There Is Nothing More Gangsta Than a Kicker

Congrats to the Steelers winning the Super Bowl. I'm not the biggest fan of the Steelers, but I respect them much more than I hate them. However, their kicker threw a bitch fit in a convenience store in a small town outside of Pittsburgh. Now that's gangsta! Citizens of Pittsburgh who own a store with restrooms, please be sure to have towels available for Jeff Reed. If not, well, he'll tell you how he really feels.

Here is urban dictionary's definition of a bitch fit:

	-When a person, usually a female is angry and upset about something and starts whining/crying/yelling/screaming/throwing things when things don't go their way. -Basically its going all PMSing and Godzilla like. -Also can just be "BF" if you can't curse in front of certain people. -Made famous by the Wayans Brothers comedy "White Chicks."

Pittsburgh Steelers Defeats the Baltimore Ravens

Going into this game, the Baltimore Ravens had a chance. Joe Flacco was passing the ball well enough throughout the playoffs. He didn't have a turnover before Sunday's meeting with the Steelers. Even though Tennessee was moving the ball well against the Ravens, the Ravens were able to stay aggressive and forced turnovers against them and the Miami Dolphins.

Joe Flacco looked like a rookie in this game, making mistakes he wasn't making in previous games. The pass protection for Flacco was great considering the opponent. He stared down some of his receivers with some of his passes, one of which resulted in an interception by Troy Polamalu who returned the pick for a touchdown. That touchdown sealed the victory for the Steelers. The zone defenses ran by the Steelers confused Flacco. His statline was 13/30 for 141 yards with zero touchdowns and three interceptions. When you have a statline such as Flacco's, you will not win, especially when the quarterback is a rookie. 30 passing attempts for a rookie is atrocious play-calling. On the two drives, the Ravens passed the ball four times, one of which resulted in an interception by Deshea Townsend, while running the ball only twice. You can't do that against any defense especially with a rookie quarterback. Flacco should have throw that many times during a game. There was one drive in the first half were Willis McGahee ran for a 7 yard gain and a two yard gain. Obviously, he was short of the first down. The Ravens decided to try a quarterback sneak with the Joe Flacco. Why run a quarterback sneak when your running back just gained 9 yards total on the first two downs? On the next play, the Ravens decide to hand the ball off to Willis McGahee. The Steelers knew McGahee was getting the since the Ravens ran a QB sneak on third down. Just dumb play-calling in that instance. McGahee tip toe-ing to the line of scrimmage didn't help either. Make one cut and hit the damn hole since there is only one yard to gain. The bad play-calling didn't stop until the game was over.

Defensively, the Ravens played well given the circumstances. They only gave up 16 points. When the Steelers intercepted Flacco for the first time, the Ravens defense held the Steelers to a field goal. They shut down Willie Parker on the ground as he only rushed for 47 yards. The Ravens were able to blitz and get Rothlisberger often, but missed some sacks as players like Haruki Nakamura and Jarret Johnson didn't wrap up Rothlisberger when they applied the pressure. Rothlisberger is too big and too strong for players to just blitz and go for the big hit instead of wrapping up. He'll make players whiff more often than not. The score would've been much worse as Limas Sweed dropped a sure touchdown. On the play before, Frank Walker went out of the game with an injury and the Ravens inserted Evan Oglesby. The Steelers attacked him right away as Limas Sweed did a double move on Oglesby to get wide open. Limas Sweed simply dropped the ball and the Ravens held the Steelers to a field goal. The one big play the Ravens gave up was a Santonio Holmes touchdown. Rothlisberger scrambled out of the pocket to escape the pressure and finds Holmes on the opposite side of the field. The ball was poorly thrown but the Raven defender, Fabian Washington, slipped on the play. From that point, Holmes cuts across the field making two defenders miss enroute to a touchdown. The breaks did not go the Ravens way in this game.

The Steelers defense was great. They didn't have to commit many of their defenders to run as the front four was able to stop the Ravens game at times during the game. The #1 defense wasn't able to apply as much as pressure on Flacco as they did during the regular season. The Ravens routinely double teamed James Harrison on pass plays but that opened up things for Lamar Woodley, who had 2 sacks during the game. One of those sacks came against Lorenzo Neal because for whatever reason, the Ravens think a slow nonathletic fullback can block an emerging star pass rusher. The Steelers intercepted three passes, returning one of them for a touchdown. They were able to create turnovers and make the Ravens one-dimensional.

Ben Rothlisberger beats the Ravens again with his scrambling ability and decision-making. He avoided the pressure well. He even converted a 2nd and 24 with a 30 yard pass play to Heath Miller on the very next play. Rothlisberger's statline was 16/33 for 255 with one touchdown and zero interceptions. Rothlisberger made enough plays to get his team the victory.

The Steelers will be facing the most unlikely opponent in the Arizona Cardinals. The Steel City looks poised for another championship banner.

Arizona Cardinals Are Heading to the Super Bowl

I was not expecting this outcome to happen. I had the Eagles running away with this game because I thought the performances turned in by the Cardinals defense was a mirage. I also thought the Eagles defense would be able to get to Warner more often than the Cardinals previous opponents. I wasn't entirely wrong, but wrong nonetheless.

The Cardinals has their way with the Eagles defense. Kurt Warner was given an enormous amount of time in the pocket, especially in the first half. He also had an answer for the blitz by attacking the spot that the blitz came from. The slant and underneath crossing routes were the Cardinals bread and butter. They also did a trick play that resulted in a Larry Fitzgerald touchdown. The Cardinals were given good field position after a David Akers's missed field goal. On the first play of that drive, the Cardinals pitched the ball to J.J. Arrington, who throws the ball back to Warner and he throws the ball as far as he could to Larry Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald tried to sell the fake as long as possible and slow down his explosiveness off the line of scrimmage so that Kurt Warner lead him to a spot. The ball was still under thrown but Fitzgerald was able to adjust and score the touchdown. Quinton Demps fell on the play which didn't help the Eagles much. Both of the Eagles' safeties bit on the fake too. Warner's statline was 21/28 for 279 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. That statline summed the Eagles day on defense.

Why don't defenses play man-to-man bump-n-run defenses? Teams should at least run this defense sometimes during the game. Teams could also play Cover 2 defense with corners pressing the receivers at the line of scrimmage. The Eagles didn't do any of these enough during the course of the game. Larry Fitzgerald and others were able to get open with little resistance. Jim Johnson would send the blitz, but Kurt Warner would've been able to find the open man fairly easily. This veteran defense even gave a touchdown on a trick play. The safeties jumped on the running of JJ Arrington without diagnosing the play until it was too late. Not only did Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald have their way the defense, so too did the Cardinals running game when they chose to run the ball. Edgerrin James was able to finds holes early and often. Tim Hightower finished them off by getting some first downs so the clock could run out. The Eagles defense showed up in the third quarter and that was it.

The Cardinals defense played well for a half, which would be the first half. The Eagles were driving the ball but had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns. David Akers also missed a field goal as the laces on the football were facing towards him instead away from him. In the second half, the Cardinals gave up 19 straight unanswered points. Donovan McNabb was able to find his rhythm which was non-existent in the first half. His receivers were finally able to get open and get a good release off the line of scrimmage. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie definitely had DeSean Jackson on locked up in the first half, but he did give up a huge touchdown in the second half. Jackson ran a double move on Cromartie that gave him enough separation for McNabb to throw a perfect pass to him for the touchdown. That touchdown give the Eagles the lead for the first time during the game. However, that lead was short lived, as the Cardinals scored a touchdown on their next possession. McNabb ended up having a statline of 28/47 for 375 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He also lost a fumble in the game which was forced by the ever-underrated Adrian Wilson.

Eagles fans will find ways to blame Donovan McNabb for this game. They'll point to his first half statistics and say that is where the Eagles loss the game. McNabb's passing was erratic throughout the first half and a little in the second half. However, he didn't give up 32 points. McNabb did give the Eagles the lead, yet the defense couldn't hold that lead. I guess that is life as an Eagles QB.

As for the Cardinals, congrats on getting to the Super Bowl. Kurt Warner has cemented himself as one of the greatest QBs ever. He is obviously a future Hall of Famer. They'll be pitted against the Pittsburgh Steelers who defeated my beloved Baltimore Ravens. Not everybody was happy for the Cardinals.

Really Anquan Kenmile Boldin? The Cardinals franchise finally gets to the Super Bowl and you're whining about touches or not getting enough playing time. Boldin did have an exchange with his offensive coordinator during the game. I have no clue about what they were discussing, but my guess would be that Boldin wanted to get on the field more often which was not the case in the second half. Quit pouting Boldin. Your attitude is going to cost you millions. Wide receivers are prima donnas.

Pittsburgh Steelers Advance to the AFC Championship Game

I thought this game would be of the low scoring affair. The #1 defense in the Steelers would be able to frustrate the Pro Bowl-snubbed Phillip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers defense has been playing at an elite level during the latter portion of the season including their playoff game against the Colts. Well, I was wrong on both accounts.

The score in this game ended up being 35-24. This could've been a loss for the Steelers if their offense didn't dominate the time of possession. On the Chargers first possession, after three plays, Rivers throws a deep pass to Vincent Jackson for a touchdown. Jackson dove for the football in the endzone while the defender had a hold of Jackson's left arm. It was a great pass and an even better catch. From that point on in the first half, the Chargers managed to score only a field goal. Their other drives were killed by penalties, bad execution and good defense from the Steelers.

In the second half, the Chargers only ran one play in the 3rd quarter. That is not a misprint. The Charger's offense only ran one play in the 3rd quarter and that play result in an interception by Larry Foote because the pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage by one of the defensive linemen. The worse part is that the Chargers had excellent field position as a result of Darren Sproles huge kick off return of 64 yards. Talk about depressing. The Chargers only had the ball in the third quarter for about two seconds. They were going to get another possession after Chargers defense made the Steelers punt but the Chargers muffed the punt. The football bounced off the head of Eric Weddle who had no clue that the ball was coming. William Gay of the Steelers recovered the ball. That was the last chance for the Chargers to have a drive in the 3rd quarter.

In the 4th quarter, Chargers managed to score two touchdowns threw the air. Actually, Phillip Rivers ended up with great game. Here is his statline: 21/35 for 308 yards with three touchdowns and 1 interception. I'm sure Jake Delhomme would love to have that statline. The Chargers didn't play that bad, at least offensively.

Defense is another story. The Chargers defense had no answer for the running of Willie Parker. The Steelers star running back dominated the game on the ground. Here is his statline: 27 rushes for 146 yards and two touchdowns. He was back to his old self after suffering through injuries in the regular season. His running helped the Steelers take over the game in the second half. The Steelers offense dominated the second time of possession, especially in the third quarter. They had a TD drive with the time of 7:04. That was their first possession of the second half. After getting intercepting Rivers pass, the Steelers had a time of possession that lasted longer than 4 minutes, even though the drive ended in a punt. After the muffed punt by the Chargers, the Steelers had a TD drive with the time of possession of 12:52. Now that is how you keep the opposing team's offense on the sidelines. The amazing thing is that the Steelers got touchdowns instead of field goals on those long drives. The Chargers just couldn't stop the run or stop the pass in obvious passing situations.

Ben Rothlisberger did what he was suppose to do in this game. He took care of the football. Rothlisberger was 17/26 for 181 yards and one touchdown and no interceptions. He managed the game and completed passes when he had to do it. It helps to have a star running back in Willie Parker healthy and dominating on the ground. Running backs make the game a whole lot easier for quarterbacks.

The Steelers defense did what they had to do in the first half. In the second half, they barely take the field in the third quarter as the offense dominated the time of possession. In the fourth quarter though, Steelers defense didn't look great as Rivers was able to drop back and pass with relative ease. He threw a 62 yard pass Sproles who ran a slant route and just ran away from the defense. The Chargers touchdown scoring drives in the fourth quarter saw little resistance. However, the Steelers defense play well enough to get the win, thanks to the offense.

The Steelers move on to the AFC Championship game to face the Ravens. These two teams don't like each other. It should be a slugfest between the two defense, but somehow, I think the offenses will shine as these two teams know each really well. If it is high scoring, that game would not favor the Ravens. Go Ravens!

The Great Escape

The Ravens and Titans renewed their rivalry on Saturday. The Ravens and Titans used to play each other twice a year in the old AFC Central before the expansion of the AFC. There were many battles between these two teams. Eddie George vs Ray Lewis. Chris McAlister vs Kevin Dyson. Enroute to their Super Bowl victory over the New York Giants, the Ravens had to go through Tennessee to get there, which they did and the score was 24-10. These two teams met again on Saturday and the result was the same as the Ravens defeated the Titans 13-10.

The game was a defensive affair with two of the top 3 defenses in the league playing in this game. Each team traded touchdowns in different fashions in the first quarter. The Titans touchdown drive can be summed up in two words: Chris Johnson. On that drive, Johnson's speed gave the Ravens defense fits. He had a huge gain of 28 yards after Collins dumps ball out to him in the flat. He makes Bart Scott miss and his speed took over from there. Later in the drive, Chris Johnson scores on a run to the right side, practically beating the Ravens defenders to the spot enroute to the touchdown. His speed was apparent even though the field was slick at the beginning of the game. The Ravens' touchdown scoring drive was helped by a roughing the passer penalty by the Titans along with a couple runs. The actual TD was scored by Derrick Mason on a pass from Joe Flacco. The pass was a frozen rope to Mason as Flacco was showed off his cannon.

The game would change in change the 2nd quarter as the Ravens finally got their legs underneath them. In the beginning of the game, the Ravens defense looked slow and tired as they have been playing football every week since their bye week and had a short week again. Chris Johnson was making them look silly on the football, seemingly always making the first man miss on any given play. However, the Ravens began to assert themselves. On the last two drives of the second quarter, the Titans were able to get deep into Ravens territory. The results were an interception and a fumble. Pressure on the quarter forced the interception as the Ravens sent more defenders than the Titans can blocked, which forced Collins to throw off his back to Samari Rolle. The fumble happened as the Titans were in position to get either a field goal or a touchdown. LenDale White fumbled the football. He did have the football in the correct hand but the football was out away from his body which led to a fumble. Jim Leonhard recovered the fumble. Disaster was avoided in the first half for the Ravens.

In the second half, the two exchanged punts in the 3rd quarter, and in the 4th quarter things got interesting. Before the 3rd quarter ended, the Ravens had the ball. Flacco made a big connection to Mark Clayton for 37 yard gain. Clayton caught the ball in between two defenders. A couple of plays later, Stover hits a field goal. The Titans could not getting going in the second half until late in the game when they repeatedly beat the Ravens on slant routes and other short intermediate routes. They were deep in the redzone when Alge Crumpler fumble the football as the two Ravens hit him low and high. Those two Ravens were Bart Scott and Jim Leonhard, respectively. Jim Leonhard subsequently got a concussion because of the hit he gave to Crumpler. Fabian Washington recovered the fumble. On the ensuing possession for the Ravens, their offense goes three and out. They played it safe on that possession as they were inside their own 5 yard line. Titans get the ball and moves into field goal range for a Rob Bironas field goal which was good.

The Ravens had the drive of the game on their next possession. They held the football for four minutes. The drive was not without controversy. Flacco pass to Todd Heap for a 23 yard gain that the Ravens in Titans territory should have counted as the play clock was at zero for more than two seconds. There should have been a delay of game penalty called against the Ravens but that didn't happen. Since that catch, the Ravens were able to move to the Titans 25 yard line and Matt Stover kicked a 43 yard field goal which was good. That drive left only 47 seconds for the Titans on their next possession. The Titans only gained 5 yards on their drive and couldn't convert on fourth down. Game over.

The Ravens will be on the road again next Sunday as they face another rival in the Pittsburgh Steelers. There is no love lost between these two teams. The Steelers swept the season series. The Ravens will look to win the big game in enroute to their second franchise Super Bowl appearance. Go Ravens!