Welcome to the first Steelers Running Diary of the 2009 season. If you have been a DSB follower going back to our blogger.com days then you know that on occasion I will watch the Steelers’ primetime games with the laptop and give you my thoughts on the game and the broadcast as it’s happening.
8:00 The Black Eyed Peas kick it off in Point State Park across the river from Heinz Field. There are plenty of Terrible Towels waving in the crowd. Holy shit, I am ready for “The Defense.” That’s what I am calling this season. It seems appropriate. Given the title defense and the hard-nosed Steelers’ defense.
8:05 Nancy O’Dell from Access Hollywood is the host for the kick-off concert. Don’t ask me why. She says that there are 60,000 people in the park. There will be fewer people packed into Heinz Field. Damn…Pittsburgh is pumped up for this season.
8:10 Fergie and her meth face are scaring the crowd. HD is not her friend. If they give her another close up I might consider changing the channel until kick-off. I am actually trying to decide what is worse…her voice minus the studio auto-tune or her face in HD? Either way she should be avoiding live appearances. I wish Shawn Merriman would show up and go ‘roid rage on Fergie.
8:15 The Herm Edwards “We Play to WIN the game” Coors light commercial is awesome. Favorite Coors Light Coach press conference commercial? Maybe? I need to see if it stands up over the course of the season as well as the original clip.
8:17 Tim McGraw? I envy the deaf.
8:26 After waiting 7 months for football to return why does the NFL force me to put up with this crap before the game? And why does NBC have to make the games so gay?
8:31 YES… FOOTBALL is finally back. Our long national nightmare is over. Damn the city looks great.
8:33 I am going on record right now. Steelers will finish the season 13-3. You heard it here first.
8:42 Kickoff… a 40 yard return to start the Steelers season… that is what you like to see.
8:44 3 and out but Sepulveda is able to pin them inside the 5… I freaking love that guy. My hope for the defense today is that Woodley hits Kerry Collins so hard that he starts hitting the bottle again.
8:55 Text message from Max Power confirms that he is a fan of Fox’s Glee… in other news, apparently the sky is blue.
8:58 From a makeable distance, Rob Bironas misses. 0-0 Dodged a little bullet on that one after only missing 4 of 72 in his career from inside 40 yards.
9:02 Another sack… that one was not Big Ben holding the ball too long. Looks like it will be more of the same of the offense after these first couple of series. Have I mentioned how much I hate these Toyota Prius commercials? Those stupid people dressed up as trees, flowers grass and the freaking sun… it sucks. It irritates the shit out of me. My guess is that is not the basis for an effective advertising campaign.
9:10 ONE HANDED INT BY #43!!! That is why you pay him the big bucks! An awesome INT by Polamalu. ZJ just informed me via text that Polamalu is the 2009 Defensive MVP… I agree.
9:14 After two plays, Big Ben over throws Holmes and gets picked off… its a stupid throw. WTF was he doing?
9:23 Hey rest of the NFL…the Pittsburgh Steelers still do not have a running game again this season…
9:41 After driving 60 yards the Steelers Defense holds in the red zone and setup the Titans for a field goal. Bironas this time GETS BLOCKED. Still no score in the game. This defensive battle is awesome to watch for Steelers fans but it has to be killing NBC and the NFL brass that this is not a scoring fest.
9:51 Holmes with a TD and 85 yards in the first half means 15 fantasy points! Looks like he is the #1 WR option for the Steelers this year.
9:55 And how does the Steelers defense back up the offense? By giving up a big play to a nobody WR… Britt for a huge gain and then Gage with a TD. 48 seconds left on the clock. Should the Steelers just take a knee?
10:22 Twitter from a Steelers followers seems to show that Troy Polamalu is going to be ok. Polamalu is listed as questionable to return in the second half according to SNFSideline Twitter.
10:25 Bo Scaife has had an intense first half and now he is looking like he might be headed to the IR after getting his knee bent the wrong way. He turned the ball over because he is too much of a pussy to hold on to it. Scaife owners are now looking at the Free Agent list on their fantasy football league webpages. Comcast and their third world internet crashes after dozens of people attempt to log on at once.
10:30 After two solid hours of NBC football, I don’t miss John Madden… not even a little bit.
10:31 Surrogates looks good right? We are ready for a new Bruce Willis movie to kick ass, right? I am excited for it.
10:46 This game has had more illegal formation penalties than catches by WRs… WTF is so hard about lining up on the line of scrimmage?
11:02 #43 is still in the locker room with no further update. The Titans are up 10-7 and on a scale of 1-10 of worry I am at 4.5… not like you are still reading at this point. But keep in mind the Steelers came from behind in a third of their games last year…
11:06 Favre spoofs his own on-again-off-again career in a Sears commercial. The only part of it that surprises me is that he is not wearing the number 4 t-shirt from the Wrangler Jeans commercial.
11:17 Jeff Reed, the Paper Towel Dispenser Destroyer, ties the game at 10 a piece. Holding steady at a 3 on the worry scale. The Defense will be able to hold.
11:24 The Defense holds… punt comes with 1:57 left on the clock and the Steelers have all three time outs. The is Big Ben’s wheelhouse. And the punt is shanked short and it is only a 28 yard boot… Great field position.
11:27 Three straight completions to move the chains each time. This is why Big Ben is the heart of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is awesome to watch.
11:29 Ward fumbles…. this is breaking the hearts of all within Steeler Country. #$@#&!!! Now we need to hope for OT. Why did Ward not go down? Why do you try to force it into the end zone when it helps you to have the first down and then run the clock out until you can kick it? This is going to kill me all night if they lose.
11:34 We are headed to OVERTIME… free football everybody and this means more chances for our fantasy football players to run it up. And Pittsburgh will get the ball…. I am officially at 7 on the worry scale.
11:42 Ben is working it down the field… this looks pretty good.
11:47 After working down the field and getting the first down at the 15 yard line via a catch by Rookie Mike “60 Minutes” Wallace… Reed comes on the field and hits a 33 yard kick for the win. Sweet. Reed nailed it like it was a paper towel dispenser.
Where’s your Terrible Towel now LenWhale?
Thanks for coming and suckling on Daddy’s Sugar Ball…
Bearcat