A look to 2005 and back to the present

Will you be at this game? When the schedule first came out, I didn’t even bother looking at this game for tickets. Though I probably still would not have switched out of the Vikings game, had I “gotten stuck” with tickets for this Sunday’s match up, I’d be pretty pumped. That place is going to be even more rockin’ than it was for the Vikes game, if that’s even possible.

Oh the condiment jokes are great! That was a good one…

You’re wise beyond your years.

Item #3: I’m really not sure what to make of this non-Henry offense. Personally, i think we’re going to be ok without him, but i could be totally wrong. This year we’ve seen a lot of power-run game, in which Henry is sitting on the bench. Marvin Lewis doesn’t let him on the field cause he can’t block downfield.

I know that the passing game will need to be top notch, and the Henry did a lot of decoy work. Still, the 3-wide, single-TE, single-back set is pretty nice. (that would be Ocho, Coles, Caldwell, Foschi, Leonard).

I’m somewhat in agreement with item #3, but i don’t think were sunk without Chris Henry. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Item #4: They’ve flexed the game to Monday Night, since no one really cares about the re-re-debut of Brady Quinn. (oh wait, just kidding, guess i’m just jealous the Browns got a Monday nighter when the Bengals had that HUGE half-game edge in the 08 divisional standings)

Item#5: Cmon Chad, mustard, you can do better than that. The deodorant and the pepto were pretty good, but mustard???

Love it!

this game is over. Cincy HAS to stop the run, or their offense will off the field. I’m fairly certain that we can stop Cedric, putting the ball in Carson’s hands and making them one-dimensional.

Without Henry to stretch the field, the secondary gets to unload.

Just read this. I’m a big time Maualuga fan and i thought this was interesting:

Polamalu didn’t play in Maualuga’s first Pittsburgh game back on Sept. 27, the one where Maualuga came back off the cart with a sprained knee to finish. At one point during that game after a play near the Pittsburgh sideline, he said he briefly caught Polamalu’s eye and saw him tap his hand on his heart a few times and give Maualuga a quiet, hidden fist. Maualuga responded in kind.

I went to the 2k5 game. 2nd date ever with my now wife (she knew how to get me)

I think Heinz will be absolutely rockin" The bengals should not -come-a -knockin.

Stoppin Cedric is the Number 1 Key. I think if we do that and no Neg special teams play (hey aint WE do for a runback?) we should handle cicncy.

Im really starting to think 14-2 is a possibility. I feel this team is Really strong. even in our losses we never looked like garb. Tomlin And our QB i think are sickly underated.

anyway , as always another fun post Arn Thx!

This team is different than the one from 2005. There Ben was still learning how to play in the big game. We had Bettis on the downside of a glorious career, and Willie Parker who would show flashes of brilliance, but no ability to pound things out consistently.

Our defense, while good, was not spectacular — to a large degree the deficiencies of the defense were hidden by the “Run Early and Run Often” approach to the game that may not have put up big scores, but did suck the air out of the games, and kept them from having to do too much.

Finally, our head coach was a guy who was pretty good, but not great, and who basically played “Marty Ball” with better talent.

The only thing that was a lot better in 2005 was our offensive coordinator — though since he was feuding with our QB, maybe even that was a downside.

In 2005, when we lost to the Bengals, I thought: “The Steelers are done.” You simply cannot be a championship team and lose a game like that. They got hot and went on a run, but things also broke their way. The Colts were looking past us and were caught by surprise by a brilliant defensive attack. But if we play that game ten times, I think we win it four… And, frankly, Ben played above himself throughout the playoffs — especially in Denver. How Whiz got Cowher to let him throw so much early on, I’ll never know…

The 2009 team is much improved. For one thing, we just did it last year, and you cannot underestimate confidence. This version also has a QB who knows who he is, an Offensive line which is growing every day, a Defense that can take over a game, and a coach who is just plain smarter than anyone Pittsburgh has seen in 30 years.

I believe the Steelers show their championship form on Sunday and win this one going away. The downside is that then we come back on the radar — and we always play better when no one gives us a chance. How the Super Bowl champions are not given a chance in some games is beyond me, but I’ve liked the anonymity. As long as the Steeelrs stay a little mad, they should be fine…

Just wanted to check in and tell you how much I enjoyed the post.

05 was special. I remember when we lost to the Bengals in 05 and they stomped on the TT. The furious 50 crew decided that at 7-5 and inconsistent all we could hope was to win out, make the playoffs and get a chance to pay back Cinci and end their season. If the season ended quick after that we surmised that at least we paid back the Bengals and ended their season. It worked out a little better than that culminating in XL.