Well, today is a little bit better than the past 5 weeks have been. The Pittsburgh Steelers snapped their 5 game losing streak yesterday in the final seconds in the game against the Green Bay Packers. It surely looked to be like they were going down for the sixth time, until Ben extended plays, earned his 100 million, and threw a perfect pass to Mike Wallace.
I’m calling it a perfect pass, as Ben threw the ball where only Wallace could catch it. Without a doubt, when the time and score is on the line, there is no one else I would want at Quarterback other than Ben Roethlisberger. Oh, did I mention he threw for 503 yards yesterday? Seriously unbelievable.
Mike Wallace has become one of the rising stars on this team, and for good reason. It’s starting to seem that week to week he’s making
Mike Wallace of the Pittsburgh Steelers
incredible plays, getting huge yards, and being all around a clutch receiver. He’s certainly going to make Hines Ward obsolete here in the upcoming year or two. Sure that could be a crappy thing to say, but Mike Wallace has the potential, along with Santonio to be the potential game breaker the Steelers desperately need. So consider that a bulletin board quote for Hines Ward, because I for one am waiting for his production to break down sooner or later.
Rashard Mendenhall also had another decent game. He ran for 38 yards with 11 carries, lol. However, for some reason they gave Willie Parker some runs yesterday, and I’m not sure if that was because Mendy was hurt or not. However there is one thing I must say that Mendenhall is reigning supreme at…blitz pick-up. He’s doing well, and he’s progressing. Willie also didn’t hit the ground after he was touched, which was kinda nice but you would think he’d be kicking and scratching for yards, because he’s running for a contract.
I’ve got a little qualm about play-calling. Arians went for like 8 passes before he went with a run play. Whatever happened to balance? 46 pass attempts and 20 run attempts? You were winning, did you ever think that the defense is giving up a crap ton of points because you get stuck in your three and out passing syndrome? Please, balance it out and make it consistent. The defense obviously can’t stop anyone so it’s time to change. Give them a break.
Ryan Clark after coming out against the media last week, glared in an awful spotlight this week. I watched him almost every play, and while he made some decent plays. He simply can not handle having Tyrone Carter next to him. He also can’t cover guys that are taller than him either. He gave up a terrible touchdown, because he couldn’t locate the ball. Their tight end/receiver embarrassed him on the lead changing touchdown, and on the other big plays, he was usually 5-6 yards off of his player. Unacceptable. If you’re having that much of a problem with communication then something needs to be done. You can’t just give up that much, when your the last line of defense per-say.
Ryan Clark - Abused
William Gay was again abused this week. He was constantly getting blown by, and targeted repeatedly. He simply can’t cover anyone it looks like, and losing Bryant Mcfadden, was more of a hit than we thought it would be. Also, I enjoy it when Gay celebrates after plays. He always is dancing around and celebrating when his man drops the ball. Mind you, William Gay often did nothing for the receiver to drop it, but he celebrated anyways. I just can’t stand this man any longer. He can’t cover, he often gets blown up at the line, and is in line right behind Ike Taylor in the not being able to catch group. Overall, he’d be the first replacement priority after this year. When and even IF the Steelers make the play-offs, look for him to be targeted constantly. He’s the key for other teams to successfully dominate the Steelers.
The onside kick attempt was actually a great call. I’ll stand behind this one, because Tomlin without saying it, said that he had no confidence in the defense. He even made mention in his after game presser about how he didn’t want the Packers to run the clock out and not give the Steelers a chance to win. It was obvious that the Packers were doing anything they wanted against us, so losing by a field goal wasn’t an option. Not to mention the image to the left was the game tying touchdown, and the one Ryan Clark looked all terribly bad in, which enable us to get the ball back with two minutes remaining. It was just one of those things, that at the time didn’t look too incredibly smart to do with being up by two points, but at a closer look turned out to be actually a great call, and a great boost for the offense to go in and take the lead and the win. Here’s to the defense taking offense to that move and playing with some anger, because they really need it.
Upcoming this weekend after Christmas, the Pittsburgh Steelers will face off against the Baltimore Ravens. Please remember, that this was the game that was played on Sunday night with Dennis Dixon controlling the game and almost pulling it out. This was also the game Hines Ward had a his tiff on national TV about the team being 50-50 on Ben’s status. The Ravens lost their returner and rookie corner back Webb yesterday with a torn ACL. With Ben being in this upcoming game, expect again for a passing attack to be unleashed. However running the ball will be much more important this time around. We need it, plain and simple.
Mon, Dec 21, 2009
Sports