Steelers 23, Bengals 17 (OT)

Fantastic finish!

Bill Cowher said it earlier this week. "Misery loves company," he said, "and we're looking for company." If the Steelers were going to miss out on the post-season, then they were going to take the Bengals with them, and they did just that in this thrilling New Year's Eve finale to the 2006 season.

Cincinnati needed a win and some help to qualify for the playoffs. While Kansas City was busy giving them the help against Jacksonville, the Bengals came out uninspired. The Steelers dominated the first half. They played true Cowher football, controlling the ball and playing great defense. FWP capped his team MVP season with another big game, and he led his team on a 90 yard drive in the second quarter, finishing it off with his 15th touchdown of the year. The Bengals offense stuttered but was able to add a field goal right before halftime to make it a 7-3 game.

The Steelers looked as if they were going to break the game wide open early in the 4th quarter. After a Cincinnati punt pinned them at their own one yard line, the offense drove 98 yards on mostly runs. But FWP lost the ball on his way into the endzone and the Bengals recovered. It was a moment that was so typical of this season. A few plays later, the Bengals fed off the momentum of that turnover and scored on a 66 yard TD pass from Carson Palmer to Chris Henry. It was a shocking turn of events. Just like the first matchup against the Bengals this season, the Steelers appeared to have totally handed the game away on a fumble when they had it won. However, what that play really did was kickoff a wild sequence of events that would take this game into overtime.

Pittsburgh responded with a 63 yard TD drive. Ben began picking apart the Cincinnati secondary, and FWP redeemed himself with a short TD run to give the Steelers a 14-10 lead. But then the Bengals came right back with a drive of their own. Palmer, who was unstoppable in the second half, found TE Tony Stewart for the go-ahead touchdown with just over two minutes left in the game. Once again it was Ben's turn, as he drove his team very quickly downfield, allowing Jeff Reed to tie the game on a 35 yard field goal. However, the drive was a bit too quick. Palmer still had 1:03 to work with and he went to work right away, once again finding Henry on a deep bomb. That set up Shayne Graham for a game-winning FG attempt of 39 yards. Amazingly, Graham shanked it wide right. How UNBELIEVABLE is it that the Steelers dodged potential season-ending last-second field goals in THREE consecutive seasons (and that's not even taking into consideration that the two season prior to that both ended on an opponent's field goal). Granted, this one wasn't as big as the Doug Brien or Mike Vanderjagt misses, but the heated rivalry of this game + the playoff implications for Cincinnati + the fact that Cowher's career was about to end made this missed kick almost as dramatic as those other two.

So the game went into overtime, and fortunately James Farrior went against the "tails never fails" mantra and picked heads on the coin toss. The Steelers got the ball and picked up a first down on two running plays. Then from his own 33 yard line, Roethlisberger dropped back and hit Santonio Holmes on a quick slant pattern. The rookie used his blazing speed to burn thru the Bengals secondary down the sideline for the game-winning 67 yard touchdown reception!!! What a way to end this season! The beleaguered quarterback who threw 23 interceptions this year wins the game on a long TD pass. The troubled rookie who spent so much of 2006 answering questions about his two arrests and fumbling kick returns single-handedly stuck a giant knife in the heart of a hated rival. This may very well have been Bill Cowher's last game as head coach, and what a great final play to go out on!

It will be truly sad to see Cowher go, and it's a shame that his players couldn't send him out on a better note than 8-8. That being said, it was fitting that Cowher beat the Bengals for the 21st and final time. After so many years of dominating that team, nothing felt better than to ensure that those bunch of losers did not make it to the post-season. It was even better doing it to them at their stadium (for the 6th straight time no-less)! I said it back in September and I'll say it again now - they are a bunch of frauds. They never learned how to win. They couldn't handle the success of last season. They believed that they were entitled to a championship because the Steelers "stole" it from them when Palmer hurt his leg in that playoff game last January. They never really recovered from that, did they? The meltdown started at halftime of the playoff game, continued on into this year as half their team got arrested, reached epic proportions with that botched extra point in Denver, and culminated today against the same team it began against. Great coaching job, Marvin Lewis. Your Bengals did nothing but lose for 15 years and then thought that one decent season made them into champions. This year they discovered how truly naive they were. So long, Cincy. Have fun on your inevitable offseason crime spree.

So now the 2006 season has come to a close for our Steelers. It was certainly a disappointing campaign. The year began with a big opening night win. Dreams of a repeat seemed bright, but then things went downhill fast. Dumb mistakes, bad turnovers, and all-around shoddy play cost Pittsburgh big time. By the season's halfway mark, the team was a paltry 2-6 and pretty much out of playoff contention. The players seemed to wake up during the second half of the year. Granted, the schedule got a bit easier during that time, but the Steelers were able to defeat everyone they played except Baltimore (who besides San Diego, appears to be the only legitimate Super Bowl contender in the NFL right now). It was a strange year in general for the NFL - witness the NFC where last year's conference champions were actually able to clinch their division with an 8-7 record - and the defending champions suffering a big slide seemed to go along with the trend. It has happened before in recent years. The 2002 Patriots missed the playoffs the year after winning the title, as did the 2003 Buccaneers. The difference was that the Pats rebounded to win two more Super Bowls while the Bucs never quite recovered. Let's hope that the Steelers will follow New England's path.

Regardless, nothing will take away from what happened on that glorious February day in Detroit. I know I sound like a broken record by now, but winning that championship was all that mattered to me as a fan. Sure, I still want my team to do well and win more. I will still be upset when they have seasons like this one. But nothing will ever ruin the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers not only returned to glory for the first time in my lifetime, but also that they did it in such historic fashion. The 2006 team lost its way after winning that title as they were unable to find new motivation, but if an 8-8 season with a truly memorable finale is the price to pay for a dream championship, then I think The Nation should be happy to do so. Here are the numbers from the final game of 2006 for the (this is the last time I get to type it) defending Super Bowl champions:

• FWP: 37 rushes, 134 yards, 2 TD (team record 16 TD's for the season)
• Ben Roethlisberger: 19-28, 280 yards, 1 TD
• Santonio Holmes: 4 rec, 124 yards, game-winning TD catch in OT

Steelers 7, Ravens 31

No chance

It's official now, although it really had been official since about week 4. There will be no repeat. The Steelers are now mathematically eliminated from the post-season after yet another dismal loss to Steve McNair and the Ravens.

Playing at home on Christmas Eve, the Steelers came out looking rather flat. Since the mid-season point, the Steelers have been winning games and playing well, except when they play the Ravens. In this game they reverted back to first-half 2006 form, committing costly turnovers, taking stupid personal fouls, and making dumb mistakes. But the way Baltimore played, they really didn't even need the mistakes. McNair threw two TD passes in the first half to put the Ravens up 14-0. The Steelers creeped back into the game right before halftime. They got a lucky interception (because Baltimore's WR tipped the ball right to us) and then scored on a 4th down pass to Heath Miller. It would end up being the only points against the Ravens this entire season!

Two events in the 3rd quarter quickly erased any Pittsburgh hope of a comeback. First McNair threw an absolutely beautful TD pass down the far sideline to Demetrius Williams. McNair picked apart the defense all day - especially the safeties - consistently finding guys wide open in the middle of the field. He was 21-31 for 256 yards on the day. The second event that seemingly iced the game was an FWP fumble inside the 10 yard line. That was a fitting way for this season's playoff hopes to end. The Ravens defense made sure Pittsburgh never got that close again. Although they didn't physically dominate quite as badly as the first game (that was an all-time dominating performance), they still sacked Roethlisberger five times and picked him off twice. Ben was also off on many of his passes. And here is the sad stat of the day: Ben was our leading rusher! Just an overall terrible day for the offense. Baltimore becomes the first team ever to win two games in one season by 14 or more points against the defending Super Bowl champion. This also marks the first time EVER that the Ravens swept the Steelers.

So now the Ravens steamroll into the playoffs playing like champions. When they won their last Super Bowl in 2000, it was during a very similar season (lots of medocrity; no team wanted to step up as the best team in the league). That year they upset Tennessee, a team who had already lost to Baltimore during the regular season, in the playoffs. Who's to say they can't knock off San Diego, a team who they already beat once this year, in the 2006 playoffs? For the Steelers, what else can you say about 2006? The team really took being Super Bowl champions for granted. They let down all of their fans. But as the 2006 calendar year comes to a close, it will always be remembered for that glorious day back in February when the Steelers finally got the one for the thumb. That accomplishment will never be tainted, no matter how bad the follow-up was. Here are the numbers:

• Santonio Holmes: 5 rec, 90 yards

Steelers 37, Panthers 3

Too little too late

At mid-season, the Steelers were 2-6 and were playing terrible football. Since then they are 5-1. In their last three games - all blowouts - they have only allowed ONE touchdown, and that was a meaningless garbage time score by Cleveland. The defense is playing lights out. Ben has solved his turnover problems and is playing solid ball. And the running game - led by FWP - has been downright dominate. Too bad this all came way too late in the season to propel the Steelers into the playoffs.

This game was never even close. The Steelers got on the board first with a 9 play, 63 yard drive that culminated in a short Roethlisberger TD run (the bootleg play from last year's AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl). Then after James Harrison blocked a punt deep in Carolina territory, Roethlisberger hit Najeh Davenport on a screen pass, and The Dump Truck rumbled in for a 13 yard score. Meanwhile the defense made life miserable for Chris Wanker, sacking him 5 times.

Once again FWP was the star of the show. He broke the game wide open in the 3rd quarter with a 41 yard TD run. FWP is by far the team's most valuable player this season, and should be an easy selection for the Pro Bowl alongside AFC superstars LaDainian Tomlinson and Larry Johnson (Penn State sucks). He racked up 132 yards even though he was taken out early in the 4th quarter for the second straight week. What a difference this is from the first half of the season. Just to summarize how things have been going lately for the Steelers, Santonio Holmes fumbled a punt return, had the play nullified by a penalty, and then proceeded to return the do-over punt 65 yards for a touchdown! At that point the game was WAY over. The only other interesting thing that happened was rookie Anthony Smith - who has played pretty well the last few weeks - made a nice interception but then started doing a Deion Sanders-like high step on his way out of bounds. Dick Lebeau immediately ran over and smacked him, and after the game an emphatic Bill Cowher promised that something like that "will NOT happen again!" What was that kid thinking?! This is the Pittsburgh Steelers, son. We don't do stupid crap on the field here (unless of course your name is Joey Porter, then apparently it's acceptable).

The Steelers won easily over a Panthers team who was fighting for their playoff lives. At 6-8, Carolina is now all but dead. What a sorry team that is. They were picked as the NFC Super Bowl representative by a lot of people before the season started. Then today when they had to win, they just laid down and died. They were slamming phones on the sidelines and yelling at each other. What a bunch of losers. John Fox should be embarrassed.

Now the "what if" game begins. What if the Steelers had not blown 10-point leads against San Diego and Atlanta? What if they could have lined up in the correct formation at the end of regulation in Atlanta? What if Ricardo Colclough knew how to field a punt? What if the Steelers can score on 1st and goal from the one in Oakland? But none of that happened, and 7-7 is where we are. Even if the Steelers can win their final two games (which will be no easy task), it won't be enough for the post-season in the always ultra-competitive AFC. It's a shame too, because the Steelers could play anyone tight right now. But they have no one to blame but themselves for their early season struggles. Let's just hope that the momentum carries into next season, and let's be happy that Coach goes out on a nice note. Here are the numbers:

• FWP: 23 rushes, 132 yards, 1 TD
• Ben Roethlisberger: 11-18, 140 yards, 1 TD pass, 1 TD rush
• Special Teams: 1 blocked punt, 1 punt return TD

Steelers 27, Browns 7

FWP breaks 36-year-old record!

The all-time series between the Steelers and Browns is now officially tied at 55-55, but this rivalry has been incredibly one-sided for some time now. If this was Bill Cowher's final game against his old team, then it was a fitting recap of Cowher's dominance of this franchise during his career in Pittsburgh. On a frigid night in Pittsburgh, the Steelers improved their record to 6-7 with yet another easy win over the Browns.

Steelers 20, Buccaneers 3

Role reversal

It was more of the same at Heinz Field today. We watched a team commit turnovers, drop passes, and make dumb mistakes. We watched their quarterback run for his life. We saw them commit stupid penalties. The big difference in this game? It was actually the opposing team doing all that rather than the Steelers!

At the beginning of the season, this late-season matchup between the 2005 Super Bowl champions and the 2005 NFC South champions seemed like it would be a huge game. However, both teams have suffered thru massively disappointing seasons, and this game showcased their collective ineptitude. The Steelers offense was pretty dismal, especially the running game. FWP has shined at home this year, but today he only managed 61 yards on 22 rushes. Ben Roethlisberger was off today, completing only half of his passes and throwing a first quarter interception. However, there were some bright spots for the offense. One was Nate Washington, who had 78 yards receiving and made some really big catches. Nate has had a rough year, but with Hines Ward out of the lineup, Washington stepped up. The other bright spot was the fact that Ben only got sacked once this week. The offensive line played better, but the lack of sacks was also due to Ben making plays with his feet.

Steelers 0, Ravens 27

Total obliteration

Wow! I'm at a loss for words. The Ravens just completely DESTROYED the Steelers today. This one wasn't even remotely close.

The first half saw Steve McNair continue his domination of Pittsburgh with two TD drives, but the real story of the day was Baltimore's defense. They sacked Ben Roethlisberger 9 times and FWP to 22 yards rushing.

Down 17-0 in the 3rd quarter, the Steelers began driving into Baltimore territory, but any chance for a comeback was quickly snuffed out when the Ravens sacked Ben and forced him to fumble. Adalius Thomas scooped up the football and ran 57 yards for a touchdown. I'm not sure what happened after that because I quit watching, but needless to say it wasn't pretty.

Ironically, Sports Illustrated published a player's poll this week asking the question "Which team is the most painful and punishing to play against?" The Steelers got 31% of the vote while the Ravens came in second with 11%. Well, you can officially toss those numbers out the window. The Ravens pushed the Steelers around like they were a high school team. I'm not sure that I have EVER witnessed a game in all my years as a Steelers fan where another team physically dominated us that badly. In this year of NFL mediocrity, the Ravens may have as good a shot as anyone to go all the way. As for the Steelers, any delusions of making the post-season are definitely gone now. What a sorry display by a team that was celebrating a world championship less than a year ago with essentially the exact same lineup. Here are the numbers:

• Ben Roethlisberger: 21-41, 214 yards, 2 INT

Steelers 24, Browns 20

Roethlisberger leads last second comeback

No matter how bad of a season the Steelers are having, you can always count on them to deal some sort of crushing defeat to the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers seemed headed for yet another terrible loss, but somehow they came back and won on a last-second touchdown. It was a big day for a team that is slowly beginning to learn how to win again.

The first half was a disaster. The only touchdown of the half came on a Cleveland interception return. It was one of three pics that Ben Roethlisberger threw before halftime! In his defense, all three passes were tipped by a receiver, but they were all horrible passes to begin with. The two teams also traded field goals which left the Browns with a 10-3 lead, although it seemed as if they should have been up by more. Cleveland made a lot of Pittsburgh-like mistakes in this game. They fumbled the ball, they missed a field goal, and they committed several costly penalties, including a dumb cheap shot on Ben on an interception return that nullified a sure touchdown at the end of the first half.

The Steelers offense couldn't get things moving until the 4th quarter. When the final period began, the team's longest drive of the day was a mere 20 yards. But then Ben caught fire. He led a 9 play, 87 yard drive which he capped with a nifty scramble-and-pass play to Santonio Holmes for his first career touchdown. The Steelers seemed poised for a comeback, but the always dangerous Joshua Cribbs returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards to put the Browns up 20-10. Unreal! I can't get over how pitiful our special teams has been this year. I thought these days were over. I seriously feel ill when plays like this happen - I guess it's just from years of being conditioned to fear special teams plays. So the Steelers were down by 10 with just over 9 minutes remaining in the game. Given the complete lack of heart this team has shown so far this year, the game appeared to be over. But just like last week, the Steelers were too proud to lose another bad game.

The offense played in two-minute mode for the rest of the game which suited Roethlisberger just fine. He looked cool and confident, completely the opposite of how he looked in the first half. Ben led two long drives within the final five minutes. On the first drive, the Steelers went 79 yards in 17 plays, converting on a short FWP TD run to cut the lead to 20-17. After the Browns went three and out, the Steelers again started to drive, this time going 77 yards in 11 plays. Ben was sharp and so were his receivers. Holmes kept getting open (by far his best game ever), Hines Ward made plays (even after getting his knee banged pretty hard), and even Cedrick Wilson made a special cameo appearance. The Steelers drove all the way down to the 4 yard line. With just 32 seconds left in the game, they were already in position to send it into overtime with a field goal, but they wanted the win. Roethlisberger dropped back, scrambled away from pressure, and flipped the ball forward to FWP for the game-winning touchdown!

This win won't save the season, nor will beating a bad Browns team in the battle for last place wipe out the six losses that the Steelers currently have. Still, it was a fun game and a great win. The Steelers needed something like this, and so did their quarterback, who appears to be on a mission to prove that he is an elite player. Instead of everyone talking about how Ben threw three more pics (he now leads the league in interceptions), he made sure that everyone will be talking about his 4th quarter heroics. This 2006 squad still isn't capable of playing a complete game, but they are showing that they are sick of losing. I'll take it. As far as Cleveland is concerned, what can you say? That franchise just can't wait to lose games like this. I honestly can't feel bad enough for their long-suffering fans. Here are the numbers:

• Ben Roethlisberger: 25-44, 272 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT
• Hines Ward: 7 rec, 81 yards

Steelers 38, Saints 31

The pride game

Finally! I had a feeling about this game. Granted the Steelers were playing a very good 6-2 New Orleans team, but enough is enough. This is still a team with Super Bowl talent who just needed to stop screwing up for just a few hours. The Steelers finally put the pieces together today and came out with a rare win. Most importantly, they battled back even after they had blown a big lead, showing The Nation that there is still pride left in this 2006 team.

Steelers 20, Broncos 31

Same old story

Let me know if you've heard this story before: the Steelers play extremely well on one side of the ball (either offense or defense - in this case offense), make some big plays, and put themselves in position to win. But in the end they make numerous dumb mistakes and prove the classic NFL rule, "Good teams typically find a way to win while bad teams typically find a way to lose."

The game started out as a complete disaster. Jake Plummer drove the Broncos down the field for a TD on their first possession. A bad trend for the Steelers began on this drive - let's go ahead and call it the "Javon Walker SMOKED the crap out of us" trend. Ike Taylor definitely did not have his best day as a pro. Speaking of bad days, the ensuing kickoff was fumbled by Santonio Holmes, leading to another Denver TD and a 14-0 hole right off the bat. How many kick returns are we going to fumble this year? Is there an NFL record for this? How close are we to breaking it?? To make matters worse, Holmes fumbled a punt return later in the first quarter (the Steelers luckily recovered that one). I've been going to Steelers games for 20 years, and I can tell you that the anger and booing that was spewed at Holmes after that second fumble has to rank in the top ten of my personal most pissed off crowd moments. But after that, the Steelers offense started moving the football. Ben Roethlisberger was just brilliant today. He really shut up the critics who were naively calling for his benching. He shredded the dominant Denver defense with a career-high 433 yards, mostly working out of a no-huddle offense. Ben also made what has to be considered the play of the year, scrambling around like crazy before finding FWP for a 15 yard TD pass in the 2nd quarter. The Steelers also got a FG before halftime to cut the lead to 14-10. That would have been fine if not for the onset of mistakes. The offense twice turned the ball over in the red zone, once on a Ben interception and again on a gut-wrenching play where Cedrick Wilson caught a pass on 4th down play, broke a tackle for the first down, and then fumbled at the 5 yard line because he was being careless with the ball.

The mistakes were a problem as usual, but the other problem in this game was the defense squelching momentum anytime the Steelers would get some of it. Early in the 3rd quarter, the Broncos ran a reverse to Javon Walker. Some nice moves, a botched Deshea Townsend tackle, and 72 yards later, Walker was gone for a touchdown. The Steelers drove for another FWP TD to cut the score to 21-17, but the mistakes continued to pile up. At one point, the defense stuffed Denver on 3rd down at their 8 yard line and the Broncos were about to punt from deep in their own territory when James Farrior got flagged for unnecessary roughness. In the 4th quarter, the special teams got called for another personal foul on a punt return, which ultimately led to another Javon Walker TD. Fumbles and interceptions are bad enough, but there is absolute NO EXCUSE for all these personal fouls. I'm honestly just flabbergasted by this season-long trend. What happened to self-control, fellas? That Walker score pretty much put the nail in the coffin, but the Steelers weren't done screwing up. On their next possession, Hines Ward caught a 63 yard pass, but the next two plays were false start and sack, leading to a FG instead of a TD. Then in the final two minutes of the game, the Steelers - down by 11 - were about to go into the endzone and they still had a chance because they had all three of their timeouts. Ben hit Hines over the middle, Ward dove into the endzone, and..... lost the freakin football! It was a totally fitting way to end yet another miserable game.

There were certainly some positives in this game. It was REALLY great to see Ben playing so well. He did throw couple of more pics, one of which came in the red zone, but when you consider how good Denver's defense has been this year, to throw for 433 yards is quite an achievement. He also made a ton of plays with his feet, scrambling in the pocket to find open receivers. It was definitely a "Ben doing what Ben does best" type of game. It was also a fairly good team effort against one of the best teams in the conference. But it's still not good enough - not for the defending Super Bowl champions. The players are inconsistent from week to week, with the only consistent aspect of the game being the impending doom of mistakes (fans at Heinz Field kept joking that the Steelers were approaching the "mistake zone" whenever they drove deep into Broncos territory). This is just frustrating to watch. How can they just find ways to screw up EVERY SINGLE week? I don't get it. I just don't get it. Here are the numbers:

• Ben Roethlisberger: 38/54, 433 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT
• Hines Ward: 7 rec, 127 yards
• FWP: 14 rushes, 70 yards, 67 yards receiving, 2 TD

Steelers 13, Raiders 20

Season officially a disaster

What a sorry excuse for a football team the 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers have become. If you read this site regularly, you know that these game recaps typcially feature a recap of all the key moments and plays in chronological order, but I have a better idea. Since the Steelers keep findind unheard of new ways to blow games, I'm just going to list out all of the dumb mistakes that they made to lose yet another game. It would be easier, not to mention more approporiate. So here goes:

• Ben Roethlisberger threw a costly first quarter interception which was returned 23 yards for an Oakland touchdown. There will be lots of debate over whether or not Ben should have started this game, and I really don't know the answer. After playing several great games in a row, he reversed WAY back today, throwing an unbelievable FOUR interceptions. I don't think his concussion was physically impairing his judgement, but I would question whether or not it hurt his confidence.
  
  
• In the 3rd quarter, Larry Foote took a stupid unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, handing the Raiders offense a free 15 yards.
  
  
• On the very next play, Joey Porter took ANOTHER unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. So Oakland - whose QB completed all of 5 passes in the entire game - got 30 free yards in the span of two plays. Porter's was the worst - that was simply the case of him trying to prove that he is a badass. The penalties gave the Raiders a field goal and a 13-6 lead.
  
  
• The Steelers drove into Oakland territory, went for it on 4th and short, and threw another terrible interception into coverage.
  
  
• In the 4th quarter, the Steelers had 3rd and goal from the 7 with a chance to tie the game. At the very least, they should have been able to cut the lead to four with a FG. But instead Roethlisberger threw a horrible pass over the middle into triple coverage. The ball was picked off by Chris Carr and returned 100 yards for a Raiders TD. The play was a 14-point swing that should have ended the game right then and there.
  
  
• After the interception, the Raiders decided that they would try their hardest to throw away the victory. They allowed the Steelers to drive for a quick touchdown, and then they threw an interception at their own 40 yard line with just over 5 minutes remaining (WHY were they passing at that point?!). The Steelers quickly marched down the field and had first and goal from the 1 yard line. Amazingly, they couldn't score. FWP got stuffed on 1st down, Davenport lost four yards - FOUR YARDS - on 2nd down, they got called for a false start on 3rd down, then after a completion that got them back inside the 5 yard line, they threw an incomplete pass on 4th down. Game over. Just to add insult to injury, they had one final chance at the end which saw them complete a hail mary that wasn't thrown far enough.

I had already come to the conclusion that this simply is not our year. We just don't have a team capable of dealing with the pressure of being defending NFL chanpions. But here is what I am having trouble grasping: where is the pride? Oakland is arguably the worst team in football. Their organization is a complete joke, yet they now have just as many wins as we do. How can the Steelers commit turnovers week after week? There is no excuse for throwing four interceptions, all of which were into fairly heavy coverage. How can they keep taking ridiculous personal foul calls? The defense took THREE of those alone today! How ironic that we were playing the undisputed kings of penalties and we were the ones playing unsportsmanlike! Al Davis would be having a good chuckle over that one if he were still alive. How can Ben look fantastic the past two weeks and then look like crap the next? How can the receivers, the special teams, the o-line, and everyone else play so inconsistently? This was one of the more embarassing losses in recent memory. Losing is one thing, especially given some of the bad luck and injuries the Steelers have had. Losing to a bad team is even somewhat acceptable (the "any given Sunday" theme seems to be extremely prevalent this season in the NFL). But throwing away all your pride and dignity has no place in Steeler Country. As a fan, I am downright ashamed of this football team right now, and I think everyone else should be too. Here are the numbers:

• Ben Roethlisberger: 25-37, 301 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT
• Hines Ward: 8 rec, 81 yards

Steelers 38, Falcons 41 (OT)

Steelers continue to struggle

Wow, this game was unbelievable! What it is about playing the Falcons that makes us blow leads and go into OT? I think I'm still in shock that we actually didn't win that game. Michael Vick spent the whole week crying like a little girl because he felt like his coach wouldn't let him throw enough this year. While I am still 100% sure that Vick is overrated and will never win a Super Bowl, he still played an excellent game against a Steelers secondary that seems unable to stop anyone this year. Onto the very painful recap...

After a quick three and out to start the game I was starting to feel good about our chances. That was until, Ricardo, I mean Santanio Holmes fumbled a punt and gave the Falcons an easy TD. Ok, maybe since this one was early and we could overcome it, right? The Steelers reeled off three straight scoring drives and were up 17-7. Vick had already thrown and Int and the Falcons were unable to run the ball (their bread and butter). Then the Steelers started to make more mistakes. Big Ben fumbled which lead to another short TD drive for Vick and Co. Jim Mora Jr made a gutsy surprise onside call on the ensuing kickoff (which they recovered). The Falcons had all the momentum and drove down for another TD. The Steelers recovered nicely and got a go ahead TD before the half. It was very back and forth game but we were up 24-21 going into the half.

Going into the game I was very confident of our running game. The Falcons had their two best D-linemen inactive for today’s game (Coleman and Abraham). They have fatty Grady Jackson, but he was also banged up going into the game. I honestly thought there was no way that we wouldn't rush for 150+ yards. I expected us to take the air out of the ball and grind out a victory. But the Steelers were completely unable to get anything going on the ground and this was a major reason why they lost.

There was a very scary moment occurred early in the 3rd quarter when Ben Roethlisberger was crushed by two Falcons lineman. He wasn't moving and was laying face down, it looked really bad. To everyone’s relief, he was able to somewhat gain his senses and walked off the field. I haven't heard anymore on his condition but he was back on the sidelines at the end of the game so it looks like he will be ok. FWP had a costly fumble on a play where he decided to run the wrong way. The lead changing madness continued and it was 35-31 going into the 4th. The Falcons kicked a FG to give them a 7 point lead with only 6 minutes left. Batch leads us down the field and throws a great ball to Hines (who had 3 td's on the day) and we are tied! Give Charlie Batch some credit, he came in cold and played about as good as you could ask for (195 yards, 2 td's). Then things started to get a little nuts. The Falcons got into FG range, well sort of. They were going to try a 56 yard FG with their long distance kicker, Koenen. Kick is up and it's good! But wait, the Steelers barely got a timeout before they snapped the ball. Wow, could we dodge a bullet? Next attempt....Koenen misses!!!! But wait again...there's a flag...it's running into the kicker. Oh no, it's 2002 against the Titans all over gain. Then since the Falcons are 5 yards closer they bring out.... 46 year old Morten Anderson?!?! What? Didn't he die a long time ago? So old man Morty comes onto the field with his walker and the kick is dead on....but it FALLS SHORT! I can't take much more of this. With the good field position, Batch completes a couple of passes and rushes up to the line to spike it with 8 seconds left. Ok, it's going to be a long kick but it's a shot right? But wait, there's a flag, you've got to be kidding me...False start on Nasty Nate Washington and a 10 second run off and into OT we go. Seriously, how do you not know where to line up? Maybe Nate's coach at Tiffin didn't go over fundamentals like they do at real colleges.

Falcons win the toss, drive down the field and kick the winning FG. Yeah, it was about that exciting. What a crappy, unfulfilling end to a really great game. I really don't want to start the whole, each team should get the ball in OT debate because if we win the toss, everyone has no problem with the OT rules. But I would really like to see the other team at least get the ball and a chance to match the other teams score. Anyway, so what is wrong with our beloved Steelers? I'm starting feel like it's just not our year. The last two great years it felt like we always won games like this. We always got that lucky bounce or caused a turnover when we needed it. It's just not happening this year. Our defense can't get off the field on 3rd downs, our special teams is terrible (both coverage and return game), our running game is inconsistent at best, we give up three td's to Alge F-in Crumpler!; there just isn't one thing you can pin it on this year. 2-4 + a Bengals win and things are starting to look pretty bad again. Thank God we have the Raiders next week.

• Hines Ward - 8 rec, 171 yards, 2 td's.
• Michael Vick - 18-30, 232, FOUR FRIGGIN TD's (which is a career high by the way! Nice Defense boys!).

Steelers 45, Chiefs 7

Steelers finally play like champions

The Steelers had lost three games in a row and their season was in danger of slipping away, but they responded in a big way today. They completely dismantled the Kansas City Chiefs from start to finish. It was a much-needed wake-up call for the defending Super Bowl champs.

The offense really caught fire in this game. They scored touchdowns on their first four possessions and never looked back. You really have to be happy for Ben Roethlisberger, who shut up all those morons who were calling the talk shows this week saying that he should be benched. Ben was 16 for 19 and more importantly, he looked confident and composed while in the pocket. The game began with a 73 yard drive and a subsequent FWP touchdown run. The big play on that drive was a nifty catch-and-run by rookie Santonio Holmes. The second time the Steelers got the ball, Ben found Nate Washington for a 47 yard TD. Washington bounced right off of a KC defensive back. Their defense was ranked pretty high going into this game, but they sure ate it hard today. The third drive was an 80 yarder, which once again ended with a short FWP TD run. And then the fourth drive ended in a touchdown as well, this time on a pass to Hines Ward. Jeff Reed added a FG before halftime, giving the Steelers a 31-0 lead.

Kansas City could do nothing against the defense. Larry Johnson (Penn State sucks) got stuffed all day, rushing for a measly 26 yards. Damon Huard, who had rallied the Chiefs to a surprising 2-2 record, couldn't handle the pass rush. The star of the day for the D was Troy Polamalu. Like Ben, Troy has struggled so far this season, mainly due to a bum shoulder. But he was ALL OVER the field today, accounting for 10 tackles and an interception. Even new (old) Steeler Chad Brown got into the mix with a late sack, which earned him a nice "welcome home" ovation from the crowd at Heinz Field. The Steelers mostly ran out the clock in the second half and added touchdowns from Najeh Davenport (who had a nice 78 yard rushing performance) and Rian Wallace (who?). When it was all over, the Steelers had played a nearly flawless game and had reminded everyone that they weren't quite ready to give up on the 2006 season.

This was such a big win. Yes, the Steelers needed a victory. But by dominating a decent AFC opponent that badly, the Steelers gained some much-needed confidence in themselves. Baltimore and Cincinnati both lost as well, so the Steelers are right back in the thick of things. It feels like it is late in the season, seeing how October is more than halfway over, but there are still 11 games left on the schedule, so there is plenty of football left to play. Let's hope that today was the start of a trend, and that the Steelers are finally ready to assume their position as defending world champions. Here are the numbers:

• Ben Roethlisberger: 16-19, 238 yards, 2 TD
• FWP: 21 rushes, 109 yards, 2 TD
• Defense: 3 INT, 1 sack, 1 TD

Steelers 13, Chargers 23

Super Bowl hangover continues

Unreal. I don't really know what to say about this team. They sure don't look like defending world champions, do they?

The offense looked much sharper in the first half then it had the past few weeks. Ben Roethlisberger led three scoring drives - two FG and one TD drive - against the NFL's #1 defense. The Steelers jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead, but then things started to fall apart. The defense let up drives of 80 yards and 91 yards, both resulting in San Diego touchdowns. Deshea Townsend was victimized on both scoring plays. He was in perfect position on both, but he was out-jumped by Malcom Floyd on the first one and boxed out by Antonio Gates on the second one.

Phillip Rivers continued to dominate the Steelers defense for the final three quarters. He didn't score a lot of points, but he helped the Chargers control the football. The Steelers offense was barely on the field and when it was, it made poor decisions (like the constant calling of the same exact screen pass play that had wored well in the 1st quarter only) and made more mistakes (Ben threw two more pics). In the end San Diego, who has become infamous for blowing leads, did not have extert much effort to put the game away.

So now the Steelers are 1-3 and pretty much left for dead. Granted, it is a long season, but unless they have some kind of dramatic wake-up call, this is NOT a team who is posied to do anything long-term. They are being out-played and making dumb mistakes on a weekly basis. This is beyond frustrating. Here are the numbers:

• FWP: 57 yard, 1 TD

Steelers 20, Bengals 28

Epic collapse does in Steelers

There were about 8 minutes left in today's huge Steelers-Bengals showdown, and Pittsburgh held a three-point lead. It had been an up-and-down game for the Steelers, but they had survived a multitude of mistakes to regain the lead. The fans were absolutely going nuts, screaming at the top of our lungs every time Carson Palmer tried to audible. On 3rd and 10, Palmer dropped back to pass and was sacked by Brett Keisel. It was the sixth time Palmer had been sacked and it was typical of the second half he had been having. He couldn't get his offense moving, and he was completely rattled. The Steelers defense was going to make sure that the Bengals would go home losers. And that's when it happened. Ricardo Colclough stuck a giant knife into the hearts of The Nation.

Flash back to three hours earlier, as my brother and I were driving to the game. He was going on about how he hoped that this would be the week that Bill Cowher would finally dress third-round draft pick Willie Reid so that he could return punts like the team drafted him to do last April. The punt return team has been horrible so far this year. Santonio Holmes has made some poor decisions on when to field punts vs. when to let them go, but Colclough has been even worse, bobbling almost every return. We had a long conversation about how we hoped Colclough wouldn't be returning punts, especially with the wind picking up, but sure enough, he was in the game doing just that. We honestly held our breath every time the ball was in the air on a Cincinnati punt.

As stated earlier, it was an uneven game for the Steelers. They dominated Cincinnati in the first quarter. The offense, which looked dormant last week, really got moving as the team drove 80 yards for the game's first touchdown. FWP tore through Cincy's banged up defense for 133 yards, while Chris Gardocki only had to punt twice. On their second possession, the offense drove again and had a first and goal from the 6. But Ben Roethlisberger threw an AWFUL pass right into about four Bengals defenders, and the drive was over with no points to show for it. Cincinnati fed off of the momentum of that play to score two touchdowns before halftime, while all the Steelers could muster was a blocked Jeff Reed field goal attempt.

However, the Steelers weren't about to give up. They got an early field goal in the 3rd quarter, and then the defense picked off Palmer for the second time in the game. Ryan Clark DRILLED Chris Henry, and Ike Taylor made the interception. That set up FWP for the go-ahead score. The Steelers continued to make dumb mistakes - they took two uncharacteristic taunting penalties, Cedric Wilson and Nate Washington dropped two 3rd down passes that were right in their hands, and Ben threw yet another terrible interception - but it didn't matter because the defense had the Bengals beat. Cincinnati is a team who cannot wait to give up, and when Keisel sacked Palmer late in the game, you got the sense that they had just about had enough.

That's what made it so frustrating when Colclough fumbled the ensuing punt. Not only did he fumble it backwards, he then panicked and tried to pick it up on the run. Cincinnati pounced on the ball at the Steelers 8 yard line, and Palmer found TJ Houshmandzadeh in the endzone on the very next play. It was un-freaking-believable. All Ricardo Bleeping Colclough has to do is catch the ball, or let it go, or do ANYTHING OTHER THAN FREAKING DROP IT!!! And WHY oh why is he in the game when he has turned every punt return into a freaking adventure this year?!? As I said in my recap two weeks ago, years of being a Steelers fan has made me wince in pain whenever the special teams looks like it has the potential to lose us games. I got that bad feeling two weeks ago but I tried to brush it off. Sure enough, they did it - they lost us the game. Is there any other football team who has lost more games in the last decade or so on special teams plays? It's just one freaking nightmare after the other.

To make matters worse, Verron Haynes fumbled the ball away on the next possession. Everyone was still in shell shock over the Colclough play, and Haynes ruins any chance the Steelers have of regaining the lead. Palmer went back to TJ (give them credit for going for the kill after each of the fumbles) for a 30 yard TD pass. Just like that - bang-bang - game over. At the 8:05 mark of the 3rd quarter, the Steelers led 17-14. At the 7:05 mark, they trailed 28-17. They tried to rally for the late comeback, but it wasn't going to happen.

I'm flat out sick over this game. One thing I often criticize Steelers fans for is always focusing on what Pittsburgh did wrong rather than crediting the other team for outplaying us (for example, the way the Jaguars just beat us up last week). But this is a case where the Steelers completely did themselves in. They committed FIVE turnovers and blew a great game by the defense. They couldn't beat the Bengals even though they had key injuries on defense and couldn't stop the run. Worst of all, they gave credence to Cincinnati when the Bengals did NOTHING to deserve to win that game. Everyone will say that Cincinnati made some kind of a "statement" by coming into Pittsburgh and winning, but the only statement here is that Ricardo Colclough sucks as a freaking punt returner. I'm not worried about the Bengals - they are frauds and it is only a matter of time before they are exposed as such - but I am concerned about the Steelers. They needed to win this game and they blew it and blew it hard. Now they have a bye week before they have to travel all the way across the country to face an undefeated Chargers team who gave them all they could handle last year. This loss was a fitting end to a terrible week in Pittsburgh sports. It started last weekend when Pitt blew a 10-point lead against Michigan State. Then the Steelers got hammered in Jacksonville, Evgeni Malkin got hurt in his first game, and half the Duquesne basketball team got shot. Now the Steelers gift-wrap a win for a hated division rival and fall to 1-2. Nice going, losers. Here are the numbers:

• FWP: 31 rushes, 133 yards, 2 TD
• Defense: 2 INT, 3 forced fumbles, 6 sacks

Steelers 0, Jaguars 9

Jacksonville defense destroys Steelers

Depending on your perspective, that was either a tremendous defensive battle or a really boring game. Regardless, one thing is certain: the Jaguars defense absolutely manhandled the Steelers offense, handing them not only their first loss since last December, but also their first shutout in three seasons.

The first half featured nothing but defense. Neither team was able to run the ball, and the passing yards also came at a premium. By the time halftime hit, the game was still scoreless, which is a fairly rare event. The NFL only had one scoreless first half in all of 2005, while the Steelers and one of their opponents had not played a scoreless first half in 25 years.

However, in the second half, the Jaguars offense slowly got moving. Byron Leftwich and his tall receivers wore down the Steelers defense with two long drives that resulted in field goals. It would be all that Jacksonville would need, because the Steelers offense could do nothing. Much will be made about Ben Roethlisberger's subpar performance in his first game back. People will say he looked rusty - which of course would be understandable given his circumstances - but let's also remember how difficult it is to pass when you have absolutely no running game. Roethlisberger threw a late interception (which appeared to be a miscommunication between he and rookie Santonio Holmes) which iced the game for the Jags.

There isn't a whole lot left to say about this one. The Steelers got their butts handed to them. I'm not sure if the heat had anything to do with it or not, but this was a night game so that excuse isn't totally valid anyway. Jacksonville should be very encouraged heading into Indianapolis next week. Their defense performed great depsite the loss of DE Reggie Hayward. What a terrible game for the Steelers offense. They have some work to do before next week's huge game against Cincinnati. Here are the numbers:

• Chris Gardocki: 8 punts, 44.8 avg
• First Monday Night Football game ever to have a single-digit total score

Steelers 28, Dolphins 17

Big play magic

As far back as I can remember, the Pittsburgh Steelers have always won games by playing consistent, grind-it-out football. Their formula for success consisted of long clock-eating drives, stout defense, and above all, no major turnovers or mistakes. Whenever those things didn't happen, the Steelers lost. That's why it was so ironic that they won their fifth Super Bowl last February not by playing a solid game (they played anything but that), but rather by making big plays when it mattered the most. It harkens back to that old John Facenda NFL Films phrase: "Great teams aren't always great. They're just great when they have to be." The 2006 Steelers picked up right where the 2005 team left off. They opened the season by doing things that would have normally lost them games in years past, but they made two big plays in the end to steal away the victory.

The entire city was on fire for the NFL's opening game. The atmosphere on the North Side was simply electric - screaming fans, flashing lights, and of course the one thing in Pittsburgh that somehow still thrills everyone - fireworks! Homestead's own Charlie Batch was forced to start this game after Ben Roethlisberger's unexpected appendectomy. The talk all week focused on whether or not Batch could lead the Steelers, and he proved all his critics wrong. The veteran QB led two first half touchdown drives. The first was a 12 play, 75 yarder which that culminated in a 27 yard TD pass to Nate Washington. Batch made a beautiful throw on the play, and Wahsington made an even better catch, smartly shielding his back from the Miami defender. The second touchdown drive of the first half was 77 yards and it also ended with a Batch TD pass, this time to Hines Ward (who certainly looked healthy after missing the entire pre-season with a hamstring injury).

The defense meanwhile kept the Dolphins in check. They completely shut down RB Ronnie Brown (he had 15 carries for 30 yards), and they kept decent pressure on QB Duante Culpepper. However, the Dolphins still scored a 2nd quarter touchdown thanks to the Steelers putrid special teams play. I don't know what happened to them tonight. The punt coverage team was just awful. They allowed some white guy (Wes Welker) to smoke them all night. Welker returned a punt to the Steelers 15 yard line, setting up an easy touchdown. The punt return team was just as bad. They kept bobbling kicks or making bad decisions to field punts that they should have let bounce thru the endzone. Did we really miss Chidi Iwuoma that much? Kevin Spencer better get a hold of this real fast. I will NOT have another great season tragically derailed by incompentent special teams play! We've been thru that twice already (1993 and 2001) and if it's going to happen again, just tell me now so I can sit this season out!! Ok, so I'm totally overreacting. It's only the first game, but still - let's get it fixed sooner rather than later. Miami added a FG before halftime to cut the Steelers lead to 14-10.

In the second half of the game, things starter to go downhill. Batch led the Steelers on two solid drives, much like he had done in the forst half. However this time, they both resulted in disaster. The first drive saw the Steelers reach the Miami 25 yard line before Batch took a terrible sack and forced his team into punting. The second drive was much worse. The Steelers marched down the field for an 81 yard drive that ate up the final six minutes of the 3rd quarter and part of the 4th quarter. They had 1st and goal from the one yard line when Batch took the snap, crashed into Alan Faneca, and fumbled the ball. It was unreal - 81 yards, 0 points! To make matters worse, the Dolphins had scored a touchdown to take the lead. Culpepper led his team on an 80 yard drive that nearly ended with an Ike Taylor endzone interception, but as usual, Ike dropped the ball. Taylor really played a spotty second half in general, missing tackles and struggling to keep up with WR Chris Chambers.

Down 17-14 with just over six minutes left in the game, the Steelers got the ball back at their own 13 yard line. Batch would have to lead his team on an improbable 87 yard drive to give them the lead. It seemed unlikely at the time. So what happens? On the first play of the drive, Batch found TE Heath Miller behind the Miami defense, and Miller WAS GONE!!! That's right - the Steelers took the lead (and ultimately won the game) on an 87 yard TD pass to the tight freakin end!!! Unbelievable. While everyone in Heinz Field was screaming as Miller chugged down the field, I just stood there with a baffled "is this really happening" look on my face. Ken Wisenhunt is a genius. You know he was waiting for that play all game. Fast Willie Parker had smoked the Miami defense all night (he ran a career-high 29 times for 115 yards), and Miami kept playing everyone up close to the line. No one covered the TE on that play. It was also an impressive play by Miller, getting behind the defense and then out-running a Dolphins cornerback. I've seen Miller display this kind of athelticism before, most notably when he smoked Pitt for a 52 yard touchdown in the 2003 Continental Tire Bowl. At the time, I wondered how in the world the Pitt defense could let a TE smoke them for such a long play. I'm sure Nick Saban is now wondering the same thing.

From that point on, the defense clamped down. Troy Polomalu picked off Culpepper, and after the Steelers blew a chance to ice the game (Jeff Reed missed badly on a long FG attempt - the third time in the half that the Steelers got inside the Miami 25 and came away with squat), Joey Porter made big play #2 to finish off the Fins. Porter intercepted a Culpepper pass that was thrown over the middle of the field and ran it back 42 yards for his first career touchdown.

What a crazy way to kickoff the season. For all those people who predicted Miami to make it to the Super Bowl: I just don't see it - at least not yet. Their defense looked old and tired, while Culpepper showed he still has a tendency to make Favre-like mistakes. It's a long season to be sure, but if I'm a Patriots fan right now, I've got to feel pretty good about the AFC East. The Steelers meanwhile showed why they are the defending Super Bowl champions. They faced adversity and made mistakes, but they never panicked and found the heart to somehow pull off the win regardless. This is a great team. Perhaps a frustrated Dolphins fan summed it up best. As we were all walking out of Heinz Field, he angrily blurted out, "I'm so (expletive) sick of the Steelers winning EVERY (expletive) game!" These are the glory days folks. Enjoy them while they last. Here are the numbers:

• Charlie Batch: 15/25, 209 yards, 3 TD's
• FWP: 29 rushes, 115 yards
• Heath Miller: 3 rec, 101 yards, 1 TD
• Joey Porter: 2 sacks, 1 INT, 1 TD