Dave’s Football Blog

Click here for final game stats from NFL.com.

In the end it comes down to these stats:

• Net rushing yards: Steelers 224, Pats 5

• Turnovers: Steelers 0, Pats 4
• Third down conversions: Steelers 9-for-15, Pats 3-for-9

The Pats made too many uncharacteristic mistakes early and dug themselves too deep a hole, and the Steelers rallied behind a raucous Pittsburgh crowd and put an end to New England’s vaunted 21-game winning streak.

Ben Roethlisberger’s streak, however, is alive and well. He has won his first five starts in the NFL, and he made plays today that few were sure he could make. His final numbers: 18-of-24, 196 yards and two touchdowns. This kid is the rookie of the year.

Plus, give the nod to the Steelers’ offensive line, who kept the New England defense off Roethlisberger and opened up all sorts of holes for Duce Staley (125 yards) and Jerome Bettis (65 yards, 1 TD). The Bus ruined his stat line today with a 29-yard run late in the fourth quarter. “Bus Watch” is going to get skewered with a run like that.

Ty Law’s injury was a huge loss for the Patriots’ defense. If that injury knocks Law out of commission for a few weeks, expect the Pats to slip a bit for a few weeks. That team will need Law next week in St. Louis against the Rams.

As for the Steelers, this was a huge win, as it put them two games ahead of Baltimore, who lost to Philadelphia today. The Eagles travel to Pittsburgh next weekend. If the Steelers win two in a row against undefeated teams, they have to be in the conversation for the Super Bowl.

I scratched my head a bit at Cowher’s challenge with 11:03. Whether Tom Brady’s pass to David Patten was complete or not, the refs were still going to enforce the face mask personal foul on Chris Hope. The only reason to make such a challenge was to get (hopefully) a free timeout.

Phil Simms did make a good point, though. The challenge, which was upheld and pushed the Pats back a grand total of one yard, stole some momentum from the Pats. Brady had just driven his team down the field fairly quickly, but the next three plays after the challenge were incomplete passes. So arguably, Cowher stole four points from the Pats with that challenge.

After that, the Steelers got those three points back with a clock-eating drive that lasted more than 8 1/2 minutes. Which is good, because I need to get to a Halloween party tonight…

At the end of this quarter, Duce Staley has 115 yards on 24 carries. Jerome Bettis has 6 carries for 17 yards and 1 TD.

Before anyone says anything, here’s my take:

Kicking the field goal on 4th and goal from the 1-yard line with 2:09 left was exactly the right thing for Pittsburgh to do. New England is famous for its goal-line stands, and there’s no real need for the Steelers to score a TD when they already have an 18-point lead. You don’t take points off the board.

On the other hand, the Pats did make good adjustments on their last possession of the second half, moving Tom Brady back into the shotgun and giving him more time to dodge the blitz and find receivers. The only thing they did wrong was give the Steelers too much time to make a drive of their own at the end of the half. A horribly timed holding penalty, however, prevented the Steelers from setting up a field goal attempt. Those are the kind of mistakes you cannot make against the Pats.

Some halftime stats:

Ben Roethlisberger — 14-for-18, 164 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT.
Tom Brady — 11-for-21, 113 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT.

Duce Staley — 17 carries for 70 yards.
Kevin Faulk — 3 carries for -2 yards.

Stay tuned, folks. This second half should be fun…

Pats CB Ty Law hobbled off the field with 5:18 left in the 1st quarter with what appeared to be an ankle injury. Since then, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger has thrown two TD passes to Plaxico Burress.

Tom Brady has committed two turnovers — a fumble with 3:41 left, which was recovered by a blitzing Kimo Von Oelhoffen, which led to Burress’ second TD. On the Pats next play from scrimmage, Pittsburgh’s blitz came again, and Brady was picked off by CB Deshea Townsend, who returned it for the first defensive TD scored against New England all season.

Wow.

Click here for final game stats from NFL.com.

Four more years? Maybe not.

With 2:43 left in the game and Green Bay up 20-14, Washington QB Mark Brunell connected with Clinton Portis for a 43-yard game-tying touchdown pass. The TD, however, was nullified by an illegal motion penalty on James Thrash. The very next play, Brunell’s pass was intercepted by Al Harris, who returned the ball 29 yards to the Redskins’ 36-yard line. Four Ahman Green rushes later, the Packers had another TD, and the game was all but over.

Brett Favre threw three interceptions today, including two in the 4th quarter, keeping the Redskins in the game. Favre’s hand had been bothering him this week, so perhaps it started hindering his game in the 4th quarter. Green struggled with his ground game today but finished with 70 yards rushing on 24 carries and 4 receptions for 73 yards.

Illegal motion penalty. Is that an omen for Tuesday? Hmmmm…

Greg Gumbel has just announced that running back Corey Dillon will not play for the Patriots this afternoon in Pittsburgh. Dillon was listed as questionable for today’s game, and his thigh injury may be more serious than initially thought. Kevin Faulk will start.

Of course, the Patriots won the Super Bowl last year with Kevin Faulk and Antowain Smith at running back, so I doubt this will make too much of a difference today.

During a short romp down the annals of NFL history, I found this interesting tidbit:

1899: Chris O’Brien formed a neighborhood team, which played under the name the Morgan Athletic Club, on the south side of Chicago. The team later became known as the Normals, then the Racine (for a street in Chicago) Cardinals, the Chicago Cardinals, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Phoenix Cardinals, and, in 1994, the Arizona Cardinals. The team remains the oldest continuing operation in pro football.

No wonder the Cardinals suck! They’re just too old!

Reuters is reporting that Green Bay QB Brett Favre and RB Ahman Green both missed practice on Thursday due to injury. Favre’s throwing hand is swollen, and Green’s Achilles tendon is sore. Both, however, are listed as probable for the Packers-Redskins game in Washington on Sunday, and I would be surprised if both didn’t start.

…you are such a homer.

Terrell Owens is at it again, this time blaming the media for drudging up a quote from his autobiography during the week before the Eagles’ matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.

The quote is from Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome, who allegedly told Owens’ agent that Newsome himself “was a black man from Alabama just like T.O.,” and that “sometimes a black man’s gotta be slapped.” Supposedly, once T.O. got word of that quote, he didn’t want to play in Baltimore. Newsome said he didn’t want to talk about the issue, but he didn’t deny the quote, either.

“They’d try and find something,” said Owens of the media. “Why didn’t they bring it up last week or the week before? The book’s been out… A lot of people are looking for me to fail. They’re looking for some type of distraction.”

Of course, the Eagles are in need of a little distraction, since they don’t want anyone to realize that the Eagles’ backfield is starting to resemble the Carolina Panthers’ backfield. Correll Buckhalter and Jon Ritchie are both out for the season with knee injuries and Brian Westbrook is nursing a cracked rib and may miss up to 2-4 weeks. Philadelphia is turning to 34-year-old Dorsey Levens, who hasn’t started at running back in 3 years. Head coach Andy Reid insists the offense isn’t going to change. We’ll see how long that remains true.

On the other hand, the Ravens’ running game isn’t much better, with RB Jamal Lewis serving a two-game suspension for “violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy” and All-Pro left tackle Jonathan Ogden expected to miss up to 4 weeks with a pulled left hamstring. Tight end Todd Heap, who sprained his ankle in a Week 2 matchup against the Steelers, is not expected to play, either.

This begs the question: will the Ravens have any offense at all on Sunday?