#1. Fisher narrative gets a jolt thanks to the brutality of the Steelers Defense
I'm going to take a tiny bit of credit for this one. Blame it on the overwhelming wedding mojo (mine, not his) of the past week's post. But seriously, the Steelers Defense is playing at an outrageous level and they deserve the bulk of the credit for re-opening the 'Jeff Fisher is GREAT' debate. James Harrison looks better and more "whiskey bent and hellbound," as Big Dus would say, than he did 2 seasons ago when he won Defensive Player of the Year honors enroute to the Steelers 6th Super Bowl title.
It's hard to pile anymore accolades on top of Troy Polamalu and his Godlike hair and penchant for insanely athletic interceptions-precisely when they're needed most. I also want to single out Lawrence Timmons, who is beginning the breakout season Steelers beat reporters predicted he was going to have last year before he got hurt at the end of training camp and never quite got back on-track. These men absolutely annihilated the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Vince Young actually said after the game that the Dick Lebeau's defense "did some things that I haven't seen before."
A quick aside: The Steelers have played the Titans 3 times in the past 3 seasons, and before that resided in the same division for awhile, so shouldn't the GREAT Jeff Fisher have been able to get Young reasonably prepared for what he might see from the Steelers defense; I mean they've only been playing the 3-4 for a good 20 years or so.
James Harrison, Hines Ward and others noted that Chris Johnson seemed to "give up" after the pummeling he took every time he touched the ball started to sink in. These same comments could haven been uttered after the Patriots game last season when they gave up, then too, in the snow. This horrendous beatdown prompted the 'GREAT' Jeff Fisher to panic and pull Vince Young for the ancient Kerry Collins, who promptly came in and threw an interception. This move made many normally sympathetic commentators, from Deion Sanders (who couldn't hide his disgust and contempt for Fisher on the NFL Network) to Fisher's ESPN PR agent Skip Bayless, go ballistic. Deion essentially said that "Young had saved Fisher's job at least once" and Bayless, fresh off his "Fisher is one of the best coaches in the league" non-sense of one short week ago, actually looked into the camera yesterday morning and said that on Sunday evening he thought that Fisher should be "fired" for pulling such a panic move and ruining the ever-fragile Young's psyche.
So thank you Steelers Defense, for not only adding the icing on top of an incredible weekend with an inspiring win, but for re-opening, at least for the time being, the case on the 'GREAT' Jeff Fisher and proving, once again, upon further review, there is really not much evidence in support of it.
#2. I hate Ray Lewis again.
His interviews this season have been great so-far, but I'm back to hating him and every player on the overrated Ravens.
#3. I love Randy Moss
Always have. The dude is the most graceful and athletic receiver in the history of the league, in my opinion. The way he uses his body to get in position and grab jump balls in the end-zone reminds me of a strong power forward/center in the NBA. It's amazing to watch. His catch against the Jets on Sunday was a work of art. I got so tired of hearing about 'Revis Island' that I wanted to Moss to make a statement against him in their one-on-one match-up on Sunday, which he did even though the Patriots lost. Revis is building a great career, but Moss is a surefire Hall-of-Famer, who forged his reputation and legacy over the past decade-plus. He's established in ways that Revis won't be for years, and, in-fact, may never be. Moss also had the sickest beard in NFL history, in addition to adding the excellent phrase "straight-cash, homey" to our sports lexicon. I don't think I've ever heard a West Virginia accent as thick as his. Apparently, according to an SI profile, back from when he was still with the Raiders, he's a germ freak. I've seen at least 2 NFL Films clips of him warming up to T.I. on the sidelines...all of these things made me the like the dude even more. Cheers! I hope the Pats let you go next year so you can end your career in Western Pa.
Bonus:
This commercial was freakin' awesome!
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