The title “My Worthless 2 Cents” that I came up with isn’t one I feel I can take full credit for, but is a story in itself, so here it is. I was in the 8th grade at the time, and found myself tagging along with my older sister (a senior in high school), as she was a part of the high school theatre group who would work as ushers for local community theatre productions. Working as an usher at a production of “Harvey”, the dad for one of my baseball friends came up to me at intermission and handed me two pennies and asked me to go back to the dressing area and find the lead actor in the play. I was to give him the pennies and tell him “this is from the guy with the big nostrils, giving you his two cents worth”. I thought this was funny so I agreed to do it, especially since I knew the two were friends. I go to the dressing room and deliver the message and the “gift”. The response I was given was even better. The actor told me to return the pennies and I was to “tell the guy with the big nostrils to take his worthless 2 cents and shove them right up his big nostrils”. So that’s it. This is my 2 cents after sitting on the latest Steelers game for a bit. This is quite the opposite of my Knee Jerk Reaction article, so I get to bring everything full circle. You might tell me to take my worthless two cents and shove them up my nostrils, and that’s okay, because we are friends and I don’t look at it as personal.

I am going to break things down into three categories: One, something I feel stronger about. Two, something I have softened on a bit. Three, something that didn’t really change.

SOMETHING I FEEL STRONGER ABOUT

Chris Boswell is the best kicker in the NFL period. No more proof was needed for me than to watch him kick in the Steelers first game of the 2024 season. Boswell was a perfect six for six on his field goal attempts, with three of those attempts being over 50 yards. Not only was Boswell perfect in making every field goal, but most of the field goals he made were right down the middle. The couple you could argue that weren’t down the middle were not off by much. He not only made these field goals, he made these field goals look easy. Anyone that questions the money that the Steelers pay for their kicker should be questioned as to how much they really know about football. Not only did Boswell kick six field goals, but he ended up having to serve as the emergency punter when Cameron Johnston was injured. The punt that Boswell served up was by no means a boomer, but a 43-yard punt with no return was just what the Steelers needed in the moment.

SOMETHING I’VE SOFTENED ON

The Steelers offense is going to be okay. I am not going to go into great detail about the offense, but I am going to bring up a few simple points. First it was nice to have a Steelers offense that was not so predictable. There was only one time that the Steelers offense went to snap the ball that I knew exactly what was coming, and that was the failed fourth down quarterback sneak attempt. Other than that it was nice to not know exactly the play that was going to be run. Second, I gained great optimism on just one play in particular on Sunday. That was the play where Justin Fields rolled out left stopped and threw back to the right on a great route run by George Pickens. It has been quite some time since I’ve seen the Steelers run a play with that type of concept. Just these two simple facts give me great.

SOMETHING THAT HASN’T CHANGED

The Steelers defense is pretty darn good. Not only is this defense blessed to have what I feel is the best defensive player in the NFL on their side, but it’s got plenty of other guys to go along with him. TJ Watt was wreaking havoc in this game, even when he wasn’t getting home for sacks (not going to talk about the strip sack that should not have been taken away) he was very disruptive.  The defense created three turnovers in the game. In the second half the defense gave up one net passing yard, and only 52 yards total. The second half was total dominance by the Steelers defense. Team should be concerned if the Steelers defense starts playing this well early in the season, as the confidence this gains for some of their younger players will only make them better.

There you have it. My worthless 2 cents. Maybe you liked it, maybe you didn’t. Maybe you want to tell me to shove my worthless two cents up my big nostrils. Maybe you have your own worthless 2 cents you would like to share. If so please feel free to share it in the comments below, I might look at it and tell you to shove it up your big nostrils…but that’s okay, because we are still friends.