Week 2 was the most fun thing

To beat those Titans we needed things to go extremely right, and whatdoyouknow, everything went extremely right.

Jeff Fischer's standard gameplan is to keep the score close enough that he can still run the ball on any down. That's a lovely gameplan, one that was utilized by Bill Cowher, and to some extent is still used by Mike Shannahan. It doesn't work when the other team steals 7 points off the opening return.

It also doesn't work when you can't hold onto the ball.

Last season, opening night, Mike Tomlin said in his postgame interview that he gave his team three goals: protect the football, don't get too emotional, and be the more violent team in the trenches. He said the jury was out on the first two points, but felt like the Steelers had done enough on the third to earn a victory against the Titans. I'd say the same goals applied today, as the Steelers definitively won the battle of turnovers, played within themselves, and destroyed the opposition at the line.

In fact, I'd say we played our best game at the line of scrimmage since last year's contest against San Diego. The O-line had miscues, but held up in their assignments; meanwhile, the D-line went above and beyond in covering for the fact that we didn't have Big Snack (btw: anyone want to suggest a better backup NT than Chris Hoke? Sure, he doesn't have the build to start regularly, but damn is he good in a pinch). Lawrence Timmons made multiple stops at the line and hits behind it. James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley looked fantastic in the flats. Troy Polamalu made, perhaps the two greatest tackles for a loss I will ever see in my lifetime. Smith and Keisel did their thing, which is to fuck fatties up, while other guys swarm. Farrior did his thing, got hurt, then did his thing again. On the whole: great day in the box.

Dixon: he looked good before leaving. He didn't do anything especially impressive, he just looked good. He looked relaxed, looked like a man with a free seven points to work with, which is what we want to see. He tossed the ball with reason, and he ran it fearlessly. That's what we want to see.

Anyone want to suggest a better fourth-string QB than Chaz Batch? I'm serious. My office mates were yelling things about how Charlie is a better QB than Dixon, and my dad was telling me over the phone that I'm extremely fortunate to have him as a backup (this, of course, is coming from a man who has to try to nap while Seneca Wallace mans the helm). Seriously though, having Batch is such an overlooked blessing. I don't have any delusions that he's great; he's just dependable when all else fails. That makes you feel good as a fan, that probably makes the players feel good. Charlie Batch: A-okay!

We should probably talk about how Kerry Collins almost led a comeback against us. I'm going to save that for when I have more time. Bottom line: that come back came with the benefit of the low-percentage onside kick working; furthermore, it was against a prevent defense that was allowing room in the under zone. Still, when you've got a +7 in takeaways, you should probably win by more than 7 points. But, again, this is a discussion for some time when I'm less sleepy and more critical.

Our rookie center had two bad snaps, but his blocking is superb. Expect this next week to see more action at the line, in terms of pull blocks. They're going to allow Kemoeatu and whoever the fuck is playing RG to move on running plays, because Pouncey has proven that he can seal up his area. The playbook should have some really nice traps where you'll see the TE and FB used as a wingback. More on this to come.