Live from the Dallas Galleria: It's the View from Texas Week 10

The more I watch football, the more I realize what my stepfather taught me is true:

You cannot truly be successful in the NFL without running the football and having defense as the cornerstone of your franchise.

One reason the Steelers have never been a truly awful team in my lifetime is that they have always run the ball at least adequately and stopped the run with some regularity.

No team in football has been successful without these two key linchpins of football.

If you live by your quarterback, you will die by your quarterback, no matter WHO he is.

As I sit in a mall in Dallas, TX with a sweatshirt on, I am finally reminded that the REAL football season is just now beginning. This time of year is what separates the men from the boys. This time of year is when the brand of football all Steeler Fans have come to know to be the truth will become evident.

It is for THIS reason that I have constantly harked on the fact that unless the Steelers get the Vaunted Indianapolis Colts on the frozen tundra of Heinz Field in January, the road to Oscar's hometown will take a decidedly uphill appearance.

Watch the Colts/Bengals game very closely. This will be the first REAL game the Colts play this year, other than the Patriots game and the Jaguars game. This game is far more important to the Bengals than it is to the Colts. The Bengals cannot escape the fact that they got mushed at HOME by the Steelers. To catch anything approximating that from the Colts - again at home - would be devastating to the psyche of a young team, especially one that STILL has to travel to Pittsburgh with the division on the line.

As for the Colts, remember this: when was the last time you saw THEM without their starting Quarterback?