Beer We Go Steelers

 Tom Brady simply owned the Steelers on Sunday night. The opening drive set the tone and the Patriots never looked back as they soundly beat the Steelers. The Black and Gold simply had no answers for the Patriots on any level. Bill Belichick’s record is 22-2 when following a loss and you can see they had the perfect game plan. The Steelers strength is stopping the run so they simply just passed and passed and passed and then passed some more. 

It was an all around beat down that the Steelers really had no answers for. The Patriots O-line stoned the Steelers pass rush as they barely got one lick on Brady throughout the game. No pass rush and a confused secondary equals the worst beat down at Heinz field that I can remember. I spoke with Captain Tailgate all game and he stayed until the bitter end. It was just an AWFUL night for the Steelers. 

The Steelers were actually able to move the ball pretty well when the left side of the line wasn’t being caved in by the Patriots pass rush. Jonathon Scott had a very rough night and didn’t hold his own replacing Max Starks. He wasn’t even close as he made Tully Banta-Cain looked like the second coming of Greg Lloyd. 

The Steelers simply didn’t make any plays. Losing Hines Ward was huge and that snapped his catch streak adding insult to injury. There were two huge drops in the End Zone that kept the Steelers from being competitive. Every time the Steelers managed to get close the Patriots would just score and pull away again. Jeff Reed is officially a question mark now as he missed yet another Field Goal! 

You have to give credit where it is due and Tom Brady was a surgeon cutting the Steelers secondary to ribbons. Rob Gronkowski (Pitt Native) who has been a disappointment all year absolutely killed the Steelers. Bill Belichick proved why he is considered the best coach of this era.  

So while I agree that right now the Steelers are falling back to the pack, the Captain and I are not ready to pack in our Terrible Towels. First off it is hard to say that this is a “formula” on how to beat the Steelers. No other team has Tom Brady, so it is hard to see Jason Campbell or Ryan Fitzpatrick doing this. I also would like to think that the Steelers will make adjustments too.  I am not counting out Coach LeBeau or our Super Bowl winning Head Coach Mike Tomlin!

There is some reason for optimism and I did take a glimmer of hope out of the game. Ben who played the first half in cement shoes looks a hundred times better in the second half. Believe me, I realize the numbers are garbage in garbage time but, he actually made adjustments from the blitz as opposed to doing something dumb or just getting clobbered. Emmanuel Sanders and Mike Wallace played well and if they both continue to develop they will be a force to be reckoned with. I though Mendenhall played well and I wish he had an opportunity to actually run. The Steelers were behind by so much so early we didn’t get to see what he can do.

In my other life I am a die hard Yankees Fan so my disaste for New England is double fold. This just really, really ruined my weekend! 

It was a terrible week and now we welcome the rejuvenated Oakland Raiders! I was at the game last year and that truly marked the end of the season for the Steelers. By far this was the worse game I had ever been to at Heinz field as the Steelers blew three fourth quarter leads! I had awesome seats and sat in the end zone in the front row and nearly tackled the Louis Murphy the game winning receiver. The Raiders Center wanted to punch me out because I called him a dirty hippie, apparently that is frowned upon in The Black Hole. I was supposed to go this game but I am traveling this week, so it will be Nathaniel’s in Rochester for me! If you come in an mention the site I will buy you a beer! 

All kidding aside the next two weeks are MUST WINS! BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO! 

My “GAME BEER” goes to: I seriously contemplated not giving a game beer out this week! At the end of the day though I am giving it to Mike Wallace! Wallace had a monster game despite a very costly drop. Again, everyone makes mistakes the great ones learn from them and move on!  

Where I watched the game: At my house while texting frantically with Captain Tailgate! I just got a projector and 82 inch movie screen which was great until I through my drink at it! Thanks allot Tom Brady!  

My thoughts on Next Week: This is a must win to exercise the demons of last year. I wrote last week that it isn’t last year anymore. It isn’t and I expect the Steelers to beat the Raiders pretty handily. I wouldn’t want to be Oakland this week after what Coach Tomlin is going to do to these boys this week.