Jan 12 2009
Steelers send Bolts to the landfill
Last night the San Diego Chargers met the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field in the Division playoff game. There was a special guest at the game: The Pittsburgh Steelers offense showed up and scored 35 points, and went on to beat the Chargers 35 to 24. The good old Steelers finally came through and looked better than they have in most games this season. For this night at least, the old Steelers were back in control.
As they have been all throughout the season, the Steelers D was superb, but the return of the offense was especially exciting. Ben Roethlisberger threw for two touchdowns, and more importantly had no interceptions, something he has had problems with during the season. In addition to Roethlisberger, Fast Willie Parker also returned to form, running for 146 yeards, one of his best games this year. And the offensive line provided excellent protection for Big Ben, allowing only one sack, and giving Ben plenty of time to find his receivers. That’s a big change from many of the games this year, when Ben was often scrambling for his life. The offense made its best showing in this game, doing everything it was called upon to do.
The Steelers D, which is the number one defense in the NFl, lived up to expectations. It held Chargers’ running back Darren Sproul to only 15 yards on 10 carries. Sproul made some big receptions and runbacks, but on individual runs, he went nowhere fast.
Now that the Steelers have beaten San Diego, it’s on to the AFC Championship game, this Sunday evening against the Baltimore Ravens. There is quite a bitter rivlary between the two teams, so this game will be a particurlarly hard fought one. The Ravens have a better defense than the Chargers, so the Steelers offense will have to play as efficiently as they did against San Diego. If Ben is the same form as in the Chargers’ game, and if Willie Parker runs like he just did, the Steelers have a good chance of beating Baltimore, but it will be tough. Looking forward to that game. Congratulations to Pittsburgh for its victory against San Diego and go luck in the upcoming match against Baltimore. Go Steelers.
