Just Watch the Game Blog

Steelers fans seem to be pretty optimistic about the Steelers’ chances in their first four games without Ben Roethlisberger.

Same goes for a lot of the media. I don’t know of anybody who is predicting anything worse than 2-2 and most seem to be looking at the quality of opponents and predicting 3-1 or 2-2.

Did you see the Saint-Vikings game last night?

How do you think the Saints would have done without Drew Brees?

Think they would have won? I don’t.

Would the results have been different if both Brees and Reggie Bush had been out? I think so.

The Steelers will not only be playing without Roethlisberger on Sunday. Remember, they’ll also be playing without Santonio Holmes–their most dangerous offensive weapon last year.

Dennis Dixon may turn out to be a pleasant surprise and maybe the combination of Dixon and Mike Wallace can come close to equaling Roethlisberger and Holmes.

I doubt it.

It rarely happens that way in the NFL.

A hockey player hitting a batting practice home run is one thing, but Sidney Crosby almost hit one completely out of PNC Park.

Ridiculous.

Joe Butler of Metro Index Scouting has some thoughts on local linemen.

I try my best not to pay attention to the college football polls. I’ve always thought that they were stupid and I started taking them less seriously after I had an astrophysicist on my radio show, who was partially responsible for the BCS rankings.

Pitt is no longer ranked in the Top 25 in the AP poll after losing in overtime to to a good team on the road.

Penn State beat Youngstown State 44-14 and moved up a notch to number 18.

So, according to the voters, a team that that beats an opponent that it has no business playing had a better week than a team that lost in overtime, on the road, to a team that had won 17 straight games at home.

So, if Penn State plays Alabama close this week, and Pitt blows out New Hampshire, who goes up and who goes down?

Many years ago, I was asked if I wanted to vote in the AP Poll. I said no because I didn’t want to contribute to the stupidity. But, if I had a vote this week, I would have moved Pitt down a notch or two and I also would have moved Penn State down.

If I had a vote and Penn State gives Alabama a good game on Saturday and loses and Pitt beats New Hampshire 84-0, Penn State goes up, Pitt goes down.

Trying to predict a team’s season by going through the schedule is a dangerous proposition. Actually, it almost never works.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at what’s ahead for the Steelers.

They are starting the season with a quarterback who has had one NFL start and is coming off of a terrible performance in the exhibition game that was supposed to be his audition.

Dennis Dixon didn’t made a good case for being the nuymber three or four quarterback with that performance against Denver.

So what should we expect in the four games that he’ll start before Ben Roethlisberger comes back?

Right now I’m thinking 1-3. I’m not going to try to predict which game they’ll win but Tampa Bay looks like the best bet.

Dixon may light it up and be the talk of the NFL. I just haven’t seen anything to make me think that he will.

What’s the over-under on how many games he plays before he’s either hurt or yanked?  I’m thinking two.

I would be a lot more optimistic about Dixon’s chance to shine if Santonio Holmes were still one of his receivers. As I’ve said many times, I don’t think this is going to be a good year to be the Steelers’ quarterback.

I said I’m thinking 1-3 in the first four, but I’m willing to give them 2-2.

It’s going to take at least 10 wins to make the playoffs and that means that, with Ben Roethlisberger, they’re going to have to go 8-4. Not out of ther question by any means.

There are five division games left when Roethlisberger comes back.  I don’t think they’ll win more than three of them. There are at lesst two losses to Baltimore, Cincinnati and Cleveland. You can’t automatically count the two games with the Browns as wins because the Steelers lost to them last season.

So, 2-2 and 3-2 equals 5-4.

That means the Steelers have to go 5-2 against the Saints, Dolphins, Raiders, Bills, Jets, Patriots and Panthers.  I think 4-3 is more like it and, depending on injuries, 3-4 might be more realistic.

That adds up to 9-7.  One more win and they go 10-6 and probably make the playoffs. (Remember, that’s based on them going 2-2 in the first four games.)

Would I be shocked if they went 10-6? No. Would I be any more shocked if they went 8-8? No.

What happens if they lose either Ward or Wallace to an injury? What happens if Rashard Mendenhall gets hurt?  What it Troy Polamalu only plays 10 games?

How healthy Polomalu, Aaron Smith and Mendenhall are could be the difference between an OK season and a disaster.

Joe Butler of Metro Index has some ideas on how to make Dennis Dixon successful.

There has been, as there is every year at this time, a lot of discussion about college football scheduling and the stupidity of the BCS system.

What if there were no college football?

What if there weren’t enough colleges to have a BCS conference,

I went to four colleges from 1966 to 1972 and never graduated and it don’t seem to have hurt me none.

I’ve felt for a long time that a college degree is one of the most overrated things on the planet.

It’s possible that there are going to be a lot less colleges on the planet pretty soon. There’s talk of a coming education bubble.

I don’t have the figures to back it up, but I would guess that about 60% of the guys playing college football in 2010 are not college material.

I’ll go a step further and say–again with no facts to back it up, just a gut feeling–that only about 40% of the students on most campuses are “college material.”

Joe Butler of Metro Index Scouting has some thoughts on college cupcakes and cream puffs.

In my book, “Just Watch The Game”, I have a chapter called “My Cousin Chuck.”

In it, I make my claim that Chuck Noll didn’t just do the best coaching job in NFL history, but the best coaching job in the history of North American professional sports.

Notice that I don’t make the case that he’s the best NFL coach ever, although, I think that case could be made because of what he did in his first 11 seasons.

The chapter in my book refers to the period from 1969 to 1980. You’ll have to read the book (I hope to be taking pre-orders in a week or so) to see how I make my case.

Meanwhile, Chad Tillman has written a book called. The Ones Who Hit the Hardest, The Steelers, The Cowboys, The ’70s and the Fight For America’s Culture.”

The excerpt appeared on ESPN.com.

Lots of football players played the last  games of their careers last night and Joe Butler of Metro Index Scouting says that they should have some place to go.