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 vs. Jacksonville First, in regards to Thomas Bragg... I'm not saying that Kordell only has to play for two quarters to get to the Hall of Fame. Obviously, he needs to play for four. My point is simply this... like it or not, Kordell IS our BEST QB. That is not to say he's played well on Sunday, just that he's better than Tomczack or Gonzales. Tomczack does not have the type of play-making capability to bring us back from a huge deficit. Therefore you keep the guy with the stronger arm and more scrambling ability on the field. Yes, maybe Kordell should have led the pass but for Pete's sake, the ball was there! It hit him in the hands. That one is on the receiver. Terry Bradshaw is regarded as one of the best QB's of all time, but how many times did Swann or Stallworth have to leap high or stretch out to make a catch? No one throws perfect balls all of the time (not to take anything away from Bradshaw... he is one of the greats). In 1997, Kordell was regarded as one of the next bright young stars. Why? Because he had Yancey and CJ to go get his passes and make big plays. If the reciever gets his hands on the ball it should be caught. We were taught this in minicamp for our JV Highschool team. This is the pros! If you can't catch balls in your hands, you don't belong on the team. Now in regard to the stats... Yes, our stats are inflated by the Browns game, but the Jags' are just as inflated by the 49ers game. While I understand the 49ers are a lot more respectable, I watched that game and if you squinted a little bit, you would have sworn that was Ty Detmer in the backfield, not Steve Young. Face it, people, there are no great teams anymore. The 49ers have respect based on the Super Bowls they won in the 80's, but they have slipped dramatically. The Jags aren't as good as they played the 49ers... if they were they would have destroyed Tennesee, not lost to them. So for one week, both the Jags and the Steelers were superhuman, then they both played close games. Come on, they played Carolina, for God's sake, and they just barely beat them. Then, just as we were supposed to come out and demolish the Seahawks, Jax should have killed Tennesee... but they lost. And for the record, Fred taylor was held to 71 yards or fewer in both meetings last year. Our front seven is still the same as it was, so who cares that he's back? Anyone that's writing us off for this game must not have watched a lot of football this year. The four teams that played in the conference games are a combined 1-11, and the Titans are 3-0. Even the Saints have a better record than the Broncos and Falcons and Jets. I don't think anyone is going to sit here and tell me that those three teams are n the same class as the Browns and Bengals, or that the Saints are better than them. So if you want to discount the stats, fine, but look how they have been playing. I still say that they aren't much better than we are. Statistically, the Steelers & Jags appear to be equals. Unfortunately (cliche' alert, folks), the game isn't played on paper. A lot of people are pointing to the Steelers' team stats (which at this stage look quite good) as reason for hope. But let's face it... the stat comparison is relatively meaningless because the Browns game skewed things so badly in favor of the Steelers. If you're going to trumpet the fact that Pittsburgh is averaging 330-some yards a game on offense, you'd better remember that 440 came against those bottom-feeding Brownies. Between you and me, I think it'll be awhile before we see 440 yards from this Steelers offense again. The same is true about Pittsburgh's defense, which is currently ranked #1 in the AFC. Again, time for a reality check. The pathetic Browns only gained 40 TOTAL yards in the season opener! The numbers just aren't a true indicator of where the Steelers are defensively. And while Seattle didn't score an offensive TD last week, they beat the Steelers secondary like a drum, hitting a mulitude of long passes. Let's face it... Jacksonville has a decided edge in overall talent. If the Steelers thought the Seahawks had some weapons, wait till they get a load of QB Mark Brunell and WR Jimmy Smith. The Jags' offensive firepower is simply frightening. It doesn't get any easier on defense, either. The addition of former Steelers Dom Capers (defensive coordinator) and Carnell Lake have solidified the defense, so make no mistake about it... these guys are damn good. And just in case that isn't enough punishment for you, the return of starting RB Fred Taylor (1,223 yards rushing last season) this Sunday means the Jags are ostensively a healthy team. The Steelers, on the other hand, have a chorus of injuries. Nolan Harrison and Mike Vrabel are both out, and Lee Flowers & "Fu" Fuamatu-Maafala are unlikely to play (listed as questionable). Safety Travis Davis (knee), WR Troy Edwards (quadricep), OG Alan Faneca (ankle), and WR Hines Ward (hamstring) are all listed as probable and are expected to see action. Even if the Steelers were healthy, it'd be tough to hang with these guys. And with the offense struggling and Bettis still not 100%, Sunday could be an especially long afternoon for Steelers fans. Enough doom & gloom... now it's time to contradict myself. Even though I started this piece by discounting stats, I've got two more figures that are gonna allow me to go with my heart and pick the Steelers to win (in spite of what my head is telling me). Amazingly, the Steelers have lost 3 consecutive games at Three Rivers dating back to '98. But don't jump off any bridges just yet... there's still room for hope. The Jags have never won in Pittsburgh, and the Steelers haven't dropped four consecutive home games since 1969-70. So, since it's all I have to go on, I'm gonna base my prediction on those stats: Pittsburgh 23, Jacksonville 20. Tim McMillen Webmaster of McMillen & Wife Okay, I am kidding... back to the Jagoffs. Somehow, some way we win. P.S.-- Hey Bill, put these guys (the Steelers) on prozac. I'm telling you, man, it couldn't hurt. Kordell is a feel good guy... hook'em up! GO STEELERS! Yours Truly, Kordell's DRUGDEALER, Slim Jim While I certainly respect your opinions, I strongly disagree with two of your statements regarding last Sunday's game vs. Seattle. First of all, I did watch the game last Sunday and I also recorded it as well. After reading the statement in your article about the pass from Kordell to Blackwell not being Stewart's fault, it most definitely was. I re-ran that play back at least three or four times and the pass was thrown behind Blackwell, so much so that he had to turn half way around to try to catch it. I will say this however... a good reciever will make that catch. Blackwell at best is just an average receiver. My point is this... if Stewart throws that same pass and this time leads his reciever just a little, then you have a completed pass, not a tipped ball and interception. Stewart absolutely did not lead his receiver with that particular pass. Don't take my word for it... find somone with a tape of the game and look at it for yourself. Finally, the other statement made about Kordell being a second half player doesn't make any sense! He may very well be, but what about the first half? This guy cannot go out every Sunday and play like crap for the first two quarters and then think that he's going to come out in the second half and play like a Hall of Famer! A football game is four quarters long. Playing well for only two quarters just wont get the job done. Tom Bragg http://community.webtv.net/francoharris/TomsPittsburgh My point here is that if Jacksonville were the Juggernaut that everyone makes them out to be, they would have demolished a team like Tenessee, just like we should have demolished the Seahawks. Apparently, there is a big chink in the armor of the Jags. We can and will win this game. We have never lost to the Jags at home, and we won't this time either. I think General Cowher will have his Steel City Soldiers ready for war against our biggest division rivals. We are not as bad as our game against the Seahawks, and not as good as our game against the Browns. I think that this game will play out a lot like the Baltimore game and we'll win it in the closing seconds 27-24. P.S.--I didn't watch the game last week, but I've read all of the reviews and I'm not so sure that I would have pulled Kordell. I mean, I saw the first pick and that "thrown behind him" crap is dead wrong. That was another case of Will "Stonehands" Blackwell proving that he doesn't belong on the team. I've also read that the one awful looking pick was a case of Hawkins reading the defense one way and Kordell reading another. Good ol' Courtney stepped up and took the blame for it (not that it was entirely his fault... he and Kordell have to be on the same page), but we expected to see a few of those in Gilbride's new offense (remember all of those Warren Moon picks we used to get when he was in Houston). Anyway, my point is that Kordell has always been a second half player, and Tomczack doesn't even have the potential to bring us back from a 20-something point deficit. Pittsburgh Steelers vs Jack O'Liaville, Teal-Tongued, Plague-Spotted, Wharf Rats! I'd like to para-phrase Dwight White this week: "Hit em' like a Bith." Tom Bragg http://community.webtv.net/francoharris/TomsPittsburgh
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