I can't stop replaying that awful first half in my mind. All the missed tackles, and the ridiculous pass attempt on 3rd and a mile with just over a minute left. We almost came back, a bounce our way here or there and we're all celebrating this week. I wake up in the middle of the night, I replay the game on my drive to work. It won't go away. fuck.
Yes. Not waking up in the middle of the night but still constantly pissed that we had the hangover I worried all week we would. The almost comeback just made it worse, set it up for an even bigger fall. But theres always next year, the players genuinely seem to want to play for rex, and if nothing else we proved this year we've got a true leader on the offense in sanchez now. I will shortly switch my nailbiting to the CBA and resigning as many of our 18 free agents that don't retire as we can. P.S. I consistently enjoyed and agreed with your links, insight and commentary this season WSW - look forward to next year
Luckily, I have stopped replaying the game in my head. However it still hurts and I still can't hear about football. I have to switch the channel whenever it is discussed. I was listening to Howard Stern this morning and switched to Howard 101 at a commercial and there was a replay of the Ferrall show on. He was totally ripping on Jets fans and asking where all the blowhard guido Jets fans (his words) were now. I switched back to listen to commercials on Howard 100. He ruined my morning.
The main problem for this team all year was how slow it started off, it was only fitting that's how were finished off. The initial hole was too deep. I think PITT was thinking what we were all thinking, If our O got the ball again and we were tying it up. The Steelers took a shot and it paid off, which sucks hard. I have moved back onto making fun of Pat fans around here, who just remembered that Football exists to tell us Jet fans that we lost this week.
Yeah, just looking at some of these threads has me thinking about the game. It hurts a lot more than the loss against the Colts since we were playing with house money. A chance at having the greatest playoff comeback ever would have been a nice way to top off our trip to the Super Bowl, too. Of course, we could stay away from the board altogether for a while, but fat chance of that happening.
It's not bothering me much. I'm angry at the execution in the first half and on the final drive, but it is what it is, we didn't execute. Players have to make players. You and me weren't out there, we didn't lose anything. Yeah we missed a lot of tackles in the first half but it was not Mendenhall vs. our D, the Steelers had guys pushing us around, maintaining blocks. Their 2 TEs were great against Thomas and Scott and Harris...all guys who should be able to shed a TE block. We didn't have a plan for eliminating Ben's ability to scramble. If the plan was for DeVito and Pouha to run him down....well, that's a bad plan. Our coverage was decent on the plays where Ben ran the ball...don't you think it might have been a good idea to have someone spying him...like maybe Bart Scott? Judging by how we played, Bart probably would not have made the tackle even if he had been spying Ben. But seriously, why was an adjustment not made after he scrambled more than once on the opening drve to extend plays? My assumption is that Rex and Mike did not include a LB spy scheme in the defensive gameplan, so telling an LB to do that would have left a hole. At the end of the day it was a 60 minute game that was close, but NY did not play 60 mins, and neither the the Steelers really, they just made enough plays to win. If Vernon Gholston was anything but a letdown, he could have been in there chasing down Ben and causing havoc in the pocket...he's capable of next to nothing. If Joe McKnight was ready for primetime, he could have been out there causing major matchup problems for the Steelers LBs and safeties, but he wasn't. All these things factor into the big picture. We can't change any of it...we can watch and hope and criticize, but we can't change it.
To hell with next year. It's so hard to get this far. The opportunity was right there and we pissed it away.
I feel better than the players felt so sick they couldn't function for days. We get sick as fans and the players are out partying the NIGHT they lose the biggest game in their lives.
Dwelling on it makes it worse. It sucks donkey balls......but there's really no choice but to move on..... I'm looking forward to a fruitful offseason, hopefully a new CBA and a great draft.
Meh - these losses are the type that stay with you forever. For anyone who's my age, I'll bet you'll never forget those 2 Richard Todd interceptions in the Mud Bowl in Miami. Or the long completion by Elway that Victor Green misplayed in the '99 game. Or the Manning pass that lofted over Drew Coleman's outstretched hand. The point is, you never forget but you gotta move on. It's all water under the bridge at this point. You have to accept that the Steelers were the better team for at least that game.
I had great hopes going into the game. Crap, they had this segment on ESPN where Tom Jackson interviewed Dennis Byrd. Anybody else see that? If you did, I bet the loss only feels that much worse. Do it for Dennis! They didn't. The main problem other than that emotionalism is what the loss said about this team. Ryan is taking the line, with a great deal of plausibility, that the three games on the road thing was just too tall an order. Against those three opponents, the odds basically added up and they fell short. Pitt remember had a bye, and hadn't travelled from their city for weeks. It can make a difference. So those times the team fell short in the regular season came back to bite them, at least in part. Did the emotional wins over Indy and NE take a toll somehow? It's been known for that kind of thing to happen. So there's that. But I also think the CS followed up their brilliant effort againt NE with a not so great one. They have some room for improvement, too. I have bought in to Ryan and his approach, but I also recognize the guy's not perfect. I have issues with always kicking away regardless of the offensive talent of the opponent. I wonder why Ryan is so clearly implying that his D is better than his O - I don't think so. I wonder in that connection about the percentages of kicking away with just over 3 minutes left and needing a TD, when all the Steelers needed was two first downs. And some other things. In short they came close, but have to get closer, and I just can't say right now how likely it is that will occur.
You're right. In reality the Jets may be at least a couple years removed from another run like this. Nobody can say right now what kind of team they will be putting on the field. The one thing you can feel good about though is that we appear to have a HC and a QB that we can build around. I would like to see Tanny focus more on building through the draft and not through "rent-a-player's" like he has over the past few years. In some cases it's worked out but in others (Cromartie?, Favre?) the risk/reward has been questionable. To me, the big need for next year is to get some more playmakers on this Defense, especially in the front 7.
No but they should be pissed off enough that they shouldn't be going out on the town the day they get beat.
Dude, it's not like they threw a massive party and sprayed champagne all over each other. It was a few dudes going to a bar to forget about a bad day on the job. You've never done that?
Mark was out to get pussy, what better way to get over a tough loss? Get wasted and get ass. Mark earned it.