Pittsburgh’s Goin’ to the Super Bowl: Running Away with the Lombardi

Via Steelers.com

Unfortunately, it turns out the Steelers aren’t goin’ to the Super Bowl this year, in case you haven’t heard, because they haven’t signed any overpriced free agents, and the Patriots have. (I suppose time will tell whether they are overpaid or not.)

I have to admit, I wish the Steelers would work a little harder on grabbing Ross Cockrell, but maybe they are waiting to make a play for Malcom Butler. (Hah!) (Although it would be a good idea for the Steelers to sign him so that Antonio Brown won’t have to run down hotel corridors any more. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, please watch the video at the end of the article…)

On Second Thought: Homer J. On Browns @ Steelers

via Steelers.com

by Homer J

Laundry doesn’t win games, but Landry does, sometimes.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

The Steelers won their seventh straight game Sunday, having clinched the AFC North title a week earlier, and resting their All-pro QB, All-pro running back, All-pro receiver, All-pro Center, and the heart and soul of their defense. Nobody got seriously hurt, and the team heads into the playoffs healthier than they’ve been in months.

It was Fan Appreciation Day, and yet many fans didn’t seem to appreciate it.

The overtime win over the hapless Cleveland Browns was sort of like winning second place in the Ugly Girl Contest. You didn’t know whether to say thank you or blank you.

Then and Now: The 2015 and 2016 Steelers

We are coming up to the stretch run. Five more games to play, the division in sight but not in hand, and the Steelers are (perhaps) rounding into form. It sounded vaguely familiar to me, and I thought I would have a quick look at the situation a year ago.

One year ago the Steelers were 6-5, having just lost to the Seattle Seahawks. The team had been highly inconsistent during the season, but having to start a couple of backup quarterbacks is generally not a recipe for success. The defense, who had been showing signs of getting it together, gave up five touchdowns to Russell Wilson. The Steelers offense put up 30 points. The remarkable thing is they did so in a game in which they turned the ball over four times. But 30 points weren’t enough to counter a meltdown of massive proportions by the defense.

Paying It Forward: Steelers Who Are Making the World a Better Place

via Steelers.com—the annual Pouncey turkey giveaway at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

In yesterday’s 5 Smoldering Questions, Hombre de Acero added the following as a sort of bonus question:

Hopefully, all of you have non-football things to be thankful for, and those are far more important than anything that happens on the gridiron.

But who or what about the 2016 Steelers are you thankful for?

I didn’t answer that question because as it happens I’d already decided that was going to more or less be my post for today. Here goes:

A Lot of Smoldering Questions, and the Answers

Steelers.com

by Ivan Cole

Ivan sent me his game commentary very late Sunday night, as did Homer J. Homer’s comments and report card are in yesterday’s Second Thoughts. Since Ivan phrased his commentary as a Q & A, it appears today, as Hombre de Acero is still unavailable. 

Ivan made a few preliminary notes:

Steelers vs. Chiefs: The “Righting the Ship” Edition

Jason Bridge/USA Today Sports

I admit it. I was nervous about this game. I was nervous about the Kansas City defense taking out critical Steelers offensive players such as Ben Roethlisberger. (In fact they did manage to take out Darrius Heyward-Bey, who had a touchdown pass and a special teams play which pinned Kansas City at about the 2 yard line. And Marcus Gilbert left with an ankle injury.) I was also worried about Marcus Peters, their second-year corner who leads the universe all-time in interceptions.

On Second Thought: Refereeing in the Steelers/Bengals Week 2 Match

via Foxsports

There are so many things one could talk about in this game, good and bad. Some players would show up in both columns—Sammie Coates, for instance. His ability to stretch the field is awesome, but as the person formerly known as PaVaSteeler stated after the game, Coates appears to give inconsistent effort. However you view it, he certainly needed to have made more effort to wrest the ball from Dre Kirkpatrick. Sometimes your quarterback makes you look good, and sometimes you have to bail him out.

Steelers vs. Bengals: Where There’s a D-Will, There’s a Way

I’m going to keep using this picture until DeAngelo stops being the offensive MVP…

By Homer J. 

Homer sent a play-by-play, which will appear in italics. I have edited it freely and included commentary when appropriate. He also sent a report card, which will be printed in full. Thanks, Homer!

On Second Thought: Steelers at Washington*, Week 1

Ivan Cole, bless his socks, totally bailed me out this week, because a number of circumstances conspired such that I finished watching the game at about 12:30 a.m. The catch is, that was 12:30 a.m., Salt Lake City time, and my body is still on Pittsburgh time. Which, according to my addled-but-still-mathematically-competent brain, translates to 2:30 Pittsburgh time. I’m not at all sure what you all would have gotten by way of a game recap had I been forced to write one myself at that point, but it probably would have looked something like this:

Flying High in D.C.: Steelers vs. the Washington Team on Monday Night Football

C.B.S. Sports

by Ivan Cole

Losers and bad news

We start with the easy part. I’m sure others will search high and low to find things to stress about, but the truth is that this is a pretty short list.

*Injuries. Only one blemish here, but we don’t know how significant it is yet. Ryan Shazier suffered some sort of setback. Stayed tuned.