I'm finally ready to create a pithy screed on last Sunday's Steelers-Broncos game.
I have recovered sufficiently to write at least a sentence or two without banging my head on my desk.
Despite the fact that I didn't expect Pittsburgh to go the distance this year and rack up its seventh Super Bowl win, I sure didn't imagine mediocre Denver taking the Steelers out.
I could comment at length on all the Steelers injuries that kept several starters off the field, but if Mike Tomlin didn't make that excuse, who am I to?
I am still confounded by the convoluted NFL rules that had 12 and 4 Pittsburgh traveling to 8 and 8 Denver, but they are the rules every team plays by. Still, that Steelers starting defensive back Ryan Clark couldn't take the field because of the health effect Denver's altitude has on him no doubt contributed to the loss.
The bottom line, though, Pittsburgh just didn't get the job done. They settled for two field goals early in the game that should have been touchdowns. The defense seemed totally dazed and confused in the second quarter. Pittsburgh typically plays it tough defense in the third quarter and came back strong after the half as usual.
For a fleeting moment at the end of the fourth quarter, even I was regaining some optimism that the boys were going to reach deep down and pull it out.
Then came the overtime.
Had the defense been playing with its usual grit, Denver winning the overtime coin toss wouldn't have automatically translated into winning the game as NFL overtimes often play out. But Steelers D wasn't playing with its usual grit last Sunday.
I'm not a fan of sudden-death overtime that is often decided at the coin toss; but, again, it's the rules every team plays by.
Being the glass-is-half-full guy that I am, I will now have my weekends return to normal without the stroke-inducing stress of watching the Steelers play. I did get to wear my brand-new Mean Joe Greene jersey...once. It is now neatly folded away, awaiting next season.
An auto journalist buddy of mine sent me a link to a YouTube video that sums up a lot of my feelings about the game. Here it is:
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