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Titans Post-Nuclear-Holocost Smak Article by Guest Writer Tom Hayes 'Scuse me while I relax with another cigarette. Hey, I don't even smoke but after Monday night's amazing, near-orgasmic Steeler victory catharsis it just seems appropriate. Yes, we've been winning but not like this. Not running away. Not in a laugher. Not actually THROWING the ball! This one has been a long time coming and, aside from our next opponent, I'm not sure if I can think of a more deserving recipient of such a thrashing than the Tennessee Titans. Jerome Bettis! You gotta love the guy. Nimble feet, quick (yes, QUICK!) to the corner and power galore. I'm sure many will point to the TD runs or the tackle breaking, 4-6 yard defender dragger that fell just short of the end zone - and rightly so. However, I think my favorite was the one for no gain that got blown dead prematurely (in my view). The Bus took the handoff and headed up the left side, violently crashing into and crumpling three D-linemen and linebackers who charged him in quick succession. The official, seeing that Jerome was moving ever so slightly in reverse blew the whistle for lack of forward progress. Too bad. Because at that instant, Bettis was free of those three big guys and was in the midst of swatting aside - literally - a pesky DB. A split second later, he stood alone holding the ball - and his frustration - facing forward with room to run and various defenders strewn at his feet. Sweet. Kordell Stewart to Plex Burress. Were you starting to think you'd never see it amount to anything at all? I was. What a joy to see the big guy dominating 5'9" corners and us actually taking advantage - by design no less! Now throw in the typical (but very deserving of recognition BECAUSE he's made it typical) gutty Hines Ward performance. Add some clutch catches by the rest of the cast (even Mark "I'll get a lot of balls because the coordinator is an ex tight end" Bruener) and the Steelers actually appeared to be in possession of a competant - if not downright potent - passing attack. Jeez. I love watching Eddie George get stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey! The whole D played great and Kendrell Bell ROCKS. Bill Cowher's description (via Dennis Miller) of Bell's play as "sudden" is perfect. This guy can really stick. Just ask Eddie. Just ask Steve McNair. On the subtler side, what I noticed is that - just six games into his rookie year - he's also playing well in coverage. I know Wycheck got him a couple times, but he had to make great plays to do it. Bell was right there on his heels on the one long toss down the middle. And on the TD, well maybe he overran the play a bit as Wycheck reversed direction. It looked like he ended up screening out a DB (which one?) as a result. But it was still no easy pitch and catch. I think the kid is playing an all-around great game right now. Put that preseason business about "suffering through" rookie mistakes aside. Kudos as well to Chad Scott for flying all over the field creating havoc. Yeah, he drew some flags but the good FAR outweighed the bad. And speaking of flying, how about the one-handed pick by Brent Alexander? You remember Brent. He's the guy in the secondary we had to replace in the offseason because he wasn't fast/athletic enough. Uh huh. Bobby Shaw needs to let him wear the Superman shirt. That was just a great, highlight reel play. By now the coaching staff will have applied some "even keel" to the team. They'll have reviewed the tape and seen the flaws and seen the luck and seen how injuries contributed to the absolute implosion by their opponent. I saw all that too and it looked very familiar. These Titans looked a lot like the Week 1 Steelers. And just as that one game didn't ruin the Steelers season, this one doesn't guarantee the Lombardi trophy. OK, fine. BUT IT WAS A BLAST! By now the Steelers are focused on the Ravens, as well they should be. Me? I'm not in such a big hurry to get to next week yet, thank-you-very-much. I wanna bask in the afterglow a while longer. Tom Hayes HayesTF@navair.navy.mil Guest Writer for McMillen & Wife
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It's the Steelers ball control smash mouth offense and physical defense vs. the Raiders balanced offense and talented defense. It should be interesting as they appear to be on a collision course. If the Steelers somehow get by the Raiders they would probably play the Rams in New Orleans, a rematch of Jan. 1980. It should be interesting, Take care, Peter 1. Jerome Bettis is having the best start of a season ever in his career. And is fronted by what could be the best O line we've had in years. Bettis should keep this pace up all year, He's a RB that works hard all year round 2. The Defence is great! Kendrell Bell has filled Kirklands shoes and then some! W/his speed and pass rush it seems to be giving Gildon and Porter more opportunities. Not to mention the secondary is around every pass thats thrown. If the pass is completed they are all over it to make the tackle. Best secondary since Woodson left. 3.Kordell Stewart was (prior to the Titan game) playing cosistant. He has kept the Steelers in the game. He hasnt made any big mistakes in key situations. Lets just say he's more than pulling his weight. But in that Titans game both him and Plaxico have shown signs of greatness. I believe the WRs are getting better and a little more confident. All i'm saying is that w/a little more of what we all seen Mon night vs the Titans, We are that close........to being in the superbowl and possibly reaching the greatness we've had in the past. please give me your thoughts on this sudden success, thanx I was quite impressed with the Steelers effort against the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football. The new stadium looked great (first time I'd seen it on TV), the fans seemed to be louder (heard that was an issue before) and the Black and Gold was kicking some ass! Although this was the first game I'd seen this year, I thought that the team put together an overall great effort. It wasn't a perfect game, but whenever one area faulted, it seemed like another area picked up the slack. On the offensive side of the ball I was a little concerned about the offensive line play. After reading about how well the O-Line's been playing, I was looking forward to seeing them manhandle the Tennessee Tuxedos front seven (BTW/ my friend Bill Woodcock, a devoted Ravens fan but great guy all around deserves credit for the Tuxedos moniker.) For the most part, that didn't happen. Bettis got didn't get the light to rush that I'd like – except when it counted. The blocking was pheonomial on the two Bettis runs, moreover, the Bus did grind out some yards in the 4th quarter, allowing us to put the Tuxedos away. In a sense however, the mild difficulties experienced by the running game were a positive. I really thought the passing offense did a good job of coming together. Todd's boy Pleixco had a hell of a game, esp on the long catch in the 3rd quarter, on a ball that would have been intercepted had the DB been concentrating. Hines Ward (the man Mr. M. V. loves to hate,) had a few drops, but really impressed me with the tough catch he made in the 2nd quarter, and as usual he was their when we needed him on the TD drive. Although it came in garbage time, I thought that Maddox did well playing from his own goal line, and the much maligned Troy Edwards (OK, he brought it on himself, no argument) made a great effort. Although he had a couple ugly throws, I thought Kordell did a good job of sticking in the pocket and finding his receiver and moving around, although Tennessee did a good job of spying the QB. The defense was excellent. I was really impressed by the play of Bell. OK, he did get burned by Wycheck on two plays, including the Tuxedo's only TD. But he had good position on both plays, and remember, he's only a rookie. A year from now those pass, I'll wager, get broken up. Otherwise the D-line impressed me, as did the play of Scott and Washington. I noticed improved play on special teams, and I was particularly impressed with the play of Mark Logan there. Well, folks, I'd love to be able to offer more insight into how this game fits into the bigger picture, but seeing as how it's the first game I've seen, I can't. Nonetheless, the offense showed that can use weapons other than Bettis to get points on the board, if not win. (OK, the Tuxedo's don't exactly have Baltimore's pass D, but we still looked good.) The Steelers are off to a great start, but our next four games come against some tough division opponents, including Baltimore whom we've not beaten at home in two years. Cleveland looks to be much improved (how do they really look, some one let me know, please?) And Jacksonville could likely be playing with their backs to the wall. In its final season, the AFC Central looks WIDE open. That means these are games you've got to win. Credit the Steelers for putting themselves in good position. Now its up to Cowher and company to see that they take advantage of it. So, as we say at the Goose, Chew tobacco, chew tobacco, spit, spit, spit, if you ain't a Steelers fan you ain't shit! Go Steelers! KT President, Pittsburgh Steelers Fan Club of Buenos Aires *(I had to go bed early and get up, then go to bed again to get up at 6 am, that really kicks your ass.) ** This was my first Steelers game away from the Goose since October of 1997! Ken, UnSuk, Sara & Samuel Hoffmaster Well I almost switched lanes to get behind her so I could invite her to the Shrine when, it became clear to me that her jacket actually read "TITANIC" not TITanS ! It even had a super-imposed sinking ship inside the letters. I laughed to myself and from this day forward, taking it as a sign, will refer to the "Tennessee TITanS" not as the "Tuxedo's", "TITanS", or even the "Flaming T's", but the... "Tennessee TITANIC"! I hope others will as well. PLAXICO became a PITTSBURGH STEELER Monday night."GOOD JOB!" His attitude after the catch was mature and I apologize to you Plaxico for giving up hope on you.Please forgive me.And keep on working hard. 2001 Steelers- "A LOT OF WORK TO DO!" And I for one, am going to enjoy it. I never knew how much I loved "VANILLA" till now! Tommy ps. Eddie...................JOKE ! We dictated when we wanted to run and pass. The old "let's make Kordell beat us" normally relies upon stopping The Bus first...However, they weren't even able to do that (2 TD). When he wanted/needed to run, he did. We passed on our terms. Mike was just setting up the Ravens with all of the passes. Normally, if The Bus is running, you keep him running. I think Mike was allowing Kordell & the receivers to get into a rhythum against a bad pass defense since we'll need them next week against Balt run & pass defense which is a lot better than Tenn. Also, it's a short week for Balt to break down the tape and prepare for the passing game. Oh, they also have to prepare for The Bus. GREAT COACHING MIKE!!!! Win while setting up the next opponent. The defense...Unbelievable!!!! D-Line...Unbelievable!!! Hampton and Clancy...what a team...rotating, fresh and dominating. Kimo & Smith? run stopping machines. Hampton a reach? Like I said earlier, we upgraded 2 positions with him by allowing Kimo to move to DE. Clancy and Bailey, big suprises which strenthens those positions even more. We should thank Jerry Jones for forcing his staff to draft Quincy instead of Bell. He is incredible. I like what I see. This has GOT to be the most fun game to watch in a LONG TIME. It wasn't close, there was very little suspense, but the fact that there was SHEAR DOMINANCE over a franchise we never beat in a long time was enough for me to hold up my bear mug and scream "oy!". Ok, so, two years ago, i was watching the Orange Bowl, when this young reciever from Michigan state was DOMINATING the game. SO i thought: "hey, the steeler's passing game is flunking, this guy may be the answer to our problems!" SO that year i raved madly about drafting Plaxico Burress. A 6' 4" frame with fly-paper hands. ANd today, FINALY, it ALL PAYS OFF. Burress FINALY is manifesting to a fine reciever. He's looking like what he SHOULD look like. I think he's finaly getting that connection-thingy down with KOrdell. HE knows how to manage the passing of SLash, and it is all falling together PERFECTLY. I luv watching Bettis FLATTEN Andre Dyson before entering the end zone. I love watching Porter smack down Eddie George for negative yardage. I Love watching Cowher get PISSED/PUMPED after good plays. I love watching Kendrell hit George into injury. ANd most of all, i love watching the Steeler fans go NUTS. ANyhow, great game. Just as i predicted. If we would win the passing game, we get the "Dubya". And there we go. Now, one question STILL remains. Obviously most other teams/coaches watched the MNF game. Will they STILL decide to place an 8-man box inside? Or will they consider Burress as a threat? It all depends if Burress can hold up the performance he had today. WOW, a passing game WITH da Bus.... Imagine THAT. <<< Back to Mac & Wife's
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