Back to Main Page Week 1 at Cleveland Week 2 at Baltimore Week 3 vs. Seattle Week 4 vs. Jacksonville Week 5 at Buffalo Week 6 at Cincinnati Week 7 vs. Atlanta Week 8 BYE Week 9 at San Fran Week 10 vs. Cleveland Week 11 at Tennessee Week 12 vs. Cincinnati Week 13 at Jacksonville Week 14 vs. Baltimore Week 15 at Kansas City Week 16 vs. Carolina Week 17 vs. Tennessee Here We Go! Post-Season 
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Pittsburgh at Buffalo 21-24 Still Kordell Bashing? I swear, the guy could go 49 of 50 for 400 yards, throw 5 TD's and run for two more, score 49 points himself, and if we lost by a field goal, it would be like this: "Yeah, I know Kordell threw for 400 yards, but he threw that ONE incomplete pass. I mean, if that pass was complete, we probably would have drove for a touchdown and won, never mind that our defense didn't force the other team to punt once or that the bus had 2 yards on 6 carries. It's all Kordell's fault. I mean, that one pass that was incomplete was WAY off. Forget his potential. Forget what he did in '97, or the fact that he owns just about every passing record in Colorado's books... it's painfully obvious the guy can't throw. We should put in Pete Gonzales (no offense to Pete... I actually went to school with him) who had 1 good year at Pitt, a great 1st training camp, and an average second one. I'm SURE he is a much better player because I have never actually watched him play in a regular season game." Jeez, what happened to the days when being a "fan" meant loving something instead of constantly criticizing and writing negative comments about everything? I mean, let's be realistic... if all of us Steeler "Fans" know so much about football and what's wrong with the Steelers and how to fix it, then why, oh, why aren't all of us coaching a college or an NFL team? And since we ALL KNOW that Kordell is a wonderful athlete (but obviously not a good QB), then if we can't land jobs as coaches, then surely we could all be scouts for pro teams out there. Here's an idea... let's put some faith in Cowher and Donahoe (who had one bad year while working together) and even Mr. Rooney, who probably knows just a little bit more about football and talent than any one of us visiting this site. Finally, I just have to say that while I was not satisfied by the game, I definitely was encouraged, which I think is what Tim was trying to get across. Even though we lost, it was great to see our offense going again. One more thing... I bet no one ever says, "You know, if 'Frenchy' hadn't tipped that pass, Franco wouldn't have caught it and never would have scored that late touchdown and won the game." My point? If we had won that game, no one would have cared that the pass to Edwards was tipped. HERE WE GO, BLACK AND GOLD! When your right your right. We "dropped" that one. The sound of munincipal toilets flushing haunts me to this very day. Screw That! 16-3 Super Bowl victory in January 2000 Tommy Let's break down that last bold statement. Our line, the heart of ANY offense, is young. Yes, it's young! With the exception of the centers and Roger Duffy, our linemen have five years or less experience. Three of them have one or less. It takes a few years for an offensive line to get on the same page. We have a lot of talent on that line, but it takes a lot of time for that talent to start to work together. Another problem is, of course, the lack of consistency in the coaching staff. Since our Super Bowl, we've gone through two defensive coordinators and four offensive coordinators (including current staff). The defense has held up a little better than the offense, but four systems in nearly as many years is going to be detrimental to the effectiveness of the offensive gameplan. This leads me to my next point. Ray Sherman RUINED Kordell Stewart. I'm not sure the damage cannot be undone, but trying to make Kordell a stay-in-the-pocket, drop-back style QB was the worst possible thing that he could have done! What Cowher needs to do is to lock Kordell in a room, tie him to the chair, and show him films of Flutie running the Buffalo offense. In fact, it was Flutie that said Kordell is the reason he is even playing in the NFL; if Kordell wouldn't have had the 1997 success, then Flutie would never have been given another chance in the NFL. Let Kordell move inside and out of the pocket, and make plays with his legs as well as his arm. He can't thread needles like Steve Young or Troy Aikman, but neither can Flutie. But what he can do is buy time until he has a guy get open. Going back to the offensive line, I wish they had a stat on running backs that said where the average first hit they take is coming. If they did, I bet this year's stats would show that Bettis is getting hit much sooner than he did last year. When you're getting hit in the backfield or right at the line, you're not going to get as far. Especially for a big back like Jerome who has to get a head of steam going to be effective, It's simple physics, an object in motion tends to stay in motion and an object at rest tends to stay at rest. If Jerome isn't moving (or moving at top speed) when he's getting hit, he's going to get tackled a lot sooner. Okay, another knock on the line. Look at Kordell in the pocket. It's kind of hard to do because there isn't much of a pocket. They aren't blocking for him. One of the reasons (other than he was told not to run last year, regardless of what Ray might have said) that Kordell can't escape is simply because there are no running lanes. The ENTIRE pocket is breaking down way too soon. Kordell had guys in his face after only a couple of seconds, but ideally you should be able to hold out a defense for about four to five seconds. You can't run if you're surrounded! Finally, the defense's problem yesterday had everything to do with them being on the field way too long - another casulty of the poor running game. We aren't controlling the clock. We have some quick scoring drives, but we are not moving the football on the ground, eating up clock and giving our defense a chance to rest. The Bills had the ball over five and a half minutes longer than the Steelers did during the game and they had 10 more plays, even though both teams had an equal number of drives (11). When you're defense is on the field that long (over 32 minutes), it's going to wear on them at the end of the game. Bottom line stat for me - 48 yards rushing. Blame that on the line, and get ready for maybe one or two lean seasons for Steeler's Football until we can get things right up front again! As far as "The Bus" goes, give the guy a break. If we had a QB that was a threat, Bettis would be much more effective. There aren't any Running Backs in the league that can find holes with 8 or 9 defensive players on the line. Ask Terrell Davis, before he got hurt, how hard it is to get running yards with an ineffective QB. The Defense left a little to be desired today, but let's realize one thing: they are still one of the top defenses in the league. Thank God we have them. The Steelers need a reality check! Kordell is not an NFL QB! Okay, yes, we have just signed him to a nice-sized contract, but that contract does not read that he must play QB. We need to put him back in the "Slash" role that made him so effective. Cowher needs to realize that he has to put the right people in the right positions. As great as Bret Favre is, no one would put him in as a Running Back because he would not be effective in that position. We need to look at putting "Pete" in there at QB. He is the future of the organization. As far as I am concerned we may not win another game this year with Kordell in there at QB, and even if we do, will we ever go "all the way" with that idiot in there? I think NOT! On offense, the Steelers running game was non-existent for the fourth game in a row. What the hell has happened to Jerome Bettis? Granted, the Steelers have had some problems with the offensive line, but Bettis is not running with the same authority as in years past. Kordell played somewhat better against the Bills, but it still was not good enough. The interception Stewart threw against the Bills was mind-boggling to say the least. The reason being, Stewert locked onto his receiver and made no effort to look off the Bills defensive backs. He then throws the ball right into the middle of double coverage! Oh, well... what the hell. We oughta be used to this by now. Tom Bragg http://community.webtv.net/francoharris/TomsPittsburgh Black,Gold,Blue,and still true, Nat La Borde Satisfied? With a loss to the Bills? This truly illustrates just how far the Steelers have fallen. My bruthas, it wreaks of the Steelers teams of the mid-80s. God, it almost makes me want to break out the old "Tears for Fears" albums. Pardon me while I vomit... On the bright side, this is a week where I can finally say thank God for Kordell... he wasn't perfect, but he was the ONLY thing the Steeler offense had going for it. The O-line protected Stewart much better today (Gandy was superb against Bruce Smith), but the run-blocking? Aargh! Bettis finished the day with an abysmal 24 yards on 13 carries (for you stats freaks, that's a nifty 1.8 yard average). If we're "satisfied" with that, I guess next week, we'll all be ecstatic if Jerome gets back up to the whopping 2.5 yard average he had after week four's ass-whipping by the Jags. Sheesh. Still, I can't help but feel that things might just be turning around a bit... our next 4 games all come against horrible or struggling teams, so maybe Cowher & company can somehow get things on track. I hope so... I don't wanna spend the rest of the season listening to the song "Shout." Later, my bruthas! Tim McMillen Webmaster, McMillen & Wife
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