The Steelers have no chance.

Aaron Rodgers is a combination of the best of Tom Brady, Dan Marino, and Joe Montana.  I hear the Hall of Fame is suspending all of it's rules of induction to allow him in now.    He is in the process of being canonized as we speak and a nobel prize is eminent.  He also has four receivers that would start ahead of Jerry Rice.  Green Bay's offense is really a combination of the 2007 Patriots and the 1984/1988/1989/1994 49ers.

You want to talk about defense?  All they need in the secondary is their two corners, who needs safeties?  The 1985 Bears and 1976 Steelers defenses were porous compared to this bunch. 

Wow, this is what it sounds like every time I turn on ESPN.  I have never witnessed a feeding frenzy like this, do you think if the Packers hadn't smoked the Falcons like they did, it would be this bad?  Am I wrong or did this team lose six games?  has a 10-6 team ever been the favorite in a Super Bowl before?  I know they are a good team but come on.

I hope on Sunday we win so the Aaron Rodgers/Packers lovefest will stop, it makes me nauseous.

Back in '79 (when I was 14) the Steeler season was a bit similar to this one.  We were 12-4 and had gotten smoked by the #1 seed (San Diego at 12-4) earlier in the season 35-7.  Houston was a Wildcard that season and defeated San Diego, the next week we defeated the Oilers in Pittsburgh and later went on to win SB #4 over the Rams.  I really feel we didn't match up well against the Fouts led Chargers especially at home.  They were loaded, Joiner, Jefferson, etc.  This weekend was sort of a flashback, Patriots #1 seed, beat us in our worst loss of the season, lose to a Wildcard,  AFC Championship in Pittsburgh.  I hope the SB results also turn out the same.

I saw somewhere on line today that Vegas had the Packers as the favorite (of the final four) to win the SB, that suprised me.  Naturally I thought it would be the Steelers due to experience and defense.  If the Steelers-Packers would meet in the SB I would have thought we would be a slight favorite (1-3 points).  I guess I don't know as much as  I thinMaybe it is based on the assumption that they play a weaker team in the championship game, thoughts?

Things are bad now, don't get me wrong.  1985 though was an unusually horrible year during which we lost 104 games.  Some of the worst players in Pirates history were on that team, for the sake of time let's only look at the outfield: 

Steve Kemp, 92 games, .250, 2HR-starter

Marvell Wynne, 103 games, .205, 2 HR-starter

George Hendrick, 69 games, .230, 2 HR-starter

Sixto Lezcano, 72 games, .207, 3 HR-he was the power hitter in this outfield

Joe Orsulak, 121 games, .300, 0 HR-I actually liked this guy

Doug Frobel, 53 games, .202, 0 HR-he was supposed to be a great power hitter

I can't overlook, in my opinion, the worst player I ever remember with the Pirates, Johnnie LeMaster.  His stats were worse than the outfielders; 65 games, .155, 1 HR.

Does anyone remember, was this season right before, or right after the drug trials?

It just came to me, this is the 25th anniversary of that team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started thinking about it yesterday when I saw him in the Arizona-New Orleans game.  Was he injured?  Was his contract up?  Did BA just not want a classic FB on the team?  If I remember correctly, he did not start the 07 season with us (Tomlin's first season) and was replaced on the roster by Cary Davis. 

What would you give to have a Tim Lester/John Witman/Dan Kreider blocking for Rashard?

Playoff numbers-

08     Miami     9/23     135 yards      0 td     0 int

08     Tenn       11/22    161 yards     1 td     0 int

08      Pit            13/30    141 yards     0 td     3 int

09       NE           4/10      34 yards       0 td      1 int

09        Ind           20/35    189 yards    0 td      1 int 
 

Why is everyone so fascinated with Joe Flacco?   In five playoff games he is 57/120, 660 yards, 1 td, and 5 int.
Yet during every broadcast of one of his games he is played up as one of the great young quarterbacks, I just don't see it.  Some one enlighten me please.

(I am not a Flacco hater, just don't get the publicity)

you are getting old and slowing down.  In some ways I see Farrior's position as big a problem as the secondary.  I think we all agree he has lost a step.  I think the biggest issue with replacing him is the fact that he is our defensive signal caller.  I don't know what the plan is.  Do the steelers have enough faith in Timmons at this point to turn the role over to him?  Fox?  Definitely not a rookie (1st rounder or not).  Or do we leave him in place for another year?

Suggestions, thought, comments?

Never will happen.  Just due to the numbers alone;  Mendenhall 1000 yards rushing, Ward 1000 yards receiving, Holmes 1000 yards receiving, and Roethlisberger 4000 yards passing.  I'm not saying we don't need a change, but I can't see it happening. 

Actually with or without Arians, I think the offense can be even better next year (if the OL is tweaked) with a sophomore Mike Wallace and a year of starting experience for Rashard.  It's a pity Willie probably won't be here next year, with all the rest, he finally looks like "Fast Willie" again.  I wish him well were ever he goes, he's always been a class act.

Just to throw out something other than playoff scenarios, I ask you this, did Big Ben make the worst decision ever made by a quarterback on the last pass he threw (intercepted by Zbikowski and run back into Steeler territory)?   Or, did he see the illegal contact flag, and figured it was a free play?  God in heaven I hope he saw the flag!!!    If not, that was the most careless gamble by a QB I have seen in a long time.

As a kid listening to Steeler games, I hated Myron Cope's voice.  As someone once said "it sounds like a tornado going through a junkyard".  As I got older, I learned to appreciate him, and loved to listen to him.  It really bothered me when he died and I still listen to a few of the games I recorded during his last season (2004).  I often wondered how he viewed 2005, and how many times he uttered "double yoi" wherever he was.

To get to the point, what was your favorite Myronism or Myron moment.  Mine occured during an early season game against the Ravens.  They pushed us around all game, and it came time to go to a break.  Normally, Myron or Billy would say "this is the Pittsburgh Steelers radio network".  Myron was really ticked and said "this is the Pittsburgh Steelers disgusting radio network", wow didn't leave much room for interpretation of how he felt.

Myron, a bunch of us still think about you every time we see a terrble towel wave. 

First round successes and failures get discussed quite often, lets take a look at the last ten years of #2 picks the Steelers have chosen, it really is feast or famine.

1999 Scott Shields-I don't even remember this guy playing, all I remember he was from Boise State.  Good thing
                                   thing he was "famine", we might not have drafted Troy otherwise.

2000 Marvel Smith-feast, solid OL, often injured (back issues).

2001 Kendrell Bell-feast for a couple of years, injuries.

2002 Antwaan Randle El-feast, last good punt returner, wish he would have stayed.

2005 Alonzo Jackson-famine, sucked in our scheme

2004 Ricardo Colclough-famine, sucked, never developed.

2005 Bryant McFadden-feast, solid corner, made two giant plays at the end of the Colts playoff game.

2006-no second round pick, 3rd round was Anthony Smith-famine, big mouth, ticked off the Patriots

2007-Lamar Woodley-feast, love the guy

2008-Limas Sweed, this one has been beaten to death this year, please comment on someone else.

2009-Kraig Urbik??????????, heard virtually nothing about him this year.

Of the eleven you can honestly say five were really good or solid picks.  It was difficult to sort the living fom the dead when it came to Shields, Coclough, Sweed, Smith, and Jackson.  Urbik?  Who knows?

How would I rank them in order of disappointing?

                                       1. Shields/Jackson/Sweed

                                        1a.  Coclough/Smith

They all basically stole money from the Steelers and the fans, I don't think anyone other than Sweed is even active on a roster at this point.

I'm no Mel Kiper so I would like some help with this one.  Reading many of the posts it seems like opinions vary wildly on what position to go after in round #1.  On defense in seems we need help at all the levels (secondary, linebacker, and line).  Do we go after  an ilb to replace Farrior?  A nosetackle to replace Hampton if he is unsigned?  A corner or safety to help out Troy?  How about the offensive lineman people have been screaming for?  I guess the only places we wouldn't go in round one is QB, WR, and RB.  To me it's a toss up as to which defensive position needs to be filled immediately.

Keep the following in mind, we have not drafted a corner #1 since 1997 (Chad Scott) and we have not drafted two players back to back #1 at the same position since 1999-2000 with Edwards/Burress (what does that say about Troy Edwards?).  Really the only two non productive #1 picks in the last fifteen years or so have been Edwards (99) and the nearly all pro Jamaine Stephens (96).

Obviously where we go depends upon our draft position and who has not been taken in front of us.  For the sake of this discussion lets assume we draft somewhere between 12-20.  The other consideration is to we draft someone we feel can start right away, or do we look longer term.  I am not a patient person, so would go for the former (but then again I don't run a football team).

I guess it is all about instant gratification.  I remember, this summer, reading posts about how Cowher was not that great a coach because we should have won more SB's under him with the talent we had.  At this point in time we had just won a SB, and Tomlin was a young genius for winning it in his second year.  The smack talk was all about Bill.

Now, at 6-6, we have fans posting on Tomlin being good PR man with some witty sayings, and not a very good coach. 

I'm not saying Tomlin is perfect, in fact I think he is too stubborn sometimes, but let's keep things in perspective. It is not realistic to think we will be dominant all the time, under any coach, ever.  Yes, the talent might be better than last year, and it rips my heart out to see them play this way, but I have good and bad days at work too, and so do my supervisors.  Let's keep it real.   Tomlin is a good coach an this will be worked out eventually.

I know we all love to bust on Arians, and he deserves it.  But don't you think with this year's offensive "issues" some or most of the blame should be put on Tomlin?  Week after week the play calling is consistantly poor, but hasn't been changed.  Isn't it Tomlin's job as CEO to put Bruce in his place and dictate which plays to call when.  I don't mean every play, but he should be given some parameters on what to call in key down and distance situations.  I think Tomlin is great, but he can really be stubborn at times.

Sitting in the stands before the Bengals game I saw one of the most amazing football displays ever, Dan Sepulveda warming up.  Each and every punt seemed to fly sixty yards in the air, and those that didn't were perfectly placed inside the ten yard line, it was awesome. But after watching that game in person, and the Chiefs game on TV, especially the touchback in overtime, I thought that maybe we might be giving Robopunter too much credit for his game performances.

Here are the stats:     2007-42.4 yards/punt avg. -18th in the NFL-(rookie year)

                                     2008-41.3 yards/punt avg.-Mitch Berger (fans pounded on him all year)

                                     2009-43.7 yards/punt avg.-19th in the NFL

Wow, less than 2.5 yards different per punt than Berger?

Is his "robopunter" nickname deserved?  Statistically he is the definition of mediocrity, is it his physique and practice kicks that have endeared him to fans?  Was the 4th round pick used on him justified?  I don't know, just curious what 'yall think? 

1.  8 games in a row with teams scoring on a kick/int/fumble return for a touchdown?

2.  184 points given up-56 not by the defense?

3.  4 losses by a total of 15 points?

4.  233 more yards of offense than KC today, over 400 yrds. pasing, over 500 yrds. of offense, and we lose today?

You couldn't make this stuff up and have it be believable.  Are we all living in bizarro world?

Home sick with bronchitis, so I occupied myself with football thoughts.  On the second Fitzgerald touchdown in the SB, was there a blown defensive assignment (if so by whom), or was it just a case of Fitzgerald making an incredible play.  Did LeBeau ever say anything?  The only reference I heard from Dick after the game was "we were out of position a couple of times".  Anybody know?

These are the additional words I needed to add in order to make 75

Anybody have any idea why there is a trend of giving receivers low numbers?  For years 99% of all receivers had numbers in the eighties.  Over the last five years or so it's been chic to use the numbers 10-19.  Look at the Steelers:  Holmes #10, Logan #11, Sweed #14, and Wallace #17.  I think Quincy Morgan back in '05 might have been the first with the Steelers.  Only problem is, sometimes when I see #10 I have a flashback and think that Kordell is the QB!  Actually I kind of like the low numbers.  Receivers could where single digit number if they wanted to right?

I've been a football fan for 35+ years, and for the life of me I can't figure out why holding on James Harrison is not called more often!  I noticed it again against the Bills, last year he was almost getting his shirt ripped off on many plays, yet no flags.  I don't believe the "refs against the Steelers" arguements, is he that good, therefore it can't be called everytime?  Anyone out there with reasonable possible reasons, I can't come up with one.

Actually here we're only talking about #2-5.

Since Bradshaw retired in '83, the Steelers have had 15 quaterbacks that have won/lost games.  How would you list the top 2-5?  How about the bottom 5?  Here they are with years played in Pittsburgh and wins/losses:

Cliff Stoudt   1980-83   9-7
Mark Malone   1980-87   21-24
David Woodley   1984-85   7-6
Scott campbell   1984-86   0-2
Bubby Brister   1986-92   28-29

Steve Bono   1987 (strike games)   2-1

Todd Blackledge 1988-89   2-3

Neil O'Donnell   1991-95   39-22

Mike Tomzcak   1993-99   15-12

Kordell Stewart   1995-02   46-29

Jim Miller   1995-96   0-1

Kent Graham   2000   2-3

Tommy Maddox   2002-05   15-15-1

Charlie Batch   2003-2008   3-1

Big Ben   2004-2008   51-20

Anybody out there remember the1979 Chargers loss like I do?  For some reason I have been fixated on this loss for the last thirty years.  It was crushing and I never dreaded playing another team in the playoffs as much as that Fouts led "Air Corryell" offense (the rematch never occured because the Chargers lost to Houston the week before the championship game).  The Steel Curtain defense was rapidly aging and had slowed a bit, and the thought of Wes Chandler, John Jefferson, and Kellen Winslow running free down field was terrifying to a 14 year old obsessed with the Steelers.  For about a four year period (79-82, coincidently my high school years) they were the last team I wanted to play, and we lost to them all three times we played.

On a brighter note we did win the SB that year (with some difficulty; dreadful third quarter).  It marked the begining of the end for the first Steeler dynasty.  The retirements began before the following season, I think Mike Wagner was one of the first.

I've not been able to logon to fieldpass in a couple of weeks, it keep sending me to the schedule section of their website.  I assume they are updating it for the coming year, thus it is down, but can't be sure.  I've never gotten a response to the three emails sent to them.  It was great to go back and listen to any game from the last five years (even the preseason ones).  I'm guessing my wife hopes it doesn't get fixed!  Any help or suggetstions would be greatly appreciated.  I'm desperate here, take pity on me and help.

Just thinking about this quickly it would be the 1979 loss to the Chargers in my opinion (7-35).  I was 14 and the Steelers were the center of my universe, this loss crushed me, I didn't recover until we beat the Rams in the SB that year.  We were 9-2 and they were 8-3 going into that game, the game was really hyped up because it was the Steelers D against their wide open passing game.  It was San Diego's breakout year and everyone figured we would meet them in the playoffs (in fact this loss made us the #2 seed that year behind SD).  Although we held that high powered offense to 213 total yards, the game was never close, 0-21 at halftime.   Bradshaw threw five INT that day and we had three fumbles, 191 yards of total offense.  The SB Champions were absolutely humiliated.  Later when the playoffs started I was praying not to have to to SD again, by chance they lost to the Oilers in their first game and the rematch occured the next season on MNF (we lost again, and lost for a third time in a row to them in the 1982 playoff game).  This loss still bothers me thirty years later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is sort of an extension of the fanpost put up by Steeler_ "Top Five NFL Players I'd Like to Punch in the Face"-props to Steeler_

My all time most hated player is Cliff Harris.  How could anyone forget his mocking of an injured Roy Gerela after missing that field goal in the third quarter of SB X.  It's amazing Lambert wasn't thrown out of the game or hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for his reaction (tossed Cliffy around like  rag doll until another Cowboy whisked away from danger).  Lambert's actions changed that game and the Steelers played like a different team in the fourth quarter. 

Cliffy also had a part (along with Larry Cole) in knocking Bradshaw sensless on the bomb to Swann that won the game.

All in all he was a good safety, but wasn't smart enough to keep his mouth shut, and he paid for it.

1982 represented Bradshaw's last full season, a season of ups and downs.

We started out with three huge victories over DAL, CIN, and HOU.  At the time many thought DAL and CIN would meet in the SB.  In our other three wins we scored at least 28 points against KC, NE, and CLE.  The three losses were to SEA (0-16), BUF (0-13) and CLE (9-10).  The offense either was unstoppable or anemic.  In each loss at least three interceptions were thrown by Bradshaw or a combination of Bradshaw/Stout.  In Buffalo the quarterbacks went a combines 4-23 for -2 passing yards.  In the playoffs we lost a tough game to San Diego 28-31, but at the time we did not match up well with the Chargers, this marked the third loss in a row to them.

How bad would it have been for Steelers fans after the greatest defensive collapse in SB history, with the #1 defense in the NFL on the field?  I shudder to think about the depression I and all of you would have gone into.  Probably similar to thet of Yankees fans after losing a 3-0 series lead to the Sox.  I dare say it would have been a caticlysmic event for me.

By the way, I hope McFadden does well with the Cardinals, his role in the playoff game with the Colts was never really talked about much, but he made two fabulous plays on the last drive before the missed FG.  Let me amend that, I wish him well except againt us.

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES LOST-WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN?

The Steelers have lost seven AFC Championship games since 1972, which games should they or could they have won, and what would have been the Super Bowl results?  How many more trophies would we have?

Consider the following:

1.  1972 Miami at home-this was the undefeated season for the Dolphins, we were 11-3.  This was  the game after the Immaculate Reception-Steelers lose by four-Miami goes on to beat the Redskins
2. 1976 Oakland away-Steelers play without Harris and Bleier-lose by 17-some think this was the best Steelers defense ever-Raiders go on to beat the Vikings
3. 1984 Miami away-almost unstoppable offense led by Marino-Steelers lose by 17-we went 9-7 this year-Miami is stunned in Super Bowl by San Francisco winning their second Super Bowl
4. 1994 San Diego home-Steelers were 12-4 with a hot defense-shockingly lose by four-Chargers go on to get smoked by the 49ers winning their fifth Super Bowl
5. 1997 Denver home-we were 11-5-Elway beats us after we have a promising start-we lose by three-they go on to upset the Packers
6. 2001 New England home-horrible special teams play dooms us after a great 13-3 season-we lose by seven-Pats go on to upset the Rams
7. 2004 New England home-Big Ben's rookie season-we lose by 14-Patriots defeat Eagles

By far the weakest team of the bunch was 1984, if somehow we could of beaten the Dolphins, it would have been tough to take out the Montana led 49ers in the Super Bowl-although we handed them their only loss of the season in October-doubt it would have happened twice.

I think the 72 team probably beats the Redskins and the 76 team probably beats the Vikings if Harris/Bleier return to play.

94 would have been tough-Steve Young had that offense running like a well oiled machine-can't see us winning that one-maybe our defense could have slowed them down

97-Favre in his prime-their defense played poorly though-toss up

01-Warner and that high powered offense?  hardest one of all to pick

04-toss up-rookie qb against a good Eagles defense-who knows

I guess all in all I'm saying we could have 3-4 more, wow, how great would that be!

Just something to think about

Let me know of any errors-I'm half asleep while typing this.

Anyone know if old Steelers radio broadcasts are available anywhere online or cd?  I'd like to get some of the classic old games from the 70's.

After watching the "America's Game" series on the Super Bowl's I started wondering if they were available.  I'd especially like to get a hold of the playoff games.  Years ago National Record Mart sold cd's of the Super Bowls but I've never seen any others on cd.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!