The Nest

It started out ok – great in fact. A Roethlisberger interception deep in Steeler territory led to a New England touchdown.

That’s where it started to fall apart. If it weren’t for that gift early in the first quarter, they’d have been held to 3 points today. I stopped watching after the Cassel interception with about 5 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, it was just too painful.

Whether they phoned it in or they didn’t get enough sleep last night, I can’t be sure. The Pats didn’t look like they even wanted to play the second half. Cassel, for all his improvements over the last few weeks has had a nasty habit of underthrowing his receivers on short, wide patterns. No doubt he’s concerned about interceptions and maybe he should be, but it continued this week.

Not only was Cassel off his game but the receivers themselves sucked this week. Sure, you expect Gaffney to drop a couple but Moss? They all looked like they were wearing cement gloves. To be fair, the Steelers had their share of dropped passes, which is why the score was so close (33-10).

The defense against the run wasn’t much better. Steeler running backs looked like pinballs rolling downhill against the bumper-like Pats usually gaining 5 or more yards per carry. I can’t help but notice they are constantly trying to strip the ball, alowing the offense 2 or 3 extra yards.

Some advice: STOP TRYING TO STRIP THE BALL!

It’s not working and you’re giving up unnecessary yards!

I said in an earlier post that I would be able to tell if New England had a chance this year by the way they played Pittsburgh this weekend. To Patriots Nation I say “Start planning for next year”. We can take some comfort in the fact that Belichick brought his rag-tag, injury ridden team as far as he did but after seeing the performance today, one of the most terribly played games in a very long time, I feel comfortable in saying “Hey, they played as well as they could under the circumstances”.

I don’t believe in using excuses but in this case, when you cut off the head, half an arm and a leg of an animal, don’t expect it to get up and be able to take on the world. New England might have survived the loss of Brady this season if it had stopped there; but in no way, shape or form are they gonna compete with the parade of injuries that followed. Oh they may pull out a game here and there but they can’t do it consistently and they can’t seem to play the sharp, precision football we all became accustomed to last season.

On a brighter note:

Referee Ed Hochuli didn’t make any major mistakes that I’m aware of. Just one missed pass interference call but it didn’t really figure into the outcome of the game. Good for you Ed!

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