Not this year, Cleveland. The Browns are a much improved team, but still not good enough to sweep the Steelers in a given year. As for winning at Heinz Field….forget about it! I didn’t like Pittsburgh’s chances against Cleveland coming into the Sunday showdown. The Browns were hot, and the Steelers were beat up and having trouble scoring points. I give the Steelers a lot of credit for finding a way to win. The defense was relentless once again, and sealed it with the last second interception. TJ Watt and Bud Dupree were in Baker Mayfield’s face all game. And I really liked the way rookie running back Benny Snell performed. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a big win for the Black and Gold.
• Disney may have to start writing a script for a Duck Hodges movie. Devlin Hodges didn’t screw up the game, something coach Mike Tomlin insisted he needed from his starting quarterback. Duck made some big throws and showed pretty good judgment in leading the Steelers to the win. The kid has moxie and is very poised. How long until Duck Hodges duck callers are sold all around Western Pa?
• I didn’t think there would be any carryover from the Steelers-Browns fight of a few weeks ago, and there wasn’t. All we saw was a good hard fought football game. I had to laugh when I read that Browns’ coach Freddy Kitchens was spotted wearing a “Pittsburgh Started It” t-shirt at the Mister Rogers movie in Cleveland the other night. It wasn’t the brightest of moves by the rookie head coach. I was glad to see the Steelers award the game ball to suspended center Maurkice Pouncey. I’m sure it’s one he will cherish.
• Penn State looked awful for the first half of its regular season finale against lowly Rutgers. Fortunately, the Nittany Lions came to life in the second half to win easily and end the year with ten wins. If you had told me this team would go 10-2 prior to the year I would have signed the deal in blood. Penn State has come a long way since the ridiculous sanctions the NCAA crippled the program with just a few years ago. Penn State is a good team, but not a great one. They will surely get a nice bowl reward for their season, possibly even the Rose Bowl or Orange Bowl. Not bad.
• Pitt fans can’t be too happy with the way the Panthers ended their regular season. The loss to a really bad Boston College team was certainly not the way to end the year. Pitt finished the regular season 7-5, and that’s simply not good enough this far along in the Pat Narduzzi era. That record would get you fired in a lot of places, but won’t at Pitt.
• College football’s playoff is coming into focus. Ohio State, who I think is the best team in the land by far, is in. So too is LSU, led by probable Heisman winner Joe Burrow. Look for Clemson to make it back to the field. And I would have to go with Oklahoma as the fourth team in. I think Alabama would have gotten there had they not lost in the end to Auburn in another classic Iron Bowl. Instead, Nick Saban’s team will have to wait until next year. My guess is that’s great news for lots of college football fans who are tired of seeing the Tide every year.
• Jim Harbaugh is being paid a lot of money to coach football at Michigan. He’s now 0-5 against Ohio State. What’s more, his team keeps getting hammered when they face the Buckeyes. A lot of coaches get fired when they can’t beat their rivals. I’d be willing to be that a lot of the Michigan fan base has had it with Harbaugh. I just don’t think he’ll get fired. At least not this year.
• The Pens had a lousy weekend, dropping games in both Columbus and St. Louis. And if that wasn’t bad enough they lost another key player to injury. Now it’s Brian Dumoulin who is on the shelf. He’ll miss at least eight weeks. Can the Pens finally catch a break? I’ve never seen a team that has had so many key injuries this early in a season. If the Pens can make it through this rough stretch the rest of the season will be a piece of cake.
• I don’t blame Starling Marte for saying he’d welcome a trade from the Pirates. Who can blame him? He’s 31 and just wants to play for a contender. I would hope that new GM Ben Cherington listens to offers for Marte and isn’t afraid to deal him. And should he deal him, I hope that Cherington can at least get a decent return, unlike the recent past trades by former GM, Neal Huntington. The Winter Meetings are right around the corner. I hope that Cherington has a sign that says, “Open For Business”.
