Ben Roethlisberger Is The Rain King...

It wasn't the prettiest thing I've ever seen, but a win is a win. And this one means just a little something more - that at 7-2, the Steelers have a full 2 game lead in the AFC North. In otherwords, today we separated the men from the Browns. Plus, the Bungles pulled off a win against the Ravens. So I'd say all is pretty much right with the world.

Yes, there were a lot of negatives. Two kick returns totaling 190 yards and basically two TDs¹ and a costly pick deep in our own territory, which promptly turned into 7 points. But after netting 0 TDs in the 1^st half, despite 172 yards of offense, the Steelers came out in the 2^nd half and showed all the doubters that we are not just a team that plays from ahead. AND Big Ben showed everyone that sometimes you've gotta run 30 yards for a score yourself. Do what you have to do to win. That's the measure of a champion, and Big Ben (Godsend) sure did it today.

Some of the other men who contributed memorable moments (in no particular order):

• Tyrone Carter -- Really liked that hurting you put on Kellen Winslow Jr. He and probably most of the Browns fans will try and find a way to make that seem dirty. But the only thing dirty about it was Winslow's jersey after he got up. Way to make an impression on the game buddy, cause we know you didn't do shit on special teams. Still waiting for this hit to show up on Youtube...


• Anthony "Sandman" Smith -- Good stop on Jamal Lewis down near the goal line. Like I said on Friday, if we were to be successful, it was important not to let Jamal Lewis pound the ball in. Plus, I saw you sneak in on a couple other plays. 5 total tackles for the game, not too shabby. And by the way, that visor is like, so hot right now...


• "Face Me" Ike Taylor -- Braylon Edwards stat line today = 1 catch, 16 yards...and yes, 1 TD. Considering the guy averages 5.25 receptions a game and about 92 yards, with 9 TDs, I'd say 1 catch for 16 yards reflects some pretty solid coverage...


• James "Silverback" Harrison -- Only 3 tackles on the game, but one big ass forced fumble (not to mention other one that wasn't recovered). It's ok man, you played the game of your life on Monday. I ain't gonna fault you for having less steam only 6 days later...(please note the sarcasm)


• Brett Keisel -- Knocking down a Horse Balls pass on a big 3^rd down, bravo. Way to use those fundamentals. I'll bet your high school coach would be proud. Goal for next week - try and get a sack...actually, that goes for you and the rest of the defense. See below...


• Hines "Psycho" Ward -- Let the Browns fans talk all they want about you being a dirty player. If dirty means 7 catches for 81 yards, a TD and a 2 point conversion, then I don't want you to be clean. You do what you gotta do brotha'...


• Heath. Miller. Touchdown. -- Clearly Big Ben reads One For The Other Thumb, because on Friday, when I said get the ball to Heath Miller, he clearly took note. 5 catches, including a stellar TD grab for the go-ahead score in the 4th, and 71 yards receiving. Unsung offensive hero? Just might be...


• Sir Fast William Everette Parker -- Not as dominant a performance as we usually can expect when FWP gets 25 carries, but 105 yards beats the shit out of 42 yards. We can't win 'em without the run, and FWP IS the Pittsburgh running game. PS - this marked FWP's 19th career 100+ yard game² (his 6^th this season) and gave him 768 yards on the year³.


• Wings to Go --Yes, I'd also like to thank Wings to Go for providing some much needed nourishment about mid-way through the 3^rd quarter. Too bad I ordered it at the beginning of the 2^nd quarter...a whole hour and 15 minutes earlier. Note to self - Wings to go = bunch of dicks, probably Giants fans...

But like I said earlier, this day belonged to Big Ben. In this, a bounceback year, he's continued game after game to show us all why he is a championship caliber quarterback. Ben went 23/34 today, for 278 yards and 2 TDs (we're not talking about that INT anymore), improving his QB rating on the season to 111.9 ⁴. Through 9 games, Ben has thrown for 1742 yards and 20 TDs, despite being sacked 19 times. He has emerged ladies and gentleman, and not just as a QB, but as a leader. Not much has really been made of Ben's leadership this year, but if you read SI, like I do, you would have read about how Ben is intimately involved in the offensive game plan, runs the offense virtually by his lonesome, and has become THE voice in the locker room. He's carried us to 7-2 thus far, and I have little doubt that he can lead us to a strong finish and likely a division title.

That all said, I don't need to tell you again that this was not a flawless performance for the team. I won't spend a whole lot of space here expounding on our shortcomings today, but I will say this:

1. Special Teams has GOT to improve. What happened today was an embarrassment⁵. Joshua Cribbs is no slouch, but we have consistently shit the bed on kick coverage this season, and this is the last thing you want to drag an otherwise spotless team down. Tomlin, bring out the taser. I don't care what you do, but get these guys in line for Christ's sake. Sort it out.


2. 0 Sacks, guys? 0? Silverback had 3.5 himself on Monday night and not one of you can register 1 today? Against a Browns line that was missing one of it's key starting guards? To be fair, we did a much better job in the 2^nd half. But otherwise, we looked like we were going to let Horse Balls have his way with us. I applaud the respect LeBeau & Co. showed the "new look" Browns. But I'm sure I wasn't the only one that noticed a marked difference between the Defensive dominance in the 2^nd half and the less than whelming 1^st half. Bring the pressure. Bring the heat. Bring the pain...


3. Take a guess at what else I'm going to say here...Yep, Offensive Line play. It was pretty much shite again today, as Kendall Simmons and his band of merry men let the Browns D (if you can call it that) sack Ben 4 times, and hurry him many others. I don't care how good Ben is at avoiding the rush, and we all know he's a beast, if you're not out there protecting him, what are you doing? Listen, even Horse Balls has only been sacked 8 times on the season, but yet Ben's been sacked 19 times? In fact, if numbers do it for you - Ben's the only QB besides the inimitable Damon Huard (sarcasm is thick today) and David Garrard, the injured (yes, I could do better, oh well), to have been sacked more than 15 times. I don't know what else to say?

So yeah, it was a sloppy win. But that doesn't mean we were totally inept. I applaud the effort today. A year ago, that 1^st half performance would have pretty much doomed us to a loss, but not this year.

Next week, let's try to accentuate the positive, and minimize our opponent's kick return yardage, shall we? Thanks. And PS - For the Browns fans who wanna talk shit about how dirty the Steelers are - I noticed a certain Sean Jones put what I saw to be a late hit on Willie Parker out of bounds. Don't think I'm not paying attention to this now. Call us classless again.

GAME RECAPS:
[Behind The Steel Curtain]
[DC Steeler Nation]
[Die Hard Steel]
[Joey Porter's Pit Bulls]
[Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies]
[The Blitzburgh Report]

[Associated Press]
[Post-Gazette]
[Tribune-Review]
[New York Times]
[ESPN]
[SteelCityInsider]
[Yahoo! Sports]
[SI.com]

FOOTNOTES:
¹ -- One legitimate run back for a score and one that set up a whopping 3 yard drive for a Lawrence Vickers score
² -- See FWP Career Stats
³ -- 2^nd in the league right now
⁴ -- Yes, this is a bullshit statistic but if it puts Ben 2nd only to Tom Brady, you bet I'm gonna mention it
⁵ -- I saw you Andre Frazier. Way to whiff on that TD return...

Death, Taxes, and The Cleveland Browns Sucking...

"Despite all the changes in Cleveland, one thing that remains the same is the Browns' miserable record against the Steelers in recent years."
- Associated Press

So I don't know about you all, but everywhere I've looked on the interweb this week, I've found stories about how the Steelers will "be facing a different Browns team" this Sunday. Guess it's official Steeler nation, this shit is on. The rivalry that once was alive and well (circa 1988) has come full circle.

Be this as it may, and while it is my duty as a faithful Steelers fan/blogger to discuss with tempered enthusiasm how the Steelers will have to play a disciplined game this Sunday, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think we were the favorites for a reason. And for all you Browns fans who may/may not have found your way to my post from Wednesday, let me reiterate - yes, I understand Derek Anderson is what you might call the 2^nd coming of Bernie Kosar and yes, I understand that the Steelers lost to Arizona. Even great teams lose once in a while as far as I know...but we can't do anything about those 2 losses now. All we can do is focus on the game at hand...Cleveland.

The fact of the matter is, this "rivalry" had become less than whelming in recent years...and by recent years I mean the better part of the last decade and a half. In fact, since 1993, the record goes: Steelers - 21 | Browns - 3. Think about that. Basically 7 out of every 8 times the Steelers played the Browns, they came out on top. Yikes. Nevertheless, I've said it before and I'll say it again - all the numbers in the world can't guarantee a victory. So let us not take the Browns lightly, because he who assumes, makes an ass out of, well you know how that all goes...

To that point - there is a A LOT of motivation for the Browns to win this one. The piss poor record vs. the Steelers for starters. But also, 1^st place in the division is on the line. Course, the Browns technically can't knock us out of 1^st place (we would retain the position by way of our 4-1 conference record), but they could even the score at 6-3 a piece. And what Browns fan wouldn't go berserk if that happened? We just can't allow that.

The good news is - the Steelers have an awful lot of opportunities to excel this Sunday, and because you know how much I love bullet points, here are some keys to the Steelers game against the Brownies:

OFFENSE

• Heath. Miller. Touchdown: Or Spaeth, I don't discriminate. What I'm getting at here is that the Browns have allowed multiple Tight End touchdowns in more than just a couple games this season, and since we've got seemingly one of the strongest tandems of Tight Ends south of Foxboro, we ought to use them. Of course this will be most effective if we...


• Spread The Ball Around Like Butter: I've mentioned this in previous weeks, but when Ben gets a number of our offensive playmakers into the mix, the possibilities are endless...all I'm going to say is play action to Heath Miller in the end zone...which also requires that...


• FWP Gets 22+ Carries: Another popular key that you have probably heard from me before. It's been well publicized this week that Willie only gained 42 yards on 23 carries against the Ravens on Monday. But honestly, the Ravens D and the Browns D are a classic example of what I'd call "night" and "day." The Ravens D ranks 3^rd against the run and only allows opponents 74 rushing yards per game, while the Browns D ranks 26^th against the run and gives up 135 rushing yards per game, almost twice the amount B-more gives up! So when I say this is an opportunity for us, I mean this is a god damn opportunity for an FWP blood bath. Run the ball at least 23 times and Willie Parker will gain over 150 yards, count on it...shitty offensive line or not.

DEFENSE

• Cover Kellen Winslow Jr.: Like Joey Porter says, "he's basically a receiver"...though we all know he'd prefer to be called a "souldja." Winslow (I refuse to say Jr. every time...you know who I mean) not only poses a significant threat as target of Derek Anderson bullets, but is owed approximately one beat down, to be handed out by linebacker extraordinaire, James Farrior. Remembering full well the hit cheap shot Winslow put on him during meeting last December, Farrior has already issued him a warning -

  "He better have his head on a swivel...Every time we go up against those guys, I'll be looking for him"

  But will Farrior be able to do it alone? I have a feeling he may need a little help from Anthony Smith. And if that's what needs to happen, so be it. Who wouldn't like to see The Sandman give Winslow a pop or two?


• Goal Line Stands: Jamal Lewis had only 37 yards rushing against the Seahawks last week, but yet 4 TDs. So obviously one other key will be to stop Jamal Lewis in the red zone. Of course, since the Browns haven't seemed to have much problem throwing the ball in, we'll still have plenty to worry about. But we can't allow Lewis to plow through when they're on the goal line. I like our chances much better against the pass in that sitch (like that slang? I'm trying to bring it into the blogosphere, so feel free to use it).


• Bring The Heat, Bring The Pain, Bring The Ruckus: Am I beginning to sound like a broken record yet? Thought so. We need to pressure Derek Anderson. His line has played rather exceptionally this year with Seth McKinney back in the lineup, and the additions of Eric Steinbach (when he's been healthy) and Joe Thomas. But guess what? McKinney's probably out this week, Steinbach is still banged up whether he plays or not, and we just came off a performance in which we penetrated another one of the league's elite pass protecting lines. So we have the tools to do it (see Silverback), we just need to be effective like we were on Monday. Ride that emotional high Silverback, and sack Horse Balls at least 3 times. That'd help. Oh, and one more thing - All hail the triumphant return of Aaron Smith.

And those my friends are my select few "keys" to success against the Browns. As usual, there's way more I COULD say, but this post frankly is long-winded enough.

To wrap it all up - I would love nothing more than to show the Browns one more time who is boss in the AFC North. Show everyone that just because the Browns are one of the leagues biggest surprises this year, that doesn't mean they can play with the big boys. And at the risk of getting ahead of myself, show the media that the Steelers are the real deal and the Pats should be on notice. We're still riding the emotional high of a Monday Night Football, Homecoming DOMINATION. Let's keep it rolling and put some friggin' distance between us and the reset of the division. It's Week 10 god damnit. Sort 'em out Tomlin!

REFERENCES:
Different Browns team facing the Steelers this time [Associated Press]
"New" Browns to face the Steelers [The Vindicator]
Steelers to see different Browns this time [Post-Gazette]
Browns not intimidated by Steelers..[Orange and Browns Report]