Wow........I can't help but think what might....

[stcjones]

have been.......First of all congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers.....NOW.....that having been said...I can't help but think what could have been had the Pats not shot themselves in the foot on every possible occasion last week........No offense to Denver, but we outplayed them in all facets of the game.......and gave them the game by BEATING ourselves...

I can't help but think also, that Pitt would have been coming to OUR house had we won (which again, I think we should have).......and I think we all know what would have happened there.......

But,unfortuneatly you can't win with COULDA, SHOULDA, and WOULDA's. Denver beat our depleted team during our first meeting, and then WE and the refs BEAT ourselves in the second matchup. Hard to stomach as a Pats fan....but that is the way it goes. I would imagine that every Patriot player feels worse than me right now after watching Denver get wasted by Pitt....and knowing that they "shoulda, coulda" won that game last week and forced a showdown with Pitt at the razor......where I would imagine there was a good chance we would have been headed to SB XL..........Alot to think about for the Pats this offseason......

 

[Alk]

I think we would have had a hell of a time with the Steelers. What they did was very impressive. They beat three very good teams on the road.

 

[Michael]

I think we would have had a hell of a time with the Steelers. What they did was very impressive. They beat three very good teams on the road.

Out of your numerous negative posts about the Pats I may have to agree this time. It would have been a tough win. But, here in Foxboro there is no doubt they would have won. Pitts fans should br very thankful for what happened in Denver last week as they are for what happened there today.

 

[BelichickFan]

It's easier to deal with this now. After losing to Denver due to mistakes and refs, if Denver had smoked Pittsburgh we would have known we were a sh!tty game away from the Super Bowl. Now, while we very well could have beaten Pittsburgh, there's no way we can say that we definitely would have won. Which makes it easier for me.

 

[flutie2phelan]

The Steelers i watched today ... well might have beaten us in Gillette.

Genuine admiration for a fine job, both ways. Boy, that Polamalu!

 

[mgteich]

After 15-1 last year, this PITT team worked to be even better. This team has just beat the #1, #2 and #3 teams, all on the road. And it seems likely that they will be better again next year.

Anything can happen in one playoff game, but I agree that PITT would have been difficult, even at home. That is why I wanted to play JAX so badly.

We have seen the current NFL standard of play these past three weeks. We now need to get better, not only better than what we are, not only better than what PITT is today, but better than what PITT will be next year.

NE and PITT should have been the class and the strength of this year's playoffs and SB. We have a long way to go until the 2006 playoffs, where I hope and expect to be meeting PITT (as we did last year, and as we should have this year). We both are the BEST in the league, the class of the league.

Congrats to the best of the 2005-2006 season!

 

[richpats]

Sleep easy this offseason...

...there's no telling what would have happened if we HAD beaten Denver. We're coming back in '06 and we're bringing hell with us. GO PATS!!!!

 

[BelichickFan]

]Boy, that Polamalu!

He's all over the place but he misses a lot of plays too, either missing tackles or going the wrong way.

 

[mtbykr]

well

First of all congrats to the squealers. With that said however i really would have liked our chances against them at the razor! We have had to go to Pitt to play them the last few years, so it would have been nice to have to play them at home......Oh well on to next year!

 

[brdmaverick]

The Steelers i watched today ... well might have beaten us in Gillette.

Genuine admiration for a fine job, both ways. Boy, that Polamalu!

I agree. I'm glad the Steeler's were so impressive today, because if the Broncos went on to win the Super Bowl, I woud continue to think about how it should be the Pats that won. With the Steeler's being so impressive in the postseason, a Pats Super Bowl victory would not be so obvious had they beaten the Broncos.

 

[Mosi Moose]

I stopped thinking about the woulda, shoulda scenerio by Thursday...Congrats Pitt..I'm OK with them representing the AFC in Super Bowl XL.

I will say this though. God help whoever plays the Pats in 2006...for you will feel the wrath of a REALLY piss*d off Brady and Belichick!!

 

[SVN]

I stopped thinking about the woulda, shoulda scenerio by Thursday...Congrats Pitt..I'm OK with them representing the AFC in Super Bowl XL.

correct..who knows if we had beaten denver maybe the colts wouldve won ..so its immaterial to think in terms of ifs and buts

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

I think the Steelers are like we were back in 2001. We got on a hot streak and won games we were supposed to lose. I'm not going to say we automatically win if we're hosting Pitt in the AFC Championship game today. They're on fire right now.

This next comment goes to a lot of posts that were written in the past week on this board, not just stcjones. I think it's very disrespectful that give absolutely no credit to Denver and blame the loss entirely on our own mistakes and refs. Tom Brady was pressured on his INT to Bailey. He had to roll out and get rid of the ball. It's easy to say Brady should have been more conservative and thrown it away. However, Denver forced him into that position. If Wilson had blitzed Plummer near the goalline and forced him to throw a pass that was intercepted by Samuel and ran back, we would all be going crazy over the great defensive play. Great pressure by Wilson, great play by Samuel to get the ball. It happens against us and it's our own fault, the defense had nothing to do with it.

How many times did we hear teams say that "We beat ourselves" during our Super Bowl runs? We all took it personally and saw it as a sign of getting no respect. I think it's wrong to turn around and sing the same song when it happens to us.

Did Denver dominate the game? No. Did we make any unforced mistakes? Sure. Did any questionable calls go against us? Sure. Did we have our chances had we executed better? Sure. Did Denver make it impossible at times to execute better? Absolutely.

The Broncos deserve more respect than we're giving them. Pittsburgh does as well. Again, don't act like the game would be a gimmie had we played them today. If in fact we had won last week and won again today, it probably wouldn't sit well on the board if a Colts fan came over telling us we're lucky that we didn't have to face them at home. Let's not do the same thing to the Steelers.

 

[Alk]

I think the Steelers are like we were back in 2001. We got on a hot streak and won games we were supposed to lose. I'm not going to say we automatically win if we're hosting Pitt in the AFC Championship game today. They're on fire right now.

This next comment goes to a lot of posts that were written in the past week on this board, not just stcjones. I think it's very disrespectful that give absolutely no credit to Denver and blame the loss entirely on our own mistakes and refs. Tom Brady was pressured on his INT to Bailey. He had to roll out and get rid of the ball. It's easy to say Brady should have been more conservative and thrown it away. However, Denver forced him into that position. If Wilson had blitzed Plummer near the goalline and forced him to throw a pass that was intercepted by Samuel and ran back, we would all be going crazy over the great defensive play. Great pressure by Wilson, great play by Samuel to get the ball. It happens against us and it's our own fault, the defense had nothing to do with it.

How many times did we hear teams say that "We beat ourselves" during our Super Bowl runs? We all took it personally and saw it as a sign of getting no respect. I think it's wrong to turn around and sing the same song when it happens to us.

Did Denver dominate the game? No. Did we make any unforced mistakes? Sure. Did any questionable calls go against us? Sure. Did we have our chances had we executed better? Sure. Did Denver make it impossible at times to execute better? Absolutely.

The Broncos deserve more respect than we're giving them. Pittsburgh does as well. Again, don't act like the game would be a gimmie had we played them today. If in fact we had won last week and won again today, it probably wouldn't sit well on the board if a Colts fan came over telling us we're lucky that we didn't have to face them at home. Let's not do the same thing to the Steelers.

Very well spoken. Is that why Ian made you a mod?

 

[SVN]

I think the Steelers are like we were back in 2001. We got on a hot streak and won games we were supposed to lose. I'm not going to say we automatically win if we're hosting Pitt in the AFC Championship game today. They're on fire right now.

This next comment goes to a lot of posts that were written in the past week on this board, not just stcjones. I think it's very disrespectful that give absolutely no credit to Denver and blame the loss entirely on our own mistakes and refs. Tom Brady was pressured on his INT to Bailey. He had to roll out and get rid of the ball. It's easy to say Brady should have been more conservative and thrown it away. However, Denver forced him into that position. If Wilson had blitzed Plummer near the goalline and forced him to throw a pass that was intercepted by Samuel and ran back, we would all be going crazy over the great defensive play. Great pressure by Wilson, great play by Samuel to get the ball. It happens against us and it's our own fault, the defense had nothing to do with it.

How many times did we hear teams say that "We beat ourselves" during our Super Bowl runs? We all took it personally and saw it as a sign of getting no respect. I think it's wrong to turn around and sing the same song when it happens to us.

Did Denver dominate the game? No. Did we make any unforced mistakes? Sure. Did any questionable calls go against us? Sure. Did we have our chances had we executed better? Sure. Did Denver make it impossible at times to execute better? Absolutely.

The Broncos deserve more respect than we're giving them. Pittsburgh does as well. Again, don't act like the game would be a gimmie had we played them today. If in fact we had won last week and won again today, it probably wouldn't sit well on the board if a Colts fan came over telling us we're lucky that we didn't have to face them at home. Let's not do the same thing to the Steelers.

Exactly what i have been saying all along. Agree completely.

 

[mgteich]

I agree that we should give DEN and PITT more credit for their victories. Last year's PITT team is the one that was lucky to win some of their games, as Cowher has pointed out. I don't think that has been the case this year. They had an ugly streak when Roth was hurt, but have been a dominant team lately. I wish I could agree with your analysis, but I don't. They beat #1, #2 and #3. This reminds much more of our 2003 or 2004 teams.

I think the Steelers are like we were back in 2001. We got on a hot streak and won games we were supposed to lose. I'm not going to say we automatically win if we're hosting Pitt in the AFC Championship game today. They're on fire right now.

This next comment goes to a lot of posts that were written in the past week on this board, not just stcjones. I think it's very disrespectful that give absolutely no credit to Denver and blame the loss entirely on our own mistakes and refs. Tom Brady was pressured on his INT to Bailey. He had to roll out and get rid of the ball. It's easy to say Brady should have been more conservative and thrown it away. However, Denver forced him into that position. If Wilson had blitzed Plummer near the goalline and forced him to throw a pass that was intercepted by Samuel and ran back, we would all be going crazy over the great defensive play. Great pressure by Wilson, great play by Samuel to get the ball. It happens against us and it's our own fault, the defense had nothing to do with it.

How many times did we hear teams say that "We beat ourselves" during our Super Bowl runs? We all took it personally and saw it as a sign of getting no respect. I think it's wrong to turn around and sing the same song when it happens to us.

Did Denver dominate the game? No. Did we make any unforced mistakes? Sure. Did any questionable calls go against us? Sure. Did we have our chances had we executed better? Sure. Did Denver make it impossible at times to execute better? Absolutely.

The Broncos deserve more respect than we're giving them. Pittsburgh does as well. Again, don't act like the game would be a gimmie had we played them today. If in fact we had won last week and won again today, it probably wouldn't sit well on the board if a Colts fan came over telling us we're lucky that we didn't have to face them at home. Let's not do the same thing to the Steelers.

 

[stcjones]

Good points

I agree. I'm glad the Steeler's were so impressive today, because if the Broncos went on to win the Super Bowl, I woud continue to think about how it should be the Pats that won. With the Steeler's being so impressive in the postseason, a Pats Super Bowl victory would not be so obvious had they beaten the Broncos.

Good point....it would be much harder to deal with things if the donks had gone on to win the SB......considering that IMHO we WERE the better team and should not have lost to them......Congrats to the squeelers (as hard as that is to say)

 

[Bella*chick]

One of the reasons it is easier for me to swallow a Steelers SB appearance is that they did not beat the Pats in the postseason to do it. I'm not sure why that makes it easier, but it does.

 

[Alk]

One of the reasons it is easier for me to swallow a Steelers SB appearance is that they did not beat the Pats in the postseason to do it. I'm not sure why that makes it easier, but it does.

But we did beat them in the regular season. Therefore if the Steelers win, we can pretend that we're really the Super Bowl champs. :rocker:

 

[stcjones]

You make some good points CPG....

I think the Steelers are like we were back in 2001. We got on a hot streak and won games we were supposed to lose. I'm not going to say we automatically win if we're hosting Pitt in the AFC Championship game today. They're on fire right now.

This next comment goes to a lot of posts that were written in the past week on this board, not just stcjones. I think it's very disrespectful that give absolutely no credit to Denver and blame the loss entirely on our own mistakes and refs. Tom Brady was pressured on his INT to Bailey. He had to roll out and get rid of the ball. It's easy to say Brady should have been more conservative and thrown it away. However, Denver forced him into that position. If Wilson had blitzed Plummer near the goalline and forced him to throw a pass that was intercepted by Samuel and ran back, we would all be going crazy over the great defensive play. Great pressure by Wilson, great play by Samuel to get the ball. It happens against us and it's our own fault, the defense had nothing to do with it.

How many times did we hear teams say that "We beat ourselves" during our Super Bowl runs? We all took it personally and saw it as a sign of getting no respect. I think it's wrong to turn around and sing the same song when it happens to us.

Did Denver dominate the game? No. Did we make any unforced mistakes? Sure. Did any questionable calls go against us? Sure. Did we have our chances had we executed better? Sure. Did Denver make it impossible at times to execute better? Absolutely.

The Broncos deserve more respect than we're giving them. Pittsburgh does as well. Again, don't act like the game would be a gimmie had we played them today. If in fact we had won last week and won again today, it probably wouldn't sit well on the board if a Colts fan came over telling us we're lucky that we didn't have to face them at home. Let's not do the same thing to the Steelers.

and I am trying really hard not to be a bad sport here......I know Denver is a decent team and they should be proud of their accomplishments this year......I just feel like we WERE a better team than Denver, and things would have been really interesting if Pitt came to the razor.......

But you are right the steelers deserve a ton of respect, and are a tough, scrappy team.........that having been said I am pulling for the cats or the hawks in the SB!!!!