Monthly Archives: October 2014

Optimism for the First Time All Season (and Big Ben is Awesome)

I am finally optimistic about the season (a little bit)

I am finally optimistic about the season (a little bit)

That picture above is really blurry I just realized but that does not eliminate my optimism for the Steelers season at this point in time right now. I don’t exactly know why but I really just have a good feel for them with their offensive domination of a decent Colts defensive unit on Sunday. People always say that you need defense to win championships, and while I still think thats true, and we are probably not Super Bowl contenders, we have the ability to actually win games based on offensive power alone. If our elite quarterback can hit our two good and one elite receivers, while handing off the ball to an elite running back, then I feel our chances of winning games is really actually pretty good. The only problem with this optimism for offensive domination is that the next week is Baltimore Ravens week, a week typically dominated by a defensive, low-scoring struggle for AFC North supremacy. Just based on history alone, I don’t know if the ‘Lers will be able to score a lot of points versus the Ravens, even though they technically have a worse defense than the Colts, and the game is at home, just like last week.

This does not inspire offense from either team, but our defense is sooooo bad, that fact probably hurts us more.

This does not inspire offense from either team, but our defense is sooooo bad, that fact probably hurts us more.

Okay, so that first part of the post was about the Steelers coming off the Colts with a big win and looking forward to Baltimore come November 2.

The second part of this post is dedicated to Ben Roethlisberger, and how awesome he is, at least on last Sunday. He absolutely demolished the Colts and broke the NFL record for most 500-yard-passing games in a career with 2. I know that’s not teeeeechnically a record, but give him some credit: he’s the only one in history who has broke the half-thousand mark twice, and he was so close to beating the all time mark of Norm Van Brocklin, who beat him by a mere 32 yards. This here is the link to Pro Football Reference, which will tell you all about high-passing-yard quarterbacks. It’ll show you how Big Ben is the only one up above 500 twice, too. BOOM! Big Ben also was just shy of tying the wonderful record for TDs too, he had 6, tying Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees, but he fell short of Peyton Manning’s personal record of 7. (Nick Foles also has 7 I suppose, but let’s be real, he’s not elite (Eagles fans: rage in the comments)). This proves my earlier statement in the blog that Big Ben is ann elite quarterback. He is! Truly! People go out and say Manning, Brady, Brees, Rodgers, (insert random 5-9 here), and then Ben. NO! He is at least fifth-best in the NFL when he is getting adequate protection (here’s looking at you, Peyton) and has good receivers (kudos to Brady though, his receiving core usually sucks when Gronk is hurt). Ben is elite. Say what you want in the comments, but nothing will change my mind ever.

Pair o’ Dime Shift

Matt Becker

Outline of Paradigm (or as my friend calls it pair o’ dimes) Shift

  1. Intro:
    1. Hook: Imagine a world where the food we eat is basically cardboard and is produced most efficiently for human consumption
    2. Background Info.: Food is more and more of an industry ran by a very large corporation that seeks to maximize profit, not really feed the world.
    3. Thesis Statement:
      1. Topic: How food production, sale, and consumption change over time.
      2. Purpose: To show how the food was made organically and locally, went to industrially-produced, and is slowly making its way back to local
      3. Subtopic #1: For the longest time, food was made locally, organically
      4. Subtopic #2: Shift to industrial level food productions
      5. Subtopic #3: Slight (emergent) shift back to organic, local foodstuffs
    4. Body Paragraph:
      1. Topic: Organic as dominant for longest time, no other possibilities
      2. Supporting detail: Local farming only way to get grains, crops
      3. Supporting detail: Dairy was given by milkman who was from local dairy farm http://naturallysavvy.com/eat/food-then-and-now-how-nutrition-has-changed
      4. Supporting detail: Animals were the butcher’s or were from local farm, were not given steroids, etc.
      5. Concluding or transitional: TECH: makes it possible to industrially create food efficiently and with great success rate, ruins originality, localness of food
  • Body Paragraph:
    1. Topic: Shift from local to industrial in culture (local: dominant to residual, industry-level: emergent to dominant)
    2. Supporting detail: meat now given steroids, put in houses, raised to die.
    3. Supporting detail: Veggies given drugs, DDT to stay efficient and produced with no strange (natural) deformities
    4. Supporting detail: when first introduced, no one cared, was a great invention had great results, also no one had any looks (no media coverage, secret corporation/gov’t protected) at the means with which the ends were being achieved
    5. Concluding or transitional: People start to question where food comes from, start getting grossed out by chemicals, horrible conditions, start to morally question the technology’s means to an end
  1. Body Paragraph:
    1. Topic: Morals come into question finally, as well as a counterculture that prefers natural production
    2. Supporting detail: chemicals are unnatural, destroying our world, the natural order of things
    3. Supporting detail: more of a Bohemian culture developing in developed countries in which mass-produced food is the old dominant culture
    4. Supporting detail: people have interesting ideas that organic is healthier amongst the obesity epidemic
    5. Concluding or transitional: interesting to see if organic and local with truly become dominant again or if it will stay emergent for a long time once more
  2. Conclusion Paragraph:
    1. Summary of main points: all the different kinds of food were originally organic, then got mass-produced as tech allowed it, but then people deemed that tech unacceptable
    2. Emphasize message as a whole: technology and then the catch up of the right-side of the brain (humanities) makes us realize that this food mass-produced might be the wrong way to go about getting our sustenance.
    3. Lead to related thinking or action: Develop things like farmers markets and spread the idea that organic food is naturally free of chemicals (but not necessarily nutritionally better for you) and this will spur organic from re-emergent to dominant again
Hahah

Hahah

Predictions for Week 8 for the Steelers

A simple Google search of “Andrew Luck” will yield, as its first result, an article in the “news” section of Google called “QB Index: Andrew Luck, Tony Romo the new No. 1s.” If you decide to delve into this article, you will see that the name of the article is actually a bit of a misnomer: the best quarterback in the writers opinion is not both Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck and Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo. It is just Andrew Luck. Searching the Internet for QB Power Rankings like this will yield similar results for Luck; he is very good. Now guess who the Steelers play at home this Sunday… That’s right, the Indianapolis Colts. I like to call myself an optimist when it comes to sports, but I just have this weird feeling that this game might get ugly with Luck behind the controls of the Steelers’ opponent. (As an aside, I also had a weird feeling with regards to last year’s Ohio State game, if that 63-14 blowout means anything)

He also graduated from Stanford with an architecture degree. How does that even work genetically? *espn.com*

He’s one of the best NFL players. Oh, and he also graduated from Stanford with an architecture degree. How does that even work genetically? Too perfect. *espn.com*

To do their part on what I think will be a pretty bad blowout, the Steelers are having a horrendous year on pass defense with the back 4 on defense being old and slow, for lack of better words. I feel that the Colts offense versus the Steelers defense will really define the game, seeing as the Steelers offense and Colts D seem, in my mind at least (well, actually on the stats sheets too), to be evenly matched and will produce normal numbers as a result. Although, now that I think about it a little more, I have to realize that this is Week 8. 8 is an even number. All even weeks this season, the Steelers offense has been horrendous and unable to produce many points against any good teams (I refuse to accept our 24 point versus the Buccaneers as legit proof we’re any good on the even weeks because the Bucs are so bad). I normally see myself as a logical person who listens to facts and statistics to make decisions, but when it comes to the unpredictable Steelers, I have to go on things like gut feelings and strange trends like winning and losing every other week. It’s the NFL and we’re the Steelers, logic just isn’t actually existing here. Anyhoo, some actually things that I see happening are that T.Y. Hilton and Reggie Wayne completely dismantle the Steelers defense by regularly outmaneuvering Cortez Allen and Ike Taylor all day long. They will also be unaffected by Troy Polamalu’s attempts to play close coverage on them because Luck can simply hit the other receiver for big yardage. Despite my negativity, I do see Le’Veon Bell having a big game that is wasted by the Steelers D.

Sorry boys (or should I say men because they're so old), this ones probably on you *Associated Press*

Sorry boys (or should I say men because they’re so old), this ones probably on you *Associated Press*

Bleacher Report on the Steelers

Seeing as I very unwisely used the Browns game in last week’s passion post,I will be discussing the website Bleacher Report’s views on the current Steelers campaign. Here is the link to the website, if you are interested in actually reading the articles I will be discussing and more: http://bleacherreport.com/pittsburgh-steelers.

First, I will be discussing an article in a category of articles that I have been reading for at least 5 years: NFL Power Rankings. This is not specifically on the Steelers page so here this is too: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2233511-nfl-power-rankings-week-7-updated-2014-analysis-before-thursday-night-football. Right now Bleacher Report has the Steelers ranked as 24 out of 32, meaning that if they were to play roughly 75% of the teams in the NFL right now, they would lose to them, in theory. What’s nice about power rankings is that they totally do not take the actual standings of the NFL or the records of teams. This system is more like the coaches poll used in NCAA Football, with some people deciding who is best. I am glad that this is NOT how the NFL really works, but it is fun to put some perspective on teams in a more subjective light and agree/disagree with the writers of the posts. This particular writer says little about the Steelers in this ranking, leaving it to Twitter, ESPN, and Ben Roethlisberger. He uses an ESPN reporter’s Twitter to quote Roethlisberger saying that the Steelers are not ready, but then puts in his own input: that the Steelers are not convincing and are in an extremely competitive division. I would have to agree more with the author than with Roethlisberger: the Steelers DID just lose to the Browns by a significant margin. Overall I would agree with the rank of 24. Say what you think in the comments (if you want, I mean, I guess).

The other article that REALLY caught my eye on Bleacher Report was the one discussing how former Steelers Hines Ward and Bill Cowher called the offense finesse and the defense soft.

Remember when the defense was this hard?

Remember when the defense was this hard?

I unfortunately would have to agree with them yet again. The ground game, while making a solid improvement over the previous years’, is still not what it used to be (pound-and-ground) and the defense gives up so many yards and never really shows the opposing offense who’s boss. The (mostly) functioning part of the offense is the pass game, and it leaves the offense very finesse and Patriot-like, not hard-nosed and Steeler-like. Ward, the epitome of a Steelers receiver, says that he doesn’t even know who these guys are. Cowher, who led the Steelers to several winning seasons and finally a Super Bowl in 2005, said he never thought he’d say it but that the Steelers are finally a soft team. It really is quite amazing what the critics are getting at I think: Mike Tomlin is not doing a god job managing the team, and the team cannot handle its lack of defensive talent. Dark days await the Steelers defense is the overall theme of Cowher and Ward’s comments. 🙁

Responding to Chimamanda

I really thought that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk was a very effective way to communicate her idea of a single story not being the truth. I really liked how she communicated her idea to the audience on a personal level, since she used several examples from her actual life of when a single story manipulated people’s views on a certain topic to one (often incorrect) side. For example, I really liked her very first story, which was on how she thought that all literature in the world had snow, girls with blonde hair and blue eyes, and discussions about the weather.

I also really liked her dry sense of humor/sarcasm, as it made the speech purely more enjoyable. Her cool and collected shutdowns of people with ridiculous notions (like her one fan who commented that it was such a shame that every man in her nation was a wife beater) makes the audience (like me) feel that she is for real and is a complete, no-nonsense person.

Her speech seemed very consistent and well-worded the whole way through, as opposed to the other TED we watched in class, where the talker seemed nervous about talking about engineers and scientists talking to the common folk. I would really like to know how much Adichie practiced her TED Talk. I have this weird feeling that she practiced it far less than one might expect because she seems so personally passionately involved in what she was speaking about (and she also seems smart, and used to giving speeches in front of large audiences).

Overall, I feel that Adichie’s TED is a very good ideal model for our eventual paradigm shift TED Talk, even though ours will be much shorter and in front of a much smaller crowd (with no cameras connected to the national cable networks of America).

The Thoughts of a Browns Fan

This is no joke the only happy Browns fan picture I could find on the whole Internet (credit: ohio.com)

This is no joke the only happy Browns fan picture I could find on the whole Internet (credit: ohio.com)

(Intro) Here we go again. The Steelers. The team that literally always beats us. That rapist Ben Roethlisberger is 18-1 in his career against us. I don’t know why I even bought tickets to this game. Vegas actually has us favored, but my Browns will always find a way to lose. Why do the Steelers always have to be successful, and why do we always have to suck?

(Steelers score FG) Oh boy here we go. Let the floodgates open and let the Browns stadium get crapped on once again by the Steelers

(Browns score TD) Wow, I must say that was a pretty good drive. Im sure it was a fluke. There’s no way we actually win this game. We literally never win anything.

(Browns score another TD)  Wow 14-3. That’s uncommon. I still don’t buy into this Browns performance entirely. I remember the performance the Steelers put on us in Week 1, half 1 and then we almost came back in the second half. Even if we are up 27-3, we could find a way to let them back, but unlike them in Week 1, we would find a way to actually lose the game.

(Browns score yet ANOTHER TD) Okay 21-3 is pretty convincing. BUT!, I’m still not buying it. Leads are way too easy to lose in this NFL nowadays. This does however seem very convincing, especially since it’s halftime, and the cursed Steelers always find some way to beat us.

(Halftime) Okay, halftime. Time to get another beer and get more drunk and watch us find a way to lose. Hell, maybe Hoyer will get injured again. Maybe a wormhole will open up and lead me to another dimension where the Browns are actually eternally 0-16. Maybe ebola will sweep over the Browns team all of a sudden and…. Oh beer I don’t care anymore. Go Browns.

(Start of 3rd quarter) Ok let the Steelers comeback begin…

(No points are scored in the third quarter except for a Browns FG) Okay well…that was kinda boring but we’re up 24-3 now and there’s only 15 minutes for them to get 3 TDs. I will not forget that the second quarter was our 3 TD quarter, so the 4th could be theirs too.

(Ben Roethlisberger gets sacked) Siddown bitch!

(Browns score another TD in fourth quarter) Oh shit. We’re going to win! We’re going to be 3-2 and the loser Steelers are going to be 3-3 and in last in the division and not us for once. I can’t believe we’re going to win finally muhahahaha! I mean the Steelers still have 6 Super Bowls but… (that may just have been my thought, it’s really late and this author is biased).

(Steelers score TD) BOOOOOO, 31-3 looks better than 31-10.

(Steelers finally lose as time expires) Whooooooooo we finally won against the stupid Steelers. It may be possible that our years of long struggle are over and we are on the rebound. I’ll truly believe it if we win next week.

Rhetorical Essay Rough Draft

Rhetorical Analysis Rough Draft

A man in a suit starts off a televised address with a solemn “Good evening.” Not a cheerful hello to his audience or even one that makes one feel happy and confident in oneself. The man in the suit’s “Good evening” is one that he says with a negative connotation, and he sounds tired and saddened as he talks. Even a child can understand that what the man has to say is probably not going to be happy or forgettable.

The date of this speech is September 11, 2001, one of the most unforgettable days in the American identity. The man, of course, is none other than President George W. Bush. And his tone is one of solemnness, for he has to address the American people about the occurrence of a tragedy, of something that not just took away his people’s countrymen, but also their peace of mind and confidence of the invulnerability of his (and their) nation. Bush tells America “our citizens, our way of life, and our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts.” Bush slowly gets angrier as he progresses along in his speech, tagging on statements with regard to how common Americans, people much like his populace, died innocently and were killed by “despicable acts of terror.” Bush tries to keep his anger under control, so as not to seem overly emotional and lose his cool, but he wants his people to see that he too is angered by the tragic loss of everyday Americans. Bush repeatedly comments on the horror of the events of 9/11, but his goal is not to scare Americans or report miserable statistics to them; Bush’s goal is to inspire his people, the American people, who are much like his children, to fight back and stay motivated and proud and, most of all, American, in the dire hours of September 11.

The terrorists chose the targets of their attack very well. The World Trade Center was a symbol of American beauty, confidence, and economic power in one of the most American cities in the world, New York City. The terrorists, true to their name, terrified Americans all over the country with their despicable hatred and dispatched great uncertainty and fear into the previously fearless American people. Americans, in the moments of despair in between the attacks and Bush’s address lost their resolve. But Bush, knowing this, got it back for the people he loved. Bush conveys several commonplaces and ideologies to his listeners to reinvigorate them with the glory of the United States. “Our country is strong,” followed immediately in Bush’s no longer solemn, but rather confident voice by “A great people have been moved to defend a great nation” certainly makes Americans feel good about the state of themselves and their nation.

Bush’s voice throughout the entire speech adds not only the idea of emotional connectivity with his constituents, but also adds credibility to his speech. He is the leader of all Americans, which means he is one of the strongest people in the world. His voice is firm and he is in the Oval Office, proving his legitimacy. The fact that he is even in the Oval Office, not tucked away safely in some remote, unknown government location builds his credibility to the American people, as he stayed with them during the toughest of times and went so far as even to risk himself to be with them in their time of need. This move of Bush’s to actually stand with the American people lets his people also feel an emotional sense of camaraderie, as they feel that Bush is simply one of them, not some distant politician who has no touch or connection with the American people. This was a critical political move for Bush as well; Bush vacationed throughout almost all of August of 2001, and many political pundits and critics condemned his heavy vacationing. Bush’s decision, even with the political ramifications taken into account, is still a rhetorical strategy and not a political power play at its heart; it was a brave move made by a caring leader who had to do his duty.

Bush’s speech also has the objective of telling America what he plans to do with his country’s resources. Logos is behind all of his motivational comments on America’s strength, because in 2001, America’s might was a very real concept. Bush gives America a very short and sweet statement with respect to her military might: “Our military is powerful, and it’s prepared.” This direct quotation from the address is quite possibly the only statement that is not boisterous and heavily pro-American. America’s military at the time is not just powerful and prepared, it is the most dominant fighting force in the history of the planet, and is quite the force to be trifled with. It is a failure of rhetoric on the part of Bush to not emphasize the extreme military power to his angry, ready-to-retaliate citizens.

Bush’s other discussions on the uses of the resources of the powerful American government, on the other hand, are rather effective. Bush makes it exceptionally clear that the primary immediate concern of the American government is to safeguard and support the American people who need the most attention, specifically the injured and those who lost people close to them in the attacks. Announcing that he is giving aid and support to the weak and the wounded quite literally helps his purpose in the fields of ethos, pathos, and logos. It is logical, caring, and makes Bush look like a very respectable leader when he takes care of his weak to make his country strong and well-supported.

The decision to open up the entire government as if nothing happened is, however, a double-edged sword. The little opposition Bush saw immediately following the attacks felt that acting like nothing had happened to the country was unfeeling and disrespectful to the victims of the tragedy. His supporters (most of the country) on the other hand, saw his decision to keep everyday life going come September 12 as an act of defiance and one of progression because it made the terrorists see that their effort was in vain and that America was strong.

Bush has several pro-American sentiments and commonplaces scattered throughout his speech, but the end of his speech is the true place where he uses kairos and commonplaces to make Americans feel truly good about themselves in light of a tragedy. Bush, knowing that America needs spiritual peace and is a traditionally Christian country, “[asks] for [the people’s] prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened.” Calling for prayer is a very good (if cliché) way to unite people and to make them feel respectful, appreciative, and proud of what they have. Pathos also comes into play with prayers because it is such an emotional activity, opening oneself to God or the higher power completely.

Bush repeats a psalm at the end of the address and adds commonplace credibility to his purpose once more by being able to do something all Americans should do: repeating the words of God with precision and in the correct context. The words of the Bible coming from the American commander-in-chief also cause tears in the eyes of many people and gives one final emotional spur to the American people to get through the rest of the day. Overall, Bush uses rhetoric very well to spur the American people through the heartbreak of the attacks on America on September 11, 2001.

A Different Kind of Ad

If this doesn't make you feel angry and/or patriotic, I don't know what will.

If this doesn’t make you feel angry and/or patriotic, I don’t know what will.

This propaganda poster is definitely not an ad in the conventional sense. Nothing is being sold, and no services are being offered by the poster’s sponsor. What the poster of this ad wants is not your money, but your service and patriotism. Most ads are a call to buy something; this ad is a call to buy into the United States military during the Second World War. Ethos is represented in the poster by the poster revealing that the United States’ Navy is the poster of the ad. The Navy is seen as a force of good by the people of 1940s America, and by making Navy in big letters, the Navy builds its ethos even more in the eyes of its poster’s audience. By having a serious, attractive man on the poster, the Navy even further increases its ethos because it is seen as an even more attractive offer for young men to become like the man on the poster. The poster is also very heavily reliant on pathos: Pearl Harbor was a tragedy very fresh in the minds of 1940s America, and its mentioning on a poster like this spurred an emotional response in the general populace, and that response was often to join the Navy or the military otherwise. Logos is also present on this ad, even though no stats are on the poster. Pearl Harbor was a tragic attack that nearly wiped out the entire Pacific Fleet, and most Americans knew that they had to make a sacrifice for Pearl Harbor’s lost lives and join the military. The very American commonplace of red, white, and blue is heavily present in this ad: its presence further solidifies ethos, pathos, and logos in different ways.

Week 4: The One Where the Steelers Lose to the Worst Team in the League

I may be exaggerating just a little bit when I say that the Steelers lost to the the worst team in the league, but the Buccaneers came into the game 0-3, which technically speaking had them as tied for last in the National Football League, which means officially tied for worst team in the league. Now, of course, if you go here, you will see that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers now have a “1” in the “W” column instead of a “0.” That would be courtesy of the most random team in the NFL, the Steelers (in case you haven’t quite grasped onto that concept yet, I’ve only mentioned it like 4893797 times). The entire game I felt as though the Steelers had the game in the bag, and I felt like I needn’t root that hard because we were playing the worst team in the NFL. The Steelers clearly thought the same way as I did because they sure took their foot off the gas pedal, especially late in the game. The Steelers actually had the ball back on their own 10ish-yard-line, as I recall, and they had to kill a little under 2 minutes of clock plus 2 timeouts of Tampa Bay’s. They, naturally, failed to burn that much clock time, dropping the clock down to near 40 seconds and punting the ball to the Buccaneers near midfield. The rest is history, of course, with the Bucs taking one play and roughly 10 seconds to get back to the Steelers’ 10 yard line, and then proceeding to score the game winning touchdown two plays later. I very vividly telling the people on my floor with whom I was watching the game that I felt like crying when the Buccaneers scored the game-winning touchdown. I thought I was honestly kidding, but when the clock actually hit zero, I (for an instant, mind you) felt an extreme pang of sadness and the warmth that you feel in your eyes when tears are about to flood down your face. I quickly suppressed the urge of course (it wasn’t the Super Bowl or anything), but it was still upsetting to lose to such a bad team. This was especially not helped by being surrounded by proud Eagles fans who, by that point at least, were still undefeated at 3-0.

Emotion and sports are closely related, as seen in my almost-crying example, but emotion should not completely overtake logic in sports. A GREAT example of this would be the complete lack of logic displayed by the great idiots Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. Remember when I applauded them last post? Not this time, we lost. Mr. Nice Guy is gone. Brown and Bell both have tendencies to annoyingly point in the direction the offense is heading whenever they secure first downs. Needless to say, this act of pompousness makes everyone aggravated and think that the two players are d**ks.

YOU'RE NOT COOL

YOU’RE NOT COOL

Obviously the writer of this meme ^ agrees with me. Brown also cost the team 15 yards by celebrating like a spinning football which was penalized with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. It is my firm belief that, to be a better team, Mike Tomlin needs to take more control of his players and make them respect their opponents and the league. If the players start to do that, I will be more than proud to say, nay, shout “Go Steelers!”

Week 3 (Sorry I’m Late)

They always say “an hour too early is better than a second too late.” And by they I mean William Shakespeare. I think. I’m too lazy to search that. ANYWAYS I really do not agree with that statement because in many situations (like this blog) late has no harm on the quality or quantity of the product or anything else for that matter. And with that odd introduction, I present my analysis of the third week of the Pittsburgh Steelers season.

"Cam's goin' down, he's yellin' timber!"

“Cam’s goin’ down, he’s yellin’ timber!”

The above very sad reference to Pitbull and Ke$ha is basically the story of the third week of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season. It is a very weird, nonsensical fact that on the week where I totally assumed we would get hosed, the depleted defense played an outstanding game, sacking Cam Newton three times and pressuring him many, many more. The whole game was really defined by the Steelers front three hitting Newton the entire game. Without a doubt, Newton is the focal point of the Carolina offense, and if he can’t feel safe or stay healthy (neither of which he did against the ‘Lers), the Carolina offense cannot produce. And it didn’t. Really the only touchdowns in this lopsided contest that were scored by the Panthers were the ones scored in garbage time when the game was clearly decided in the Steelers’ favor already.

The Steelers offense, on the other hand, came back pretty well from its relative silence in Baltimore. Six points was not enough in Baltimore, and the offense made up for it in Charlotte by posting 37. Of course. Makes perfect sense. In theory the Panthers defense is better than the Ravens, but against the Ravens the Steelers put up not even one-sixth of what they did against the Panthers! This once again has me convinced that the Steelers one of the most (if not THE most) unpredictable, random, FRUSTRATING teams in all the wide world of sports. While no one really showed up to play against Baltimore in Week 2, every last member of the Week 3 Steelers offense was ready to contribute, especially the three stars of the offense, Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, and Le’Veon Bell. Le’Veon Bell, in my personal opinion, should receive special attention from all Steelers fans out there because of how he is FINALLY bringing the idea of running the ball back to Pittsburgh, something that hasn’t truly happened since Jerome Bettis.

A few other notable moments happened for the Steelers in this game. LeGarrette Blount and Bell both ran for over 100 yards; this is the first time for the Steelers since 1986 that 2 different backs had over 100 yards. Also Le’Veon Bell’s 81-yard run in the game marked the longest run since the time of Frenchy Fuqua back in the dynsaty of the Seventies. Honestly, I cannot decide whether it is impressive or sad that these phenomena have occurred again after so long. It really is a long time between these occurrences (28 and 35+ years, respectively), so I’m going to have to go with sad. Stay tuned for part 2 of this Steelers blog doubleheader: Week 4: the failure against the worst team in football….go Steelers, I guess.