Felonious Funk

The Steelers didn't play as badly as the score and turnover stats suggest, and they even managed to establish the run in the first half, which is why I say, as early as it admittedly is, that Baltimore looks like they may be the team to beat in the AFC this year.  It pains me to admit it, because fucking Baltimore, but those guys looked great on both sides of the ball; Rice ran for 107 yards against Pittsburgh, which even on a bad day for the Steelers is like rushing for 207 yards against anyone else, and even Flacco looked very good--in fact, he's never been as bad as Pittsburghers believe; he's lousy under pressure, but with good protection (did we even bother to try to attempt to think about blitzing?) he can be a reliable passer.  Anquan Boldin looked beautiful; watch that touchdown reception again, because it was actually snatched from excellent coverage.  Pittsburgh looked flat-footed and under-prepared; you wonder if they rested their starters too much in the short pre-season.  Our O-line and secondary continue to be problematic, and the poor line-of-scrimmage communication that caused at least two of those turnovers is completely inexcusable in a Super Bowl team, even a losing one.  The schedule is very soft from here through Week 8, when we face the Pats, and I worry about the false security of some easy wins.  Roethlisberger's first-ever off-season without bear rape and vehicular homicide seems to have overly unscrambled his brain; someone needs to cut his brake line ASAP or replace his wife with an unwilling female gorilla, or else the season, I fear, is lost.