Steelers convert on fourth-and-season; slip past Eagles 16-14

In only their fourth game the Steelers desperately need a win to maintain a realistic hope of making the playoffs this season.  Pittsburgh got it -- and Steeler Nation breathed a collective sigh of "thank f@cking goodness."  

Shawn Suisham kicked his third field goal of the game as time expired to give the Steelers a 16-14 home victory against the Philadelphia Eagles.  With the win, Pittsburgh improves to 2-2, but remain behind the Cincinnati Bungles (3-2) and the Baltimore Haters (4-1) in the AFC North Division. 

The Steelers now have just three days before they travel to Tennessee for a Thursday night matchup against the Titans (1-4) in another 'must win' contest.

Timmons pursues Vick like the
villain in a horror film

Perhaps, buoyed by the return of Troy Polamalu and James Harrison, the rest of the Steeler defense actually made a positive impact (in the first half of the game). Ziggy Who? (Ziggy Hood), Jason Worilds and Steve McLendon each recorded a sack.  However, the main contributor on defense in my humble estimation was Lawrence Timmons, who was relentless in his pursuit of Michael Vick.  The Eagles' QB lost the ball twice in the first quarter, including a critical turnover at the goal line, costing the Eagles a TD.  Pittsburgh was pitching a 10-0 shutout at halftime, when the Steeler Face consulted with his correspondents in the Michigan Bureau of Steeler Nation for some analysis while consuming an icy cold Iron City Beer to wash it all down with.

Timmons "gotcha"

Steeler Face correspondent Heather P. of the Michigan Bureau credited Harrison's return for the defensive line's sudden ability to pressure an opposing QB.  Even though Harrison didn't show up in the stat column, Heather suggested that he was distracting Philly's offensive line (with what the Steeler Face commonly refers to as his "excessive awesomeness"), thus allowing the other defenders to break through.  Heather's analysis has special credibility given the fact that she accurately predicted before the game that it would be settled by a two point margin.

However, the "Renegade"-fest was short lived as Polamalu and LaMarr Woodley left the game with injuries, and the rest of the Steelers defense suddenly realized that they were doing something new and strange called "being effective" and decided to go back to something more familiar, like "sucking" in the second half.  The Steelers tactical shift from "being effective" to "sucking" allowed Vick and the Eagles to put together two touchdown drives.  The latter drive was made possible when Philadelphia converted two fourth downs, including one when the Eagles were backed up on their own 30 yard line.  When Philly took their first lead of the game at 14-13 late in the fourth quarter, Steeler Nation had to be thinking, 'here we f@cking go again.'

But today, Big Ben was able to get the ball to Rashard "Maniac" Mendenhall enough times to bail the Steelers out.  Taking possession at their own 20, Pittsburgh moved the ball down to Philly's 17 with a "Flashdance" of Mendenhall, who ran the rock and caught passes out of the backfield to set up the winning field goal by Suisham.

"He's a maniac . . . maniac for touchdowns..."

Rashard totaled 81 yards rushing on 14 carries and had 20 yards receiving on two catches.  The Steelers lone touchdown on the day was officially listed as a 13 yard run by Mendenhall, although he caught the ball out of the backfield on a pass from Big Ben.  The Steeler Face, of course, views this as a conspiracy by NFL officials to hurt my fantasy football team, "Da 'Nati Steelerface" by taking a TD pass away from its QB, Ben Roethlisberger.  Statistically, Ben was 21 of 37 for 207 yards with no TDs (except for the one he threw to Rashard) and no INTs, while also suffering at least a half dozen drops by Steeler receivers, including notable ones by Antonio Brown and Mike Wallace.

Another correspondent from the Michigan Bureau of Steeler Nation, Pat J., observed that now the replacement refs are gone the NFL has resumed its practice of Steeler-hating-officiating.  Pittsburgh was penalized 90* times for 1,060* yards compared to only 5 flags for 35 yards against the Eagles.

*9 times for 106 yards.

Postgame Postcards
The Steeler Face received a report on Friday from the MRI taken at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati earlier in the week and learned that he has a two inch tear in his left achilles tendon that will require surgery (tentatively scheduled for the first of December).  Fans of the Face should fear not, however, as he will still be able to report on the remainder of the Steelers season, despite having his leg confined to a cast for at least four-to-five weeks.

The Steeler Face is now 1-3 on the season forecasting games, and is 11-9 all-time.