Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

February 22, 2009
By Donald Starver

This week I was reminded once again why we, as Steelers fans, are a very fortunate bunch.

The Steelers have been one of the most successful organizations in the NFL for the past 40 years.  They have won more Super Bowls than any other team.  Moreover, even when they don’t win the Super Bowl, they are almost always in the playoffs.

Sure, we’ve had down years (e.g. the Cliff Stoudt years), but for the most part, the Steelers are almost always competitive.  Even when they don’t make the playoffs or win their division, the Steelers rarely embarrass their fans.  And unlike teams like the Cincinnati Bengals (Bungles), Detroit Lions, and Oakland Raiders, the Steelers are NEVER the butt of jokes.

Contrast that with the other team that vies for the title of “most popular team in the NFL”, the Dallas Cowboys.  The Cowboys (along with the 49ers) have won the next most Super Bowls in NFL history (5 Super Bowl championships).  They were once given the title “America’s team”.  Yet, in their recent history, the Cowboys have given their fans little to be proud of. America’s team? Many Cowboys fans wish they weren’t Dallas’ team.

The Cowboys may be the biggest band of underachievers in the NFL.  Each of the past two years, the Cowboys have had twice as many Pro Bowl players as the Steelers.  In 2008, the Cowboys had 12 of their players in the Pro Bowl, while the Steelers had only 6.  This year, the Cowboys had 6 Pro Bowl players compared to the Steelers’ 3.  Yet despite their star-studded roster, the Cowboys have achieved little.  They haven’t won a playoff game in over a decade (since December 28, 1996).  They failed to even qualify for the playoffs this year. Meanwhile, this year’s Steelers team, which had the toughest schedule in the NFL and included only 3 Pro Bowl players, managed to win the Super Bowl.

Since 1990, the Cowboys have had six different coaches (Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey, Dave Campo, Bill Parcells, and Wade Phillips.  None of them lasted more than 4 years.  The Steelers have had two coaches during that same period.

The Cowboys are known for signing troubled players.  Terrell Owens, Pacman Jones, and Tank Johnson were all welcomed with open arms by Cowboy’s owner Jerry Jones.  None of those players would have been welcomed by the Steelers, where character is just as important as talent.

The Cowboys are like a soap opera.  The most important news stories about them usually stem from their off-field exploits.  Terrell Owens doesn’t think he’s getting the ball enough (surprise, surprise).   Pacman Jones gets into trouble at a strip club.  Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson are breaking up.    Terrell Owens doesn’t like his coaches.  Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson are back together.  Jerry Jones calls Marion Barber “soft”.  Pacman Jones gets into trouble at a strip club.  Business as usual with the Dallas Cowboys.

Now, Jerry Jones has added another storyline to the Cowboys’ soap opera.  Jones has placed a gag order on his coaches.  They are not allowed to talk about Cowboys affairs to the media.  Only Jones himself is allowed to make public statements pertaining to the Cowboys.

Can you imagine that?  The head coach is not allowed to talk about the team.  Totally bizarre.

When reporters in Indianapolis for the scouting combine approached Cowboys’ head coach Wade Phillips on Thursday, he said, “Can’t talk. Against the rules.”

Jones says that the reason for his new mandate is that too much inaccurate information about the Cowboys was being written.

“Where I’m coming from here, I just want to make sure you’re not getting bits and pieces of information,” Jones said. “That’s not doing anybody any good and you’re not making accurate reports.”

Jones doesn’t think that he is undermining the authority of his head coach, Wade Phillips, by not allowing him to talk to the media, even though all NFL coaches speak to the media while at the Combine.

“It’s well known that relative to our personnel decisions who makes that decision,” said Jones, who has had final say on personnel matter since purchasing the team 20 years ago. “All I’m trying to say is basically that’s where you need to go to see where the status of that decision is. That’s where you need to go. That’s what we’re trying to avoid. What’s happened this off-season, there’s been a lot of misinformation.”

The ironic part of this whole story is that Jones has only placed the gag order on his coaches.  He has not issued a gag order for his players.  So big-mouthed players like Terrell Owens can continue to say whatever they want, and divide the Cowboys’ locker room, with no negative repercussions.  This story would almost be funny, if it weren’t so sad.

Can you imagine Dan Rooney putting a gag order on Mike Tomlin or Kevin Colbert, and telling the media that they needed to talk to him if they wanted information about the Steelers?  Neither can I.

But the Rooneys aren’t Jerry Jones.  The Steelers aren’t the Cowboys.  And I am extraordinarily grateful for that.

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As our regular readers know, we have been pretty hard on Ike Taylor at times.  It’s not that we don’t like Ike.  In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.  We love Ike.  When T.O., or Randy Moss, or Plax are in town, there is not a cornerback that we’d rather have covering them than Ike Taylor.

Unfortunately, when there is an easy interception to be had, there is nobody we’d like attempting to catch it less than Ike Taylor.  Let’s face it, Ike has hands of stone.  I know a guy who had both of his hands amputated who can catch better than Ike.

Some of you felt that we were being too hard on Ike when we wrote an article called “Catch the damn ball, Ike!!!”.  Perhaps we were a bit hard on him.  That’s why we are taking the time now to publically acknowledge Ike Taylor’s great performance this past week against Dallas.

Ike did a tremendous job of shutting down Terrell Owens (on T.O.’s birthday even) this past Sunday.  In fact, in consecutive weeks, Ike has held Randy Moss and Terrell Owens to 45 yards receiving and 32 yards receiving, respectively.  More importantly, he only allowed 1 touchdown between the two of them.  That lone touchdown only happened because the Steelers dropped both James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley into coverage on the play.  That left Tony Romo with plenty of time to finally find T.O. in the back of the endzone.  If either Silverback or Woodley had been pursuing Romo, there’s no way that touchdown happens.  But even Ike can’t cover T.O. indefinitely.

Anyone who watched the game on Sunday knows that there was one extraordinary moment that stood out above all others.  No, we’re not talking about Deshea Townsend’s game winning pick six.  Try again.  Nope, we’re not talking about Troy Polamalu’s 7th interception.  Care to take another guess?  Nope, we’re not talking about Hines Ward’s 159th consecutive game with a catch.  Guess again.  No, we’re not talking about James Harrison’s 7,000th (or at least it seems like that many) sack/forced fumble combination.  No, silly rabbits, we’re talking about Ike Taylor’s first interception of the season.  Yahoo!!!!!!!

Ike snagged his first interception of the year on a diving catch that actually had a pretty high degree of difficulty.  Any interception by Ike is cause for celebration, but a diving interception is cause for a party in “the Burgh”.  Light the fireworks!  Release the pigeons!!

We’re not going to mention the fact that Troy Polamalu has 7 interceptions.  Or that seldom-used backup safety Tyrone Carter already has an interception.  Or that linebacker LaMarr Woodley has as many picks as Ike.  Or that fellow sackmaster James Harrison also has as many picks as Ike.  Moreover, we’re not going to mention that backup linebacker Lawrence Timmons also has the same number of interceptions as Ike.  Nope, we’re not going to mention any of that.  We’re just going to let Ike have his moment in the sun.

Savor this moment.  Afterall, seeing an Ike Taylor interception is about as rare as…..well, seeing a unicorn.  There are even those who put Ike Taylor interceptions into the same mythical category as unicorns.  But this Sunday, Ike proved them wrong.  The Loch Ness Monster may not exist.  Bigfoot may be an urban legend.  but Ike Taylor interceptions really do happen.

Ike may not catch another interception before the end of the season (or the end of the decade for that matter).  But as long as he keeps running stride-for-stride with the best receivers in the league, we want him lining up for the black and gold.  In fact, we wouldn’t trade him for any other cornerback.

We all know what we get with Ike Taylor.  Ike is paid to shadow the league’s best receivers and defense passes.  Nobody expects him to intercept the ball.  An occasional interception is just icing on the cake.  Way to go, Ike!

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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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