Feeling Confident About the Steelers Facing Kerry Collins? May I Caution You with Cody Carlson?
by Anthony Defeo on Sep 21, 2011 7:17 PM EDT
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Back before the start of the 2011 season, I never could have envisioned the Pittsburgh Steelers being 10.5 point favorites in their week three prime time match up in Indianapolis against the Colts, but with Kerry Collins coming out of retirement to replace an injured Peyton Manning at quarterback, that is the case for this coming Sunday night's contest.
Very few players in recent history have meant more to their team than Peyton Manning has meant to the Colts in his career. And now with him out of the lineup, the once perennial Super Bowl contenders have looked downright awful in their first two games--losing 34-7 to the Houston Texans in week one and going down at home to the Cleveland Browns, of all teams, in week two.
What once was a contest that might have caused thousands of Steelers fans to reach for the antacids--what with their team's recent history against "elite" quarterbacks--now looks like a game Pittsburgh should control rather-easily. I know I'm fairly-confident about the team's prospects this coming Sunday night.
However, I can't help but think back to many years ago when the Steelers faced a somewhat similar situation in their final game of the 1990 season.
After 15 games of the 1990 season, the Steelers were 9-6 and on a bit of a roll after starting out 1-3 and enduring some growing pains under new play caller Joe Walton and his sophisticated game plan. The offense, which failed to produce a single touchdown during the first month, never looked better after a 35-0 whitewashing of Cleveland in the penultimate contest of the regular season.
The Steelers were in first place but needed to go to Houston and defeat their division foes, the Houston Oilers, on Sunday Night Football in the regular season finale in-order to claim their first AFC Central title in six seasons. This was seen as a pretty tall-task as the Astrodome was always a difficult place to play for the Steelers. But Pittsburgh had upset the Oilers in a Wildcard thriller in Houston a year earlier and had defeated Houston at home in week two.
Almost immediately after the Cleveland game, word surfaced that Houston's all-world quarterback, Warren Moon, would miss the game against Pittsburgh with an injury.
Back up Cody Carlson would take Moon's place, and I remember people reacting as if this would guarantee victory for the Steelers. I know I felt that way the entire week leading-up to the game. The Steelers defense ranked first in the NFL in yardage allowed in 1990 and had given Moon's Run and Shoot offense fits in recent meetings. Imagine how much they'd confuse and frustrate Cody Carlson.
I had visions of Pittsburgh destroying Houston and then playing its first home playoff game in eight seasons the following week at Three Rivers.
Unfortunately, with Captain Cody at the helm, the Run and Shoot never looked better. The Oilers jumped-out to a 24-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 34-14 victory.
Carlson went 22-29 for 247 and three touchdowns. The Oilers also racked-up nearly 200 yards on the ground.
The Steelers went from being in-control of their own-destiny to being out of the playoffs altogether.
The popular opinion after the game was that the Steelers relaxed when they found out Moon was injured and weren't as focused or prepared to face the back-up.
The reason I make this comparison is because, unlike Cody Carlson, Kerry Collins has had a surprisingly decent career, passing for nearly 41,000 yards. He's also been a bit of a thorn in the side of the Steelers' defense in recent years. Collins is pretty good at getting rid of the ball quickly, and the two times the Steelers faced him as a starter for the Titans, they failed to generate a solid pass-rush and only sacked him twice. And in a week two match up against Pittsburgh last year, Collins relieved a struggling Vince Young and threw for 149 yards in barely over a quarter, coming within a whisker of bringing the Titans back from a 16-point deficit in the final moments.
Just like that game in 1990 against Carlson, the last thing the Steelers need right now is to march into Indianapolis over-confident and relaxed knowing they will be facing Collins instead of Manning. Hopefully, week one in Baltimore taught Pittsburgh a little lesson about being too confident.
I fully-expect the Steelers to go to Lucas Oil Stadium and take care of business Sunday night, but don't put those antacids away just yet. Kerry Collins might make us reach for them a time or two before things are said and done.
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Good poast
I hate Collins and he Stanks. He’s like a white Steve McNair, a Steeler killer.
And it bothers me because he’s only good against us it seems. He’s terrible against other teams.
My suggestion would be to spike their gatorade with some Vodka, or perhaps invite him out to have a few brewskies before the game. Collins is a notorious alcoholic and I imagine if we can slip some juice into his system he’ll start making mistakes.
Vodka only makes him better
Slip him some tequila & you may have a shot
Murphy’s 20th Military Law:
If it’s stupid, but it works, it ain’t stupid
"Fuck em all. Go Texans."
by The Night Owl on Sep 21, 2011 7:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Slip him some tequila & you may have a shot
Nice pun…
"If you're not getting better, I don't care what business you're in, you're a dead man. I try to look critically at the mistakes that I make and try to learn from them, like our team does." - Mike Tomlin
by Rebecca Rollett on Sep 21, 2011 9:15 PM EDT up reply actions
The big difference is
The 1990 Oilers had more talent surrounding Moon than the 2011 Colts have around Manning.
Follow me on twitter. @steelcurtain67
by DwightWhite's Missing Tooth on Sep 21, 2011 7:41 PM EDT reply actions
We are gonna crush the colts!
Just hope Harrison doesn’t send Kerry back into retirement for good. Don’t you know he saw the week 3 game on the schedule and had to weigh whether the money was worth the risk of having to face the Steelers D.
I'm not getting my hopes up
until the Steelers are up by 21 with a few seconds left in the 4th quarter.
I think we are good
Somone said’ “Its going to take more than one win to remove that stench from the week before”. :)
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
--Aristotle
Agreed
And if the Steelers win, they were expected to. The Colts aren’t very good without Manning. A thorough beatdown of a strong team is needed before the stench of the Ravens game goes away.
If they should happen to lose…ugh. I don’t think they will. It’s just that I need to see more from this team before I’m convinced that two Sundays ago was just a fluke.
"Football combines the two worst things about America: It is violence punctuated by committee meetings" -George Will
by lottwasgangsta on Sep 21, 2011 10:29 PM EDT up reply actions
Whoah, whoah, hold up
Vodka “63-14” Collins isn’t good. He’s great!!!
10 years ago he was at least. Not so much this year. Or at all. But it’s nice to see he’s still around.
"We're going to do all we can to get this team right, to go after that national championship" - Devon Still
by ICEICETHATGUY13 on Sep 21, 2011 8:44 PM EDT reply actions
The Commander Cody Carlson...
Tony, you do it again. I remember that game like it was yesterday. I watched it at a friends house as I was on winter break from college.
Going into the game many thought it would be a rejection or vindication of Joe Walton’s offense.
Yet it was the defense that broke down.
Carlson was gunning the ball as soon as he got it, and the Steelers defense could not cope.
A couple of articles ago you wrote about commentators hating the Steelers.
Well I remember Joe Theisman going to town on us that night, trying to argue the fact that Kenny Davidson and Donald Evans had batted down so many passes was some how a credit to Carlson. Theisman was also going ape over how this heralded the coming of age of the Run ’N Shoot, because it proved that “quarterbacks were interchangeable.”
That game was a tough loss, but too characteristic of the 1990 Steelers, even if it was the only blemish on another wise accomplished defense.
The interesting thing is that Carlson had done quite well against the Steelers in previous seasons, 1988 I believe. He was seen as an up and coming young gun (hence Chris Berman calling him “the commander Cody”) and the Oilers, thinking Moon was done, let him go to Minnesota after the 1993 season.
I can even remember Bob Labriola in his AFC Central preseason write up aruging something like, “and Steelers fans should not need to be reminded of what Cody Carlson is capable of.”
Of course Carlson was a total bust as a full time starter, and the Steelers helped show that on another Monday night game in 1994.
by Hombre de Acero on Sep 21, 2011 8:49 PM EDT reply actions
Please refrain from using the name "Berman" here at BTSC
If we continue quoting Berman we’ll be legally required to take down the quote: “Thoughtful discussion with a sense of history.” Art Rooney Jr.
Maybe it was Captain
Not sure. Beyond the Steelers and to the NFL in general, I think the moral of the Cody Carlson story is that it simply takes time to tell if someone has “it” at QB.
Carlson looked great a couple of outings in relief of Moon. But he fell completely flat as a long-term starter.
This actually was quite common back then. Guy gets a few starts, plays well (by any measure) and then gets a ton of money thrown at him as a free agent. Scott Mitchell was another, and so was Rob Johnson.
by Hombre de Acero on Sep 21, 2011 10:37 PM EDT up reply actions
It was definately "The Commander"
For some inexplicable reason I had an affinity for the Oilers too in those years. In 1993, I was thrilled when Carlson came in for an injured Moon and led the clock-killing drive that capped an Oilers upset at San Francisco, 10-7. People were calling it a Super Bowl preview, but unfortunately both of those teams (and the Steelers too) collapsed in the playoffs and we ended up with the Bills-Cowboys rematch that no one wanted.
by TheSpatulaMessiah on Sep 21, 2011 11:01 PM EDT up reply actions
I Remember That
The Oilers had a dominating defense that year, and I do remember people saying it was going to be the Super Bowl preview.
But Joe Montana beat them in the playoffs. With Pittsburgh eliminated, I was pulling for him.
I wanted a Chiefs-49er’s Super Bowl.
Alas, as you say, we got the rematch that no one wanted to see.
by Hombre de Acero on Sep 21, 2011 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen
A one-hit wonder in the early 1970’s with “Hot Rod Lincoln”
No. You may not caution me with a 21 year old example!!
Just kidding…but kinda sorta not really. I remember Carlson was one of those Kevin Kolb type backups who always delivered, and was fairly coveted by teams with shaky QB play. He didn’t suck, he just never had the reigns of his own team.
And like a comment above, the talent on that Oilers team was filthy sick good. This is a totally different scenario.
I'll be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from May, 2011 to Sept., 2011, to raise money for charity. For more info, please visit: http://thf2.wordpress.com
by Fifty-Eight on Sep 21, 2011 9:19 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
BTW, loved the article.
Since I don’t know anything about the Steelers’ past, except what I can look up, I love reading about it from people that actually were there. And yes, I don’t think we should make any assumptions about how a proud franchise that has just lost the first two games is going to play. We’re almost certainly going to get everything they’ve got, and we just have to hope that the guys really mean it when they say that in effect they’ve been properly humbled.
"If you're not getting better, I don't care what business you're in, you're a dead man. I try to look critically at the mistakes that I make and try to learn from them, like our team does." - Mike Tomlin
by Rebecca Rollett on Sep 21, 2011 9:19 PM EDT reply actions
Thanks, Rebecca. Who would have thought that all my years of not going out in high school would provide me with so many wonderful memories that I could one day share with Steeler fans around the world?
And if the Steelers take care of business this week, great! We’ll wait a couple of days before we start panicking about the prospects of facing a talented Texans’ offense. If we don’t? We’ll start panicking immediately after Sunday night’s game.
I hope they win. My coach likes to reward me with two panic-free days, but only after a win. .
by Anthony Defeo on Sep 21, 2011 9:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Gradkowski
Being the more recent and thereby apt comparison. I like BG; I think he’s a winner, and tremendously under-rated. But he and the Raiders didn’t beat the Steelers two years ago; the Steelers beat themselves, and Gradkowski capitalized on it.
Let’s hope the Colts game looks a lot like the Steelers are supposed to look.
"Football combines the two worst things about America: It is violence punctuated by committee meetings" -George Will
by lottwasgangsta on Sep 21, 2011 10:31 PM EDT up reply actions
Burnett
I’ll still never forgive him for that gimme dropped pick to end the game . One of the worst recent memories of a steelers loss for me . I didn’t watch SportsCenter one time that week
In Myron we Trust
by SteelTownKid08 on Sep 22, 2011 8:57 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Another step towards our goal
No excuse for taking anyone for granted when your team is at .500. We need to take up where we left off against Seattle and make life miserable for Collins. Offensively, we need to protect Ben and keep him healthy. We do that and we’ll win without too much trouble. These Colts aren’t a very good team without Manning, but you can’t assume they won’t be ready to play either.
Good points all around
"The standard is the standard" - Mike Tomlin
by MDSTEELERSFAN on Sep 22, 2011 10:03 AM EDT up reply actions
anybody know where I can watch reruns of the regular season games? I can't find them anywhere online
not sure if they are
still there, or still accepting new members, but ten yard torrents is where i found all 8 Steeler super bowl appearances, a few championship games, a few regular season game…pretty much anything you want
unfortunately, they have a required upload/download ration,. and since not many people use it, you can never get your up load up…but you can just get everything you can while you can…they don’t start bugging you for a month or so…
anyway…last week’s games were ALWAYS available…for all teams…even two weeks ago games…
You read my mind with this post.
Collins isn’t a Steeler-Killer, but he has definitely had some success against us. He has played against us enough to not be confused by the blitz packages, or intimidated by James Harrison.
grain of salt
Here's to smelling better after the game next sunday
The image that I have of Collins is of when he was with the Tennessee Titans and they were basically on the goal line. Troy P. literally hurdled the offensive line and tackled Collins for a loss. I am slightly more worried about the o-line protecting Big Ben than I am about the defense. I hope my worries are mere jitters from that Ravens game.
by ChitownSteelerfan on Sep 22, 2011 12:15 AM EDT reply actions
In my mind...
All past considered and appreciated. This game is another must crush as was last week’s (after the week-one debacle). We’ll need to beat the Jets and or the Pats by just a hair, enroute to a likely rematch with the Packers. In my opinion, our season hinges on the play of our revamped by injury o-line. If the, Manning replacement Collins is even close to too much for us, forget about the teams that are really good.
Indy is a 3 win team
With Payton out they’re a really bad team (thank you captain obvious). The biggest issue with the Colts is their succession of whiffs in the first two rounds dating back to their #2 in 2004, Bob Sanders. And they don’t have much in the way of late round surprises to overcome that top pick inadequacy.
I'll take Collins for the Colts because soon...Andrew Luck
by Michael Uhlhorn on Sep 22, 2011 9:06 AM EDT reply actions
I've thought this was the true reason they brought in Collins and not a more capable QB
I think they are sort of giving up on the season and getting Manning’s heir. They know they have no chance without manning.
Hopefully Tomlin will show the clips of the Tennessee Terrible Towel incident
and remind all the players that Collins was a leader on that team that so disrespected the the Steelers. Nothing makes a defense angrier than lack of respect.
"The standard is the standard" - Mike Tomlin
How much film did they have on Carlson back then?
I only have anecdotal evidence to support this, but it seems like marginal QBs have had some success in their first start or two just because other teams don’t have any film on them and don’t know what to expect. We have at least two weeks of film on Collins. Also, I think this Steelers team is much better than the 9-6 team that Carlson faced. I don’t think these two situations are totally analogous and I’ll remain cautiously optimistic about the Steelers chances on Sunday night :)
"WHITESNAKE! DOKKEN! NIGHT RANGER!" -- Ronny Cedeño
The Colts will get destroyed on Sunday night
Colts fan here. This team has 0 chance of beating the Steelers. The one request I have is someone from your defense please send Kerry Collins back to the nursing home. And by the way I would be shocked if we dont get the number 1 pick. I am not sure they take Luck. He will not want to sit behind Peyton for 4 years. Of course if the nerves dont regenerate this all wont matter.
I Never
get overconfident
every game is the chance for some crazy sh to happen
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