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 the right up those big nostrils”. So that’s it. This is my 2 cents after sitting on the latest Steelers game for a bit. 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 AM MORE FIRED UP ABOUT

First half offense. I could say the offense in general, but I decided to get even more specific. The Steelers ability to do anything offensively in the first half of games is just downright…offensive. Multiple games with less than 100 yards of offense at halftime is just abysmal. Lack of offensive scoring in the first half, worse than abysmal. Time of possession in the first half is almost nonexistent. I’ve been having a hard time as a Pittsburgh Steeler fan getting excited about anything at all in the first half of the games. Maybe that in itself is a Matt Canada strategy:  get people so mad with the lack of any offense in the first half, that just average offense in the 2nd half has people saying “at least they are moving the ball some now”. Here’s to hoping the Steelers work on their first half ineptitude during the bye week.

SOMETHING I AM LESS FIRED UP ABOUT

Teryl Austin. I was on the defense last week as much as I was on the offense last week. I was saying Teryl Austin should be on as much of a hot seat as Matt Canada. I have softened on that stance a bit after this week. I was still not happy with the Steelers Defense after the first half on Sunday, as I felt the Ravens were moving the ball at will, and had they not kept shooting themselves in the foot, the game should/could have been well out of reach. My main reason for softening my stance on Austin, has to do with the adjustments made at the half, and the dominance of the Steelers Defense in the second half of the game Sunday. The run defense in particular was much stronger in the second half, but there were not the large holes in the zone for the receivers I saw in the first half as well. For now I am going to look as the Texans game as the outlier and not the norm for the defense, but as this is a what have you done for me lately league I am not prepared to allow Austin totally off the hook yet. I need to see more consistency from the Defense before I am willing to do that completely.

SOMETHING THAT HASN’T CHANGED

I like Rodney Williams. He really caught my eye when I was at training camp this summer and he caught a double deflected pass while falling to the ground. The guy hustles and never gives up, and that was quite evident in his special teams play on Sunday. He was way closer than he ever should have been to recovering the blocked punt for a touchdown. His elbows were an inch or two out of bounds on a play where I thought the ball would be through the end zone before anyone could even get a hand on it. What most people might not have recognized is that this wasn’t even his biggest hustle play in the game. On the Gunner O. fumble, there were three Ravens involved, where one recovered the fumble and two others were right there. Rodney Williams was the only Steeler close enough to have a chance to keep the Ravens out of the end zone. He could have easily given up and allowed the Ravens to score, but instead he hustled, fought of the block attempt by the Ravens and kept them out of the end zone. How big did that end up being? He gave Joey Porter Jr. the chance to intercept Lamar Jackson three plays later. Williams made a play that won’t mean much in the stats, but played a huge role in the Steelers victory.

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.