APPARENTLY, HELL HAS FROZEN OVER
Wow, I saw two things I thought I'd never see & both on the same day. I saw the Cleveland Browns score 37 points, they had scored only 78 points in 9 games this season. The Browns scoring machine had totaled 5 offensive touchdowns in their last 15 games! It only took one thing to set off Brady Quinn & company, for me to bet on the Lions against them. The Browns jumped out to a 24-3 lead only to have the Matthew Stafford-led Lions roar back to win. Stafford became the 3rd rookie QB in history to throw 5 touchdown passes, he's in pretty select company, the other 2 were Dan Marino & Joe Namath. Stafford threw a desperation hail-Mary pass into the endzone with no time left, but pass interference was called & the Lions had one untimed down at the Cleveland 1-yard line. Stafford was driven into the ground on the hail-Mary attempt & it looked as tho he had injured his shoulder or collarbone. Backup QB Dante Culpepper trotted out to take the snap but Cleveland called a timeout. The rookie ran back onto the field & Culpepper returned to the bench. Stafford threw a bullet for the tying touchdown to TE Brandon Pettigrew on a quick curl. The PAT won the game, 38-37. It was quite a finish, one that had to be a heart breaker for the Browns & their fans.
The other sign that hell had truly frozen over was what transpired in Arrowhead Stadium, the defending Super Bowl champion truly threw one away to a far-inferior team they had dominated almost all afternoon. The Chiefs were without their best offensive player, Dwayne Bowe & frankly it was hard to see a way for them to be competitive against the Steelers.
I will give the Chiefs a lot of credit, they had to make several big plays in the second half & overtime to prevail & for the first time under Todd Haley, they did just that. First time starting linebacker, Andy Studebaker, an undrafted free agent, caught a tipped pass for an interception & then later in the 3rd quarter, he caught an errant throw by Ben Roethlesberger in the end zone & returned it 96 yards to the Pittsburgh 4 to set up a field goal.
Matt Cassel who was 4 of 10 for a measly 35 yards in the 1st half, went 11 of 20 for 213 yards & 2 touchdowns in the second half & overtime. The line which had given up 5 sacks, gave Cassel a bit more time & he made some excellent throws.
Todd Haley's play calling was quite good after halftime & in a game where the Steelers out gained the Chiefs 515 yards to 282, the 2nd half play calling was crucial as was the execution. Pittsburgh had double the time of possession over Kansas City but they led in penalties with 8 for 85 yards to K.C.'s 4 for 28. The Steelers also committed 3 turnovers. The worse thing the Steelers did was to extend their NFL record string of 8 straight games with a kick, punt, fumble or interception run back for a touchdown when Jamaal Charles ran the opening kickoff back 97-yards. It was the 4th kickoff returned for a touchdown against the Steelers in '09.
Once again the K.C. kickers were great, punter Dustin Colquitt averaged over 47 yards & Ryan Succop hit both field goal attempts including the game winner in overtime.
When the Steelers won the toss in overtime, you had to be thinking "here we go again", especially when Big Ben moved the Steelers to 3 first downs. But at midfield, flushed from the pocket, Roethlesberger started to run & got a knee to the helmet as he was going down. After a few minutes he wobbled off the field to be replaced by veteran Charlie Batch. After one completion for 17 yards, the drive stalled & Pittsburgh punted. After a 10-yard run by Charles on first down, Cassel hit Chris Chambers with a 3rd down pass on a crossing pattern that he took 61-yards to set up Succop's winning kick.
Chiefs' fans, please don't look at this game & say "we beat the Super Bowl champs". They did exactly what they had to do yesterday, they won the turnover battle, their kickers helped equalize the field position, they scored a special teams touchdown & made the most of their opportunities late in the game & overtime when it counted.
Some of the other season-long problems surfaced as well. Once again they dug a hole for themselves, getting down 17-7 in the 1st half. Todd Haley showed his horrible clock management again, taking all 3 timeouts to the halftime locker room. Surrendering 515 yards was a season high, but they were bailed out by Studebaker's interceptions & a fumble caused by Brandon Flowers.
Two things that can't go unmentioned about yesterday's victory. The Chiefs played with better focus & intensity, they didn't appear the least bit intimidated playing the world champs. Todd Haley spent his energy talking calmly to his players & calling a pretty decent game. Absent was the cursing at everybody, a truly bad habit he needs to curb if he expects his team to buy into everything he's selling.
The other sign that hell had truly frozen over was what transpired in Arrowhead Stadium, the defending Super Bowl champion truly threw one away to a far-inferior team they had dominated almost all afternoon. The Chiefs were without their best offensive player, Dwayne Bowe & frankly it was hard to see a way for them to be competitive against the Steelers.
I will give the Chiefs a lot of credit, they had to make several big plays in the second half & overtime to prevail & for the first time under Todd Haley, they did just that. First time starting linebacker, Andy Studebaker, an undrafted free agent, caught a tipped pass for an interception & then later in the 3rd quarter, he caught an errant throw by Ben Roethlesberger in the end zone & returned it 96 yards to the Pittsburgh 4 to set up a field goal.
Matt Cassel who was 4 of 10 for a measly 35 yards in the 1st half, went 11 of 20 for 213 yards & 2 touchdowns in the second half & overtime. The line which had given up 5 sacks, gave Cassel a bit more time & he made some excellent throws.
Todd Haley's play calling was quite good after halftime & in a game where the Steelers out gained the Chiefs 515 yards to 282, the 2nd half play calling was crucial as was the execution. Pittsburgh had double the time of possession over Kansas City but they led in penalties with 8 for 85 yards to K.C.'s 4 for 28. The Steelers also committed 3 turnovers. The worse thing the Steelers did was to extend their NFL record string of 8 straight games with a kick, punt, fumble or interception run back for a touchdown when Jamaal Charles ran the opening kickoff back 97-yards. It was the 4th kickoff returned for a touchdown against the Steelers in '09.
Once again the K.C. kickers were great, punter Dustin Colquitt averaged over 47 yards & Ryan Succop hit both field goal attempts including the game winner in overtime.
When the Steelers won the toss in overtime, you had to be thinking "here we go again", especially when Big Ben moved the Steelers to 3 first downs. But at midfield, flushed from the pocket, Roethlesberger started to run & got a knee to the helmet as he was going down. After a few minutes he wobbled off the field to be replaced by veteran Charlie Batch. After one completion for 17 yards, the drive stalled & Pittsburgh punted. After a 10-yard run by Charles on first down, Cassel hit Chris Chambers with a 3rd down pass on a crossing pattern that he took 61-yards to set up Succop's winning kick.
Chiefs' fans, please don't look at this game & say "we beat the Super Bowl champs". They did exactly what they had to do yesterday, they won the turnover battle, their kickers helped equalize the field position, they scored a special teams touchdown & made the most of their opportunities late in the game & overtime when it counted.
Some of the other season-long problems surfaced as well. Once again they dug a hole for themselves, getting down 17-7 in the 1st half. Todd Haley showed his horrible clock management again, taking all 3 timeouts to the halftime locker room. Surrendering 515 yards was a season high, but they were bailed out by Studebaker's interceptions & a fumble caused by Brandon Flowers.
Two things that can't go unmentioned about yesterday's victory. The Chiefs played with better focus & intensity, they didn't appear the least bit intimidated playing the world champs. Todd Haley spent his energy talking calmly to his players & calling a pretty decent game. Absent was the cursing at everybody, a truly bad habit he needs to curb if he expects his team to buy into everything he's selling.
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