Steelers 2, Lake Erie 0

Wow, what an explosive start to the 2007 campaign. Drubbing our Great Lakes brethren by a combined score of 60-10. Makes you wish we had Detroit and Chicago on this year's schedule. Ok, now for all of you that projected us at 8 or 9 wins (you know who you are), well, let's just hope that you were conservative. For the record, I'm usually on the optimistic side with projections...I said 11 or 12 wins, and I'm going to stick with that. Right now, this team has shown me nothing to rescind that.

Here are some of my quick hitters thru Week Two:

• Willie P starting to look like the complete package. The last two seasons he has dazzled us all with his ability to outrun folks. Now, we can sit back and watch one of the truly great NFL stories unfold. Watch Fast Willie's continual development into one of the NFLs elite backs. He still needs to protect the ball better.


• All the doom and gloomers that sold their PSLs the day after The Chin resigned can buy them back on EBay. They go for about $25,000 for a pair up in section 532.


• Oh, yeah, wait a minute...Dan Rooney does know a thing or two about hiring coaches. It's early, but Tomlin has been impressive.


• Mike Mularkey, Kent Whisenhunt, and Bruce Arians...would the real offensive genius please stand up??? When chicanery king Mularkey left us for Buffalo we all cried in our I.C. Lite. Then the cerebral Whiz came along and proved to be the perfect mentor for a young Ben. Now, the forward thinking Arians is looking like the guru properly suited for this emerging offense.


• Are people still questioning Big Ben? This gets old. Maybe I just don't get it. This guy does nothing other than move his offense and win games, and the geniuses still want to question his abilities and decision making. Chew on this...take the first half nightmare of 2006 away, and Big Ben has won 35 out of 41 games as an NFL starter (including playoffs) with a Super Bowl. Better career passing rating than McNabb and Favre, and less than a point lower than superstud Tom Brady (without his video guy). Yeah, you're right, Eskin, he's overrated...the Philly sports world would take Ben in a freakin' heartbeat. (Actually, after watching last night's game, I think the Birds would take Brian St. Pierre if he was available!)


• So maybe the 2007 draft was not the abortion that many nay sayers claimed. Matt Spaeth and Lamar Woodley look like players. Timmons is going to be there, and this punter has been brilliant. Oh, yeah, there's this guy named Kevin Colbert who has had a few decent drafts.

Now drop the other shoe. It's mid September and we've played two cupcakes. In fact, I think the Buffalo Bulls gave Penn State a bigger struggle than the Buffalo Bills put up in Steeltown. But mark my words on this, think of 2001 and 2004 - two seasons that no one expected anything from us. We won at least 13 games in both seasons...let's hope I'm right on this.