Answer Man returned from a hike with the wife and grandkids Sunday afternoon to discover that the Steelers had lived up to his faith in them by winning vs. Baltimore.
To quote from a post of last week, ahead of the game, “I would not be surprised to see a competitive game, and even a surprise Steelers win . . . “
How does Answer Man do this? Easy. In sports, investments, elections and pop culture, it is wise to lean against the prevailing sentiment.
After the Steelers were humbled in week one by still-unbeaten San Francisco, there was despair across the Black and Gold Kingdom. Answer Man suggested then that it was too early to give up on the season, based on a marshmallow soft remaining schedule and the Steelers penchant for hanging tough. Nine or ten wins seemed to be within reach. They still are.
Things seemed to be looking up for a few weeks, until another blowout loss the previous weekend, this to the Houston Texans, currently 2-3.
Again, faithful Steelers fans were looking for high objects from which to jump. They wanted to take offensive coordinator Matt Canada with them.
There was a touching scene from an early part of the game Sunday that I did watch, with the network cutting away to commercial, but first showing a fan clad in Steelers garb shouting at the camera and, presumably, Canada or quarterback Kenny Pickett, what lip readers would recognize as “You suck!”
Perhaps both do. But, what Steelers fans seem to miss is that the entire NFL has a lot of teams that suck on various levels. Even the mighty unbeaten Philadelphia Eagles have been extended numerous times.
Kansas City already has one loss and easily could have suffered another in that Taylor Swift special on a recent Monday.
The Buffalo Bills? Not too impressive and already suffering from many key injuries. The list goes on, in both conferences. How ’bout them Cowboys! There are maybe three teams in the NFL hierarchy – San Francisco, Philadelphia and Kansas City – and a lot of members of the hoi polloi.
Specifically, as mentioned here many times, Baltimore is not a particularly good team, depleted as the Ravens are by injuries and hamstrung by a quarterback who has a tendency to come up small in big moments. Witness his play just this past Sunday.
Even when they win, the Ravens’ style tends to keep the losers close, where they are one big play away from threatening to win.
The Steelers obviously are a troubled team. They have been outscored by 31 points over five games, the same points deficit as the last place Cincinnati Bengals. Don’t bother to book Super Bowl trips, but the Steelers could slip into the playoffs as either a wild-card team, or the winner of a weak AFC North Division.
Now a quick dip into the mailbag, the one filled with questions Answer Man would ask himself.
Q: Did Major League Baseball make a mistake expanding the playoffs further and thereby cheapening the meaning of the longest regular season, by far, in sports? Sign me, Abner Doubleday from Dummer, New Hampshire.
A: Yo, Abner, yes, yes and yes. As of this writing (early afternoon Monday) all three teams that won 100 or more games this season trail in their ongoing series. The Baltimore Orioles (101-61 in the regular season) are down 2-0 (losing twice at home!) to the Texas Rangers (90-72). Atlanta (104-58) is down 1-0 to Philadelphia (90-72) and the LA Dodgers (100-62) are down 1-0 to Arizona (84-78). If you’re going to play a 162-game regular season, don’t crowd the playoff field with second-chance teams. A solution would be to cancel the regular season and just have every team make the playoffs. Pirates fans would rejoice.
Q: Now that Notre Dame has gotten on with its annual rite of proving it no longer deserves the lofty rankings it is gifted as a once-elite college program, how do you rate the college scene? Sign me, Knute Saban from Rockne, Texas.
A: Well, Knute, after seeing what Louisville did to Notre Dame Saturday, you’ve got to wonder if Ohio State coach Ryan Day is still so proud of his team’s narrow escape vs. the Fighting Irish a week earlier.
My take on college football: A wise man would expect the SEC once again to crown a national champion. The top Pac-12 teams continue to be questionable, as evidenced by USC needing multiple overtimes to subdue a subpar Arizona team. The Big Ten will be represented in the playoffs, but fail to close the deal, as usual. The ACC top dogs don’t have what it takes to dominate the college football kennel. As for the Big 12, Oklahoma benefitted from Texas choking yet again. But, come playoff time, there’s a reason the Sooners are known as Choke-la-homa.
Q: Can Penn State win the Big Ten this year? Sign me, Jo P. Turno, from Brooklyn, New York.
A: So, Jo, the simple answer is things don’t look good for Penn State prevailing. After an official bye last weekend, and the upcoming bye equivalent of playing UMass, Penn State must prove itself by beating Ohio State (Oct. 21) and Michigan (Nov. 11), either of which has proven elusive to say the least for the current coach. Throw in that the week before that Michigan game Penn State will need to avoid overlooking a game vs. Maryland. A betting man goes against Penn State to win the conference.
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