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I'll spare you this year the blow-by-blow recount of every Steeler game. I lack the time and, to an extent, the inclination. I'll just do a quick recap:

Not a bad start, except that Polamalu is out half the season if we're lucky and all season if we're not. Plus the offensive line still needs work. Granted Big Ben is a competent enough passer, very accurate, and that Ward and Holmes are very good, the team still needs a good running game. The backs are there, but the line isn't quite.

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There's time for a few observations:

1) Roethlisberger is behind only Tom Brady in yards gained passing. That's ludicrous. I hope it doesn't last. It'd be one thing if the Steelers were turning into a passing team. It's quite another that they ahve to pass because they can't run.

2) Denver fans probably sighed with relief. Don't. It was a fluke.

3) Chicago proves that Cuttler made the wrong choice. Maybe he just hada bad game, maybe the Bears are the team where QBs go to die. You can't tell from one game, of course. But Mr. Cutler threw four picks tot eh defense. Nasty.

4) Some disappointment was bound to be heard in Miami and Arizona. I'm sure fans there did expect their teams to get off to a good start. Thay may do that yet, or maybe they just had an exceedingly good last year. Too soon to know.

5) The Cowboys showed good form (who said that?). They played well (who keeps saying these things?), too. But they're still the team most likely to be eliminated in thei first playoff game, assuming they get that far (ah, that's better).

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There's time for a few observations:

5) The Cowboys showed good form (who said that?). They played well (who keeps saying these things?), too. But they're still the team most likely to be eliminated in thei first playoff game, assuming they get that far (ah, that's better).

:ninja::lol::nuke:

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1) Roethlisberger is behind only Tom Brady in yards gained passing. That's ludicrous. I hope it doesn't last. It'd be one thing if the Steelers were turning into a passing team. It's quite another that they ahve to pass because they can't run.

Without Troy Polamalu they won't be a tackling team neither.

3) Chicago proves that Cuttler made the wrong choice. Maybe he just hada bad game, maybe the Bears are the team where QBs go to die. You can't tell from one game, of course. But Mr. Cutler threw four picks tot eh defense. Nasty.

A lot of that was the receivers fault. He wouldn't have done any better in Denver anyways.

5) The Cowboys showed good form (who said that?). They played well (who keeps saying these things?), too. But they're still the team most likely to be eliminated in thei first playoff game, assuming they get that far (ah, that's better).

My rule of thumb is that if you don't have anything bad to say about the Cowboys then don't say anything at all.

My Seachickens did exceptionally well....maybe not the first quarter. I know it was against St Louis but any blow out in the NFL is worth celebrating.

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Without Troy Polamalu they won't be a tackling team neither.

Polamalu is perhaps the best defensive player since Jack Lambert, but he's not the entire defense. As long as Dick Lebeau is ok, the defense will do well enough.

My rule of thumb is that if you don't have anything bad to say about the Cowboys then don't say anything at all.

That's just common sense.

My Seachickens did exceptionally well....maybe not the first quarter. I know it was against St Louis but any blow out in the NFL is worth celebrating.

Oh, Seattle is the league's most promising team. They've been promising to be a good team since their inception :lol:

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Right, the loss of Polamalu isn't going to ruin the Steelers in the interim. They are still a hard-hitting, low-blow dealing, powerful defense. I'm glad Minnesota plays them a week prior to playing the Pack. It'll take more than a week to recover.

You can't blame all of Cutler's interceptions on his wide outs. Kyle Orton has better decision-making skills than him, and Green Bay's ability to intercept probably got better this year. How about a on-handed interception by that tubby D-lineman, Jolly? Cutler threw the ball right to him, and he was only 2 or 3 yards away. We'll see if that ever happens again.

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Sigh. ....................... D'kian, after the Cowboys win today, I hope you do a little break down of the game like you did last week.

Unlikely. Too much work stacked on deck for next week.

But if the Cowboys do humiliate themselves in the regular season grand opening of the best stadium without a worthy team, I may find time for a post or two. If.

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Unlikely. Too much work stacked on deck for next week.

But if the Cowboys do humiliate themselves in the regular season grand opening of the best stadium without a worthy team, I may find time for a post or two. If.

So, you're going to cover the Cowboys the way CNN covers covers capitalist causes. No protest here, let's talk about something else.

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So, you're going to cover the Cowboys the way CNN covers covers capitalist causes. No protest here, let's talk about something else.

Oh, no. Not at all. There are lots of differences:

1) I don't claim to be a journalist

2) I freely (and gladly) admit to being biased against the Dallas Cowboys

3) We're talking about the Cowboys here, not something important

So: way to inaugurate a remarkable new stadium :P

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Oh, no. Not at all. There are lots of differences:

1) I don't claim to be a journalist

2) I freely (and gladly) admit to being biased against the Dallas Cowboys

3) We're talking about the Cowboys here, not something important

So: way to inaugurate a remarkable new stadium :P

It's just a game. :P

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It's just a game. :P

That's what I tell myself after the Steel Curtain shows such awful sings of corrosion (somehow I never tell myself that when the Steelers are winning the Superbowl).

So the defense suffered more from Polamalu's absence than I thought. Oh, surely the offense didn't exactly cover itself with glory, what with missing two FGs and not scoring at least one more touchdown, but the fact is Pittsburgh isn't supposed to let any team gain so many yards. But thye let the Bears and Cuttler have their way with short passes all day long.

But I'm still not worried. The season is young, Polamalu will be abck mid season, and Dick Lebeau(SP?) is the pre-eminent defensive genius of our age; hopefully he'll make it to Canton next year.

On the plus side the O line shows some improvement (over 100 yards gained on the ground), and Dallas and New England both lost.

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Go Broncos! (lol! Yeah, right, but gotta support the home team.) <_<

They're 2-0, new coach and new QB. This might be their year.

Then again, I forget whom they played.

About the Cowboys, I'll say this only once and I will deny ever having said it (you now what I mean):

They've bene overall a good organization, not up there with the Steelers (but then again, who is?) but they comapre favorably to the 49ers, the Dolphins and the Raiders. Many of their players deserved and got spots in the Hall of Fame. Tom Landry was one of the best head coaches of all time, and the one with the strongest presence in the sidelines. the original owner, Tex Schram, knew how to comercialize everything, he pretty much invented the modern cheerleading squad (and the man could bend Landry to his will, too).

But the Cowboys are not the best team ever (lots of other teams have more NFL championships, and in the modern era they've been playing catch-up with the Steelers), they are not everyone's favorite team, they are not America's team (that was a title tagline of one NFL Films retrospective), their cheerleaders are nothing special anymore. Football fans hate the Cowboys because the organization, and their fans, don't understand all this. They keep claiming an undeserved superiority over other teams, and that irks everyone. Hell, they keep claiming it when they ahve a QB that struggles all through December and the playoffs; they can't even pace themselves.

That's it. That's all I ahve to say about the Cowboys in general.

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Long story short, I think it would be best to accept, right now, that the Steelers are not going to repeat their NFL Championship this year. There, that wasn't so hard to say (yeah, right).

The loss against Chicago can be written off as a fluke. I mean, Reed missed twice, and that's rare. But actively snatching defeat from the jaws of victory against the Bengals is something else. First, the Steelers should ahve scored way more than 20 points, at least 30. Second, they had to score in their last 4th quarter possesion to secure teh game and didn't. Third, they had to stop the Bengals from fairly inside their own territory and, again, didn't; the defense didn't quite fall apart, but it wasn't the Second Coming of the Steel Curtain it was last year. This is aprticularly so when the Bengals horribly missmannaged the clock and won even so.

The O line has improved. Ben was sacked only once and Parker mannaged to run, with the ball. That's all good, but in one series they should have scored a touchdown and coulnd't quite do it. I think this would be a good time to trade Limas Swede for another O linesman. the receiving corps is otherwise really good, with Wallace taking up the rookie spot. Also, the Steelers would do well to offer Plaxico readmission once he's out of jail for his non-crime. Once a Steeler always a Steeler and all that.

Anyway, elsewhere in the League the throwback fad continued, this time fueled by the 50th anniversary of the founding of the old American Football League. So we got to see the Battle of the Titans, with the New York Jets wearing their old NY Titans uniform, and the Tennessee Titans wearing their old Houston Oilers uniform.

The Jets look really good this year, with Sanchez playing liek a very good rookie. But the Jets have looked good before early in the seaon, notably last year with Favre playing like a really good old pro. So I won't declare this is the Jets' year until they at least amke it to the AFC championship :) (ok, maybe if they win the AFC East).

The Broncos also look good, but it's also too early to tell. The Vikings, well, Favre showed why he's held in such high regard. A last minute comeback is always impressive, one without any timeouts is doubly so. If he can stay healthy, I give the Vikes an even-money chance of making the playoffs. The Bears (or Da Berz) are riding high on Cuttler for the time being, but remember the good fans of Chicago wanted to flay him after week one; wait and see. Lastly, judging by the Chief's performance it seems the Pats knew what they were doing by trading Cassel away. It's too early to crown Cassel as Mike Cruczek II, but that's the way to bet; again wait and see.

BTW, a three-game winning streak at the start of the season isn't a realiable indicator of future performance. But a 3-game loosing streak is. Very few teams who loose their first three games ever do well the rest of the season. That's why I'm writting off the Steelers, Dolphins and Titans from serious contention this year. I should write off the Cards, too, but they may be late bloomers.

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Oh, BTW, there were rumors that the Detroit Lions finally managed to snap their loosing streak by defeating the Redskins. I know Washington's been slumming these past few seasons, but I still find it hard to believe the Detroit Lions could beat anyone. I mean, there are no expansion teams, no scab teams, no sudden arrival of Pop Warner League teams into the NFL.

On the other hand maybe someone paid someone else to throw the game. We'll see.

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