Week 6 Game Thread: Tennessee Titans

Posted on October 11, 2012 by ryan

No Troy. No LaMarr. But the Steelers have Todd Haley. So no problem.  This should be on a t-shirt even if I don’t really believe it. Whatever, it would be nice to see Pittsburgh win a road game.

Related posts:

  1. Steelers vs. Titans: Game Thread
  2. Week 5 Game Thread: Philadelphia Eagles
  3. Week 15: Steelers-49ers Game Thread
  4. Week 1 Game Thread: Denver Broncos
  5. Analyzing the Steelers O-Line: Titans, Week 2
This entry was posted in 2012 steelers. Bookmark the permalink.
  • http://www.facebook.com/randy.steele.583 Randy Steele

    Okay, I’m wearing my freshly autographed Brett Keisel 99 field jersey, and am ready to go!

  • Sarah

    typical underwhelming start by the D….

  • Sarah

    Pouncey lasts one play. Bring on Legs. Oy.

  • LoungeLegal

    What is up with Ike so far this season?

  • Sarah

    Ike’s been awful. How many times has Hasselback gone at him already? ANd now TE scores and the Steelers have anoither 3 and out. Wow.

  • LoungeLegal

    How much is Legs paying Mayock for these comments?

  • LoungeLegal

    Why is our O-line made of glass?

  • Sarah

    Gilbert finally takes himself out….after taking out Pouncey. And Decastro before that.

  • LoungeLegal

    Not a great half. Sputtering O and a D making Grampa Hass look like a pro-bowler. They can play so much better I don’t understand what’s going on.

  • Sarah

    Well 2 more down on the O-line, and – did they have Mundy out until Allen went down?….I guess the good news is they’re within a touchdown. But yes that was fairly awful in a number of areas….

  • http://www.facebook.com/randy.steele.583 Randy Steele

    Are we surprised that the Steelers are playing down to the level of their competition?

  • Sarah

    Not in the least. But geez if they find a way to lose to BOTH OAK and TE in the first 5 games….well. That would be “a bad thing”….

  • Sarah

    PIT announcers saying that the punt block was the exact same one TE used last year. Both Mundy and the C went to the same gap.

  • Sarah

    ….and now Mendenhall with an Achilles. Jeebus.

  • calig23

    Good to see Baron Batch get his first career TD. Even better that it gives them the lead. Let’s hope the defense can hold up.

  • calig23

    Alright then. Timmons with the pick. Let’s put this game away now

  • http://www.facebook.com/randy.steele.583 Randy Steele

    Never thought I’d be happy to see the Tuck Rule enforced.

  • Steve

    Nate Washington tied for the most receiving yards for Tennessee tonight. Why can’t the Steelers get a receiver like Nate?
    Yep, bad attempt at a worse joke. I’d take any one of our receivers over Nate.

  • calig23

    FG is better than nothing, I guess.

  • calig23

    Gah! Keenan Lewis should have had an interception there.

  • calig23

    How bad is the Steelers’ defense that they make an ancient Hasselback and a washed up CJ look pretty good?

  • calig23

    Is Ike the most penalized DB in the league this year? Geez.

  • calig23

    Now Clark is hurt…

  • Cols714

    Our defense is just not all that great this year. Although they gave up 4th quarter drives in 2009 and 2010 too.

  • calig23

    Time to go back to work offense…

  • LoungeLegal

    We need a long drive capped off with a TD. Not sure that is in the cards.

  • Cols714

    Ike is not a good cb.

  • Steve

    OK, time for a last-possession score to win this damn thing. Can we please get a win over a lesser team by more than that?
    ‘Course, I’ll always settle for a win. I’d rather pop blood pressure medication during a win than Paxil or Prozac after a loss.

  • ErikH

    Ike needs to take a seat on the bench. He is one man penalty machine.

  • Cols714

    For the 5th game this year it’s come down to Ben and the offense.

  • Sarah

    ….annd another 4th qtr lead blown. This D Is just getting impossible to watch.

  • calig23

    Is it me, or has firing the Special Teams coach right before the season began turned out to be a bad idea? How many penalties has the ST unit been called for this season?

    • LoungeLegal

      I think Ike carries a lot of this loss. He had so many PI calls and was beat BAD by Washington all night. ST stunk it up too but our D made Grampa Hass look 10 years younger.

  • LoungeLegal

    I love Miller!!!!

  • calig23

    Really great one-handed catch by Heath

  • calig23

    No way he makes this, and if he misses, the Titans will have great field position

  • Steve

    C’mon, Sweez. You can do it.

  • Steve

    Isht!! Sure hope we make it to OT.

  • Cols714

    Anyone have any confidence in the defense stopping this?

  • calig23

    I’m guessing that the last OT game against the Titans was the Joe Nedney game

  • Cols714

    If Arians had called those plays I wonder how much screaming there would be in the message boards right now.

  • calig23

    Well, that’s probably ballgame. Big gain for the Titans will put them in FG range

  • LoungeLegal

    wtf is going on with our D????

    • Rob D

      Age. Injuries. Moldy scheme. Corners who can’t catch the ball.

      If Lewis makes that INT, it’s a win. He doesn’t and they let an elite QB beat them..no shame in that. O wait…it’s a 73 year old David Hassehoff…errrrr…Matt Hasselback.

      The offense can’t score enough and the D can’t stop people when it matters. They had the usual quota of 2-3 starters go down but that’s perfectly normal for these Steelers the last 3 years. I cut them a little slack for those…but not much

      I shudder to think what this team would lose by to one of the truly elite teams in the NFL…I can’t believe I thought 12 wins was even possible at the start of this year..must have been delusional. I don’t think we are watching a playoff team folks..I really don’t.

      • Cols714

        I doubt that they would lost by much to the elite teams. If there’s one thing the Steelers have been in nearly all of their losses in the Tomlin era it’s competitive to the very end.

        That beings said, I don’t think they are good this year.

  • calig23

    Why wait until the end before using any timeouts? Why not make them kick it sooner, or run more plays and maybe screw things up?

  • ErikH

    Defense should be ashamed… Let another one slip away. This is going to be a long season.

  • Cols714

    The offense too. They settled for 3 FGs, and that last one they couldn’t get closer than a 54 yarder.

    On the bright side, Suisham looks fantastic this year!

    I guess it’s official, we are not good this year.

  • Sarah

    Had Suisham ever made one that long? Why not punt there and play for OT?
    Of course, that would have required that the D make a stop, I know.
    Lots of blame to go around on this one. Sickening.

    • Cols714

      He just made a 52 yarder before that. I don’t mind them trying the kick. Last year I would have been screaming my head off, but Suisham has looked much stronger this year.

      • Sarah

        Nah. 52 was his longest ever. I really put that on Tomlin. He could not have had much confidence either that Suisham makes the kick and God knows no confidence the D could stop them on a short field.
        But loads more issues than that.

        • Cols714

          Yeah I know that 52 yards was his longest ever. He just made it in this very game, right down the middle with a decent amount of leg. It was a fine call to let him try it. This isn’t last year’s version of Suisham. He might be the only player playing better this year than last year.

          This is not on Tomlin for choosing to kick it. This is mostly on the offense for failing to get closer on the final two plays and the defense for sucking as usual in the 4th quarter.

          • Rob D

            I’m with Sarah..that was a dumb ass call.

          • Cols714

            I do not understand this one bit. The guy had just made a FG from almost the exact spot. Whatever, I think criticizing this move as the reason we lost is dumb.

            We lost because the offense can’t score TDs and instead gets FGs. We lost because we couldn’t move the ball more at the end. We lost because the defense gave up a TD and a FG in the last 5 minutes of the game.

            We certainly didn’t lost because a coach saw his kicker was kicking very well and thought he could make the field goal.

          • Rob D

            not the only reason Cols..just one of them. He’s not a long range kicker..giving them that field position was just dumb. Let’s agree to disagree. We are watching a 9-7 football team at best and its not worth the oxygen to argue over calls although I respect your opinion.

      • djanyreason

        The problem with kicking it there is it gives 7 extra yards to Tennessee – the ball is turned over at the spot of the kick, not the spot of the snap. Given the context (start on TEN 37 vs. 44, 2 minutes left, tied game), those are 7 very valuable yards.

  • 58forever

    Steelers and Ben make mistakes that cost us the game! If Ben runs to the sideline there was more than enough distance to kick the fg. Punt the damn ball and go to ot instead of giving them the ball at mid field. Frustraating team to watch

    • LoungeLegal

      No. Punt and let Ten drive 80 yards in 1 minute to still kick the game winning FG. Not sure how you blame Ben on that one….his 3rd down play kept us in this game longer than we deserved. The D owns this loss (looking at you Mr. Taylor)….and ST

      • Sarah

        Be interested in Tomlin’s take. I think he will get slammed for that decision. EVen if he felt good about Susham the downside was a short field and this awful D. Awful. D.

        • Cols714

          Well he shouldn’t get slammed for it. That kick was pretty fucking close to going in.

          Maybe the defense should be slammed for sucking? Maybe the offense should be slammed for failing to get the ball in the endzone and also for stalling out at the 35 yard line.

          If it was 4th and 1, I would have said go for it. But 4th and 6 is a lot tougher to convert. Punt and that defense would have given it up anyways.

          For once I think going for the long FG was a good move. Usually I hate that, but the way Suisham has been kicking I think it was a worthwhile gamble.

  • Todd

    This has already been a “LONG” season & with this loss it just really got long!

    Our Defense looks horrible!

  • David

    Did someone on the board say earlier, maybe Cols714?, that we’re a 8-8 team?
    That’s looking pretty optimistic at this point.

    Our D sucks. Our O is getting a bunch of passing yards, but we’re losing.
    …I just had a revelation! Are we the present version of Air Coryell?

    Well, at least we’ll get a good draft pick. Nah, just kidding I haven’t given up yet. Just depressed.

    • djanyreason

      We’re 2-3 right now, with a +1 point differential. The combined record of our remaining opponents is 25-29.

      If we were an 8-8 team, just for sake of argument, how exactly would the situation look different? Why is saying 8-8 optimistic?

  • David

    BTW, I agree with Sarah: that was a pretty piss-poor decision to kick the FG.

    Ben could’ve run for a couple of yards, but he tried to make a play. Too bad he threw it in between two wide open receivers. But again, our D sucks.

  • David

    Sorry, last post. I mean our D sucks, but if Keenan CATCHES THE BALL, we win.

  • Cols714

    Our defense is pretty bad, Ike is having a terrible year. The safety play is bad. The DL isn’t that good. Timmons and I think Hood are playing well at least.

    The offense is gaining a lot of yards. But not as many big plays it seems. Also a lot of 3rd downs that Ben has to convert. Terrible at getting the ball in the end zone.

    At least every game has been competitive and the offense has had a chance to win at the end of every single game. Maybe once they become more in tune with the Haley offense they will pull some of these out. I’m not giving up hope to make the playoffs yet, but it’s getting close.

  • ErikH

    Don’t blame this on the offense. Considering all the injuries it was amazing they got the go-ahead touchdown. The offense did their part and the D blew it AGAIN!

    • Cols714

      How do you figure? The offense had the ball with 4 minutes to go in a tie game. This is now the 54h game out of 5 that the offense has had the ball to win it late. They are 1-3 in those situations.

      I think both the offense and the defense deserves the blame for this one.

  • Cols714

    All right, bed time.

  • Sarah

    Couple interesting notes from prowling around recaps….
    A couple of people advanced the notion that Tomlin actually forgot the new OT rules, did not want to risk a coin flip and that’s why he went for the long FG.
    I find that hard to believe…..first that an NFL coach might forget the rules (I guess its happened before) but even if you lose the coin flip you get to kickoff. It should be a long field. Dunno. Thoughts?
    The other had to do with the insane amount of injuries and question the Steelers strength/conditioning…
    It did cross my mind that Troy’s alternative training methods might be behind his extremely slow healing of the calf injury….but never thought about the team as a whole. Though I would like to see how all these injuries stack up vs NFL averages.
    Lastly – I am not a sophisticated enough viewer to tell what happened, ie did someone make a mistake or miss an assignment…..but how did HArrison get caught alone in coverage on that last run late that set up the FG?

    • David

      Sarah, I believe we blitzed and left every receiver with single coverage. Live by the blitz, die by the blitz. And for the 54 yd fg, I just think that since Suisham hit the 52 yarder, that’s the reason why. I was literally screaming at the TV at the time, Punt the ball! Punt the freakin’ ball!

  • Jesse

    Hampton is done he has no impact. Taylor has had one good season in his career and now is playing like his old self. Ben cannot put back to back games together he made a mental mistake by not getting the additional yards by not scrambling ahead when flushed from the pocket. Consistantly made bad throws in critical situations. Tomlin is not a good game manager at all. The defense is old and the young guys are not making big impact. Who was the guru that decided to dress only 7 linemen with the injury history with the O-line? We will not play bump and run with cover two coverage when teams attack with the short passing game. Did I mention that Hampton is a shell of himself. He looks like a fan running around the field in a fat suit. The D-line cannot take up the blocks that allow the LBs to make plays. Our LBs had offensive linemen in their face all night. The best receiver we had last night was Heath and we continue to under utilize him. Poor coaching and poor personnel management have left our roster full of the old or untalented players. It is clear without proper veteran leadership that Tomlin cannot hold water as a head coach. As a proud Steeler fan we do not have the defense or running game that was the staple of our tradition. Tomlin always refers to the Steelers way, he needs to find a way back to it or find a way out of here. We need to overhaul everything top to bottom and start over. Ben is a bone head with bad mechanics we need to come to grips with that fact. He is way better than Tommy Gun but without a dominate defense to bail his ass out we will not be the team we used to be.

    • Cols714

      This bump and run stuff has been a criticism of LeBeau for the entire decade. No, the Steelers do not play bump and run. I don’t think it’s the scheme. It’s the players.

      That being said, the defense is just not good this year.

      • Jesse

        If you don’t have the players to run the scheme you have to scheme for the players you have. Taylor consistantly lined up at the line with Britt but did not bump him off the line. If you are going to allow a clean release why go up to the line? It makes no sense.

        • Cols714

          The Steelers have been not playing bump and run for years. I think all the way back to the beginning of the Cowher era. In that time they’ve been to the playoffs all the time, championship games almost every other year, 3 Super Bowls, winning 2. I don’t think it’s the lack of bump and run coverage that’s killing them. I think it’s that Ike Taylor is awful right now, the DL is not as good in years past, Harrison is older, Woodley is out (although Worilds played well), and Polamalu is out.

          Every single year I’ve been following the Steelers this same criticism is listed. The Steelers don’t play bump and run. It’s served them well in the past.

          And really, the key plays were Ike Taylor interfering and getting burned and the Titans TE running away from Harrison.

          • Sarah

            Yep. How did Harrison wind up in coverage on that play? Was that as called? Was he supposed to hold the guy up? What happened? Poor guy on 1 knee and 3 days rest trying to run after the TE, ouch.

          • Jesse

            Yeah Sarah I was upset about Harrison getting exposed like that. The blitz did not get there so that left Harrison chasing the TE across the field.

          • Sarah

            But – who was blitzing? The CBs? Timmons? Often Harrison is the blitzer. It just seemed odd to me and wonder if it was blown.

          • Jesse

            Cowher had Woodson at corner who was great in press coverage which allowed Lake to roll over top of the other corner (Chad Scott or Washington). The also had a high sack total which cut down the time a CB would have to cover. You have to do something about the old “Chuck and Duck” offenses that they are going against. Ike is a real problem and you should protect Harrison in that situation. I believe without a top notch defense Ben will not win it for us consistantly. It is sad to say that the Silverback is wearing down from the injuries but he is.

    • LoungeLegal

      Wow, it’s amazing the Steelers even scored a single point! Jesse, I suggest you might be over-reacting juuuuuuuust a bit.

      • Jesse

        Most of the post concerned the defense, everything else is just the facts Lounge.

    • Sarah

      Wow Jesse.
      Anything else?

      • Jesse

        I cut it off, I’m at work lol.

  • Cols714

    I see Dale Lolley also thinks Tomlin should not have attempted a FG. So maybe I’m wrong.

  • Sarah

    ANd as for 8-8 or 9-7. or, um 2-14!!! ….I’m wondering just what team we CAN beat at this point. I remember fondly when we could have a 2-pt lead at half-time and relax.
    Now – if Ben doesn’t pull heroics late (AND it;s the last possession) we lose.
    If they get the ball back, basically we lose.
    Can you imagine what Brady might do to this secondary?
    Boggles the mind.

    • Cols714

      Yes I can imagine. I saw it last year when the Steelers soundly beat the Pats.

      Things suck, but it’s not as bad as it looks. This isn’t going to be a multi-year rebuild job or anything like that. Maybe they don’t make the playoffs this year (although I’m not counting them out). But they’ll be back next year and the year after…

      • Sarah

        You predicting this team beats NE? REspectfully we’ll hold you to that !

        • Cols714

          Ha!
          No not at all. I’m just disputing this thing of we got beat by the Titans and Raiders, imagine what NE or Balt is going to do to us.

          I think my feelings on this team are:
          1. They aren’t a good team right now.
          2. They could get better as the season goes on and still make the playoffs
          3. This idea that the Steelers are doomed and we will get killed by the better teams I think is laughable.
          4. Think of it this way, if Ben makes his normal 4th quarter drive to win, they beat both Oakland and Tennessee and are now 4-1. We’d still have the same problems but we’d all be singing a different tune.
          5. I’ll remain optimistic that once they get Haley’s offense down a bit more they’ll win some of these close game.
          6. I miss Bruce Arians.

          • David

            Playoffs? Playoffs??? Are you kidding me, playoffs??

          • http://www.facebook.com/randy.steele.583 Randy Steele

            I’m not going to say the Steelers are in the playoffs this year. They are obviously in transition, to better seasons, I hope.

            The secondary is in poor shape, but with the exception of injuries, the rest of the team is quite good, if shockingly erratic.

            Look, good teams lose games like last night’s game. The Steelers were tired, beat-up, and on the road after a tough game against a tough team on Sunday.

            I’m not saying they’re a Super Bowl team. They’re not. But right now, let’s not over-react. They have some problems (few of which, unfortunately, are immediately correctable), but such is life.

            Keep cheering. They’re not as bad as they look right now.

          • http://www.facebook.com/randy.steele.583 Randy Steele

            Oh, and remember this: If Keenen Lewis doesn’t drop that interception, the Steelers win.

          • David

            Agreed wholeheartedly. Didn’t he also drop a pick 3 or 4 yrs ago vs the Raiders at Heinz that would’ve sealed it?

          • Cols714

            That was Joe Burnett or someone. Not Lewis.

          • David

            That was just my attempt at Jim Mora humor. I haven’t given up. I mean, if the Cryboys beat the Raisins, they’re 4-2. So it’s early.

          • LoungeLegal

            I have to say I am with Cols and the Guest above on their points with the exception of giving Ike a pass. Ike played a TERRIBLE game. I heard/read somewhere that there were 4 penalties that game 3 of which were his. Washington owned Ike all game. Not elite CB play. But I am not panicking or calling this season done…yet.

          • countertorque

            If we’re 4-1 we’re singing a different tune. However, FO’s stats still put us in the bottom of the league. So, it’s not just subjective outcome based emotional fan analysis that has the Steelers pegged as a bad team. The objective analysis agrees.

  • Guest

    So, a good team shouldn’t have been in this position. However, the Steelers had quite a few bounces go against us:

    * Blocked Punt – its an incredibly rare event, which makes it largely a random event; even more so given a short week with less prep time means its harder to prepare for the other team running rare event special teams plays (like all-out punt block rushes – probably not something that came up in film study in the 3 days the team had to prep)
    * Last TD for TEN – Ike tipped the pass, causing it to initially bounce off of Britt’s hands, then pop up directly in the air so Britt could easily grab it; that bounce is 100% random – if it deflects off his hands not directly up, but forwards, backwards, or to either side, then Tennessee kicks a FG there and the Steelers likely win
    * Hasselbeck desperation-avoid-a-sack shovel pass to CJ2K – 99 times out of 100 that’s an incomplete pass
    * Interception bounces off Keenan Lewis – catching interceptions is a skill, one can be better or worse at it, but its still the case that Keenan could have and didn’t catch that one – he’s going to catch other ones that won’t matter as much in games that aren’t as close; its somewhat random which ones he will and won’t catch

    The Steelers lost a game against a team we all feel they should have beat. That sucks, and the Standard is the Standard. However, let’s not get all doom and gloom and ignore the fact that quite a few balls bounced against the Steelers.

    Also, on Haley – I don’t think that there’s really a case to be made that Arians did a better job in any year than Haley has done so far in his first 5 games. Sure, the Steelers aren’t winning, but we can all list a myriad of reasons for that which don’t include the offense. Haley’s gameplans have been far more varied (both internally and between games) and adaptable than Arians, and Haley has shown far more willingness to go no-huddle than Arians ever did (which is ironic, since the gap between no-huddle and calls-from-the-sidelines seems far less dramatic to me than it did under Arians). The times in the last two games when the offense has sputtered have also been far more clearly identifiable as player error (bad throws by Ben or drops of catchable balls by receivers) than they ever were by Arians, who’s playcalling often seemed like it set the offense up to fail. I know I am a long-time Arians basher (I gave a speech in a class in March 2009 entitled “Why the Steelers Need to Fire Bruce Arians” – note, a month after winning XLIII), but I severely mellowed on BA in the last two years, and was super-not-thrilled with Haley at half-time in the Denver game. But after five games I think its clear Haley has proven to be an upgrade over Arians.
    Also, also, on the Ike bashing – his DPI saved us 4 points. Jus’ sayin’.

    • Sarah

      Agreed on most/all….cept that blocked punt…it appeared that both Mundy and (the C I guess) went left to the A gap, and I think that’s on Mundy as he crossed out of his lane, opening up the rusher. I don’t think that is random, seems like a missed assignment to me.
      HOWEVER – the short week you wonder if ST films get skipped, and this was a block scheme TE used on us last year.
      So yes, you wonder, longer week, review the TE ST films….maybe Mundy stays put. Hmmm.

      • http://www.facebook.com/randy.steele.583 Randy Steele

        Sarah, you are too cool. Great analysis.

        • Sarah

          Thanks Randy! Just pondering LOL!…
          Course knowing Mundy maybe he saw the film and jumped the wrong gap anyway LOL!!…

  • Cols714

    I’m mostly just joking when I say I miss Arians. I just think that it’s funny because if Arians had been around for that last drive Steelers’ fans would have their pitchforks out.

    • Rob D

      Indeed..he was a fun sacrifical goat to kick around! EVery sport team develops the one guy for whom the hate directed at them is out of proportion to their actual liabilities.

  • hoffstra323

    Todd Haley has nothing to do with the defense. the offense is putting up more points than I can remember from any Arians team. I cant believe they let go of Saunders… him and Heath would have been great in the red zone, maybe I am missing something here but I just cant make sense of it. Also you can forget about Alameda ta’amu. I doubt the Steelers will be giving him a second chance. Seems he got drunk and was trying to run over the Police.

  • Rob D

    Remaing sked:

    @ Cincinnati Bengals
    Washington Redskins
    @NY Giants
    KC Chiefs
    Baltimore Ravens
    @Cleveland Browns
    @Baltimore Ravens
    San Diego Chargers
    @Dallas Cowboys
    Cincinnati Bengals
    Cleveland Browns

    I see them splitting with Cincy and Baltimore..Losing to REdskins, Giants..having a realistic chance of winning the rest. Soooo….9-7..is that going to be enough to win the division? We really need Balt to fall down obviously, but I am still sticking with the idea that they will stumble and the recent injuries help that theory IMO.
    Gonna be a tight, jaw clenching run to the finish..wish we had a healthy squad to do it with!

    How do you gals/guys see it?

    • Cols714

      10-6

  • Cols714

    Dammit
    I made the mistake of listening to Mike Lombardi on the BS Report (which I love) again. Way too much praise for the Patriots as usual. Plus I hate when people point at plays and say such and such team could be 5-1 if these plays had just gone the other way. Well no shit, the Steelers and pretty much every other team could be undefeated if just a few plays had turned out differently.

    That’s OK though, because he made a good case for the Steelers being pretty good still based on their offensive potential. This I totally agreed with.

    Still, I’m so sick of NE love. Just so very sick of it.

    • Rob D

      It’s a lingering prejudice in favour of the Pats much like the media man love for Ray Lewis (Webb’s far more important (to Balt’s playoff hopes, IMO) injury wasn’t even mentioned in numerous reports about the Ravens I have watched..sheesh!
      There’s something about that team that attracts media types, casual fans of the NFL and other nefarious types..lol…It’s not that much different from the America’s Team syndrome that Steeler fans had to battle through in the 70`s. The Boys were just a little shinier than the Steelers in the media’s eye.

      The latest riff is that the Pats absolutely killed it in the draft last year, especially on the defensive side. You watch them play and wonder …WTF? They get rolled in the 2nd half just as they usually do and much like the STeelers of 2012 (sadly) I mean, Cortez Allen is a player with potential but I hardly think he’s a difference maker at this point. Pats have a lot of guys like that..young with potential. Ring me up when they have a JJ Watt teeing off.

      But it’s fun to have a team you hate as much as you love the STeelers. The Boys aren’t any kind of threat so that rivalry has cooled down, It’s not the Pats I worry about (not that they can’t beat us or anything like that) but the new proto dominant teams emerging this year. Seattle really worked the Pats over in the 2nd half of that game for instance. 49ers will recover from a big stumble and still be a threat for the SB with a mix of run/superior D/ efficient passing off play action. Meantime, the Pats are 3-3 along with the other mediocrities in their division. But Brady is still dreamy.