Losing sucks. There�s just no two ways about it. I will say this though: it seems appropriate that the Patriots are headed to the Super Bowl this season of all seasons, after a true renewal of patriotism in this country. Now that I�ve taken down the Black & Gold flag from the side of my house for the off-season, I know the one that will replace it is Red, White & Blue. I also know I�ll be pulling for the Pats on Super Bowl Sunday. How can you not root for this year�s team of destiny?
The Patriots certainly out played the Steelers today, but I don�t believe they are the better team. Sure they are a darn good one and have a better special teams unit, but they aren�t great. What they were was motivated and prepared. They will be beaten in the Super Bowl. Either the Raiders or Steelers would have made a better match up. So the AFC Championship Game curse will continue. That�s the curse that always seems to cause the favored (i.e. Better) team to lose the AFC Championship game, and why the NFC had that long streak of winning Super Bowls. 4 of these games in the last 8 years have been in Pittsburgh. Cowher has only won one. His team has too often looked past the opponent.� This year, Cowher almost gave them permission to by having them make arrangements for the Super Bowl.
A couple of things about the game.
Jay Hayes should be fired. He had all season to fix the problems on special teams and didn�t get it done. His squad carries the majority of blame for this loss. We also need to get faster players on special teams. Kevin Colbert must find a legitimate veteran kicker in camp to challenge Kris Brown.
�Kordell Stewart came a long way this season. He had some excellent games, and proved he belongs in the league, but his play since the Cincinnati game hasn�t been anything special. It certainly hasn�t been championship caliber. His play today wasn�t even play off worthy. He had trouble finding the open man when blitzed. His throws were inaccurate. He also threw two INT�s in critical moments, had a INT on the Hail Mary at the end of the first half, and had another 2 throws that but for a penalty and McGinest�s butter-fingers would have been picks. Kordell has come a long way. He may even be good enough to start in this league, but he has a ways to go before leading a team to a Super Bowl win.
Jerome Bettis looked slow and winded today. Amos Zereoue looks like he could challenge for the Bus� starting job next year. The running game was stuffed today, so the O-line has to shoulder some blame also.
Marvel Smith had a lousy game. He was often overpowered, and was the culprit who was beaten on the blocked FG.
Troy Edwards should be sweating right now. No, I haven�t forgotten him stepping out of bounds on Miller�s great punt. That penalty made the Steelers re-kick, and allowed Brown to run it back. And yes that was also Edwards getting man handled on the 2 yard line while Brown danced into end zone. Hey Troy, don�t be surprised if your name appears on the expansion draft list.
Why is it that the Pats were repeatedly able to isolate one of our LB�s on their top WR? Come on Tim Lewis, lets make some adjustments. Our CB�s are as good as their WR�s. Perhaps we should have played more man coverage and less zone. And who�s dumb idea was it to have Flowers cover the slot guy, especially when that slot guy is either Troy Brown or David Patten? Deshea Townsend would have done better. Townsend is a guy we need to re-sign. We also need to upgrade the Safety positions on this D. Flowers had several missed tackles today.
I got to give some props.� Kendrell Bell led Steelers� tacklers. John Fiala had a solid game (though we need to re-sign Holmes), and the D-line was stout, and regardless of what Mill says Gildon played well also. Yeah, he got beat for a TD, but he shouldn�t have been asked to cover a speedy WR and his Safety help, Alexander, froze. Yes, he also dropped an INT, but overall Jason�s play was good. Porter on the other hand disappeared. He had a mere 3 tackles and wasn�t seen until dropping what should have been an INT for a TD late in the game.
Overall, a good season. A return to the play offs and a central division title is certainly more than I expected. The expectations for next year will be high. Cowher and Colbert have their work cut out for them, but more on that later.