Yeah, the Steelers could have beaten the Patriots. But they didn't. Not even close.
Things didn't look hopeless in the first half, which the Steelers left trailing only by four points. But the second half was another story. The Patriots doubled their points total, while the Steelers failed to score at all.
It definitely seemed that Patriots were taking it to Steelers safety Anthony Smith (he of the infamous "guarantee"), especially on a 63-yd touchdown pass to Randy Moss and a Brady-Moss-Brady-Gaffney flea flicker play for a touchdown.
And so the Pats are still unbeaten. And with their next two game against the Jets and Miami (seriously??? do the football gods hate the rest of us), they've got a great chance to go for their perfect regular season in week 17 against the Giants.
(I'm crossing my fingers that the Colts can knock them out in the playoffs!)
Box Score
Monday, December 10, 2007
football: Steelers embarassed by Patriots
Friday, December 7, 2007
football: Are the Patriots their own league now?
Has anyone else noticed, on ESPN, that the New England Patriots now have their own category on the ticker at the bottom of the screen?
You know, the categories that usually say "NFL" or "MLB."
As much as I personally dislike the Patriots, I understand that they're the biggest story in sports right now. So I can understand showing ticker stories with the latest updates about their season.
But those updates should still appear under "NFL," like ever other NFL story, score and update on the ticker.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
football: College bowl games on NFL Network?
My alma mater, Indiana University, will be playing in its first college football bowl game since 1993 this year. The IU Hoosiers are scheduled to take on Oklahoma State at the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., on Dec. 31.
Unfortunately, many of its alumni across the country will be unable to watch the game, which, for some unknown reason, will air on the NFL Network.
There's been a lot of talk this year debating the NFL's decision to air some of its own games on the NFL Network, because of the limited and costly availability of the premium station. At least in case of those games, I think the NFL saves itself by airing the games on local networks in the cities of the two teams involved.
I'm not sure if these college bowl games will be shown in local market networks or not, but I really hope so. Meanwhile, sports leagues and conferences around the country continue to push their own networks more and more. The Big Ten Network presents the same issues to IU fans.
The league-specific networks may be great for the leagues, but not for the fans. If your cable or satellite provider even offers the network, you have to purchase it as part of a premium package with a bunch of other stations that you probably don't want. In an age where information is becoming more and more accessible, the league executives are making games harder and more expensive to watch.
football: Unbeaten but not unbeatable
Can you believe how close the Baltimore Ravens came to knocking off the undefeated New England Patriots last night? I don't know which is more unbelievable: that they were that close to beating them and held a lead, or that they manged not beat them in the last minute of the game.
Of course, I'm one to talk. I never believed Pitt could beat WVU this weekend either (should have kept my mouth shut on that one!).
Saturday, December 1, 2007
football: Pitt's chance to beat WVU? Non-existent
I've laughed several time this week while reading the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's pregame coverage of today's Backyard Brawl (Pitt Panthers vs. West Virginia Mountaineers). Much of the coverage suggested that Pitt actually has a chance to beat their biggest rival.
No way. West Virginia, ranked No. 2 in the BCS Standings and the AP pool, and No. 1 in the USA Today poll, simply needs to win this game to make it the national championship. Pitt stopped dreaming about being ranked a long time ago, and their 2-4 Big East record can't even send shivers of fear to WVU. The game's in Morgantown, and I'd bet money on couches being burned in a victory celebration tonight.
Meanwhile, Pitt seems to favor rewarding failure. They've extended football coach Dave Wannstedt's contract, and rehired former athletic director Steve Pederson (yeah, that's right, the man who tried to change Pitt to Pittsburgh).
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
football: Late Field Goal Earns Steelers a "Thrilling" Victory
Oh. My. Goodness. Could that game have been any more painful to watch? The Pittsburgh Steelers avoided setting the record for the first NFL game to go into overtime scoreless by kicking a field goal with seconds left to beat the still winless Miami Dolphins 3-0. The score came on the first drive of the game to make it inside of the red zone (the Dolphins made it to the 20 yd line once, only to take a delay of game penalty on their field goal attempt).
Granted, you can't really blame the awfulness of this game on either team. The heavy rains and a layer of new sod (put in place after Friday's four WPIAL high school championship games and a Pitt football game on Saturday) coupled to create laughable field conditions. And Heinz Field isn't exactly known for its great field. Most of the paint came off with the tarp, so players probably just didn't know exactly where that red zone was anyway. Mud and divots covered the field, and the grounds crew apparently used what Joey Porter (back in Pittsburgh in a Dolphins uniform) described as "cat litter" to attempt to absorb some of the moisture.
I think my favorite part of the game was when a ball, punted by the Dolphins in the thrid quarter, plopped down into the mud and went no where. Kind of like the game.
