The good news is that the Steelers should be well rested after their "bye-week" at home against the Chargers. With both the Ravens and Bengals losing last week too, Pittsburgh missed a black-and-golden opportunity to take command of their playoff fate.
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| TOMCZAK SEASON 2012-13 |
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| TOMCZAK SEASON 2012-13 |
The bad news is that the Steelers (7-6) are expected to travel to Dallas (7-6) this week for a contest against the Cowboys, who Steeler fans were put in the uncomfortable position of pulling for last week as Dallas managed a last-second win in Cincinnati. This awkward situation generated some interesting conversation between the Steeler Face and his younger brother . . . a Cowboys fan.*
At any rate, when the season was younger and both our teams' prospects were brighter, my brother (who lives in San Antonio) and I considered watching this week's game in Dallas. We've since abandoned that plan out of fear that neither of our teams will show up to honor our effort and we'd be stuck watching a vacant field and a 0-0 tie.
And thus, the theme for Steeler Nation this week is "lowered expectations." The 2012-13 Pittsburgh Steelers have been so consistently inconsistent that the Steeler Face hereby declares this year the "Tomczak Season" -- and the only antidote if for Steeler fans to lower expectations immediately.
Although, Big Ben is back along with Antonio Brown and Troy Polamalu, if this team can't manage to not let itself be thrown around in their home park by Phillip Rivers and his practice squad--how can (or we) expect it to win another game this year? So, we shouldn't. Therefore, for the record the Steeler Face hereby officially and formally predicts that Pittsburgh will lose 1-0 this week in Dallas as the Steelers lose a coin toss that determines which team has to forfeit for failure to show up -- because neither will.**
However, so as not to end this week's forecast on a completely sour note, here is a look back at the last two times the Steelers and Cowboys met in the regular season:
December 7, 2008: The Steelers rallied from a 13-3 fourth quarter deficit in Pittsburgh to pull off a remarkable 20-13 victory as Deshea Townsend intercepted a Tony Romo pass with 1:40 to go and returned it 25 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. The Steelers went on to win Super Bowl XLIII that year. Good times.
October 17, 2004: The Steelers pulled off a 24-20 come-from-behind win in Dallas behind rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers finished the regular season that year 15-1 and advanced as far as the AFC Championship game.
* One of the greatest failures of my life was my inability to convert my younger brother to Steeler Nation.
** Shhhhh -- the Steelers do their best when we expect them to lose -- see this season's contests in New York and Baltimore, et al.
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