And then, the Steelers had a bye-week.
Did anyone else know that parks are open on Sundays in the fall and winter? I thought that playing at the park was just a spring and summer activity. Same goes with the golf courses, bike trails, and beaches. Amazingly, for some reason, I was completely unaware of this information.
Before you get the wrong impression, realize I did indeed watch NFL football this past Sunday. C'mon! This is not Bizarro World; of course I managed to squeeze in my six hours of lounging on the couch, stuffing my face, and watching linebackers blitzing.
At the same time, since the Steelers had a bye week, I did not have to go through my weekly pre-game routine...and with me being slightly obsessive-compulsive, that routine generally lasts quite a while. Imagine Melvin Udall meets Paul Brown.
To make a long story short, I had an extra few hours to kill...playing croquet...but mostly just thinking about the Steelers. Even during the games that I did watch (Jaguars at Colts; Jets at Patriots) my mind kept focusing on the Steelers.
My distractibility was understandable, considering that the game of the week, and quite possibly the year, will occur next Sunday against the Patriots. New England will come into Pittsburgh with a twenty-one game win streak.
Personally, I like Pittsburgh's chances of ending that streak.
When motivated, Cowher can scheme to beat anybody (although he is generally not given credit for doing so). And to say that Cowher is motivated is an understatement. The last two times that Pittsburgh has played New England, Bill Belichick embarrassed the Steelers..in front of a national audience...in back-to-back games.
Prior to the 2001 AFC Championship game, Cowher mistakenly took the Patriots lightly when he had his players make hotel reservations in New Orleans. The Steelers lost, Cowher had to eat crow, and the Patriots were the ones occupying those aforementioned hotel rooms. The Steelers and their fans pointed to the two touchdowns by New England's special teams as the reason for the loss, and the Steelers promised the results would be different for the first game of the following season (i.e. the Monday Night Football opener). Alas, the Steelers played even worse.
Without question, those two embarrassments are still fresh in Bill Cowher's mind. So, during this two week intermission, Cowher has undoubtedly devised a game-plan that will indeed bring about a Pittsburgh victory.
But, I must warn Cowher: do not "use all of your tricks" for this one game. Save some "tricks" for the play-offs.
To understand what I mean by "use all of your tricks" you would have to go back to the 1997 season. The Steelers were being visited by the 11-2 Denver Broncos. For the first time since taking over as coach, Cowher closed practice to the media. In short, the Steelers played the game of their year, beating the Broncos 35-24.
The problem was, the Steelers went "all-out" to beat the Broncos during the regular season. Yet, when the play-offs came, the Steelers lost to that same Broncos team. Some will blame Kordell Stewart's three interceptions for the loss, and they may be right. Regardless, the feel and/or attitude of that playoff game was different than the regular season game; from the onset, the Steelers came out flat for the AFC championship.
In short, I hope that the Steelers win next week against the Patriots....just as long as they keep a few "tricks up their sleeves" for the play-offs. Otherwise, come January, I will be spending more time playing croquet than I would prefer.
