Random rants from Sunday's action.... (By Still Ruff)
I�m surprised Mill didn�t mention Arians� most ridiculous gaff in his writeup � that being his decision to throw the ball on third down with 2:00 minutes left in the game. I literally yelled at the TV when I saw Ben in the shotgun�this situation absolutely screamed for a running play so that the Steelers could chew another 45 seconds off the clock and then punt it back to the Ravens with oh, about a minute and no timeouts remaining. An incomplete pass at that moment makes the Steelers punt it away with 2:00 remaining, which is an eternity in the NFL. Worse, an interception can be a game-ender�and wouldn�t you know, that�s just what happened. The Ravens intercepted the ball and ran it back to our 45. Sure, it was called back due to a dubious illegal contact penalty and the Steelers went on to win, but that was the dumbest move of all time. My wife thought I was a prophet when they actually did intercept the ball.
I can hardly blame Arians�he�s too stupid and doesn�t have the higher level brain functions to think one or two steps ahead. But Tomlin? Why doesn�t he ever order something to be called, a la Bill Cowher famously �taking the air out of the football.� Man, what a stupid thing to do.
And as for the Colts � that was the biggest insult to a fan base and to a team of players that I�ve ever seen. It�s a joke and a black eye for the league to allow teams to throw games like that. It�s no worse than having a QB or a ref purposely throw a game if you ask me. This is the NFL�and those decisions affect fans, who PAY for the right to watch real football, not to mention how it affects other teams� futures. I can�t imagine being a Colts fan, or worse, a Colts player and watching my coach just piss away a chance at a perfect season like that. If I�m a player, I�m livid and I lose a ton of respect for my coach. It would not surprise me to see the Colts completely lose all momentum now and I�ll be glad when they do, because it�s exactly what they deserve. I mean, how can you turn off your team when your first playoff game is THREE WEEKS away? That�s an eternity for a team to play without any real vigor. Might as well go through pre-season again at that point. Did they not learn anything from the last time they did this?
I�m quite sure the Patriots won�t pack it in even though they don�t need to win. Say what you want about Bill B. in New England, but at least he has the stones to play to win every game no matter what (I also like how he never takes his foot off the gas no matter the score) � and that�s what we fans pay to see. But the Bengals? Give me one good reason why they�d like to see the dreaded Steelers (or the Texans for that matter, who they lost to at home this year) in week one of the playoffs? I can almost guarantee they don�t play to win that game. The one saving grace might be that they won�t want to lose to the Jets and then potentially have to face them again in the first round. We�ll see. Other than that, relying on the mercurial Raiders to knock off the Ravens next week is a long shot.
And by the way, the Colts are the most over-rated team in the NFL. And that makes Peyton Manning the MVP of the league, hands down if you ask me. I cannot ever remember watching one team that relies so heavily on one player. When he�s in, they can�t be stopped. When he�s not, that team is a highly average, or maybe even a below average team.