide receivers, three tight ends, nine offensive linemen, seven defensive linemen, eight linebackers, 10 defensive backs and three specialists (kicker, punter and long snapper).

The Steelers released the following players to reach their 53-man roster limit: quarterback Mike Reilly; running backs Carey Davis, Isaac Redman and Justin Vincent; wide receivers Dallas Baker, Tyler Grisham and Brandon Williams; tight end Dezmond Sherrod; offensive linemen Jason Capizzi, Jeremy Parquet and A.Q. Shipley; defensive linemen Sonny Harris, Steve McClendon and Scott Paxson; linebackers Bruce Davis, Tom Korte, Andy Schantz and Donovan Woods; defensive backs Roy Lewis and Anthony Madison; and kicker Piotr Czech.

Sixth-year veteran tight end Sean McHugh was placed on the team’s Reserve/Injured List and will miss the entire 2009 season after injuring his knee during training camp.

All NFL teams must trim their rosters to 53 players by 6 p.m. (ET) Saturday, September 5. Clubs may establish a practice squad of up to eight players after noon (ET) Sunday, Sept. 6.

The Steelers will kick off the NFL season at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10 when they host the Tennessee Titans at Heinz Field.

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.