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 FEEL STRONGER ABOUT

We dismissed Mason Rudolph way too quickly a couple of years ago. We discovered this past weekend that he is a very competent backup at the very least. It was so nice to see a quarterback who knew what his strengths were and to use them where he could during the game. He worked through progressions, and was decisive with the football. Am I saying that Mason Rudolph is the next Joe Montana? Absolutely not. But Mason proved that he is more than capable of stepping in and leading a team to victory. Right now victories are what the Steelers need. So if he’s the guy that can provide them I would say to keep rolling with the hot hand. What the coaching staff decides to do will be up to them, but I know my decision would be to stick with the guy who helped the Steelers to multiple splash plays on offense.

SOMETHING I’VE SOFTENED ON

Patrick Peterson. There have been times during this season where I have been a bit critical or judgmental of Patrick Peterson’s play. He very much redeemed himself this past week by putting his own personal goals aside in doing what the Steelers needed of him as he moved to play safety with the Steelers being very thin at that position. Not only did Peterson play safety, I feel that he did very well at the position. I would not be surprised if next season Patrick Peterson was a starting safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It would make some sense for him to slide that way like Rod Woodson did at the tail end of his career. Woodson extended his career by three or four years by moving to safety, and I could see the same holding true for Patrick Peterson. Is this necessarily set in stone? No. But it’s nice that that could be an option. I feel Patrick Peterson can still play corner but not at the same level he did a couple of years ago. If the Steelers get younger at the cornerback position, then a move to safety would allow Peterson to stay on the field, and highlight his veteran leadership and ball hawking skills.

SOMETHING THAT HASN’T CHANGED

Here we are late into December again and it’s just another year of the Steelers not being eliminated from the playoffs, but also the Steelers not controlling their own destiny to make the playoffs. This has been a huge trend for this team for the last decade and a half. The Steelers always seem to be in the hunt for the playoffs, but too many years they have spent their time having to scoreboard watch. I sure would like to have a season where the Steelers had the playoffs wrapped up with a couple of weeks to go instead of having to win out and hope for all kinds of help. It’s like I would tell kids when I coached baseball. If you have two strikes and the pitch is close, swing the bat and try to hit it. If you don’t you are putting your fate in someone else’s hands. I wish the Steelers would quit putting their fate and other people’s hands and just take care of their own business.

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.