Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

In a surprise move, the Pittsburgh Steelers have cut kicker Jeff Reed.

Reed has been on the hot seat for a while with the Steelers.  He has had a series of off-field incidents that caused fans to question whether he was a “Steeler-type” player.  But Reed’s accuracy at Heinz Field, which is a very difficult place to kick, always caused the Steelers to turn a blind eye to Reed’s “indiscretions”.

But after having a very poor season kicking the ball, the Steelers seem to have had enough of Jeff Reed.

Reed missed a 26 yard field goal against the New England Patriots, and then blamed the miss on the terrible turf at Heinz Field.  That was apparently the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The Steelers brought in former Washington Redskins kicker Shawn Suisham for a tryout, and signed him soon thereafter.

“At this point, we thought it appropriate to make a change”, said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

So as quickly as that, Jeff Reed is out and Shawn Suisham is in.  What do you think about that, Steelers fans?  Leave a comment and let us know your reaction to the move.

Ordinarily we would have our weekly haiku contest following a Steelers game.  However, because of the way this game went, I’ve decided to skip this week’s contest.

I’m afraid that fans would totally trash the Steelers, and I just don’t want to be responsible for that.  So rather than encouraging people to write things like this:

William Gay gets burned
The Patriots score again
#$%#%& you, William Gay!

Or like this:

Short pass by Brady
8 yards for the Patriots
Why can’t we stop this?

I’ve decided that it is probably better to simply skip this week’s contest rather than encouraging fans to write things like that.  And I certainly don’t want to offer a prize for writing bad things about the Steelers.  So the haiku contest will begin again next week.  But for now, let’s all just try to forget that nightmare game against the Patriots.

Of course, if you want to go ahead and submit a haiku anyway (for therapeutic reasons), then feel free.  Who am I to limit your right to free speech. 

A more positive take on the game

Jim Shearer did a very nice job on his video blog, Yinz Luv Da Stillers, this week.  I thought that sharing it with my readers would be a good way to help all of us move past this painful loss.  So here is this week’s episode of Yinz Luv Da Stillers.

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I hate writing about Steelers losses.   I really do.  But write I must.  So here goes.

&^%^%$#@ William Gay!!!

$#@%^&*&^%$ lack of defensive adjustments!!!

&^%^$@$% lack of offensive adjustments!!!!

%^&*#@%&%# offensive line.  At least TRY to block somebody!

@$%^&*#%@ Big Ben!  Get rid of the ball already!!!  Grrrrrr!!!!!!

@#$&*#^@ William Gay!!!!  Oh wait.  Did I say that already?

William Gay gets burned again.

I have to give the Patriots credit.  They are good at putting together a game plan that will exploit their opponent’s weaknesses.  And that’s just what they did last night.

The Patriots figured out a long time ago that it’s almost impossible to run on the Steelers.  So they don’t even try.  They just throw the ball on practically every down.

This wasn’t the first time that they’ve used that strategy on the Steelers.  Which is why it is even more frustrating to see it work yet again.

I love Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau.  He’s a defensive genius.  But he got out-coached last night.  He seemed to stubbornly refuse to make any adjustments to compensate for the fact that Tom Brady seemed content to pass the ball all night.  LeBeau could have gone to their nickel or dime packages, which would have brought in more defensive backs.  But he didn’t.

So instead, Tom Brady completed 30 of 43 passes for 350 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Moreover, the Steelers didn’t sack him once.  Not once!  In fact, on most plays it looked like he had 5 minutes to stand in the pocket and find his receiver.  When he left the game, his shirt was just as clean as it had been when he came out of the locker room at the beginning of the game.

Since the Steelers weren’t getting any pressure on Brady anyway, I don’t understand why they didn’t bring in more defenders for pass coverage.  But they didn’t.

On the offensive side of the ball, Ben Roethlisberger threw for 387 yards and 3 touchdowns.  So why does it seem like he had an absolutely terrible game?  Ben was sacked 5 times, and pressured at least 40 times.  He was running for his life on every play.  Or at least it seemed that way.

And was it my imagination, or was William Gay the defender on every single touchdown pass that Tom Brady threw?  It was like Brady had done his homework and knew that Gay was the weak link in the Steelers’ defense.

And I’m not even going to mention Jeff Reed.  Oh wait, I guess I just did.  Grrrrrrr!!!!  How did he miss a 26 yard field goal?  He should be able to make that kick in his sleep.  Reed has only made 68% of his field goal attempts this season.  That’s not good.

Reed misses a 26 yard FG.

The Patriots game is behind us now. And frankly, I want to forget about it as quickly as I possibly can.

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Dear God,

I’m sorry I haven’t talked to You for a while.  But I really need You this week.  Your favorite team (and mine), the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing the New England Patriots.

Everyone knows that the Patriots are actually servants of the Devil.  They are evil……pure evil.  Why else would they be able to cheat and get away with it?

I’m sure that you’re just as upset as I am that the Patriots were rewarded for unrighteous behavior.  I figure that now is as good a time as any for the world to see that evil cannot triumph over good.  And what clearer way to deliver that message than by a Steelers win over the Patriots?

Please allow our beloved Steelers to defeat the Patriots.  If we win, we’ll be alone in first place in the AFC North, and that would really be nice.

It would be better if the Steelers defeated the Patriots soundly.  That way, everyone would know that cheating doesn’t pay.  A score of 73-0 would be good, but I’ll settle for 21-7.

I know that this may be a bit much to ask for, but while you’re making the Patriots lose, can you also allow Wes Welker to catch some passes, but none that hurt the Steelers too much?  I know that probably sounds like a strange request, but he’s on my fantasy football team, and …….well, you understand.

You’ve already blessed me once this week.  You allowed the Baltimore Ravens to lose (thank You so much for that).  But I need You to come through for me on this Patriots thing.

By the way, Roger Goodell has declared war on our Steelers, so they can use some divine assistance on that too.  Maybe you can do something to show Goodell the error of his ways.  Turning him into a pillar of salt would probably do the trick.  Locust in his living room would be good too.  Or maybe just give him jock itch.  Yeah, definitely jock itch.

And God, can you please do something about Big Ben’s arm?  He keeps under-throwing Mike Wallace on passes that should be touchdowns.  Maybe you can give him just a bit more strength.

I know that I’m asking You for a lot.  But if You do this for me, I promise to give up beer.  Ummmm, okay maybe I won’t give up beer.  But I promise to start drinking light beer sometimes (that has to count for something).  And instead of eating two Family Size bags of Doritos during the game, I’ll only eat one.

Well, I think that’s everything.  Thank You so much, God.  Amen.

Oh yeah, and “Go Steelers!”

(Special thanks to whoever created the “Cheaties” artwork.  It was sent to me, so I don’t know who actually created it.  But kudos to the person who did.  Great job!)

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It’s time to announce the winner of this week’s haiku contest.   The first place winner of this week’s contest is going to win a copy of the book “The Ones Who Hit the Hardest” by Chad Millman and Shawn Coyne.  It’s a great book that belongs on the bookshelf of any Steelers fan.

So without further ado, here are this week’s winner and runners up:

Our third place haiku was submitted by Paul.

Three fifty nine left
the pain in my chest came back
Not two years running

Very nice haiku.   I felt the same pain in my chest late in that game.

In second place was John#21.  He submitted this excellent haiku.

Like Steelers days past
Defense gets tough when it counts
T.O. Ocho Ciao

And this week’s prize winning entry was submitted by Frank Williams.  Frank’s winning entry was the following:

Bengals had T.O.
But could not match our big D
Season over Marv

Congratulations, Frank.  Please go to the “Contact us” tab on SteelersToday.com and leave us a message with your mailing address so we can send you your prize.  Or, if you prefer, send us a private message on our Facebook page.

Thanks, and congratulations.

(If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment by clicking on the square at the top right of this article. Also, please subscribe to our blog by pressing the orange button below. You can also follow us on Twitter by clicking the bird doohicky below. Also consider following us on Facebook. Thanks.)

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