Let's calm down guys.....

[NEPatriot]

Let's remember, Roethlisberger or not, the Fins lost to the Super Bowl Champs. That game right there showed that the Steelers are the real deal, they just might have the best D in football. Remember the thread about what we want our defense to be like ? I want it to be like what I saw tonite. The Fins aren't a horrible team, they just happened to lose to a very very good team. Charlie Batch looked good, and they have some nice weapons in Heath Miller, Hines Ward, and Willie Parker. Unless the injury bugs hits them hard, Pittsburgh will be very tough to beat this year. The Fins will be tough, they just lost to a better team tonite. And remember, they always give us trouble, whether they are 4-12 or 9-7.

I agree with you. But remember, not all of us are judging the season based on one game, which happens to be opening night. It's a long season, and as BB likes to state, you don't know what type of team you really have until Thanksgiving.

 

[Patriots4Ever]

Oh my frikin god are you serious??? Do you have any Idea hw much crap Pat fans have been talking since January of 02??? Good grief you're beyond belief!!

Given how we have played since January of O2..Id say we have any "Frikin" Right to do so..Dont you?

 

[JoeSixPat]

Let's remember, Roethlisberger or not, the Fins lost to the Super Bowl Champs.

Heck - the Steelers pretty much won the Super Bowl without much of a contribution from Roethlisberger too, didn't they?

Now I'm not sure if they brought the same referree crew or not but after Ben's SB performance, playing without him doesn't strike me as much of a loss

 

[godef]

Let's remember, Roethlisberger or not, the Fins lost to the Super Bowl Champs. That game right there showed that the Steelers are the real deal, they just might have the best D in football. Remember the thread about what we want our defense to be like ? I want it to be like what I saw tonite. The Fins aren't a horrible team, they just happened to lose to a very very good team. Charlie Batch looked good, and they have some nice weapons in Heath Miller, Hines Ward, and Willie Parker. Unless the injury bugs hits them hard, Pittsburgh will be very tough to beat this year. The Fins will be tough, they just lost to a better team tonite. And remember, they always give us trouble, whether they are 4-12 or 9-7.

If the 'phins expect to overtake the Pats this year, then they have to go into places like Pittsburgh and win those games when the opposing starting QB is out.

Facts are, Dante showed his true colors... tough, great athlete, but doesn't always make the greatest decisions (kinda reminds me of Steve Grogan). And Dullphans have been exhorting him as the great saviour.

 

[TruthSeeker]

If the 'phins expect to overtake the Pats this year, then they have to go into places like Pittsburgh and win those games when the opposing starting QB is out.

Facts are, Dante showed his true colors... tough, great athlete, but doesn't always make the greatest decisions (kinda reminds me of Steve Grogan). And Dullphans have been exhorting him as the great saviour.

It's ONE game. I'm not saying Daunte will bring them to the promised land, in fact I think they are a year or two away from possibly winning the AFC East, but they will be a good team, possibly make the playoffs. Culpepper is coming off a major knee injury, I don't expect him to be very good until he regains all of his strength in his knee. If the Dolphins do flounder (pardon the pun), I wouldn't be suprised if they still beat us in Miami, like I said, 4-12 or 9-7, they always play us tough. I think they are definately going in the right direction, they just happened to run into the Super Bowl Champs, who refused to lose, despite not having their starting QB. I actually think Batch looked more poised and way less erratic than Roethlisberger usually does in big games. It may be the first game of the season, but when you're playing a team that is supposed to be a possible playoff contender (home field in mind), and it's your season opener after winning the SB, it's a big game (see Pats-Colts season opener 2 season back).

 

[Patsgirl_DK]

The Miami Dolphins toughest game this year will be the embarrassing beat down at Foxboro.

Call me a homer but I tend to agree with you.

Don´t get me wrong. I think that the Steelers are a very, very good team but I wasn´t overly impressed with the them last night. I know it´s the first game of the season and that´s probably why. Their running D# was good when Miami ran the ball up the middle. But when they went on the outside or threw a short pass the Steelers were missing a lot of tackles. The Steelers usually don´t do that and neither did the 2004 Patriots. I hope our D this season can be as good as the 2004 version of the Pats D and baring major injuries I can´t see why they wouldn´t be that good.

Parker ran the ball well. But just like Culpepper ain´t no Brady neither is Charlie Batch. The Steelers O ought to better once Burgerboy comes back and the Pats O ought to better than the Steelers O last night.

My point is that the Pats might play even better than the Steelers did last night and the Dolphins might soon find out that last night was not their toughest game of the year. With Big Ben back the Pats and the Steelers might be a pretty even matchup IMHO.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Scott99: I think you are WAY off the mark on the Steelers D. They sucked last night. They could not tackle to save their life. That was the worst Steelers defensive performance I can remember since the Pats season opener blow out in 2002.

If you like what you saw from the Steelers D last night, I really have to scratch my head.

Do you think Cowher is going to be happy with the Steelers D, or their special teams?

Miami had every chance in the world to kick their butt, and Culpepper stunk it up in both halves of the game.

 

[I'm Ron Borges?]

Let's remember, Roethlisberger or not, the Fins lost to the Super Bowl Champs. That game right there showed that the Steelers are the real deal, they just might have the best D in football. Remember the thread about what we want our defense to be like ? I want it to be like what I saw tonite. The Fins aren't a horrible team, they just happened to lose to a very very good team. Charlie Batch looked good, and they have some nice weapons in Heath Miller, Hines Ward, and Willie Parker. Unless the injury bugs hits them hard, Pittsburgh will be very tough to beat this year. The Fins will be tough, they just lost to a better team tonite. And remember, they always give us trouble, whether they are 4-12 or 9-7.

Wow, the voice of reason. Where did you come from? I also think the Dolphins are good enough to at least challenge for a Wild Card spot but don't go around be objective or the babbling masses around here will try to rub you out. A better post would be the "Tedy Bruschi Rules!" post, "The Official 'I hate Eric Mangini's shoes' thread" or "Patriots who got married close to the day you got married" thread. Those posts are always filled with great football talk.

 

[BelizePats]

There is no doubt that over the past year or so this board has devolved into homer forum. There are alot of new members (check the histories of some of them in terms of when they joined) and it appears that alot of them are young and not too mature.
This is just the price of a really good forum being discovered by a larger audience.
The more people invloved, the dumber it gets.

 

[Bella*chick]

I don't know how anyone can have an opinion on either team after last night. There were good and bad points to each team, and to me it just looked like a lot of beginning-of-season rust. And a fairly boring game.

I think the reason it is such a hot topic right now has less to do with the teams and more to do with the fact that it was the first official football game of a greatly anticipated season. Come Monday morning (or Sunday night) we'll all have much more to talk about.

 

[Pattie]

All I can say is what a completely crappy O-Line the Dolphins have. They really could use our line coach and a few decent picks. Didn't they throw away a number one pick on some guy a year ago who's turned out to be a bust on the O-Line? Can't remember his name though.

 

[Aqua4Ever04]

The Miami Dolphins toughest game this year will be the embarrassing beat down at Foxboro.

Well I think the Pats will at least keep it close.

As for the game last night, there is one thing I defintley learned. Ben Roethlisberger is a very small part of the Steelers sucess. That offensive line is very good and Willie Parker looks like he is ready to be a household back. Their defense is as good as any in this league. The coaching staff is one of the best and they put their players in great positions to make plays. I picked them to have a hang over season, but I'm not to sure about that any more.

 

[Aqua4Ever04]

All I can say is what a completely crappy O-Line the Dolphins have. They really could use our line coach and a few decent picks. Didn't they throw away a number one pick on some guy a year ago who's turned out to be a bust on the O-Line? Can't remember his name though.

Vernon Carey.

 

[stcjones]

if it wasnt for the phins white boy (sorry I dont know his name) the game would have been an absolute blowout. the score was a lot closer than the actual game play indicated.

This is about as accurate description as anyone could post IMHO.....Neither one of these teams impressed me......let's not forget that although Rottenburger is NO Tom Brady....he is definitely better than Charlie Batch.....That having been said, Batch did a decent job against a pretty weak dolphin secondary......Pitt's def looked decent......but like many of you have said.....against a pretty weak Miami O line.....

Most of Miami's receiver yardage came on LONG pass plays....which is an area where Pitts secondary is especially weak....look at all the Miami receivers stats and you will see....3 for 68 yards and so on........Welker definitely helped out Daunte's cause last night......focus was on Chambers....allowed Welk to get open alot......the kid reminds me alot of Chrebet.....not a bad little weapon if you aren't watching him...and a GREAT return man.....Anyways, overall Miami is exactly what I personally thought they were....still several years away...and Pitt will not be repeating anything.......one man's opinion

 

[stcjones]

Just know that this game doesn't determine the division. Will a week 4 loss to Cincinnati mean that the Pats can't win the East? No, it's one non divisional game, not the end of the world. Not to mention, probably our toughest game of the year.

you may be right Aqua....I'm not trying to trash the fins for ONE game....just saw alot of weaknesses last night (as well as preseason) in the team,.....time will tell....you have been posting very rationally recently......appreciate that....hope to see it continue.....and remember....if you come on the enemy's board (why people do that I can not imagine anyways) be prepared for some flack.....if you post rationale stuff...you'll get some pretty fair responses from most here.......

 

[PF1996]

I agree with stcjones. Neither team impressed me, and I don't see the Steelers repeating. In fact, depending on how Cinci plays on Sunday, I think there's a very good chance that the Steelers will not win their division. Steeler's Oline looked terrible. The Dolphins D were continually in the backfield, Batch continuously had to run out of the pocket to complete a pass. Most of Parker's yards were due to his skill (he impressed me). Some Dolphins fans would say the Dolphins D is just that good but there were several plays where you could see the Steeler's Oline just looked confused. The Steelers D line was almost as bad. Everyone keeps saying how bad the Dolphins Oline is, and they didn't do much in terms of run blocking but they did a good job protecting Culpepper. The Steelers Dline didn't get much pressure throughout the majority of the game and their blitzes were also picked up quite easily by the Dolphins. If the Dolphins Oline can give Culpepper such good-very good pass protection for the rest of the season, Culpepper won't implode. Steelers secondary is porous as it has always been and as another poster mentioned, the missed tackles were shocking for a Steelers squad. Steelers special teams also looked horrendous - never thought I would see a coverage unit look worse that the Pats.
Dolphins D is fast, they are not dominant but they are adequate. Dolphins offensive playcalling wasn't impressive AT ALL and they benefitted from good field position. Miami will probably win 10 games this year due to the easy schedule but unless the Pats implode, the Pats will win the division title. Miami cannot compete with the elite of the AFC though. Steelers are REAL lucky the Pats killed themselves against Denver last year.

P.S. - I was also impressed with the Steeler's receivers...namely Nate Washington, why can't the Pats find guys like that?

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

As for the game last night, there is one thing I defintley learned. Ben Roethlisberger is a very small part of the Steelers sucess.

You really need to watch more football instead of losing at polka.

There was a game in February called the SuperBowl. Really.
In that game you missed, the selfsame Steelers won while their QB Ben R posted something like a 22 QB rating, even lower than the formerly vaunted Dante Culpepper's excerable 49. Had you watched that game or for that matter several other Steelers games, perhaps even you too would have 'learned' what football fans who watch games know.