Wheelin' and Dealin' with Ray Shero - Pittsburgh Magazine - February 2011 - Pittsburgh, PA

Wheelin' and Dealin' with Ray Shero - Pittsburgh Magazine - February 2011 - Pittsburgh, PA

James Harrison's Vitaeris 320 Hyperbaric Chamber

Fleury shines in 1-0 win

The Penguins have played the last three games without both Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin and collected 4 of the possible 6 points, to go into the All Star break in the top 5 for the entire league. The games have been short on style points, but it is tough to argue with the outcome. Marc Andre Fleury has been simply outstanding since his early season troubles. When I watch this team, it is evident that they are a bit short in top shelf offensive talent, but it is not short on guts. Despite some moments of frustration, when you consider that they have only played 2 games this season with the three star centers(the foundation upon which the team was built), yet they remain in sight of the top of the NHL standings, and in range of the red hot Flyers, you have to be impressed. A lot of times, teams that withstand significant adversity during the season hit the playoffs with a sense of purpose that is tough to defeat, so maybe that is the silver lining in the cloud. Tonight the grinders on this team(Rupp,Talbot, Asham, Adams, Dupuis, Cooke) played classic Bylsma hockey cycling down low, and controlling the play in the opponents zone. Asham stood out to me tonight, and more closely resembled the player I thought we were getting when we signed him from Philadelphia. Let's hope that the All-Star break gets Crosby and Malkin healthy, and we can gear up for the stretch run in the division with all hands on deck.

WHEW!!!

Whewwww......the Steelers have now played a full 60 minutes of football.......the only problem is that those 60 minutes came in TWO games! The fact that they were able to win both, against quality opponents playing one half per game is odd, but I will take it. The Steelers came out and blew the big mouthed Jets off the field for much of the first half. Then, they play a SOFT series to close the half, and gave the Jets a pulse. When, oh when will coaching staffs realize that the prevent defense BLOWS!!!!! The Jets were down and just about out, but gettting points to end a disastrous half of football, knowing they could get in the game with an opening drive in the second half boosted their morale, and it ALMOST cost the Steelers. As dominant as they Steelers were in the first half was about as anemic as they were in the second half. However, the Steelers did what they have done all year when it mattered. Despite losing the only elite player on a very suspect offensive line in the first series, the Steelers gutted it out, and made the plays they had to to win. First, the goal line stand was a thing of beauty. It actually sent chills up my spine to see them stiffen there at the goal line, and I truly thought that that was the game. Then, on cue, Legursky and Roethlisberger muff a snap, the Jets get a safety, and now two scores WINS it, not ties it. The Jets then score a touchdown to close to within 5 points, and it was white knuckle time. An offense that was pathetic in the second half had to burn 3 plus minutes to preserve a victory, a tall order given their play for the past 3o minutes. But again, despite a poor night of throwing the ball, Roethlisberger made the plays that were needed to run out the clock, especially with his mobility in the pocket. Again, Antonio Brown made the big catch to send the Steelers to the SHOW. And now the Steelers have a shot at some real heady stuff. This trip to the Super Bowl marks the 8th in franchise history, tying Dallas for most in history. The Steelers who are 6-1 in the Super Bowl, have a chance to put a little distance between themselves and the two teams with the second most Super Bowl wins (5), Dallas and San Francisco by winning their 7th!! Finally, a win here would mean that they can add a run of 3 championships in six years to go with their run of 4 championships in 6 years from the '70's. Roethlisberger, at the age of 28 has a shot at winning his third ring, putting him up there with Tom Brady and Troy Aikman as the only quarterbacks to win three rings, and behind only Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana the only quarterbacks with four wins in the big game. Tomlin can join a very short list of head coaches with multiple championships as well. A lot to play for, eh? One final note.......you cannot say enough about the effort put forth by Rashard Mendenhall, as tough and gritty game as you could ever ask for.

Two points is two points

A big two points for the Penguins tonight. I am not sure whether to be happy that the Penguins took two points from a Carolina team that had a chance to get into the top 8 in the conference with a win, despite having neither Crosby or Malkin in the lineup or to be concerned that they AGAIN gave up two goals late in the third in rapid succession. Frankly, they almost coughed up the third, but the Canes whiffed on an open net shot. For now, let's be happy that the Pens won this game, getting goals from Dustin Jeffrey, Mark Letestu, and a shortie from Pascal Dupuis to take 2 points without either one of their two stars. Also, Staal was a monster again tonight. He is really developing his puck handling skills, playing strong hockey on the wall and in the corners, and consistently being a net front prescence to be reckoned with. Also, Ben Lovejoy seems to be taking the number 6 defenseman role from Deryk Engelland, and as much as I personally prefer the toughness of Engelland, Lovejoy has had a couple of strong games, and led the Pens tonight in blocked shots with 5.

Two more wins to challenge the Super Steelers of the 70s Legacy?

The Steelers have to win two very tough games in the next 3 weeks for this to even be a conversation, but if they do, where do they stand in history relative to the greatest teams? The Steelers of the 70's won 4 Super Bowls in 6 years and boasted a stable lineup, much of which is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio. IF, and that is a big IF they could win this year's Super Bowl that would be 3 in 6 years. I would argue that in the current era of free agency, that accomplishment would rival and even exceed the accomplishments of the Super Steelers of the '70's due to the volatility of the personnel. To me, this current team should keep that in mind as extra motiviation for what figures to be one, and if lucky two hard fought wars chasing Lombardi's trophy. The only other team that could rival this accomplishment in the current era is the New England Patriots who have appeared in four Super Bowls since 2000, winning Super Bowls 36, 38, 39, and losing Super Bowl 42 to the New York Giants. A trip to, and victory in Super Bowl 45 would give the Steelers the same number of Super Bowl wins as New England in a comparable time frame. That is pretty heady stuff. It would be Big Ben's third win, matching the number of wins by the supposedly immortal Tom Brady. It would also put Mike Tomlin at an early age in elite company as a head coach with multiple Super Bowl wins. For those of you who think that there should be an asterisk next to ANY of the these games due to the fact that Pittsburgh has not had to face New England during these successful runs........well daddy should have put it somewhere else. If New England was not good enough during those years to make the AFC Championship to challenge the Steelers, that is on New England. We beat who we had to beat to get there. For those of you who think that Big Ben and Mike Tomlin will have plenty more chances to make history and wear rings, see Dan Marino, one of the NFL all time great quarterbacks who played in and lost the Super Bowl as a rookie in Miami. The pundits downplayed the loss, assuming he would be back and win a few during his career. Well, Marino never got a sniff again. The next two games could put this Steelers team in a very solid position as one of the elite in NFL history, giving the franchise two such runs, and seven trophies overall. As part of the Super Bowl talk, let's not forget that if you go back 40 years from today's game, this will be the 15th of the 40 AFC Championship games played, that included the Steelers, 11 of those in Pittsburgh! They currently stand 7-7 in those 14 that have played, and 2-2 in the games played in this decade. Today's game will make them above or below .500 in both categories. A VERY VERY big game for this franchise and this city indeed. I am going to catalog this run below, using the dates of the game, not the season.
1972 Pittsburgh/Miami-loss
1975 Pittsburgh/Oakland-win-wins Super Bowl IX
1976 Pittsburgh/Oakland-win-wins Super Bowl X
1977 Pittsburgh/Oakland-loss
1979 Pittsburgh/Houston-win-wins Super Bowl XIII
1980 Pittsburgh/Houston-win-wins Super Bowl XIV
1985 Pittsburgh/Miami-loss
1995 Pittsburgh/San Diego-loss
1996 Pittsburgh/Indianapolis-win-lose Super Bowl XXX
1998 Pittsburgh/Denver-loss
2002 Pittsburgh/New England-loss
2005 Pittsburgh/New England-loss
2006 Pittsburgh/Denver-win-wins Super Bowl XL
2009 Pittsburgh/Baltimore-win-wins Super Bowl XLIII
2011 Pittsburgh/New York Jets-???????????????????

This was a season that I thought would wind up 9-7, and out of the playoffs based on the injuries up front, and Big Ben's suspension. Instead, history awaits, godspeed Steelers!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1180919/index.htm

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1180919/index.htm