Items by Shelley

Pittsburgh Steelers’ Game Quick Hits: Awesome and Not-So Awesome

Published: November 16, 2009

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Like most avid Steelers fans, my mood during the week is dependent upon whether the Steelers win or lose, and to be frank, I was so disgusted with the game on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals that I wasn’t even sure I could come up with anything that the Steelers did that was “Awesome”.

But I have taken a day to breathe, to calm the impulse to scream for Bruce Arians’ head, and to remember more clearly what I truly witnessed. The following few items are what I could come up with. Enjoy, and let me know if you think of anything, no matter how minuscule, that the Steelers did that was encouraging.

Awesome: Steelers normal uniforms. Finally. I’m tired of all the throw-back jerseys and have never been a fan of the Steelers’ dark brown throwbacks. Steelers jerseys should be black and gold, period. So it was nice to see the team transformed back into ‘normal’ gear.

Not-So Awesome: The offensive line reminded me of Swiss cheese once again. And then they were shredded by the Bengal’s defense. Shredded Swiss cheese…who has use for that?

Awesome: There were a few key defensive back pass deflections that occurred. William Gay had a couple in the first quarter that were particularly nice, and Ike Taylor had a great one in the red zone.

Not-so Awesome: Jeff Reed failing to even attempt to tackle the Bengal’s Bernard Scott on his 96-yard kickoff return. Wasn’t Jeff Reed, once upon a time, known for being more physical than other kickers? It’s hard not to believe that all that tequila stripped him of his brain cells and of anything else resembling effort.

Awesome: I’m already scraping the bottom of the barrel for ‘positives’ that came out in the game. But I think we’ll devote this one to potential. Specifically, to Mike Wallace’s potential as a punt and kickoff returner. His only return of Sunday’s game was for 26 yards—which, considering our special teams play at the moment, is not too shabby.

Not-So Awesome: Stefan Logan. Not his lack of yardage on returns nor his occasionally shaky ball protection, nor even his semi-muffed catch of a punt return on Sunday. But he’s on this list today specifically for his decision to take a kickoff return out of the end zone after he muffed it!

He got, I believe , a bit past the 11-yard line. Wow. Color me merry. Had he knelt, as we all know, our offense would have started at 20-yard line instead. Logan’s decision was not ‘football smart,’ and as we saw with the introduction of Wallace into the returning game, that the Coaches didn’t think it was a smart move either.

Awesome: (think, think-think, think… there’s got to be something…) Ryan Clark had a decent day with a few key stops on third downs, including one in the red zone that forced the Bengals to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown.

It was nice to see him flying around again, quietly getting the job done without having to worry about whether another portion of his anatomy would need to be removed. No interceptions by Clark, but I’ll definitely take his solid play during such a defense-dependent game.

Not-So Awesome: There’s a quote from Ben Roethlisberger saying that he felt ‘weird’ before and during the game—that something was off. Well, we could tell.

Normally with Roethlisberger, statistics don’t tell the whole story, but on Sunday they sure did. A couple times he missed an open Santonio Holmes in the end zone and then overthrew the other receivers in the end zone whom he did throw to. Several of his passes were just off the mark, which, given what we know of his accuracy [see Super Bowl XLIII ], was quite perplexing.

Note: I am aware that Holmes missed another touchdown catch in the end zone, which could be why Roethlisberger declined to throw toward him. But it really all just comes down to the offense as a group being completely off the mark. It was like some weird twilight zone where our offense just kept bouncing off each other and into walls.

Or like they all placed their foreheads down on baseball bats, spun around the bats several times and then tried to walk in a straight line and predictably got nowhere, except on the ground or running into each other. Completely fruitless.

Awesome: As a Pro-Steelers’ article this is not quite appropriate, but it must be acknowledged. Bengal’s Defensive Coordinator Mike Zimmer is going through what I can only imagine is hell. His wife tragically and unexpectedly passed away five weeks ago, and yet his defense is rolling strong after years of being completely ineffective . That is truly amazing and inspiring.

Not-So Awesome: Troy Polamalu was re-injured. Our defense stayed fairly strong on Sunday, refusing to surrender a touchdown, but they still gave up four field goals, and the Bengals’ offense remained on the field for a significant amount of time. Polamalu’s absence was noticeable and, should he be out for any period of time, will definitely be noticeable in future games.

Awesome: Aaron Smith is one of the most underrated players of the game. Yet without him our defensive front is still stuffing the run. The Bengals’ offense, which had the NFL’s leading rusher, was held to just 61 yards rushing.

Our defense has now held the NFL’s top rushers (Tennessee Titan’s Chris Johnson, Minnesota Viking’s Adrian Peterson, and the Cincinnati Bengal’s Cedric Benson–twice ), each to under 100 yards rushing per game. That is definitely awesome.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Pittsburgh Steelers’ Game Quick Hits: Awesome and Not-So Awesome

Published: November 16, 2009

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Not-So Awesome: The offensive line reminded me of Swiss cheese once again. And then they were shredded by the Bengal’s defense. Shredded Swiss cheese…who has use for that?

Not-So Awesome: There’s a quote from Ben Roethlisberger saying that he felt ‘weird’ before and during the game—that something was off. Well, we could tell.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Monday Night Football: Steelers’ Quick Hits, Awesome and Not-So Awesome

Published: November 10, 2009

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MNF: Steelers’ Quick Hits. The following are the little things that were awesome, or not-so awesome in last night’s Monday Football Game of the Steelers versus the Broncos.

AWESOME: Mike Tomlin’s decision to sit Ryan Clark. And then Ryan Clark’s celebration and jubilee over his substitute Tyrone Carter’s interception and return for a touchdown. That smile was Hines Ward Approved.

NOT-SO AWESOME: James Harrison’s blatant helmet-to-helmet hit late in the fourth quarter. Now, I’m all about letting ‘football be football’ and so on, but that hit was dangerous and needlessly ruthless.

Then he celebrated afterward while the guy was lying on the field prostrate and potentially seriously injured. Tacky.

AWESOME : Running back Mewelde Moore got significantly more touches in the final quarter of the game than he had in the prior three quarters, and every time he touched the ball he clasped it to his chest with both hands and arms and acted like it was a hot dog and he was a starving fat man. Now that was some serious ball protection.

Which leads us to:

NOT-SO AWESOME: Sigh. Regardless of what the Referees and the Offical Review decided, I’m fairly positive that in the final two minutes of the game, Rashard Mendenhall did it again and fumbled in the red zone. Now, I thanked my lucky stars that it was not ruled a fumble and we maintained possession of the ball, but really? Really, Mendenhall? Again?

Was anybody else watching that thinking, why did Ben not hand it off to Moore instead?!

AWESOME : Now, the questionable ball-protection skills aside, Mendenhall had one heck of a game. Over 150 yards, with 130 of those coming in the second half alone, and with three runs of over 20 yards apiece. That is just awesome.

NOT-SO AWESOME: Feeling like the Vikings fans must have when Brett Keisel stripped Brett Favre two weeks ago and Lamar Woodley ran it back for a touchdown. Excrutiatingly not awesome.

Which leads us to:

AWESOME: The Offensive line. They had that one nasty gaff that lead to the Ben Roethlisberger fumble and run-back by the Broncos’ Defense, but other than that, their pass protection in the second half was phenomenal and the holes and blocks they were able to create for Mendenhall were also, just awesome.

NOT-SO AWESOME: Ben, Ben, Ben. I understand your need to win and to hold onto the ball so you can make a play that will save the team, the game, and send us to the Super Bowl.

But I would personally appreciate if, once in a while, you would throw the ball away so you don’t get sacked again, and again, and again. I’d personally like to see you around to lead the team for the next decade or so, but if you persist in taking these sacks, that might not happen.

AWESOME: The offense did not settle for field goals. Hallelujah! And the corollary-awesome you ask? No Jeff Reed Drama last night! Sweet!

NOT-SO AWESOME: I could comment on the slow start and the slow heartburn it gave me, but the dominance of the second half kind of overshadows that and reminds me why I love watching Steelers football: it’s awesome!

AWESOME: Mike Wallace. Not just his wideout abilities, but his all-out effort on the field. When Big Ben was intercepted in the red zone and the Broncos’ defender was running the ball back, the tape shows Wallace flying out of the end zone 30 yards away to launch himself at the defender to stop him from making it a Pick-6. Good Job, Rook!

GAME BALL: Tyrone Carter. Two interceptions including a pick-6. Nothing but awesome.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Who’s the Boss? Ranking the NFL’s 2-0 Teams

Published: September 22, 2009

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Rankings always interest me, but since we’re only two weeks in, it’s premature to start guessing at playoff pictures and wildcard possibilities.

So I decided that instead of doing a normal 32-team ranking system, I’m going to rank teams according to their win/loss record (since there are only three possibilities: 2-0, 1-1, and 0-2).

Enjoy!

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NFL Inventions: Boom or Bust?

Published: May 9, 2009

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As a general, non-season ticket holding NFL fan, I decided to list what I felt the best random invention introductions have been in the last 40 years since the 1970 merger, the most debatable ones, and three alterations I think should be made.

Let me know your thoughts at the end and what you think the best and worst NFL changes or inventions are!

Best (Random) NFL Inventions Introduced since the 1970 Merger

6. Emphasis on Mouth Guards and Helmet Bars

Because hockey players lose enough teeth for players in every sport. Besides, can you imagine how much worse that facial hit on Anquan Boldin would have been last year had there not been protective bars on his helmet?

5. The 3-4 Defense

The new trend of teams switching from 4-3 to 3-4 aside, the 3-4 Defense just seems to infer dominance . . . with a slight side course of arrogance. I think the era should be called “The Rise of the Linebackers.”

4. The Replay

This is debatable, I know. But it was a great invention, even if we have no clue on the best way to use it yet.

3. Recording Sack Counts

Passing record, win-loss record, blah blah blah. I want to know how many times my guys smashed your quarterback into the ground.

2. HD-TV

Seriously, I’m speechless trying to express exactly how much more rewarding, exciting and understandable a game is when the picture is so crisp and clear.

1. That yellow line on the TV indicating where the 1^st down marker is.

I don’t know about any of you, but I grew up watching football with my father and wondering why a quarterback’s long passes only registered for about two-yard gains.

Of course the intricacies of looking for the first-down on-field markers eluded me at the time, but still, that tiny yellow line (and corresponding blue line, which while handy, is not nearly as valuable as its counterpart) makes the game so much easier to follow.

Debatable Inventions since the Merger

5. The fine for excessive force with no prior corresponding penalty on the field

I understand the desire by the NFL to deter behaviors in the future which they find objectionable. But I do not find it logical to punish somebody retroactively for something that was not a problem at the time.

If the hit is legal and not called on the field, how can the NFL later punish a player for what he knew to be legitimately within the rules? Change the rule first, then fine him if he does it again.

4. Icing-the-Kicker Strategy

Really, for as often as it fails, it does not seem efficient. does it?

3. The Tuck Rule

There are so many inaccuracies associated with this and they all stem from human fallibility: whether the referee on the field thought the ball was in motion; what was the ball doing—going forward, backward, or tucked; what do the replay booth guys think, and so on and so forth.

There is such a likelihood of human error and it is such a matter of personal perception that I doubt consistency can ever be established with this rule.

2. Overtime Rules

Should they stay the way they are? Should they switch to college overtime rules? Should there be a hybrid? Should each team get one kickoff, and then let it be a free-for-all? I have a feeling this debate will never end.

1. The Replay

It is a great invention when the referees decide that yes, your player did in fact intercept that pass, and a frustrating invention when they rule he didn’t and you know that if the referees didn’t have the chance to replay it, the on-field referee would have called it an interception without knowing any better.

Why Hasn’t the NFL Done This Yet?

3. The Personal Responsibility Class for rookies and veterans.

So I get that these players are young and rich and want to go out. But with all of the incidents of drunkenness, fighting and weapons (cough Burress cough), I feel the players sometimes forget they must also take personal responsibility in their actions and choices.

NFL players are recognizable, and if, for example, they cover themselves in diamonds and designer apparel while voluntarily entering into chaotic situations which could breed drunkenness, greed, jealously, or worse, I would hope they understand that something might happen to them and the people around them.

It is their right as citizens to engage in those activities, yet they must realize there is no corresponding right to place fellow citizens in danger by bringing [illegal] weapons in to “protect” themselves from situations which they voluntarily placed themselves in to begin with.

Growing up in middle class suburbia, I learned various lessons like this. For instance, I like book-hunting at Goodwill because it’s fun—but there is no way I would wear my Grandmother’s jewelry there.

Why draw unnecessary attention to myself or put myself in a position that would make it irresistible for somebody to accost me? Ah, the Middle-Class Suburban Rules for Girls. Maybe that should be the name of the class…

Anyway, I realize the NFL has rookie seminars for dealing with money and more, but they do not necessarily seem to be working wonderfully, do they? Not with all of the arrests and incidents that seem to happen. It all goes back to personal responsibility.

(2) Sensors in the Football and at the Goal Line

Steelers fan here, and I must say I am tired of everybody questioning whether a play was or was not a touchdown. After all of the goal-line drama last year it must be asked, why isn’t there a sensor in the football connecting it to the goal line like they do with hockey pucks?

It is not like the whole stadium must light up if the football breaks the plane—considering any pass in the end-zone could then make a stadium go wild unnecessarily—but they could arrange it so there is a sensor attached to the official replay booth. Maybe a small red light could blink or something when the ball breaks the plane.

Then if the referees on the field have a problem (like with the now-infamous Santonio Holmes catch in the December 2008 Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore game), they could check with the replay booth, who could say “yes, it crossed the plane.”

After which the referees could continue to determine whether a knee was down before the goal line, whether a player’s feet were in bounds, and so on.

But of course, since we already have basic issues with how and when to use replay capability, adding a nice little flashing light for the booth officials to keep track of would probably distract them and make them even more bumfuzzled.

(1) Bringing the First-Down Chains Technology into this century

If anybody watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics last summer, they witnessed dancers on a massive LCD screen the size of a football field who created a design on the screen by where they touched it.

So why on earth are we still using 10-yard markers connected by slack chains and subject to human error? This drives me crazy.

I mean, there are not even any rungs alongside the field, for example, for the markers to latch onto to ensure that the markers stay exactly 10 yards apart from their last placement!

You can tweet to me from across the globe that you feel like burping and yet if the guy moving the chains shifts his weight accidentally it is the difference between a first-down and fourth-down?

I don’t know about you, but I wince every time I see the referees call for the Chain guys (do they even have titles?) to come onto the field to measure a potential first down and while they jog onto the field the chains are slack.

How the heck do they know where the correct spot of the original marker should be?

That field is 53 1/3 yards wide and they just jog so straight that they know where exactly in the middle the spot should be to within an inch? Yeah, no.

I’m not saying we should put an LCD screen under the grass and have it light up and show us where the first down should be. But really, is it too much to ask to get a slightly more advanced form of measurement and accuracy down on the field?

Let me know what you think the best, worst, debatable, and the should-be-done inventions are! I would love to hear your thoughts.

The Chicago Bears’ Vanderbilt Connection

Published: May 1, 2009

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(First article on here; please leave constructive criticism—thanks!)

The Beginning

I grew up in Pittsburgh, so naturally I am a Steelers fanatic, and unless I happen to marry a star player of another team, they will never be tied for first place. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Steelers culture is just a part of life; it permeates everything. When I went to college in Nashville, Steelers football even kept me in touch with my family since I called them several times a game.

But when I moved to Nashville, I went from a football-crazy town to a football-huh college: Vanderbilt University. To say Vanderbilt students were apathetic about football would be generous. I was there from 2001 to 2005 and in all four years I felt that if we won three games per season, it was a winning season.

Vanderbilt has perennially been at the bottom of the SEC. While places like Florida got Tim Tebow and competed repeatedly for the BCS Championship, Vanderbilt never got the big names or made it to the big games. So I think it is a marvel when a Vanderbilt football player is drafted by an NFL team.

Academics are supremely important at Vanderbilt—even for star athletes. To give you an idea, one rumor used to be that the SEC kept Vanderbilt in the conference solely because its football graduation rate helped bring up the average graduation rate for all SEC football teams.

It’s not really possible for Vanderbilt football players to just pick the easiest or introductory courses, because it’s not often clear what those are. My two hardest classes were a graduate-level math course called Nonlinear Optimization (from which I still suffer nightmares) and an Introduction to Sociology class. There’s just no way to easily skate by.

To the one Vandy grad who is reading this who wants to comment that many Vandy football players major in Human and Organizational Development (i.e. the supposed “skate-through” major), I’ll remind them that the players still had to go to class and do the work.

When a classic joke about the Vandy football team is: “Why are the Commodores like possums? Because they get killed on the road and play dead at home” and people laugh and nod their heads in agreement, I find it inspiring that players can overcome that much lack of faith and encouragement, and still manage to get good grades and play well enough to reach the NFL.

A Turning Point

The most memorable game I’ve ever been to was during my junior year of college when we played the University of Kentucky (Nov. 15, 2003) at home. I was sitting with my boyfriend at the time and his family in the Kentucky section (which really extended to almost the entire stadium), and purposefully wore a Kentucky-blue windbreaker over my Vandy t-shirt because I didn’t feel like being commented to during the game.

Yet an astonishing thing happened—we started winning. Our quarterback threw two touchdowns and suddenly it was 14-3 at halftime. Now for me, since we never won, leading the game at half-time was almost as good. That’s no exaggeration.

Then the third quarter began and suddenly we scored another touchdown. UK copied us, but then our quarterback threw his fourth touchdown of the game, and everybody was like, what? Vandy’s leading? It’s 28-10 over UK? How is that possible?

But everybody knows that Vanderbilt blows their leads in fourth quarter, right? So don’t get too crazy about an 18-point difference. Then something miraculous happened: the VU defense only gave up one other touchdown! And as the final seconds wound down, my boyfriend and I started wading through the dead silent UK fans to reach the student section.

And all the students there stormed the field. It was our first SEC win in three years and our first home SEC win in five. It took us that long to just beat another SEC team and we did it 28-17. So we stormed the field; students were running around flying everywhere, people climbing on both goal posts to tear them down, people shouting, screaming, crying, and just plain jumping for joy. Finally! We had won!

Once the goal posts were torn down the mob of students picked them up and paraded them out of the stadium and down the four-lane highway in front of Vanderbilt while the cops stopped traffic for us. We took them up to our Alumni Lawn and celebrated around them.

I have always wished I had stuck around to save a piece of a goal post when maintenance chopped them up.

We won only two games that entire season, but this was one that mattered. It felt like it had legitimized us. We had finally taken a step, albeit a small one, toward reclaiming some respect in the SEC. It was the most memorable football experience of my life so far; it gave me hope.

Now, five seasons removed from that game, Vanderbilt not only had a “winning” season (superb by standards when I was there), but they were selected to a bowl game and won. The Vanderbilt Commodores actually won a bowl game, and over Boston College no less. I get a kick each time I think of it.

And do you know who the quarterback was in the UK game? Jay Cutler.

Today’s Impact

During my college years, even when the football team was playing a big traveling school, the student section was mostly empty. With games at 11 in the morning, the consensus from the student body seemed to be “Why go? I was up late last night and want to sleep in. Besides, we’ll lose anyway.”

I haven’t been back in a couple years, but I sincerely hope that mentality has now changed.

While I was in college, indifference was the best you could hope for with the majority of the student population and football. Even my senior year, even after we started winning a few games a year, I think my friends and I only went to a few games. Though now I wish I’d gone to more, of course.

But I can only speculate as to how disheartening that must have been for the players—to see how little their school supported them even as they strove to keep us from the basement of the SEC.

In Cutler’s time at VU he began instilling a hope that we could win—a real hope, a real expectation that maybe this year was the year we make it. While I was there it was like the student body slowly awakened from a long slumber. Or from the grave.

Slowly, we realized we were alive—we didn’t win many games, but we did win some. There was a chance now that we could do it

I pray that now there is a hope that we can win—not just a fool’s hope either—and that the students currently at Vanderbilt get themselves invested in the game because it’s worth it.

I hope the students party all Friday night, get up early, and party some more before cheering themselves hoarse at the game. I hope the student enthusiasm will spread to the football team and encourage them even more, both on and off the field.

When Jay Cutler was drafted by the Broncos, I was ecstatic—finally! A Vanderbilt player I knew of in the NFL—that was awesome! I could cheer for the Broncos as my second team, because they had a Vanderbilt graduate and, as a bonus, one whom I had cheered for.

And now Cutler is with the Bears and lo’ and behold, there are three others there with him! Plus, along with Cutler, Chris Williams, Earl Bennett, and Hunter Hillenmeyer, the Bears just drafted D.J. Moore, and with a handful of Commodores on one team, I can hardly contain myself!

Many scoff at or are skeptical of Cutler’s last three years in Denver and about his ability to achieve that level of success that signifies “elite.”

But I am not.

From my time at Vandy while Jay Cutler was the quarterback, I saw a young man of 19 will not just his team to win when winning seemed impossible, but to will his disinterested school to care about winning and to keep on winning after he’s gone—all the way to the point where the team wins a bowl game five years later.

It is a feat which takes a determination and inner fire that will just not quit. I shake my head at the critics and think that they have no idea what he is capable of.

Some people question next year for the Bears, Cutler, and the other Vandy grads, and I think of the experience of constantly working to reach that top pinnacle in the midst of so much apathy and in the face of “superior” SEC teams, and all I can say as a new Bears fan is: bring it.

P.S.: In case it’s not obvious, the Bears are my new No. 1 NFC team (and my No. 2 overall, of course).

Items by Shelley

Pittsburgh Steelers’ Game Quick Hits: Awesome and Not-So Awesome

Pittsburgh Steelers’ Game Quick Hits: Awesome and Not-So Awesome

Monday Night Football: Steelers’ Quick Hits, Awesome and Not-So Awesome

Who’s the Boss? Ranking the NFL’s 2-0 Teams

NFL Inventions: Boom or Bust?

The Chicago Bears’ Vanderbilt Connection

NFL Sport Channel Latest