Monday Night Football Afterword: Steelers vs Chiefs

The Chiefs gave the Steelers a scare, but Pittsburgh faces
a bigger problem. Photo credit to ESPN.

As it turned out, this was a much more interesting game than anyone, myself included, figured it would be heading into last night.

The Chiefs held a lead, in regulation, for the first time this season. In fact, they held a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter before the Steelers rallied to tie the game at halftime.

The third quarter saw no scoring change. When Pittsburgh took a 13-10 lead in the fourth, I figured that it was over, that KC’s confidence was so low that they were doomed to suffer another loss. Not only that, but the officials really seemed to be skewing things in favor of the Steelers and that wasn’t helping Kansas City’s cause, either.

Instead, in an incredible final drive of regulation, which included overcoming a costly offensive pass interference call, Matt Cassel made some incredible passes I never expected to see from him, and get his team in position for Ryan Succop to redeem himself from an earlier field goal miss. He made the field goal but an interception by Cassel deep in Chiefs territory in overtime led to a 1^st Down field goal try by to give Pittsburgh the victory.

There were many turning points in the game, most significantly a defensive touchdown for Kansas City that was called back on account of the infamous ‘Tuck Rule.’ The score would have given the Chiefs a 17-10 lead in the third quarter. More importantly, even though the score did not count, the Chiefs were still flagged for excessive celebration.

It was a very weird game, but the bad news from all of it is on the Steelers side. The Chiefs season was already over before this game began, but Pittsburgh could be in serious trouble, too. Ben Roethlisberger left the game with a shoulder injury and was taken to the hospital during the game. There was some speculation that it may have been a separated shoulder but so far the only confirmed report is a shoulder sprain. That said, ESPN recently announced that Steelers personnel are concerned that it may be a significant shoulder injury that could lead Big Ben to miss a fair amount of time.

Week 10 was a rough one for quarterbacks. In addition to Roethlisberger’s injury, Alex Smith, Michael Vick and Jay Cutler all suffered concussions. So far, only Alex Smith, who has no documented past issues with concussions, appears on track to play in Week 11.

Thursday Night Football Afterword: Titans vs Steelers

Steelers fans packed Heinz Field LP Field well before the game even began, but their support apparently wasn’t enough as the Steelers came off an important win against Philadelphia with a 26-23 loss to the Tennessee Titans.

It is easy to point the finger and lay the blame on Ben Roethlisberger’s interception near the end of the first half when the Steelers were threatening to score, which allowed the Titans to drive back and extend their lead to 16-10 at halftime with a field goal. But it isn’t as simple as that; it never is.

The Steelers scored on each of their first three possessions in the second half, giving them a 23-16 lead. Their defense fall apart on the next Tennessee drive, giving up first downs on 2^nd & 10, 3^rd & 8, and 3^rd & 10. Then, on 3^rd & goal, they gave up a touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Kenny Britt that tied the game.

The Steelers began their drive with a little over four minutes left in the game. They picked up a few first downs, but after stretching the field for the first time all season in the first half, the Steelers tried to be too methodical down the stretch. Short gains ultimately stalled the drive with just under a minute to play and an opportunity to take the lead on a 54-yard field goal by Shaun Suisham, who was perfect on the year but had never made a field goal of over 52 yards, which he had matched earlier in the game.

His kick was perfectly on line, right in line with the middle of the crossbar, but wound up about a yard or two short. Hasselbeck and the Titans took over on their own 45 and easily drove to the Pittsburgh 25 and with three second left Rob Bironas knocked in a 40-yard field goal to win the game.

During the game, Roethlisberger passed Terry Bradshaw for the Steelers all-time passing yards record, but I’m sure he would have traded that in for a win. With the loss, Pittsburgh is now two games behind the Ravens and a game behind Cincinnati, both of whom can gain an extra half-game with wins over Dallas and Cleveland, respectively, on Sunday.

Tennessee didn’t help their cause all that much with the win, they are still way behind the Texans and have two more losses than the Colts, but we’ve seen teams catch a spark after beating a good team, and the Titans are not as terrible as some people would think. This is probably the most dangerous ‘bad team’ in the AFC, and Thursday night was not the first time we’ve seen that this year.

As always, thank you for reading. My next post will be on Monday when I publish both of my Sunday Football Afterwords. Follow me on Twitter @PuffontheNFL and show your support for my blog by liking its Facebook Page.

Also, keep track of various sports updates with The All-Sports Crew and listen to us live on WMUC Sports Wednesdays and Fridays from 7-8pm unless otherwise announced (e.g., our show is being preempted for a Maryland sporting event and will not air live tonight).

Have a fantastic weekend!

Sunday Football Afterword: Week 3 Late Games

Torrey Smith hauled in two touchdown receptions
in an emotional game.

So if the 49ers loss against the Vikings moved them out of first in the NFC West, who took over their spot? Surprise, surprise, it’s the Cardinals! Kevin Kolb faced his old team and played a fantastic game as Arizona hosted Philadelphia. Michael Vick was 17/37; Kolb was 17/24. Vick had 217 passing yards, 28 rushing yards and no touchdowns. Kolb had 222 passing yards, 16 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The Eagles better miss him! But it wasn’t only Kevin Kolb who led Arizona to a big win and their first 3-0 start since the 70s; Arizona’s defense has been rock solid, and they came up huge yesterday.

The play that defined the game for me was the final play of the first half. With a few seconds left and the ball on the 1-yard line, Vick dropped back to try one more throw before settling for a field goal. Instead he was hit hard, fumbled the ball, and James Sanders returned for a score to put the Cardinals up 24-0 at halftime. Philly managed to hold the Cardinals down in the second half but only put up 6 points themselves in the 27-6 road loss.

Matt Ryan continues to shine as the Falcons beat the Chargers in similar fashion, 27-3. Ryan was 30/40 for 275 yards, 3 touchdown passes, and just his first interception of the season. A week after being arrested for a DUI after playing the Broncos, Michael Turner was back and carried the ball 14 times for 80 yards and a score.

Philip Rivers meanwhile continues to struggle early in the season. He threw for under 200 yards and after picking off Peyton Manning three times last week the Falcons defense picked Rivers off twice in San Diego.

Peyton Manning wanted to come back from that rough performance against Atlanta as the Broncos hosted the Texans, but for the second straight week, a big fourth quarter come back bid fell short. Houston led 31-11 heading into the final quarter. Manning finished the day with 330 passing yards and 2 touchdown passes, both coming in the final 15 minutes. But Matt Schaub’s 4 touchdown passes were too much for Denver to overcome in the 31-25 Houston victory.

Big Ben Roethlisberger had 384 passing yards four touchdown passes and no picks. That was the best statistical game for any quarterback so far this week, yet it wasn’t enough as the Raiders earned their first victory, 34-31. Carson Palmer played good, not great, but Darren McFadden is a beast. He carried the ball just 18 times but gained 113 yards and scored a touchdown. It took a 13-0 fourth quarter effort, but the Raiders earned their first win of the season.

The Sunday Night game was interesting. There were a lot of penalties, but the game moved at a quick enough pace that it didn’t lose my interest like many games over the past two weeks have.

Of course, the story of the night was Ravens receiver, and Maryland grad, Torrey Smith, who played despite his younger brother Tevin being killed in a motorcycle accident early in the day. Smith had 6 catches for 127 yards and two scores.

Flacco played well, as did Ray Rice. Baltimore’s defense, as always, was strong. But the Patriots did not look very good on offense. Brady had a decent second half as New England finally got Wes Welker involved in their game plan, but Brady has not looked like Brady this year when he’s throwing to just about anyone else.

With little time remaining, the Ravens were in range for a 27-yard field goal try. Last year Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal that gave New England the AFC Championship and a Super Bowl bid. This year, rookie Justin Tucker was the man to try and give Baltimore the win. His kicked sailed high over the uprights, but the official beneath said it went directly over, which constitutes a successful field goal attempt. The kick gave the Ravens a 31-30 victory and a 2-1 record.

New England drops to 1-2 with the loss. Their streak of consecutive games played without being below .500 ends at 145, a streak that spanned nine seasons. In 2003 they lost their season opener, 31-0 against the Chiefs. After that they won two straight games, lost to the Redskins, then did not lose again as they went on to win the Super Bowl against the Carolina Panthers.

Tonight the Packers take on the Seattle Seahawks. Expect the 12^th Man to go all out as Seattle tries to keep pace with the 49ers and not lose too much ground to the Cardinals. It will be a tough task against the Packers, but if there is nothing else the first three weeks have taught us, it’s that the NFL loves upsets and there is never a ‘gimme win.’

If you haven't already, be sure to check out my Afterword on the earlier Sunday games.