(Note to readers: Sorry for being off the grid the last week or so. Life.) No revelations here: The Steelers looked crisp yesterday, ready to play, sharp. Not much to analyze, but let's do it anyway. The maligned offensive looked surprisingly robust. Willie Parker looked fast. Ben Roethlisberger was sharp. Lammarr Woodley and James Harrison were fierce.
And, for some reason, the Houston Texans, seemed to mostly ignore their best player on offense, wide receiver Andre Johnson. Which brings us to the play of the secondary. Thank you, Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu for returning to action. And thank you, Deshea Townsend and Ike Taylor for playing up to form.
Kudos, too, to the coaching staff for a fine game plan and for having the team prepared to play.
Now, get 'em ready for next week. Cleveland Week.
The Browns Are Weaker Than Most People Anticipated
Steelers vs. Browns next Sunday night will be critical. We can bury them right there, in Cleveland, in the second week of the season. Done.
Just heard moron "analyst" Skip Bayless talk about how "explosive" the Cleveland Browns were going to be this year. Hah! The Browns were horrible yesterday against the Cowboys yesterday. No pass rush. Can't stop the run. Which is a Bad Combination on defense.
And the scatter-armed QB, Derek Anderson, gets rattled too easily. Plus, the Browns' high-priced investments in their defensive front four during the off-season are looking about as prudent as APR mortgages, stock in Enron or faith in Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac. The Black 'n Gold can bury the Browns next week -- and officially put them in panic mode.
By the way, who hires these so-called broadcast "analysts" anyway? Kordell Stewart is now on the ESPN panel of experts. Okey-dokey. We'll learn a lot. Sure.
Speaking of being unable to stop the run: The Indianapolis Colts. If you watched the Chicago Bears whup on the Colts last night, you couldn't help but marvel what an admirable and startling thing commitment to the run can be. The Bears, featuring impressive rookie running back Matt Forte, just kept running and running ... and the Colts couldn't stop it. Which is a good thing for the rest of the AFC, including the Steelers.
Indy's new stadium is beautiful by the way. And the food looks good, too.
Tom Brady. Too bad. We feel so sad. Nah, that's rude. Actually, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls never like to see a great player go down to injury. It deprives all of us ignorant fans the best the game has to offer. Tom Brady is the best quarterback in the game, and we'd rather see him play all 16 games. Karma's a bitch, but we do want the Patriots to recede into oblivion and irrelevance. Kinda like the Pittsburgh Pirates. But that's another story.
Question: Who would you rather have on your team (real NFL football, not fantasy football)? Maurice Jones-Drew or Reggie Bush? Just asking.
To pick up a theme from last season: The Bengals stink. Still.
