However I found the announcers unlikable. It seemed like they would flip flop every 2 seconds. And sure, announcers need to do that, its not like they can sit there and be biased every game (mainly because they cant announce every Patriots game), but a good example is the red zone int. They were just gushing about how calm Ben is in the pocket, how accurate he is and what good decisions he makes. Then he throws the pick and the tone completely changes, 180 degrees in less then a second. Again, some of this is normal, but it felt too back and forth for my tastes.

And damn you Donger, I was just about to hit post and you beat me.

One graphic that was put up was the number of wins in the first five years by a QB.

I know Ben came to a good team, but this was amazing… the number one name on the list was Tom Brady who (if I recall correctly) has three more wins than Ben — and Ben has 8 games left to play! Barring a total collapse, this stat will be owned by Ben at the end of the year…

The other guys on the list were guys like Peyton, and Marino… really an amazing thing when you stop to think about it…

Other thoughts:

• By and large I like the new MNF crew also. Yes, they go on and on sometimes, but that is hard not to do when you are talking for three hours. All announcers seem to have a tendency to come into a game with pre-conceived story lines, and sometimes they make no sense the way a game unfolds, and guys usually can’t drop them… maybe it was coincidence, but it seemed to me that the soundtrack matched the game last night… My only real complaint is that the voices of Jaws and Gruden are pretty similar, and sometimes it takes a moment to figure out who is talking…

• Kudos go to the Steelers backups who did not let the standard drop. Fox looked great out there. Carter played better than I can remember.

• This was Santonio’s best game since Week 1. Loved the blocking and the clutch catches.

• I think we need to start a fund to buy a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for Mike Wallace. Hines and Santonio slept in theirs all week, and looked great. Mike Wallace got gassed and had to head to the sidelines for oxygen — leaving us with Limas Sweed in the lineup. Oh NO! This MUST not happen again!

• For a short guy, Hines can High Hurdle pretty damn high. I think that could make a cool reality show… line up safeties and corners and see how many Hines can leap over…

• Did anyone see Mendenhall’s interview. Loved the humility. His answers were pitch perfect

• Get Me My Cap Rothelisberger gave a nice interview to Suzy Kolber after the game. My favorite answer was when she asked him what he enjoys most about this offense and he said: “I am having a lot of fun just getting everybody the ball…”

• Ryan Clark on the sidelines was so animated I was worried that he would trigger something… But it was great to see him in the sidelines, loving every minute of his team’s victory.

….but I have to say I like him a lot as a commentator.

Not to excuse Burnett for allowing himself to get out of control, but the Denver blocker shoved him toward Berger as he ran past.

In fact, I wish he was returning instead of Logan.

This is what was written:

I said to my girlfriend, ‘what game are you watching’ when he was convinced that Rashard Mendenhall had fumbled inside the 5 yard line.
*

This implies that your girlfriend is a guy. It took me a few re-reads to realize that “he” referred to Jon Gruden, who was referenced in a previous sentence fragment.

As the guys on NFL Countdown would say…. “C’MON, MAN!”

Then:

The Steelers set a franchise record last night by scoring 27 or more points for their fifth consecutive games.
*

Game, not games. There’s an edit button. C’MON, MAN!

Next, this one:

“While we’re still on the subject of rookies, that was almost an extremely critical penalty by Joe Burnett at the end of the half when he ran in to Mitch Berger. It was only a 5 yard penalty, but it very well could have been 15 and put the Broncos back in business before the end of the half.
*

No mention of the fact that he was aiming directly at the punter’s launch point, but was shoved into the punter by a Bronco? And what is “extremely critical”? Is that, like, “really unique”?

C’MON, MAN!

The grammar and punctuation in your last bullet-point? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“there was fewer than 30 seconds left”

There was?

“Finally, when you factor in the fact that we were going to get the ball to start the 2nd half.”

Is there a thought here, or just a sentence that committed suicide halfway through?

Lastly, you credit Tomlin for not calling a timeout after 2nd down during the last sequence of the first half. However, you should have mentioned that calling a timeout after 3rd down was a terrible, terrible idea.

With under half a minute left and the Broncos punting from their 45 yard line, only bad things can happen. We can rough the punter, giving the Broncos the ball at our 40 (and in field goal range at Mile High). We can fumble the punt and give up a cheap score. We can fall victim to a sneaky-smart fake punt.

But, with their punter emphasizing a quick kick, there is no plausible reason to even consider the possibility of mulling the idea of thinking about trying to attempt a block. I’d be shocked if Tomlin hadn’t told Logan to fair catch the ball at all costs.

Calling that timeout at the end of the 1st half was unfounded optimism, bordering on greed. We were up 7-3 and getting the ball first in the second half. Why, why, why?

Sigh.

I’m new here, but is this the kind of blogging that goes on around here? Bad analysis, worse grammar, a total lack of thought processes, and no willingness to edit posts? The bottom of my screen says that Blitzburgh is the site founder and editor. I guess that’s sort of like being the owner and GM of a team (see Dan Snyder). You might be okay with one of the two, but trying to juggle both jobs might be, as President Obama says, “over your pay grade.”

While all of the Vikings and Broncos fans were predicting blowouts for their teams against us, I thought to myself…I cannot remember the last time we were truly blown out. So I decided to dig into our past box scores since Tomlin has been here.

In 44 games (40 regular season, 4 post season) under Tomlin’s rule we have lost by more than 9 points twice. Once to the Pats in 2007 and once last year to the Titans. Also, in those 44 games we have only lost by more than a touchdown 3 times. Those two games above, and the Eagles last year. If that is not impressive…I don’t know what is.

. . . can be annoying, but Gruden is still 1000 times better than Kornheiser was. Still can’t stand the pregame/halftime segments, though; Chris Berman’s shtick makes me want to drive a railroad spike into my face.

He is bursting with excessive praise, ever athlete, is amazing, and dominant, and a true football player. I wish he brought more of a coach perspective to the analysis instead of talking everyone up. I can’t imagine his coaching style was so upbeat. I want to see him point out blown assignments and screwups, almost like it was his players he was chewing out when watching game film.

* I actually really enjoyed the commentating by Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski last night.

For the most part I agree, the Jaws/Gruden duo is pretty good, but there are times (especially in this game) where they go overboard trying to praise both teams. At times it felt like they were trying to hype of this game like it was a “once in a decade” type of game. A couple of examples:

 - At one point they referred to Holmes as a “perennial Pro-Bowler” and while I have no doubt that he’ll eventually make it to his share of PB’s. Shouldn’t he have at least one trip to Hawaii before he’s considered “perennial.”
 - At one point they said that you’ll “never see to better safeties on the field at the same time,” obviously referring to Dawkins and Troy. Don’t we see better safeties on the field twice a season when the Steelers play the Ravens?

That’s just a couple of things that really stuck in my head. Obviously neither are egregious claims but it just seemed obvious that they were trying to over-hype the game instead of just letting us enjoy the action on the field.

1) Always liked Gruden. Liked him as HC. As much as I hate the Raiders they haven’t won since he left. He may have wrote the Raider playbook and then took over Dungy’s team but he still had to win the game on Sunday. He did and got a Lombardi. And no offense to Dungy, who I admire but he never won a Super Bowl with Tampa. Really like Gruden as an announcer. Compared to Kornheiser, Dennis Miller, Madden et al Gruden is the best since Cosell.

2) The Steelers may not win a championship this year but they are for real and will be at the table. Their depth is phenomenal and they replace pieces like bicycle spokes. I think they will travel to NE and Indy in the playoffs and beat those teams in their houses on the way to team of the decade status.

3) Louie Lipps was a great player in his day. One of the only All Stars in the mid 80’s for the sad sack Steelers. He was athletic, made tough catches and was a great punt return guy in the mold of Woodson. After football he became a freeloading dead beat and a rent hopper in the Shadyside area of Pittsburgh.

4) Great analysis Blitz…and I’m a college graduate who didn’t catch any of the grammer mistakes nor do I care. My only concern is your utter disdain for goatee’s. As you know Blitz, I have a goatee AND a stunning younger girlfriend. While taffastrophe may be goatee wearing lonely troll that does not apply to all those with goatee’s.