Harrison (and The Steelers) Pound The Ravens. Literally.

So I had a very good (and drunken) night last night! Hubby and I went to a local bar known to lean towards the Steel Curtain side of life and watched the complete domination over the Ravens. So I definitely had a couple of beers and inhaled a ton of second hand smoke (ugh, gross!) and cheered a whole lot. I also think I went on a drunken text messaging and emailing rampage to just about everyone I know about how bad ass my Steelers are!! Apologies if you were a recipient of either, I really have no idea who I emailed or texted. I think I pretty much was just replying to whoever was in my Inbox.

No new news on Ben's hip injury. He definitely was limping a little at the end of the game when he was walking off the field, but it seems that Ben and Tomlin are being very quiet on the topic since hubs and I stayed up to watch the post-game interviews and neither were even asked about it! I'm guessing they made the topic off limits with the reporters. I'm hoping that it was just a stinger and nothing serious. The fact that he went out and played a series somewhat comforts me but not completely. Ben's strength is his ability to move out of the pocket and if he's limited in that way then that will definitely change how well he plays. Though I just have to say, if he needs to sit out a game then next week's the game to do it. Luckily we actually have an easy stretch coming up in which he can recover with the Browns, Jets and Miami on the docket, so he definitely has time to recover before the Patriots game, which is huge. I just hope he doesn't push himself to get back in too soon like he tends to do because we really need him for that Patriots game, while for the next three I think Batch will do just fine. And just a Miami Alum ranting side note, yeah, all those people who kept saying Ben just "manages" the game and doesn't have the arm or accuracy to be a truly great QB, eat it! In torrent sideways rain Ben made five TDs and a couple of them were purely out of Ben's effort of scrambling out of the pocket, shrugging off tackles and putting the ball perfectly in his receiver's hands. I think he looked like a pretty elite QB last night, and pretty much this whole season for the matter. And I like how people like to point out that he played badly during the Super Bowl but totally forget how well he played in the playoffs and how he pretty much carried the team through the playoffs. Okay, rant over.

Oh, and Joey Who? Yeah, I think the Steelers continue to prove that they know Exactly when to let a player go. James Harrison (nicknamed Deebo and Silverback by his teammates) was seriously amazing last night! Just to put it in perspective, here are his stats for the game: 9 Tackles, 3.5 Sacks, 3 Force Fumbles, 1 Fumble Recovery, 1 Interception. And beyond that, he's been having a good year, so he's no one-hit-wonder here. Statistically he's our best Defensive player right now leading in Tackles, Sacks and Fumble Recoveries, and is within the top five for Assists and Interceptions.

Isn't it funny that they have the Steelers vs. Miami game on MNF in a couple of weeks? I guess they thought Joey Porter coming back to Pittsburgh would be big drama, but now that MNF game is looking to be pretty lame to all football fans but Steelers fans.

Update: I guess some reporters did ask about Ben's injury in the post-game interview with Tomlin, but for some strange reason it didn't make the TV clips on NFL Network. Here's what he said (basically exactly what Hubby and I thought almost word for word):

(Reporter) How is Roethlisberger after being in injured at the 6:04 mark of the third quarter?

(Tomlin) I think he’s going to be fine. I know that you guys need some information in that regard, so I will speculate. At this point, it’s a hip pointer. I think that’s all it is, of course we will confirm in the morning.

(Reporter) Why did you put him back in the game?

(Tomlin) So you wouldn’t ask me as many questions. No, he was fine after the initial pain subsided and we identified what we thought it was. He was fine to go back in the game. He felt strongly about it. He is persuasive.

That Big Ben is pretty persuasive and determined to play whenever he can. Seriously, Hubby said that he bet Ben persuaded Tomlin to get back in as soon as we saw him jog out onto the field!

Overall I rate this football weekend an A+++++++. With Purple Jesus, Big Ben, Deebo, some hard hitting Hines Ward blocks (especially the one on Ed Reed) and week high in my Fantasy Football league (for the second week in a row) I'm living good in the football world.