Playing With Fire at Home Leads to a Loss

!±8± Playing With Fire at Home Leads to a Loss

NY Giants Burn Pittsburgh 21 to 14

We have all been warned of the dangers of playing with fire. For some reason the Pittsburgh Steelers reverted back to their childhood to play with matches.Quite frankly the Giants could have won this game 42 to 14 if it were not for the Steelers defense. Basically the entire first half was played at the Steelers end of the field. 9 times out of 10 the team with the best field position wins. By halftime the Giants average starting position was the Steelers 47 yard line! Yes mid-field. That's pathetic and unacceptable at the NFL level.

The game started off with promise however. The Steelers flexed their muscles and chose to give the Giants the ball first. New York started at their own 20 and lost 3 yards on their first play, when James Farrior and LaMarr Woodley gave Giants running back Brandon Jacobs an idea of how the Giants running game was going to be welcomed this afternoon. The Giants would gain all of 83 yards by the end of the day.

By 4th down on this opening possession the Giants managed to get to the 21 yard line and had to punt. The Steelers than started their first drive at their own 40 yard line. The Steelers get a first down on their first play. A 22 yard pass to Heath Miller. Then the Steelers hand the ball to Mewelde Moore who once again started for the injured Willie Parker. Moore picked up 6 yards. The Steelers go to right back to Moore who burst into daylight and wins the 32 yard dash against the Giants secondary. Pittsburgh 7 to 0.

The Giants got the ball back at their own 35 yard line and started a 6 minute and 36 second drive that ended in a John Carney 26 yard field goal. This drive was indicative of the Giants first half. They would get favorable field position but the Steelers defense would deny them a touchdown.

Unfortunately for Pittsburgh their next drive was very lackluster and that would be indicative of their first half. Only they didn't even flirt with scoring the rest of the half. In fact Ben Roethlisberger threw his first interception near the end of the 1st quarter giving the Giants the ball at the Pittsburgh 42. The 1st quarter ended Pittsburgh 7 and New York 3.

In the 2nd quarter the Giants would continue the drive that resulted from the interception. At one point it became 3 and goal at the 1 yard line. Brandon Jacobs got the call an scored. Or did he? Pittsburgh Head coach wisely tossed the challenge flag and the call was reversed. Jacobs clearly was down by contact short of the touchdown. It was now 4th down and less than a yard from a touchdown. The Giants opt to go for the touchdown on 4th down and get Jacobs gets stuffed at the goal line. This time Giants Head coach Tom Coughlin challenges and this time the call is not reversed and the Steelers dodge their first bullet of the day.

Breathing a sigh of relief Ben leads his team a whole 4 yards down field the their own 5 yard line. The Steelers Mitch Berger then punts the ball 42 yards all the way to the Steelers 47 where Dominik Hixon of New York receives the punt and returns it 28 yards to the Steelers 19. Once again the Steelers did their steel curtain impersonation and held New York to another Carney kick. Pittsburgh 7 and New York 6.

The Steelers take the ensuing kick from New York and look horrible again on offense. In fact they were moving forward and then getting penalized and moving backwards. The Giants get the ball back and drive into the red zone again only to be held to yet another field goal. The half ended NY 9 and Pittsburgh 7.

By half time also Pittsburgh's punter Mitch Berger had been grabbing his left thigh and grimacing in pain. This made each forthcoming punt an adventure. Also by halftime it was apparent that both defenses were playing great. Although the Steelers were being tested more.

The second half began with Pittsburgh receiving and having the ball for few minutes and having to punt. The Giants then take over and they are met with resistance and they have to punt. Finally Pittsburgh broke out of their offensive coma and Roethlisberger hit Nate Washington for a 65 yard touchdown. It is now Steelers 14 and Giants 9.

The Giants once again take the ball and go nowhere against the Steelers "D" and have to punt. Then in a role reversal of sorts the Steelers get the ball back and move the ball fairly well. Then they take a shot at the end zone from 53 yards out to Washington again and score. Oops they shot themselves in the foot however and the TD gets called back after offensive lineman Willie Colon gets flagged for holding. After that the Giants "D" put the clamps on the Steelers offense and Berger had to limp out and punt again.

The 4th quarter started out with the same look as the first half. Once again the Giants being turned away from a touchdown and getting another field goal. The Steelers also reverted back to their incompetent version of offense and had to punt from their end zone. Which turned out to be a bigger challenge than usual considering the Steelers long snapper had been carted off the field earlier in the game.

So on comes back up long snapper All-Pro linebacker James Harrison. To Harrison's credit the spiral was nice and tight on the snap only it went sailing over Berger's head and out of the end zone for a Giants safety. Game tied at 14 just like that.

To add insult to my head injury, injured Berger had to punt the ball as a result of the safety rules. The Giants get the ball back around mid field. I had a bad feeling at this point. Not to be a naysayer but the Steelers defense had been behind the eight ball all day. I always say you can cure the sick but you can't resurrect the dead. This was going to be one time too many and it was. The Giants score the go ahead touchdown. NY 21 - Pittsburgh 14.

As if I wasn't feeling bad enough I had to watch Ben and the offense become ......... well quite offensive to all their fans. They got 2 more cracks at scoring and came up really, really small.

As an overview both QB's were made to look very ordinary by the opposing defenses. Ben was a ineffective 13 for 29 and 189 yards. Also a back breaking 4 interceptions. Although to his defense 1 of those interceptions was the result of a great play by the Giants secondary jarring a ball loose from Pittsburgh's Nate Washington.

On a bright note Mewelde Moore continues to play good to great as he ran for a solid 89 yards on 19 carries. He also scored a TD.

As amazing as the Steelers defense was they were outplayed by the Giants defense overall. Including the fact that the Giants had 5 sacks and the Steelers, leading the league in sacks had 0.

This was a missed opportunity in your own building. Yes I know the Giants are the reigning Super Bowl Champions and I know the effort was there from our Steelers. But in sports effort is not enough. Ask yourself would you prefer a surgeon who tries real hard or one who professionally and precisely does his job? These are pros not a college team. Execution is the only thing that matters.

I personally question offensive coordinator Bruce Arians and Ben Roethlisberger when I see yet another week of failure on 3rd down conversions.

Which brings me to my last point. I hope Santonio "puffy" Holmes is happy. Because his presence was sorely missed. Way to go dope! I hope sucking on some weed is so amazing and fun that it's more important than your job and your team.

Next stop Washington DC.