Last Week/This Week....10 Friday thoughts

A few thoughts late on a Friday afternoon, with little focus on the current workday, and all thoughts on Sunday�s Steelers-Eagles matchup:

1. Living here in PatriotLand, there�s a fair amount of excuse-making on local talk radio about the Patriots injuries.� While certainly not this simple, there was no one injured on the defensive front seven, that was gouged for 221 rushing yards.�
2. Some of you may have seen this week�s SI article on the Top12 Sports talk shows on AM radio.� I wish that they had been ranked.� It�s hard to believe that anyone tops Mike & the Mad Dog on WFAN, New York.� I can�t always pick up the station, but it�s knowledgeable, outstanding, and no Yahooing.� The converse is Boston�s Big Show on WEEI.� Typically, there�s 4 loudmouths, talking over each other, and guffawing regularly.� I did get a kick out of Mark Madden�s response to the Sunday caller who suggested that Kordell was better than Ben.
3. Who really cares about TO�s endzone antics, and why all of the analysis of it.� My drivetime is limited during the week, and I look forward to it as I can listen to SportsTalkRadio.� It�s frustrated when real football analysis is replaced by this drivel.� Who the hell really cares how TO dances, who he offends, what he says, etc.
4. I�m starting to think that Ben is one Gracious Liar.� I�ll explain.� He always says that T.Maddox is the first one at his side when he comes off of the field, etc., etc.� Typically, I have little patience for discussing matters such as these, or whether Hines is smiling enough, T.O.�s dancing, etc�..but, there have been a fair number of� TV shots of Ben on the sideline, particularly during last night�s replay on DirecTV.� Maddox is nowhere to be seen on any of the shots.� The guy that is always in the screen in St. Pierre (who I still think is damn lucky to be collecting an NFL paycheck).
5. Not hindsight, �cause I said it at the time (as did many others).� Why, oh why, did we extend T.Maddox�s deal.� Everybody knew that he would not be the starting QB past this season, he was locked up for two more years at short money, yet the FO responded to his whining by rewarding him for PAST performance rather than his present/future offerings.
6. I�m more and more concerned that Plax�s future with the Pittsburgh Steelers may be limited to one year via Franchise designation.� Somebody, will throw a ton of dough his way, much more than the Steelers will be willing to offer, particularly considering that we should be re-upping Hines as well after this season.
7. Totally agree with Phantom�s Run Strong/Throw Long Assessment both last week and this week.
8. Surprise Mill & others didn�t further pursue Cowher�s injudicious use of a challenge.� Cowher subsequently said that he didn�t challenge the Pats� late TD (it looked like Givens dragged his foot, but I�m not convinced that the it was just a dragging motion, and that the last foot never touched the ground) as it would have been his last challenge, and he wanted to save it.� Earth to Bill�.what the Fuck are you saving it for.� There were only six and a half minutes left, and there would be no better use of a challenge than having an opposition TD called back.� That said, I think Cowher is doing well this year, and I am pleased that he didn�t offer us some half-baked bullshit defending his challenge call.
9. The Bettis detractors seem to be quieter this week. I�m wondering if people are starting to realize that the TD from the one or two is not a given, and Bettis being 8-for-8 is a positive statement.
10. Having been at Sunday�s game, it�s really too bad that there wasn�t any TV view of the stadium as a whole.� It was quite a sight�.what with the lights, the thousands of terrible towels, and the sea of black and gold.� My Patriot friend argued this point with me, but I think there�s a much higher percentage of Steeler fans decked out in their team�s colors than in any other stadium in the league.