Who's The Boss?

"We're not good enough to win right now, and that's what I just told that football team."
- Mike Tomlin

I don't mind having to play from behind. I don't mind losing a game. I don't mind calling a pass play to a receiver who isn't beyond the 1st down marker on 4th down in a last ditch effort to tie the game. However, I DO mind getting out muscled, and ran over in our own house. The Jaguars played OUR game today and they played it better than we could, against the NFL's somehow still #1 rated Defense.

Fred Taylor ~ 25 carries, 147 yards
Maurice Jones-Drew ~ 12 carries, 69 yards
Total Rush Yards Allowed ~ 224
Total Pass Yards Allowed ~ 197
Total Yards Allowed ~ 421
Jaguars on 4th Down ~ 3/3
Jaguars Time of Possession ~ 37:39

I'm not sure I need to write much else. That pretty much sums up the game. The Jaguars ran it. We couldn't tackle them. The Jaguars threw it short. We continued to play 8 yards off.

But perhaps most frustrating was the Jaguars final scoring drive of the game (which by the way reeked of Week 7 against Denver). We had just tied the score in truly dramatic fashion. All we needed was to stop the Jaguars Offense, get the ball back and go for the win. But 8 plays, 73 yards and only 3 minutes 49 seconds later, they were putting 7 up on the board and the Steelers hopes came down to a 2 minute drill. I understand that by that point in the game, the Steelers Defense had played a lot of football, but en route to their deathblow, the Jaguars ran the ball 5 out of 8 plays, netting 52 (of the 73) yards and the score.

I'm reminded of that line from the movie Boiler Room, how's it go again? - Oh yeah, "Always be closing." The Steelers Defense let the Jaguars Offense run this game (pun intended) and close it out the same way they drew 1st blood. Plain and simple.

Bright spots? Sure there were some...

1. Willie Parker is Fast ~ FWP, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...all 1317 of them. Willie is holding firm as the categorical #1 among NFL backs. Now if only we could've given him the ball more...14 carries, 100 yards...that looks an awful lot like he was about 4 or 5 rushes away from breaking another big one. But alas...we like to throw the ball now...


2. The Hotrod Cashes In ~ Nate Washington caught a pass...a touchdown pass...go ahead, read that again, I still can't believe it either...


3. Some People Now Have Records They Did Not Have Before ~ Jeff Reed moved up to 3rd in Scoring All Time for the Steelers and Big Ben set the team record for Touchdowns in a season with 3 today and 29 on the year. As an also ran - Hines Ward inched 31 yards closer to the Steelers record for Receiving Yards All Time, and now only needs 42 more to reach that mark. Awesome... now, can the Steelers beat a playoff caliber team besides those named Cleveland or those from the NFC? Seriously...


4. The Dolphins Won Today ~ Congratulations. You guys suck, but at least you beat the Ravens (of all people). Too bad Brian Billick cannot be killed by conventional weapons...Yes, you are correct. That had nothing to do with Pittsburgh...


5. One Down, One Up ~ I think that phrase usually goes the other way...oh well. Anyways, we may have lost Aaron Smith this week, but getting Troy back proved to be so much more pivotal than any of us had imagined. He led the team with 10 tackles today (7 solo) and generally showed us why he's the highest paid Steeler in team history. Which leads me to believe he may have been hurt earlier in the season and just didn't say anything. Either way, this is solid news and gives this defense a much needed boost. Plus the Steelers again have one excellent head of hair in the secondary...et tu Al Harris!

So look, this is not the end of the world. We're all disappointed (especially me) by this loss. But a win in St. Louis on Thursday, and in Baltimore on the following Sunday, and we can still take the division by way of our dominance over the Browns. Of course, no game is certain. And you better bet that if it comes down to the final game of the season, the Ravens would like nothing more than to play spoiler to the Steelers, as we did to the Bengals last season. Even still, I'm staying positive. We still have a great shot at the playoffs and then the season will start anew. After all, we were a wild card in '05, and look how that turned out.

Now it's your turn. As usual, I want to know what you all thought. What did we learn today? What are your thoughts on the Fred Taylor show? How about the Steeler fans leaving the game in the 3rd Quarter? Does Bruce Arians know we have the #1 running back in the NFL?

PS - In case you missed it, we had some great discussion going on during the game today. I will continue to do this every week. So please, join us. I'll bring the beers...and Domski will bring the Bartles & James wine coolers...

GAME RECAPS:
[Behind The Steel Curtain]
[Blitzburgh Report]
[DC Steeler Nation]
[Die Hard Steel]
[Doubt About It]
[Football Braniac]
[Joey Porter's Pitbulls]
[Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies]

[Associated Press]
[ESPN]
[Post-Gazette]
[Tribune-Review]
[SteelCityInsider]

So Much For #1...

I would just like to start by going back to something Coach Tomlin said last week...and that is -

"We're going to play our game, we don't let people dictate to us how we're going to play defense."

I don't know about you all, but it sure as shit looked to me like we let New England dictate to us how we played defense today. Maybe I'm wrong. And I'll admit that I'm still tasting the bitterness of defeat. But it didn't look to me like the #1 Defense in the league wanted a win. Poor tackling. Giving up big plays. Hitting softly. What Defense was that out there? Because it didn't look like the Steelers to me.

I don't want to beat a dead horse here - but look, the Offense played relatively well, at least in the 1st half, and yet the Defense, which has been our calling card all year, could not come through. We plead up and down last week - this is a game primed for Steeler football. We're gonna hit 'em early and often. Physical this and physical that. I didn't see nearly enough physicality on the field today. They weren't hitting the Pats receivers, and even worse, they were letting them turn nothing into something all day. Yes the Pats had some luck and some calls go their way, but it is my personal feeling that the Steelers Defense just did not get it done.

Anyways, since I've already said enough and I'm short on time - here's who made OFTOT's 1st ever edition of "The News." Let's see...oh, um...

1. Anthony "No Money Back Guarantee" Smith ~ Honestly man, I don't know what to say to you. I maintained last week that if you were going to make that claim, you'd have to be able to back it up. Sure enough, the Pats went after you and you let them make you look like a bitch. Youthful mistakes man. Biting on the play action and the flea flicker. You were responsible for both of those scores. Sorry buddy, you better make up for it.


2. Larry "I don't hit other Michigan Alumni" Foote ~ Let's get one thing straight here Larry - when you have a shot on Tom Brady, you better take advantage of it. And what was that shit near the end of the game, hugging him and what not? Did you know that this was a football game? You gotta hit your mother if she's playing for the other team. I think you took it way too easy on the guy. Would you have done that for an Ohio State alumni? Yep, that's what I thought...


3. "Fast" Willie Colon ~ Somehow that doesn't seem right, does it? Well that's because it's not. If I had a dollar for every time I saw Mike Vrabel coming around the edge, blowing right by Colon, I'd be a rich man. There were a couple times in the 1st half where it looked like Vrabel might have been offsides. But in hindsight I think that could've been because Colon just had no chance of blocking him on account of the fact that he sucked all day (and ok, he had little help). Maybe it's time to give Max Starks another shot? Ok, let's not get crazy now...


4. Nate "Hotrod" Washington ~ At what point do you just acknowledge that a guy can't catch and move on? I think I might be overreacting a bit. But it's hard to watch a guy get hit right in the hands and not be able to bring the ball in. You're a wide receiver. Just catch the god damn ball! I have nothing more to say to you Nate...


5. Bruce "Show Me All Your Trick Plays" Arians ~ Dude...I mean, dude...An end around to Hines Ward when you're on the 1 yard line and it's 4th down and you're losing 24-13? They hadn't stopped the run really at all. But you went with an end around to Hines Ward. I could've seen pound it in with Najeh, Ben keeper, play action roll out to Heath Miller. But not that. People at The Shannon in Hoboken now think I'm nuts because I was yelling at the TV with a passion they had apparently never seen before. Earth to Bruce Arians - sometimes the obvious choice is the obvious choice for a reason.

Anyways, lucky for us the game didn't really mean anything. They're going to be the #1 seed no matter what, and if all goes well, we'll see them again in January. Of course, another Cleveland win today means we're back to being just a game above them in the division. And with their piss poor sched, we'd better win out just to make sure they don't catch us. God, did you ever think we'd be worried about the Browns in the division? Me neither.

I'm done with this game. Bring on Jacksonville.

What did you guys think? Did you also almost have an aneurysm during this aberration? Were you also ready to jump through the TV and punch Rodney Harrison in the face? Did you also want to make out with Tom Brady? Oh wait...not that last part...uh...all heterosexual here as usual. Carry on.

GAME RECAPS:
[DC Steeler Nation]
[Die Hard Steel]
[Doubt About It]
[Football Braniac]
[Joey Porter's Pit Bulls]
[Ladies...]
[Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies]

[Associated Press]
[Post-Gazette 1]
[Post-Gazette 2]
[Tribune-Review]