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About an hour ago
The first “U crazy, my brother?” of 2021 begins with Steelers fans in Pittsburgh. Then he hits Philadelphia, New York, Washington and Miami along the way.
We have tight ends that turn into running backs. A panacea for NFL refereeing. And dismay for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Oh, and a grammar lesson.
Yeah. It’s humdinger. We start the new year with a high bar here.
Jake has a… uh… “out of the box” idea for fixing the sagging Steelers racing game.
“The Steelers should consider turning a few candidates into the semifinals. Why not? Tight ends are bigger, have good hands, are adept at performing short passing routes and are trained in blocking.
Someone like Lance McDonald could make a great candidate next year. It would be great to have a guy like that to pick up blitzers in the pass blocking, or who could be a great third receiver, and who would be better able to capture crucial first downs on short range situations simply. because of its size and power. McDonald’s punishes tacklers.
OKAY. Lots of stuff to unpack here, Jake.
First of all, just because, say, Derrick Henry is built like a tight end, doesn’t mean that every tight end can be Derrick Henry.
Sure. Every once in a while you’ve got a guy like Rod Bernstine who went from tight stadium to running back with the Chargers in the 1990s. However, he was only two pounds heavier (235) than James Conner (233).
But I have to take this example from the time because I can’t think of too many others who have done it well since. Especially if we don’t count the rears.
And there is a reason for this. These are entirely different skill sets and positions. Especially in today’s game. There is a difference between blocking an edge defender at the line of scrimmage and picking up a middle linebacker or safety.
I mean, you saw Eric Ebron block, right? And you want this guy closer to Ben Roethlisberger? While he’s trying to figure out who to pick up? And from where? As opposed to who is he supposed to hit immediately after the snap?
No thanks!
And your buddy “Lance” McDonald weighs 267 pounds. Not 247 like Henry. I have a little trouble seeing “Lance” stretch a run and break one for distance around the edge.
“Lance” and Ebron are deep enough in their careers to make such a drastic change in stance, don’t you think?
How about the Steelers – and I’m just spitting here – just drafting or signing better running backs?
Is this something that you might be interested in?
Like me, John is furious at the number of missed penalties that went unscored in the Steelers-Browns game.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such inconsistent (and mediocre) officiating as this year. And believe me, that says a lot.
I almost think there should be 11 officials on the pitch, 1 responsible for each attacking player. They would then be responsible for the matched defensive player. This would not solve the ineptitude of officials, but could eliminate missed calls.
It honestly makes it very difficult to watch a game.“
That’s right, John. But what makes the game even more difficult to watch is an excessive number of flags. Mostly officials who were looking to throw them just to keep up with their 10 other striped peers on the court – in your scenario.
Cluttering up an already crowded playing surface with four other guys who just aren’t very good at what they do is not the answer.
Requiring a blanket report of more or less offenses will not adjust your anger level. It will just change what makes you angry.
What is needed is more consistency of the calls themselves. Imagine a more stable threshold to hold, pass interference, and trim the quarterback. And stick to it.
Don’t call it a ticky-tack hold in the first quarter so you may encounter some kind of imaginary “quota” because – technically – you were right to whistle an offensive lineman on a run. But then ignore a blatant call that has a big impact on a big win.
That’s the problem NFL officials are facing right now.
Thomas is far from happy with the state of the local baseball team.
“In my lifetime the Pirates have had really bad teams, but in the old days they had at least a few top players. Now, it looks like the organization is happy to be playing the role of a farm team lucky enough to make it into MLB.“
When you say “old days” what do you mean exactly? Like in the 1970s, when they had Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Roberto Clemente?
Or the 1990s when they had Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke and Doug Drabek?
Or 2013-15 when they had Gerrit Cole, Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker?
Anyway, all of these teams feel so much like the ‘old days’ in my mind, I imagine them all playing at Exposition Park.
Mike is distorted after New York’s childish reaction to the Philadelphia Eagles tanki… oops… hmmm… ”
The loss sealed the NFC East for Washington and knocked out the 6-10 Giants from a division title.
6 wins and still had a shot at qualifying for the playoffs in the very last snap of the regular season. And they got a gift from the referees in their own game today.
– Mike Ross (@IronCity_Mike) January 4, 2021
I agree, Mike. And I can’t help but think about what it must have been like to be a Miami Dolphins fan on Sunday night, roaming the entire New York Sanctuary and grinding my teeth on Twitter.
I mean, at 6-10, should Giants fans really be proselytizing “how the game should be played” just so their team can come back as the worst division winner in league history? NFL?
Meanwhile, if you’re a Miami fan, your team has had a surprisingly solid turnaround season. But they were ruled out of the playoffs at 10-6 because the AFC is so deep and their division had a 13-game winning champion in Buffalo.
But Giants fans want to throw a pity party after they couldn’t catch 7-9 Washington in their own division or the 8-8 Bears as the last wild card?
What joke!
Finally, I received a quote from the grammar police, specifically “Officer Beau”.
“You never start a sentence with BUT !!!!!!! If you start a sentence with So, there must be a comma after SO !!!! Dear god man …“
First of all, Beau, your arguments are not entirely within the letter of the law. And, as a sports columnist, I’m not beholden to the letter of the law anyway. Whether it’s the Law of Grammar 101 or the AP style.
I adhere to both as much as possible. BUT the goal is to be more conversational than to write consistently which would give me an A + on my third grade report card.
Plus, I’m pretty sure 10 exclamation marks for two words is breaking a rule. Just like the end of this sentence with an ellipsis. As well as throwing a stand-alone word as an example of a reference point without quotes around it, as you did with “yes” and “but”.
Additionally, we may ask you if your use of “God” should be capitalized and followed by a comma.
BUT, why bother? My hunch is that there are more important issues in the world to be debated right now.
SO, basically what I’m saying, Beau, is you can kiss my… (fill in the ellipses).
Tim Benz is an editor for Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication, unless otherwise specified.
Categories:
Sports | Steelers / NFL | Breakfast with Benz
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