After 7 games, who would have thought that the Pittsburgh Steelers would have the same 2-5 record as Oakland and Cleveland.....with 1 of Oakland’s 2 wins coming at the hands of the Steelers....
It is time for Pittsburgh to make a change at quarterback by starting Charlie Batch and sitting Ben Roethlisberger.....now before all the Steeler fans get upset, I am not saying that Big Ben is a bad quarterback.....however, I am not sure that he is a top rated quarterback either....
This I do know, Big Ben needs to sit....I am not solely blaming him for the Steelers 2-5 mark....but the fact is, Big Ben has been through a ringer physically over the last five months....
The man had his skull and face tattooed on the windshield of a car, the had an appendectomy, and just last week he suffered a concussion....I don’t care how much he and the Steelers spin it, Big Ben is not a healthy person right now....and who would be after going through all those traumatic events....
I have never been a big Charlie Batch fan....but he has been impressive with the Steelers and is very capable of leading this team.....
I would not write the Steelers off just yet either....they have backed themselves into a corner and cannot afford to lose any more winnable games (such as Oakland).....but this team has the leadership in head coach Bill Cowher and in players like Hines Ward who can make a difference....
But that difference has to start first by benching Big Ben - even if the move is temporary....
In his recent column, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King mentioned his smartest quarterbacks in the league....his QBIQ Top 10 were: 1. Peyton Manning; 2. Tom Brady; 3. Brett Favre; 4. Gus Frerotte; 5. Brad Johnson; 6. Trent Green; 7. Donovan McNabb; 8. Trent Dilfer; 9. Drew Brees; and 10. Mark Brunell....he went on to write that Charlie Batch, Jake Delhomme, Jon Kitna, Damon Huard, and Matt Hasselbeck were next on the list....
Missing from that top 10 list was last year’s Super Bowl quarterbacks, Big Ben and Hasselbeck (even though Hasselbeck was listed just outside the top 10).....also missing was Carson Palmer, Duante Culpepper, Chad Pennington, and Eli Manning....
What happened to the Donovan McNabb for MVP bandwagon?.....
Will people stop anointing Dallas quarterback Tony Romo as the next Troy Aikman.....Peter King called Romo, "Tony Terrific".....he led the Cowboys to 1 stinking win so far....1 win....these are the same media wonks who also praised Matt Leinart after his Monday Night game against Chicago....since then, Leinart has lost to Oakland and Green Bay....
Remember, 1 or 2 wins does not make a career.....
Peyton Manning’s performance against Denver was one of the best I have seen in years....when will defenses learn that the only way to beat Manning is by blitzing and making him move around in the pocket (ala the Steelers did in the playoffs last year).....if you drop 7 or 8 and give Manning time, he will shred any defense....
Manning was quite impressive, but hold off in writing the Colts ticket to the Super Bowl because the have to have the worst run defense in the league....Denver running back Mike Bell tore apart the defense with consistent runs of over 8 -10 yards....heck, fullback Cecil Sapp even ripped the Colts for a couple of good runs....looks like Booger McFarland is not the answer....
Arizona has a new quarterback......they have a new All-Pro running back....they have a beautiful new stadium.....but they are the same old Cardinals – losers....
Cincinnati has been a disappointment so far this season....I know they have injuries to the offensive line, but they just seem out of sync so far....
Remember when Carson Palmer was worried about his surgically repaired knee....
The biggest thug in the league is Tennessee safety Pacman Jones.....Jones is a good player, but he acts like he is in the hood or something....
Is the David Carr era starting to end in Houston?.....I don’t see why not....the Texans have given him more than ample time to lead this team....and it just ‘ain’t happening"....
What really has Reggie Bush done so far?.....
Will someone explain to me why Washington won’t give 2nd year quarterback Jason Campbell a chance?.....in 2005, the Redskins traded up late in the first round to draft Campbell....since then, he has been holding a clipboard while other young qbs are getting playing time such as Frey, Smith, Leinart, Young, Gradkowski, etc....
Bill Parcells will be back next year if the Cowboys make the playoffs and Romo shows promise....
The closer it gets to the end of the season.....the pressure keeps mounting....
Some of that pressure will be alleviated on Thursday when West Virginia travels to Louisville....the loser is out, the winner stays in the hunt and probably has punched a ticket to Glendale if they can run the table....
The talk this weekend was should a perfect Louisville/West Virginia (LWV) go to the National Title Game over a team with 1 loss?.....there is speculation that if Ohio State should lose a close game to Michigan, that the Buckeyes should go over LWV.....or a 1 loss SEC team should make the trip to Glendale instead of LWV....
The first complaint against LWV is that they "do not play a tough schedule".....other comments range from, "the Big East is not a real football conference" to "they only played 1 tough game".....
To me, it is simple....if LWV goes undefeated, they deserve to play in the National Title Game over any 1 loss team....the Big East is an equal partner in the BCS.....if it was not a worthy conference, then the Big East should have been voted out of the BCS....also, remember that last season West Virginia beat a very good Georgia team, from the powerful SEC, in the Sugar Bowl....and back in 1988 West Virginia played Notre Dame for the national title in the Fiesta Bowl....
The loser of the Ohio State-Michigan game should not complain and make a case for being in the title game if LWV is undefeated....as of today, Ohio State and Michigan control their own destiny....it is simple - win out and you get a trip to Glendale....the loser has to accept a bid to the Rose Bowl....if the loser could not take care of business, then they shouldn't cry afterward.... The loser of Michigan/Ohio State also fall victim to the famous "who lost last" rule.....past national title games were determined by who lost last....who can ever forget in 1992, when undefeated Notre Dame beat Florida State on November 10th....the very next week Notre Dame lost to Boston College on the last play of the game....the powers to be invoked the "who lost last rule" even though both Notre Dame and Florida State each had 1 loss and that Florida State's loss came to Notre Dame....Florida State went to the Orange Bowl and played undefeated Nebraska while Notre Dame was sent to the Cotton Bowl....If
LWV is 12-0, then they deserve a trip to Glendale over a 1 loss Michigan/Ohio State, Southern Cal, Auburn, Texas, Tennessee, Florida, Notre Dame, etc....where does it state in the BCS agreement that only a big name traditional football power can play in the National Title game?.....
If that is the case, say a surprise team such as Purdue from the Big Ten or Oregon State from the PAC-10 or Iowa State from the Big 12 gets hot one year and has a perfect 12-0 season....does that mean they are worthy of playing in the title game because they are from a football power conference?....I guess Cinderella only lives in March.....
Ultimately, if the Big East was not considered a football power conference, then the powers to be should have voted the Big East out of the BCS and let them be one of the secondary conferences such as the WAC which has 8-0 Boise State.....
As of today, here are my BCS projections....
National Title Game - Michigan/OSU winner vs. Louisville/West Virginia winner
Rose Bowl - Michigan/OSU loser vs. Cal/Southern Cal
Fiesta Bowl - Texas vs. Auburn
Sugar Bowl - Tennessee vs. Louisville/West Virginia loser
Orange Bowl - Boston College vs. Notre Dame
Heisman watch
If the vote ended today.....and if I actually had a vote, here are my top 4 players along with my +1, sleeper pick....
1. Troy Smith, Ohio State - is it over with yet?.....
2. Brady Quinn, Notre Dame - another game....another impressive performance by Quinn...in the past 4 games he has thrown 10 tds, 0 ints....and 1,147 yards.....
3. Pat White, W. Virginia - the entire nation will be watching the Mountaineers on Thursday.....it is time to shine....
3a. Steve Slaton, W. Virginia - ditto.....
4. Mike Hart, Michigan - he is the one who makes the Michigan offense run smoothly.....
+1 Lamar Woodley, Michigan - a defensive player will not get the award....but Woodley has been dominant for the best run defense in the nation....
Sweet 16 + 1 (Last week ranking in parenthesis)
1. Ohio State (1) (9-0) -Bucks slaughter Gophers....imagine if Glen Mason would have gotten the job over Tressel?....
2. Michigan (2) (9-0) - the only question is if David Letterman will be making an appearance this week since his alma mater, Ball State, will be in The Big House....
3. W. Virginia (4) (7-0) - the march for the national title begins on Thursday....
4. Tennessee (5) (7-1) - Vols get big win over in hostile territory....now they host LSU....the Bayou Tigers are capable of the upset....
5. Auburn (6) (8-1) - muscling for position in hopes to be the best 1 loss team....
6. Notre Dame (8) (7-1) - Weiss keeps ship afloat against Navy....now they get UNC - without Michael Jordan....
7. Texas (7) (8-1) - the Horns comeback to beat Texas Tech.....hmmm, if Notre Dame gets dropped because of their comeback over UCLA, why not Texas?....
8. Florida (9) (7-1) - Gators struggled in the second half and held on to win over the Dawgs....
9. Louisville (10) (7-0) - a win on Thursday will allow the Cards to leapfrog a lot of teams....
10. Southern Cal (3) (6-1) - if S.C. can run the table, they will get right back in the big picture.....it ain’t over yet for the Trojans....
11. Rutgers (12) (7-0) - beat U.Conn on Sunday...their next game is Louisville....
12. Cal (13) (7-1) - UCLA and Arizona come first...then the big showdown with USC....
13. Arkansas (14) (7-1) - see if Hogs could repeat what Tennessee did on Saturday....go in and beat Spurrier at South Carolina....
14. Wisconsin (15) (8-1) - a shaky win over Illinois....a good game this week against JoePa...
15. LSU (16) - (6-2) - LSU can redeem their season with a win over Tennessee....
16. Wake Forest (NR) - (7-1) - why not Wake?.....the Deacs will not go away....a biggie this week against Boston College....a win here and Wake leads the ACC Atlantic Division...
+1. Texas A&M (8-1) - are the Aggies for real?.....we’ll know this week if they can defend College Station against Oklahoma....
