3:15 PM: Team introductions. Yep, about 75% Steeler fans.
3:16 PM: Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin give us a horrid rendition of our National Anthem, perhaps perfect in this era of unending war.
3:19 PM: Harrison Ford does Dr. Seuss. He really needs to ditch that ear ring before the next Indy film.
3:20: Madden does analysis. Good thoughts: Seattle needs to pass first, run second. He’s in the Hall of Fame for a reason.
3:22 PM: Coin toss. Seattle calls tails. Seattle wins the toss and will receive.
3:24 PM: Michele Tafoya on the Pitt sideline. Suzy Kolber on the Seattle sideline. Adding relatively nothing to the coverage and in an ungrammatical fashion at that.
3:25 PM: Ads ahoy, though I’m not going to blog them until after the game has started.
First Quarter
Here comes the kickoff. OK! Taken at the 2, returned to the 18. Quick pass for 5. West Coast offense matches up well against the Steeler blitz. Short pass for 6. First down. Run for 8 for Alexander. Seattle in a bit of a hurry-up. Sweep for 2. That’s not going to work until the 2nd half. Blitz works on 3rd and long. Holding too. Time to punt. Touchback.
Here come the ads: Bud light hidden buds. Good stuff. Burger king whopperettes. Yikes that’s stupid. (“Brown and bubbly?” seriously? is that Diet pepsi’s new tagline?)
False start on the Steelers?! Like to see the reply of that. Nothing on the run up the middle. I’d much rather see some throws; screens and such. They give me what I want, but it only gains 1. 3 and 14. False start #2. 3 and 19. God, we’re going to lose this on field position. Ben runs to the 21. Three and out, but getting some field position was important. Good specials teams coverage.
Sierra Mist airport wand bit. Good. Bud light magic fridge. Bruce Willis looking older in 16 Blocks, but seems like decent action flick.
Seattle has a good offensive mix so far. Terrifyingly bad Toyota English/Spanish hybrid. FedEx prehistoric ad. Good Bud Light bear ad.
Three and out again on offense. Need to do better. Losing the field position war.
V for Vendetta looks great. (check QuickTime web site for trailer.) Diet Pepsi with P Diddy on the stupid side.
Weak call on the offensive pass interference in the end zone. Deserved to be a Seattle TD, I think. Seattle scores 3 on a 47 yard FG.
Good aleve ad with Spock. Gruesome Ameriquest ad. Cleaning the gutters bud light ad. Another winner.
Pixar Cars trailer not that great, but I’ll trust that the movie is better than what I’m seeing here.
First quarter for the Steelers has been 3 and out 3x. Defense on the field way too much. We’re going to be in trouble if this keeps up.