Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

Now that the Steelers are no longer playing, Steeler Nation is left watching other teams battle in the playoffs (am I the only one who finds himself thinking “we could have beaten that team?”).

In discussing the playoffs with fellow Steelers fans, an interesting topic has come up.  I have had disagreements with several fans over which teams it is okay for Steelers fans to support in the playoffs.

I always assumed that Steeler Nation was pretty united about who our enemies are.  But now I see that that is not true.

For example, I said on my Facebook page that I was happy to see the Colts destroying the hated Baltimore Ravens in this past weekend’s playoff game.  But to my surprise, quite a few fans came back at me and told me that they hated the Colts more than the Ravens.

Personally, I was shocked by this.  How could any Steelers fan hate any team more than they hate the Ravens?  Steelers and Ravens are like Superman and Lex Luthor, or Spiderman and the Green Goblin, or Casey Hampton and Nutrisystem; they’re natural enemies.

Not only did I think that it was inappropriate to hate any team more than the Ratbirds, I also questioned whether the Colts are even a natural enemy to the Steelers.

So I started assembling a list of the teams that I believe are natural rivals to our beloved Pittsburgh Steelers.

Firstly, I believe that all of the other teams in the AFC North are our natural enemies.  Thus, the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, and Cleveland Browns have to be on the list of the Steelers’ natural rivals.  Among these division opponents, I believe that the Ravens have earned a spot at the top of the hate list.

The Ravens are brash and arrogant.  They have historically had a very strong defense, just like the Steelers, so there is a natural rivalry each season to see which team has the best defense.  The two teams play one another twice each season (sometimes more).  Moreover, over the past decade (with a few notable exceptions), it has always been the Steelers and Ravens who have fought for AFC North supremacy.  I’m not sure if there is any rivalry in football that is as physical as Steelers versus Ravens.  When you add in the fact that the Ravens actually put out a bounty on Hines Ward, I don’t think that there is any question that the Baltimore Ravens are enemy #1.

After the AFC North opponents, I think most Steelers fans will agree that the New England Patriots are a natural enemy of the Steelers.  The Steelers and Patriots may not be in the same division, but they have had some classic battles in the playoffs.  Too often, it was the Patriots who knocked the Steelers out of the AFC Championship picture.  Twice they did it right in our own stadium.  Belichick’s cheatin’ ways probably cost the Steelers a Super Bowl trophy.

In truth, the Patriots may rank higher on the “hate list” than the Bengals or Browns.  Personally, I rank them at #2 behind the Ravens.  After all, which team prevented the Steelers from being the team of the decade?  And they didn’t even do it fair and square.  I hate them!

Next on the hate list is the Dallas Cowboys.  Like the Patriots, I rank the Cowboys higher on my hate list than either the Bengals or Browns.  The Cowboys are like the anti-Steelers.  They are glitzy and glamorous while the Steelers are blue collar and down to Earth.  The Cowboys have the title of “America’s team”, even though everyone knows that the Steelers are really America’s team.

No two teams have met more often in the Super Bowl than the Steelers and Cowboys.  The Steelers have won twice, while the Cowboys won once.  Of course the Steelers would have actually won all 3 times if it hadn’t been for a certain former quarterback whose name shall not be mentioned.  His untimely interceptions cost the Steelers yet another Lombardi Trophy.

The historic nature of the Steelers-Cowboys rivalry puts them high on my hate list, even though we don’t play them very often.  Moreover, the Cowboys are the team that is most likely to match the Steelers’ total of 6 Super Bowl championship.    More than anything else, that is reason for Steeler Nation to want the Cowboys to lose every game they play.  We all want the Steeler to stand alone in their number of Super Bowl championships for a very long time.  Frankly, I hope the Cowboys will still be stuck at 5 Lombardi Trophies in the year 4078.

Upon further review, maybe I hate the Cowboys more than I hate the Patriots.  They’re at least tied.  Maybe one is 2A and the other is 2B.  Regardless, I hate them both.

Some would argue that the Raiders are a natural enemy of the Steelers.  I tend to disagree.  There was a time when this was clearly true.  But Ken Stabler, Dave Casper, Otis Sistrunk, Art Shell, Ray Guy and Fred Biletnikoff are a distant memory.  The Raiders have been so bad for so long that it’s hard to hate them.  In fact, it’s hard to do anything but pity the poor Raiders fans who have had to deal with Al Davis for all of these years.

Several  fans argued that the Colts are also a natural rival for the Steelers.  I just don’t see it.  We don’t play the Colts very often.  We haven’t had many games of historic proportions against them (like Super Bowls or AFC Championship games).  They’re not in our division.  I just can’t count them as a natural rival.  That doesn’t mean that you can’t hate them.  You can hate any team you like.  But I don’t think the majority of Steeler Nation feels that the Colts are in the same category as the teams that I listed above.

Some have even argued that the reason we should all hate the Colts is that they intentionally lost their last regular season game and prevented the Steelers from making the playoffs.  Well if you use that logic, then do you hate the team that lost to the Jets in week 3?  How about the team that lost to them in week 7?  They each had as much to do with the Jets making the playoffs as the Colts did.

In my opinion, the only team that is responsible for the Steelers not making the playoffs is the Steelers.  If they had won just one of the gimme games against the Chiefs, Raiders, or Browns, they’d be in the playoffs.  So casting blame elsewhere is unfounded.    So in my opinion, the Colts do not qualify as a natural rival to the Steelers.

So now that all of the natural enemies are officially out of the playoffs, the remaining teams are neutral territory for Steeler Nation.  Feel free to pull for any team that you like.  Besides, no matter which team wins, we all know that the Steelers probably could have beaten them.

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We had some very good entries this week, but just like in the Highlander movies, in the end there can be just one.  This week, the one who stood above all the rest was Patrick.  This is a repeat win for Patrick.  He was last week’s winner as well.

It may be difficult to keep Patrick from three-peating next week.  The Force is strong in that guy.  So get to your haiku dojo and start practicing for next week.  It’s going to take some awfully powerful kung fu haiku to beat Patrick.

Here is Patrick’s winning entry.

Is that Clint Eastwood
Or Deshea Townsend out there
Making Cowboys pay?

Congratulations, Patrick.  Another strong performance.  Let’s see if you can hold onto your crown next week.

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If you haven’t done so already, please contribute to our Steelers vs Cowboys Recap Haiku Contest.  And if you didn’t read our pre-game articles, please see our Steelers-Cowboys Preview and our Key Match-ups.  Lastly, we also wrote an article about Cowboys’ rookie running back Tashard Choice.  Now, onto this week’s recap.

It wasn’t pretty.  In fact, it was downright ugly.  But the only thing that really matters is the final score, and the final score of this game was steelers 20, Cowboys 13.

The most difficult opponent for either team was probably the weather.  The temperatures were below freezing, and the wind was gusty.  In fact, the conditions were so bad that they made punter Mitch Berger look like Paul Ernster.  Gasp!

Neither offense looked particularly good.  For the Cowboys, Tony Romo had a miserable outing.  He was 19/36 passing, was intercepted 3 times, sacked 3 times, and ended up with a passer rating of 44.9 for the game.  I guess entering the game with the highest passer rating in the league didn’t help him very much.  But Philip Rivers could have told him that.

The one offensive player who did have a good showing was Cowboys’ rookie Tashard Choice.  Choice, making his first NFL start, racked up 156 yards of total offense against the Steelers’ defense.  He ended up as the games leading rusher with 88 yards.  Not a bad day for his first NFL start.

The Steelers’ rushers  had no such luck.  Willie Parker was totally ineffective.  By the end of the first quarter, he had me screaming “get him out of the game!!” at my TV.  Parker ended up rushing 12 times for 25 yards.  That’s an average of 2.1 yards per carry.  That’s about the same average that Tony Romo’s girlfriend Jessica Simpson would have gotten had she played in the game.

The Steelers’ coaching staff finally realized that Parker was stinking up the joint and went with Mewelde Moore.  Moore rushed 5 times for 22 yards.  Not many total yards, but a much more respectable 4.4 yard per carry average.

Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger did his famous imitation of a tackling dummy again this week.  He was sacked 5 times during the game.  For those of you who are counting, that’s 24 sacks against NFC East teams this year (22 on Big Ben and 2 on Byron Leftwich).  Damn, the NFC East is like Kryptonite to Big Ben!

Fortunately, Big Ben was able to rally the troops when he really needed to.  With 2:10 left in the 4th quarter, Roethlisberger found Heath Miller for a six yard touchdown pass.  Suddenly the game was tied 13-13 with about 2:00 left, and it looked like the game was going to go into overtime.

Fortunately, when the Steelers need them, the defense always seems to step up and deliver a victory.  Today was no different.  On the Cowboys’ final possession, Tony Romo dropped back to pass the ball to tight end Jason Witten.  However, there seemed to be a miscommunication between the two, because Witten zigged when Romo wanted him to zag.  The ball sailed past Witten and right into the waiting arms of Steelers CB Deshea Townsend.  Townsend sprinted towards the endzone and made a final dive to avoid being tackled.  Touchdown Steelers!!!!!  The defense had done it again.

Once again, the defense held their opponent to under 300 yards of total offense.  Once again James Harrison sacked the quarterback.  Once again he forced a fumble while making the sack (I hope nobody tells Harrison that he doesn’t have to force a fumble everytime he sacks the quarterback).  Once again, Troy Polamalu added to his interception total.  The Steelers defense did what it always does.  It saved the offense after the offense delivered another mediocre performance.

I know that the Steelers are winning, and that fans should be happy with any win.  However, I really wish that the offense would start carrying their share of the load.  The Baltimore Ravens have proven that a team can win a Super Bowl strictly on the strength of their defense.  Nevertheless, that’s a tough way to do it, and I sure wish the offense would chip in.

The Steelers are now 10-3, and a pretty much guaranteed a playoff spot.  Now they have to fight to maintain their current position and the important first round bye.  The first step of that journey begins next week in Baltimore.

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If you haven’t done so already, please see our Steelers vs Cowboys Recap.  And if you didn’t read our pre-game articles, please see our Steelers-Cowboys Preview and our Key Match-ups.  Lastly, we also wrote an article about Cowboys’ rookie running back Tashard Choice.

Here is this week’s haiku competition.

Well, the steelers’ pull out an amazing victory.  They almost gave me an ulcer in the process, but ultimately, the black and gold got the win.

To commemorate their 20-13 win over Dallas, here is this week’s commemorative haiku.  Remember, a haiku is a japanese poem that has 3 lines.  The first line has 5 syllables.  The second line has 7 syllables.  And the last line has 5 syllables.

Frigid conditions
Offense struggles once again
Townsend wins the game

Alright Steeler Nation, your turn.  Can you top my haiku?  This weeks winner will be featured on the main page late in the week.  Good luck.

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Before reading this article, you may want to read our Steelers-Cowboys Preview and our Steelers-Cowboys Key Match-ups.  Also, please read about the Steeler-Cowboys Historical Rivalry.

If you were an NFL rookie running back, and were given a choice of teams to make your first NFL start against, which team would you choose?  The Detroit Lions?  That would probably be a good choice.  The Lions porous defense yields 176.9 rushing yards per game.  Yeah, that might be a good debut.  Or how about the Oakland Raiders?  You’d probably rack up a lot of rushing yards, and your team is almost guaranteed to leave with a win.  Maybe you’d choose the Kansas City Chiefs.  They surrender 163.7 rushing yards per game, and you’d probably get the opportunity to outshine Larry Johnson.  Not a bad first start.

Now, if given the opposite choice, and asked which team you WOULDN’T want to make your first NFL start against, which team would it be.  I think that every rookie running back would make the same choice.  The unanimous pick; the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

The Steelers are the #1 defense in the NFL.  They are the #1 scoring defense.  #1 against the pass.  #1 against the run.  They lead the league in sacks.  They have the NFL’s leader in interceptions roaming their secondary.  Going against them is about as much fun as sticking your hand in a meat grinder.  Or cutting your tongue out with a pair of scissors.  Or repeatedly stabbing yourself in the eye with a knitting needle.  Or castrating yourself with a dull steak knife.  Or slicing your throat and watching the beautiful red spray splash happily on the wall.  REDRUM!!!!  Ooop, sorry about that.  I forgot to take my medication today, but I’m back now. 

Anyway, as I was saying, facing the Steelers’ defense wouldn’t be fun.  Just ask LaDainian Tomlinson.  The Steelers held him to 57 yards rushing.  Or ask Joseph Addai.  The Steelers held him to 34 yards rushing.  How about Clinton Portis?  51 yards.  Brandon Jacobs?  47 yards.  Willis McGahee?  42 yards.  Fred Taylor?  19 yards.  Starting to get the picture?

The Steelers’ defense hasn’t let a running back rush for 100 yards since dinosaurs roamed the earth.  So a rookie running back making his NFL debut against the Steelers should expect to rush for 12 yards?  13?  Maybe 20 if he’s lucky?

Well, that is exactly the unfortunate situation that Cowboys’ rookie running back Tashard Choice finds himself in.  The Cowboys have made it official that running back Marion Barber will not make the trip to Pittsburgh.  Backup RB Felix Jones is on the injured reserve list.  So starting duties fall to backup backup (you know, the backup’s backup) Tashard Choice.

Tashard Choice is a 5’10″ rookie RB from Georgia Tech.  He only weighs 208 lbs., but he is a powerful runner.  He’s averaging 4.9 yards per carry.  That’s an impressive number, even for a veteran RB.  His best game came against the Seattle Seahawks, where he gained 57 yards.  Of course, the Seahawks’ defense doesn’t instill fear into anyone.  Against the New York Giants, Choice gained 27 yards.  Yeah, that’s probably the neighborhood he should expect to be in against the Steelers.

All signs indicate that Tashard Choice is a promising young running back.  The Cowboys have high hopes for him.  Unfortunately, he has to make his first NFL start against the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Where are the dull steak knives when you need them?

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