Shoes
09-19-2010, 10:10 PM
Don Banks usually gives me the hemroids, so I get surprised when I read something like this from him.
• It dawned on me at some point Sunday afternoon: Maybe it doesn't matter who plays quarterback in Pittsburgh this season. Be it the injured Dennis Dixon, Charlie Batch, Byron Leftwich or even Ben Roethlisberger. With the Steelers giving up next to nothing this season, Mark Malone could come out of retirement and probably win 10 games with this defense.
The Steelers forced the sloppy Titans into an astounding seven turnovers in their not-as-close-as-it-sounds 19-11 win at LP Field, and this from a Tennessee team that looked like a finely honed offensive machine last week against Oakland. The Titans wound up benching the erratic Vince Young (three turnovers) in favor of veteran backup quarterback Kerry Collins, but the Steelers treated him roughly the same as Young. Titans head coach Jeff Fisher reaffirmed after the game that Young will be his starter again next week at the Giants.
It wasn't solely about the takeaways for Pittsburgh on Sunday. The Steelers' run defense bottled up the reigning NFL rushing champion, Chris Johnson, on just 34 yards on 16 carries (barely two yards per run), snapping his league-best 12-game streak of 100-yard games.
As always, Pittsburgh's defensive tone was set by safety Troy Polamalu, who had his second interception in what's turning out to be a strong comeback season for the wild and wooly haired veteran. Outside linebacker James Harrison had two sacks and two forced fumbles before leaving to injury, and Pittsburgh's other superb outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley had a sack, an interception and a forced fumble.
When you've got those three defensive leaders playing inspired football, the sky's the limit in Pittsburgh. This is clearly the best the Steelers defense has looked since the close of their 2008 Super Bowl season. Holding good offenses like Atlanta and Tennessee to a combined 20 points is a very ominous development indeed for the rest of the AFC North.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/don_banks/09/19/week2.snaps/index.html?eref=sihp
• It dawned on me at some point Sunday afternoon: Maybe it doesn't matter who plays quarterback in Pittsburgh this season. Be it the injured Dennis Dixon, Charlie Batch, Byron Leftwich or even Ben Roethlisberger. With the Steelers giving up next to nothing this season, Mark Malone could come out of retirement and probably win 10 games with this defense.
The Steelers forced the sloppy Titans into an astounding seven turnovers in their not-as-close-as-it-sounds 19-11 win at LP Field, and this from a Tennessee team that looked like a finely honed offensive machine last week against Oakland. The Titans wound up benching the erratic Vince Young (three turnovers) in favor of veteran backup quarterback Kerry Collins, but the Steelers treated him roughly the same as Young. Titans head coach Jeff Fisher reaffirmed after the game that Young will be his starter again next week at the Giants.
It wasn't solely about the takeaways for Pittsburgh on Sunday. The Steelers' run defense bottled up the reigning NFL rushing champion, Chris Johnson, on just 34 yards on 16 carries (barely two yards per run), snapping his league-best 12-game streak of 100-yard games.
As always, Pittsburgh's defensive tone was set by safety Troy Polamalu, who had his second interception in what's turning out to be a strong comeback season for the wild and wooly haired veteran. Outside linebacker James Harrison had two sacks and two forced fumbles before leaving to injury, and Pittsburgh's other superb outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley had a sack, an interception and a forced fumble.
When you've got those three defensive leaders playing inspired football, the sky's the limit in Pittsburgh. This is clearly the best the Steelers defense has looked since the close of their 2008 Super Bowl season. Holding good offenses like Atlanta and Tennessee to a combined 20 points is a very ominous development indeed for the rest of the AFC North.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/don_banks/09/19/week2.snaps/index.html?eref=sihp