Steeler Fanatic - Pittsburgh Steeler Blog » Road Warriors

Meaningless game ends up a loss

Pat — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:43:05 +0000

The Steelers got behind early and tried valiantly to mount a late comeback, but lost to the Baltimore Ravens 27-21 at M&T Bank Stadium.

â€œWe are disappointed we didnâ€™t get the job done,â€ said head coach Mike Tomlin. â€œThe loss was similar to a lot of our losses in that we have some self-inflected wounds early. The spirited effort we displayed throughout the game wasnâ€™t enough to bring us back at the end. I am disappointed by the loss, but proud of these men in the way they fight and continue to fight in the face of adversity.

â€œWe have to do a better job of securing the ball. You canâ€™t turn the ball over. We have to take advantage of opportunities when we have them.â€

The loss sends the Steelers into the playoffs as the number four seed and they will host the Jacksonville Jaguars at Heinz Field in the Wild Card round on Saturday, January 5.

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 big win for the Steelers

Pat — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 15:41:49 +0000

The Steelers were in need of a win and got just what they wanted when they defeated the St. Louis Rams 41-24 at the Edward Jones Dome.

The victory improves their record to 10-5 and keeps them on top of the AFC North, ahead of the Cleveland Browns who play Cincinnati on Sunday.

But the win didnâ€™t come without a big price tag. Running back Willie Parker was lost on the Steelers second play of the game with a fractured fibula.

Najeh Davenport stepped in for Parker and the ground game didnâ€™t miss a beat as he carried the ball 24 times for 123 yards and a touchdown, and added two receptions for 44 yards. Ben Roethlisberger completed 16 of 20 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Nate Washington.

â€œIt was a big win for us; a win of course that we needed,â€ said head coach Mike Tomlin. â€œItâ€™s good to see this team bounce back with what was a team effort. The guys answered the bell. They responded and stepped up and made plays at critical times. The guysâ€™ roles got expanded during the course of battle, like it does at times. I thought they answered.

Are the Patriots THAT good?

Pat — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:36:14 +0000

The Steelers held their own early on, but the Patriots pulled away in the second half and defeated the black and gold 34-13 at Gillette Stadium.

The loss puts the Steelers at 9-4, still holding a one-game lead in the AFC North over Cleveland who defeated the New York Jets. The Patriots remained unbeaten at 13-0.

The Steelers were down by only four at the half, 17-13, but the offense wasnâ€™t able to the ball in the end zone in the second half while the Patriots exploded.

â€œThe Patriots were the better team today,â€ said head coach Mike Tomlin. â€œWe couldnâ€™t stop them consistently and couldnâ€™t make critical plays when we had to, particularly in the second half. We have some work to do. We have a ways to go. If thatâ€™s the measuring stick, we arenâ€™t close.â€

Steelers lose to the Jets in OT

Pat — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:30:57 +0000

For the second week in a row the Steelers battled from an early deficit, but this time it wasnâ€™t enough as the Steelers fell to the New York Jets, 19-16 in overtime at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.

The Steelers are now 7-3 and still maintain their hold on first place in the AFC North with a one game lead over the Cleveland Browns.

The Jets marched down the field on the opening drive for a touchdown and then added a field goal to hold a 10-0 first quarter lead. The Steelers tied the game at 13-13 in the third quarter and took a 16-13 lead in the fourth quarter. But the Jets fought back to send it into overtime and Mike Nugent hit a game-winning 38-yard field goal in overtime.

Ben Roethlisberger completed 15 passes for 195 yards, but was under pressure and sacked seven times, while avoiding several others thanks to his elusiveness. The running game never got going for the Steelers, with Willie Parker carrying the ball 21 times for only 52 yards.

Jets running back Thomas Jones carried the ball 30 times for 117 yards, the first time the Steelers defense allowed a 100-yard rusher in 34 games.

Who Dey? Dey are the Losers!

Pat — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:59:14 +0000

Nothing makes my weekend more enjoyable than watching the Steelers win, nothing except.. Beating the Bengals and holding Chad “big mouth” Johnson scoreless and making him look like what he is, an average receiver with a very large mouth. We’ve really dominated da Bungals the last several years going 7-0 at Cincy and making “the mouth” look bad.

Overall, it was a good game but there are some holes that need filling bad. The defense is playing soft on the pass and allowing the 10-15 yd. passes across the middle. I can’t figure this one out, we’ve got good corners and the best safety in the league. The run defense is spotty, crushing running backs one minute then allowing a 16 yd gain the next.

The offense is good and Ben seems to be making better decisions but still makes some mistakes, luckily they didn’t hurt us today. The running game is good with Fast Willie doing what he does best, make plays. I’d like to see them spread the ball around a bit more in the passing game, Ben seems to get locked on a receiver from the start of the game and that becomes his go-to guy for the day.

We’ve got a pretty good schedule from here to the last game of the season, with only 1 team (Ravens) with a winning record before we play the Patriots. I like our chances of winning the next 5 games and the division but man, a look ahead to the playoffs and things get really interesting.

Last Second Field Goal Deflates Steelers

Pat — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:47:22 +0000

What a game. It started off good as the Steelers marched down the field like a 4 and 1 team and scored with ease. After that the wheels pretty much came off and Denver poked holes in every weakness we have. They dominated us in the passing game, we actually made Cutler look like a decent quarterback and I know that’s not the case. He picked us apart on 3rd down and we couldn’t put any pressure on him at all.

Why oh why did Tomlin score so quickly at the end of the game? With 1:10 left on the clock he continues to pass the ball and score quickly. Why not run the ball at least once? If they stop the clock, you make them burn a timeout, if not, you burn another 30 seconds. That was a critical mistake and cost us the game.

You know the defense has to play soft and prevent the score or big pass and that leaves the middle wide open for the 10 yd. pass and that’s exactly what Denver did all night. I’m also sick of the bad calls in this league, it’s happened so many times this year it’s pathetic. They missed a false start (on us) they missed several roughing calls on Big Ben, they missed every close call there was. Pathetic.

Oh well, off to Cincinnati to play the Bungles, this should be interesting…..

Back in the States and Ready for some Football

Pat — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 17:44:30 +0000

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!

Embarrassing Loss to the Cardinals

Pat — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 01:33:05 +0000

What a game, I can’t believe that was the same team that’s won 3 games or should I say.. dominated 3 games. I can’t believe just having Troy and Hines out of the game made that much of a difference. I know Troy is a stud on defense but come on.. that was embarrassing. No one was tackling and to allow Leinhart and Warner to abuse us like that, well, it’s disgusting.

Note to offensive line: make a friggin block please, my goodness.. Ben had approximately 1 second each snap to make a decision and that obviously doesn’t work. I really don’t know what else to say about the O line for this week, they only looked good on 2 drives the whole game.

Well, we can’t win every game but if we play like we did today, we’ll see many more losses.

One good thing came out of this game, Santonio Holmes looked really good and that looks promising to me.

Steelers Mike Tomlin wins Season Opener

Pat — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:28:37 +0000

Well, I must say I’m incredibly pleased at the outcome of the Season Opener and a bit puzzled. Although, it’s a good kind of puzzled. After watching the pre-season games and you all know how I feel about the pre-season. Big Ben really surprised me, if he keeps playing like this, we can look forward to a great season, let’s just send him positive vibes so he stays healthy.

With Willie Parker and Najeh Davenport at running back we are in good shape and looks like SanAntonio Holmes is going to have a break out year. The offense looks solid and Faneca’s intensity really surprised me after his offseason, it looks like he’s going to stay professional and work his butt off just like he always has, I’m very pleased at this.

The defense was back to the 2005 Championship form and unless the Browns reaaaalllllyyyyyy suck (and that’s possible) we should have a solid defense as usual.

Special Teams looked pretty good, it was nice to see Jeff Reed put the ball in the endzone on kickoffs and we didn’t give up any big returns. I’m glad that they took Holmes off the return squad for now and let him concentrate on being a WR.

All in all, I’m very please with the opening game, especially when we DESTROY the Browns! I like Mike Tomlin’s intensity and am very glad he’s worked with Dick LeBeau to keep the 3-4 Defense, it showed that it works very well in yesterday’s game.

Field Goal Fest Beats the Redskins

Pat — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:23:44 +0000

I know it’s the pre-season but I am a very competitive person and feel these games matter, however, the players and coaches feel differently. It’s funny, I hear the players and coaches talk about not showing the other teams anything before the season starts and they want to keep the players healthy, so why play the starters at all? Heck, why play the games?

Is it to test out the rookies? Get a good feel for the depth chart? Give new players coming in a chance to learn the system? The answers are Yes, yes and yes but… I don’t really care for the pre-season. The teams have plenty of time to see the rookies, depth chart and new players in training camp, these guys are professionals they don’t need practice games. They wonder why there are so many injuries in the first two weeks of the season, well, your answer is pre-season football.

But I digress…

The Steelers went into DC to play against the Redskins and former Hoosier Alumni and friend, Antwaan Randle El. It’s hard to critique a game like this so I’ll do like the players do and give a half assed, just showing up for the cash, 1st quarter review. Ben looked decent, he has asked for more control of the offense and it seems to fit his style. Santonio Holmes is going to be an asset this year and take some pressure off Hines Ward, giving Ben 2 great targets. Throw in Cedric Wilson, Heath Miller and Willie Parker and well… the offense looks good on paper.

4 field goals and no touchdowns in the pre-season is scary, I sure hope we were just holding back and not showing our cards yet.

Keep the faith,

Pat Lovell aka The Steeler Fanatic