Steelers vs. Browns Review

I just talked to my brother. I haven't talked to my brother in about two weeks. That's a long time for us. I called him out of the blue and the first thing he asked me was why I hadn't updated my blog. So, I guess someone reads it.

Here's the quick and dirty version of the Review...

WOW. That game was just an old fashioned beat-down. Seriously. That's one of those games where you watch it and you think, "MAN. If only they played that way all season." Yeah. If only we got to play the Browns every game. If only.

That was the most dominant performance by this team this year. I understand that we beat KC by more and it looked like a better game, but seriously, the Browns never had a chance. When we went in at the half, up 10-o, we may as well have been up 100-0. I just knew they weren't coming back.

Part of that was how well the defense played. Part of that was just how freakin' bad the Browns offense is. If you were upset about the fact that you couldn't play the Charlie Frye Drinking Game, you could've taken a sip of beer for each dropped pass and been completely annihilated midway through the first quarter. Poor Dennis Northcutt. That guy couldn't catch AIDS in Haiti if he tripped and landed on 15 used needles and a $2 hooker. Holy crap. That guy just sucks.

And Braylon Edwards, the 46 yard touchdown catch after the game was already decided aside, didn't do anything. And he dropped passes. And Kellen Winslow is useless. I hate that guy. I'm glad Porter called him what he called him.

And, Porter's apology has to be one of the greatest apologies in the history of time, the universe, and everything. "I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my comments. I only meant to offend Kellen Winslow." Winslow's gonna be around for a while, if nothing else because he has so much potential that he has to realize it sometime, right? And, well, the Browns are dumb. They'll keep him way longer than they should. He'll be around and this will be a fun rivalry for a long time. I mean, we'll always kick their asses, but it will still be a fun rivalry.

Quick Strategy Note:

I don't think LeBeau even called defenses. I'm serious. There were almost no blitzes and the coverages seemed pretty simple. Mostly man coverage, mostly, "That's your guy. If he gets open, I'm pulling you. Because these guys suck." It's almost as though he told the players to go out, have fun, don't worry about it too much, and make sure they remembered to get off the field on third down. Not too much strategy here. Then again, the Browns offense sucks. Bad. Very, very bad.

How about the fact that Ike Taylor was Ball Bitch on the kickoff team? The wind kept blowing the ball off the tee and Ike Friggin' Taylor came over and held the ball so Reed could kick it. From up-and-coming star after the 2005 season, to a $21 million extension in the off-season, to getting SCORCHED by Javon Walker, to getting benched, to possibly winning his job back, to BEING THE GODDAMN BALL BITCH. Wow. Just a crazy last 12 or 13 months for Ike.

Offensive Strategy:

I was blown away by the fact that the Steelers actually had a game plan and stuck with it. Before the game, I heard an interview with Max Starks where he said that the running game was stalling because teams came out with a lot of eight man fronts and that was a problem for the offensive line. Really? Eight man fronts? That was the issue? You're sure? I mean, it couldn't possibly be that the line has sucked sweaty elephant balls all year. Couldn't be that. It must be that other teams were putting eight guys in the box. I mean, it's not like THAT'S BEEN THE OPPOSING TEAM'S STRATEGY SINCE RICHARD FREAKIN' NIXON WAS IN OFFICE.

When have we not faced eight in the box? Possibly the first couple of games last year, where the Titans and Texans had seven guys in there because they were afraid Fast Willie would blow by them. Possibly in 2003, when Tommy was inexplicably throwing the ball 45 times a game. And, I think we can all agree that the 2003 season never happened. It's better that way.

So, eight guys in the box. How do you get past that? You do what the Steelers did Thursday. And, really, what they've done since the Nixon administration, but whatever.

You counter. You trap. You pull. Starks pulled from his right tackle spot to pick up a block behind Faneca at left guard. That's some serious shit. Hartings was pulling, Smith was pulling, even Simmons was pulling. And when you pull and trap as well as they did on Thursday and you run counters behind that, you get a record breaking perfomance by Fast Willie.

Let's see if they keep doing that. The game against Carolina would be an excellent time to keep it up.

Part of it was that the line had a really good night, part of it is that Fast Willie's a really good running back (and, really, he's more quick than fast - you don't get caught from behind on long runs as much as he does if you're fast - just watch Vince Young play and you'll see what I mean), and the Browns suck.

I'd say 40% great line, 40% great running back, 20% Browns suck. With that game plan and the way the line was coming off the ball, they could've run for 300+ yards on a lot of teams.

But, they're not gonna do that to the Panthers.