The Penguins cut ties with 7 players today. Sending them to Wlikes-Barre/Scranton to be baby Pens, the Pens AHL farm team.
Forwards:
Nick Johnson
Brett Sterling
Joe Vitale
Chris Conner
Tim Wallace
defensemen:
Brian Strait
Corey Potter
Steve Wagner
goaltender:
John Curry
Brad Thiessen
The Pens have to make 7 other roster moves by October 7th.
Alexander Ovechkin is going to due a rap duet with Eminem. Apparently being on the HBO show wasn't enough for Ovechkin. I think this will be an epic fail, but maybe Eminem is a good enough artist to make Ovechkin sound good.
Talking about life, sports, politics, and everything else imaginable.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens. Preview and Prediciton
The Steelers are 3-0 without Ben Roethlisberger, which is already a success for this team. Even if the Steelers loose to their next opponent, the Baltimore Ravens, 3-1 will be a bid time success, because after this game the Steelers get a bye week, and their best player on offense back.
As for the game itself, I'm not really sure how I feel about it. The Ravens are without Ed Reed, and Ray Rice is questionable for the game. However, I'm not a big believer in Charlie Batch, like the rest of the morons in Pittsburgh. He threw 2 touchdown passes that should have been picked, and this is a good, and opportunistic defense that he will be facing.
The Ravens D still looks solid. Through three games, Baltimore leads the league in total defense, allowing just 244.3 yards per game. The Ravens have also given up the least amount of first downs in the NFL so far this season. Ray Lewis is still playing at a high level, as is Haloti Ngata, who the Steelers usually have trouble with.
However, despite the good numbers for the defense, its run defense is a major concern. The Ravens are giving up 127.7 rushing yards per game (No. 22 in the NFL) on 4.7 yards per carry. The Ravens have only allowed four 100-yard rushers in their last 54 games, but Browns backup running back Peyton Hillis surprisingly joined the list last week when he rushing for 144 yards. The Ravens pass defense is looking better then expected without Ed Reed, who is out for the first six games.
Offensively, their run game is good, but Ray Rice is banged up and right now his status for Sunday is unknown for Sunday. If Rice can't go then it will certainly be a major blow offensively for the Ravens. Rice is a complete back who can do a lot of things in the running and passing game. He's also had success against the Steelers in the past. Willis McGahee will get the start if Rice doesn't play. For those of you who don't remember, McGahee was the running back who got destroyed in the 2008 AFC Championship game by Ryan Clark.
The Ravens have the Steeler-killer TJ Houshmanzadeh at receiver, along with Todd Heap, and Derrick Mason. All three usually catch a few key passes against the Steelers. The Ravens key receiver is Anquan Boldin, who is a very talented receiver. Boldin is a guy who can break tackles and has good hands.
Joe Flacco usually struggles against the Steelers. He's only managed to lead the Ravens to a victory over the Steelers once, and that was last year when Roethlisberger was held out of the game due to a concussion. Dennis Dixon had to fill in and threw a crucial interception in overtime. Flacco is 1-4 in his short career against the Steelers. Out of those 5 games, Flacco has 4 td passes and 6 interceptions. He's also only completed over 60% of his passes once, and that was in the win last year, and Troy Polamalu didn't play.
As for the Steleers, the keys to the game are the same as always. No turnovers, no special teams mistakes, and control the clock.Think about this, Roethlisberger has only lost to the Ravens twice in his career, both in 2006, the year of his motorcycle accident, his worst year as a pro. The Steelers have had to play the Ravens four times since 2004, without Ben. They lost all four of those games. Not a very good sign.
Also, the Steelers usually have trouble running the ball against the Ravens, and have had to rely on Ben's arm to beat them in the past. So far in 3 games this year,the Steelers have averaged 139 yards passing, 1TD/game, 1INT/game. With Roethlisberger last year they averaged 286 yards passing with 1.7 TD/game and .7 Int/game. The Ravens chances of winning next week are significantly better without him in the game.
Charlie Batch will get the start again this Sunday, after throwing 3 touchdowns against Tampa Bay last week. However, Batch also threw 2 interceptions, and should have been picked on two of his touchdowns. That can't happen against this Ravens team.
Batch is going to have to look to Heath Miller and Hines Ward most of the game. Both of them have had success against the Ravens.
The one good thing about this years match-up is the Steelers offensive line is improved in all aspects. Rookie center Maurkice Pouncey is a huge upgrade over Justin Hartwig. The Ravens have three giants on their defensive line, so the Steelers had to get bigger and stronger up front, and they are.
Rashard Mendenhall cannot tip toe around this defense, he needs to hit holes fast and hard. I just hope he's not a little nervous because Ray Lewis almost ruined his career before.
Defensively I think the Steelers will be fine, especially if Ray Rice can't play. Flacco tends to hold on to the ball so I expect the Steelers to get some hits on him. The key is going to be to force some turnovers. Field position is going to huge in this game.
Bottom Line: This game is going to be nasty just like it always is. This is the best rivalry in the NFL. Both of these teams look forward to this game and everyone usually brings their A game. The Steelers cannot afford turnovers in this game. The Steelers cannot and will not come from behind to beat this team with Batch at qb.
That being said, I just don't trust Joe Flacco. I think he's drastically overrated and plays horrible against the Steelers. So I'm going Steelers in this game.
Steelers 16 Ravens 13
As for the game itself, I'm not really sure how I feel about it. The Ravens are without Ed Reed, and Ray Rice is questionable for the game. However, I'm not a big believer in Charlie Batch, like the rest of the morons in Pittsburgh. He threw 2 touchdown passes that should have been picked, and this is a good, and opportunistic defense that he will be facing.
The Ravens D still looks solid. Through three games, Baltimore leads the league in total defense, allowing just 244.3 yards per game. The Ravens have also given up the least amount of first downs in the NFL so far this season. Ray Lewis is still playing at a high level, as is Haloti Ngata, who the Steelers usually have trouble with.
However, despite the good numbers for the defense, its run defense is a major concern. The Ravens are giving up 127.7 rushing yards per game (No. 22 in the NFL) on 4.7 yards per carry. The Ravens have only allowed four 100-yard rushers in their last 54 games, but Browns backup running back Peyton Hillis surprisingly joined the list last week when he rushing for 144 yards. The Ravens pass defense is looking better then expected without Ed Reed, who is out for the first six games.
Offensively, their run game is good, but Ray Rice is banged up and right now his status for Sunday is unknown for Sunday. If Rice can't go then it will certainly be a major blow offensively for the Ravens. Rice is a complete back who can do a lot of things in the running and passing game. He's also had success against the Steelers in the past. Willis McGahee will get the start if Rice doesn't play. For those of you who don't remember, McGahee was the running back who got destroyed in the 2008 AFC Championship game by Ryan Clark.
The Ravens have the Steeler-killer TJ Houshmanzadeh at receiver, along with Todd Heap, and Derrick Mason. All three usually catch a few key passes against the Steelers. The Ravens key receiver is Anquan Boldin, who is a very talented receiver. Boldin is a guy who can break tackles and has good hands.
Joe Flacco usually struggles against the Steelers. He's only managed to lead the Ravens to a victory over the Steelers once, and that was last year when Roethlisberger was held out of the game due to a concussion. Dennis Dixon had to fill in and threw a crucial interception in overtime. Flacco is 1-4 in his short career against the Steelers. Out of those 5 games, Flacco has 4 td passes and 6 interceptions. He's also only completed over 60% of his passes once, and that was in the win last year, and Troy Polamalu didn't play.
As for the Steleers, the keys to the game are the same as always. No turnovers, no special teams mistakes, and control the clock.Think about this, Roethlisberger has only lost to the Ravens twice in his career, both in 2006, the year of his motorcycle accident, his worst year as a pro. The Steelers have had to play the Ravens four times since 2004, without Ben. They lost all four of those games. Not a very good sign.
Also, the Steelers usually have trouble running the ball against the Ravens, and have had to rely on Ben's arm to beat them in the past. So far in 3 games this year,the Steelers have averaged 139 yards passing, 1TD/game, 1INT/game. With Roethlisberger last year they averaged 286 yards passing with 1.7 TD/game and .7 Int/game. The Ravens chances of winning next week are significantly better without him in the game.
Charlie Batch will get the start again this Sunday, after throwing 3 touchdowns against Tampa Bay last week. However, Batch also threw 2 interceptions, and should have been picked on two of his touchdowns. That can't happen against this Ravens team.
Batch is going to have to look to Heath Miller and Hines Ward most of the game. Both of them have had success against the Ravens.
The one good thing about this years match-up is the Steelers offensive line is improved in all aspects. Rookie center Maurkice Pouncey is a huge upgrade over Justin Hartwig. The Ravens have three giants on their defensive line, so the Steelers had to get bigger and stronger up front, and they are.
Rashard Mendenhall cannot tip toe around this defense, he needs to hit holes fast and hard. I just hope he's not a little nervous because Ray Lewis almost ruined his career before.
Defensively I think the Steelers will be fine, especially if Ray Rice can't play. Flacco tends to hold on to the ball so I expect the Steelers to get some hits on him. The key is going to be to force some turnovers. Field position is going to huge in this game.
Bottom Line: This game is going to be nasty just like it always is. This is the best rivalry in the NFL. Both of these teams look forward to this game and everyone usually brings their A game. The Steelers cannot afford turnovers in this game. The Steelers cannot and will not come from behind to beat this team with Batch at qb.
That being said, I just don't trust Joe Flacco. I think he's drastically overrated and plays horrible against the Steelers. So I'm going Steelers in this game.
Steelers 16 Ravens 13
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Ben Who?
Well we knew that if the Steelers had some success while Ben Roethlisberger was out that this would happen. An article was written on Pittsburghlive.com today that suggested that if Batch plays well again this Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, and comes a way with another win, that he should be able to start even when Roethlisberger comes back from his suspension.
Now not only is this dumb, it's plain ignorant. Batch got lucky against the Bucs. Both of his touchdown passes should have been intercepted. The first one to Wallace looked like a punt that Daniel Sepulveda was jealous of. Batch is a career backup. When Ben comes back the offense will be where it was last year, in the top 10. When Ben comes back the offense will average 8 yards per pass, and open up the run even more.
I know a lot of you don't like Ben, and that's fine. Your just jealous. I know that Ben has a bad reputation but reputations can be changed. I hear a lot of talk like "What if that was your daughter:?". Well if it was my daughter, I would ask her why she was wearing a name tag that read "DTF". If it was my daughter I would ask her why her blood alcohol was .2 and how she didn't die. If it was my daughter I would ask her why she was chasing around celebs from bar to bar. If it was my daughter, I would be disappointed. What if Ben was your son? What if your son was looked at as if he was guilty for something he didn't do?
But Seriously, Ben who? That's funny. How about Ben, the two time Super Bowl winning quarterback. How about Ben, the 100 million dollar qb? How about Ben, the guy that passed for 4300 yards last year, despite missing a game. The guy that has a 90 career qb rating. The guy that won 15 games a rookie. The guy that changed the Pittsburgh Steelers for ever. That's who!
Now not only is this dumb, it's plain ignorant. Batch got lucky against the Bucs. Both of his touchdown passes should have been intercepted. The first one to Wallace looked like a punt that Daniel Sepulveda was jealous of. Batch is a career backup. When Ben comes back the offense will be where it was last year, in the top 10. When Ben comes back the offense will average 8 yards per pass, and open up the run even more.
I know a lot of you don't like Ben, and that's fine. Your just jealous. I know that Ben has a bad reputation but reputations can be changed. I hear a lot of talk like "What if that was your daughter:?". Well if it was my daughter, I would ask her why she was wearing a name tag that read "DTF". If it was my daughter I would ask her why her blood alcohol was .2 and how she didn't die. If it was my daughter I would ask her why she was chasing around celebs from bar to bar. If it was my daughter, I would be disappointed. What if Ben was your son? What if your son was looked at as if he was guilty for something he didn't do?
But Seriously, Ben who? That's funny. How about Ben, the two time Super Bowl winning quarterback. How about Ben, the 100 million dollar qb? How about Ben, the guy that passed for 4300 yards last year, despite missing a game. The guy that has a 90 career qb rating. The guy that won 15 games a rookie. The guy that changed the Pittsburgh Steelers for ever. That's who!
News and Notes
An absolute shocker was announced yesterday, that ESPN RADIO 1250 AM will no longer be on the air come 2011. I couldn't find it but I'm sure the real reason for this move is due to the new all sports talk show on FM, 93.7 the Fan. And of course, the fact that Mark Madden use to have his show on ESPN RADIO, but was fired because of a comment he made about Ted Kennedy. Madden has since been on 105.9 The X, and his ratings are overwhelmingly number 1 in the city.
Stan Savarn, Guy Junker, and drive-time hosts Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan, Chris Mack and Steelers reporter Ken Laird were all fired.
Line experiments with the Pittsburgh Penguins:
Assuming when the team is healthy, the Pittsburgh Penguins could have one of the most feared 3rd lines in the NHL this season, with Aaron Asham and Matt Cooke centered by Max Talbot. Not sure if they'll be this tough though.
Stan Savarn, Guy Junker, and drive-time hosts Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan, Chris Mack and Steelers reporter Ken Laird were all fired.
Line experiments with the Pittsburgh Penguins:
Assuming when the team is healthy, the Pittsburgh Penguins could have one of the most feared 3rd lines in the NHL this season, with Aaron Asham and Matt Cooke centered by Max Talbot. Not sure if they'll be this tough though.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Steelers 38 Buccaneers 13: Full Review
The Pittsburgh Steelers are now 3-0 without Ben Roethlisberger after defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. I'm happy because of this because 75% of the teams that start 3-0 in the NFL make the playoffs. Not to mention that this team will still have a huge upgrade on offense Ben Roethlisberger comes back. That being said here's my breakdown of the game.
Charlie Batch: The Slumlord did an okay job yesterday. I'm not going to give him an A like some of the overreacting critics because he did not give n A effort. Batch's first pass of the game was a horrible interception that gave the Buccaneers an easy field goal to go up 3-0. Batch threw 3 tochdowns, but two of them should have been picked.
He had 2 TD passes to Mike Wallace, the first one was under thrown that the safety(who was a white guy filling in for the suspended Tanard Jackson) made a terrible play on the ball and the other was under thrown and got a lucky tip for a TD .So he could have had or should have had atleast 3 or 4 Ints in this game.
Take away the 2 TD passes and he was 10-15 for 99 yards and 2 Ints.Thats under 5 yards a completion.
However, Batch did get the win, and played a lot better then Dennis Dixon which didn't surprise me. So I'll give Batch a B- for his contributions.
The Running Game- Rashard Mendenhall is running like he has something to prove, maybe critics and his haters. So far he has started three games this season and has topped 100 yards in two of them, including 143 against the Bucs on Sunday. Unlike Fast Willie Parker, Mendenhall seems to run with consistency, not getting most of his yards on one big run. He also has yet to lose a fumble. His ball security this season is much improved and he looks more like the back the Steelers expected in the 2008 draft.
The Steelers finished with 201 yards on 32 carries as a team, good for an average of 6.3 yards per. Isaac Redman chipped in at fullback and carrying the ball with 6 carries for 31 yards. Batch also had a qb scramble for 24 yards. More importantly the Steelers picked up 10 first downs on runs. Running game gets an A+
Offensive line: I thought the offensive line had a great day in both pass and run blocking. Zero sacks allowed and averaging 6.3 yards on the grown? Yes please! Doug Legursky looked good at right guard filling in for Trai Essex. Flozzell Adams, from what I remember had zero penalties. All in all, I'll give the unit an A for the day, although I'm going to re-watch the game again for further review.
The O-line as a "whole" did a very solid job against a stingy 4-3 Tampa Defense, but don't let that game fool you with the O-line either. Their biggest test comes this week with the Baltimore Ravens 3-4 scheme and Haloti Ngata.
Defense: They completely shut down the run as usual and got a quarterback benched for a second straight week. That's just awesome. More importantly this defense is more intimidating and more opportunistic. Last year the Steelers couldn't force a big turnover to save their lives, this year they can't stop it.
So far they've forced nine fumbles (recovering six) and picked off six passes. That's 12 turnovers in three games. When you win the turnover battle, you usually win the game. Also the turnovers aren't just coming from the same two for three players. This week Ryan Clark got a huge(kind of lucky) fumble recovery that gave the Steelers great field position. Also, by far the most awesome play of the game was Brett Keisel's interception return for the touchdown.
Bottom Line:
All in all it was another great effort by the black and gold who are now 3-0, despite the fact that their best offensive player has yet to take the field. Next week, the Steelers welcome the much loved Baltimore Ravens, who are 2-1, thanks to a 24-17 win over the Cleveland Browns, who are 0-3. It's going to be the toughest test of the season. Since 2004, the Steelers are 0-4 against the Ravens when Big Ben doesn't start. Just saying.
Charlie Batch: The Slumlord did an okay job yesterday. I'm not going to give him an A like some of the overreacting critics because he did not give n A effort. Batch's first pass of the game was a horrible interception that gave the Buccaneers an easy field goal to go up 3-0. Batch threw 3 tochdowns, but two of them should have been picked.
He had 2 TD passes to Mike Wallace, the first one was under thrown that the safety(who was a white guy filling in for the suspended Tanard Jackson) made a terrible play on the ball and the other was under thrown and got a lucky tip for a TD .So he could have had or should have had atleast 3 or 4 Ints in this game.
Take away the 2 TD passes and he was 10-15 for 99 yards and 2 Ints.Thats under 5 yards a completion.
However, Batch did get the win, and played a lot better then Dennis Dixon which didn't surprise me. So I'll give Batch a B- for his contributions.
The Running Game- Rashard Mendenhall is running like he has something to prove, maybe critics and his haters. So far he has started three games this season and has topped 100 yards in two of them, including 143 against the Bucs on Sunday. Unlike Fast Willie Parker, Mendenhall seems to run with consistency, not getting most of his yards on one big run. He also has yet to lose a fumble. His ball security this season is much improved and he looks more like the back the Steelers expected in the 2008 draft.
The Steelers finished with 201 yards on 32 carries as a team, good for an average of 6.3 yards per. Isaac Redman chipped in at fullback and carrying the ball with 6 carries for 31 yards. Batch also had a qb scramble for 24 yards. More importantly the Steelers picked up 10 first downs on runs. Running game gets an A+
Offensive line: I thought the offensive line had a great day in both pass and run blocking. Zero sacks allowed and averaging 6.3 yards on the grown? Yes please! Doug Legursky looked good at right guard filling in for Trai Essex. Flozzell Adams, from what I remember had zero penalties. All in all, I'll give the unit an A for the day, although I'm going to re-watch the game again for further review.
The O-line as a "whole" did a very solid job against a stingy 4-3 Tampa Defense, but don't let that game fool you with the O-line either. Their biggest test comes this week with the Baltimore Ravens 3-4 scheme and Haloti Ngata.
Defense: They completely shut down the run as usual and got a quarterback benched for a second straight week. That's just awesome. More importantly this defense is more intimidating and more opportunistic. Last year the Steelers couldn't force a big turnover to save their lives, this year they can't stop it.
So far they've forced nine fumbles (recovering six) and picked off six passes. That's 12 turnovers in three games. When you win the turnover battle, you usually win the game. Also the turnovers aren't just coming from the same two for three players. This week Ryan Clark got a huge(kind of lucky) fumble recovery that gave the Steelers great field position. Also, by far the most awesome play of the game was Brett Keisel's interception return for the touchdown.
Bottom Line:
All in all it was another great effort by the black and gold who are now 3-0, despite the fact that their best offensive player has yet to take the field. Next week, the Steelers welcome the much loved Baltimore Ravens, who are 2-1, thanks to a 24-17 win over the Cleveland Browns, who are 0-3. It's going to be the toughest test of the season. Since 2004, the Steelers are 0-4 against the Ravens when Big Ben doesn't start. Just saying.
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