Steelers beat Browns

The Steelers may have beaten the Browns 27-14 today but it's not what most fans are used to. Okay so the Browns are still pretty horrible but the Steelers didn't exactly put this game away early like you would have thought. And then when you let Josh Cribbs take a kickoff back for a touchdown well...you know. The defense is hard to get. At one moment they look stellar and the next not so great. And how was the run game not so great today against the Browns? We don't know what to say anymore. This is about the worst collection of thoughts ever. On one hand the Steelers won this game and the Browns still suck pretty bad, but at the same time it just didn't seem like the ass kickin' we're used to. Maybe those five turnovers (three by the Steelers) in just under four minutes had something to do with it. The Steelers just aren't clicking quite like they should be but we don't think there's any need to panic with Big Ben as the QB and guys like Hines and Heath catching those passes. But someone please help the defense be consistent.

- Hines Ward is having a phenomenal year so far. And at 33 years old, some may consider that "old" but Ward looks as good as he ever has and still hasn't lost that toughness. Eight more catches for 159 yards and touchdown today make us look good in getting him on our fantasy team.

- Heath Miller is in our opinion the best all-around tight end in the league. Probably the most underrated too. He has great hands and is pretty much guaranteed to break at least the first tackle and get a few yards after the catch. And how many times is the running back following a tackle by Heath?

- Santonio Holmes had a quiet day. Sort of. He caught five passes for 104 yards which is not to shabby by any means but he did so quietly. Although his big catch and run in the second half was pretty impressive.

- Nice to see Troy Polamalu back. And getting interceptions.

- Where was Brady Quinn?

Game Center at NFL.com including recap

Steelers at the Post-Gazette

Steelers beat Lions

The Steelers beat the Detroit Lions yesterday 28-20. We're glad they won but are we going to have to worry whether the defense will give up the lead the offense has managed to get all year? We have no idea whatsover what's up with the defense and why it is letting big leads dwindle in the second half. We're not talking about a potent offense when we talk about the Lions (or the Bears or the Bungles) but yet the defense is letting them walk all over them at the end of games. The end of this game ended well - in a win of course, but also in the three sacks in a row and Ike Taylor's nice pass deflection in the end zone. But two other games did not end well and there should be no excuse for it. This is the defense that is supposed to carry the team when the offense, especially the running game, couldn't get going. Now the offense is carrying the team while the defense can't seem to handle much. Hopefully Dick Lebeau has a few tricks up his sleeve to save this defense.

- Big Ben looked pretty good. That's about all we have to say on that.

- Heath Miller was outstanding yesterday and we hope that they continue to use him as much as they have been so far. He has great hands and the ability to break a few tackles. He's also a great blocker. By far the most underrated tight end in the league in our opinion. Also liked the good HEEEEEEEEEEATH chant in Detroit. Nice.

- Limas Sweed continues to drop passes while Mike Wallace mostly shines. Wallace messed up by dropping a ball he should have caught and then was penalized with a delay of game after needlessly kicking the ball out of frustration. But the difference between Sweed and Wallace is that Wallace got to redeem himself by scoring a touchdown, Sweed wasn't so lucky.

- Hines Ward gets his first touchdown of the year, which seems surprising considering how well his season has started, but nonetheless gets that out of the way. He still continues to do what he does best. Still also the toughest receiver in the league.

- Where's Santonio Holmes?

- Rashard Mendenhall still looks good. Not quite the show he put on last week but great nonetheless. It's nice to see a bulkier back working hard for yards, unlike what we've been seeing from Willie Parker. Mendenhall should have had two touchdowns yesterday but one was called back on a penalty. Not bad at all.

- James Harrison is still a beast.

- We miss Troy Polamalu.

- How bad were those announcers?!

NFL Game Center with recap and more

Cleveland is up next. If the defense gives up anything to them we're all in big trouble after their measly 6-3 win over the also horrible Bills.

Steelers start the season off right

We probably should have put sort-of in the title as the Steelers did start off the season with a win, they had their mistakes. Or downright disasters, also known as the running game. And Hines Ward's fumble, but he gets the benefit of the doubt on that one as won't be making a habit of that. The Steelers wouldn't be the same without him. Or Big Ben. He may have been off at the beginning of the game, but he was his usual self when he needed to be, leading his 20th career come from behind win to beat the Titans 13-10 in overtime.

The good:

- Big Ben proved that his legal troubles are not going to distract him on the football field. It's ridiculous how many times he's led a come from behind win in the final minutes of a game. Who do you want leading your team when you're losing in the final minutes? Tom and Peyton who?

- Stefan Logan. Awesome. It's about time we can get excited about a guy taking one to the house or at least getting them great field position. No more fair catches 90% of the time or getting two yards. Who would have thought a 5'6" guy from the CFL would make such a big difference? Granted it hasn't been long, but he looks good so we'll jump on the bandwagon.

- More special teams. Who would think you'd miss your punter? Daniel Sepulveda never looked so good. It may not seem like much until you end up with a couple of bum punters and the other team is starting at their 40 every time you punt. Sepulveda looks great and we all know field position is extremely important.

- It looks like Limas Sweed lost the number three receiver spot to Mike Wallace. We were wondering why Sweed was rarely on the field as we were under the impression that he had the number three spot, obviously not. Wallace came up big near the end of the game and made a huge catch to set up the winning field goal. So far so good. (Edit: Bruce Arians is saying that Sweed and Wallace are interchangeable in the three spot and he didn't mean for Sweed to be on the bench as much as he was.)

- Santonio Holmes. He looks like the big time receiver he was in the Super Bowl. He had nine receptions for 131 yards and a touchdown. He made some big catches when it counted and has obviously taken lessons from Ward in standing in to make the catch when you know you're going to get hit.

The bad:

- Troy Polamalu gets hurt. His tackle early in the game for a loss was nuts and the interception was even more nuts (yes this should have been under the good) but he also had a couple of miscues with penalties. But then he gets hurt. After Aaron Smith blocks a Tennessee field goal attempt (good!), Troy is trying to make a play on the ball and Alge Crumpler lands on his leg, which twists in ways it shouldn't have twisted. And let's face it, Crumpler isn't exactly a small guy. So far all we've heard is it is a sprained MCL but he was supposed to have tests to see if it could possibly be any worse. He is expected to be out at least three to six weeks. Not good news for the Steelers. Are we the only ones who thought Madden curse? We seriously don't want to buy into the crap but look how many players have been bitten by something after being on the cover. Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, and Shaun Alexander have been hit by the so-called curse. Definitely weird.

- The run game. Where was it and how do we get it back? It doesn't seem as if it's something you can blame entirely on the offensive line. Willie Parker just doesn't look good. And according to this article, the scouts don't think so either. We'd like to see Rashard Mendenhall get more carries along with Mewelde Moore, they had better results.

- We're not the only ones disappointed by the pass coverage, are we? We want to see more aggressive plays and broken up passes. It was getting frustrating watching Kerry Collins throw completion after completion.

Overall a little rust, but things are looking good. Big Ben also doesn't seem like his off the field issues will be interfering with his play any time soon. 1-0 looks good.

According to sources, Mike Tomlin is in talks with the Steelers about a contract extension past the two years that remain on his current deal.

Big Ben is clutch.

No update on Troy until Monday.

Harrison's hit a cheap shot? Bo Scaife seems to think so but his coach doesn't agree.

The Steelers are a big hit on TV.

Santonio Holmes is good.

So is Big Ben.

As for the Pens, they visited the White House. Link to Seth's montage over at Empty Netters.

The Pens will report to training camp tomorrow at 8 a.m. for physicals and other amazingly fun things. Sunday they will hit the ice. We're going to be heading down to visit training camp and hopefully it'll be a great time. We'll get some pictures up as soon as possible.

Penguins single game tickets go on sale today (Saturday) at 10 a.m.

Preseason is over

The presason is now over and it's time to make those final roster cuts and for the games to start counting for something. Only seven days...

Speaking of cuts, we think we know someone who won't be getting cut and that is one Stefan Logan. Ron Cook seems to agree with us. We unfortunately did not get to watch the game last night because we're outside of the Pittsburgh market, which is ridiculous considering we live in PA but that's a whole other issue. Our reason for wanting to watch was Logan himself and he definitely didn't disappoint. We caught his 70-yard punt return for a touchdown on the Final Score (does anyone like that show? So annoying!) after watching the NFL Films' story of the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers special "Brothers and Champions" on FSN which will be available on DVD at Pittsburgh McDonald's starting September 7th for $7.99 with the purchase of an extra value meal. A portion of the proceeds go to the Ronald McDonald House.

Speaking of Steelers' specials, NFL Network will debut the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers "America's Game" on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. If you're not familiar with the series, although you should be, it's the NFL's award winning series chronicling each Super Bowl winning team. Each hour-long episode takes you through the year and the story is told by coaches and players. The 2008 Steelers will be told through the eyes of Mike Tomlin, Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu. If you haven't seen the advertisements for this then you haven't seen Mike Tomlin's comical narration of how "kind of dirty" the Lombardi trophy is. Be sure to tune in to that, it will be worth your time.

But back to what we were talking about, Stefan Logan. How nice will it be to have some excitement again on kickoffs and punt returns? Someone who is a threat to take one to the house on any occasion. We don't know about you, but we also like the fact that the guy is only around 5' 6". How many times must he have been looked over based on height alone? He seems to have made the right impression on Mike Tomlin and should definitely have earned his roster spot. Mike Tomlin said that all of his cuts will be done today (Friday) even though they do not have to be done until Saturday.

Oh yeah, if you didn't know, the Steelers beat the Carolina Panthers 21-10. Ryan Mundy (one of our favorites) even had an interception return for a touchdown. Issac Redman scored yet another touchdown and is making it awfully hard for Mike Tomlin to turn him away.

See you later for the final cuts.

NHL Awards

No surprises here, Ovie took the Hart and Lester B. Pearson awards. Geno got the best of them all though in the Stanley Cup so we don't think he's too bummed. He was presented last night with the Art Ross trophy for leading the league in scoring. His thank yous (and Ovie's amazing humor):

What's up with Ovie's pants?!

If you didn't watch the awards or couldn't, don't feel bad. We sat through the whole thing and well...not too exciting. Especially the so-called musical performances. The best parts of the night were by far Geno's fabulous English and an Ovie advertisement for NHL 2K10. We tried to find the latter on YouTube but no one else thought it was as funny as we did for some reason. Basically he says something along the lines of "NHL 2K10 on the Wii is a party, that's why I'm on the cover." Only in broken English. We laughed for a good couple minutes on that one. Probably because of the lack of entertainment of the awards, but we still laughed. You take what you can get.

Big Ben even made an appearance in the form of a pre-taped video. Kinda sucked:

Max Talbot and Dan Bylsma joined Geno at the awards, including bringing in the Stanley Cup. Where was Sidney Crosby?

Geno and who we're assuming is his woman:

(All photos by Getty)

Post-Gazette coverage on the awards, including a few quotes from Geno on the awards and his summer plans.

Dan Bylsma got a congratulatory phone call from President Barack Obama. Sounds pretty awesome to answer the phone and hear "please hold for the President."

Pens take Game 1

(AP)

What a way to start a series. A win and a big game from Marc-Andre Fleury. We don't think the Pens played their best game but they held on to beat the Canes 3-2. By no means are we saying they played badly, we just feel they have more in them, especially from the defense.

(AP)

The Staals would start the game on the ice together. In case you didn't know, they're brothers. Remember that. The game started out fast, no easing into this series. Both teams had chances and both goalies were good, especially MAF. He was sharp early and the game could have easily gone the Canes way by one or two goals without those awesome saves. How he does it we'll never know because we'll never have that flexibility or athleticism.

The Canes would take two penalties back-to-back to give the Pens four minutes with the man-advantage but the Pens wouldn't score. Then it was the Canes turn on the power play. Fleury would make some amazing saves to keep the score 0-0. Miroslav Satan would come out of the box and get the puck on a breakaway leaving him one-on-one against Cam Ward. We kind of held our breath and to be honest, didn't expect a goal there. But wow, what a move by Satan to score on Ward. Pens up 1-0.

(AP)

Geno decided that one goal wasn't enough for the Pens. A little over a minute later Geno would put a backhander behind Ward to make the game 2-0 just like that. Mom and Dad were proud. Please tell us they'll be in Carolina too.

(AP)

Marc-Andre Fleury was still on in the second period when he made another big save. But you knew the Canes were going to score eventually and they did with a little under seven minutes left in the second period. Pens up 2-1. But a little over two minutes later and you're getting nervous because it appeared the Canes scored again to tie the game. Not so fast. You can't come to the net and completely run over a defenseman and force him into the goalie and then score. Goaltender interference was called as it should have been. No goal. The Pens would have a power play but no goal.

This is where things get more fuzzy. We take notes or we'd be able to write nothing now because we'd forget pretty much everything. But then we start to suck at taking notes and have to think, WTF happened? Yeah, we know, fail. We should just live blog every game, we might be better at that.

As for some things we remember, Geno had a breakaway with over twelve minutes left in the third and was denied by Cam Ward. Unfortunately this wasn't much of a surprise because Geno, for whatever reason, just isn't good at one-on-one situations. Maybe he should just do the whole slapshot from in close like in last year's playoffs against Philly and work on that over the summer. We still love you Geno.

The Pens would get a power play and keep their streak of scoring a power play goal in six, now seven, straight games alive. Philippe Boucher would score to put the Pens up 3-1. The Pens would give the Canes a power play with a little over two minutes left in the game. Not a good move. This is the Canes team that likes to score big goals late, no need to give them more opportunity. Unfortunately they would get another goal to cut the lead to 3-2 with a little over a minute left. Fortunately, the Pens held the Canes off and won 3-2.

Series 1-0 Pens. Looks good to us.

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 3, Hurricanes 2

- The game was pretty entertaining with some fast hockey but we don't think we saw the best out of the Pens. We won't speak on the Canes because we haven't watched them enough, but it's not like they played badly. The Pens defense could be a bit better and we expect the power play to look better as the series goes on. We also felt there were a few lazy, sloppy issues but nothing alarming by any means.

- Baseball is going to drive us absolutely nuts. We had to wait for what felt like forever for the Pirates game to end and then the post-game show to end. It's now midnight and the Pens post-game show just got over. We know people still like the Pirates and we always watch how they're doing, but when there's playoff hockey going on, we don't want to see Pirates baseball. Yeah, they beat the worst team in the NL, congrats. And even better yet, there's baseball Thursday and Saturday for the next games. Yee-haw! Just turn over to FSN after the game for the Pens post-game. Yeah right.

- Were we the only ones who saw a few "dirty" things going on? It wasn't a lot and we suppose it happens all the time but we guess we're in the mindset that we're not playing the Flyers or even the Caps. We should probably feel lucky for that.

- A little bit on the same line, Eric Staal decided to shove Fleury's stick away more than once before they scored their goal. Most people, including Fleury, thought that should have been a penalty. Yeah, we know, they can't catch them all but if it leads to a goal it's a little upsetting.

- We'll have to find the video of Marc-Andre Fleury in the post-game press conference. What an accent first of all, and second he was a little confused on whether to use the word bum when describing that late save on Eric Staal. No guarantees on tonight though, we have to go soon.

- Big Ben was in the house praising Sidney Crosby. Was it just us or did Ben look...a little chubby in the face? Someone been eating too much cheesecake? James Farrior was also in the house but of course Versus wouldn't show you that. Seth said in his live blog that Ben got a nice applause but Farrior received the better of the two. Hmmm? The Steelers, minus James Harrison, will head to the White House on Thursday. If you haven't read his quotes on this, we'll try to find them later. Kind of weird and doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Pens coverage at Post-Gazette

How are we supposed to wait until Thursday for the next game?! What a cruel schedule.

Go Pens!

We Made It! Pens beat Lightning 6-4

The Pens made it! They clinched a playoff spot by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-4. They were making it look easy until they decided to give up a goal. And then another one. And another one. And another one. A tad embarrassing, but we'll take it. Although it's not time to let go of leads, no game is really over until the clock says 0:00 in the third period. Nonetheless, the Pens are heading to the post-season and Geno collected a couple of points (thank goodness). Crosby also got his 100th point of the season, putting both him and Geno over that mark.

The first period ended without either team scoring a goal and things were just kind of eh. Nothing all too exciting going on that period. The best thing we saw was a shot off the post to Fleury's left and he gave that post some lovin'. A little rub, a couple of taps for his beloved post. Say it with us now, AWWWWW!

The second period things started heating up. The Pens had a power play early and ended up with 1:30 of 5-on-3 time. NOTHING! C'mon Pens, that can't happen. With 15:00 left in the second, Fedotenko scores a nice goal with the assists going to Kennedy and Staal. Pens up 1-0.

Edited to add:

There were a couple of penalties and a 4 on 4 in there before the Pens would score on a power play with Crosby scoring a goal, assists to Malkin and Kunitz. Pens up 2-0. It wouldn't take Sid long to get on the scoreboard again when he scored another power play goal about a minute after the first one with assists going to Malkin and Kunitz yet again. Pens up 3-0. Pens had to kill another 5-on-3 but no problems there.

The third is where it got interesting. A little over a minute into the period, the Pens would score again with Matt Cooke punching in a rebound just before getting hit with a high stick. Letang and Staal get the assists on that one, Pens up 4-0. The David Koci decided he would have some "fun." He checked Max Talbot into the boards and then decided to put him in a headlock. Talbot skated down ice and Koci decided to follow and do a little cross-checking. Then Eric Godard decided that was enough and got the best of Koci in a fight.

Then the Pens started losing their lead. The Pens were on a power play and the Lightning get a shorthanded goal. The Pens were up 4-0 and one goal is obviously not the end of the world but a shorthanded goal? That just felt so wrong and it was only the beginning. Martin St. Louis would score on a nice give-and-go with Steven Stamkos. You had to admit that was pretty. Then less than a minute later, they would score again when Marc-Andre Fleury is run into and is forced off balance. Score is now 4-3 and it's time to worry. You didn't have to worry too long though because Sykora finally got his 300th career goal two minutes later to put the Pens up by two, 5-3. 

The Lightning just wouldn't go away though and scored yet another goal with 40.6 seconds left in the game to make it a one goal game yet again. But with 12.5 seconds left in the game, Jordan Staal out-skated Stamkos to get to the puck and score into an empty net. At least Staal could get it into the empty net. Pens win 6-4 and clinch a playoff spot. Playoffs here we come!

The Pens made us nervous and let up a four goal lead, not exactly soothing by any means, but they did clinch a playoff spot. That trip to the playoffs is something none of us thought was going to happen just a short time ago. With only two games left in the regular season, we can't even digest the thought of the Pens being out of the playoffs. Thank goodness for Dan Bylsma. 

Game recap

Aftermath: Playoff Bound

Pens will play again on Thursday at home against the New York Islanders. This will be fan appreciation night which means the shirt off our backs promotion. Wish we could be there for that one. The Islanders just got beat by Carolina last night 9-0. Yes, you read that right. Geno needs to get as many points as possible that night. Ovie, you're going down!

We couldn't resist mentioning this one. The Pens post-game show on FSN mentioned that Ben Roethlisberger is one of nine finalists to make it on the cover of Madden '10. The "winner" will be announced the day of the NFL draft. We can only hope he's so lucky as to NOT win this prize. He has a questionable O-line, he really doesn't need the "Madden curse" too.

Go Pens!

Malk-a-rama, Pens WIN!

(Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)

Wow, what a game. Or more like what a third period. After the second period, we were ready to get on here and start bitching about how many people on the ice were just plain sucking it up last night. And how the Pens were once again losing to a team that should be below them. We even entertained the idea of not watching past the second period but we just couldn't do it. No matter how the game is, we'll still watch, and we're glad we did last night.

(AP)

Jeff Reed dropped the ceremonial puck at last night's game and got a nice applause. You could tell Jeff was all into it, which was nice. Another member of the six-time Super Bowl Champion Steelers was also there as Mario Lemieux's guest. You guessed it, Big Ben. He looked like he was enjoying himself. 

(AP)

The Pens sure didn't come out on fire by any means and it was looking like the Pens we've seen a lot lately. Slow, lazy, and unmotivated. It seemed like another one of those games and after three Tampa Bay goals in two periods and no Pens goals, the slump was looking to continue.

One positive from those first two periods was the four minute power play that Tampa Bay had early in the game that the Pens managed to kill. There were a few good chances for the Pens, especially a five on three in the second period that didn't register too many shots and no goal. For the most part we thought most everyone looked pretty crappy, especially Satan and Whitney. Sidney Crosby doesn't appear to be at full speed either. We're not going to say it's lack of trying or it's a mental issue because Sid has never shown that in the past, so we're guessing the knee isn't 100%.

Then came the third period when Malkin decided that all this bullshit was over and it was time to show up and play. We've thought he's been the most intense and best player on the ice for some time, but tonight he turned it up another notch, which is almost scary. There is no doubt in our mind that Geno is the best player in the world right now. Period.

Malkin started off the scoring soon into the third period with 17:35 left. Geno stole the puck and got the goal to Dupuis who hit the post and the puck just sat in the crease. Geno didn't give up, saw the puck and put it into the net, 3-1 Tampa Bay. With 5:54 left in the third, Mark Eaton decided to get in on the fun and score a goal himself with the assist going to Petr Sykora. The Pens got a good break on that one as a TB player was attempting to send the puck around the boards when it hit the official's skate and gave the Pens a good bounce, 3-2 TB.

With 5:07 left to play in the game, Gary Roberts took a roughing penalty after hitting Matt Cooke in the head. Thank you GR! With 3:29 left, Sykora sends one home to tie the game at three with assists from Geno and Sid. The rest of the period ended to send the game into overtime, but not before Fleury would make a key save to keep it tied.

In overtime, Max Talbot didn't give up on a puck that was underneath Tampa goalie Mike McKenna and poked it into the net. GOAL! Or not. The whistle had blow, so no goal. Back to work. There were some decent chances for each team, but if you thought anyone other than Geno was going to end this game, you'd be nuts. With only a few more seconds left on the clock, Malkin the beast put the puck through McKenna's five hole and game over! Geno's celebration was a good one, and well deserved after all the work he put into that game.

It was nice to see Geno rally the troops like that. How can you not step up when he does? It would be embarrassing not to. Someone needed to light a fire under their ass and it was obviously Geno. He more than deserves that 'A' on his chest. Geno said the team talked after the second period and said, "Let's go, guys, we have to shoot the puck." Smart man he is. Look at what happened when they got pucks to the net, they scored. That's how you win hockey games. Geno also said, "I'm mad because we're losing." It's about time someone gets mad over losing. Let's hope that this time, this is the turnaround that the Pens need to string some wins together and move up in the standings to get a playoff spot. We want to be watching hockey into the summer.

Game recap

Aftermath: Pens vs. Lightning

Malkin's Heroics Resurrect Victory

Malkin produces much-needed victory and quite possibly saves the season

Penguins Notebook: Gonchar encouraged after skate

The Pens next game is against the Columbus Blue Jackets at home at 7:30 on Friday. Time for back to back wins! Let's Go Pens!

I'm Going to Disney World!

(Associated Press)

How random that we type the title and start uploading the picture that the Steelers version of the Disney commercial with the famous, "I'm going to Disney World!" quote comes on. We turned on the Disney Channel about 30 minutes ago and there it was. Yes, we know it's the Disney Channel but it's your best chance of seeing the ad on TV and we were obviously right, it only took 30 minutes. But lucky for you, the commercial is already on YouTube so you can watch it right here:

There will be no official recap from us, we were too pumped to take notes. And notes are the only way we can semi-coherently come up with a recap because we have a bad memory. But obviously we can't forget James Harrison's 100-yard interception return for a touchdown or Santonio Holmes' amazing toe-dragging reception for the game-winning touchdown. The following are our thoughts on the game and all that surrounded it.

- How big was James Harrison's interception?! It doesn't get a whole lot bigger than that. It was no surprise that the biggest play on defense was by James Harrison, but who would have thought it would be an interception on the goal line that was taken back 100 yards for a touchdown. Who knew the big man could run like that? That play couldn't have been any better as the Cardinals were prepared to tie or go up just before the half and James Harrison just runs in there and picks it off. Wow. Saving a touchdown was enough for excitement, and then to see the big man run 100 yards and score a touchdown?! Insane. How someone didn't bring him down we'll never know, but just wow.

- The other big play of the game obviously being Santonio Holmes' fingertip, toe-dragging catch with 35-seconds left in the game to put the Steelers ahead 27-23. That entire drive was amazing, with Big Ben going to Holmes on several occasions, including a 40-yard gain. We're sitting there thinking that this really wasn't happening, being down 27-23 with just over two minutes to play and the Steelers not being very successful in the red zone as of late. But if anyone could do it, it'd be Big Ben and obviously "Tone." That catch will be replayed for years to come, and with good reason. Three defenders closing in on him and the game on the line after he failed to catch a pass in the opposite corner of the endzone and here it comes again. CAUGHT! Absolutely insane. How receivers drag those feet we'll never understand, let alone a beautiful catch on top of it. Big time player in a big time game. We can't wait to see him develop even more. That catch was also made with 35 seconds left on the clock, the same time as Plaxico Burress' catch in last year's Super Bowl to put the Giants over the Patriots. Ironic huh?

- After that catch, Holmes had himself a little celebration. We can't remember exactly when we saw it during the NBC broadcast because we remember being surprised by it since it wasn't shown right away. All that was shown at first was Holmes sitting down cradling the ball and his teammates coming over to celebrate. Later, we saw his homage to Lebron James. We heard that people were confused as to what he was doing, suggestion hot sauce, ketchup, and something about a rabbit. Huh?! No, it was the chalk routine of Lebron James. A lot of you have probably seen the commercial on TV, but if you haven't, we'll post it here. As for the fact that people were complaining that Holmes didn't get a 15-yard penalty, we figure by the time he did it, they were reviewing the play and/or not paying attention. It happens. As for the celebration, we liked it. Although we do hope Holmes is a little more careful in the future, we also saw him celebrating a first down when he should have been quickly getting to the line of scrimmage. It's about the team, not you.

First, Lebron:

Then Holmes:

Nice.

- We definitely can't forget Big Ben. Ben had a great night and was a completely different player than in Super Bowl XL. He did have one interception in his stats, but that was in no way his fault. Even if he would have sucked the entire rest of the game, that game-winning drive was amazing. You can talk about Tom Brady and Peyton Manning all you want, but we'll take Ben Roethlisberger. He in no way gets the credit he deserves. People try to say he only manages games, but quarterbacks that just manage games don't have as many game winning drives as Big Ben, let alone in the Super Bowl. Maybe people will finally put him up there in the elite class that he deserves. With two minutes left in the game and you're down, we'll take Big Ben any day. And to those who claim he's hurt a lot or is a drama king, we'd like to see you take as many hits as he has and feel great. Yeah, don't think so.

- Speaking of Big Ben, he was on David Letterman last night and he was pretty funny. It was a nice time and you should check it out here:

- We're sure some of you have thought of this too, especially after Mike Tomlin mentioned it, but Larry Fitzgerald streaming down the middle of the field and scoring a touchdown with just over two minutes left was the best thing that could have happened at that point. Yes, we said it, it was the best thing that could have happened. Had the Cardinals not scored that fast, but continued to drive down the field and eventually score (and the way they looked, they were going to score), Big Ben and the Steelers wouldn't have had enough time for a two minute drill. In the end, maybe we should thank Larry for running so fast and Ike Taylor for missing that tackle, because in the end, it all turned out okay. Mike Tomlin said, if they had to score, he was glad they scored fast. Definitely.

- Overall the game was a great one. We should have known that it wouldn't threaten to give everyone heart attacks. There was definitely no better way to end the game than with Tone's touchdown and LaMarr Woodley's fumble. This is a game people will be remembering for a very long time and being one of the best Super Bowls. We feel we can't say that since we haven't seen nearly enough Super Bowls to say so, although out of the ones we have watched, this was the best. Woo!

We're definitely jealous of those of you in the 'Burgh. Between Sunday night's celebration in the streets and the victory parade tomorrow, we really wish we'd been/be there. We were there during the Steelers' last Super Bowl and went to Dick's Sporting Goods after the game to get t-shirts and hats and it was one of the coolest experiences ever with hundreds of other people chanting "here we go Steelers, here we go." People were all really nice and not rude or pushing or shoving like you might expect in such a crowded area. Granted there was some destruction in the celebrations Sunday night, but plenty of people had a lot of fun. We're going to have to wait for our Super Bowl Champs shirts.

Post-Gazette Steelers coverage

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