Mid-Season Report

Team MVP: Tim Lewis and the entire defense. During the month of October (5 games), they allowed just one touchdown and recorded two shutouts.

Biggest Surprise / Comeback Player of the Year: RB Jerome Bettis. He was written off for dead, especially after the Steelers brought back restricted free agent Richard Huntley, but the Bus has proven everyone (especially me) wrong so far this season.
Runner-up: LB Jason Gildon, another veteran who a lot of people (again, including myself) thought was finished, has made some huge plays.
Second Runner-up: QB Kordell Stewart came back from the dead to lead the Steelers to victories in each of his 3 starts.

Biggest Disappointment: FS Scott Shields. He was torched in the final minutes of the game at Cleveland. He lost his starting job, and then temporarily lost his place on special teams when he kept incurring penalties.
Runner-up: WR Plaxico Burre$$ and WR Troy Edwards. The dynamic duo of youngsters have done nothing but watch Hines Ward and Bobby Shaw take on the roles of the big-play WR's.

Rookie of the Year: KR Hank Poteat. He has broken a couple of long returns so far this year. Oh yeah - he was also one of the best cornerbacks in Pitt history and he hasn't even had the chance to play on defense yet, so the future is looking bright for him right now.

Best Free Agent Signing: DL Kimo Von Oelhoffen. The Steelers signed him for one reason: Dermontti Dawson said he was one of the toughest players to block against. When one of the greatest centers in NFL history says that there is guy who is actually hard for him to block, you go sign him! Von Oelhoffen has been the key to the Steelers resiliant run defense.

The Jamain Stephens Award: this annual award for stupidity goes to Plaxico Burress, for spiking the ball in Jacksonville before the play had ended. A Jaguars defender picked up the ball and ran 50 yards the other way.

Player who Made Me Look Stupid: RB Jerome Bettis. I tore him up the entire off-season and even wanted the Steelers to trade him. You do have to remember this however - the Bus is in the final year of his contract. Neil O'Donnell, Joel Steed, Orpheus Roye, and Yancey Thigpen all had career seasons in the final year of their contracts with the Steelers, and none of those guys ever repeated that success after they got their big money.

Best Game: Believe it or not, our best game was the loss in week 4 to Tennessee. Even though we came up short, the gutsy effort we put forth in that game was responsible for turning the season around.

Worst Game: Week 3 at Cleveland. It was one of the sorriest last-minute series of events in NFL history.

Best Play: On the second play of the game in week 7, Kent Grahm audibled and hit Hines Ward over the middle. Ward then broke away from two Bengals defenders (who basically crashed into each other) and went 77 yards for what would turn out to be the game-winning touchdown.

Worst Play: With seconds to go and no timeouts left, Kent Grahm got sacked on 3rd and goal in Cleveland. The Steelers were unable to get an easy game-tying FG off before the clock expired.

Best Image of the Year: Seeing Neil O'Donnell stagger to the sidelines with blood trickling from his mouth, after he had already thrown several interceptions. Welcome back to Pittsburgh, you traitorous son of a bitch.

Funniest Image of the Year: After getting leveled twice by Joey Porter in week 3, Browns punter Chis Gardocki gave Porter the finger right in front of the live television cameras. Gardocki later apologized after realizing that the crude/idiotic behavior of Clevelanders had begun to rub off on him.

Dumbest Move by an Opponent: In week 7, the Bengals inexplicably put Scott Mitchell into a live football game. He threw an interception on his first pass and was later sacked in the endzone by Joey Porter, sealing a 15-0 Steelers shutout.

Brilliant Quote of the Year: After getting hammered 22-0 by Pittsburgh, Browns CB Corey Fuller proudly proclaimed that "the Steelers are sorry" and that we would get eliminated in the first round of the playoffs - if we "even make it there".
Runner-up: Troy Edwards, on finding the bright side of the Steelers offensive problems while trying so hard to actually string a sentence together: "Just think if we start doing good, how good we can be."

"Suck on That" Quote of the Year: After the Ravens shut out the Steelers in week 1, big-mouth TE Shannon Sharpe expressed his pity for the Steelers, saying that they had "some real problems" and "a lot of internal turmoil". Eight weeks later, the Steelers beat Baltimore and passed them in the standings, prompting Bill Cowher to say, "Tell Shannon Sharpe I appreciate his concern, but we're fine over here."

Classiest Move of the Year: Hampered by knee injuries, Joel Steed elected to retire as a Steeler rather than trying to milk out another year or two with another team (and he knew some team probably would have paid him big money despite the knee problems).

Shocker of the Year: After opening the season 0-3 and looking like one of the NFL's doormats, the Steelers ripped off a 5 game winning streak.

Non-Shocker of the Year: In week 8, Kent Grahm joined the long list of Steelers QB's who have been literally booed off the field at Three Rivers Stadium.

Quarterbacks Injured by Jason Gildon: Neil O'Donnell (week 4); Vinny Testaverde (week 6); Kent Grahm (during practice)

Apologies Issued to the Steelers by the NFL: for not putting more time on the clock at the end of the game (week 3); for saying that Hines Ward was down at the one yard line when it was an obvious touchdown, even after they had reviewed it and subsequently stolen one of the Steelers timeouts (week 4)

Something Different: A win at Jacksonville; a 5 game winning streak; 2 straight shutouts; actually playing with heart

Same Old Crap: Inability to win close games; horrible kick coverage; receivers who can't catch; QB's that suck