The Steelers are .500, hurrah! That’s usually not cause for celebration, but after starting out 0-3, the Black and Gold have gone 4-1 and are right there in the AFC North. Sunday’s win over the Colts wasn’t pretty, but it was a big one. The Steelers ended up struggling against a third string quarterback in Brian Hoyer, a former Steeler. They also got lucky when future Hall of Fame kicker, Adam Vinatieri, missed a game winner late. All that matters is the Steelers found a way to win and put themselves in a position to challenge for a playoff spot. After the way the season started, football season for the Steelers isn’t done after all.
• I didn’t like the play calling by Randy Fichtner late in the game when the Steelers had a chance to score a touchdown. Not once did the Steelers throw the ball in the end zone, which just didn’t make sense. Why not take a shot? Instead, they had to settle for another Chris Boswell field goal. Boswell, by the way, has been terrific after his horrendous season last year. Still, it should have never come to a Boswell field goal if the Steelers had been aggressive in their play calling.
• I admit I was wrong. I didn’t like the Steelers giving up a first round pick for Minkah Fitzpatrick when it looked like the pick could end up being a top ten selection in next year’s draft. After watching him in a Steelers uniform the last few weeks, I’m beginning to think the Steelers might have gotten a steal. Fitzpatrick is a real defensive playmaker. They haven’t had a player like that since a guy named Troy stood out in the secondary. Fitzpatrick has already picked off four passes, and his interception for a touchdown against the Colts turned the game around for the Steelers. He’s a heck of a player.
• The first half of last week’s Monday Night game between the Steelers and Miami Dolphins was just brutal. It was really hard to watch, and this is coming from a life-long diehard fan of the Black and Gold. The winless Dolphins actually made the Steelers look bad for much of the first half, and that’s saying something. Miami is clearly tanking this season and building for the future. I’d like to think the Steelers learned from this game. They’re not going to face cream puffs like Miami the rest of the way.
• It looks like the Steelers knew what they were doing when they grabbed receiver Diontae Johnson in the third round of the draft. I was hoping the Steelers would take pass rusher Chase Winovich, the local kid who could have stepped right in for the Steelers. Johnson started slowly but has really come on. He was great against Miami.
• IUP is on a roll. The Crimson Hawks put 50 points on the board in routing Seton Hill. Now, all that’s left for IUP on the schedule are games against Edinboro and Shippensburg, two 3-6 teams. If the Crimson Hawks take care of business, and they will, they will be back on the playoffs.
• Penn State enjoyed the week off and will now head to Minnesota. It’s a matchup of two 8-0 teams. It’s one of the biggest games in the history of Minnesota football. I still don’t think the Nittany Lions are one of college football’s elite teams, but I like them on the road. They have a real chance to finish 11-1 this season. I never thought that was possible.
• Pitt got a much needed win on the road at Georgia Tech. The Panthers goal-line stand in the third quarter was the play of the game. Pitt’s defense is really good. Don’t look now but the Panthers are 6-3.
• While I liked him personally, Neal Huntington had to go as general manager of the Pirates. While he did a lot of good things in Pittsburgh, Huntington and his staff whiffed on a number of trades and just didn’t draft and develop players. I think owner Bob Nutting made the right decision in parting ways with the GM who got the Pirates back to the playoffs after two decades of losing. I also think Nutting had no choice but to clean house and part ways with Huntington, manager Clint Hurdle and team president Frank Coonelly. The Pirates’ attendance has dropped more than a million fans per season from just a couple of years ago. The only way Nutting was going to win back the fans was to make big changes.
• Bob Nutting said all the right things during his media sessions following the firing of Neal Huntington. The Pirates’ owner and new team president, Travis Williams, say the Pirates are committed to winning. Talk is cheap, and most Pirates’ fans think Nutting is incredibly cheap as well. If Nutting really is committed to winning he needs to show it by spending the money it takes to field a competitive team. He doesn’t need to throw ridiculous money on overpriced and over the hill free agents. But Nutting and the front office need to show fans they are willing to spend to acquire and develop good players. I met Nutting last year at the Pirates’ annual radio affiliates seminar at Seven Springs. He sure sounded like an owner that wanted to have a winning team. Now he’s said it publicly. Only time will tell.
• The game of the year in college football takes place next Saturday in Tuscaloosa. That’s where unbeatens LSU and Alabama go at it. I covered many of these matchups during my years as a sportscaster in Baton Rouge. They’re almost always great games. For a long time it was the visiting team that came out on top. Lately, it’s been all Bama. They’ve won eight in a row. I think this is the best LSU team I’ve seen in decades. But until they prove they can beat Alabama, I have to go with the Tide. I hope I’m wrong.
• The Pens had both good news and bad news this week. They lit the lamp for seven goals against rival Philadelphia. That was the good news. The bad news was they lost another key player in Patric Hornqvist. His loss is another big blow to the Pens, who have had terrible luck in the injury department this season. Evgeni Malkin is finally back, so that should help the Pens. They just hope that the gritty Horqvist isn’t lost for any length of time.
• We will never see another World Series like the one we witnessed this past week. Seriously, who had the Washington Nationals winning it all? They started the year 19-31, for goodness sakes. They also came from behind in five elimination games to win their first World Series. What’s even more amazing to me is that the Nationals won all four of their World Series games on the road, and that all seven games of the Series were won by the road team. The odds of that happening are staggering. It was a heck of World Series, and one the favored Astros will never forget for all the wrong reasons. All they had to do was win one out of two games at home to close out the Series. They whiffed.
• Unlike many Pirates’ fans, I was actually pulling for Gerrit Cole to get his first World Series ring. Cole will probably win the Cy Young Award this week, and it’s an honor that’s well deserved. Other than his first start in the World Series, Cole was terrific in the playoffs. What I didn’t like about Cole was the way he conducted himself after the disappointing Game Seven loss. Cole initially refused to do any interviews and told Astros’ officials that he was no longer employed by the club. It was a bush-league move by Cole. He finally relented and did the interviews wearing the hat of his agent, Scott Boras. That told me his days as an Astro were over.
