Week 11 is over and finished, thank god. Some interesting events went down with two games contributed to very rare scores in the history of the NFL. A Tie occurred in a game for the first time since 2002 when the Eagles couldn’t fins a way to beat the Bengals. Actually, the Bengals couldn’t find a way to beat the Eagles, including missing a 47yrd field goal with about 12 seconds left in the overtime period. The other occurred in the Steelers – Chargers game, when the final score ended at 11 to 10.  It was the first time in the history of the league a game finished with this score. However, it should have never happened, because on the last play of the game, Troy Polamalu deflected a lateral, also know as a backwards pass, also known as a fumble, and returned it for a touchdown with no time left on the clock. So the game should have really finished 17-10, a much more common score. All of these rare happenings to the NFL are GOOD and BAD.

GOOD

The Steelers won in about the ugliest fashion possible this past week. The defeated the Chargers without scoring a touchdown, a pretty rare thing to do. The win moves the Steelers a game and a half ahead of Baltimore in the AFC North. And yes, it is a game and a half with the tie-breakers. Look, when you’re 7-3 and the other team’s 6-4 you’re one game ahead. When you’ve also beat that team once you own the tie-breaker, hence another half game ahead. Until they play later in the season, this is how it is, get over it!

The Ravens got pounded by the Giants yesterday, exposing them for the good them they’re not. The thing I love most about this loss was the fact that the Giants had over 200yrds rushing on offense. Ah, nothing like a 200yrd output to rub it in a defense’s face that prides themselves on stopping the run. I still stand by my statement that the Ravens will finish 8-8. They’re really not that good, trust me.

BAD

Just when you think the refereeing in the NFL can’t get any worse, the Steelers play another game on the schedule. There are so many #### things to complain about these #### horrible officials it makes me #### sick. Yes, the #### poor pass interference call that led to San Diego’s first score that was blown was a dozy, but there were a couple of holding calls that were also extremely convenient. But the biggest blunder came on the final play of the game. San Diego throws a short pass then starts to lateral the ball. As Chambers laterals BACKWARDS, Troy Polamalu comes flying in and deflects the BACKWARDS LATERAL, also known as a BACKWARDS PASS, also known as a FUMBLE. He proceeds to scope up the ball and score, making it 17-10 at that point, game over. Here’s what happened next… In the ref’s head: “Wait a minute, the point spread in this one was Pittsburgh(-5). So if that score counts… hold on a second, lets review the call on the field.” To the replay official: “What, you’re confirming the call on the field of a touchdown, ####” “Hmm, I need to talk about this with the other officials.” “Okay, the booth is confirming it.” “But the spread is 5 points!” “I know, I know. Wait, I’ve got it. We’ll just call it a forward lateral.” “Brilliant!” Announcement to crowd: “It was forward lateral, therefore it is an incomplete pass, and the game is over.” In his head: “There, that wasn’t so bad. They’ll probably never even notice. Time to go and collect.” Later, it goes something like this in his head… “Okay, I’ll just apologize now that nothing can be done and we’ll move on.” What’s even funnier is then listening to the post-game show trying to justify the blown call, the bunch of #### thoughtless ####ks. One of the idiots,  think it was that smug #### Terrico said, “They reversed that call because it was a backwards lateral, and as we all know, you can’t advance a backwards lateral, like on a muffed punt.” Wow, that may have been the biggest joke of all in a game that became a huge #### joke. The NFL should hold their #### heads in shame for this debacle.

Fantasy Note

Alright, back in the win column this week and with that, a trip to the playoffs, again. As things stand right now I have the #1 seed overall due to all the tie-breakers in place. I have a big showdown next week with the team that currently holds the #2 playoff seed. The next game will more than likely determine who gets the top seed for the playoffs that start week 14, as we both stand with the same record.

Thank goodness for Steve Slaton this week. The rookie rattled off huge numbers and a TD against Indianapolis to propel me my 7th win of the season. I got good contributions from Drew Brees, Calvin Johnson, Carolina’s defense and my kicker, Gostkowski. I’m worried about my though. Tim Hightower has disappeared just as quickly as he appeared and Brian Westbrook has been very sub-par over the past couple of week. I guess it doesn’t help though when you only run the ball 10 times through 3 and a half quarters. Why the Eagles passed so much, I have no idea. They played right into the strong point of the Bengal defense, hmm. I’m not worries about Andre Johnson despite his poor performance, it’s tough to throw on the Colts, and recently acquired Tony Scheffler should get back on track in the coming weeks. Check out all the action at the link below!

http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/leagueoffice?leagueI
d=239543

Week 10 was one of those weird weeks were a lot happened despite nothing really happening. The Titans are still unbeaten, the Lions are still winless, and the Raiders are still the worst organization in all of professional sports, despite playing a decent game against the Panthers. Teams are stepping up, while others are stumbling down. Early leaders are fading while early favorites are starting to come around. No one is really out of it yet, less a small handful of teams, and all of these things to the NFL are GOOD and BAD.

GOOD

Other than the Raiders losing again, there was nothing good to come out of the NFL this past week. I hate John Gruden and NFL officials.

BAD

The Steelers found a way to lose again, this time to the Indianapolis Colts. I’m not sure who is to blame more, Big Ben or the coaching staff. The turning point, obviously, was with a minute and a half before half-time, the Steelers had a 17-7 lead and the ball. They were facing a third and two deep in their own territory and the Colts were down to their final timeout. Now, the smart play would have been to either run it straight up the gut, or, if you want to get a bit creative, run play-action and dump the ball off in the flat to a running back or a tight end. Ben throws a ball downfield that gets picked-off and the Colts score with like 6 seconds left. They now have all the momentum because guess what, they also get the ball to start the second half. So now the game is 17-17 and the Steelers are moving the ball well. Now we come to the second turning point of the game. After a great play to get down to the five for a first and goal, they can’t get the play-call in time or they can’t get if off, whatever the case, the have to spend a timeout. It took all the momentum away from us and it allowed the Colts to regroup and stuff three straight runs, forcing the Steelers to kick a field goal. So they’re up 20-17 and Ben throws another pick deep in their own territory leading to another Colts touchdown. The sad thing is that they actually had a chance to win the game on the last play.

I’ll also throw in there that the Steelers got nailed with another #### holding call during that last drive. They shouldn’t have even been in that position in the first place, but I’m just saying. And how about that first Colts touchdown, can you get any luckier, really? It seemed like the Steelers were just destined to lose after that. They should really think about benching Ben for a game, just to get his ego in check a little.

Fantasy Note

Somehow, despite the Tampa Bay Flames only managing 88 points this week, I found a way to lose. Kind of like the Steelers. I finished with a pitiful 82pts and can site numerous reasons why I failed to win. The biggest reason of all would have to be Tim Hightower’s performance Monday Night against the 49ers. It’s amazing how when other runners play San Francisco they run wild and rack up massive amounts of yards. Then it comes time for my players to get their chance, it doesn’t matter who, they always seem to lay an egg. Another example, Earnest Graham in week 9 against the Chiefs managed like 50yrds rushing while losing 3 fumbles. Back to this week, I also only managed to score 2 total touchdowns on my entire team. Those both came compliments of Drew Brees, who by the way, also threw 3 interceptions; two of which were in the red zone. I guess your guess destined to lose sometimes. Amazingly, despite losing this past week, I managed to actually move up into first place. All of the top teams lost and then the tie-breakers formulated that I should be in the top spot, very weird. You can check out all the action at the link below.

http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/leagueoffice?leagueI
d=239543

Week 8 has come and gone in the NFL, and things finally seemed to go according to plan. The teams that were supposed to win won, and there were no upsets to speak of. There were no injuries to any of the superstars with the exception of a broken rib or two in Dallas. One undefeated and two winless remain. Will we have a season where a team goes 16-0 while another goes 0-16? I doubt it, but the prospect of such a thing to the NFL would be both GOOD and BAD.

GOOD

The NFL got what it had been hoping for when the Chargers and Saints played in Great Britain this past week, points, a total of 69 to be exact. The game was back and forth, as both quarterbacks racked up big games with the Saints eventually prevailing. It was interesting that the NFL didn’t choose the Patriots for this game, given the team’s name origins and ties to the British.

BAD

The Steelers suffered a major meltdown against the Giants this past weekend. You kind of got the sense that things were out of place when the NFL sent officials to Pittsburgh for meetings on league policy regarding several player fines that have been recently levied. Then Santonio Holmes gets suspended for su####ion of marijuana related activities deemed illegal by the long arm of the law. Willie Parker and Bryant McFadden are out for the game. Parker, not a big issue, Moore has played great in place. McFadden was a concern, as he has played the best of Pittsburgh’s secondary lately.

The Steelers defense was phenomenal, all game, holding the Giants to four field goals through most of the game while also orchestrating a goal-line stand that resulted in no points. The offense looked good early, then poor the rest of the game. They hit a long bomb to Washington to extend their lead. The Giants struggled, the Steelers had great field position. A personal foul penalty, an illegal procedure, and a terribly bad holding call left Pittsburgh punting instead of getting any points on the drive. The holding call was extremely convenient as it negated another long touchdown that would have pretty much sealed the game and the win for the Steelers. I understand that holding will be and can be called on every play. But for how many times I see James Harrison getting held without a penalty getting called, it pissed me off to no end that they threw a flag for a linemen grabbing for a second, releasing, then falling on the player as he went down. Again, I’ll pose this question. When a defensive player has moved past or around the offensive player and that offensive player does not release him, in essence, holding him back from continuing on his course, is that not holding?

Fantasy Note

I got a big win this past week over arguably the hottest and highest scoring team in the league right now. The game didn’t finish in shootout fashion as was predicted by the site. I got monster games from Drew Brees(34pts) and Brian Westbrook(35pts) on my way to racking up 124pts, third highest of the week. I was fortunate that this happened to be one of his lowest scoring games of the year. I hope to have the same luck this week as I play The Blue Devils, winners of three in a row while averaging nearly 100pts during that streak. I failed to gain any more ground this week in my division as one of the two teams also won their game, leaving them two and half back with five to play. I’m trying to trade for either Dallas Clark, Brandon Marshall, or both this week. The problem is that none of the teams are really out of it yet, therefore nobody's selling yet.

http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/leagueoffice?leag
ueId=239543

Week 7 saw a couple of snoozers to go along with a couple of big scoring outputs. One Super Bowl favorite took care of business will another one fell flat on its face. We’re almost to the midway point of the season, and while most teams are still in the running, a handful have nearly packed it in for the year. Some big name teams are struggling mightily, while some unlikely teams are making pushes for January. Some big hits will probably lead to some big fines from the National Pansy League. And all of these things are GOOD and BAD.

GOOD

The Steelers crushed the Bengals 38-10 this week, if you just look at the score. If you watched the game, you saw something much different. The Steelers came and dominated early, building a ten point lead while the defense smothered Cincinnati not surrendering a first down until mid way through the second quarter. Nut the offense got very conservative and the Bengals being an NFL team, slowly clawed their way back into the game. The score was 17-10 in the third and all the momentum was on Cincinnati’s side… then they collapsed. The Steelers pounded them late, even scoring a rub-it-in-your-face TD pass at the end of the game. Luckily we play the Bengals, because if we have the same performance over the next couple of games, we’ll get pummeled.

The Cowboys got smacked by the St. Louis Rams this past week and there’s nothing like a team that’s favored to win it all getting wiped all over the field by a team that probably win more than five games all season . I believe the meltdown is inevitable at this point. To can only keep things under wraps for so long before Mt. St. Owens blows. The only thing is we’ll have to hear about until the end of the season and that’s just going to get old real fast.

BAD

Officiating in the NFL just gets worse week after week. Sometimes, the Refs will throw flags and whistles all over the field, holding up games and becoming too much of a factor. Then there are games, like the Pittsburgh – Cincinnati game, where the whistles get swallowed completely. Holding, the most subjective penalty in any sport, can be called on almost every play, except it seems when the Steelers are rushing the quarterback. When a player is trying to run passed a blocker and that blocker has a fistful of jersey preventing the defensive player from proceeding, that’s holding. When a defender is rushing the passer and the blocker has him in a headlock, prohibiting him from moving forward, that’s holding. When a blocker tackles a defensive player trying to get around him, that’s holding. All of things happened numerous times in the game, and not once was it called.

After back to back games with fines coming from the Commissioners office, you’d think a player would make an adjustment. Unless you’re Hines Ward that is. Hines will more than likely be hitting the trifecta this week after the hit he laid on Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers. On the fourth play from scrimmage, a pass was dumped into the flat to the tight-end. Ward peeled back and ear holed Rivers, knocking him out of the game and finishing his season by breaking his jaw. Ward was not penalized on the play because it was a perfectly legal hit. We’ll see if the NPL has anything to say about this one.

Fantasy Note

Well, sometimes things just line up perfectly against you in Fantasy and you’ve got no chance at a win. This week I played the Dallas Dirks, a team that had three wins despite only scoring over 80 points once, while I've scored under 100points onlt twice. Of course, he has his highest scoring game of the season against me this week, I managed yet another good perfomance of 103pts. But it wasn’t that, it was the factors in his score that hurt most. One, if Willie Parker doesn’t step in a hole during practice, Mewelde Moore never plays against Cincinnati. See where this is going, if not, it’s 34pts for him. I played Steve Slaton and Andre Johnson. Both had very nice games, however, on three different drives my players moved the ball down the field, one drive, Ahman Green vultures a TD from Slaton, the other two drives, Owen Daniels catches little junker TD’s. Guess who had Owen Daniels, that’s right, Dallas Dirks. The finals nail in the coffin was when the Steelers were trying to run out the clock, I thought, and kick a field goal. Jeff Reed is my kicker and that’s at least three points. What happens, Hines Ward catches a garbage TD. Guess who has Hines Ward, that’s right, Dallas Dirks. So you see, sometimes the fantasy universe is just against you and nothing you do can change it.

I need a huge win this week as I face the hottest team in the league, the Buckeye Brown V6 (5-2). They’ve won four straight, including just knocking off the only undefeated team in the league. I can’t afford to go to 4-4.

http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/leagueoffice?leagueI
d=239543

Week 6 was agonizing for all Steeler fans. While we greatly appreciate the BYE week and its timing given the state of our team, the lack of Steeler football was very difficult to handle. This week was filled with great last second wins as two teams kicked game winning field goals with little or no time left on the clock, favored teams getting blown out, one less winless team, and another player suspension. And to the NFL and its fans, all these things were GOOD and BAD.

GOOD

After completely blowing a 10 point lead late in the fourth quarter, the Arizona Cardinals blocked a punt on the fourth play of overtime to pull out the upset win. Oh yeah, Tony Romo was also knocked out for 4 weeks on the third play of overtime. Maybe that was Wisenhunt’s plan all along. Yeah right, dodo got of the hook by winning despite blowing it on the first field goal try to force overtime. The NFL needs to change this rule. If the ball is snapped, the play should count. The referees need to blow the play dead for the timeout to count. Why coaches do this in the first place is beyond me. Oh yeah, because some #### in Denver did it once and it worked.

The Detroit Lions had every opportunity to beat Minnesota and actually carried a lead late into the fourth quarter despite not really doing much offensively. They ultimately lost, though they held Adrian Peterson in check for the most part. After losing, they then promptly placed Jon Kitna on injured reserve and sent WR Roy Williams to the Cowboys for a 1st, 3rd, and 6th pick in next year’s draft. I think it was the right move considering Williams would have been a free agent at the conclusion of the season and the Lions, who have been in rebuilding mode for years now, can finally start rebuilding.

BAD

The "tuck" rule. Probably one the dumbest rules the NFL has in place. If the quarterback doesn’t throw the ball and it comes down below his should, then he loses the ball, it’s a fumble. I’m not sure why this is such an issue. The quarterback can’t throw the ball once it is below his shoulder anyway, so why make it an incomplete pass? Here’s something else about “the throwing motion” that makes no sense. If you’re trying to throw a pass and decide not to, like a pump fake, and the ball comes out of your hand and travels backwards, isn’t that a backwards pass and a fumble anyways?

And what’s with all of these fines getting handed down by the league? Example, Hines Ward was fined twice this past week for plays the NFL deemed to rough, though he was never penalized in the game for them. Look, I can understand getting fined for a helmet-to-helmet blow on a quarterback, or crushing a vulnerable receiver who doesn’t have the ball, but blocking? Really? The bigger question here is, when did the NFL implement the two-hand touch rule?

Fantasy Note

The good news is that I managed to pull out a win, albeit against the worst team in the league, while only managing to score 84 points. The big issue I’m having is running back play. With Brian Westbrook out (again), I had to play Steve Slaton and Tim Hightower. Slaton had a nice game, but nothing spectacular. I had to lean on my studs again as Drew Brees, Andre Johnson, and Calvin Johnson accounted for 69 of my 84 points. That means my remaining players averaged a meek 2.5 points a piece, ouch. I won’t win many more with performances like that. This week I play the low scoring but 3-3, Dallas Dirks. He’ll be without Tony Romo, so Brett Favre will get the start for him. There’s also a good chance that Joseph Addai will not be a 100% this week.

Week 5  fell nicely in line for the NFL with nearly all of the favored teams handling their business with one big exception, the San Diego Chargers. But who knows, maybe Miami is ready to turn things around and make a run at the playoffs. Given the state of the AFC, anything’s possible. The NFC looks mostly like people thought it would less the Packers and the Saints. Still, the door is wide open for a lot of teams to sneak into the playoffs. And to the NFL, all of these things are GOOD and BAD.

GOOD

The Steelers finally got one over on the Jaguars and everyone in Pittsburgh rejoiced as our team is 4-1 heading into their BYE week, thank god. Pittsburgh won with defense and timely offense as they dominated the Jaguars in the first half, out-gaining them 300yrds to 46yrds. That is the point where a team changes their game-plan to adjust to what the other is doing. You’d think the Jaguars went into half and made some unbelievable adjustments… but you’d be wrong. The Steelers actually adjusted their game-plan, became much more conservative, and let Jacksonville back into the game. Why would they do this, because the Steelers offensive coordinator sucks. It’s been obvious through the first 5 games that he has no idea how to make the right adjustments and will fall into an extremely conservative offense if Pittsburgh commits a turnover early. Here’s one prime example of what I’m talking about.

During the first half the Steelers came out and threw on first down, gaining 4 to 6 yards each play and setting up second downs that could be runs or passes. This was very successful and the Steelers moved the ball at will, minus Santonio Holmes slipping and Jacksonville returning one for a TD. In the second half, the Steelers ran on first down and got zero yards. Now it’s second down and the defense knows what you have to do. The Steelers had two possessions in the third quarter gained about ten total yards on six plays, yuck. Guess what they did in the fourth quarter once they were down again? That’s right, they threw on first down.

BAD

I’m going to stay with the Steelers for the first segment of BAD this week and comment on something that happened late in the game. Jacksonville was deep in their zone and Garrard dropped back to pass, let me fly incomplete and was drilled James Harrison just as the ball was released. Amazingly, the ref called a roughing the passer on Pittsburgh. I was livid when I watched the replay and saw that the pass and the hit occurred simultaneously, with Harrison having no chance to pull up. This kept the drive alive for Jacksonville. It was almost like the refs wanted to keep the game going and Jacksonville every opportunity to win. For all of the cheap shots that Ben Roethlisberger receives with the defense never getting penalized, I can’t imagine how that was called.

The New Orleans Saints lost again when their field goal kicker failed to convert late in the game, giving the Vikings good field position. One pass interference call later and Minnesota is kicking the game winner. This is now the second time this season that Gramatica has missed a kick to give the Saints at least a chance to stay alive. The other occurred in Denver and would have been for the win. Who knows what would have happened had he made the kick Monday Night, but that’s two games lost. I think it’s time for a new kicker.

Fantasy Note

A very disappointing loss this week to the top rated team in my league. I had every chance to win the game and looked good going into the Monday Night game down only 11pts, but Drew Brees committed 3 turnovers for me, Reggie Bush returned 2 punts for him, and that was that, a 116 to 103 loss. It also didn’t help that Calvin Johnson grabbed a whole 2 points this week. Earnest Graham and Jonathan Stewart both had great match-ups and managed to score 12 points between them. Wow, what are you gonna do. I still sit atop my division at 3-2 and play a divisional game this week against the (1-3) Favre Hater Bandwagon.

Check out the league at:

http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/leagueoffice?leagueI
d=239543&seasonId=2008

I just had to make a comment on the Thursday Night game featuring the Steelers and Rams. The game was on NFL Network, so not everyone got to see it, which is good and bad.

THE GOOD

After some suspect play early on, the Steeler defense started to play like the unit we have been accustomed to seeing; stopping the run, applying pressure, and forcing mistakes. The pick-six to seal the game was fitting given how poorly the defense had played recently.

My only issue with this game came at the end of the first half, when the Rams got two free challenges because there was less than 2 minutes left. I've always had a problem with this rule and it reared its ugly head here. At this point in the game, the score was close and every play was crucial in determining the outcome of the game. Twice the Refs on the field called plays against the Rams. First was a fumble that got overturned because the player did not have possession, the second was a non-catch along the sidelines that got turned into a catch. Now, I'm all for the Officials getting things right, but the fact that they got free challenges is the issue. Why can't a coach use a challenge instead just like in other game situations? If it's so important, don't waste time-outs during the game. I think this rule may need to be looked at in the off-season meetings.

THE BAD

I think Marshall Faulk is a great player, I mean, WAS a great player. That means he doesn't play anymore. But if you watched the Thursday Night game, you'd think he WAS playing. That's all Gumble talked about!!! How great Marshall Faulk was/is...

Here's the problem... NFL Network employs Marshall Faulk as an analyst, great. He played for the Rams, great. He was involved in a half-time ceremony to retire his jersey, great. He was calling the game that was being played in St. Louis, NOT GREAT. Is it just me or was that a HUGE conflict of interest for the NFL Network. First of all, how am I, the viewer, able to listen to an unbiased call o####ame when one of the commentators used to play for one of the teams involved in the game?!? I want to hear about the Steelers and how dominant and awesome they looked. I want to hear about how bad the Rams are at everything. I most definitely DON'T want to hear about and watch clips of Marshall Faulk all night!!!

I was also very, very disappointed and upset with one of the conversations that took place during the game. On the first Pittsburgh series, Willie Parker went out of the game with a leg injury. At the time, not much was known about it, fine. A little later on, they announce that Parker has a cracked Tibia in his leg and is likely out for the season. Here's what the conservation was about over the next few minutes.

1. The Steelers are done. If they make the playoffs, they'll lose in the first round. There's no way they can throw now because defenses won't fear the run anymore. Man, good thing Davenport is so bad, what rushing for like 140yds and 2 TD's. Whatever.

2. Hear's what angered me most and has caused me to send a nasty letter to NFL Network. When they found out Parker was out for the year, that no good, know nothing about football, wannabe announcer ####, Bryant Gumble had the nerve, the balls to say,” I guess Fred Taylor will finally get to go to the Pro-Bowl..." and was as happy as a pig in #### when he said it. Hey ####, do you realize that one of the NFL's more marketable players and its leading rusher was just lost for the year!!! Bryant Gumble should go find Tony Cornheiser, they should hold hands and slide under a bus. What an outrage!!!

I guess that is the only way Fred Taylor can make it to a Pro-Bowl.

And why does everyone in broadcasting hate the Steelers? It's because they're mostly old players, and those old players where never as good as the Steelers, or always got the #### kicked out of them when they played. Jealousy is an ugly, ugly sin.