Well, if you would have told me that the Steelers would have been 3-1 to start this season, and a first down away from 4-0, I would have thought you were nuts........so all in all, I am thoroughly impressed with the Steelers at this point. They have beaten quality opponents, and their defense has looked great. Monday, their best offensive weapon returns, and they have an extra week to prepare for the Browns, since this is the Steelers bye week. There were however some items that caused me some concern in this game. It looked a bit too much like the storyline from last season. The mostly anemic Steelers offense could not capitalize on some short fields to put points on the board after turnovers that could have and should have made the difference in this game. At a point in time when the Steelers offense could close out the game by simply getting ONE first down, they were unable to do so, in part due to TWO penalties that not only hurt the drive, but stopped the clock. The game was now in the hands of the Steelers defense.........with a little over a minute left the Ravens had to drive a short field, but they needed to get in the end zone, as a field goal would not win it......and like so many teams did last year, they made it look EASY, getting in the end zone in four plays to take away a very important AFC Central victory on the Steelers home turf. For a defense that is getting this much press, I would have loved to have seen them make the big stop that would have put the Ravens in a two game hole. It was of interest to me that on the game deciding drive, the plays were made by Bolden and Houshmanzadeh, both players signed by the Ravens in the offseason, and both the type of signings I would have liked to have seen the Steelers make in a season in which the cap is not the issue. Trust me, I know I sound a bit nuts to be concerned about a team that is 3-1 without their star quarterback, but to me this game felt so LAST YEAR, and remember a 6-2 Steelers team last year at midseason went 3-5 in the second half losing to teams like Oakland, Kansas City and Cleveland during that stretch........with Ben. So, despite my general happiness with the way the Steelers have weathered this four week stretch, the feel of this game brought back bitter memories of last season....and it wasted a rare actual INTERCEPTION by Ike...I will say, that if they had to lose, it does NOT bother me that one of the NFL's biggest blowhards, Jeff Reed is the goat, missing both field goal attempts today. He is now 8/12 on the season...and his kickoff post 4th quarter TD was so weak.....a joke........yo, Skippy, that big contract you thought you deserved is getting further and further away...........your misses earlier this year luckily did not hurt, but today's would have been the difference in the game..........terror alert to all towel dispensers and parking lot pavement.......A pissed off Skippy will be on the loose this week......In all seriousness, this was a golden opportunity to get some cushion for a schedule that stiffens up quite a bit as the season progresses.........the Steelers got a break when division rival Cincinnati lost to Cleveland today. Also, notably, the Steelers have lost 5 of their last 7 division games....so the game with Cleveland is a big one. I am curious to see what affect the return of Big Ben has on both sides of the ball in two weeks. Congrats on a very good start Steelers, but I hated how we left this one out there today! Go Steelers.
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