As we prepare for another year of NFL football, let's take a look back at the highs and lows from 2014 for each team. Welcome to NFL Dos and Don'ts. If you missed one, you can read all our recaps right here.DoIf there is a short list of teams that are almost always Dos, the Pittsburgh Steelers are on it. Sure they have bad years, like any team, but they never seem to be down for long. Even last year, losing to teams like the Browns, Tampa Bay, and the Jets—we'll get to that—they still managed to top their division with 11 wins. Much to the dismay of everyone outside of Yinzerdelphia, the Steelers are a pretty solid franchise. We could probably choose some deep pass that Roethlisberger got off after scrambling around the pocket for the entire lifetime of a very large dog, but that's too boring. That's too Model Franchise Steelers. Instead, we're going with this crazy-ass interception.Defensive end Brett Keisel got a hand on this ball to initially deflect it, but it just sort of went flitting by him. It then bounced directly off Lawrence Timmons's face as he was running to cover the intended recipient, Arian Foster. Timmons only realized the ball was coming straight for his face when it was inches from him, which resulted in a wonderful bit of slapstick as he tried to catch his own head. While this was all happening, the ball popped back up in the air and right into Keisel's waiting arms. Don't waste my time with cornerbacks jumping routes, or QBs losing linebackers in the formation, Do give me a defensive end interception off his teammates' face any day.As we sometimes do, we are awarding the Steelers with an Honorable Mention Do because I make the rules, and I am a runaway tyrant drunk on power. Also, because I think this GIF of Ben Roethlisberger pump-faking the cameraman out of his seat is great. This is borderline unfair; I would like to see it at least three times a game.
Don'tWe may have spilled the beans on the Don't up there but, really, you had to see this one coming. Don't—do not, do not, do not—under any circumstance, lose to the New York Jets. Unless it's like the last week of the season, and you've got your absolute best-case scenario for the playoffs wrapped up, you should never lose to the New York Jets. This game was played in Week 10. The Jets had exactly one win going into that game. One. Which means they had nine losses. Among those losses? a 31-0 blowout by the Chargers, followed by a 31-17 dismantling from the Broncos, and a 43-23 pasting by the Bills. Don't ever let the Jets do this to you.
That's currently-out-of-football Mike Vick roasting your secondary. The Jets went absolutely berserk for 17 points in the first quarter and shellshocked the Steelers. The blood wasn't so much in the water for the Jets at this point in the season—the blood was the water and yet…they beat the Steelers 20-13.The Pittsburgh Steelers: pretty good football team. The New York Jets: barely a football team. This was an unforgivable Don't.
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