Steelers Safety Guarantees Win; Line Goes up 10 Points

By now you have probably heard that Steelers safety named Anthony Smith has “guaranteed” that the Patriots perfect season will come to a close this Sunday. Just in case you haven’t:

“People keep asking me if we’re ready for the Patriots. They should be asking if they’re ready for us,” said Smith, a second-year player from Syracuse.

“We’re going to win,” added Smith. “Yeah, I guarantee a win. As long as we come out and do what we got to do. Both sides of the ball are rolling, and if our special teams come through for us, we’ve got a good chance to win.”

We were all set to concede that a perfect season was too much for any team to handle. That it would end Sunday. Now? Not so much.

If there is anything the Patriots like more than winning, it’s, “Proving people wrong.” What does that mean? No one knows, but the Pats live on it. They thrive on it. Hell, they make stuff up when there’s no one around to do the dirty work for them. They don’t have to this week.

On the Patriots’ 27-24 win over the Ravens Monday night: “They say they played their toughest game last week against Baltimore, but I think we play harder. They’re going to be in for it again this week. They’re going to have a tough week in front of them.”

On the Patriots’ receiving corps: “They’ve got [Wes] Welker and [Randy ] Moss, but they’re not like Cincinnati.”

We’ll give Smith credit for one thing. No, Randy Moss and Wes Welker are not like Cincinnati, in that they’re not a dysfunctional mess. In one breath, Smith managed to diss two Patriots by name, and two of Pittsburgh’s longstanding rivals: the Ravens and the Bengals. That’s a pretty good triple play.

Classy Steeler vet James Farrior knew immediately this would be trouble.

Halfway across the Steelers locker room, defensive captain James Farrior practically let out a moan when he heard what Smith said.

“He has to keep his mouth shut,” Farrior said.

Too late for that.

“Oh, well, I guess we have to go deal with that,” Farrior said.

Yes, they do. Look, we’re not sure why the comments of a player no one’s heard of outside of Pittsburgh would get the Patriots frothing at the mouth. We’re also not sure why the Pats need to feel disrespected every second of their lives. But we know one thing: Anthony Smith should be on Bill Belichick’s Christmas Card list.