Monday Night Football

The trend in the NFL has been towards high powered offense and barely competent defense. NFL scores are now rivaling College Football in absurdity. To be honest, I really wasn't looking forward to last nights game pitting the tough Steelers at home against the 0-10 Dolphins. Was I in for a treat!

The Pittsburgh ground crew had re-sod the field this week by laying new sod over the existing turf. Combine that with torrential rain, leaky tarps and 350 pound lineman and you have a ballgame! The drama of who was going to score first increased exponentially as the game progressed, all while players were slipping and sliding all over the place actually getting muddy.

I'm sure it was more weather than defense, what with the fumbles, dropped passes and missed field goals, but it was great to watch either way. After a quarter or so, you could see Miami play harder as they realized they might actually have a chance at winning.

The best moment came at the end of a punt in the 2nd half when the football embedded itself in the sod with nary a bounce, surprising the players, refs and commentators.

Pittsburgh nailed a field goal with 17 seconds remaining in the game to break the 0-0 tie. You'd have to go back 60+ years to find two teams that went that long before a score.