Cleveland Sucks: Steelers Win

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Today was a great day in the AFC North. The Steelers won, and all 3 other teams lost. The Steelers are now back in a tie for the division lead with Cincinnati. The Steelers took care of business at home, despite some sloppy play. And guess what? No 4th quarter points this week.

Scott Blasey from the Clarks rocks out the national anthem. Best anthem since Styx last year.

Game Recap

The Steelers win the toss and elect to receive. Former Steeler Anthony Madison makes the tackle.

The offense gets rolling when Ben hits Mike Wallace wide open over the middle into Cleveland territory. The middle of the field was wide open all game. Raise Some picks up 8 yards on first down, but the offense moves back when Ben gets sacked on second. Hines can't hold onto a pass on 3rd down. Punt.

Josh Cribbs comes out running the wildcat. Cleveland is able to pick up a first down, but then Anderson can't hit a receiver on 3rd down. Punt.

Ben is able to move the chains by scrambling out of the pocket, but the motif offense fails to do anything. Cribbs makes a few guys miss on the return, but Superman is there to take him to the turf.

Yes, he can do everything.

Cleveland's offense can't do anything and goes 3 and out.

The offense looks like it's ready to get rolling when Ben hooks up with Tone, but then Ben fumbles the snap and Cleveland falls on it.

Cribbs comes out running the wildcat again and Cleveland is able to move inside the 20. Cribbs tries to throw, but Polamalu jumps the route for his second pick of the year.

Raise Some gets 4 then Ward converts the first down as the quarter expires.

Second Quarter

Ben comes out running the no-huddle, and finds Heath twice, but the second is called back on a holding penalty. Hines gets us back in charge of down and distance by picking up 10. Ben rips one to Tone who turns it upfield and takes it all the way down to the 8 for a 41 yard gain. Ben drops back looking for Wallace, then pump-fakes to Ward. Ben looks to the corner and sees Heath matched up on a D-lineman. Huge mismatch.

Ben underthrows it but Heath comes back to the ball and makes a great catch.

7-0

Cleveland is able to move the ball across the 50, but Harrison, Eason and Woodley, and Farrior get pressure on consecutive plays, forcing another punt.

Ben comes back out running the No Huddle (which probably means he was calling the plays and not Arians), hitting Ward for 7 then handing off to Raise Some for 4. On 3rd and 7, Ben hits Tone for a big 21-yard gain. On the next play, Ben goes downfield for Santonio...

...but Hines cuts in front of him and grabs the ball, then turns it upfield and beats 3 Browns to the end zone.

14-0

Jeff Reed boots it deep to Cribbs, who splits the coverage and takes it to the house. Gag.

14-7

Ben comes back out and hits Heath down the seam. The Steelers get a bonus on a roughing the passer call that moves them into Cleveland territory. Parker picks up 9 then 2 more as the clock winds to two minutes.

Two Minute Warning

Out of the break, Ben hooks up with Tone for 9 yards, then throws two incompletions. The offense stays out on 4th and short. It seems like Ben is going to try to draw the Browns offsides but then snaps the ball and is able to dive forward for the first down. Ben throws a timing pass for Moore in the corner of the end zone but Mewelde can't hang on. On 2nd down they throw the same pass to Ward, who seemingly makes the catch, and the ref signals touchdown.

However, the replay official upstairs want to review it. Upon review, they say Hines didn't hang onto the ball "throughout the catch." Weak call. Whatever.

Mike Wallace makes a great play in the back of the end zone to prevent an interception and save 3 points. Reed knocks it through.

17-7

Reed pooches the kickoff, then Cleveland takes a knee. Hey, they have to practice the victory formation sometime.

Halftime

Marshall University Marching Band

Decent show.

The dude sitting in front of us was all business. He had a great eye for blocking schemes and such. He mentioned he's from Vancouver, Washington and he opened a Steelers bar there. Didn't get his name, so I fail. I'll do some more investigating and see if I can find out anything.

Third Quarter

Cleveland's offense is able to move it down the field, thanks to a deep pass to Massaquoi over Ike Taylor and Troy. At full speed, Polamalu picks that off. Anderson goes play-action on 3rd and goal and hits Lee Vickers out of the backfield for the touchdown.

17-14

This is a little too close for comfort.

Thankfully, we have Ben Roethlisberger. Raise Some converts a 2nd and short, then Ben finds Hines wiiide open down the middle of the field for 45 yards. Mike Wallace gets a reverse and gets down to the 8 before getting hit, but shows some great effort and plows his way down to the 2.

Raise Some plows in from 2 yards out.

24-14

Cleveland responds by going 3 and out.

The offense looks like it's moving down for a score again, but Ben throws 2 incompletions after crossing midfield, then badly overthrows Hines on 3rd down right into the arms of Brodney Pool.

For the first time all day, Joe Thomas gets flagged for holding Harrison. Not like it wasn't happening on every other play. The worst part about it was, Thomas complained about it. What a little bitch.

Harrison isn't done yet. He storms through on 3rd down and knocks the ball out of Anderson's hands, then falls on the loose ball.

Ben hits Parker in the flat, who scampers for 9 yards. Willie gets the tote and takes it off tackle but can't hold onto the ball.

Cleveland falls on it. Ouch.

Cleveland starts to move the ball, but LeBeau storms the pocket on 3rd down. Farrior gets a piece of Anderson then Timmons comes through and knocks the ball out.

Mendenhall comes in, and on a play eerily similar to the Logan punt return against San Diego, Cleveland rips the ball out when Mendenhall is on the ground on top of someone and his forward progress is stopped. The refs are too busy playing with themselves to blow it dead on forward progress being stopped. What a joke.

5 turnovers in 5 drives? What is going on?

Fourth Quarter

Cleveland is able to convert a 3rd down with Cribbs running out of the wildcat, but then can't convert on a passing play (shocker) and has to punt.

Ben is able to find Wallace and Ward for big gains on the next drive to move us into field goal range. The Steelers get inside the 20, but two consecutive sacks forces a field goal.

27-14

Renegade gets the crowd jacked up before the next drive.

Cleveland is able to take a little air out of the crowd by picking up a few first downs. Then on 3rd and long, Anderson goes deep for Masssaquoi in the front of the end zone. Luckily, the Steelers have double coverage with Clark and Polamalu.

The ball falls right into Clark's arms and he is able to hold on for the interception.

Clark falls into the end zone but the momentum rule is put into play, giving the Steelers the ball at the 1.

If there is one area of our offense that has struggled this year, it has been the 4 minute offense. That is, the run-the-clock-out offense when you really need to just control the ball in the 4th quarter. Well, the Steelers ran the 4-minute O to perfection today.

With the ball back against the goal line, Mewelde Moore came in and was able to surge for 5 yards in 2 carries. Ben finds Tone in single coverage on a slant on 3rd down to keep things rolling. Sticking to the air, Ben rips one to Heath for 19 more to get up near midfield. Moore picks up 7 more on first down, and Cleveland takes a timeout before the 2 minute warning. Moore surges for 4 yards and another first down.

Two Minute Warning

Heath gets called for a hold on the first play, setting the Steelers back. However, after Cleveland burns their last timeout, Shaun Rodgers takes an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on a dead ball, giving the Steelers a first down.

Victory formation.

Game.

Waaaaaaahhh our team sucks

I am amazing.

23 of 35 for 417 and 2 TDs

Wow. What a day.

Players of the Game:

Offensive Game Ball: Ben Roethlisberger

Defensive Game Ball: Troy Polamalu

Honorable Mentions:

Hines Ward

Heath Miller

James Harrison

Lawrence Timmons

James Farrior

Mike Wallace

Santonio Holmes

Rashard Mendenhall

Mr. Yuck Sticker of the Game

The "forward progress" rule

Does a rule exist? I thought one did. I guess when a player is laying on top of people but certainly not moving any more, it's completely acceptable to rip the ball out. Hopefully the Steelers will be able to take advantage of this in the future. This seems like something the competition committee should look at in the future, particularly since it's happened multiple times now.

Final Thoughts

• Ben, Heath, and Hines are all having Pro Bowl years.
• Heck of a job by the O-line taking care of Rodgers today.
• Mendenhall did a great job in blitz pickup, particularly against corners.
• Another solid game for Raise Some, with 62 yards rushing.
• With Cincy and Baltimore losing, the Steelers are right back in the thick of things.
• Don't look now, but we're on a 3 game winning streak
• Didn't seem like Ben had 400+ yards today, but the stats don't lie. Heck of a job by the receivers getting yards after the catch.
• Middle of the field was wiiiide open all day.
• Woodley is getting pressure all the time, just not getting there quick enough to get sacks.
• Another sack and forced fumble for Harrison. He has 7 sacks in the last 4 games.
• O-linemen were dropping like flies on the first drive. Glad to see no one was seriously injured and everyone came back into the game.
• The fumble wasn't Mendenhall's fault. Don't jump on him for it.
• Polamalu looked a step slow, but still had more impact than Tyrone Carter did back there.
• Can't complain about being 4-2. That's why the Super Bowl isn't played in September.