Jan 11th 2009 5:00PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)

Here’s a little-known fact about Ben Roethlisberger: In 2002, while playing at Miami of Ohio, he punted three times in a game against Toledo. He landed all three punts inside the 20-yard line and was named the MAC East Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts.

Fast forward to 2009, and Big Ben can still boot it. During the first quarter of today’s Steelers-Chargers divisional playoff game, Roethlisberger lined up in the shotgun on a fourth-and-8 from the Chargers’ 34-yard line, as if the Steelers were going to go for it. But instead, he backed up a little farther from the line of scrimmage than usual and punted the ball. It wasn’t the prettiest punt, but it got the job done, rolling to a stop at the Chargers’ 9-yard line.Continue Reading

Jan 11th 2009 5:15PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Donovan McNabb is a curiously odd fellow. However, he should probably remember to when Joe Buck is calling his games. Buck and Troy Aikman gave McNabb some guff for picking up a phone by the Giants sideline during today’s game and really, while he drew a flag, who cares? The game was over and Donovan was just doing something that made him smile. Unlike sitting behind Kevin Kolb.

Again, it’s really not that big a deal; Buck just thinks that everyone should play the way he announces — with zero emotion.

Jan 11th 2009 6:59PM by Josh Alper (author feed)

The third quarter just wrapped up in Pittsburgh with the Steelers leading 21-10 and holding the ball on the one-foot line. The Chargers are lucky that there’s still a chance for them to win this game. They took exactly one offensive snap in the quarter, an interception by Philip Rivers, while the Steelers ran 24 offensive plays.Continue Reading

Jan 11th 2009 7:08PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
During the third quarter of the Chargers/Steelers AFC divisional playoff game today, the Steelers picked up a loose ball and took it into the endzone for an apparent touchdown. Raise your hand if you knew it was coming back, despite the lack of a penalty.

Mine is raised. The rule is uniform across all levels of football.

On the play, Eric Weddle was engaged in a block on a punt to the Chargers. The punt ended up being a bit short of Chargers’ returner, Darren Sproles. The football ended up hitting Weddle on the head. The Steelers then scooped up the ball, and ran it home.Continue Reading

Jan 11th 2009 8:10PM by Michael Cardillo (author feed)
In what was probably the biggest thing to hit Rome since the white smoke wafted over from Vatican City, David Beckham made his much anticipated Serie A debut with AC Milan Sunday night against AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. (In case you couldn’t tell there was a healthy dab of sarcasm in there. Sorry.)

Beckham (perhaps you’ve heard of him) played 89 minutes in the 2-2 draw. On Saturday all reports had Beckham starting the game on the bench. Instead, coach Carlo Ancelotti started the English superstar in the midfield.

The general consensus on Beckham’s Italian debut were right in the middle — where he ended up lining up. The on-loan Los Angeles Galaxy captain played in on the right of a three-man midfield with Clarence Seedorf and Andrea Pirlo. Oddly enough the first substitution by Milan wasn’t Beckham, but former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho.Continue Reading

Jan 11th 2009 10:03PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
The Denver Broncos reportedly have their next head coach, and it’s New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that the Broncos have decided on McDaniels and will make the announcement official on Monday.

For Denver, the move makes sense: McDaniels is known for his ability to work with young quarterbacks, and the Broncos have one in Jay Cutler. Both Tom Brady and Matt Cassel have spoken highly of McDaniels, and Cutler will no doubt benefit from working with him as well.

The only question about McDaniels is whether his youth and inexperience is an issue. His only NFL experience is with the Patriots, where he’s been an assistant to Bill Belichick since 2001, and he had just one year of experience as a coach at any level (1999 at Michigan State) before Belichick hired him. Broncos owner Pat Bowlen clearly thinks that in the 32-year-old McDaniels, he’s got the latest coaching boy wonder.

Jan 11th 2009 11:25PM by Chas Rich (author feed)
CBS had a live microphone on Michigan State coach Tom Izzo for the Michigan State-Kansas game on Saturday. You know, to get the insights into what a top coach at a major college basketball program says on the sidelines. Generally, what it means is that a coach is not able to speak complete sentences, because he is acutely aware of the fact that he has a microphone that records or could be live at any time. So the fan gets to witness the bizarre ritual of emotional outbursts to the game existing in constant battle with the need for self-censorship.

CBS went live to the mike on Izzo to find out what the officials were telling him. Someone forgot to tell the officials about the mike (H/T to The World of Isaac).
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Jan 11th 2009 11:27PM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Maybe Willie Parker’s midseason knee injury will prove to be the key to the Steelers’ postseason.

If it hadn’t been for Parker’s injury, the Steelers would have possibly never discovered that Mewelde Moore is a very reliable and very solid backup. They may have not figured out that Gary Russell is the team’s best short-yardage back.

But most importantly, without that midseason five-game break, there’s a good chance that Parker could be gassed at this point of the season. Instead, on Sunday he looked as fresh as he has in a couple of years as he consistently ran around and through the Chargers’ defense. Parker’s 146 yards against San Diego was his best game since he broke the Steelers single-game rushing record with 223 yards against the Browns back in December of 2006.Continue Reading

Jan 12th 2009 12:32AM by Matt Moore (author feed)
It hasn’t been a great week for Atlanta sports fans. The dreams of the Falcons were ended by the now-NFC-Championship-Game-bound Cardinals, then the Hawks started to slide, culminating in Friday night’s massacre against Orlando. In that game, Al Horford wound up a little banged up, and scheduled an MRI.

Well, it turns out that the MRI revealed a bone bruise on the knee, holding out Horford today against Philadelphia (a game that the Hawks promptly proceeded to lose, their third in a row). Now word has come out that Horford will miss up to four weeks with the injury. That’s quite a significant amount of time for a team in a pretty tough decision, with Orlando streaking off into vapor trails and the Heat hanging tight, not to mention the fact that the Bobcats might actually be getting their stuff together.
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Jan 12th 2009 2:45AM by Chris Burke (author feed)
It was fitting, really, that the Steelers ended — at least for now — the domination of road teams in the NFL playoffs with Sunday’s win over San Diego. The Steelers were, after all, the ones that started this home-away-from-home madness in the first place.

In the 2005-06 season, Pittsburgh barely inched into the postseason, needing four straight wins to do so. The sixth-seeded Steelers then went on the road and won at Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver, setting up a Super Bowl win over NFC No. 1 seed Seattle.

With that run, the Steelers became the first team since the AFL and NFL merged in 1970 to be crowned champion without playing a single postseason home game.

Last season, the Giants became the second. Baltimore or Philadelphia could become the third on Feb. 1 in Tampa.Continue Reading