Idle Thoughts- The "I'm just another spoiled Pats fan edition

[Nikolai]

It seemed every time the announcers got real excited it was because the Steelerls just did something good.
I didn't notice that as much until i was away from video and could only hear what was going on.

I noticed the same thing. And most of their discussion was about how the Steelers might try and defeat the Pats; essentially casting the Steelers as the protagonist and the Pats as the antagonist.

It doesn't do much to make me back off my conspiracy theory that the NFL* wants the Pats to be the villain.

 

[NashuaPats]

I noticed the same thing. And most of their discussion was about how the Steelers might try and defeat the Pats; essentially casting the Steelers as the protagonist and the Pats as the antagonist.

It doesn't do much to make me back off my conspiracy theory that the NFL* wants the Pats to be the villain.

I kept hearing the announcers tell me that Brady had all the time in the world to throw, when my eyes were telling me he was facing a good amount of pressure. These announcers, particularly retired quarterbacks like Phil Simms, seem to have some hostility towards Brady. Meanwhile, when I watch Rodgers play, they can't make enough excuses for his mediocre recent play.

 

[patfanken]

Butler is 5'11, he's not a midget.

Aside from the Greg Hardys of the world, John Harbaugh is my most disliked NFL figure. Any time he loses is great.

Buffalo fans are just as bad as any regarding the way they talk about NE, you should never be happy for them.

Maybe he's 5'11 in the program, but not in real life

 

[BelichickFan]

Maybe he's 5'11 in the program, but not in real life

He's 5096 as measured at his pro day. That's 5'9" 6/8" I think, the last digit always confuses me. Whatever, under 5'10".

 

[WaterfallJumper]

He's 5096 as measured at his pro day. That's 5'9" 6/8" I think, the last digit always confuses me. Whatever, under 5'10".

You're correct, the last digit is 8ths of an inch. So he's essentially 5'10 (hold up your fingers 1/4 of an inch apart if you really want to quibble about the last 2/8 of the measurement!), which is perfectly fine. He's a good player. Like all corners, he's occasionally beaten in coverage, but when it counts he's made big plays.

 

[IndianPat]

Steelers had a pretty good defensive game plan against the Pats. Take the pass away and allow the run. They did not allow the run to set up the pass. The thing about allowing the run (as Pats fans all know) is that long drives stall when the run play gets stuffed couple of times a row. The Pats generally have six to seven scoring drives. They had only four yesterday (if my memory serves me right), good thing they were all TD's.

 

[patfanken]

A few additional thoughts that occurred to me after a good night's sleep:

1. I was curious how many Steelers looked to seek out LGB after the game. I was led by the mediots to believe that Blount had committed a heinous crime by walking to the lockerroom with seconds left on the clock, game he wasn't playing in and which they had no chance of winning at that time. They made it seem like he shattered some unwritten code of ethics.

Yet the after game interactions made it clear to me that LGB was a well liked player in the Pittsburgh locker room and NOT the pyrrhia who made it necessary to cut off the team. Reality it seems was the Steeler brain trust made an unnecessary knee jerk reaction to what amounted to a non-event, and the Pats were the direct recipients of their error. If that "brain trust" included Mike Tomlin, Thanks AGAIN Mike.

2. On the same note, I'm beginning to think Brady is going to need to set up a reception line with the number of opposing players and coaches who seek him out after the end of games that they lose to him. Again DESPITE what the mediots would have you believe. Brady is more than just well respected by his peers......and rightfully so.

3. We may beat our breasts, over the mystery of Gotskowski's obvious problems this year. Everyone it seems has an opinion on why its happening, but in my mind here is the reality. The guy has been one of the best and most consistent kickers in the NFL for TEN years. I repeat TEN YEARS!!!! He also has been a hard worker and well like amongst his peers. A guy, who like Adam V, was considered a football player and not just a kicker. The fact is kickers go through crap like this every few years. It happened to Adam as well, and he is clearly the best who ever was...and still is. We are spoiled by the fact he went a full 10 years before having some issues and it spoiled us rotten.

So we know that no one is taking this harder than Gotskowski himself. No one is going to work harder to correct it. So THAT should be it. BB is NOT going to bring in another kicker to "light a fire" under him. That is ridiculous. BB is not going to ignore 10 YEARS of stellar play against 2 months of issues, and make knee jerks decisions.

So IMHO, for at least this season, the Stephan Gotskowski we have will be the guy who we will live with good OR bad. The only thing that will change will be the excitement/anxiety level every time we line up for a FG.

 

[DaBruinz]

Pitt fans should be pissed today. Refs missed some PI calls that hurt them. Kicker missed 6 points that hurt them. And their coaches rely too much on Antonio Brown and the excessive punishment the guy takes is a bad long term strategy

If you think that Pitt fans should be pissed at the refs, then you must think the same for Pats fans.. Why? Because I counted no fewer than 6 blatant holding calls that have been called in other games, one of which led directly to the Pittsburgh TD. Then you had Phil Simms lauding David DeCastro's text book hold of Donte' Hightower on the end run by Bell.

The lack of NE pass rush is glaring and will cost this team down the road.

Let me know when rushing 3-4 guys and dropping 7-8 to force the QB to make perfect throws into coverage constitutes rushing the passer.. Sure looked to me like the game plan was not to rush the passer but to force an inexperienced QB to be perfect to beat the team's coverage.

Just because they DON'T do it doesn't mean they can't. And god forbid you give some credit to Pittsburg's O-line.. Which happens to be one of the best in the business.

 

[DaBruinz]

Butler is 5'11, he's not a midget.

Butler is not 5'11. He's 5'9 6/8" tall.

 

[patfanken]

I noticed the same thing. And most of their discussion was about how the Steelers might try and defeat the Pats; essentially casting the Steelers as the protagonist and the Pats as the antagonist.

It doesn't do much to make me back off my conspiracy theory that the NFL* wants the Pats to be the villain.

The announcers of every game go into it with some sort of narrative that they want to espouse all based on who is playing who and what are the circumstances surrounding the game, such as standings, importance, etc.

In this game the obvious one was the plucky, injury riddled, undermanned Steelers against the perennial juggernaut that is the New England Patriots. Remember they are playing to a national audience and not a NE one. So I took no offense when they hyped any successes the Steelers had that kept the game close. Remember for announcers, close games are a lot easier to do than blowouts.

Don't forget how when we played the Cardinals, WE were the plucky, undermanned team without its QB, LT, TE and more, going against the heavily favored, superbowl favorite Cardinals. You can be sure we won't see that narrative again this year.

 

[SVN]

The pass rush complaints wouldve not been big if the pats held on to some of the INTs. I guess that was the idea, make landry throw in 8-9 man coverage and hope for INTs.