Dennis Dixon is Pittsburgh's starting quarterback tomorrow while Ben Roethlisberger begins serving a four-game suspension. What if neither of them were under center? What if it was the punter?
Kotaku reader TheBobby is a pretty strong Madden player. Not a Steeler fan, per se, he decided to test how good the Steelers would be sans Roethlisberger. With Dixon on All-Madden, he smoked Cleveland 52-0.
"One thing led to another and I challenged myself to beat the Browns with the punter and kicker as my only two QB options," TheBobby writes. That meant punter Daniel Sepulveda played the first half, and kicker Jeff Reed took snaps in the second.
With Sepulveda, the Steelers raced out to a 21-0 first half lead. Sepulveda had three touchdown passes, plus four carries for a mind-blowing 73 yards, equalling Rashard Mendenhall's output for the day.
Reed completed half his passes for 108 yards and one TD, but he also threw a pick-six interception and fumbled inside Pittsburgh territory setting up a short field TD. Still, TheBobby held on for a 28-21 victory.
So there you go. I don't know if that means the Steelers will be just fine without Roethlisberger. But it's scientific proof the Browns are for shit.
Here's the box score!
Remember, all you have to do to get yourself featured in Box Scores' Game of the Week is take a picture of whatever you've been playing - crappy cell picture will do - write up a couple sentences about why it was so compelling, and email it to me, owenATkotakuDOTcom, with "Box Scores" in the subject header.
Now the Kotaku Sports open thread commences with the sports TV schedule for today and tomorrow. All times are U.S. Eastern.
- NFL
The NFL's opening week has at long last arrived. Check local listings, but key 1 p.m. games tomorrow are the Colts at the Texans, Falcons at Steelers and Bengals at Patriots. Green Bay at Philadelphia is 4:15. The night's national matchup is Cowboys at Redskins on NBC.
Monday night is a doubleheader on ESPN; Ravens at Jets, followed by Chargers at the Chefs. 7 and 10:15 p.m. - College Football
Another full schedule awaits us today. Key games include Michigan at Notre Dame on NBC, 3:30 p.m.; Miami at Ohio State on ESPN at 3:40, Florida State at Oklahoma at 3:30 p.m. Penn State at Alabama on ESPN at 7; Oregon at Tennessee on ESPN2 at 7; and Stanford at UCLA wrapping things up at 10:30 on ESPN. - Basketball
The semifinals of the FIBA World Championships are today; Serbia vs. Turkey tipped off an hour ago on ESPN Classic; the U.S. and Lithuania follow that up at 2:30 p.m. Tomorrow, the semifinal winners meet in the championship match at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN - Tennis
My Dad's a USTA lines umpire, and he got held over at least through Saturday, so maybe you'll see him on the court today. He's also 6 out of 7 against the Hawkeye on replay challenges (and the one he missed, the point didn't have to be replayed.) The mens semis started an hour ago on CBS. The women's final is tonight at 8. Tomorrow, the men's final is at 4 p.m. on CBS. - Baseball
Philadelphia and Atlanta, separated by one game in the NL East, account for two in Fox's national package today. The Phils are at the Mets, the Braves host the Cardinals (five back in the central). West coasters get a sick-man matchup, the Angels (10 games back) at the Mariners (potential 100-game losers). Check local listings, Fox at 4 p.m. Tonight the Royals are atthe White Sox on WGN, 7 p.m.
Tomorrow, it's Cubs at Brewers on WGN at 2 and the Yankees at Rangers on TBS at 3. The nightcap is St. Louis at Atlanta on ESPN, 8 p.m. Congratulations to everyone for steadfastly avoiding the only head-to-head matchup of first and second place division rivals, the Padres and Giants, separated by a game entering Friday. - Motorsports
The Air Guard 400 from Richmond International Raceway runs tonight at 7:30 on ABC. It's the final race before the 10-race Chase for the Cup playoff begins next week. Tomorrow, the Italian Grand Prix is on Speed network at 7:30 a.m.
- Soccer
Just noting that ESPN2 had West Ham vs. Chelsea this morning, but the match is likely over, or close to it, by now.
Remember, you may send Game of the Week nominations to owenATkotakuDOTcom, and flag it "Box Scores" in the subject header. Please include your commenter handle for proper credit.
Top image via Steelers.com