We have eleven competitors in The Terrible Challenge and here are all of the picks. Below are the consensus selections.


Atlanta (-2) at Arizona, 4:30 today NBC

Terrible Consensus: Atlanta (7 to 4)

Hehehehe. Falcons at Cardinals in a playoff game. Is that cute or sad? Ummmmmmm...cute. Turner will run a lot. Warner will pass a lot. Someone will score more and one of these teams will play TWO playoff games. Hehehehe. Larry Fitzgerald is in a playoff game on a day that Pitt pounded Georgetown. Hail to Pitt!


Indy (-1) at San Diego, 8:p.m. today, NBC

Terrible Consensus: Indy (7 to 4)

A little surprised this line hasn't shifted even further to Indy's side (at 1 1/2 now), considering that LT has a detached groin muscle and may be out. Ahhhhhh, I never want to type that again. Gates might be out too. I might want to change my pick, but can't and won't.


Baltimore (-3) at Miami, 1 p.m. Sunday, CBS

Terrible Consensus: Baltimore (8 to 3)

Don't kill the messenger, but Vegas and most of America considers the Steelers win at Baltimore at least half a win for the Ravens. The line hasn't moved much, but that's probably because the Ravens beating Dallas on the road is so hard to gauge now after Philly sonned them. As you know, Dolphins win and they start packing for Heinz. This would be a good thing.


Philadelphia (-3) at Minnesota, 4:30 p.m., Sunday, FOX

Terrible Consensus: Philly (6 to 5)

Tavaris Jackson is starting in a playoff game and five of you picked him to cover. You do realize you did this, right? If any of our Vikings loyal readers are listening, there are tickets still available. You do realize it's the playoffs, right?

(Photo Credit:  ESPN.com)

There is going to be a solid report from the TurribleWriter coming soon, as he witnessed the murder first hand.. so this post won't have analysis.. just stats.

I present to you, the NUMBER 2 team in all the land.. the Pittsburgh Panthers.

The Turrible Writer and Terrible Blog sister Lauren Amato are live on the scene at the Verizon Center, where Pitt leads 33-30 at the half.

The above photo comes to us courtesy of Lauren's cell phone.

Pitt is spreading it around, but DeJaun Summers is a beast with 16. Without Summers, Pitt would be up double-digits. But they do. Adjustment time.

(Photo Credit:  about.com)

There is a well-written, intriguing and completely infuriating story in the PG today about how the Steelers run philosophy did not change against the Browns last week.

For years, I have made the unpopular chicken and the egg argument that "good teams have good running statistics because they have leads" more often than "teams that run the ball well are good teams." Bruce Arians makes this argument about the blowout of the Browns.

What baffles me, though, is the arrogance with which Arians and the staff cling to a system that has practically eliminated FWP's potency. Without a fullback, Parker's momentum has routinely been stopped in the backfield. With Sean McHugh blocking on Sunday, the first defender was neutralized and Parker had the chance to find daylight and make plays.



Why would it be a bad thing for the Steelers to work out of the I-formation on occasion? The offensive line is geared more toward run-blocking and Seven is more comfortable and effective using play action.

So what has enabled Arians and the coaching staff to be so stubborn and arrogant about their misguided offensive philosophies? My theory is that it is the fault of the defense.

Any avid Steelers fan is aware of the offensive blemishes. But the defense has been so good and so effective that the offensive turnovers, lack of ball possession and their inability to score points and change of field position have been nearly non-factors.

With an average, or merely good, defense, they would have undoubtedly not won the division and probably not been in the playoff field. Only then would the microscope land on an offensive philosophy that has not only been ineffective, but frustratingly nonadaptive.

Folks, this just in…the Cleveland Browns stink. Out loud. On toast. Like pooh. Considering their season-long defensive ineptitude, coupling that with a 32-going-on-59 year old running back, #4 QB AND no Braylon Edwards or Kellen Winslow to speak of…did you really expect a result different than 31-0, with the Steelers DST holding Gradkowski to a Turrible-like grade point average/QB rating? To borrow a line from Pulp Fiction and Winston Wolf: “Let’s not start sucking each other’s d*#@s just yet.” The Steelers beat a bad football team soundly. That’s what above-average teams are expected to do, let alone good or great ones.

So what are the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers? Above-average, good or great? The beauty of the next month or so is that they have an opportunity to answer that question in the most obvious of ways…on the football field. Much in the same way the “(coulda-woulda-shoulda) GREATEST FOOTBALL TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL” 2007 New England Patriots did in last year’s Super Bowl. It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that ring (shoo-bop shoo-bop, etc.).

And They Were All Yellow: Though now not a part of the official NFL record keeping for Steelers v. Browns – 12/28/08, A Matter of Fecal caught a touchdown pass, Mitch Berger won an Oscar for his performance in “Le Punter’s Flop,” and Willie Parker was tackled on a three yard rushing loss after yet another catastrophic breakdown of the offensive offensive line. Those plays, and five others, were all erased from Steelers lore due to infractions levied against the Black and Blue and Gold according to the NFL rule book.

Now, not living in the Pittsburgh-area, I can assure you that Turrible watches a great number of games that don’t involve the Pittsburgh Steelers (purely for fantasy football and, er…financial purposes). There is, seemingly, not another football team in the league this season (or history for that matter) that produces more gut-wrenching, drive-killing, head-scratching on-the-field-and-in-game violations of NFL law than the current edition of the Steelers. The folks at Stats, Inc. really need to keep track of things like this (and my apologies if you already do, but I don’t feel that it is fair for a starving blogger to pay for a premium statistical product so that you math geeks can answer simple questions about things that should be circulated in the public domain. Can you say “Congressional oversight?”). Against a bad team like the Browns, you get away with that. But bad teams don’t make the playoffs in the AFC (see: 11-5 New England Patriots not in playoffs). The NFL saves those cupcakes for the NFC playoffs and the New York Giants (large media market). (Lots of parentheses). (LOUD NOISES!!!).

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics: Worried about the offense? Worried about that kind of ineptitude in the playoffs? Worried that the Steelers are not playing “Steelers football” (if they’re not playing Steelers football, what kind of football are they playing exactly)? Well, have no fear…the statistics are here. Let’s take a look at the top 10 offenses for the 2008 NFL regular season and see what they’re doing now:

1) New Orleans (410.7 ypg) – Not in playoffs, eating baguettes on Bourbon St.
2) Denver (395.8 ypg) – Not in playoffs, wondering how they could have lost 7 running backs to IR yet still have finished so high…then remembering they have Jay Cutler.
3) Houston (382.1 ypg) – Not in playoffs, roping cattle.
4) Arizona (365.8 ypg) – Participating in NFC playoff bracket, should not be participating in NFC playoff bracket.
5) New England (365.4 ypg) – Not in playoffs, wondering if genius only goes as far as Mr. Brady’s right arm.
6) Atlanta (361.2 ypg) – Participating in NFC playoff bracket, the first team deserving of a playoff spot in the top 10 offenses. That with a rookie QB and a backup RB turned starter.
7) NY Giants (355.9 ypg) – Participating in NFC playoff bracket.
8) Green Bay (351.1 ypg) – Not in playoffs, feeling cheesy.
9) Philadelphia (350.5 ypg) – Participating in NFC playoff bracket, thanking sweet Jesus there wasn’t a sixth quarter in Cincinnati.
10) Carolina (349.7 ypg) – Participating in NFC playoff bracket.

So while five of the NFC playoff teams are in the top 10 NFL offenses for the 2008 season, the AFC has no playoff-bound representatives on this list. Also apparent is the lack of defense being played in the National Football Conference. Though the Steelers are the lowest ranked offensive playoff team in the AFC conference, they are a mere 37.1 yards per game worse than the highest ranked AFC playoff contender (San Diego – ranked 11th – 349.0 ypg – 8-8 record, by the way…not really playoff worthy).

To Turrible, there are only two questions relevant to a deep Steelers playoff run:

1) Is the Steelers defense at least 37.1 yards better than anybody they would face?
2) Can the offense hold onto the ball and win the field position battle, despite ben roethlisberger’s low grade narcoloepsy and Mitch Berger's penchant for buggery?

Finally, the Sad Thought of the Week: It has likely come time to bid adieu to Shady McCoy, who will make millions in the NFL next season if he knows what is best for him. So enjoy tomorrow’s Brut Sun Bowl and what should be a memorable performance..

I will link to the full story later here, but Mark Madden made a point about trading Jordan Staal in his Beaver County Times column on Monday. Do we really need 3 star caliber centers? Is Jordan expendable while his value is pretty high? As much as this pains me to say, I think so. The Staal experiment on wing was an epic failure, and he is 131st in the NHL in points.. behind Robert Lang (!). Also to note, Staal will be a free-agent come season's end.. one more quick note, tonight he will be the youngest player in history to play 200 games.

Times Online: Mark Madden's story mentioned from above.

ESPN: Looks like Pitt can move up in the rankings.. as UCONN got beat by Georgetown last night 74-63...

NHL: The .com's preview of the home and home series the Pens have with the Bruins the next 2 nights..

Consumerist: A fan was ejected from the Tampa/Oakland game for being an Oakland fan..

Right through the Super Bowl, we want our readers to pick each game in our comments section for all the world to see. At the bottom of this post is the list of spreads we will use for the first week(for the record, Sportsbook.com's Monday lines).

There will be 11 playoff games in all (4, 4, 2, 1) and we will also pick the length of the National Anthem of the Super Bowl to break any ties. Most number of correct picks wins. Please include your name so we can keep standings week to week.

What's the prize, you might ask? On the Tuesday after the Super Bowl, the winner will be featured in a post (with photo!) and they can e-mail me a rant on anything they may to talk about -- make fun of friends, a Dear John letter, declare yourself eligible for the '09 Draft -- you name it, I'll post it. If they provide me with an address, I will also send them something random and useless from my stash of random and useless sports items.

Sound good? Of course it does. Below are the spreads ... just pick the four teams you think will cover and type them in the comments section. Best of luck!

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Bill Cowher told the Browns to stuff it. Wait, he DIDN'T want to coach a team that had 19 yards passing yesterday???

The Award Winning column MMBUDL will return tomorrow. The Turrible Writer is finishing his holiday travel and will be back on track in time for his last post of 2008!

Even a meaningless game can't be meaningless. So in today's tailgate, I want to quick-hit some things that I'm looking for that might just sharpen the sword and wait anxiously for the tourney to begin.

First of all, in an offense that has spent the entire season lacking a spark, second-round pick Limas Sweed has seemingly gotten a pass from fans and the media. As I've said, the WR Corps have been a disappointing unit and, while the rookie can't be blamed for that, he hasn't squat to help either (6 catches, 64 yards, 0 TDs).

He hasn't played much, you might say. No. But that's exactly what his job is -- to earn playing time.

This is the kind of game where a fourth-string WR becomes the go-to guy and, IMO, a successful game would double his season stats -- at least 6 for 64 and his first NFL TD. Give us, and opposing defenses, a glimpse at the spark that he could be in the playoffs.

And, as I pack the cooler and head to Heinz, the rest of the tailgate: