NFL is Officially Back: Steelers-Titans Review

Mulldog's Thoughts:
Before I really get into it, I just want to say it feels great to have the NFL back. We even got a little bonus football for the long wait as the Steelers took it 13-10 in Overtime. But now...

Why is all the analysis during and after the game raving about these two teams, claiming this was a preview of the AFC Championship Game? Was I watching the same game or do I just live on a different planet? That was a disgusting, poorly played game where both teams (hopefully) looked extremely rusty. The Steelers offensive line failed to open up a single hole all game and couldn't keep the defense away from its quarterback. There were missed field goals, bad fumbles, missed receivers, and yellow markers everywhere. You would have thought it was the Raiders-Lions with all the sloppy play. Yet somehow, since it was the Steelers-Titans, and they were both great last year, that was considered a great game. Sorry, but color me unimpressed - I'm not going to take to much out of it because it's the first game in primetime, but both teams need to play better if they plan on making the playoffs in a stacked AFC.

And all of this raving about Ben Roethlisberger. Seriously, what was everyone watching? Roethlisberger played terribly almost all night. He missed open receivers, threw one bad interception...took terrible sacks to take his team out of field goal range (and other times to turn 3rd and shorts into 3rd and longs). Look, Big Ben is my fantasy QB this year..he can make plays and at times he looks pretty good, but just because the defense shut down the opponent all night and Ben was able to chuck it around a bit on a gassed defense late, doesn't mean he's all of a sudden Peyton Manning. He played terribly for 3.5 quarters, let's not forget that.

Kudos to the Titans defense, which performed very well, especially against the run without Albert Haynesworth. I question how much of this is a poor Steelers run-blocking offensive line and a bad running back (fast Willie)...I would hold off the "Titans defense is as good as last year" until they play again. Their secondary looked shaky when they couldn't get to Ben and I'm interested to see how they do against a more balanced attack.

God, if the Titans didn't have Chris Johnson would they ever score? Their offensive line is incredibly, truly one of the best units int he league, and yet their receivers are all terrible, their QB stinks and the only time they are at all dangerous is when CJ has the ball.

Troy Polamalu is a damn freak. Too bad he got injured because he looked better than ever, the interception was exceptional, but personally I was more impressed with his open-field tackle of Chris Johnson where he showed a burst that was even too quick for the speedy Johnson and took out his legs on what looked like a big gain waiting to happen.

Both teams have solid defenses. I want to see what they do against some other teams before anointing these two the class of the NFL off that effort though.