Just as I suspected

Last weekend the Steelers played the Ravens and they appeared "too old" for the NFL as many of the broadcasters put it. Funny, most of those guys, including Warren Sapp were former players who had had their butts whooped up and down the field many times by those old players.

You can write that first game off for a couple of reasons

1. The Steelers were not prepared for their first game. To me, this a very shocking part about the Ravens game, but not as big a concern for the rest of the season. The Steelers knew the Ravens would be a tough opponent. It looked like the defense did not expect Ray Rice to catch passes out of the backfield and they did not expect him to try to run the ball. Uh, he's the starting tailback guys. It also seemed like Ben didn't expect them to come up with anything exotic on defense. It kind of looked like they were just waiting for the Ravens to walk over and give them the game ball and say, "You're too good, we quit." It looked like Ben was as confident about his line on the field as he talks about them off the field. When you start players one year and discard them the next you can't expect the offensive line to be great. The Ravens and Terrell Suggs brought the pressure and caused Ben to make mistakes and turn over the ball. When the Steelers start finding Alan Fanecas and Maurkice Pounceys in the draft every year instead of Tony Hills that's when Ben can really have some confidence in them. The problem is they are hit and miss alot in the draft with Offensive Linemen. So you need Sean Kugler to work his magic and come up with a line that will be able to plug the dike.

2. I could almost see the game resulting in a loss, not that much of a loss, but a loss. Yeah, they keep beating them in the playoffs and that's something to be proud of, but do you have to get on their nerves the whole off season. Take it to the field and show them who's better there. Not on twitter or wherever. The game was in Baltimore after the Ravens had all off season to think about it. The fans were mad at them for not beating the Steelers and the Steelers even helped them out as much as possible by giving them the ball 7 times on turnovers. The Steelers had talked trash the whole off season about the Ravens and Flacco not being able to beat them. They had the bragging rights but why do they need to fire up the opponent before the opener. Not a good choice. They're already sore from losing that playoff game so you add insult to injury and add to that a noisy stadium filled with people dressed in purple.(I don't think the color the people were wearing has anything to do with it, I just threw that in). Frankly they were just pissed off and fired up. Sometimes that emotion runs out, sometimes it's maintained throughout the game. Last week they maintained it, this week it ran out.

3. The schedule maker apparently does not care if you played in the Super Bowl the previous year or not. They scheduled the Steelers at Baltimore to start the season, really? This is usually an extremely intense game and it is important for whoever comes out on top of the AFC North. I'm pretty much dismissing the Bengals and Browns from the competition. Can the NFL give the Steelers some kind of advantage for getting to the Super Bowl? Wait til they start clicking before the game is scheduled or let them have the first game at home. You know, give em a game or two against the MAC conference of the NFL. They gave 'em the Seahawks but it was a game too late. Well, what's done is done. The Steelers are 1-1 and could possible end up behind the Bengals if the Bengals win today.

Oh yeah, the Steelers Defense is old, with some of those starters being over 30, but they have some youth lined up in there at linebacker and lineman. Ziggy Hood showed last year he could continue the run stopping job of the defensive line. Cameron Heyward will probably play behind the Diesel this year and be ready to take over when he's done. Yeah, they'll need to replace Casey Hampton, but he's still holding his own plugging up the middle with his girth. Those youngsters can substitute in and give the old men a break at any time. Then, Harrison and Farrior are getting up there, but there are some quality guys in Worilds and Sylvester, ready to step in when father time says enough is enough.

I'm concerned about the defensive backfield most of all. They've tried to draft several dbs after the first round in the last few drafts and can't seem to find one that can start. They need to address that position in the next draft, preferably in the first round, or the defense will drop off badly. Gay has been bad several years and they just keep running him out there. Keenan Lewis showed signs in preseason, but injuries sidetracked his progress. Clark is slowing down, but Polamalu, if healthy, can help him out and he will be around a couple more years.

This defense will be better than they showed in the Ravens game, but it will be hard to tell if they'll be as good as they looked in the Seahawks game until they play a real opponent. Look for more of the same inferior talent from their opponent next week when they play the Colts minus Peyton. The Browns beat em. Enough said.

Ravens Preview

Gerry and Ed discuss the Carolina game

Gerry and Ed discuss the Atlanta game

Pirates 9 - Brewers 2, The losing streak ends with a big 7th inning

Pirates 1 - Brewers 8, Karstens pitches well but bullpen fails

One Bouncer

The game ended tonight with Garrett Jones crushing an Arthur Rhodes offering over the right field stands bouncing once and ending up in the river. It truly was an offering, because if Garrett Jones had placed that pitch on a tee, it would not have been located any better than where Rhodes put it. Garrett did the rest and knew immediately the result. What a great ending to one of those games that has been going to the other team the last few months.

The games that the Pirates were winning in the first half just haven't been going their way in the 2nd. But the Pirates seem to be taking their frustrations out on the Cards. They have taken the first 2 games of this series and look to sweep tomorrow. This against the team that is trying to keep pace with the Brewers.

Tonight the Pirates had what it took to overcome that late deficit and come out ahead at the end of the game. Jeff Karstens continued his storybook season pitching 5 1/3 innings, giving up 3 runs and keeping the Pirates in the game. Andrew McCutcheon continues to grow daily and become a dominant force in the National League. He cranked out his 17th homer to plate 3 runs.

Neil Walker has had a few chances in the last week to add to his RBIs and pull a few games out late, but has not been able to come through, until tonight that is. With the Pirates down by 1 in the bottom of the ninth Walker came through and delivered the clutch hit to tie up the game and send it to extra innings. Oh yeah, Brandon Wood may have saved the game in the ninth by knocking down a shot down the 3rd base line, staying with it and completing the play at first. It was impressive.



Then it was Garrett Jones turn to feed the fish in the 11th. It was a no doubter as soon as it came off his bat, and he knew it.