Steelers Win! Steelers Win!

After Joey Porter mouthed off in the media my old college roommate and long time Colts fan sent me an email wondering if the Steelers could pull it off. Here is what I emailed him:

Do I think the Steelers can beat the Colts? Sure. Is it likely? Probably not. The Colts just have too many weapons on offense and the Steelers secondary isn't good enough most days to stop them. The Steelers will need to have the big plays break their way to win. If they give up big plays and the offense turns the ball over it could get ugly. But if the offense comes up with some big plays and the defense causes some turnovers then I think the Steelers can win. One key will be if the offense can get off to a good start. They have to take the pressure off the defense by putting up some points early.

Porter has a big mouth, but it doesn't really bother me at this point. I don't think this game is going to be won or lost due to trash talking. I think that has a much bigger impact at the college level where emotion plays such huge role. Neither team will have a problem being motivated for this game. I think Porter is probably trying to fire up his defense and reassert their swagger a little bit. People forget that outside of the first play, the Steelers defense played pretty well. It was the offense that stunk it up and gave the Colts the ball far too many times.

As it turned out the offense was up to the challenge and the defense responded. From the very first drive the offense looked in sync. Roethlisberger was on target and they made the big plays when they needed them. Heath Miller had a couple of big catches in that first drive and just like that the Steelers were up 7-0. Roethlisberger got hit and threw an interception but the defense held. Another nice drive and it is 14-0. The Pittsburgh offense looked great and the Colts looked bad. Clearly this was going to be a different game than the one in the regular season.

Outside of a couple of long passes to Dallas Clark and a few good Edgerin James runs, the Colts offense never really got on track the entire game. Once the Steelers got a lead the whole game was played on their terms and at their pace. The Colts offensive line was never able to handle the stunts and blitzes that the Steelers were throwing at them, and for some odd reason the Colts abandoned the run when the game was still in reach.

A couple of things kept the game closer than it should have been. The officials blew a number of calls. There was a clear pass interference call on Antwan Randel El that would have put the Steelers in excellent field position but instead ended a drive. Then of course there was the Troy Polamolu interception that was over-turned on reply. The single worst replay call I have ever seen. This bad call very well could have altered the outcome of the game. Absolutely shameful. The refs explanation was nonsensical. They also had that bizarre no call when it was clear that there was either a false start or an offsides. Weird and ridiculous again.

Luckily the defense again stepped up after the Colts scored eight points off that blown call. Not content to let me finish the game in peace, however, I had to suffer through the Bettis fumble, the miraculous Roethlisberger tackle, and the Vanderjagt shanked field goal attempt. All of this was enough to kill a man. A felt more relieved and shocked than happy after it all was over. The game shouldn't have been that close, but a win is a win. Tthe sweetness of this win lingers each time I think of it.

It just goes to show how much professional sports writers and broadcasters get caught up in the bandwagon and hype. Remember how everyone was sure that the Patriots were up to their old tricks? How it was foolish to bet against the genius coach and the magical QB? Remember how the Colts win was a lock? Mike Golic was saying that he didn't know anyone who was picking the Steelers. They were 9.5 point underdogs!

For example, I enjoy Bill Simmons the Sports Guy. He is a funny writer. But here is what he had to say about the game going in:

Here's my point: The Colts are a great team. They aren't crapping the bed at home to a team that they already handled by 22 points. That's ridiculous.

The Pick: Colts 41, Steelers 19

I won't gloat anymore. Here are the winners from this game:

1) Bill Cowher. Everybody said he couldn't win the big game. I think that goes out the window. He had his players ready and had a game plan in place that got the job done. This dpesn't even take into consideration getting this team focused and into the playoffs.

2) Ken Whisenhunt. Guess who could be a head coach next year? This guy can scheme a solid offensive game plan. When the players execute they can compete with the best in the league. We saw that on Sunday.

3) Ben Roethlisberger. So far it looks like he learned from his painful experience last year and is really showing what he can do. He might not put up big numbers, but he buys time and makes plays. Game saving tackle to boot.

Here are the losers:

1) Tony Dungy. Hard to lay into the guy after what happened this year, but he simply didn't get it done. The game plan didn't work to start, they abandoned the run too early, and they didn't seem to make any significant half-time adjustments. If the refs hadn't handed them the ball, the Colts very easily could have lost by a couple of touchdowns.

2) Peyton Manning. Like it or not, he is going to feel the pressure until he can take a playoff game over and win it when the chips are down. Obviously, Sunday wasn't all his fault but he didn't play particularly well even with the "protection issues."

3) The refs. They blew a couple of big plays that could have altered the result of the game. You never want the refs to determine the outcome of the game; especially one this important. I am not sure why that happened but it needs to be rectified. The missed pass interference call is one thing - bad calls happen. But the over-turned interception and the bizarre no call on fourth down were just ridiculous.

So we move on to Denver and another tough game. I will have more on that later in the week.