My Beautiful Disaster

The Packers travelled to Heinz field to take on the slumming Steelers. What a game that turned out to be. The Steelers’ defense played a mediocre game and by the end they were just getting worked. Tyrone Carter blew a few tackles, two huge ones with Jenning’s TD and Driver’s 30 yard reception. Hopefully Polamalu will be back next week.

The offense showed up so much so that Woodson (arguably one of the best cornerbacks in the league even if he’s getting a tad old) kept getting penalties because he kept getting burned. Mike Wallace gets a bomb thrown to him and he has to stop to get it because Big Ben didn’t throw it far enough and spins around for the first touchdown of the game with a 1-play, 60 YD TD pass in :02. Crazy. Mathews is a beast of a defensive end and he just worked our left tackle Starks. I felt sorry for him. Lots of pressure on Big Ben but he managed to stay on his feet and get 503 yards and 3TDs… the most yardage of the year for any QB and a franchise record. Holmes, Wallace, Ward, and Miller were all equally thrown to and stepped up with very few errors.

Many have criticized Tomlin’s decision for an onside kick with a little over 4 minutes in the game and up by only 2 points. I applauded him since it was a win/win situation. Firstly, our defense was running backwards in the fourth quarter. Had we kicked it deep they would have ate up the clock and scored anyways (FG or TD) giving us no time left to rebut. So giving it up at the 39 isn’t a horrible scenario as we’d have clock to work with and we’d need only one score giving us the win. Secondly, had the onside worked we would have most likely scored and ate up the clock while being up TWO scores and essentially cinching the game. It ALMOST worked had Ike Taylor waited one extra bounce as no one was really that close. Too bad.

It was the last 2 minute drive that impressed. Flags on both sides kept it tense. Going down to fourth and ten makes it moreso. I’m holding my breath as he lasers one into Holmes hands between two defenders. It looks like a pick but no! I see Holmes take a mad dash to the sidelines and I cheer! Few more plays gets it to the 20 yard line. 1st and 10 but with so little time it’s all or nothing. Throw it away once when Ward was coming across and he didn’t see. Put it in the back of the endzone but too high. :03 seconds left, only one play left. The ball is hiked and Ben waits. He’s watching and a lineman breaks through and grabs him. Everyone holds there breath as the game is over as the time is out and he’s wrapped up. But wait! Being Big Ben he works his miracle and steps out of the tackle and steps into the pocket. He spies Wallace running post and shoots a quick one to where only Wallace can catch it but only if he lays out and toe taps in a la Holmes and Super Bowl XLIII greatness. The rookie does just that and pulls it in for an amazing touchdown to tie the game and Reed finishes with the point after. First time a game has ended in the score 37-36. An amazing finish to a great game.

This was an important win. All the wildcard teams are .500 now giving us a legitimate shot if the numbers fall right. Finishing out the season by beating the Ravens and Dolphins should eliminate them. The Broncos can fall, they just lost to the Raiders and they have to travel to Philly to take on the red hot Eagles. It ain’t over yet! Not to mention that Troy Polamalu should be back to lead our defense.

The first touchdown to Holmes was called back due to a flag on Heath Miller saying he picked a defender. The DB contained Miller to one path and the other DB ran right into Miller. What a horrendous call.

This game is pissing me off. It’s coming down to the 4th quarter again and the Steelers fall apart. Holmes makes a great run after the catch to set up for 1st and goal. Mendenhall takes the ball and attempts to LEAP over someone for an extra yard with the goal line a good 6 yards away. Of course the ball comes out and the Vikings drive down the field. It’s 3rd down and the Vikings have an illegal shift for a 5 yard penalty but the Steelers defense stops the play 7 yards short of a first down. So with a 4th and 7 and a punt Tomlin takes the penalty and makes them repeat. Can you guess what happens? Sidney Rice makes a very nice catch with Polamalu knocking him out. The Vikings get in the red zone and I’m super pissed until the defense steps up. Keisel strips the ball from Favre, sacking him and Lamar Woodley scoops it up and run. The most impressive part was our defense swarmed and blocked everyone trying to tackle Woodley leading him to a 90 yard TD!! We should have scored on that drive anyways.

Our special teams let Harvin run a kickoff back for a touchdown. I saw some holds but the worst part was Jeff Reed had an easy tackle and he puts his hand on him and that’s it! He lets him go. That pisses me off so much so now the Vikings are within 3 again.

Favre had an impressive run back to the redzone but they were killing themselves with penalties. He tried a quick screen Chester Taylor who missed the ball and tipped into the hands of waiting Fox for the interception. He ran it all the way back to the house for a pick six! That made it a ten point game with one minute to go, effectively ending the game. Once again the Pittsburg defense steps up huge and they blocked all the way down the field for Fox. What a great ending to a great game!

I’m not sure what to do for the moment. I went to a bar to watch the game. I was shaking my head on a call of no touchdown when Hines Ward caught the ball and rolled two times before losing the ball out of bounds. It makes no sense to me, he had a completion in the end zone, that’s all that should be needed. Not only that he went to the ground with possession. Once he was out it popped out but it shouldn’t matter. The Steelers settled for a field goal but that call was some bullshit. A little later on Big Ben through a ball in the middle of the zone but he overthrew Ward and it went straight into a safety’s hands. Our defense stepped up with Keisel forcing a fumble with the sack on Derek Anderson. We get the ball and Willie Parker runs it only to have the ball knocked out of his hands. Wow. So what do we do? Sack Anderson again for another forced fumble. Let’s make this a painful experience and give it to Mendenhall who gets pulled onto other players but isn’t down so a Brown can just pluck it out of his hands. Are you serious? 5 turnovers in under 4 minutes. The Steelers went on to win the game but there were some frustrating moments. The ground game never picked up but Ben looked spectacular again. He had 400+ yards in the air with 2 TD passes. There were some drops but not as many as before.

The Chiefs won over the horrible Redskins just barely. 4 field goals and at the end they sealed the deal with a sack in the end zone resulting in a safety. Congrats to them but they have a loooong way to go unfortunately. I’m happy for Ms. Sexy X since that’s her team.

The Vikings barely scraped by with a win. I wouldn’t mind seeing them lose but since it was the Ravens… I’m glad they did win. The ratbirds put on a helluva 4th quarter to come way back and gain the lead. Favre gets the team into field goal distance where Longwell seals the deal. Flacco gets them all the way down into the 30 yard range for a long field goal. Whoever did the play calling needs to be shot. The Vikings D was wore down so they should have been trying for end zone not field position. Their kicker looked scared and he shanks it left for the loss. Oh well.

Now I’m back at home and I’ve got nothing to do. I am watching the New England game but they’re just killing the Titans 45-0 at the half. Brady has had 5 TD passes in one quarter. It’s embarrassing. So I’m bored and I’m trying not to think about anything. I’ll work out in a little while. I’m a bit tired but fuck it.