steelsnis
09-20-2010, 10:32 PM
Found this on another board...
From the notebook of a sportswriter who can’t seem to get his mind off the linebackers at the moment:
* When I get old and am sitting on my porch with my grandkids, I’m going to tell them about the day I saw James Harrison flip Vince Young, Aaron Smith and Brett Keisel at the same time and drive them all into the turf.
* I’m going to tell him about that one time James Harrison sacked the quarterback, forced the turnover, jumped up and into the face of the massive blocker, challenged him till he backed off, and then went straight to his knees and waited for someone to get him an IV so he could do it again.
* And the one time, Chris Johnson, the fastest man in the league tried to cut back and James Harrison hit him so hard the TV analyst said “Wooo!” And the play-by-play man said, “Wow is right!” And I said, “No, Wooo! is right.”
* Johnson met some of the other nice young linebackers from Pittsburgh, too. Lawrence Timmons taught Johnson very early how not to cut back on them.
* LaMarr Woodley hammered Johnson high as Ryan Clark held him low in a play that sucked even more courage out of the league’s best running back.
* Woodley was asked about the Titans last week and he said, “Yeah, they’re pretty solid, but they’re going up against a solid defense. Every time I look at a team, I just kind of look at our defense and I say ‘If we go out there and play our game, we can make things happen.’”
* Yeah, they can make Super Bowls happen.
* Don’t tell me not to go there. You see the way that defense is playing. You see what Maurkice Pounce is doing to that O-line. You know what a talented quarterback with a chip on his shoulder can add. You can’t help but think Super Bowl after that kind of defensive performance.
* Dick LeBeau made another game-changing call at 10-3. With no down linemen, the Steelers dropped their two best pass rushers out of the middle of six potential rushers, and one of those pass rushers – Woodley – intercepted the no-look pass.
* Of course, Johnson did have his moment. And the Titans could point to the called-back 85-yard touchdown run as an unnecessary call that instead should’ve tied the game. But then again, there’s a reason Chris Hoke is 16-2 as a starting nose tackle.
* Oh, yeah, Hokie was held on that play. And who’s to say he wouldn’t have busted up Johnson before he got rolling?
* When Hoke wobbled wounded off the field, I thought of the Arizona game in 2007 when he and Casey Hampton got hurt. Travis Kirschke moved over to play the nose and called it a miserable existence.
* Steve McLendon not only gave Hoke a blow at the nose, he came up with a fumble in his first NFL game. As McLendon cradled that football on the sideline, I thought back to Antonio Brown’s 68-yard touchdown catch in his preseason debut. After that game, trainer Norwig asked Brown if he kept the ball. Brown had a look of “Dang!” But Emmanuel Sanders said, “He wants the first one in the regular season,” and Brown said, “Yeah, I want the first one in the regular season.”
* Well, he got it, but look back at the tape and see Brown ball-less while jumping around the sideline.
* Up until Brown made a tackle in kick coverage, I was going to give my special-teams award to Sly Sylvester.
* Chris Kemoeatu gets some kind of award, too, for making sounds like the ones the linebackers were making. Kemo hit someone that hard while pulling on a play with fullback Tim Lester, er, Isaac Redman.
* Awfully solid lead blocking from Mr. Redman. I think they may have something brewing there with him at fullback.
* From the feisty rookies to the crotchety old stars, from the rotating offensive tackles to the injury replacements, from the kicker to the fourth-string quarterback who wasn’t supposed to be on the team, it was a team effort. And they all played with focus, intensity and discipline.
* The coaches should be proud of themselves, but they have a bigger task this week: Bringing this physically and emotionally drained group back to life.
* Thinking Super Bowl shouldn’t be too hard, though, in Tampa.
From the notebook of a sportswriter who can’t seem to get his mind off the linebackers at the moment:
* When I get old and am sitting on my porch with my grandkids, I’m going to tell them about the day I saw James Harrison flip Vince Young, Aaron Smith and Brett Keisel at the same time and drive them all into the turf.
* I’m going to tell him about that one time James Harrison sacked the quarterback, forced the turnover, jumped up and into the face of the massive blocker, challenged him till he backed off, and then went straight to his knees and waited for someone to get him an IV so he could do it again.
* And the one time, Chris Johnson, the fastest man in the league tried to cut back and James Harrison hit him so hard the TV analyst said “Wooo!” And the play-by-play man said, “Wow is right!” And I said, “No, Wooo! is right.”
* Johnson met some of the other nice young linebackers from Pittsburgh, too. Lawrence Timmons taught Johnson very early how not to cut back on them.
* LaMarr Woodley hammered Johnson high as Ryan Clark held him low in a play that sucked even more courage out of the league’s best running back.
* Woodley was asked about the Titans last week and he said, “Yeah, they’re pretty solid, but they’re going up against a solid defense. Every time I look at a team, I just kind of look at our defense and I say ‘If we go out there and play our game, we can make things happen.’”
* Yeah, they can make Super Bowls happen.
* Don’t tell me not to go there. You see the way that defense is playing. You see what Maurkice Pounce is doing to that O-line. You know what a talented quarterback with a chip on his shoulder can add. You can’t help but think Super Bowl after that kind of defensive performance.
* Dick LeBeau made another game-changing call at 10-3. With no down linemen, the Steelers dropped their two best pass rushers out of the middle of six potential rushers, and one of those pass rushers – Woodley – intercepted the no-look pass.
* Of course, Johnson did have his moment. And the Titans could point to the called-back 85-yard touchdown run as an unnecessary call that instead should’ve tied the game. But then again, there’s a reason Chris Hoke is 16-2 as a starting nose tackle.
* Oh, yeah, Hokie was held on that play. And who’s to say he wouldn’t have busted up Johnson before he got rolling?
* When Hoke wobbled wounded off the field, I thought of the Arizona game in 2007 when he and Casey Hampton got hurt. Travis Kirschke moved over to play the nose and called it a miserable existence.
* Steve McLendon not only gave Hoke a blow at the nose, he came up with a fumble in his first NFL game. As McLendon cradled that football on the sideline, I thought back to Antonio Brown’s 68-yard touchdown catch in his preseason debut. After that game, trainer Norwig asked Brown if he kept the ball. Brown had a look of “Dang!” But Emmanuel Sanders said, “He wants the first one in the regular season,” and Brown said, “Yeah, I want the first one in the regular season.”
* Well, he got it, but look back at the tape and see Brown ball-less while jumping around the sideline.
* Up until Brown made a tackle in kick coverage, I was going to give my special-teams award to Sly Sylvester.
* Chris Kemoeatu gets some kind of award, too, for making sounds like the ones the linebackers were making. Kemo hit someone that hard while pulling on a play with fullback Tim Lester, er, Isaac Redman.
* Awfully solid lead blocking from Mr. Redman. I think they may have something brewing there with him at fullback.
* From the feisty rookies to the crotchety old stars, from the rotating offensive tackles to the injury replacements, from the kicker to the fourth-string quarterback who wasn’t supposed to be on the team, it was a team effort. And they all played with focus, intensity and discipline.
* The coaches should be proud of themselves, but they have a bigger task this week: Bringing this physically and emotionally drained group back to life.
* Thinking Super Bowl shouldn’t be too hard, though, in Tampa.