William Gay has been one of my favorite Steelers since he arrived in Pittsburgh. He plays physical for his size, is great on special teams and let's face it: he's got swag. 



This season, Gay's turned into a solid cornerback too, even taking away Bryant McFadden's starting job. We decided to honor his big season by putting together some t-shirts to honor his shutdown play.

Everybody knows about Revis Island...but Steeler Nation needs to let em know about Gay Island.  Check them out!



 

Well, after last week's loss to the Texans, I think all of us were concerned about the rest of the season and whether the Steelers could still compete at a high level. Looks like they took that speculation personally and they shut us up for sure. Amid all the talk of being too old to play, the defense clamped down and didn't give up any touchdowns until it was too late to matter. The offensive line opened holes for an excellent running game and Ben Roethlisberger barely got hit at all. This is the kind of performance a good team puts in after a loss. A weak Jacksonville team comes into town next week, and the Steelers have a chance to gain a little ground in the AFC North. Jump for the recap.

After mostly struggling for four weeks, this one was a breath of fresh air. The Titans look to be a solid team and the Steelers just blew them out of the water. Ben Roethlisberger tossed 3 touchdown passes in the first half and this one was pretty much over at halftime. The Titans scored a late touchdown agains the Steelers defensive reservers to make the final score a bit closer than the game actually was. 

Roethlisberger threw 2 touchdowns to Hines Ward and one each to Mike Wallace, David Johnson and Heath Miller. Despite playing with a sprained foot, Roethlisberger was on target with his throws all game. While the offensive line kept Roethlisberger clean all game, the best development was the return of a dominant and playmaking Pittsburgh defense. After Chris Johnson gashed them a few times early, the defense settled down and dictated the game.  The Steelers sacked Matt Hasselbeck three times and pressured him often. LaMarr Woodley had a nice interception after the Titans recovered a surprise onside kick in the 3rd and were threatening to make the game interesting again. 

Hats off to the Steelers coaches too. It's funny how a line that actually blocks people can make Bruce Arians look like he might know what he's doing. The Steelers had a few brilliantly designed misdirections and reverses on offense and mixed up the run and pass nicely. Special teams coach Al Everest, though, was the shining star of the coaching staff. He called a fake reverse on the Steelers first kickoff return of the game and Antonio Brown took the ball out to midfield, changing momentum after teh Titans jumped out to an early lead. The Steelers also executed a brilliant fake punt early in the 2nd quarter where Daniel Sepulveda completed a 33-yard pass to Ryan Mundy. The Steelers did have a punt blocked late in the game, but the contest was over at that point. 

Lots of talk will happen this week about the return of Max Starks, who played great at LT. It's important to note, though, that Starks was going up against mostly mediocre pass rushers and Jonathan Scott has faced Terrell Suggs, Dwight Freeney and Mario Williams so far this season. I think it's best to hold off judgment on Starks for a few more weeks, but so far, so good. 

The Steelers travel to Arizona next week.  play host to the Jaguars next Sunday. 

The Steelers are blowing out the Titans right now, but perhaps the best moment of this game was watching the referees get their signals crossed following a Tennessee onside kick in the 3rd quarter. The Titans pretty clearly recovered the ball, but somebody wasn't so sure. 

I exchanged emails this week with Drexel Perry from the excellent Titans blog Total Titans. I picked his brain on Matt Hasselbeck, Jason Jones, Nate Washington and, of course, Sunday's tilt between the Steelers and Titans. Jump it to see the Q and A.  no comments

This has been spread all over the web after Big Ben posted it to his Twitter feed last night and it is pretty hilarious. Troy Polamalu surprised a few visitors to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Hollywood. I would have been curious to have seen if any of the guest happened to be Ravens or Bengals fans. 

Kudos to Head and Shoulders, who are behind the video, for coming up with a viral sensation that doesn't suck.  

 

First off, wooo hockey is back!

The NFL season is short, as far as professional sports go. Sixteen games isn't a ton of time, and while it seems like just yesterday we were lamenting labor negotiations, now we're already a quarter of the way through the season. It's this time of year that we think it becomes acceptable to start evaluating some teams. Let's take a spin around the NFL and see how every team is doing so far.

One of the great mysteries in sports statistics lies in quantifying just how much a coaching staff helps the team. Surely there are cases in which coaching and physical training helps individuals improve, but without a 24/7 webcam in teams’ facilities and players’ offseason homes, it’s hard to know how much of a player’s improvement or decline can be attributed to the coaching staff. In baseball and hockey, all the coaching staff can really do to affect the actual game results are set the proper lineup, make good substitutions, and set proper strategy for certain points in the game. Basketball has some set plays, but not all the time. Football is different, in that each play involves play calling between the offensive and defensive coaches. Certainly, there are differences between good play callers and bad ones, and this should be able to be quantified. I recently stumbled upon a site that does just that, called QuantCoach.
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The Steelers have signed former OT Max Starks.

Probably the most necessary thing anyone has ever done. They say he won't be starting, that he's a depth player for the line.

I think we all know he is going to outplay both tackles and at least one guard. He might not start in Tennessee, but it won't take him long to get in the game and I'd be stunned if he weren't starting the week after that. 

Nothing but doom and gloom from Mike Tomlin's press conference today. OLB James Harrison broke his orbital bone last week and Tomlin said he will be out for 'several' weeks. Lawrence Timmons will move to ROLB and Larry Foote will take Timmons' spot on the onside. This is a huge loss for the Steelers, even if he only misses 3 or so games. The Steelers can't afford to keep losing games, even if it is early.

What is remarkable is that Harrison played around a quarter of football after breaking a bone in his face. The guy is some kind of man.

Tomlin also said that Isaac Redman is expected to be the starting running back on Sunday with Rashard Mendenhall's injury. Aaron Smith is looking doubtful as well. Big Ben looks like he'll be able to go, but he won't be practicing much this week.

Nothing is going to come easy in 2011 for the Steelers, that much I can say with certainty.