Usually biting, chewing each other's ears, gouging each other's eyes out and generally mutilating each other. The weird man love comes later in the communal bath

EAGLES won AGAIN! That makes it 5 in a row.

Had a nice chuckle this morning watching my tape of last nights Sunday Night Football. The Panthers defence player ( I forget who) who introduced himself as the Kraken from Hogwarts, all with a straight face and shades on. I hope he was doing it for a laugh and not being serious, either way it was hilarious!!

My Steelers came close to pulling off what might have been the greatest play in NFL history. If Antonio Brown would not have stepped out of bounds, that scoring play with no time left would have eclipsed the Immaculate Reception in NFL lore.

I was driving through a snow and ice storm as I haerd the final play on the radio. I was ready to pull over and make snow angels on the highway. My neighbor, a Dolphin fan, was at the game and assumed for a minute that it was a touchdown, and started out after the game until he realized the fans weren't screaming their heads off.

The Eales' season might be the most amazing story this season. What a rollercoaster.

uh, <cough> hello Stealer fans. No comments on your coach?

Tomlin is just fine. He's a hell of alot better than quite a few. Any coach has only certain talent with which to work.

Of course, there's always next year.

I have no problem with Tomlin. I think it's insane for the lague to consider taking away a draft pick because of the sideline incident, which is a tempest in a teapot.

Keep in mind that since 1969 the Steelers have had only three head coaches, all of whom have been to multiple Super Bowls and winning at least one. And Tomlin is still one of the younger coaches while also one of the most experienced.

They art the only team in sports, who haven't made a mistake with hiring head coaches since 1969.

I agree with the insanity regarding docking a draft pick. They're not going to do it, so why threaten it? I think it's to send a message to sideline personnel that future incidents will be dealt with harshly.

The solution, of course, is to train the officials. The officials should have flagged Tomlin, and probably should have awarded the TD. That would have solved the problem and served as a deterrent for similar acts in the future.

Agreed on the unbelievable run for Steeler coaches.

I've looked at all of the available replays a number of time. Cortez was closing on him well before he tackled him and would have caught him regardless of Tomlin.

Alright Steeler boys, please stop dancing around the issue, your coach is a cheater in the likes of Belickicken. Whatever the league throws at him he deserves. What if it was Rex Ryan?

WOOOOOO After a TEN YEAR Drought it finally looks like my Dolphins get to go to the dance if they keep winning out!! FINS UP!!!!

Not really. Tomlin has been coaching in the league a long time with a few teams without even the slightest scandal or controversy. It's incongruous that he would all of a sudden pick a nationally televised game against a heated rival to step on the field intentionally to interfere with a ball carrier on the field where it would be conspicuously obvious. He would have far more to lose than gain from this behavior.

During that game (and others in Baltimore) he viewed all kickoffs from that spot near the field facing the jumbo screen, but this time the long return ended near him. Yes, it was wrong, he should have been flagged, and I have no problem with a fine. As olivant said, the runner was going to be tackled anyway as the defender had an angle on him.

As for Rex Ryan, who really cares? Rex is no Mike Tomlin, and he has enough baggage with the Jets. But while Ryan was with the Jets, they had a similar play where an assistant coach or trainer deliberately stuck his foot out and tripped and injured an opposing player. The league in its wisdom never considered docking the Jets a draft pick for this conduct, which was far more egregious and undeniably deliberate than that in the Steeler case.

Romo did it again.

There has been a recent revisionist assessment of Tony Romo in the sports media recently, marked by a feature by Sports Illustrated, which concocted some statistics to suggest that Tony Romo is one of the great quarterbacks.

Sure, he put up a lot of yards, and yes, he wasn't playing defense, but he has made turning victories into losses an art form.

One of the great delights of my life is to tune into 1310 AM on Monday mornings during the season and listen to Norm Hitzges lament the Cowboys shortcomings during their previous game. Today was such a monday.

You've got to read this:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/study-reveals-nfl-s-most-unstable-fan-base-any-guesses-121613

I saw this study and I agree as the bond between these teams and their fans is fiercer than others, in particular, the warm weather teams. Though I would think that over the past decades the Raiders have done so much losing that their fans should be accustomed to it.

But Pittsburgh fans follow the Steelers as if they are immediate family. Many find that they identify more with the team than they do with their religion.

Unstable fans...hmmmm. That confirms a lot of suspicions.

It's all semantics. I'm not convinced that the study confirms a lack of stability. I prefer to look at it as being more emotionally invested in the team.

"We are fam-i-ly..."

Spoken like an attorney....and probably backed by a college professor. OR, both professions skilled in the art of spin. All kidding aside; a great franchise to follow...if you would ditch those towels.

I'm not really seeing what the Steeler player did wrong here. It is a vicious hit but it seems to me that it ought to be within the rules and spirit of the game. I did not know that kickers and punters are ruled "defenseless" throughout the play. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Here the punter is clearly trying to stop the Steeler kick returner from scoring so another Steeler player stops him. That's what he's supposed to do. If he lets that punter make the play, I think the coaches would let him hear about it during film session and being a rookie, he might not have a job the following week. I'm all for player safety but I don't think any one position ought to be safer than any other. If you step on the field and are part of the action, you're liable to get hit. It's a vicious brutal game but I thought this was a clean hit.

Its total bull. If a punter is defenseless the whole game he should have to punt then turn around and sprint to the endzone out of bounds behind him so not to interfere with any blockers or potential run backs

You're absolutely correct. The hit was clean and officials were not reprimanded because it was not deemed to be a penalty. The block generated media discussion and the NFL in typical form with eyes always focused on saving their butts from suits imposed an arbitrary punishment.

Until now, never in the history of the NFL were punters regarded as per se defenseless. In the 70s there were kickers and punters, who would make tackles downfield. If the punters today are not to be blocked and truly are defenseless, they should be required to run off the field as soon as they punt and be penalized for loitering on the field if they do not leave the field. In the alternative, if they are truly defenseless, they should wear numberless bright pink jerseys to differentiate them from players, and therefore when they are downfield in the midst of ten of his teammates, opposing players mayrecognize him as a non-player, who can not participate in the outcome of the play.

The "defenseless" designation is ridiculously applied. In the Steeler game against the Dolphins, they called a penalty for a hit (not to the head) on a defenseless player. The "defenseless player" at the time was carrying the ball and attempting to stretch for the first down.

The towels provide us with the only mental stability we have.

The ownership rights to the Terrible Towel was given to the Allegheny School outside of Pittsburgh, which provides care to mentally retarded and disabled children. The sale of the towels have brought millions of dollars to the school.

I can understand if a fan doesn't like the rule, but it was an illegal hit. The rule is pretty clear: "You can’t hit him in the head or neck, and you can’t use the crown or forehead parts of the helmet to the body.”

According to Dean Blandino, the NFL's VP of Officiating, the hit was illegal (which is why the Steeler player was fined $25k) and there should have been a flag thrown on the play (negating the TD).

http://nfl.si.com/2013/12/18/terence-garvin-fined-hit-bengals-punter-kevin-huber/

You need to read your article a little more closely. The key to the fine was the finding that the punter is considered a defenseless player throughout the down, and even if he's downfield, he gets "defenseless player protection." Had that block been on a linebacker, there would be no fine.

Even if the punter is engaged in tackling a ball carrier, under the league's ruling he is defenseless.

It's interesting to note that the punter Huber did not call the block a cheap shot. I guess that contrary to the league, for which he plays, he considers himself a football player.

Are you saying it was a legal hit, or that the rule should be changed. Do you dispute the quotes from Blandino?

I don't have a dog in this fight, and didn't know about these punter related news until the SNF game. These rules weren't newly introduced this season, or were they?

I thought the deal with punters/kickers were that they more or less keep themselves out of the way during a play, they're untouchable. But if they're deep in the thick of it, they're on their own?