Morning Links (and Daily Thread)…

Posted on January 26, 2011 by ryan

A quick daily look at what’s happening around Steelers Nation. And consider this your open thread for discussing the days events and, well, anything else that comes to mind about the Black and Gold.

– Steelers Offense Not To Blame For Jets’ Furious Second Half Comeback [Behind the Steel Curtain]

– The Moments That Shaped the Steelers’ Super Bowl Season [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]

– This is the best headline you’ll read today. Enjoy: “Harbaugh: They’re playing in ‘our Super Bowl’” [Baltimore Sun]

– And finally, the worst thing you’ll read over the next two weeks, via FanHouse’s Clay Travis. Let me say that I’ve talked to Clay several times over the past 18 months and he’s really smart, extremely nice and a fantastic writer. No idea why he thought this would do anything other than make him look like a hack. And it’s not about ripping the Terrible Towel — that’s fine (he’s done it before and, really, who cares about that?) — it’s more about selling out for cheap traffic. He’s better than that. [FanHouse]

– Random YouTubez: Wiz Khalifa, this time set to 2010 Steelers highlights:

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  • GlennW

    I think BTSC’s argument (“Steelers Offense Not To Blame…”) is a bit overstated, but only because of the INT, two fumbled snaps and two sacks in the second half. You really don’t want that many negative plays when you’re trying to ice a game. But the offense certainly wasn’t too conservative, and anyone who trots out that argument (which I haven’t heard actually) is simply reacting to the lack of scoring. If anything the Steelers pushed the envelope on risk (and not just on the final possession), by NFL standards.

    • countertorque

      Agreed. I also think that we shouldn’t be taking too much credit for extending a drive via a roughing the kicker penalty.

  • countertorque

    Bringing forward a discussion from yesterday. GlennW said

    “There might have been something to the weather aspect, but I don’t know how much. There was very little wind for one thing. I just thought that Ben was off on the longer stuff which had nothing to do with receivers’ hands. The Heath Miller challenged catch/drop should have been an easy TD as Heath was wide, wide open but Ben babied the throw a bit and put too much air under it. He also underthrew Wallace early on when Wallace was one full step behind Revis (Revis probably should have intercepted that underthrow), and the INT in the second half was also a potential completion or at least a relatively safe pass except that the ball was both underthrown and directed way too far towards the coverage in the middle of the field. Perhaps the cold was a factor with Ben’s grip on the ball, but the conditions really weren’t that bad imo (I was completely comfortable in the stands, basically because of the absence of a breeze of any significance– wind is always the killer).”

    I don’t think the wind was a factor. I was thinking more of the cold. I know that I lose a lot of dexterity in my hands when the weather is that cold. I’ve heard that the ball also gets harder to handle as it gets cold. I agree that Ben’s accuracy seemed bad, especially on the throw to wide open Heath. I was wondering if the cold was affecting his ability to handle the ball. Of course, Sanchez did not seem to have as much of a problem with it. So, maybe my argument makes no sense.

    Also, I’ve been living in CA for a long time, so I may be forgetting that people live, play, and work in those temperatures all the time and it’s no big deal :)

  • http://www.steelerslounge.com/ ryan

    No, I can buy the cold theory. And I wasn’t all that impressed with Sanchez. He played better than he had at other times this season, but most of his completions weren’t much past the line of scrimmage (10 yards or less, anyway).

    As for living, playing and working in ridiculously cold temperatures, it was -17 in Upstate NY Monday morning and neither me nor my dog wanted any part of that. Twenty? No problem. Below zero … yeah, I’ll pass.

    • GlennW

      I have to give Sanchez his due for his performance in the second half in a desperate situation. After watching the game again, my initial impression that the Steelers’ pass defense really wasn’t all that “soft” with the big lead was confirmed– the coverage was pretty decent even on the short stuff. Although they weren’t long passes, Sanchez was very accurate throwing into some tight spots and was moving the chains. He was also moving the clock, but I’m not sure that tradeoff was a bad decision given the alternative of another turnover which would effectively end the game. Ultimately the only obstacle to the Jets being in the position they wanted to be at the end of a game in which they trailed by 21 points at halftime was getting stuffed at the goal line with 7:30 left (plenty of time to come back from 7 down), and that setback was much more about bad play-calling in that situation than about Sanchez’s performance or the play strategy leading up it. (Hell, even the pass to Keller on 2nd down was a difficult but makeable catch.)

      • http://www.steelerslounge.com/ ryan

        Yeah, I should be clear (and I mentioned this on the podcast): I had a very low opinion of Sanchez heading into this game and he played much, much better than I expected. Good even. So hats off to him.

        I still hate Rex Ryan, however.

        • countertorque

          I think Sanchez played well overall. I do remember at least a couple of dropped INT’s. Timmons’ for example.