When the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Diego Chargers met in Week 11, both teams were entering a critical stretch of their season. The Chargers were 4-5, and nobody would have thought that 8 wins would have been enough to win the AFC West. They were desperate. For Pittsburgh, the team was coming off two tough losses in the previous 3 weeks against the New York Giants and the Indianapolis Colts, with an impressive road win at Washington sandwiched in between. As enjoyable and desperately needed as the Redskins game was on Monday Night football, Big Ben had no part in the W. In fact, he struggled mightily in the first half before being injured as intermission approached. It was Byron Leftwich who provided the spark off the bench. . 

Ben would hurry back the following week against the Colts and have his moments, but two 4th quarter INTs opened the door for a previously stymied Peyton Manning led Colts offense.

The loss vs the Colts put us at 6-3 and Steelers nation was beginning to wonder if 2008 was really going to shape up much differently than 2007.  That is, it was hard at that moment to say with supreme confidence that we were going to be much better than a 10 win team capable of making a playoff run.  Both losses were home games; both were games we had leads in late; and both losses left us wondering if this particular Steelers team would be able to muster up the requisite offensive efficiency to be legitimate contenders for a Super Bowl run. Sure the offensive line was weak and we knew that was not likely to change. But when we hosted the Chargers in Week 11, we also were wondering if our franchise QB was ever going to be healthy enough to help us overcome some of the offenses' other weaknesses.

Like he has so many times before, Ben bounced back. Let's take a look at how he  fared when we squared off with the Chargers in Week 11.

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Pardon my absence Monday - I just rolled into Seattle from California a few hours ago. Loooong drive. About 18.5 hours, and that's if you're being extra disciplined about not stopping much.

Anyway, full game coverage coming starting later Tuesday but just one opening thought from me about this Sunday's game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Diego Chargers:

To me, above all else, I don't want to see the same kind of A) mistakes from Ben that we saw last year against Jacksonville and B) more importantly to me, I hope we don't play too timidly late in the game like we also did against Jacksonville in the playoffs last year.

To briefly expound on Point B - there's a fine line between playing smart, calculated agressive football, and passive, playing 'not-to-lose' football. Last year with a lead, we played not to lose. Two runs and a QB rollout sneak on 3rd down. This past weekend in Arizona, Ken Whisenhunt and his offensive coordinator dialed up unexpected big plays in the passing game when they had to keep the chains moving, the clock running, and the Falcons offense on the sideline for good.

I'm all for the offense not compromising our all world defense. But there comes a time, prior struggles be damned, when an offense needs to seize the moment and deliver a final knock out blow. We have the tools to do it, we just need to hope that Big Ben can toe that fine line between looking to make a play and hedging his bet with safe decisions.

I absolutely cherish what Mike Tomlin has been able to do this year. I'm expecting to be wowed once more by his uncanny ability to movitate, prepare, adjust, and learn from past mistakes. This weekends game against San Diego is a phenemonal opportunity to win the first playoff game in the Mike Tomlin era. It's not going to be easy though. San Diego, if nothing else, is resillient. Very resillient. Even if we're up, I'd expect them to mount one final charge.

If given the chance - will we keep the Chargers on the ropes and knock them out? Or will we play tight and unimaginatively, hoping our defense will bail us out once more? There is very little that can tarnish this special season for me. It's had its low moments, and there's loads of work to be done this offseason regardless of whether we bow out this Sunday or win a 6th Lombardi Trophy. But one of the few things that would leave me truly disappointed heading into the offseason would be playing scared on offense late in the game if we have a chance to seal the deal with some intelligent and opportunistic play calling.

More soon. Glad to be home. I can't wait for this game!

GO Steelers!

Got this email from the father of a US soldier who has this weekend off. Running out of time to help them out, so if you know anything or where to look, leave a comment. Thanks.

dear steeler planet residents,
 
where in southeast australia (sydney, canberra, etc) could you hook up with the members of the steeler nation for the game next weekend...our son will be r/r from iraq and would love to try to sip a few cool ones down under with some folks in that part of the world who love the black and gold
 
put this out to the planet for us and lets see where he could go and enjoy another steeler victory
 
please give an address and phone number if possible for him
 
thanks so much,

[name redacted]

The Arizona Cardinals took care of the Atlanta Falcons in Phoenix. Yes, the same Cardinals who looked like they should be demoted to the CFL or some other JV league around the world. Just awful down the stretch. But put them back in the climate controlled confines of University of Phoenix Stadium, and presto, they're back to playing impressive and competitive football.

The Cards held the league's 2nd leading rusher Michael Turner to under 50 yards. Kurt Warner had ample time to throw the ball, finishing with 275 yards and 2 TDs. His lone INT was on a miscue by his #4 WR. Not the same Warner we saw wilting down the stretch. And was there really an Edgerrin James sighting? I believe there was for one of the first meaningful times this year for the Cards. His running mate Hightower was solid too. They combined for 96 rushing yards between the two of them (James 73, Hightower 23).

Arizona next will travel to New York or to Carolina. If Philadelphia (#6) wins tomorrow at the Metrodome, the Eagles head to New York to take on the defending champion and #1 seed Giants. If Minnesota (#3) wins, they'll head to Carolina (#2) and Arizona will head to New York.

In the night cap, the Chargers won a thriller against the Indianapolis Colts. The Chargers made the one final stop they needed late in the game with Indy pinned back against its goal line. A nice punt return from the game's offensive MVP Darren Sproles (324 total yards!) and a couple first downs later and SD ties it at 17-17 with less than 30 seconds to go in regulation.

The Chargers won the coin toss, marched down the field with the aid of three Indy penalties, and that was that. Sproles scored from about 25 yards out, punctuating a breakthrough peroformance for the 5'6" and soon to be paid utility man.

But really though, the hero of the game was San Diego punter Mike Scifres. At the risk of sounding like Bill Walton here, Mike Scifres performed his job tonight better than any player in the history of the NFL has ever done at his assigned position. That sounds hyperbolic and ridiculous, but to clarify, I just mean that no single player can do what he's supposed to do better than Scifres did, whether that be at the LB position, OL, QB, whatever. You always hear coaches preach 'do your job.' Scifres did just that, in spades.

He had 6 punts on the evening:

1) M.Scifres punts 51 yards to IND 10, Fair Catch

2) M.Scifres punts 58 yards to IND 15, Center-D.Binn. K.Ratliff to IND 19 for 4 yards

3) M.Scifres punts 50 yards to IND 3

4) M.Scifres punts 67 yards to IND 5, Center-D.Binn. K.Ratliff to IND 7 for 2 yards

5) M.Scifres punts 38 yards to IND 9, Fair Catch

6) M.Scifres punts 52 yards to IND 1

Sick. So impressive. You know as Steelers fans, we should be able to appreciate this kind of performance even more. No, we haven't been blessed with outstanding punting (it's been pretty good though), but we know damn well the difference special teams makes. In 2007, special teams cost us multiple football games, including our Wild Card game against Jacksonville in the playoffs. This year, the special teams play has masked some offensive deficiencies and quietly played a big role in why we're 12-4 and hosting a playoff game in the Divisional Round.

The Manning face! I love it! A tough, hard fought loss for Indy though in all due respect.

I'll wrap this up, but we saw both home teams today advance in games that most people thought they wouldn't win. Trends change slightly from year to year, but at the end of the day, it's hard to make the argument that home field advantage in the playoffs doesn't matter, regardless of recent playoff triumphs by lower seeded Wild Card teams.

This is why I continue to lean towards Miami tomorrow. We saw what Matt Ryan did on the road in his first playoff game. Let's see what Joe Flacco is made up of, because you know Tony Sporano and the Fins defensive coordinator is going to make sure that Joey Porter et. al get some early shots on him. And a few words most likely as well. Ryan didn't crumble necessarily, but he was a shell of himself compared to what we saw all year from the steady Boston College product.

We'll see, but something tells me Flacco will miss a few crucial opportunities as well with the pace of the game accelerated. I think it will be a great game, just like both of the Saturday games we were treated to start the 2008 playoffs.

Looks like Senor ncoolong had the same idea as me previewing this game. Oh well. Considering that most of y'all think that Baltimore is going to win at Miami on Sunday, consider yourself extra preview-fied for the potential opponent heading to Heinz Field two Sundays from now. As I said, you can expect my eyes to be on the games for the most part until Pittsburgh is eliminated, so the more the merrier in terms of playoff coverage as far as I'm concerned, Steelers related or not.

Oh, and be sure to enjoy your weekend before getting your 2009 kicking for real as of Monday. Think long and hard about what you want, make a plan, and go get it this new year!  I say that as a non-family man and largely wayward and unrefined 26 year old (damn, I like the sound of 25 better), but only with the best intentions and wishes for each and every one of you this new year. I look forward to getting to know y'all even better and talking Steelers football year round in 2009. 

I've got some exciting Steelers and BTSC related news to share soon, so stay tuned.

Cheers.

- Blitz-

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On to BTSC's Wild Card Weekend preview of the Indianapolis Colts at the San Diego Chargers. You can see my preview of the Miami Baltimore game here. Of all the games this weekend, this is probably going to be the marquee match up. I'll have an extremely close eye on the Miami-Baltimore game on Sunday, but in terms of talent and teams riding a wave of momentum into the playoffs, not to mention the recent history between these two teams, this Indy-SD showdown is as good as it gets for an opening round game in the playoffs.

HOW THEY GOT HERE:

Indy: The Colts enter the 2008 playoffs as the hottest team in the National Football League. After getting off to a shaky 3-4 start, the Colts have ripped off 9 in a row to enter the AFC playoffs as the top Wild Card and the #5 seed.Though they finished the year 12-4, four games clear of the Chargers, and technically ahead of the Steelers by virtue of their head-to-head victory in Pittsburgh, they must travel to Qualcomm Stadium in Southern California to take on the AFC West champion Chargers because they couldn't quite catch the Titans atop the AFC South standings.

That's a disadvantage but not crippling because when you have Peyton Manning QB'ing your team, you're not overly concerned about where you're playing if you're a Colts supporter.  The new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy isn't all that great a home field advantage in the first place. But more importantly, Manning has seen it all and done it all in this league. Peyton Manning was announced the 2008 NFL MVP today in a landslide. With Drew Brees struggling in several critical moments down the stretch that cost the Saints playoff positioning, and Kurt Warner's Cardinals looking miserable in December, Manning became a clear cut favorite for the hardware. Manning joins Favre as the only other 3-time winner of the award.

Even though Manning has been rock solid for the most part, the team has hardly been the dominant force that the league has been used to encountering in recent years. As has been noted here by others, the Colts have been in a number of one possession games during their 9 game winning streak:

IND  18 - NE 15
IND  24 - PIT 20
IND  33 - HOU 27
IND  23 - SD 20
IND  10 - CLE 6
IND  35 - CIN 3
IND  31 - DET 21
IND  31 - JAX 24
IND  23 - TEN 0

So what does that mean? Those are some close games against a number of mediocre teams. Does that mean the Colts are vulnerable? Maybe, but to me, it means they're well coached and capable of doing what developing teams struggle to do: finish games. If San Diego's going to win this one, my money's on them doing so by more than one score. If it's close and Manning and the Colts have the ball last, look out. (I'm sick writing all this adulation..seriously).

San Diego: Like they have in recent years, the Chargers stumbled out of the gates slowly to start the 2008 campaign. The Chargers lost on the last play of the game in both Week 1 and Week 2. The Chargers leveled their record at 2-2, then at 3-3. At 4-5 after losing in London to the Chargers then beating KC, SD traveled to Pittsburgh in a game that seemed imperative at the time. They of course fell to us 11-10, then proceeded to drop their next two. At 4-8, they seemed all but out of it, but four wins later, including the division clinching W vs. Denver in SD and here they are still alive.

Phillip Rivers has been amazing lately. He entered the Pittsburgh game with fantastic numbers, then tailed off for a few games after getting thrown around like a rag doll t Heinz Field.. But over his last four, Rivers has thrown 11 TDs to just 1 INT, and over 1,050 yards. Very impressive. If the Chargers had won several of those games they lost on the final possession and finished the year with 10 or 11 wins, it wouldn't suprise me if he had given Manning a run for his money in the MVP voting. His numbers sure stood up. He finished the year with 4009 yards, 34 TDs, 11 INTs, and a QB rating of 105.5.  Those be MVP numbers, except if you only lead your team to 8 victories.

There's more.

Continue reading this post »

Sheesh, thinking about Troy Polamalu's impact on this defense when he's healthy makes me wonder if he's not the most valuable player to our defense's success. Regardless, without going there, I can still confidently say this about Troy: we as Steelers fans will never see anything quite like him ever again at the safety position.

Yes there will other greats in the years to come. Some might even have more consistent and/or longer careers. But nobody and I truly mean nobody finds ways to make the unimaginably spectacular happen so often.

First of all, Happy New Year to all of y'all. I hope your Holidays have been wonderful with family and friends. With the playoffs set to start and the good cheer from the Holidays still lingering, this is definitely one of my most enjoyable times of the year.

Secondly, a quick note on the programming schedule here lately and throughout however long or short the Steelers playoff run is - do not expect any in depth posts from me that review the season just yet. I have many in store, but now's not the time. BTSC runs year round, so there will be plenty of time to take a look at the season as a whole when the season officially comes to a close, hopefully in Phoenix in early February. For now, eyes on the games only for me.

A few notes about the team heading into Friday:

* Ben Roethlisberger's concussion appears to be mild. That's quite a fortuitous development since the time we watched him being carted off the field on a stretcher in the season finale against Cleveland. Big Ben was on the practice field as of Tuesday, but took the day off yesterday alongside many of his veteran teammates. Tomlin explained the decision to sit Ben yesterday:

"We have less urgency this time around because we don't play Sunday, quite honestly," Tomlin said Tuesday. "We held him out today because we did that with a lot of veteran players. We will proceed slowly with him because we have that luxury. But we feel comfortable with where he is relative to Sunday and where he's capable of being next week."

We'll be keeping a close eye on this throughout next week, but it appears that Ben should be able to play, and to do so with his full set of mental and physical faculties.

* I don't think it's possible to have too many fluff pieces about defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. Here's yet another. Here's a sampling of the quotes from various Steelers players about their defensive coordinator they call Coach Dad:

``We love coach LeBeau,'' Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu said. ``I don't think there's anything we wouldn't do for him.''

``I just have a lot of respect for the man,'' defensive end Aaron Smith said. ``What he's done as a player and what he's done as a coach speaks volumes for him, the way he conducts himself and carries himself and treats people. I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame.''

``Everything I do is because of him,'' James Harrison said. ``If he doesn't call that defense that puts me in a position to make plays, I wouldn't be talking to you now.''

"Anybody would love coaching these guys,'' Dick LeBeau said.

* Hooray irrelevant story lines! This article touches on the lack of success the Steelers have had in the past 16 years as the #1 or #2 seed in the AFC playoffs. Not once have the Steelers won it all with a BYE in the opening round, and only once ('95) did they even advance to the Super Bowl.  Brett Kiesel sums it up nicely:

"We're not going off what's happened in previous years or anything like that," defensive end Brett Keisel said. "We're excited about the team we have, we're excited for our opportunity. All you can do when you get an opportunity is either seize it or let it go and, hopefully, we can seize it."

* James Harrison was the winner of the Best Defensive Player in the 2008 version of the SBN Studs and Duds Awards. Unfortunately for Deebo, such recognition from a collection of fan bloggers is inconsequential. Let's hope the voters for the actual NFL DPOY award feel the same way that I and others around SBN do about Harrison.

Just a quick thought from me before opening up this as an open thread to jibber-jabber about what ever strikes our collective fancy. Hopefully we can use this thread to post any updates or news we might stumble across regarding the team - including but not limited to Ryan Clark's health, Big Ben's concussion, James Harrison's hip, etc.

Anyway, I was listening to ESPN radio for a few minutes last night as I was driving somewhere, and I was astonished to hear some guy rejoicing in the fact that 'smash-mouth' physical running football teams were having so much success and in the playoffs. This guy cited Pittsburgh, Baltimore, the Giants and a few others as his examples. Sure, the Ravens and the Giants run the football frequently, and do so effectively, but not us, and that should be crystal clear to anybody who is paid to analyze football for a living.

As much as it pains me to bring it up, here are our rushing ranks as a team:

Attempts: 9th

Yards: 23rd

Yards/Carry: 29th

Rushing TDs: 13th

Depending on who we will be facing, we may or may not need a big day out of our rushing attack to win, but I suppose the moral of the story here is: A) the Steelers have been forever branded as a rushing, physical team. They will be called that regardless of what they actually do on the field..and B) this is precisely why there is a place for team specific blogs like this and others.

Wild Card Weekend is one of my favorite weekends all year, regardless of whether the Steelers are involved or not. I am ecstatic that Pittsburgh has the week off to rest up and begin preparations for the Divisional round, but I always try to watch as much of the opening round games each year as possible. As we've discussed on several occasions, we are not guaranteed to play the winner of any one game. In fact, the only team that we are guaranteed not to meet in our first playoff game would be the Baltimore Ravens. Why? Simple: as the #6 seed, if they win, they will travel to take on Tennessee, the AFC's #1 seed, who is assured of being matched up with the highest remaining seed still standing after this weekend.

That said, with news fairly scant in Steelers country this early in our off week, let's take a few minutes to preview both of the AFC Wild Card games, beginning with the match up between the #3 seed Miami Dolphins and the visiting #6 Baltimore Ravens.

MIAMI DOLPHINS

Team and Individual Statistics + Schedule

BALTIMORE RAVENS

Team and Individual Statistics + Schedule

The Last Time They Met:

Baltimore 27 @ Miami 13

When Miami lost to Baltimore in Week 7 of the 2008 NFL regular season, they dropped to 2-4 and seemed to be heading towards a far more modest improvement from their 1-15 season a year ago. Since then, Miami has rattled off 9 wins in their past 10 contests. They've found ways to win in a variety of ways - with defense, through the air, pounding the ball on the ground, etc. But it's mainly been the maturation and evolution of their offense that has been so interesting to follow. I'd rather not delve into it fully here, but if you get a chance to watch Miami this weekend, watch how many different formations they deploy, how they use screens, pre-snap motion, misdirection, and of course, the Wild Cat.

I wrote this summer about innovation in football, wondering what changes we might see to the game, and offenses in particular in the future. I didn't offer any real prophecies myself, but I sure have been fascinated watching the copy-cat NFL league adopt this thing they call the 'Wild Cat' gradually during the 2008 season. Miami has been at the forefront of that innovation and it will be interesting to see what happens next. 

That day though, Miami looked fairly punchless against Baltimore. I watched a lot of this game actually and distinctly remember seeing a different Miami offense than the one I saw in the final quarter of the season.

The Dolphins ran only 5 plays out of their 'Wildcat' formation that day, gaining just four yards on them. Baltimore blitzed heavily to disrupt it and Miami more or less abandoned it, opting instead to take to the air more conventionally. Chad Pennington threw the ball 35 times, where as Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams combined for just 17 rushes.

The problem with this distribution if you're Miami facing Baltimore is that Pennington can become a bit too predictable when he's asked to throw it that much. Baltimore's offense was humming that day, but Miami left some points on the board themselves. They had to settle for two FGs inside the Baltimore 10 yard line. Pennington also telegraphed a pass that was taken to the house by Terrell Suggs for a 44-yard score.  I think Miami's offense is a lot more versatile, unpredictable, complex and refined since that meeting, so I'd expect them to still throw early to try to set up the run, but I expect the play calling to be more like what we've seen from Miami later in the year rather than when things were still a bigtime work in progress. 

I also wanted to point out that Joe Flacco and the Ravens frequently went no huddle that day. I was fairly surprised to see it at the time, but it sure was working. The Dolphins, who had a very healthy 40 sacks on the year, got to Flacco three times, but he also had tons of time most of the day to pick apart the Dolphins secondary. He had 232 yards passing and 1 TD on 17/23 passing. Note to Steelers offensive coordinators, past, present and future: if Joe Flacco can handle running the no-huddle for a big chunk of his 7th professional game, Ben Roethlisberger surely can as well 5 years into his NFL career. Got it? Wonderful.

Cam Cameron has had several excellent game plans this year, that Week 7 game included. Last week's win over Jacksonville was also impressive. Can he chalk up one more on the road with a rookie QB? I think this game's going to come down to coaching to a big degree. The usual suspects like turnovers, redzone efficiency and penalties are still vital of course, but I think this particular contest is going to be largely decided by the offensive game calling.

And as much as I've been impressed with Flacco, I have a hard time seeing him have a great game on the road in this spot. The game is already lightning fast, and it  picks up a notch in the playoffs. As we saw in the Steelers game a few weeks ago with 1st place on the line in the AFC North, Flacco was a bit wound up early, missing high on a few key early throws. My feeling is he might have similar struggles this weekend.

That can all not matter if Miami turns the ball over, but I think Pennington will continue his streak of solid games, the Miami running game will be more successful this time around, and Pittsburgh will be welcoming Miami to Heinz Field two Sundays from now with a trip to the AFC Championship game at stake.

Was an impersonation of Chris, who writes the Cleveland Browns blog here on SB. Not all that funny really.  Let's try to avoid that kind of stuff, while still finding fun ways to poke fun of Cleveland. Thanks.