By Jim Coffman
Happy Bye Day Bears! It was a much better pre-bye season than anyone anticipated after all. Sure, it could have been better . . . three beautiful fourth quarter leads . . . blown . . . argh. But this team is more than a little intriguing and has more than a little potential to make some noise in the next two months. I’ll take it. I’ll also take a Sunday of looking around the league a little bit, at least at the late afternoon games.
Since this year’s Bears clearly aren’t the “get off the bus running and play mean-streak defense ’til the cows come home” type team we’re supposed to prefer around here, I thought I’d check out the two teams who best answer that description so far this season. And they just so happened to be facing each other. One-loss Pittsburgh (going in) hosted the one-loss New York Football Giants on Sunday and while it would be wacky in this topsy-turvy NFL to dub any contest a “Super Bowl Preview,” this game is as likely as any other this season to eventually fit that bill.
It was a very fluky affair. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who has been very good so far this fall, played his worst game in a while. He tossed four interceptions and rarely got the Steelers going on drives of any duration. For the longest time the Giants failed to take full advantage. Finally, after four John Carney field goals and the Steelers’ second furious goal-line stand, the game turned on a punt snap. The great thing about going for it on fourth-and-goal at the one is supposed to be that even if you don’t get it, and the defense steps up, the opposing team has to of course punt from way back and great field position is virtually guaranteed. When the Steelers held at the goal line in the first half, the Giants defense forced a quick three-and-out. The resulting punt was returned deep into Pittsburgh territory. The Steeler defense held again but Carney kicked one of his trifectas. When it happened again in the fourth quarter, the Steelers couldn’t even get the punt off, leading to a safety, a tie score and a free kick. After returning that kick to about midfield, the Giants finally drove down for their only touchdown of the day, which clinched a 21-14 victory.
I was struck by a few things in particular as the game progressed. First, I want to send out a thank you to Mathias Kiwanuka, one of the Giants’ defensive ends. Kiwanuka recorded a big sack at the end of the first half, pushing the Steelers well out of field goal range and ensuring his team would have a lead going into the break. And then he gave all those young viewers out there a quick lesson in how to celebrate after making that sort of a play. Kiwanuka had ripped the ball away from Roethlisberger as he finished off the play but he was immediately aware of the need to not do something stupid. So his first priority was to find an official to toss the ball to, which he did. Then he turned to find his teammates, leaping and smashing into one and executing a power high-five with another before they headed to the sideline.
Is there anything worse in football today than defensive players who, even after making what should be considered routine plays, rush out away from everyone to make an individual spectacle of themselves as they celebrate? That stuff is just so weak for so many reasons. Those include the fact that the guy probably made the play because a teammate made something else happen nearby, i.e. he drew a double-team that left a seam for his teammate to shoot through or his penetration forced a ball-carrier to make a bad cut, or good coverage in the secondary made the quarterback hold the ball for an extra beat. In basketball, the smartest players make a point of pointing to teammates who made the great passes that set up a crowd-pleasing dunk. Football players should be trying to do something similar.
Also, haven’t so many of these guys arrived at a point, say a starting spot on a good defense, where highlights are expected? When you are a well-paid professional athlete at least some of those standout plays should be routine, shouldn’t they? And finally, hey TV cameramen and directors, you don’t have to put these ridiculous displays on the air. Surely there’s another nutty fan in the stands who will be overjoyed to learn from a friend that they were on TV for the few seconds you chose not to devote to whichever preening egomaniac just made a solo tackle to set up a second-and-eight.
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So it turns out a team survives an injured punter better than it does an injured long snapper (you’re the best, Patrick Mannely – be careful out there). OK, OK, so Pittsburgh punter Mitch Berger wasn’t injured as seriously as snapper Greg Warren but still . . . Berger suffered a hamstring pull late in the first half and then gutted out the rest off the game, pounding a 50-yarder at one point in the second half. As for Warren, well, Fox TV gave us a special replay of Greg Warren’s knee going sideways after he foolishly tried (and the Steelers’ trainers foolishly allowed him) to walk off the field. I didn’t quite get the number of the teammate in question, but one of the Steelers came in as Warren was limping along to try to swat Warren on the backside. Warren flinched, his foot landed awkwardly and his knee bent in a direction none of us should ever be forced to watch.
Warren was out and linebacker James Harrison was in. Whoops, Harrison launched his first snap over Berger’s head and out of the back of the end zone for the pivotal safety.
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During breaks in the game I checked in on Mr. Singletary’s debut at the helm in San Francisco. I was impressed when Singletary – partly ticked off after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and partly ticked off by a nonchalant attitude – sent tight end Vernon Davis to the locker room without any supper. Davis left to go to the locker room initially, only to have Singletary stop him and tell him to get his helmet before he went. Davis is the over-hyped (he was drafted sixth a few years ago after absolutely acing the combine – another dim-witted draft choice based on weightlifting and sprinting rather than game performance) and underperforming tight end who is such a symbol of the 49ers’ recent travails. Lions’ coach Rod Marinelli could have sent a similar no-nonsense message to malcontent wide receiver Roy Williams during his team’s game with the Bears a few weeks ago. He did not and the Lions continue to lose. Perhaps Singletary’s move will be a wake-up call for the Niners. Probably not, but, maybe.
I was not impressed when Singletary had his team punt with 4:30 or so remaining down three touchdowns. Sure it would have taken a miracle or two for his team to have rallied but punting at that point was designed to try to make the final score a little less embarrassing. You’re better than that coach.
Hawksville
What a terrible loss for the Blackhawks on Saturday. And don’t give me that hockey mumbo-jumbo of “well, at least we got a point against a tough team.” What a crock. The Hawks had the Red Wings down by two heading into the third period at home and choked the game away.
I thought we had all figured out that Nikolai Kabibhulin couldn’t be trusted. I thought we all knew he couldn’t hold a lead against a good team even if his life depended on it. Now I know there isn’t a heck of a lot a goalie can do if the defense breaks down completely in front of him. But the great ones stand on their heads occasionally to make the big save that preserves a big win. And not only did Kabibhulin allow the tying scores in the third period after the Hawks led 4-2 going in, he also gave up what would have been the Wings’ game-winner had not the Hawks caught a huge break with a long, late two-man power-play advantage. Patrick Kane scored the tying goal that sent the game into OT. Of course then the Hawks went on to lose in a shootout.
Wasn’t the reason Cristobal Huet was signed to a big ole’ contract in the off-season – a contract the meant the Hawks had more than $10 million tied up in one position, and one position alone this season – that it was time for someone else to have a chance to hold a Hawks lead in a big game?
Coach Joel Quenneville is still new in town so we won’t completely lose it at this point, but Joel, next time you play Detroit and Huet isn’t totally exhausted after playing three games in five nights or something like that, put Huet between the pipes.
And coach, remember that just because the Wings are even better this season after winning yet another Cup last spring doesn’t mean that gaining a point off them is “a good point.” A point gained because you didn’t quite completely gag away a two-goal third period lead against your primary rival (and thereby forced a point-earning overtime) is a lousy point.
I propose if Mr. Quenneville hasn’t figured all of this out by New Year’s Day, when the Wings take on the Hawks in that game at Wrigley that has received a bit of attention so far, and that if the coach starts Kabibhulin despite his lousy local history, we bust out our first-ever round of “Quenneville Sucks! Quenneville Sucks!” It is important to get the jump on this sort of thing.
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Jim Coffman brings you the city’s best weekend sports roundup every Monday because he loves you. You can write to him personally! Please include a real name if you would like your comments to be considered for publication.
Posted on October 27, 2008