DIXON TO HOLMES

After lobbing a pass to Hines for a good gain, Dixon rolls to his right, throws a strike to Santonio and Holmes does the rest, with a stiff arm at the 1 and into the end zone.

Let's see what you can do....

Well, unfortunately after thinking Ben would play this week we are upset to find out that he will not. Ben is out this week after diving fearlessly into the KC defense last week and suffering a head injury. Hopefully he'll recover fully by next week, but I'm sure he'll think twice about diving head first again. It won't hurt anyone if you slide feet first Ben. If it's the Super Bowl or the AFC championship game, go for it Ben. Otherwise, feet first will do.

To make the game interesting Charlie Batch injured his wrist too. So, Dennis Dixon the former number 3 quarterback out of Oregon will be inserted as the starter. Dixon was in the running for the Heisman his last year at Oregon and could have easily won it had he not torn up his knee and entered the draft. Dixon played well in Spring Training and the Steelers put him on the roster as the number 3 man. He could end up as the number 2 if he performs well in this audition. This could be Charlie Batch's last seas as number 2 for the same reason. Also, Charlie has not provided his money's worth the last 2 seasons. Last year Byron Leftwich had to be signed due to an injury to Charlie in the preseason. I like Charlie, but it would be nice to have a healthy quarterback to depend on.

The Ravens haven't exactly been consistent this year, but if you look at the records the Ravens trail the Steelers by only 1 game, so I guess you can say the Steelers aren't the most consistent either. They did have the advantage with the Super Bowl quarterback, but not this week. They still have the coach with a Super Bowl win and most of the team has at least 1 ring.

The gameplan:
Run left, run right run up the middle. With an inexperienced quarterback playing the best plan is to play the way they did when Ben was a rookie. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Bruce Arians likes to pass and sometimes looks to pass first and run second. The Steelers can have a good running game with Rashard Mendenhall, Willie Parker, and Mewelde Moore. This injury to Ben can help them to lean on the running game a little more and help them to find out how effective it can be. I think they have a weapon that they've been reluctant to use. Let's see if B.A. thinks so too. If he doesn't and he thinks D.D. can pass 30 times and the Steelers win, it could be a long afternoon. The defense might have to win this one. Also, a tall task if, as expected Troy Polamalu is out. If the special teams let's the Ravens return one this is over before it starts.

Prediction:
Steelers 17 Ravens 13

WHAT THE....

Ok, it's 4th quarter with 2 minutes to go and the Steelers are tied with the Freaking 2-7 Kansas City Chiefs, aided by 2 returns for touchdowns by the Steelers. It is bad enough to lose 2 times in the same year to the lowly Ben Gals but to lose again to the stinking Kansas City Chiefs after you lose to the Ben Gals is disturbing. Todd Haley thinks he's on the field playing and trying to trash talk with Ryan Clark and others. I'm sure they're reminding him of the last game of the year last year. 1 minute left and the Steelers are on KCs side of the field and have to punt. This is ridiculous, KC sucks. Why are they tied with the Steelers. Overtime. Hope the Steelers get the ball or anything can happen. What is going on with Ben? Tails never fails and the Steelers get the ball first. Let's have some scoring. All they needed was a field goal at the end of the game and couldn't move it past the 40.. Where is Santonio? Where is Mike Wallace? Heath and Hines seem to be the only ones trying to catch the ball. They need to ram the ball down the Chiefs throats with Rashard. They heard me, 7 yards on 1st down. Keep it going.
There's Hines at the 44. Pass pro held this time.
Rashard another 7 yards.
Keep it going.
Holding, great. Ben's getting checked out. C'mon Ben slide unless you're going for the TD.
Charlie Batch, your time is here. It's been a season and a half since we've seen him in a gametime situation.
There's Mr. Holmes for a first down. He must have heard me. Ok, Charlie let's give it to Rashard. Empty set though.
C'mon 2 passes in a row with a cold QB, we've got several warm RBs. Down to the 36, Reed can try a field goal. What the.... They're going to punt.\
\
THE DAMN CHIEFS, WHAT THE ......

So much for revenge.....

Well, so much for revenge. It seemed like I was watching Bubby Brister and the rest of the 80s Steelers muddle through this game and wait for Gary Anderson to win it for them. Ben was off target and when he wasn't the Bengals knocked the pass down. Coming soon you'll find out WHO'S FAULT IS IT? Thankfully we haven't seen this for a while but it's back.

Time for Revenge

It's the Steelers vs. the Bengals #2 in 2009 and time for them to exact some revenge for the early season loss. The Steelers haved changed somewhat from that earlier loss and look to prove the class of the North Division. Troy Polamalu missed that game after his knee injury in the first game, the running game was a shadow of its current self, Aaron Smith was still active, and the defense was letting other teams make late game runs.

The defense is back to form, Troy is looking good, Rashard Mendenhall has shored up the running attack, and Willie Parker is over his turf toe and ready to go, Travis Kirschke has provided quality run support and now Nick Eason and Ziggy Hood need to do the same against Cedric Benson.

The big difference between now and then could be the running game. Instead of giving Carson Palmer time to drive down the field at the end of the game, Rashard could be called on to run out the clock and not give Palmer that chance. It would help if the special teams practiced onside kicks this week too! Home field advantage won't hurt too! The Steelers let the last one get away, the Bengals have been gaining confidence as the wins pile up, but this is Hines' Field.

Steelers 28 Bengals 17

Craig and Meagan

Best wishes to a great friend and his new bride!

WHO GETS THE CREDIT – DENVER EDITION

Close game for the first 3 quarters then the Steelers pulled away. Didn't really think Denver was ever really in control. If they would have scored a touchdown on the drive that led to a field goal maybe that perception would have been different, but woulda, shoulda, coulda. Kyle Orton is no Ben Roethlisberger. Speaking of Ben, I am getting so sick and tired of all these experts saying he is a step below Brady and Manning, don't even compare him to Eli. These are the same guys that early this year said that Eli is better than Peyton. That's pretty much been silenced with the Giants recent losing ways. Hello, Ben has been able to win championships because he is a mobile quarterback. All teams have their weaknesses. The Steelers O-line in the first few years with Alan Faneca, Jeff Hartings and Marvel Smith and crew was average to above average at times and good enough to spring FWP and win a Super Bowl Title. Then, it took them a while to
rebuild. Now the group seems to have come together and become an effective unit again. If you would have stuck Manning or Brady behind that offensive line while they were coming together, both probably would have missed a season, as Brady did, because of injury. But, Ben has a strength that those 2 do not, mobility. Yeah, they can occasionally take off and get a first down, but not consistently. Ben can stand back there and wait for his receivers just like them. But, he can also create a few more seconds for his receivers to wear out the DBs and break open. That's a strength, not a weakness. Sorry if that's not the prototypical quarterback play. One of the 3 stooges, make that 2 stooges, I actually like Gruden as a commentator, said that Ben is not a, I think they said "pretty" quarterback and that's why he doesn't rank up there with the other 2. Like I said, being a pretty quarterback got Tom Brady a year off standing back in
the pocket waiting for Randy Moss to break free. Ben can throw on the run or move around and zip it into Mike Wallace for a TD. I'll take Ben. Once again, how many championships does Peyton have? 1 and Ben? I think 2 last I checked. Peyton's pretty though. Uh, that's debatable. At least he makes funny commercials.

Back to handing out credit for this game. Who deserves the praise for this one…..

Was it Ben?
He started off slowly this one and finished with 200+ yards, 3 Touchdowns and 2 Interceptions. Nice numbers. He was driving the offense down the field and threw a little behind Hines for a possible 4th touchdown, and had an interception, but showed his leadership after giving up the football for a fumble return for a touchdown. He went straight to his offensive line gave a little pep talk and immediately went on a 4 play drive to score a TD right away.

Was it the O-Line?
The running back had a big day, Ben got sacked a couple times, but he had all day to throw and he could have easily thrown a few away to avoid sacks. He, as usual, waited for a receiver to come open and none did. The O-Line played a great game.
Was it the Running Backs?
Rashard had 155 yards rushing, Mewelde got a first down at the end of the game and a provided consistency and ball security. The Steelers controlled the game in the 4th quarter with the running game. It's good to have a quality starter and plenty of depth. We know from experience you can't have enough quality running backs. Sorry, LJ, that only goes for team players.

Was it the receivers?
Santonio had close to 100 yards, Hines had 2 TDs and a sweet hurdle over Champ Bailey for a touchdown, and Mike "the Hawk" Wallace had another TD from a scrambling Ben Roethisberger. The receivers had a quality game, providing much of the offense.

Was it the D-Line?
Brett Keisel had 2 sacks of Kyle Orton, Ziggy Hood got pressure on Orton and forced the pick six by Tyrone Carter. And the Broncos were only able to get 27 yards on 14 carries. 27 yards rushing! Awesome, and that's without Aaron Smith.

Was it the Cornerbacks?
Kyle Orton started off well and had a pretty decent first half, but mostly throwing shorter dink and dunk passes. The DBs played well, and William, "Mr. 69% completion rate" Gay almost had an interception, but was defended well and stripped by Troy Polamalu. Apparently the Steelers feel so sorry for their opponents they have to keep themselves from getting turnovers to help make the game interesting.

Was it the Linebackers?
The Linebackers were quiet this game, but they provided pressure and run support. Stopping the run goes to them also. As usual James Harrison was held many times, but the James told the officials to not call holds on him because it would be unfair to their opponents if they did call holding. I think Woodley needs to slim back down a little to get some speed back. He played well, but seems like he lost a step from last year. Keyaron Fox also played well in the absence of Lawrence Timmons.

Was it the Safeties?
Tyrone Carter, starting in place of Ryan Clark, played a great game and was the Defensive player of the week this week. He had a pick six and another int at the end of the game. Troy Polamalu was his usual amazing self. Two plays tell me all I need to know about Troy. The first, anticipated the snap count perfectly, blew in from the right side of the line, and made a textbook tackle on the Broncos running back a couple yards behind the line before he had any chance to decide where to go. The second play, the Deshea Townsend slipped and the Broncos wide receiver was booking downfield, from the left side of the field you see a missile coming in at an intercept angle 20 yards away. Next thing you know Polamalu's trying to tomahawk the ball out of the receiver's hands and makes the tackle. I don't what Troy's times are in the 40 but he is fast.

Was it the Special Teams?
Two Words, Mitch Berger. Daniel Supulveda, as expected, has provided consistently good punting. It's not noticed unless it's bad and he's for the most part gone unnoticed this year. The Broncos had no run backs for touchdowns in this one. That is all that can be asked after the last 2 games.

Was it the Coaching?
Arians seemed to make good adjustments at halftime to get the offense going and the Defense smothered the Broncos in the second half. But, the game plan didn't seem to work too well in the first half.

Soooo….
I could give the credit for this win to the whole team. It was very much a team effort. But, one group had an above average effort and produced all three interceptions. The Safeties. Tyrone Carter , playing in place of Ryan Clark produced momentum with his pick six, provided another interception later and Troy provided an interception along with the plays mentioned earlier. A great effort by these guys. Is there any question Ty Carter is a player, he could start for 90 percent of the teams in this league. Great job guys.

APPROACHING 100

Heeeellllllllllllloooooooooo! Heeelllllllllooooooooooo! Heeellllllloooooooooo! Is there an echo in here?

Approaching my 100th post and maybe 2 comments on my articles. Either everyone agrees with what I'm writing or noone has an opinion? Which I know is not the case. It's simple, just login with your yahoo or google username and password and make a comment. If you have an idea for a post and don't want to take the time just send me a suggestion at jerrysteege@gmail.com. It'd be nice to get some comments, but I'll keep writing anyway.