One thing you can say about the Steelers and Dolphins match ups during the Mike Tomlin era: The game will go down to the wire.
As some readers have already noted, Direct TV decided to show its Sunday Ticket customers in the Southern Cone the San Francisco-Carolina game instead of the Steelers-Dolphins contest.
In light of that, I do not pretend to offer much in the way of penetrating analysis. Instead, we’ll hopefully have some fun with the fortunately, unfortunately game.
- Fortunately, the Steelers won the game
Unfortunately, they gave up another late touchdown in the first half and gave up the lead late
- Unfortunately, Emmanuel Sanders fumbled the opening kick off
Fortunately, he made up for it with a 45 yard return when the Steelers needed to regain the lead
- Fortunately, the Steelers good on their promise to get Moore and Redman more involved in the running game
Unfortunately, the backs managed a collective 2.1 yards per carry
- Unfortunately, Ben Roethlisberger had three fumbles and looked rusty at other times
Fortunately, Ben had no picks, and threw the ball for two TD’s, including a beautiful bomb to Mike Wallace
This is no where near the level of analysis that I like to offer here, but it his hard to do that when Direct TV relegates you to watching RedZone highlights.
Injuries, Replay
The biggest news outside of the actual result was the controversial end zone call and the injuries sustained to Flozell Adams, LaMarr Woodley and, most ominously, Aarron Smith.
Steel Curtain Rising will have more to say about the injury situation in the days to come.
As for the end zone call, take a look for yourself:
If you’re a Steelers fan and you honestly think that the touchdown should have counted, you might be advised to seek professional help.
Possession after the fumble is another matter.
Dolphin fans will beg to differ, but the officals got call correct.
All that you can see from the replay is that Roethlisberger, Legursky and several Dolphins have pieces of the ball. Add to that the fact that at some point the ball play got whistled dead and a touchdown was signaled, which further muddies the possession picture.
Given that, it pretty hard to say there was irrefutable evidence to indicating that the Dolphins had possession.
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