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 
|
Pittsburgh vs. Atlanta (13-9) The only thing I'm really bummed about is the defensive MENTAL mistakes... those personal fouls were FOUL. They kept the pigeons in the game when they didn't belong. AH well, such is life when you're the fan of a team on the bubble. Peace, man. Michael Smith Bill Williamson X4708 SSgt. Kenneth Hoffmaster Kevin Van Atta Orange City, Fl Kordell said that all's he is concerned with is that the Steelers win. Well, here's a way they could and Kordell could be a star. We need a big-play wide out. Kordell has shown in the past he has real talent for it... do it! Tomczak at QB, Kordell at wide out... it would work! Then maybe that feeling of guilt while cashing those big-assed paychecks will pass. If the offense plays this badly against the Forty-Winers, we'll lose! Last, but not least, I think Steeler uniforms look much better without bird droppings on them. Going to Cardiologist, Nat! Get a giant picture of Boomer Assinine and whenever you get the urge to watch old Steelers Highlights, say 74 Steelers Yearbook, The Championship Years, etc., tape the photo over the TV and wah-lah! You just became an ABC Television executive. Super Bowl Defense Training Camp Offense But in terms of the longer term, that game showed some good things. The one thing it showed is that the Steelers offense no longer has to score touchdowns for the team to win. That's good, because they can't do it anyway. Basically, the offense's job has been pared down to: 1) getting a couple field goals, 2) staying on the field long enough to get the defense some rest, and 3) moving the ball enough so that Josh Miller can punt the other team into poor field position. That's it, and the Steelers offense accomplished that last night. Kordell didn't make any stupid mistakes that gave the Falcons excellent field position. Jerome, except for that fumble, ran the ball well enough to keep the offense on the field for a while, and the stone-handed wide receivers caught enough easy passes to move the chains to get them to about the 50 yard line. Everything stalled from there, but then Josh Miller could pin the Falcons back and the defense could take care of everything else. My point (finally) is this: If the offense can just give this Steelers defense a CHANCE, this defense is so good that I don't see virtually any team doing anything of any significance against them. Last night, the defense showed that the offense doesn't have to do ANYTHING, and the defense can still win. The defense even created the only Pittsburgh touchdown of the game. Obviously, if the Steelers have any designs on either going to or advancing in the playoffs, the offense is going to have to step up more than they are doing now. But they are not going to have to become high octane in order for the team to win. I agree with you, Tim, that a QB is only 1/11th of the offense, quantitatively. But I think that you'll even admit, given our struggles at the position and their effect on the entire offense, that qualitatively the position is a lot more important than that. That doesn't mean that it warranted Boomer Esiason lighting Kordell up for 60 minutes, but his play has a huge effect on the rest of the offense. Hopefully, Gilbride can continue to instill confidence in the guy, and he'll be better in Week 17 than in Week 7. If that's the case, who knows. Maybe this team can make a dent in the postseason. If it doesn't, it would be a waste of one of the really terrific defenses in the league right now, and that would be damn shame. Jonathan Pasterick P.S.-- BTW, the highlight of last night's game, without question: 3rd quarter, 3rd and long for the Falcons (as usual), Steelers come on the blitz. Kirkland up the middle. Ken Oxendine tries to take Kirkland low. Kirkland, in one motion, all 270 lbs. of him, goes completely horizontal, clears Oxendine and buries Chandler all at once. You're right, Tim, there is nothing better than defense played well. Tom Bragg http://community.webtv.net/francoharris/TomsPittsburgh The defense is Super Bowl caliber, but the offense seemed to play conservative ball in the 2nd half. It seemed like they were happy with a 13-0 lead and thought they could win it with that score. Jerome owned the 1st half on the ground. The BUS was getting 7-13 yards a crack. I thought the play calling was good and to me, you could tell that Gilbride was trying still yet to get Kordell in some kind of comfort zone in the passing game. The only reason the Turkeys were even in the game was, AND I REPEAT, in the game was because of dumbass, stupid ass, not thinking, idiotic penalties. I stopped counting when they had 10 penalties for 90 yards. Hell, that equates to 9 first downs for the Turkeys in penalties alone. Even Boomer noticed that. Am I satified with the win? NO!!! This is going on 8 weeks of regular season and at least 7 weeks of preseason. Hell, thats 15 weeks, almost 4 months that they have been working out together. What is it gonna take for the offense to put some points on the board and finally click as a unit? I know when others read this, they'll say it's Kordell. I say BULL$#!T. Even you said that the QB is 1/11 of the offense. Anyway, it feels good, although not satisfying, to win this one and have a mini streak going. Lets hope these next 13 days during the BYE week we can continue to build and work on consistency. These boys are gonna be the death of me yet. I know my blood preasure was at least 200/180 in the final 4:00 minutes. Take care 'ole buddy and we'll be talking to you. Terry "ARMOR", THE COMBAT ARM OF DECISION I've been one of the Kordell defenders, but now I've seen enough. Passes too high, passes too low, but now passes not thrown! The one that took the cake was the third and four on the last drive (I think it was four yards) where he had a WIDE OPEN Jon Witman about eight yards in front of him, practically able to do flip-flops in the flat, and he chose to run the ball and not get the first down. Now even I'm convinced that Kordell has got to go. I'm the LAST one to blast a QB, but after this it's obvious. There are other problems on this team. Our receivers still don't make plays. However, I'm beginning to believe that it is because they don't have confidence in Kordell rather than not having the skills. If you had to constantly go up in the air or on your knees to catch passes, you'd get sick of it too! I could just see it on the receiver's faces tonight more than ever when they were on the sideline. They should be making the plays, that's the bottom line, but I think the confidence factor isn't helping. Our line is still pretty bad, but at least they started to move people near the end of the game. The run previous to the aforementioned third-down play was an example of guys staying on their blocks and giving Jerome a running lane. Still, 3.2 yards/rush isn't doing it, and the line is the primary problem. Still, there are some good signs: only 1 sack and the rushing yards have improved. Still, I'm not sure this is due to improved play or Atlanta's lackluster and somewhat banged-up defense. Jerome has got to stop pussy-footing around in the backfield and hit holes. While his line isn't doing their job, he is not attacking the line of scrimmage. He's dancing, looking for holes. This is hurting his production, especially when the line isn't making any holes. His fumble really hurt and is the only real reason Atlanta was able to make a game of it at the end. Still, he doesn't do that much, and that might have been more Kordell anyway; I really didn't get a good look at it. Bottom line: big backs don't do well when they aren't moving forward. Jerome must start running hard north to south again! Now, for the praise! Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense. Thank God for the defense. If it weren't for them, we would have lost another home game. Yeah, they gave up some yardage at the end and made the game exciting, but they once again were on the field an awful long time. Time of possession: ATLANTA 33:08, Steelers 26:52. When you're chasing around those receivers all night, it's going to wear on you. It really shows up in the fourth quarter when the pass rush gets tired and Chander had a few more seconds to throw. Eventually, given enough time, someone will get open. Keep in mind that the Steelers had a GRAND TOTAL of 68 total yards in the second half and the Falcons has the ball for nearly eight more minutes than the Steelers did in the second half. You just can't ask that out of your defense week after week and expect to have much success. Oh yeah, that kid Brown is pretty good too. It we didn't have him, we don't win this game. That fifty-one yard FG turned out to be HUGE! If I'm Cowher, I make sure that leg is well taken care of. It's the only consistent offense we've had this year! Well, enough for this week. Like I said, I don't like to bash the QB and really don't like people who do. But even I've seen enough now! Scott Springer Hershey, PA Incredibly, this was my first chance to actually "see" the Steelers in live action since the week 1 Browns game. We live in Ohio and all we EVER see on TV are Browns games, so we listen to the Steeler game simulcasts on the net. In any case, I LOVE defense, so I was positively euphoric for most of the evening. When Pittsburgh stopped the Turkeys on 4th & goal, my outburst of glee woke up our sleeping bambino (didn't make the Sandstress too happy, but hey, these things happen). I'm telling you, my bruthas... if that offense ever gels, watch out! The Steelers need to keep that defense intact and put a few players around Kordell in the form of a solid offensive lineman or two (and maybe a big-play threat at wide receiver). We'll rule the world! Think we can talk Swannie out of retirement? He'd probably still be the best receiver on the team, eh? On another note: Hey, Boomer Esiason... here's a newsflash for you: THERE ARE 10 OTHER PLAYERS ON THE FIELD BESIDES THE QUARTERBACK. REPEAT, THE QUARTERBACK COMPRISES ONLY 1/11TH OF THE OFFENSE. I never thought I would look back fondly on the days of Dan Dierdorf. Dierdorf was an idiot, yes, but he was at least he wasn't almost comically fixated on the quarterback. Hey, Boomer, do me a favor... at least once or twice during the course of a three-hour game, you might consider acknowledging that the offensive line plays a role in the success of the offense. The only position Boomer seemed capable on analyzing was QB, and more specifically, Kordell. At times, Boomer ragged on Kordell so pointlessly that I couldn't help but wonder if he was sitting up in the broadcast booth wearing a pillowcase with holes cut in it (just kidding, just kidding... lighten up). Meanwhile, Boomer gushed endlessly over Chris Chandler (who spent most of the night on his ass) like a love-sick school girl. It got so bad at one point, Sandy looked over at me and said, "Those two should get a room." Did anyone hear even a cursory mention from Boomer about the HORRIBLE job Atlanta's line was doing? Did anyone hear Boomer point out a great block? Did anyone hear Boomer analyze or diagram exactly what Pittsburgh's defense was doing to be so successful? I think I heard him mutter something about the zone-blitz once or twice without much interest, but that was it. I could go on, but I won't... you get my drift. Esiason is a poor man's Phil Simms... he sucks. Ship him back to Cinci where he belongs. Speaking of bad moves by Monday Night Football, what in the hell is with Leslie Visser's hair??? My son gives a better haircut with his Play-Doh barber shop. Did ABC really ditch Lynn Swann for that bimbo? If I hear her ask one more biting, hard-hitting question like, "Coach, do you think you'll need to score the most points to win?" I'm gonna jump right through the TV screen. On that note, I'm gone. We've got next week off, just in time to get Dermontti Dawson healed to whip San Fran's sorry butts in a couple of weeks. Until then, my bruthas! Tim McMillen Webmaster, McMillen & Wife
Back to Main Page |