Steely's back!

I'm sorry I've been MIA for the most part lately, I've been working on this side project of mine that involves graduating college. Now that that is accomplished, minus the actual walk, let's catch up on how my teams have been doing lately.

Steelers - In mid-November, beat the Ravens and Browns to get to 7-2 and open a commanding lead in the AFC North. Then they went to the Meadowlands to play the one win Jets. Oops. After one of the most embarrassing performances I can remember from the team, they lose in overtime, and haven't been the same since. After sloppy wins against Miami and Cincinnati in the bog at Heinz Field, went up north and got embarrassed by Team X. Another home loss to Jacksonville put us at 9-5 and tied with Cleveland for first place. Thursday night we had one of those bizarre NFL Network games, and beat St. Louis 41-24 in probably the best overall team performance since the Jets loss. However, the NFL's leading rusher, Fast Willie Parker, to a broken leg. Now our main back is Najeh Davenport, most well known for pooping in some chick's closet while with the Miami Hurricanes. Davenport played great last night, actually becoming the first back to run for over 100 yards against the Rams this season. Big Ben also had an amazing game, putting up a perfect 158.3 QB rating, and the offense put up a season high 41 points without Parker. The #1 defense has not played like it the last 3 games, but turned it up in the 2nd half against the Rams offense that was actually dangerous with all its weapons healthy (Bulger Jackson and Holt).

So the question is: Can the Steelers have postseason success without their main running back? Well, losing Willie certainly won't help our postseason chances, but it may not totally erase them either. While Davenport has ran well in his stead, he doesn't have the same big play ability as Willie. So defenses will try to force us to beat them in the air. And you know what? We can. We have a Pro Bowl QB, two big play receivers (Santonio Holmes and Nate Washington), two possession receivers (Hines Ward and Heath Miller), and you could argue that Najeh is a better pass protector than Willie. It all depends on the play of the line, which has been terrible of late. If the Steelers are to have any chance in the playoffs, the line will have to step it up big time, especially in pass protection. Ben can't be getting sacked as much as he has, which is a lot. The defense will also have to play better than they have, which I think they definitely can.

One more game left, against Baltimore in Baltimore. The Ravens have quit on their season since losing to Team X so it should be an easy win. All Steelers fans should be rooting for the Bengals against the Browns this weekend, as that would clinch the division and allow us to rest the key starters for the last game.


Penguins - Last time I wrote about the Pens, they were struggling something serious, and we're about to play the first place Senators in Ottawa on Thanksgiving night. I actually suggested that the game on the fast Canadian ice could help our offense get back on track. Hate to say I told you so, but...the Pens won that game 6-5 and it appeared to turn the season around. We had a winning tear right after that, sweeping a Western Canada road trip in the process. There's been some bad losses lately, including 8-2 in Philadelphia and 4-0 in MSG (we need to learn to handle the Atlantic Division), but overall have improved the record to 17-17 (2) and are in the top 8 in the Eastern Conference. Most recent game was a 5-4 shootout win in Boston (take that Belichick), in which Sidney Crosby had a Gordie Howe hat trick: a goal, assist, and fight in the same game. And he made the fight count, making former Penguin Andrew Ference bleed from the head.

The biggest problem for this team is the goaltending. The oft-maligned Marc-Andre Fleury is lost for a couple months with an injury, and his value is not realized until he is gone. Now the team is relying on Dany Sabourin (who can be very good or very very bad on a given night) and Ty Conklin (who is just very very bad) in net.


Pirates - Real baseball teams are signing free agents and making deals to improve their teams this time of year. The Pirates don't like participating in these types of activities.


Penn State (football) - Plays Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl on the 29th. Yawn.


Penn State (basketball) - Undefeated at the Bryce Jordan Center, winless everywhere else. My guess is that once Big Ten play starts, we will no longer be undefeated at the Bryce Jordan Center; but we may stay winless everywhere else.


Penn State (volleyball) - National champs. You can thank Joey for that.


That's all for now. Steely updates will be more frequent now, as I will have a LOT more free time starting Saturday.


P.S. In the little bowl challenge we got going on right now: Steely 1-0, everyone else 0-1. That's right boys. GO UTES!