Steelers vs Patriots

Back off the ledge.  This was a game that I chalked up as a L when the schedule came out months before the season started. I expected us to lose this game (we always lose to the Patriots) so this wasn’t a surprise. Frustrating, yes….Surprising, no.

*The Steelers defense has had about 10 years to figure out how to combat this Patriots passing attack. The Pats throw the ball about 50% of the time against most opponents. Against the Steelers they throw the ball about 75% of the time. They completely change their gameplan when they face us. Why can’t we do the same? Run a 4-3 defense when Brady and the Patriots come to town. Change it up, do something, ANYTHING different than what you are currently doing. Teams that go to a quick-passing attack just shred this defense. Brees did it a few weeks back, Brady did it tonight. Manning does it from time to time. We just have zero response, no answer for that type of offensive scheme.

*”We’ll get ‘em next time”? “I hope we see them again”?….if one of these phrases passes your lips you haven’t been watching football very long. We’ve had 9 or 10 years to learn how to beat Brady and this Pats offense. We haven’t made one ounce of progress against that scheme in a decade. You think LeBeau is going to come up with something between now and January/February when he hasn’t been able to do it in the past 10 years? No. This team can go on a deep playoff run, but we just better hope we don’t see New England again.

*We seem to have fallen in love with this 3 or 4 man rush with soft coverage behind it. I’d rather get killed while blitzing than get beat allowing 7 yards per catch via short/intermediate passes that the QB of your local high school team could complete. Brady made some fantastic throws but how many wide open WR/TEs were out there tonight?

*Tonight you saw our lack of WR depth get exposed. Randle El should not be your team’s #2 WR if/when Ward gets hurt. He serves no purpose and provides no playmaking ability. When fully healthy I want Ward, Wallace, Sanders, and Brown on the field. Explosiveness and playmaking ability.

*Big Ben has been awful at times since returning from his suspension. He needs to be better.

*If 80% of our called pass plays result in a Big Ben scramble then what does that say about our offense? Does it really matter what routes the WRs run? Does it really matter what pass play Arians calls from the sideline? Every play results in a QB scramble with an improvised throw. There comes a time when you need to take a 3 step drop and the ball needs to be delivered the second your back foot hits the ground. How can you expect to beat a blitz or pick up short yardage 3rd downs on a consistent basis when you can’t complete any quick-rhythm passing plays?

*Improvisation is awesome but it’s not a sound offensive scheme or strategy. You don’t watch film of the New England Patriots during the week and say “yeah, we’ll scramble Big Ben around on every pass and we’ll toss it up and hope to catch a long pass.” You have to pick on specific DBs…you have to find holes in zones…you have to run pick plays…you have to create favorable matchups. Improv scrambles out of the pocket need to be your last resort…they can’t be your primary go-to offensive play.

*How many more misses until the Steelers bring in a kicker during the week to “scare” Reed into worrying about his job security?

*If Willie Gay can’t cover a backup TE then I’m not sure he should be on the field. If the team doesn’t have any other options on the roster to sub in for Gay, then I’m afraid they swung and missed on a handful of DB draft picks over the past few years.

*Big Ben had completed only 9 passes before things got out of hand and New England went “prevent defense” on us.

*Kicking an onside kick with 7 minutes left in the game = we have no chance in the world of stopping your offense.

*Brady goes an entire game at Heinz Field without taking 1 legit big hit. That can’t happen.

*From the opening kickoff it looked like the Patriots wanted this game more than we did.

*At times it looked like a 7-on-7 WRs vs DBs drill out there tonight. Brady had the red no-contact jersey on and New England was working on their passing game.

*I give the Patriots props (and always have) for thinking outside the box and approaching each game and each opponent as a unique challenge. Screw balance or tradition, if the matchup dictates that you throw the ball 50+ times every time you see the Steelers defense, you throw that ball 50 times. I respect that. Thank God more teams don’t have the guts and the QB that the Patriots do. Every time a team comes out and passes on us, they give themselves a better chance at winning the game. Teams that try to stay balanced against us are just playing right into our hands. If I’m an offensive coordinator I go 5 WRs all game long and take Woodley/Harrison and the Steelers pass rush right out of the game. My WRs/TEs/RBs will eat Harrison, Woodley, Gay, Farrior, Foote, McFadden for breakfast in coverage.

*The good news: Only 2 or 3 teams in the entire league can do what New England just did to us tonight. Patriots, Saints, Colts. Most teams don’t have the Coach or QB to pull it off.

*The Steelers pass D and 4th quarter D look an awful lot like they did last year….which is not good, not good at all.

*I think the Steelers are a good squad but it’s concerning that they are 1-3 against “good teams”. An OT win against Atlanta and losses against the Saints, Ravens, and Patriots.

*The Steelers schedule from here on out isn’t all that difficult. Going 6-1 or 5-2 is an achievable goal. We have ourselves a playoff team here and once you get into the postseason anything can happen. Keep your heads up this week.

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Suffolk Community College

Boces suffolk, suffolk community college address, briarcliffe college, suffolk county,  suffolk community college athletics, suffolk university, The season ended the same way it started for Suffolk County and Herkimer County community colleges.

Suffolk’s Clippers defeated Herkimer’s Generals 2-1 on their home field Sunday and claimed their first NJCAA championship. The win capped an undefeated season for Suffolk which defeated Herkimer 3-2 in overtime to open the season.

“I knew at that point that we had something special,” Suffolk coach Frank Vertullo said, reflecting on the teams’ first meeting in August at Tompkins-Cortland Community College. “(Herkimer is) the program that every other junior college strives to be.”

To win the Division III championship, the Clippers first had to beat Richland College from Texas 1-0 in Friday’s semifinals. Richland and Herkimer had won nine of the previous 11 national championships and Herkimer’s appearance Sunday extended to 12 the number of years at least one of the two premier programs was a finalist.

Each team got a goal early in the championship match and the teams went to the halftime break tied at 1. The Generals, winners of 21 consecutive matches since that initial loss to Suffolk, came out on the offensive in the second half. Region III Player of the Year Joel Purkiss took a cross from Mike Roopchandsingh and rolled a shot wide of the right post five minutes in. A short time later, Clipper Athanasio Vlahos-Kitas headed a throw-in from Elliott Hockley across the end line; Cody Farrier’s attempt at a bicycle kick on the ensuing corner kick also went wide to the right and the teams remained tied.

Herkimer kept the pressure on but a stingy Suffolk defense and goalkeeper Jesse Nulty, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, stood up to its challenges until the Clippers broke out on a rush to the far end of the field. A mishit on the attempt to clear by the Generals left the ball in front of the goal and Dimas Escobar banged it into the net for his second goal of the contest and a 2-1 lead.

“In the second half we took control of the game,” Herkimer coach Pepe Aragon said. “… To start to get our confidence up and then give them that second goal, that destroyed us.”

Aragon felt both Suffolk goals were more a reflection of his team’s mistakes than Suffolk’s offensive skills.

“We gave them their two goals,” he said.

Once it had regained the lead, Suffolk turned back to its strength — defense. Nulty was credited with three saves for the Clippers who were outshot 8-5 overall and 5-2 in the second half. Purkiss put a running header over the crossbar in the 62nd minute and the time began to run out on the Generals. Herkimer compounded its problems when with 13:07 showing on the game clock Farrior drew a red card for kicking the ankle of an opposing player. Farrior was on the ground and a foul had already been whistled when he took a swipe at the leg of a passing opponent in front of a referee.



Forced to play one man and one goal down, the Generals remained the aggressors and almost got the break they needed in the 80th minute. Purkiss, who had tallied both Herkimer goals when the teams met previously, booted the ball toward the goal from more than 40 yards away, hoping to catch Nulty out of position. Nulty glided to the right post and leapt to catch the ball but had it bounce instead off his shoulder and just over the crossbar, a lucky break for the Clippers and not such a lucky one for the Generals who failed to generate a shot with the subsequent corner kick.

“Sometimes you need to be a little lucky,” Nulty said. “That kid took a hell of a shot. He’s a heck of a player.”

Another foul evened the teams up with less than six minutes left to play. Zachious Agoo, a standout defender for the Clippers, took Roopchandsingh down about one foot outside the box and was given a yellow card, his second of the game. Purkiss took the direct kick and sent the ball wide to the right yet again.

Nulty broke up a play on one last Herkimer corner kick with 2 1/2 minutes left to play and the Generals watched the final moments tick away, missing out on a final opportunity when Roopchandsingh chased a long pass to the end line but was unable to keep the ball in bounds.

Suffolk had struck first in the first half, getting a goal from Escobar 6:28 into the match. Joe Digiglio was credited with assists on both of Escobar’s goals.

Herkimer tied the score at the end of the 16th minute when Jonathon Rosscraig scored with an assist from Roopchandsingh. Rosscraig’s goal snapped a shutout streak that extended back eight matches for the Clippers and included a 4-0 quarterfinal win against Bunker Hill Community College Thursday as well as Friday’s win against Richland.

“That’s what makes it more special,” Vertullo said. “To beat Richland and Herkimer shows what we’re doing here and what we’re building.”

Suffolk opened the season ranked ninth in the nation and entered the national tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Clippers had not previously played in a national championship match.

The result gnawed at Aragon who coached Herkimer to the two most recent of its seven national championships in soccer.

“Suffolk didn’t beat us. We beat ourselves today.”

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Steelers Bengals

Steelers Bengals Carson Palmer seems Quart complete a pass to Jordan Shipley on the first goal and the defenders but the Steelers, James Harrison, Ike Taylor combined to create knock the ball loose – The game was reduced to one game. Ruled an incomplete pass, the Steelers had taken a knee twice to miss Steelers win.The improvement of 6-2, you use the Ravens first place in the AFC North, but I “I was the near-disastrous collapse of the fourth quarter disappointed. “It is disappointing that we let them back into the game, but it is very encouraging that it keep us successful,” said Steelers strong safety culture Troy Polamalu.
“Last year we were not throwing in the same situation. “The Bengals seem dead in the water after the loss of the right fifth fell to 2-6 and last place in the AFC North, but Terrell Owens, who had two touchdown passes, is still a positive result: I still feel this is the best 2-6 in 2.6, the team I’m on. Obviously, this is a negative and positive, but the kids really do. For some reason, just do not. Somehow, somehow we have to pay attention to detail. I think everyone Man should look in the mirror.
What can we do? What can you do to get better forward? You never know. Anything can happen in this league. Statistically, I do not know where we are when we make the playoffs , but we do have to start somewhere. Tonight would be a good start and we streak.The in a two-run Owens is the third player in NFL history with at least 150 receptions in his career touchdown, joining Randy Moss and Jerry Rice. The Steelers are 6-0, Monday night Tomlin.

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