Same Old Steelers

It was the same old Steelers. Run the ball, run it some more, stop the run, make a big play on defense, and don’t make the big mistake. Terrible towels, the whole deal. Same crap every year. Big quarterback too, like Bradshaw used to be a little bit. But quarterback seems always to be just another position on the Steelers.

It never seems to matter who makes up the opposition. Yesterday it was the Jets who couldn’t stop the run early, who could never get on the field, who had the ball come out at the worst possible time, and who couldn’t score from the two in four tries.

I had said earlier that it would be motivation and focus that decided this game; that a game plan wouldn’t win or lose it. But I was wrong. I would have thought surely that containing Roethlisberger would be a focus. It wasn’t. I would have thought that stopping the run would have been a paramount matter too. But it wasn’t.

And I would have thought that a tough team, a ground and pound team, would have run that ball into the end zone from the two. They didn’t.

I was really angry with Schottenheimer after the Jets tried those two passes. Then, of course, there was the safety and regaining possession and eventually scoring but it just wasn’t the same from then on. And, even then, the Jets could have turned the game around if they could have just stopped the Steelers on that fateful last possession. But they couldn’t.

That was the real story of the game, I suppose. When the Jets needed to do something, they couldn’t do it.

The Jets made a bold statement early by electing to kick off rather than receive the ball. The gauntlet was thrown down, so to speak. The Steelers said ok, challenge received, now take that and that and that and that ad friggin’ infinitum all the way down the field for the score. I couldn’t think of a worse way to start a game. In my mind’s eye, I could see the albatross circling.

Then the Jets did nothing much but maybe more than could have been expected after sitting on the sidelines for as long as they had. They gained 30 yards and punted. Bryan Thomas later intercepted Roethlisberger to stop another Steelers drive.

Oh, what’s the use? The Jets couldn’t stop Mendenhall and they couldn’t run. Later on, Sanchez got stripped and all of a sudden it was 24-0. I was saying it was “game over”.

That the Jets made a game of it at all was heartening, very much so. That they couldn’t score from the two yard line changed the game though. Even though the Jets got the safety and then scored again, there was another five minutes or so burned up when time was of the essence.

From there on, it became just a matter of getting the ball back. They couldn’t do it. They let Big Ben get out of the pocket once again and he made that critical completion to hold the ball and finally sink Gang Green. It was at that point that Rex finally lost it and threw down his clipboard in disgust.

The Jets couldn’t tackle, especially early in the game. It’s that kind of inexplicable thing that decides games. To me as I watched, I remember thinking that the Jets looked as if they were playing on ice, that they were trying to tackle without leaving their feet, that the cold and the surface were really making them look like a bunch of old guys. And some of them are old guys. The Jets will have to deal with that.

So the Jets won’t be going to Dallas. I can deal with that. What I’m going to have trouble dealing with is the future. I just wish everybody’d stop thinking about the next AFC Championship and the next Super Bowl. Guess what? It’s a long hard road to get into the game at all.

There are Patriots looming, and Colts and maybe even the Raiders in the future. And none of them will be easy to beat, at least not as easy as they had been this year. The Pats were kind of young, the Colts were kind of hurt and the Raiders, well, who knows with the Raiders?

A lot depends upon what moves the Jets will be making, of course. So far, even though their General Manager Tannenbaum is probably one of my least favorite people in the world, their moves have been great. Nobody could argue with that. But will they be able to keep Braylon and Santonio, LaDainian and other established stars with less colorful names, like Jason Taylor and Calvin Pace and Shaun Ellis?

Darrell, D’Brickashaw…..they do have some great names, don’t they?

As I write this, Mike Francesa is lambasting Rex Ryan again. Rex obviously doesn’t kiss Mike’s flabby butt. Much to Rex’s credit, he hasn’t changed his behavior at Francesa’s behest. If anything, he’s totally disregarding him, which is probably the biggest slight of all to someone with Francesa’s huge ego.

Giants coach Coughlin hasn’t made that mistake. Coughlin kisses Francesa’s butt at every opportunity, much to his advantage. You won’t hear Francesa going after Coughlin, who perfectly fits Francesa’s image of the perfect football world, one in which only coaches speak, players don’t celebrate and players say nothing but “yes sir”.

Guaging the Jets organization’s success only on AFC Championships and Super Bowls plays right into Francesa’s hands though, and to all those who think like Francesa. Jets fans can expect only tough defensive football teams who win more often than not. You need luck as much as anything, with injuries and ball bounces, to advance any farther than that.

The Steelers are the standard though…same old Steelers. They’ll continue to be too. They’ll run the ball, stop the run, and have tough guys who can make plays.