Steelers-Bucs Review

Well, I was completely wrong. The good news on that is that I'd rather be wrong and have the Steelers win than be right and have the Steelers lose. I'm sure you all know by now that the Steelers won today, just like they won Super Bowl XL and Super Bowl XLIII.

Today was the kind of blowout win and type of offense production that I think we were all looking for and probably needed. The Steelers are 3-0, proved me wrong yet again, and I am happy.

Now, three weeks into the season, I have to say that I am satisfied.

The Steelers finally opened up the offense, continued to play suffocating defense, and looked solid on special teams. Remember when Bitch Merger and -- what was that guy's name? Not Bitch Merger -- were averaging 30 yards a punt throughout the 2008 season? That's what the Buccaneers are currently dealing with. On top of the turnovers the Steelers forced, the fact that Mendenhall was running downhill all game, that Batch reclaimed his arm from the Smithsonian, and the Steelers got a couple of lucky bounces, Tampa had to deal with the fact that they lost 100 yards of field position because their punter sucks and Vulva is awesome. The Steelers were able to overcome that in 2008 because they had a great team. Tampa was not able to overcome their punter -- and everything else -- because it's a lot to overcome, they're probably a crappy team, and the 2010 Steelers could be a great team.

They may be able to overcome the fact that they didn't have a quarterback for the first four games of the season and establish themselves as the favorite to win the AFC. They may be able to, but let's not count any chickens when we've only got three games in the basket.

Also, Charlie Batch didn't play badly, but he's not the longterm answer at quarterback. He has probably held Byron Leftwich off for Week 4, but there's no way he's holding Ben Roethlisberger off after the suspension is over. His first touchdown to Mike Wallace was an underthrown ball that Wallace adjusted to and the cornerback did not. The second touchdown to Wallace was a lucky bounce. The third touchdown to Hines Ward was a nice play, but he also had all day to throw. I'm thinking he doesn't get as much time in the pocket next week against the hated Ravens as he did today against the Buccaneers.

His 24 yard "scramble" looked like the last play in The Longest Yard. I kept waiting for one of the guards to come along and clock him. He threw three touchdown passes, yes, but he also threw two interceptions and threw for only 86 yards to guys not named Mike Wallace.

I definitely overestimated Tampa. They may possibly be a gawd-awful team. But, the fact remains that the Steelers went into Tampa and completely destroyed that gawd-awful team, which is what great teams are supposed to do. They're also supposed to beat good teams.

After the other action today, I think you can safely say that Tennessee and Atlanta are good teams. I think you might be able to say that those are both very good or great teams. The Titans are 2-1 and have averaged 34 points a game against teams that aren't the Steelers. The Falcons put up 41 against Steelers West and 27 against the defending champs, winning in overtime today and also moving to 2-1.

That means that the Steelers beat two good teams and one crappy team without a quarterback. That means that they should be even better when they actually have a quarterback.

Does that mean that Mendenhall will be able to average seven yards a carry every week? No. But, it also means that he probably won't have to. It would be nice if he did, but it won't be as critical to the team's success.

The bad news is that they'll probably need Mendenhall to run for 143 yards and a touchdown next week against the hated Ravens. Some dude named Peyton Hillis just did that to the hated Ravens this week, so chances are not good that they will let that happen two weeks in a row.

I can't predict what the season will hold for the Steelers (obviously) but I can say that I'm satisfied now at 3-0. Heading into the season, with the expectations most of us had, 3-0 is definitely cause for some satisfaction.