[wplug] The future is open

Tim Lesher tim at lesher.ws
Mon Sep 8 08:24:41 EDT 2003


On Sun, Sep 07, 2003 at 09:32:43PM -0400, Mike Procario wrote:
> As someone who no longer lives in Pittsburgh, but who still
> follows the Steelers, I am enjoying the off-topic posts. 
> 
> If the Ravens still have a first class defense then that was an
> impressive offensive performance.  The Steeler's defense was not
> really tested. 

I was at the game (my first at the Mustard Palace).  You're right in
that the Steelers defense didn't get tested, but if the Ravens still
have a first class defense, they must have been stuck in traffic (at
least the secondary).  Maddox took advantage of a _lot_ of blown
coverage, including Ward's second touchdown.  Ward had a little
out-and-up route; the corner had no clue he was even back there until
the ball was thrown.  The whole secondary just looked terrible.

On offense, the right side of the Raven's line appeared to be hinged,
because it collapsed on most plays.  The wideouts dropped a lot of
balls that hit them in the hands or the numbers, and the QB (can't
recall the name right now, but he's a rookie) looked like he couldn't
decide what to do on a lot of the plays.  He has a strong arm, but he
wasn't terribly accurate, and seemed to have a hard time
reading. There were a lot of plays where I cringed because a receiver
was wide open, but instead he threw into coverage or threw it away.

I was actually kind of disappointed--I'd expected it to be a much
closer game.  It wasn't even as close as the final score indicates,
because the Steelers appeared to really soften up in the second half
(maybe it was the heat--it was sweltering in there).

I don't know how much of it you saw on TV, but there were fights all
game long.  After that TD, Ward came back and said something to the
safety, which caused a scuffled that Maddox broke up.  Even during the
pregame warmup, there was a big scuffle--Joey Porter even came onto
the field and got into it. 

The best part of the game, though, was a guy wearing a t-shirt that
read "Where was Ray Lewis the night Joey Porter got shot?"
-- 
Tim Lesher <tim at lesher.ws>
http://www.lesher.ws




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