Denver was flat outcoached. The Steelers had a game plan, one they executed, as King says, with ferocity. But they had a plan. Denver simply looked they were not prepared for what was gonna happen to them.

At least, Ben sure makes a big fuss of praying and pointing to the sky with every big play or score. I figure the Seahawks don't have a chance, because while it's true that some of them are religious too in a superficially obvious way, Ben is just SOOOOO religious -- he's just pointing and prancing and yelling, all the time, "Look at me, look at how religious I am. Pick me, God!" And there God is, hovering over the goal posts, comparing all the players' public performances of religiosity, and clearly He has declaimed, "Verily, Ben, you are the biggest suck up unto the Lord. I pick thee to win it all!"

"...as late as Sunday morning there were boobs out there who thought the title games would be close."

Imagine my disappointment when I clicked on the link.

I am NOT a Seattle fan. I'm a Redskins fan. And I think that Seattle will kill Pittsburgh. Just like they killed us, and just like they killed Carolina, the Pittsburgh of the NFC.

...that Seattle killed Washington: Washington was not a very good football team. They were especially bad on offense by the time they played Seattle last week: Portis was in pretty bad shape, Brunnell was injured (and Joe Gibbs has yet to figure out that Brunnell is done). It's hard to score points when your only healthy offensive threat can't get the ball because your QB is old, hobbled and has a weak arm.

...is that one is a football team and the other is Steve Smith and a very long injury list.

King - What do the Seahwaks have to do to get some respect from you? I can understand picking against them early, in ignorance if not indifference, but as they reeled off 11 straight did it occur to you they might be a pretty good football team?

When they beat Washington in an NFC-type grinder did you ever start to think that the combination of a great passer, league-leading rusher, coach who has been to two superbowls, best O-line in the league, a constantly improving defensive front 4 and the best middle linebacker in the game, could actually be better than you thought, and better than anyone else?

We outplayed and outcoached the Panthers. It was the most one-sided NFC Champoinship game I have ever seen. Open your eyes (coffee helps) and see what a jewel we have here in Seattle. And imagine a world where the superbowl champs are named the Seahhawks.

"That's how well Roethlisberger has been playing. A week after picking apart a good Indianapolis Colts defense, he did the same to a good Denver Broncos defense."

Not quite--the Colts defense looked gawd-awful during the opening drive of the game last weekend and still managed to give up only 21 points. Pittsburgh was 6-11 on third down.

Yesterday, the Steelers were an astounding 10-16 on third down. Even when Pittsburgh played it safe at the start of the second half, they were able to punt the ball deep in Denver territory. You can't do that without driving the ball.

So for as familiarly horrid as Jake the Fake looked, responsible for all four of his team's turnovers (way to go), his defense made him feel responsible for taking charge of the game because the unit was simply unable to stop Roethlisberger. Big Ben looked like he was playing against Cleveland's defense. Hmmm....

This doesn't really have anything to do with today's column, but my friend Joe, a Steelers fanatic whose dad is soon to undergo chemotherapy, wrote a nice blog entry about sports and life and whatnot.

http://www.jorite.blogspot.com/

Seattle didn't exactly kill the Redskins. It was a 17-10 game with 12:47 left in the 4th when the Skins connected for a TD. Seattle then fumbled the ensuing kickoff and were saved when the Skins couldn't do anything and even missed a 36 yard FG. And while Brunell put up a respectable 242 yards passing, 154 of those yards came when the Skins were down 17-3 in the 4th. All this speaks to the fact that the Redskins, who managed to gain a staggering 120 yards against the Bucs, were not exactly an offensive juggernaut. To say they were "killed" by Seattle is not only untrue, it lends them an air of competence they don't deserve. Seattle should have really killed them, and they didn't.

As for Carolina, what are you talking about? I was playing running back for Carolina by the end of that game. Carolina's offense was pretty banged up, and when your only real threat becomes one guy (Steve Smith), it ain't difficult for a defense to key in on him.

Which all goes to prove that Seattle has not faced a real tough game in the playoffs. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has -- on the road -- beaten the top three seeds in the AFC. So how anyone would get the idea that Seattle will kill Pittsburgh is beyond me.

That being said, on any given Sunday...

Within two sentences he first make reference to the Windsor "ballet" (HA! and let me say again...HA!) and THEN makes a passing reference to memes. I'd like to see Mr. "montclair field hockey" try and pull off that rare double!!

All hail the King....

;)

i think plummer did a great job of eluding the pittsburgh defensive line when his offensive line broke down so easily. when the line held, he would stand around forever, looking in vain for an open receiver. i credit the steeler's d for making plummer look that bad.

This is a moot point now, but did the officials blow the Illegal Formation call against Hines Ward that nullified a Jerome Bettis TD? The ref said that Ward was covering up the Tight End. I thought the rule was that you have to have at least 7 men on the LOS, but you can have more if you want to. The effect of covering up the TE, however, is that he becomes ineligible, because only the end men on the line are eligible. Since it was a run play, not a pass, it shouldn't have mattered whether Ward was covering up the TE, right?