I Like Ray Lewis, and Other Musings on Monday's Game

The Ray Lewis of the 21st century reminds me of the Dick Butkus of the decade of the 1960s. He looks like him, with the huge torso and the short inseam. He plays like him, stuffing the middle and roaming sideline-to-sideline, delivering misery to every ballcarrier. But, their most common trait can be described by their single most important contribution to football: an innate ability to bring an inconceivable amount of havoc to an already incredibly violent game. A game against Butkus meant you were going to be taken up a couple of notches in the vehemence department. Ray Lewis does that, too, and like no other out there now.

However…

Ray Lewis is with the double rival, a division team that used to be the Browns. That alone brings him down for the week to merely respectable, and it doesn’t matter anyway because he’s injured and won’t play.

So, that’s Lewis, out with a thigh, as well as safety Ed Reed with a high ankle sprain, the 2003 and 2004 NFL Defensive Players of the Year award winners. I don't care whom they have in there as subs, the potential remains for a disastrous outing for the Baltimore Ravens on the Monday night stage. I feel for them.

It could be a three-touchdown deficit in the first half alone. The Ravens may have a number six ranking in scoring defense, but that's without their two big hitters. And, that's moot anyway, because Baltimore can't score. Their only two victories were against the anemic Browns and the hapless Jets, and then they could manage to dial up only 16 and 13, a good day for an offense dead last in the league in scoring. It's sad, to a point.

As a huge Steelers fan, I want opponents walking onto Heinz Field with pride and vigor, not shocked and limping. Pittsburgh-Baltimore games should be gladiator battles. No one team should be a 10 point favorite, which, by the way, started the week at 8-1/2. As NFL odds go, that's a blowout on the horizon. I know about the any-given-Sunday yada, but the only thing in the favor of the Ravens is that they are so bad the Steelers could lose focus and the game could get sloppy.

This is not what ABC envisioned.

I'll enjoy the black-and-gold offensive fireworks and stalwart defense, but when I see the Steelers beat the Ravens on Monday Night Football, I want both teams to be playing at the tops of their games.

Pittsburgh by four touchdowns.

The Key to the City: How the Steelers Almost Always Put a Hurtin' on Cincinnati

Random thoughts on the game:

Chad Johnson and no TDs...doesn't that just have a nice ring to it?

QB ratings: Ben 93.2 vs. Carson 53.8. To be fair, Carson Palmer is the Bengals' offense, almost in its entirity. He went 21 for 36, but could find only 227 yards for no TDs and had two picked along the way. On the other hand, Ben Roethlisberger is a willing participant in a more balanced attack, giving him a better chance for a better rating.

Hines Ward...aren't you like me and hope for the day he would have the opportunity to hit Chad Johnson?

What did Bill Cowher say to the o-line last week? After being a rumor against Jacksonville, Pittsburgh blocked like men in Cincy. They were so good they made Jerome Bettis look positively sleek in the way he was bouncing around with the ball. Good show! And, it takes a great o-line to keep the ball for 35:29 against a formidable D such as Cincinnati.

Just as Tom Jackson of ESPN said: if you gain 227 yards rushing, you will win any football game, no matter what level you're playing at. An average of 4.7 yards a pop doesn't hurt things, either.

I like Ben and the way he's going to Heath Miller. There is nothing like a TE sticking his paws up and catching a high velocity ball like it is so much cotton.

Jerome Bettis is the heart and soul, of course, but Willie Parker is the future. And the present. Against the Bengals, Bettis played the appropriate amount of time. Whatever happened with Jerome at Heinz against the Jaguars I hope will never happen again. But, you can't negate the fact that Willie Parker is electrifying and should get the start and the PT.

Few things spell domination like red zone efficiency. Steelers: 2 for 4 inside the 20, and a perfect 2 for 2 goal-to-go. The offensive line makes that happen, but the spectre of Jerome Bettis walking on the field certainly helps.

As much as I think Chad Johnson is a buffoon, the man can play some serious wideout. Give the Steelers secondary a great deal of credit in effectively shutting him down, holding a good one to only one big gainer and...no TDs.

Carson Palmer was sacked twice and hurried all day. Excellent.

And, finally, Pittsburgh had three drives of over 6:00, resulting in ten points. That...is Steelers football.

I'll have my Ravens preview and prediction this weekend.

Tommy Maddox - Looking For Jenny and Finding Big Cats

Bill Cowher stood behind Tommy Maddox during the Jacksonville game, and was correct in doing so. It went south on him, but he was right. It looked wrong, as well as ugly, but there was no better decision, and both of them hung in there like men.

To the metaphorical death.

However, Cowher was still right.

Tommy Maddox didn't lose the game, although his reality did bite. Thirty rushing plays for a fribbling 73 yards (2.4 yards per run, for those caught without a calculator) lost the game. In football parlance, "Steelers" has meant "rushing domination" for decades, and on Sunday, it didn't happen. I sat wind-burned in section 516 row W thinking that it was more painful watching run after run stopped than it was to witness Tommy Tu-Tone dial it up 28 times and throw more balls in the dirt than LA Angels' pitchers. How can it be that an aging insurance agent in serious need of a haircut gets 16 yards in one run and have that be the longest of the day for a team that perfected the art of smashmouth? I'm astounded.

But, not speechless.

Pittsburgh was soundly beaten in the possession game. Why? No running game. This forced the defense to play more than admirably, holding Jacksonville to a below average NFL offensive outing even though they were led by Byron Leftwich, a quarterback who is as consistently good as a healthy Chad Pennington. The D was so tough that the Steelers were one quick-footed, hard-driving, highly-regarded, well-spoken professional running back among running backs from a two-touchdown victory. That, my readers, is where Cowher screwed up. He didn't prepare for a running attack and laid the ball in Tommy Maddox' hands, who proceeded to drop it five times, one of which was at a very inopportune moment.

The scary thought is that Tommy Maddox was playing on all six cylinders. The other scary thought is that Maddox and Charlie Batch looked equally well in pre-season. Cowher could have gone either way. Would it had made any difference?

Not without Jerome Bettis.

We'll beat Cincinnati because the Bengals are the darlings of the NFL right now and Carson Palmer, as nice of a young man as he may be, is scraping his fingernails on the chalkboard with his golden boy status. And, speaking of that, I'm tired of Chad Johnson. Why does the media give him a pass act like...the anti-Hines Ward? Must be a great interview.

I will always attempt to close my blogs on the bright side, because life is good and it is certainly too short. I was in the press box in 2001 when Jeff Miller punted a liner into Troy Brown's hands for a return TD, and when Kris Brown suffered yet another blocked kick into, you guessed it, Troy Brown's hands that eventually ended up another TD. Kordell Stewart didn't lose that game. The kicking game did. Now, finally to my uplifting point...the 2005 Steelers cover kicks like it's supposed to be done, and Antwaan Randle El's punt return as well as Quincy Morgan's kick return almost made me cry in joy.

Pitttsburgh by two TDs over the Bengals.