Here's my observations about the 2008 Steelers (6-2) now that the season is halfway over:

• Team MVP: Linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley. The Steelers have not had a pass rush like this in a long time, and it's the primary reason why they have the NFL's #1 defense at the midpoint of this season.



• Biggest Surprise: RB Mewelde Moore. He was brought here to be used on 3rd downs and special teams at most. Instead he has helped the Steelers running game not miss a beat in the wake of FWP's absence.
  
  Runner-up: WR Nate Washington. I can't believe I'm saying this, but after three years of bashing him, he is proving me wrong with big play after big play each week.



• Biggest Disappointment (or as reader Jason M. wanted to call this category, "The Duce Staley Sweatpants and Clipboard Award"): WR Limas Sweed. The rookie wideout was not expected to blow anyone away, but he was expected to at least dress in front of Dallas Baker and possibly challenge Washington for the 3rd WR spot. In his defense, it is still way too early to write him off. After all, I had Lawrence Timmons in this spot last year, and he has been having a very good sophomore season.



• The Jamain Stephens Award: This annual award for stupidity goes the usually intelligent James Farrior. In week 2, Farrior took a costly 15-yard penalty for making an obscene gesture, not to a referee or to an opposing player, but to a Cleveland fan. What a waste of 15 yards!



• Best Game: In week 5, the Steelers came from behind to beat the Jaguars - the team who had beaten them four times in the past three years - on the road.
  
  Runner-up: In week 9, the Steelers whipped a very good Redskins team on the road with their starting quarterback missing for half of the game.



• Worst Game: In week 3, the Steelers got downright manhandled by the Eagles in a 15-6 loss.



• Best Play: Down 21-20 in the final minutes of the week 5 game at Jacksonville, Ben Roethlisberger made a clutch play on 3rd down to escape a sack and complete a long pass which eventually led to the game-winning touchdown. Had he been sacked or thrown incomplete, the best the Steelers could have hoped for would have been a 50+ yard field goal attempt from a hobbled Jeff Reed.



• Worst Play: Having lost long-snapper Greg Warren to a season-ending knee injury, the Steelers were forced to use LB James Harrison to handle long-snapping duties late in the 4th quarter of the week 8 game against New York. Harrison snapped the ball over punter Mitch Berger's head, resulting in a game-tying safety.



• Brilliant Quote of the Year: A good 10-15 minutes after the Steelers had kicked an overtime field goal to beat the Ravens in week 4, ESPN's post-game show led off with Stuart Scott proclaiming that "not a soul has left Heinz Field" as 60,000 empty seats were clearly visible right behind him.



• Awestruck Quote of the Year: Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard, after losing to the Steelers in week 5, had this to say about his counterpart Ben Roethlisberger: "I've never seen something like that before in that situation, with the game on the line, guys pulling him to the ground and he throws it 20 yards downfield, on the money."



• Funniest Image of the Year: After the Steelers dropped the Bengals to 0-7, I snapped a picture of these two disgruntled Cincinnati fans outside of Paul Brown Stadium. As you can see, the guy on the left wasn't to thrilled about being photographed by a Steelers fan.



• Not-So-Classy Moment of the Year: In week 1, the announcement at Heinz Field that Tom Brady had been knocked out of the Patriots-Chiefs game with a knee injury (which would end his season) drew loud cheers.




• Odd Stat of the Year: The Steelers took costly safeties late in the 4th quarter of two separate games (week 3 against Philadelphia and week 8 against New York), both of which they lost.
  
  Runner-up: Between 1936 and 1971 (a span of 36 seasons), the Giants played at Pittsburgh 33 times. Between 1972 and 2007 (a span of 36 seasons), the Giants played at Pittsburgh only once. New York finally returned this year.



• Ugly Stat of the Year: In week 3, the Steelers offensive line allowed 6 sacks -- in the 2nd quarter!



• Most Satisfying Meltdown: This is a tie between the Bengals (suffering thru one of their worst seasons ever just two dozen months after proclaiming that they should have rightfully won the Super Bowl) and Al Davis (certifiably insane and currently on his 4th head coach in as many years).



• Dumbest Move by an Opponent (on the field): In week 2, the Browns were down 10-3 with only three minutes left in regulation when they drove deep into Steelers territory. Faced with 4th down, [soon to be ex] head coach Romeo Crennel elected to kick a field goal, making the final score 10-6 and apparently ensuring that the Browns covered the spread.



• Dumbest Move by an Opponent (off the field): After The Murderer ended Rashard Mendenhall's season with a hard hit in week 4, Ravens LB Terrell Suggs went on the radio to boast about how they had a "bounty" out on Mendenhall and Hines Ward, drawing the ire of the league and former head coach The Genius, who said that Suggs was "stupid" to openly talk about it.



• Gutsiest Move by an Opponent: On their first possession of the season, the Texans were driving but stalled against the Steelers defense around midfield. Head coach Gary Kubiak boldly tried to make a statement by going for it on 4th and 1. Unfortunately for him, it backfired when the Steelers stuffed Matt Schaub on a QB sneak.



• Most Despicable Move by an Opponent: After purging themselves of troubled WR Chris Henry and talking about how he would "never" be welcomed back, the Bengals promptly re-signed Henry when a few of their receivers suffered minor injuries. It's no wonder why they are the worst team in the conference right now.



• Best Steeler-Related Column of the Year: Sports Illustrated published this great article by Ross Tucker about how the Steelers have the best fans in all of pro football.
  
  Runner-up: Vic Ketchman's piece on Jaguars.com about how "the hunters have become the hunted" in reference to Hines Ward's constant punishment of defensive backs.



• Costliest Penalty of the Year: Willie Colon was flagged for holding Justin Tuck on a 53-yard touchdown pass in week 8. Had the play counted, the Steelers would have had a two-score lead over the Super Bowl champion Giants, and with the way the defense was playing, probably would have won the game.



• Best Unknown Stat of the Year: The Steelers kick coverage unit, which has been a train wreck for most of the past 20 seasons, currently ranks 6th in the league in kickoff coverage and 2nd in the league in punt coverage. Best of all, they haven't allowed a big play all year.
  
  Runner-up: Since the start of the 2007 season, Jeff Reed has been near perfect on field goals. He only missed two attempts, and both of those came last season and were borderline impossible (one was a 65-yarder and the other was a long kick in ankle-deep mud at Heinz Field).



• Hit of the Year: In week 7, Hines Ward crushed Cincinnati LB Keith Rivers, shattering Rivers' jaw and ending his season.



• Best Use of Renegade: In week 4, the Steelers were being outplayed by Baltimore. But on the first play after Renegade was played at Heinz Field, the Steelers defense caused a fumble, returned it for a touchdown, and completely turned the game around.



• Worst Use of Renegade: In week 8, Renegade was played in the 3rd quarter after a Nate Washington TD. It was way too early and should have been saved for New York's final drive in the 4th quarter.



• Player who Made Me Look Stupid: Dolphins LB Joey Porter, who leads the NFL with 11.5 sacks. Joey always manages to make a big comeback after everyone has written him off. This has to be at least the 3rd time this has happened. That being said, I would still rather have Harrison over Porter.



• Overriding Theme of the Year: "Overcoming Adversity". The following key players have all missed at least one game this season due to injury: Casey Hampton, Ryan Clark, Brett Kiesel, Deshea Townsend, Bryant McFadden, FWP, Rashard Mendenhall, Carey Davis, Marvel Smith, Daniel Sepulveda, Greg Warren, and now possibly the team's best player, Ben Roethlisberger. There are other ballclubs in this league who have the same type of injury plague and are using it as an excuse to quit (see Seahawks, Seattle), but not this team.



• Shocker of the Year: Najeh Davenport rejoined the team due to injuries and has become the Steelers main kickoff returner.



• Sarcastic Shocker of the Year: Najeh Davenport currently ranks 29th in the league in kick returning.



• Something Different: an overtime win, a victory against Jacksonville, good special teams play



• Same Old Crap: poor offensive line play, lots of injuries, Santonio Holmes arrested again



• Grades:
• Rush Offense: B
• Pass Offense: B
• Rush Defense: A
• Pass Defense: A
• Special Teams: B+
• Coaching: A-