Raider Karma

Ravens win and their in, should be simple enough, after all this week’s game is kind of a gimme... Just don’t tell that to the; Buccaneers, Bengals, Steelers or Broncos…

One year ago the Raiders made a HUGE impact on the playoffs when they beat the Buccaneers in the season finale. The Bucs had everything to play for and that loss knocked them out of the playoffs and simultaneously gave a post season ticket to the Eagles who would use it well and advance to NFC title game.

Earlier this year the Bengals fell flat against the silver and black, and then it was the Steelers and finally the Broncos. The last two were on the road no less. The Steelers and Broncos have no excuses, both were critical games and in the Steelers case they had recently lost to the Chiefs so they shouldn’t have been looking past anybody.

The Raiders style of play coupled with the Ravens own style should keep the game fairly low scoring and therefore somewhat in doubt late into the game. The Ravens absolutely should win; I just won’t be shocked if they don’t.

 

Odds Schmods!

Was there any doubt that we’d be in this spot?

If you thought the season would end any other way, you clearly have not been paying attention. Here’s what will happen this weekend;

Steelers will beat Dolphins
Patriots will beat the Texans
Broncos will beat the Chiefs

I am fairly certain that the Ravens will beat the Raiders, but I have another post coming on that topic.

That leaves the Bengals vs Jets to determine our fate… on Sunday night no less. Last game of the regular season.

Conventional wisdom has the Jets playing much harder than the Bengals especially since Cincinnati will be locked into the #4 seed come kickoff time. I remember in ’89 when we needed the Vikings to beat the Bengals on Monday night (last game of the regular season) for us to get in. This time we need Cinci to come out on top, but the circumstances are very similar.

One other thing… If the Bengals lose to the Jets this week they are almost assured of getting them right back in the Wild Card Round. They will of course know this, and do they really want to face a team that JUST beat them? Now the Bengals have not played well of late, but I think they are a slightly better team than the Jets and I’m hoping that talent will win on this day.

If the Bengals pull it off, we’ll have a date with New England. I’ll be the first to say; I hate that matchup, but I’ll take it to get in.

The end is a new beginning...

As time ticks down, Ben scans the field, looking for someone, anyone. Finally he sees a window and lets it go, the pass is perfect, two hands clutch the ball, and two toes tap the turf… just barely inbounds. Steelers Win!

The receiver was Santonio Holmes, the game of course was the Super Bowl. That play capped a magical season where the Steelers simply would not be denied. Flash forward ten months, the receiver was also Mike Wallace and that game of course happened just yesterday. That eerily similar play officially ended a five game slide where the Steelers did everything but gift wrap victories for their opponents.

Could that one play be the start of a new season? Will it infuse the team with a confidence that has been the most crucial of all the missing ingredients? Don’t think so? Don’t laugh, I’m serious.

After six games the Tennessee Titans were 0-6 and had just been shellacked by the Patriots. At that point they were losing games because of a secondary that was decimated by injury which resulted in a fading confidence in all other aspects of their game. When they won that first game after their bye I said, “watch the Titans, they are going to be very good in the second half”. I felt that way because that team was so obviously better than their record and that one win provided just a spark of confidence. That is all a good team needs.

That is what the Steelers got on Sunday. If they win the last two, they will need just a little help and they are in the playoffs. If that happens, all bets are off and I am sure of this; nobody wants to see Pittsburgh in the post season.

Steel Sieve

The vaunted Steelers defense? The Cardinals exposed the Steelers Achilles heal last February and others have been doing it all year… Passing at will. Look, Pittsburgh can still defend the run, but why even try to run the Steelers when throwing is just soooo easy.

The question, “how can Troy make such a huge difference to this defense?” has been asked innumerable times and I think I finally have the answer.

He doesn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, Troy is our best defender, but he hardly makes this an elite pass defense. Rather he takes the Steelers from terrible to marginal, but that difference is significant because all we needed for this season to have been drastically different are a couple extra stops per game. Do you really think that either KC or Oakland carves us up in the fourth quarter with Troy in there? Me neither.

The bottom line is this is a unit with some major holes and those holes have been exposed.

AFC "Wild"Card Race

Why oh why can't the Steelers just be mathematically eliminated already???

With three games to go there are seven, yes seven teams within one game of the last spot. Who is going to get it? I still claim that Jacksonville and the Dolphins are pretenders, the Texans schedule is too tough and the Titans are just not quite there.

That leave realistically the Jets and the Ravens, I think both will finish 9-7. Based on current conference records the Ravens would get the last spot. I'm going to say that B-More will in fact get the 6th seed. Even if the Steelers win out, they lose out on tie breaks with those two teams.

Ain't the size of the dawg in the fight...

its the size of the fight in the dawg(pound).

Cleveland deserved to win this game. The Steelers played like their season was already over and whataya know? Self fulling prophecy comes true!

The O-Line was pathetic (can you think of a better word), Ben didn't have his usual urgency to avoid the rush, Mendendall wasn't hitting the holes (were there holes?) with power and seemingly nobody wanted to make a tackle.

Never seen the black and gold mail it in like that.

Hines is right, the last three are for pride. Screw the playoffs, to a man the Steelers need to prove they care. In short, they need to play like the, um, Browns.

No heart... no heartbeat

They have stopped caring, so why shouldn't I?

Nobody is good to enough overcome a lack of effort. The Steelers stopped believing in themselves before their fans did, but now we are all of the same mind. Season over, you get what you deserve.

When you play with no heart, you can not survive.

Browns Super Bowl

The Browns are in the Super Bowl… well kind of.

Their season is lost and at 1-11 they have nothing to play for except for; a high draft pick, a brand new front office, head coach, oh and of course to beat the Steelers. With losses to the Chiefs and Raiders in the last four weeks the Steelers must seem vulnerable to Cleveland. If they win the game they can effectively end the season for their arch rival, certainly a nice consolation prize. If they lose it’s just one more loss.

My guess is that the Steelers will come out fast and bury the Brownies early. If that doesn’t happen and the Browns keep it close, I’m going to have to shut my eyes for the fourth quarter.

Kethchup Colored Glasses?

I know, I know, the popular sentiment is that the Steelers season is over, they’re toast, turn out the lights the party’s over. So why must I continue my torture by believing that all is not lost?

Am I some sort of masochist? Not last I checked.

Am I that much of a blind homer? Quite possibly.

But mostly I think it’s in the facts…

When you look at this team vs the other teams in the hunt it is impossible for me to give the edge to any of them; both on talent and remaining schedule. I mean really; Jacksonville just is not very good, they face a difficult schedule to close the season and they are the only team in front of the Steelers for the 6^th seed. If they lose twice, the door is open. If we win out we will eliminate both Baltimore and Miami, then we just have to hope for one Jets loss and we are in.

Sounds good, but I know what you are thinking. How in the world can we expect this team to win their last four? Well, I do and here’s why… We have outplayed virtually every opponent this year, we’ve had a ton of late game let downs yes, but we are one blowout win, or one big defensive stop away from regaining our swagger. We get Green Bay after a long week of rest and we get the Ravens at home with a healthy Big Ben.

I hate that we are fighting for a six seed, but we are still fighting. In my crystal ball I see a matchup with Cinci in the Wild Card round and I for one am excited about that possibility. When we win that game, looks like we’ll get Indy in the divisional round, hmmm that seems oddly familiar.

I say put on your ketchup colored glasses, jump in your Delorean and set the date for 2005, gonna be a fun ride.

Steelers remain unbeaten

That is what the headline could have read.

That's right; despite injuries, less than stellar play and unimaginative play calling the Steelers season could have easily been something else entirely.

Week one of the season the Steelers struggle against the Titans, but pull it out in OT. This is one of only two games Pittsburgh has been outplayed in.

In weeks two and three Steelers give up a combined 24 pts in the fourth quarter, score zero and lose both games at the gun.

They rip off the next five games, only being seriously challenged once (by the Vikings).

During the current four game losing streak the Steelers gave up the last six points vs the Bengals. Dominated the box score against the Chiefs, darn near pulled off a win in Baltimore with a 3rd string QB and gave up 21 points to the Raiders... IN THE FOURTH QUARTER!

All 12 games have been winnable, ten of which should have been won. I don' think you can overstate the value of confidence. The Saints and Colts have both had multiple games this year that they should have lost, but they found a way to win. Pittsburgh was closer than you think to being right there too.

Goin thru Hell

If you're goin thru hell keep on going... Tomlin said we'd unleash hell in December, just didn't realize it was going to be on the fans.

That was one of the biggest defensive meltdowns by ANY team in recent memory. Let alone for the Steelers vs the offensive juggernaut that is the Raiders. Unbelievable how valuable Aaron Smith and Troy are to this team, scary in fact.