Author Archive

Romo Roethlisberger Realities

Posted by on Monday, 7 October, 2013

It’s easy to rip on Romo. Lord knows, any good Steelers fan despises anything having to do with the Dallas Cowboys. But in the wake of Romo’s recent epic game and epic choke, the point was made that Romo never comes through in the clutch. The statistics seem to show otherwise, and I’d enjoy hearing arguments on this question.

Ben started his career with an unbelievable run, including five 4th quarter comebacks (4QC) and six game winning drives (GWD). He’s also had many amazing comebacks and drives since then, including many postseason stunners. But what has he done lately? In 2011 he had one 4QC and 1 GWD. Last year he had two 4QD and three GWD. So far this year, of course, he’s on a pace for zero and zero. (Roethlisberger GWDs)

In 2011, Romo had four 4QC and four GWD. Last year he had five of each. (Romo GWDs)

Maybe two years don’t make a trend, but in a league that craves instant gratification, the trend cannot be ignored.

Certainly the ability of the QB to mount heroic drives is not on the QB alone. He needs to have reliable targets who get open and go after the pass, and he needs to have at least a modicum of blocking assistance. Even so, as Ben would be the first to admit, he’s got to find a way to engineer 4th quarter drives without all the fumbles, picks, and overthrows we’ve been witnessing for the past couple of years.

Would I take Romo over Roethlisberger? No way, absolutely not. I know Ben can do it and hope he will get the mojo back. But if you look at the stats alone, he seems to have hit a ceiling.

Now, where did I put that asbestos suit?

Romo vs Roethlisberger

PG Chats

Posted by on Monday, 7 October, 2013

(Moved to menu at top of page.)

Home of the Steelers

Posted by on Sunday, 6 October, 2013
skyline-for-30_original

A great shot of a Pittsburgh sunset by Darrell Sapp / Post-Gazette. From the Ohio near Heinz Field.

 

Login Problems? (New Update)

Posted by on Friday, 4 October, 2013

[Update: although we still don’t have a fix for the login problem described below, and frankly we may never have a fix other than retrying 2-4 times, we do have a partial workaround. You no longer need to log in to participate in chat. If you can’t log in but want to share your comments, go ahead and do so. You won’t have an avatar or be able to send private messages or write articles unless you log in, but you can go ahead and chat.]

Some people are having log in issues. I am aware of two problems.

Problem #1 appears to be a bug in WordPress or one of its plug-ins. Sometimes when trying to log in you might get an error like this:

“An appropriate representation of the requested resource /wp/wp-login.php could not be found on this server.”

If you get this error, refresh the page and click retry or resend and it will usually work on the second or third try. Also, check the “Remember Me” checkbox so you don’t have to keep logging in. If you remain permanently logged in, you will never see the error again.

Sorry for the hassle. The offending plug-in is probably our chat system, and I don’t want to remove that!

Problem #2 has happened at least once where the user’s IP address was blocked by the host firewall, apparently due to too many login attempts over too short a period. If this happens, I need to have your IP address in order to get it cleared. Send me an email to let me know if you need help. The message for this type of problem looks something like this:

“Safari can’t open the page “http://steelballs.thenetmail.com/wp/” because the server where this page is located isn’t responding.”

If you don’t know your IP address, you can find it here.

PG+: A Documentary

Posted by on Thursday, 3 October, 2013

“That’s not a Man Cave… THIS is a Man Cave”

Posted by on Wednesday, 2 October, 2013

ScreenShot928

He Belongs in the HOF

Posted by on Tuesday, 1 October, 2013

A Lowly 10th Round Pick

And You Thought Football Was Tough…

Posted by on Friday, 27 September, 2013

Proud Rugby Goons

Comfort Food in Trying Times

Posted by on Saturday, 21 September, 2013

Here are some factoids to make you smile in these sometimes dark days. Which is the best team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger? (Data as of March 2012)

Most Wins – Steelers 429, Cowboys 413, Dolphins 405

Most Losses – Lions 390, Cardinals 384, Bengals 369

Highest Winning Percentage – Steelers .613, Dolphins .590, Cowboys .589

Most Regular Season Wins – Steelers 396, Dolphins 385, Cowboys 381

Most Playoff Berths – Steelers 26, Cowboys 26, Vikings 24

Most Division Titles – Steelers 20, 49ers 18, Cowboys 18

Most Playoff Wins – Steelers 33, Cowboys 32, 49ers 26

Most Super Bowl Appearances – Steelers 8, Cowboys 8, Patriots 7

Most Super Bowl Wins – Steelers 6, Cowboys 5, 49ers 4, Giants 4

Ratio of 5 or fewer losses vs 5 or fewer wins: Steelers 9.5, Dolphins 9, Vikings 4.67

Most All-Pros: 49ers 72, Steelers 69, Vikings 66

Most Winning Seasons: Steelers 31, Cowboys 30, Dolphins 29

Fewest Coaching Changes: Texans 1 (10 years), Steelers 2 (42 years), Ravens 2 (16 years) – next best for full 42 years is Cowboys with 7

Most Coaching Changes: Browns 15, Colts 15, Jets 15

Playoff wins in AFC Central: Steelers 33, others 27 (31 after last season)

NFL 2013 Rule Changes TC Video

Posted by on Friday, 16 August, 2013

Thanks to abennihana, here is an officiating video reviews the 2013 rule changes and points of emphasis, and is shown to all players in training camp.