Sports Frog

Coming up for a breath of fresh air from the work grind, I actually got watch the day's games yesterday. It was a nice reminder of what was, and what will be once again someday, once work backs off a bit. Because of that, I actually can revive for today the national look post. And what say the national talking heads on a day that worked out spectacularly well for Steelers fans?

As always, we start with Don Banks and Snap Judgments at si.com:

"Sorry, but I can't really consider Tennessee a serious playoff threat until the Titans prove they can top 20 points on a regular basis -- something they've done in only two games this season. That was an ugly 28-13 Titans loss to visiting Jacksonville on Sunday, and Vince Young's continued Year 2 struggles have to be concerning Norm Chow, Jeff Fisher and Co."

Valid. Then again (not that I am absolving Young, who has been awful), perhaps Tennessee will want to go out and find Young some living breathing competent receivers at some point and see what happens.

Peter King is up early with Monday Morning Quarterback, and has this to say on Ben Roethlisberger (among other things):

"None of those items, however, was the story of the day. Ben Roethlisberger was. When I watched Roethlisberger last year, I thought, "Flawed quarterback.'' When I watched Roethlisberger on Sunday, I thought, "Franchise quarterback.''

Wow. If only there was some reservoir of success that Roethlisberger had prior to last year for King to have looked upon before forming the "flawed quarterback" opinion....Good lord Peter, the man led the Steelers to a Super Bowl win, exclamation pointed by that win on the road at Indy a few years back. He's always been the guy who refuses to take a sack, refuses to go down before getting the extra yard, and generally sells out to win. Just NOW you are realizing he's a franchise quarterback? Jeebus. It's not like his struggles last year were do to anything off-field or anything...

Clark Judge on sportsline.com with Judgements:

"The NFL should hold a refresher seminar on two-point conversions. Invite Joe Gibbs and Andy Reid to attend and remind them that you never, ever, ever, try for two until the fourth quarter. Both of them did, and they failed. But that's not the point. They did what you absolutely, positively should not, and that's panic. Reid gets a pass because he won, but Gibbs must stay after school."

Yeah, Gibbs is a puzzle. On the surface, it appears that Washington is progressing. Talk to a Washington fan, however (like, say garyclark in the Swamp) and you get a whole world of frustration willing to be vented. At this point, as always, I should be paying far more attention to what garyclark is saying.

As for my thoughts (NTYC*):

1. Pittsburgh, despite Peter King's just having discovered Ben Roethlisberger, is damn good. And has been. Because of Ben Roethlisberger. He's always willed that team to wins since he took over for Tommy Maddox. Yesterday was a nice refresher course in how good he is. Were the national media not so pre-occupide with all things New England, they would have noticed Pittsburgh by now. I am guessing there will be a lot of "how good are the Steelers" stories this week. The answer: Damn good.

2. Crushing loss for Indy in San Diego. Why? Not because they fall further behind New England (they were never going to catch them after losing head to head). Instead, because they have fallen into a tie with Pittsburgh for the second "bye" playoff spot. In fact, since one of Pittsburgh's losses was to an NFC team, if the playoffs started today, Indy would host a Wild Card game, and then have to go to Heinz for round 2. That is a HARD path back to the Super Bowl. The Colts need to win, and they need to start rooting against the Steelers on a weekly basis.

3. The Packers are good. I guess. It's hard to take anyone in the NFC all that seriously, but at 8-1 with Favre having a remarkable year, they are almost a feel good story. As sick as I was of all things Favre, it's nice to reminded that he is still a good quarterback by his play on the field, as opposed to the talking heads off of it.

4. As good as the Cowboys are still looking, we are perhaps within speculating distance of an Ice Bowl redux. Could we get another Green Bay/Dallas game in January in Green Bay? Very, very possible.

Fans of John Facenda will be rooting for that.

Peace.

(*Not that you care)