Apologies for the late post, but illness (both physical and from the loss) have kept me a little behind in real life up until now.  Anyway, the Defense was on fire for parts of the game and colder than Plaxico Burress's jail cell for others (too soon on the Burress joke? As a Michigan fan, and it being Michigan State week, I had to take the shot).

Regardless, it can be seen Dick LeBeau is tinkering away at the rush schemes in an attempt at getting the pass rush working to perfection and piling up sacks quicker than Charles Rogers is DUIs (ok, that was uncalled for.  Maybe).  On to the review!

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Bumped this excellent article from Romain El 82 to the front page for the excellent observations and explanations on some of the Steelers new defensive formations.  His explanation is great for the casual football fan who may not know the difference between a 4-3 front and a 3-4 front, but it also goes in depth enough to keep us junkies entertained.  (DYM)

As you may have noticed from watching the Steelers first two games this season, they line up in a goofy-looking formation on occasion on obvious passing situations, as well as a semi-goofing looking one once in a while.  What are they? Why do they look so unorganized? And why do they work so well? If you're lost or just want to learn more, there's explanations and pictures after the jump.

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Well, what can you say...not the outcome Steeler fans wanted or expected, but I woke up this morning in northern Michigan to a constant rain - hopefully it washes away the bad taste from this loss and cleans the wounds; I know I'm less irate this morning than I was last night.

Version 2.0 of the defensive breakdown is here, hopefully much improved from last weeks version (a few more minor tweaks forthcoming).  Unfortunately because of the Bengals inability to decide if they wanted to beat the Packers or not I missed the first defensive series of the game and only got to see four or five plays of the first offensive series.  What can you do.  On to the review!

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Welcome to another glorious season of Steeler Football BSTC! Veterans will (hopefully) remember me, while this is the first time I've seen many of the newcomers.  Work and school will do that for you. While the Steelers defense was on the field the first half I took a ton of notes (I had an obligation which prevented me from note-taking during the second half), and will put those notes into a chart, and hopefully try to make sense of them to demostrate the dominance of the defense (try saying that 3 times fast!).

As this is the first time I've done this, there will be some bumps in the road to go over and some kinks to work out; I realize writing this I could use more information, such as total TOP for an opposing offense's drive, how many people rushed the QB, what coverage (man or zone), and hopefully I can get who's rushing/dropping into coverage (it's a lot of info to get down while watching the game live!).  But like I said, the first two weeks or so I'll consider a pre-season of sorts.  Any comments/suggestions/criticisms will be most welcome! Regardless, glad to see you all here and ready for another great season, and let's get into it, shall we?

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I know this is a little premature, but after killing myself getting all my work done for this upcoming week, including taking a test early, I plan on having a great time for my birthday, as Monday and the weekend will be a blast.  I haven't been posting much recently, as I've been very bogged down in school and real-life issues, but I have kept up-to-date on the happenings of this site.  As usual, all the pieces are well-written and thought provoking; I only wish I had the creativity and talent of most on the site.

As a side-note, over the past few hours I've begun to feel rather old and strangely mature.  Weird.

In honor of my 21st  B-Day, here are my 21 Most Memorable Steeler Moments and Players.  As always, thanks for reading.

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Bumped from the FanPosts. I'll just let the excellent story telling on full display explain why. Kudos to RomainEl82 for this. An impressive addition to an already diverse collection of offerings from him. If only he spent as much thought and passion writing his papers in college as he did finding unique ways to share his stories and love for the game here on BTSC.  Hehe. Just playing! Or rather, talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Loved every word. Thanks for sharing.. -Blitz-

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The Pittsburgh Steelers are my team. Unlike most Steeler fans, my family, for my father is Steeler fan also, is not from Western Pennsylvania. We are not “transplants” like some Steeler fans my age or older.

My mothers' side of the family is concentrated in Oklahoma, and my fathers' side of the family was concentrated in Michigan, specifically Metro-Detroit.

I get asked all the time, up here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, "why are you a Steeler fan?". This comes from a few Lions fans, but mostly Packer and Bear fans. I usually give an answer like "because my dad was one" or "because I value everything their organization represents" or "because of their history".

Weeks before the Super Bowl, a bunch of my friends suggested we have a party for the Super Bowl. Naturally, as the Steelers got closer and closer, more and more people who knew me paid attention to their pursuit of the Lombardi.

Super Bowl night came after what seemed like a million-year wait. I showed up early to my friends apartment to help him cook up some grub for the game. I was wearing my white Polamalu jersey for the first time since I had gotten in (2005) and had my Terrible Towel tucked into my back pocket.

People began showing up, and one of the acquaintances finally asked the question I knew would be asked: "So you're a Steelers fan, eh? How long you been a fan? And why?"

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PITTSBURGH (AP)— Mere hours after winning the 2009 AFC Championship game and securing a berth in their record-setting seventh Super Bowl, the Steelers Lamar Hunt Trophy was broken.

When pressed for comment, Mike Tomlin chuckled. "After the game we just played, I think it's a very fitting symbol for not only our football team but the season as well. We've had a lot of injuries throughout the season, you know, but guys stepped up. It's a perfect metaphor for our season that will stand for years to come. It's just a shame Mr. Rooney will have to display a broken trophy."

Details about the damage of the trophy, as it passed from player to player in the Steeler locker-room post game were foggy, but one Steeler knew what occurred.

"I passed it off to Limas, and I don't know if he didn't have a firm grip on it, took his eyes off it or what, but all of a sudden I heard a clang and saw [the trophy] bounce off the floor," said Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Information regarding the repair of the trophy was not immediately available.

I'm hearing now (via NFLN) that apparently Jason Garrett is on a plane to St. Louis...as the next Rams head coach? What? Apparently the Vikings DC (forgot his name, but that position appears to be a good one to snipe new HCs from) was the 'runaway favorite' for the job, until, you know, this happened.

Also hearing that Jon Gruden and Tampa's GM were fired today, opening the door for...Bill Cowher? to possibly take both positions.  It's a job BC has been looking for; he gets full power, he's in the NFC, nice location, and has a relatively talented team.

I heard one other name thrown out there: a possible return to Tampa for Mr. Tony Dungy? Dungy retired because he wanted to spend more time with his family, ala Bill Cowher, but Dungy made his home in the greater Tampa area (and he was obviously a great coach for the Bucs, building the team Gruden won the SB with).  Coming back to the same franchise he left less than a decade before would be unorthidox, to say the least.

[Edit: Mike Shanahan also wears both the HC/GM hat, and is currently available (I had forgotten about him).  Look for him to be a possibility as well.]

One of my friends directed me to this as well (where they find this stuff, I don't know).

But I didn't even know they made new episodes of "Jeopardy"...guess they do.

Enjoy (I don't know how to embed the videos, but if Blitz or someone wants to then go for it), I got a real kick out of it...the man got what he deserves (kinda).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD1GiJEi1cY&feature=bz301

A few buddies of mine from back home were talking about football late last night, and the convo turned to the Steelers/Ravens game (I'm on the only one with a team IN the p layoffs, nevermind one left in the playoffs), and someone made a comment about Joe Flacco's eyebrows.

The inevitable "Chuck Norris' beard" comments/jokes were made, we talked some more, and finally went to bed.  I awoke this morning to this picture in my email from one of those friends.

via img.photobucket.com

I have to say, I got a good 5 minutes of solid laughter in before I could finally breath again.

Enjoy, Steeler fans.