SteezBros

How Badly Will Big Ben's Suspension Hurt The Steelers

2010-04-29T11:55:00.003-04:00

Brian Burke at the excellent blog Advanced NFL Stats tries to tackle this question. In the write up below, Burke notes that the replacement of Roethlisburger with an average quarterback would probably result in one extra loss over four games. With Big Ben we might go 3-1, but without him, we would go 2-2. But, the Steelers back ups have played much better than average in the last four years. I hope that trend continues for at least four to six more games.

Over his career, Roethlisberger has averaged 6.7 net yards per attempt (NYPA) and a 3.4% interception rate. In 2009, the league average was 6.2 NYPA and 3.1% int rate. According to my game probability model, all things being equal, Roethlisberger's passing stats would turn an average team into one with a 57% chance of beating an average opponent.
If we replace him with a substitute for a few games, it's hard to predict how the Steelers' passing game would do. But just as an exercise, say their passing game drops by one standard deviation. Their NYPA would be 5.7 and their int rate would be 4.5%. All else equal, this would drop them from a 57% team to a 40% team.
If the suspension, which is expected to be announced later today, were for four games, you could think of it as a 4 * 0.17 = 0.7 win penalty for Pittsburgh.
But there's something unusual about Roethlisberger's replacements over the past several years. Since 2006, Steeler backup QBs have averaged 7.4 NYPA and a 2.1% int rate, a substantial improvement over Roethlisberger's numbers! Charlie Batch, Byron Leftwhich, and Dennis Dixon combined for 1930 yards on 243 attempts. They gave up 5 ints and 54 sack yards. The backup QBs differed from Roethlisberger primarily in int rate and sack rate.
Roethlisberger was sacked on 9.1% of his drop backs, while his replacements were sacked at a 4.0% clip. Assuming a backup, whoever it is, continues to perform so well, he would make a 50% team into a 67% team.
The backups were sometimes playing in lower leverage situations, so it's not fair to expect they would continue to perform as well as they did. It's also likely they would regress to the mean, but it's hard to say by how much.
Still, these numbers might make it easier for the Steelers to consider putting Roethlisberger on the trading block.
For reference, you can see how the Steeler backups compare to Roethlisberger in terms of Win Probability Added (WPA) and Expected Points Added (EPA) over thepast several seasons here.

What do you think? What will the Steelers' record be after four games?

Processing the Draft

2010-04-29T11:16:00.004-04:00

The dust has settled from the three day NFL draft. And it's time to weigh in.

If you missed the draft, here is a rundown of the players selected by the Steelers.

After the draft, I like to evaluate two questions:

1. What was the strategy?

It's difficult to clearly label Kevin Colbert strategy. Philly likes to draft linemen and New England will almost always trade down, but the Steelers will sometimes trade down, sometimes trade up, sometimes draft for need, and sometimes draft the best player available. Whatever the strategy, the front office has done a great job the last 10+ years.

This year, after the first round pick, the most puzzling decision was the drafting of three linebackers. With Harrison, Farrior, Timmons, Woodley, Foote, and Fox already in the line up, the Steelers had bigger positions of need. The depth at outside linebacker was pretty weak, but Jason Worilds and Thad Gibson won't be making much of an impact on this defense any time soon unless Deebo or Woodley gets injured. Defensive rookies rarely start for Dick Lebeau. Joey Porter, Jason Gildon, LaMarr Woodley, and James Harrison first made an impact on special teams before becoming starters. And if there is one area the team needs to improve, it's special teams. So maybe Worilds, Gibson, and Sylvester can improve the special teams while they make the transition from defensive end to linebacker.

With the rest of the picks, the Steelers tried to add competition in a variety of spots. Another late round lineman will push the back up tackles. A new third round wide receiver can be tutored by Hines Ward and hopefully become the next Mike Wallace. A late round corner to push Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis. A big running back for the fans to adore. And a developmental project at defensive end to push Ziggy Hood and Sunny Harris. Mike Tomlin loves competition. Hopefully the rookies will provide it.

2. Is the team better after the draft?

There are three ways this team improved through the draft.

1. Offensive Line - The O-line needed an infusion of talent. Maurkice Pounceyis a talented man. If Pouncey can play well at right guard, the Steelers could become a dominant offensive team. The Steelers struggled running the ball in the red zone. As a result, they kicked a lot of field goals. Willie Colon and Pouncey, with Kemo pulling from the left, should be able to open more holes for Mendenhall. Trai Essex wasn't bad in pass protection last year, but he's more of a finesse player than a mauling blocker. With Big Ben out four to six games, the Steelers need to become a much better rushing team. Maurkice Pouncey will help.

2. Special Teams - The team didn't draft a bunch of back up linebackers for nothing. Speed and desire was desperately needed on Special Teams. There are no excuses.

3. Cornerback - At the end of the day Friday, I was really confused. The Steelers needed help in the defensive backfield and a late round pick wasn't going to cut it. Ike Taylor, Willie Gay, Joe Burnett, and Keenan Lewis were torched last year. They combined for one interception. Beyond offensive line, it was the one area that desperately needed some help. The front office noticed and brought back an old face - Bryant McFadden. McFadden is by no means a superstar, but he can fill the #2 cornerback role and let Gay and Burnett continue to improve in the nickel and dime packages. This is a big upgrade and, combined with Troy's return, should make the Steelers a top three defense next year.

Overall, I would have liked to see the team get more players that could make an immediate impact. Depth at safety and youth on the defensive line wouldn't have hurt either. Many called this draft one of the strongest in a decade. In the near term, the Steelers got only one or two players that will improve the team immediately. Guys like Worilds, Gibson, and Sanders need some time to develop. Who knows? Maybe Dwyer can become the big back that Pittsburgh loves. But that's not the Steelers M.O. The team almost always drafts for the future. It's worked well in the past. Let's hope it continues.

BIG BEN SUSPENDED 4-6 GAMES

2010-04-21T13:50:00.005-04:00

According to multiple sources, Big Ben has been suspended for 6 games. The sentence could be reduced to 4 games with good behavior.

Ben will miss games against Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Tennessee, and Baltimore. He could potentially miss games against Cleveland and Miami as well.

The suspension will be without pay. Meaning Roethlisberger will miss out on checks worth between $1.9 and $3.3 million. I know he's already rolling in dough, but that's a heck of a lot of money.

Big Ben could appeal the suspension. It's unlikely though. The appeal would be heard by Roger Goodell. The man who suspended Roethliberger in the first place.

If you ask me, the suspension is a little harsh for someone who was never charged with a crime. I understand that players are expected to live up to a higher standard than "was not charged with a crime", but I still think this is overly harsh. Especially considering the other side of the story that the media seems to ignore.

Along with this report, the Post Gazette and ESPN are reporting that the Steelers are considering trade options. Originally, I would have said this is absurd. But, I'm starting to think it's as likely to happen as not.

Stay tuned.

Steelers Trade for Byron Leftwich

2010-04-21T13:32:00.002-04:00

The Steelers traded a 7th round pick to Tampa Bay to bring back Byron Leftwich. Interestingly enough, the Steelers received a 7th round compensatory draft pick for losing Leftwich a year ago.

What does it mean? Will the team cut Batch or Dixon to make room for Leftwich? Which of the three will start when Big Ben is suspended? Will the team carry 4 quarterbacks?

Does this set up the team to trade Big Ben?

Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Steelers Schedule Released

2010-04-21T13:17:00.002-04:00

The release of the Steelers schedule held more importance this year than year's past. For all the hoopla, the NFL schedule release means very little. We already knew all of the team's opponents. Heck, we know 14 of the 16 opponents the Steelers will face in 2011 (if there isn't a lockout). The only new information is date and time.

But with the impending suspension of Big Ben, the date and time of games is more important than ever. ESPN is reporting the suspension will be 4-6 games. The first four games for the Steelers will be Atlanta, at Tennessee, at Tampa Bay and Baltimore. Three of the four teams missed the playoffs last year, but Atlanta and Tennessee are good teams that have the potential to bounce back after making the playoffs in 2008. Tampa Bay is still re-building. And the game against Baltimore is one of the most important of the season. Week 5 is the team's bye. Week 6 brings a matchup against Cleveland

Overall, it's not too bad. It could have been worse. We could have played Baltimore, Cincinnati. New Orleans and New England. The week 5 bye could be fortuitous if Ben's suspension is five or six games. But, it's no cakewalk either. Atlanta, Tennessee, and Baltimore are good teams.

I wouldn't complain too much about a 2-2 start.

Here is the schedule in its entirety:

Sept. 12 vs. Atlanta, 1 p.m. ET
Sept. 19 at Tennessee, 1 p.m. ET
Sept. 26 at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m. ET
Oct. 3 vs. Baltimore, 1 p.m. ET
Oct. 10 Bye
Oct. 17 vs. Cleveland, 1 p.m. ET
Oct. 24 at Miami, 1 p.m. ET
Oct. 31 at New Orleans, 8:20 p.m. ET (Sunday Night)
Nov. 8 at Cincinnati, 8:30 p.m. ET (Monday Night)
Nov. 14 vs. New England, 8:20 p.m. ET (Sunday Night)
Nov. 21 vs. Oakland, 1 p.m. ET
Nov. 28 at Buffalo, 1 p.m. ET
Dec. 5 at Baltimore, 8:20 p.m. ET (Sunday Night)
Dec. 12 vs. Cincinnati, 1 p.m. ET
Dec. 19 vs. NY Jets, 4:15 p.m. ET
Dec. 23 vs. Carolina, 8:20 p.m. ET (Thursday night)
Jan. 2 at Cleveland, 1 p.m. ET

Back to Football

2010-04-15T17:05:00.004-04:00

If you told Art Rooney, Kevin Colbert, and Mike Tomlin in January that mid-April would be a crazy time for the Steelers, they probably would have agreed. After all, the NFL Draft is in mid-April. And there is plenty of drama debating the merits of the many 300+ lb men that will become professional football players.

But I doubt they would have predicted this. Santonio Holmes, our troubled Super Bowl MVP winner, publicly admitting via twitter to “wake and baking”, then subsequently being suspended for violating the NFL substance abuse policy and being traded for a 5th round draft pick and a case of Iron City (love those aluminum bottles). At the same time, your two-time Super Bowl winning QB was being accused (for the second time) of sexual assault.

It has been a troubling time to work for (or root for) the Steelers.

Heck, even after the DA informed the public that there was not nearly enough evidence to charge Roethlisberger with a crime, the media and the public have skewered Big Ben and demanded punishment. For many examples, see:

Jeffrey Chadiha on ESPN writes “Roethlisberger must face the hammer”
Peter King from CNNSI writes “Ben Roethlisberger deserves to be suspended for his actions”
Mark Kriegel of FoxSports writes “Roethlisberger has earned punishment”
Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette writes “If Roethlisberger isn’t suspended…there is no justice in the NFL.”
Pat McManamon at NFL Fanhouse writes “It’s time for the Steelers to cut Ben Roethlisberger"

Again, this is in response to the decision NOT to charge Big Ben with a crime.

I spent a significant time yesterday writing a post to respond to these morally righteous reactions. Granted, I’ll never be accused of objectivity when defending a player on my favorite team, but I just don’t agree with the large majority of what’s floating around the interwebs about the topic. Luckily, I didn’t have to post what I wrote because I found pieces by much more talented writers than myself that get to the heart of the issue.

Christmas Ape at KSK takes NFL Fanhouse to task

Cotter nails it at One For The Other Thumb

And Michael Rosenberg at CNNSI sums up my feelings nicely:

Now NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and/or Steelers President Art Rooney II may suspend Roethlisberger. The question is: for what? Buying drinks for underaged people? Being accused of a crime that he may or may not have committed, but was never even charged with?
I'm not saying a suspension is right or wrong; frankly, there is a mountain of evidence that Roethlisberger is a self-absorbed egomaniac with a heavy jerk streak, and I won't lose a minute of sleep if he is suspended. If I were a Steelers fan, I'd feel weird rooting for the guy.

I'm just saying: if players can be suspended for being egomaniacs and jerks, this is opening a very large can full of very nasty worms.

But enough of the off-field issues. This post is dedicated to actual football. The NFL Draft is one week away and the Steelers need to find impact players to get them back to the playoffs. Granted, our rookies rarely make an impact in their first year, so we’ll be relying on players like Ziggy Hood, Mike Wallace, Keenan Lewis, Joe Burnett, and Frank Summers to improve a team that went 9-7 a year ago.

If there was a silver lining to 2009, it was a good year to miss the playoffs. This draft class is being billed as one of the strongest of the last ten years. The Steelers need to capitalize on their position in the draft.

With their first round pick, there seems to be a consensus that the Steelers should look at one of four places:

1. Improving the secondary: William Gay was not the answer as a number two cornerback
2. Adding talent to the offensive line: The same argument has been made for five years. The running game struggles and Big Ben takes too many sacks.
3. Grooming a Future Nose Tackle: The three starter
4. Injecting talent and youth at Wide Receiver: With the trade of Santonio Holmes, the Steelers’ future looks shaky at wide receiver. Hines Ward will eventually get old. Outside of Mike Wallace, the rest of the cupboard is bare.

At each of these spots, there are several players that would fit nicely.
1. Joe Haden from Florida is the consensus number one corner in the draft. He was projected as a top ten pick, but submitted a slow 40 time at the combine, which has hurt his draft stock. After Haden, Kyle Wilson from Boise St. and Kareem Jackson from Alabama would likely be the next two off the board. Safety Earl Thomas from Texas has been mentioned as well. He could play as a corner in the nickel and provide back ups to Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu.

2. The mock drafts giving a Steeler an offensive lineman focus on two guys – Mike Iupati from Idaho and Maurkice Pouncey from Florida. Iupati is a monster of a man with rare athleticism for his size who could take Trai Essex’s spot at right guard and possibly replace Willie Colon at right tackle if he leaves in free agency next year. Iupati dominated in college, but there are questions about the level of competition he played in college and his ability to understand pass blocking schemes. Regardless of these concerns, it’s difficult for a guard to get a first round grade, meaning Iupati’s rare combination of power and athleticism give him the potential to be a top guard in the NFL. Maurkice Pouncey played both center and guard at Florida often leading the way for Tim Tebow’s dives into the end zone. There are no questions about the level of competition in the SEC where he lined up against nose tackles such as Shaun Cody and Dan Williams. As a Steeler he could start at right guard and eventually take over as Justin Hartwig’s replacement at center.

3. At nose tackle, there is really only one name to discuss in the first round– Dan Williams of Tennessee. He is being billed as the draft’s best pure nose tackle. A guy that can take on multiple blockers and single handedly stop an opponent’s running game. The two biggest questions facing this draft pick are: 1.) Will he be available? – several teams in front of the Steelers would love to draft Williams. 2) Do the Steelers have bigger needs? – with Big Snack re-signed for three years, is it necessary to draft his replacement now with the needs at cornerback, offensive line, and wide receiver?

4. At wide receiver, the conversation begins and ends with Dez Bryant, the superstar from Oklahoma State. Dez Bryant has rare talent and has been compared to Randy Moss. Unfortunately, the comparison is apt because Bryant comes in with a lot of baggage. He was suspended for most of his senior year for lying to the NCAA about his relationship with Deion Sanders. Other character concerns such as frequently attending practices late and general immaturity have been cited by scouts, which has caused his stock to fall from a top 5 pick to mid-late first round. I think a little too much has been made of the character concerns. Bryant has never been arrested, used drugs (that we know of), and was not considered a bad teammate. The length of the NCAA suspension was absurd.

This is how I think it will play out. Joe Haden will be at the top of the draft board, but the Steelers will have to move up to get him. San Francisco needs a corner and has two picks (#13 and #17) before the Steelers. If Haden gets past the 13th pick, the Steelers could move up, but I doubt he drops that far.

Dan Williams will be scooped up by Miami at #12.

After jettisoning Santonio, the team will avoid Dez Bryant due to character concerns (or he might go to Denver at #11).

Earl Thomas will be gone by the 18th pick and Iupati may be too.

Leaving the Steelers to choose from Kyle Wilson, Maurkice Pouncey, or the dreaded best player available.

If you made me pick right now, I think Pouncey will be the man.

Then again, there are rumors that Roethlisberger will be traded for Sam Bradford. (Red flag: This report brought to you by the guy who reported the Steelers would cut Casey Hampton.)

Those are my thoughts. What do you think the Steelers will/should do with their first round pick?

Whhattt? Goodbye Santonio

2010-04-11T23:51:00.003-04:00

Santonio Holmes Traded to the New York Jets for a Fifth Round Pick

The crazy offseason continues. Multiple sources are confirming that the Steelers have traded the Super Bowl MVP to the Jets. A lawsuit was recently filed claiming Santonio threw a drink at a woman in a bar. Apparently the Steelers had enough of Santonio's off the field exploits (this is at least the third off the field incident since he was drafted).

I'm shocked by the news. Rumors have been circulating that the Steelers would not re-sign Holmes at the end of the 2010 season when his contract expires, but I fully expected him to be on the team in the coming year.

The compensation doesn't seem to be nearly enough for a receiver that eclipsed 1,200 yards last season. Perhaps the Steelers know more than we do. Profootball talk recently reported that Holmes will receive a four game suspension

Let the Dez Bryant rumors begin.

Dissension Among the Rooney Family? Ben Announcement on Monday

2010-04-09T14:29:00.004-04:00

First some facts. Keep reading for a little bit of rumor mongering.

According to a multitude of sources including the Post-Gazette, Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Fredric D. Bright will announce at a press conference on Monday at 2 PM whether he has decided to charge Ben with sexual assault. The announcement comes very shortly after the case was given to the DA by the police department especially when some experts were saying a decision could be months away. The timing could mean one of two things: Either the case is so flimsy that there is no conceivable way charges could be brought against Ben making it easy for the DA to come to a conclusion so quickly or it was so obvious that there was enough evidence to bring charges that the DA didn't need more than a few days to make his decision.

The fact that a press conference has been called is leading a lot of people to assume that Ben will be charged with sexual assault. Normally, I would believe that to be true because, let's be honest, who calls a presser to announce nothing. But the high profile nature of this case gives me a moments pause. Having Ben Roethlisberger possibly commit sexual assault in a rural county in Georgia is the most high profile thing that will probably ever occur to this DA. He needs to milk the publicity for all its worth. If he is charging Ben, then he will have a long time to get his name out there and be in the papers. If he isn't charging Ben, this is his last chance to be in the public eye. He needs to make a convincing case to the voters as to why he isn't charging Ben and why that is the correct decision.

From the anonymous source department, according to a friend of the Rooney family, Art II and Dan do not see eye to eye on the Ben situation. According to the source, if Ben is charged with sexual assault and Art does not cut Ben, Dan will resign the Ambasadorship to Ireland and return to Pittsburgh to re-take control of the team from Art II and cut Ben himself. Dan is tired of the team's name and the family's name being besmirched and does not want to stand for this type of behavior from the players any longer. Adds a little more excitement to the announcement Monday. I would be interested to see if they wait till his trial is over to cut him if he does get charged.

Will Ben be charged or not? What do you think the announcement means and the timing?

Is the Steeler Way Dead?

2010-03-11T14:03:00.002-05:00

Interesting read from Joe Starkey at the Trib. Starkey argues that the Steelers are no longer morally above any other NFL team because we tolerate player arrests and bad behavior just like everyone else. Couple that with the lack of a power running game over the past few seasons and it may seem like Steeler Football as we know it is long gone. What do you think? Do you think the Steelers had good reason to treat the Cedric Wilson and James Harrison situations differently? Should more disciplinary action have been taken against Santonio for his multiple run-ins with the law? Should we cut any player that gets arrested? What do you think the Steelers should do with Ben Roethlisberger?

Two Big Things-Part 2

2010-03-09T23:45:00.003-05:00

For the caption contest on this one, leave your best theory on what you think happened inside the bar bathroom in Georgia.

The second big news of the past couple days involves the leader of this team, Ben Roethlisberger. With another sexual misconduct case still pending, another woman, this time a 20 year old college student (she has dropped out of college since the incident), has accused Ben of sexual assault. Unlike in the first instance, the woman went immediately to the police and to the hospital. Ben has once again, through his attorney (the same one who represented Ray Lewis when he was charged with murder), denied the allegations and professed his innocence. Ben is cooperating fully with the police's ongoing investigation. The police and DA should reach a determination by Friday or early next week whether they will charge Ben with a crime.

In the post I penned when the civil suit was filed against him back in July, I wrote about Ben's irresponsibility towards partying and women writing that I thought that he was a dbag personality wise because he thinks he is God's gift to women. He believes that it is a privilege to sleep with him. Any girl that thinks otherwise is crazy. We continue to get evidence that what I wrote was and still is true. Whether he is ultimately charged with a crime, where there is smoke, there is fire. There is one thing I know he is guilty of for sure and that is poor judgment.

Take a look at the above picture. It was taken around his rookie season. I can understand going out and partying when you are 23 years old, the QB of the Steelers and a recent millionaire. I cannot understand continuing this behavior once you are the established leader of a two time Superbowl Champion, 28 years old and you are still in the midst of a prior sexual misconduct suit. Why put yourself in the situation? You have to know you are a target for this kind of stuff. Why risk it with a $100 million contract on the line.

The fact that he is still exhibiting the same behavior as five years and as five months ago leads me to question his judgment greatly. Is this really who we want as the face of our franchise? Should we turn into Bengals fans and look the other way while our players behave like animals for the sake of winning some football games? Do you think that Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Drew Brees would ever place themselves in the circumstances that Ben continually places himself in? I don't. You know where Peyton is right now? Watching film, trying to win games next year or making another commercial.

His case is not going to be a he said, she said case like the first one. When the girl went to the hospital, they did a bunch of medical tests on her called a rape kit. The results of which are fairly reliable in determining whether a sexual assault occurred. There also are alot of witnesses. How reliable they are remains to be seen. Anyway you look at it, we should know soon whether charges will be brought against Ben. Anyway you look at it, the situation is not ideal. Beyond being repulsive behavior from our QB, it has major implications going forward for our team and for Ben.

I would be shocked if Ben isn't called in for a sitdown with Roger Goodell at some point in the near future. I am not sure if it will be made public or not, but it will happen. Goodell can suspend Ben without criminal charges being filed and without a conviction if they are filed. Goodell has usually waited for cases to make their way through the legal system before he takes any action. The team has I'm sure starting making contingency plans if Ben can't play this season. The Rooneys are a conservative bunch. They are definitely asking themselves whether they want Ben as the face of their franchise. He should have learned from his past run-in and didn't. What does that say about him? Is football more important to him or are the spoils of being a football player what matters most? It is pretty obvious to me.

For the team's future, I think we would be ok with Batch for next year. Just OK. Not a Superbowl contender. Maybe Dennis Dixon beats out Batch but Dixon is still a work in progress. Or we could sign a free agent QB. I don't even know anyone worthwhile to bring in. Derek Anderson just got released but who the hell wants him? Not even the Browns. We could draft someone this year as an eventual replacement. I have heard Tim Tebow thrown around. He is a project but he is also a proven winner. Colt McCoy's name has surfaced as a possibility in the second round. The problem is, this team is ready to win now. Those QB's are not. We need Ben to pull it all together. But first he needs to pull his life together and figure out where his priorities lie. I hope he does it sooner rather than later. I really hope that he does not have to do it from a jail cell. If he did what he is accused of, he deserves jail and he will never wear the black and gold again. Even if he is found innocent, I still think he is a dbag and I will remain skeptical of him until he exhibits some sound judgment. I may be waiting awhile.

Leave your thoughts in the comments. What are your theories?

Two Big Things-Part 1

2010-03-09T13:12:00.006-05:00

Leave your thoughts in the comments on these moves and how it effects us going into the draft for the comment contest.

Two big things have been going on in Steeler's land the past few days. First, the Steelers have actually made some waves in free agency. Normally, they only sign their own free agents and maybe bring in one outsider. This year, they have made more signings in one day than in the past 5 off-seasons combined. They started off as they usually do, by signing one of their own in Ryan Clark. Many reports had Clark effectively gone. He had scheduled a visit to the Dolphins. Meanwhile, the Steelers seemed to be bringing in his replacement by interviewing Will Allen of the Bucs. Much to everyone's surprise, a new 4 year, $14 million contract was reported between the Steez and Clark yesterday afternoon. Even more surprising was that Will Allen was also signed. Bringing in Allen provides safety depth and also helps to improve the special teams. Allen was a special teams standout for Tampa as the special teams captain. Due to this move, you can probably kiss Tyrone Carter goodbye. Allen signed for 3 years, $4.4 million and is only 27 years old.

My Read: I love both of these moves. Ryan Clark is a perfect fit to play alongside Troy. Without Troy, he isn't so great, but Troy allows Clark to roam around the deep middle and crush anyone who dares enter his territory. As for Will Allen, some have compared his current situation to the one that allowed us to get Ryan Clark at next to nothing from the 'Skins. Plus, we could definitely use the special teams help.

Continuing on with the improving the special teams theme, the Steelers signed WR and special teams ace Arnaz Battle, formerly of the 49ers to a three year deal. The move seems fitting since we imported the 49ers' special teams coach to replace Bob Ligahesky, earlier this off-season. You would think the Steez would be done with moves but they weren't. An old face is coming back to the burgh in Antwaan Randle-El. He signed a three year deal and was the Redskins second leading receiver last season.

My Read: While in the 'burgh Randle-El was great on special teams as a returner and probably will challenge Stefan Logan for that position next season. Unless Logan can get himself involved in the offense (I would love to see him get in there and catch screens but since we are the worst screen team in the league, I am not holding my breath), he may not be back next season. But with the departure of Willie Parker, he could stay on as Kick Returner and backup RB. Then Randle-El can handle the punt returning duties and third WR slot. Randle-El's return could also mark the return of the trick play since he was featured prominently in most of them in his first stint as a Steeler. No one can forget his picture perfect pass to Hines in the Superbowl. It was better than any pass Ben threw in that game. I am very happy to have him back. Our four receivers are better than almost any other in the league right now. Hines, Santonio, Mike Wallace and Randle El. I'd love to see Randle-El in the slot. Lastly, signing Randle-El and Battle could signal the end of Limas Sweed's time with the team.

In their final move of a very busy day, the Steelers added some O-line depth by bringing in Jonathan Scott of the Bills, reuninitng another player with a former coach. Our new O-line coach, Sean Kugler, was the Bills O-line coach last season. Scott is a versatile lineman, starting two games at right tackle and six at left tackle last season for the Bills.

My Read: Nice to see depth being brought in that is experienced. I think it speaks highly of Scott that his former coach wanted to keep working with him. I think Tony Hills is probably gone after the move and this should be a wake up call to Urbik to get his stuff together.

Leave your thoughts in the comments for a chance to win some tickets to the Carnegie Museum.

Steezbros Contests

2010-03-09T12:13:00.001-05:00

Steezbros has recently entered into a marketing partnership that will be provide us with prizes to give away to readers we select. The way we are going to choose the winners will be via comment contests. Comments help our blog to become more popular and enable it to get searched more often when people are looking for Steeler blogs. You can sort of look at as a partnership between us and our readers as well. We give you prizes for supporting our blog and helping it grow. It is also a way to show our appreciation for everyone out there that devotes time to read our blog.

Our first prize to be given away is:

Two Carnegie Museum Passes (Carnegie Museum is in Pittsburgh for those wondering)

The sponsor of the prize is PittsburghBudgetCars.com. They are known for their used cars in Pittsburgh.

What you have to do to win is, post comments on any of the posts we put up by the end of the week. After Friday, we will choose what comment we like the best and award the passes to that commenter. You may enter as many times as you like. There are going to be many more opportunities to win prizes throughout the rest of the off-season and into the season so keep reading and keep sending in comments. Good luck!

Casey Hampton Gets His Wish; Reed Franchised

2010-02-25T10:27:00.006-05:00

This is probably how I would react if I were given $11 million guaranteed. Especially the shirt off part.

After publicly stating his desire not to be franchise tagged, Casey Hampton got his wish today by signing a 3 year, $21 million deal, with $11 million of that being guaranteed. Not sure what I think about this just yet. Not having a salary cap next season probably helps to make better sense of this deal. I for one was hoping he got tagged. I think a pissed off Big Snack would come to camp more motivated next season since he would be playing for his next deal. Now, he has nothing to worry about and may come to camp as a hot air balloon. On the other hand, we have no viable replacement for him at the moment so I am glad he is back on the team. I would be surprised if he lasts the duration of the deal though unless he really gets in shape the next few years. Thoughts? I will comment back to anything worthwhile.

Also, I realize we haven't posted in a while but it is the off-season for us as well. Not that much relevant has happened since we failed to make the playoffs. More posts will be coming with the start of free agency and the draft approaching. Some things that should have been mentioned but weren't due to general malaise and depression from not making the post-season:

1) Dick LeBeau making the Hall of Fame-apologies to St. Dick. This is a much deserved honor that was too long in coming. He is still in the top ten all time for interceptions and he is a defensive innovator. Congrats.

2) Omar Khan not named GM of the Seahawks. Our front office flies under the radar most of the time because we rarely make a splash in free agency, trade anyone or doing anything flashy. This is a good thing in my opinion because our personnel rarely gets pillaged. Our chief negotiator and cap guru, Omar Khan, was up for the Seahawks GM gig but was not selected. Good news for us. In that same vain...

3) We lost Doug Whaley, the pro scouting coordinator to the Buffalo Bills Assistant GM position. Brandon Hunt was hired as his replacement. Hunt was with the Steelers from 2005-2007 as a scout, then was with the Texans until we hired him back after Whaley departed. I think this is something to be concerned about a little. Our scouting department is generally superb so losing one of our top guys could result in a drop off.

4) New coaches hired:

a) Scottie Montgomery, WR Coach-played for Denver and Carolina, held same position with football powerhouse Duke from 2006-2009
b) Al Everest, Special Teams Coordinator, formerly held the same position with SF
c) Jerry Olsavsky-Defensive Quality Control Coach, played LB for the Steez from 1989-1997
d) Sean Kugler-Offensive Line Coach, Bills O-line coach from 2008-2009. The Bills gave up 46 sacks last season, leaving them only 4 behind our total of 50. With Ben at the helm, I bet we can reach 50 again next year.
e) Randy Fichtner-QB Coach, replaces Ken Anderson who retired. Fichtner was our WR coach

BREAKING NEWS

While I was typing this post, Jeff Reed was designated our Franchise Player, earning him a $2.8 million dollar pay day next season. No cap. No worries. Push this off tell 2011, if there is a season. I am a Reed fan. He is very reliable and he provides endless hours of entertainment with his internet pics and Sheetz rage incidents. The downside is he stinks at kicking off. Josh claims he was ranked as 40th in the league last season. Please sign a kickoff specialist and give him a chance in camp. Then we can finally cut Tony Hills and have someone he actually contributes to the team taking up a roster spot.

Firings Continue

2010-01-07T13:14:00.002-05:00

According to the Post-Gazette, Special Teams Coordinator, Bob Ligashesky, has been fired. It really should not come as a surprise since our coverage and return units were both ranked near the bottom of the league. Although Logan did set the record for return yards for the Steelers he almost never had decent running lanes. As mentioned in the article, Bobby April is available who would be an awesome get for the Steez.

Arians in; Zierlein out

2010-01-06T16:41:00.002-05:00

According to the PG, Bruce Arians will be kept on as offensive coordinator next year.

Sad face.

According to the same report, offensive line coach Larry Zierlein will be fired.

I don't think this makes much difference unless some talent is added to the line.

Offseason Questions

2010-01-05T14:08:00.005-05:00

The Steeler offseason began Monday and the first change was announced yesterday. Ken Anderson, the QB coach, is retiring. Other changes have been promised. As we enter the offseason, I've created a list of questions that I think need to be answered. In the next few weeks, we'll explore these questions in detail.

1. Will Bruce Arians be fired?
1a. Who would replace Arians?

2. Which free agents will be retained?

The current list of pending unrestricted free agents (via Mondesishouse) going into the 2010 season is as follows:

QB Charlie Batch, LB Rocky Boiman, S Tyrone Carter, S Ryan Clark, DE Nick Eason, NT Casey Hampton, DE Travis Kirschke, RB Willie Parker, K Jeff Reed, CB Deshea Townsend, and WR Joey Galloway.

RFAs (restricted free agents) include these players:LB Patrick Bailey, OT Willie Colon, RB Carey Davis, DB Willie Gay, P Daniel Sepulveda, TE Matt Spaeth, and G Darnell Stapleton.

Santonio Holmes and LaMarr Woodley will be entering the last year of their contracts.

3. How will the negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement affect free agency?

I'm no expert, but some major changes take effect if we enter 2010 without a new CBA. There will be no salary cap. Certain players, i.e. Willie Colon, will be restricted free agents as opposed to unrestricted. I think each team will have two franchise tags. Etc.

4. Will the Steelers get serious about special teams? Bobby April, one of the best special teams coaches in the league, was recently fired. Any chance the Steelers pursue him?

5. How will the team address the declining performance and increasing age of the defense? James Farrior, Aaron Smith, Brett Keisel, James Harrison, Chris Hoke, Travis Kirschke, are all 30+. The secondary lacks talent. The depth at linebacker and safety is thin.

6. What positions will be targeted in the draft?

7. How will Joe Burnett, Kraig Urbik, Keenan Lewis, Limas Sweed, Ryan Mundy and Frank the Tank develop over the offseason?

8. Will the offensive line ever get an infusion of talent?

9. Who will be on the cover of Madden next year?

10. Will Kevin Colbert leave the Steelers to follow Bill Cowher if Cowher takes a coaching job?

What did I miss?

Why We Aren't in the Playoffs

2010-01-04T11:35:00.003-05:00

I am encouraged to see our team fight to the end. We closed out the season with 3 big wins, two against playoff teams (GB and Balt). Tomlin and the boys showed me something which is encouraging heading into the offseason and for next year. We needed a ton of help yesterday to get into the playoffs. It didn't happen. It would have been nice to get in but it would have hurt alot more to blow 4th quarter leads to lose in the playoffs. Here is why we aren't going to the playoffs this year:

1) Coaches inability to accept the fact that Farrior has lost about 4 steps and put Keyron Fox in to replace him. I understand Farrior is the leader of the D and makes all the the play calls but he routinely got beat by TE's and RB's out of the backfield for game killing plays.

2) Injuries-Troy missed most of the season. Dennis Dixon started a key game against division rival Baltimore. Aaron Smith missed the majority of the season. That stuff catches up with you. Smith and Troy are our two most important defensive players. We couldn't over come it this year.

3) Poor coaching-Tomlin, Lebeau, Arians, Zeirlein and Ligashesky failed to have the team ready to play on a week to week basis and the passion just wasn't there for most of this season. Don't be surprised if a few of these guys are gone pretty quick.

4) Losing close games-Last season we won almost every close game we were in. This year it was the opposite. If we win one of these games, we make the postseason:

Chicago loss by 3
Cincy loss by3
KC, Balt, Oak losses by 3

That's 5 losses by 3 points. Most of those games we should have won but couldn't get it done for whatever reason.

It was an interesting season to say the least and we will have more in the coming days but those are the biggest reasons I see for our failures this year. What are your thoughts?

Tomlin Thursday Christmas Eve Edition

2009-12-24T10:10:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone from the Steezbros! Let's hope the Steez can bring us home a Festivus Miracle. I'm pretty sure I know what Tomlin is requesting from Santa. In lieu of doing the usual 5 pics for Tomlin Thursday, Jenn wrote an epic poem. It is so awesome that I don't want to take anything away from it with pictures. Here it is in all its glory. Enjoy! A safe and happy holiday to you all.

Twas two nights post-Christmas, and all through Heinz Field,

The Steez offense ran plays to which the Ravens' D would yield.

The screens were thrown by Ben with great care,

while the O-Line ensured that Terrell Suggs wouldn't get there.

The fans were jumping way out of their seats,

Still picturing the playoffs, what an ambitious feat.

And Tomlin with his headset, LaBeau in his cap,

called defensive plays that kept close all gaps.

When way down the field there rose such a clatter,

As Woodley grabbed a fumble; now to make it matter!

Down to the Red Zone, Ben threw in a flash,

and Santonio caught it, past the first down hash.

The Offense went no-huddle,so lively and quick.

Since the D got the ball back, thanks to St. Dick.

More rapid than the Ravens, the Steelers, they came.

Tomlin whistled and shouted and called them by name.

"Now Big Ben! Now Wallace, Now Miller, Now Hines!

Now Mendenhall, and Santonio, break through their lines!

To the back of the end zone! Ben, hand off the ball!

Now dash away, dash away, Mendenhall!"

The ball he carried, safe in his hands,

while fans erupted from all the stands.

He broke through the plane, and landed on his belly,

And the linemen jumped up, all shaking like jelly!

And then Jeff Reed came up, and went straight to work

As the ball was snapped, he kicked with a jerk.

The point after he kicked was right on the nose,

and straight through the uprights, that ball, it rose!

The clock then ran out, the refs blew the whistle.

The Steelers did win! And the Ravens did bristle.

And Tomlin spoke to reporters as walking out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all! And to All a good night!"

Playoff Scenario

2009-12-21T13:43:00.003-05:00

Need to kill an afternoon? Check out this playoff scenario generator.

I doubt it happens, but the scenario needed for the Steelers to get the 6th seed isn't that outlandish:

1. Pittsburgh wins both games
2. Denver loses to Philly or KC
3. The Jets lose to Indianapolis or Cincinatti
4. Jacksonville loses to New England or Cleveland
5. Tennessee wins out or
Houston loses against Mia or New England

We are now fans of New England, Philly, Indy, and Cincy.

I never thought I would type that sentence.

Biggest hurdle?

Steelers winning out.

Onside kick?

2009-12-21T13:20:00.003-05:00

What were your initial thoughts about the Steelers onside kick?

My reaction went something like this: "what just happened?"

Not because I was shocked (I would have been), but because I missed the kickoff trying to catch the end of the Broncos-Raiders game.

Just about everyone who saw the game and works on TV is panning the call. It's similar to Belichick going for it on 4th and 2.

I doubt Mike Tomlin knew these numbers (he's been quoted as saying he makes these decisions by going with his gut) before the attempt, but the onsides kick decision actually improved the Steelers odds of winning. At least according to NFL Stats guru Brian Burke.

Up by 2 points with 3:58 left against the Packers, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin called for an onside kick. Was this a good decision?

When onside kicks are expected, they are successful only about 20% of the time. But unexpected onside kicks are successful a surprising 60% of the time. I think we can say this particular kick was certainly unexpected. And surprise onside kicks can be the most beneficial when a team is ahead late in the game. Possession is critical.

In this case, had the Steelers recovered the kick, they'd have a 1st down at about their own 40, which is good for about a 0.76 win probability (WP). An unsuccessful onside kick gives the ball to the Packers at the Steelers' 40, worth 0.58 WP for the Packers (which is 0.42 WP for the Steelers.) With a 60% success rate, the overall WP for the onside kick would be:

0.60 * 0.76 + (1-0.60) * 0.42 = 0.64

WPA conventional kickoff gives the Packers a 1st and 10 at their own 30 or so (28 is the average, 33 is the median). This gives the Packers a 0.46 WP, which is 0.54 WP for the Steelers.

The onside kick is the better decision by 0.64 to 0.54 WP.

These estimates are only league baselines, but they suggest it was probably a good call.

What's most interesting to me is that a failed onside kick is hardly certain death--a 0.42 WP. There was plenty of time for anything to happen--a stop, a turnover, or a score. And sure enough the Steelers gave up a touchdown but came back with one of their own.

Also, a successful onside recovery doesn't seal the game. The Steelers would still need at least two first downs to clinch the win. Essentially, the Steelers traded 30 yards of field position for the chance to keep the ball out of the Packers' hands.

UNREAL!!!!

2009-12-21T07:47:00.007-05:00

Just as all hope, both actual and technical, was draining out of the season, the Steelers finally decided to show some passion by displaying the heart of a champion that we saw so often last year. Although they waited till the last possible moment, it was worth every second to see it finally come out. If they didn't muster it up in the waning seconds of yesterday's game, it would not have happened in any meaningful way this season.

After last week's game I had become dejected about this season basically wanting us to get the best draft pick we could and get rookies some reps to prepare for next season. Then I arrived back in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. I had to start dealing with what I perceived as irrational Steeler fans telling me every conceivable way that we could make the playoffs. My normal response was, "if you think we can make a run after losing to KC, Oakland and Cleveland, you are delusional." But guess what happened on Sunday? We won in incredible fashion. Plus, every team we needed to lose lost except Baltimore and we can take care of business at home next week as they come to town. We still need a lot of help and have to win out but I am starting to lean towards the irrational Steeler fans rather than my pessimistic view of things. It's much more fun to be optimistic, let's be honest.

Having said that, let's not get too excited. We can call it cautious optimism. The D still crumbled in the 4th quarter yet again. The coaching staff had so little confidence in the Defense- which is so unbelievable for a Steeler team that I am concerned for the people of hell- that they called an onside kick with under 4 minutes to play leading by 2! If you actually listen to Tomlin's rationale, it makes sense, given you buy into the fact that our D couldn't stop them. He reasoned that if we get the kick, our offense can win the game for us and if we don't, GB would score quick enough to get us the ball back with time and the offense could win it for us. This pretty much happened.

If you didn't think Bruce Arians should get canned before last night, I know there aren't many of you, but you should get on the bandwagon now. Troy Aikman made the comment that Bruce Arians does not talk to Ben about taking sacks and throwing the ball away because when he tried to have a similar conversation with a QB while at Mississippi State, it did not turn out well. Let me get this straight; a college kid 15 years ago did not appreciate being told he sucked. Is that any reason to not have a conversation with a professional QB who has won 2 Superbowl rings? Could the situations be any less similar? The number one way to improve Ben right now would be to get him to stop taking sacks that kill field goals and destroy field position. Coincidentally, you really did see Ben throwing a ball away on the final drive last night. In other firsts, the Steelers also threw a screen pass that worked last night, and it was the first time ever that a game ended with the score 37-36, marking the second consecutive season that the Steelers have been a participant when the ending score had never occurred previously. (San Diego 11-10 last year)

Continuing on the fire Bruce Arians path, the Steelers continue to "spread the field" with 5 wide sets, however I don't think teams are too afraid when 3 of the 5 receivers are Tyler Grisham, Rashard Mendenhall and Heath Miller. Yes, Heath is great but he is not beating anyone with his speed which is the key ingredient to making the spread work. The 5 wide, empty backfield formation killed us vs. Cleveland resulting in sacks like 15 times. Yet, we continued to come out in it again last night. Could we at least pretend like we might run the ball so opposing D's don't just get to rule out 50% of our plays?

What has happened to our tackling?

Also, GB has given up the most sacks in the league. How many did we have last night?

Our O was impressive against the number one D in the National Football League (channeling Ron Jaworski). Ben is one of 3 QB's in history to throw for 500 yards, 3 TD's and no interceptions. The other two: Warren Moon and Y.A. Tittle. My biggest complaint about Ben though is that he throws a terrible deep ball. Watch the first TD pass to Wallace. Ben just can't throw it far enough to hit him in stride, he is too fast. Wallace has to stop and wait for the ball. Luckily he was so far past the defender, he still couldn't catch up.

What a play to end the game. Great throw from Ben and amazing concentration from a rookie to get both feet in and keep control while going to the ground. Truthfully, I think teams would not want to face us in the playoffs.

Since we are back on the winning side of things, hopefully we will get some posts up this week, like what needs to happen to get us into the playoffs. Finally, there will be a special Christmas Eve edition of Tomlin Thursday this week because Christmas Eve is on Thursday! It was meant to be! Enjoy your Monday. Time to start shopping for Christmas.

STEEZ

Black and Gold Uni Watch

2009-12-18T13:42:00.004-05:00

It's been a full week since we posted. I still can't figure out what went wrong. Is it the players? The coaches? Lack of desire? Lack of talent?

I'm sure at some point we'll get over the last five weeks, but it might not be until the off season. Posts could be sparse from here on out. Spending time with the family will likely trump writing about our disappointing season.

Nonetheless, I wanted to point you to an interesting article about the Steeler uniforms on ESPN. Good stuff on our beloved black and gold unis.

8. STATION OF THE CROSS
Troy Polamalu's long hair usually obscures the rear-neckline area of his jersey. So it might surprise you to learn that he has a little cross embroidered right above his nameplate. That's a major violation of NFL uni regulations, but the league's position is that it's OK because it's usually covered by his hair. (Translation: "We reeeaaaallly don't want to get involved in a controversy about religious expression.")

Uniqueness Factor: High. Tim Tebow can cite Bible verses on his eye-black stickers all day long, but Polamalu is the only major-level athlete Uni Watch can think of with a religious symbol actually stitched into his team's uniform.

The full article can be found here.

Opportunity Squandered

2009-12-11T09:41:00.003-05:00

Great post from Post Game Heroes. These two paragraphs pretty much sum up how I am feeling today. Give the whole thing a read. Lots of great points.

19. Steelers wasted an amazing opportunity this year. Super Bowl champs get handed the easiest schedule in the NFL. Most top players are back with the team. This is a wasted year as our defense got even OLDER and even more guys will leave via free agency. This team was built for a repeat and screwed it up big time. This time next season Farrior is even older, Ward is older/slower, Parker is gone, Clark is gone, Hampton may be gone, Townsend is done, Harrison is a year older, etc…… What a waste of a talented group of guys.

If the Steelers hadn’t won the SB last year I would be crushed right now. I’m surprisingly calm and “OK” with this debacle. These past 5 weeks I found myself smiling and laughing and shaking my head in amazement….but not really getting angry, frustrated, or pissed off. This doesn’t hurt anywhere nearly as badly as a playoff loss or an AFC Championship disappointment. I guess the season was “lost” before I really got to get emotionally involved enough to get devastatingly upset.

-We gave up 175 yards rushing last night to the Browns. They also scored their first rushing TD of THE SEASON.

-Bruce Arians continually going empty set on third and short resulting in sacks was idiotic. At least line up in normal formation and do play action if you want to throw. Arians takes any thought of rushing away and lets the D know exactly what we are doing.

-Ben needs to throw it away sometimes. Good lord. Browns had at least 7 sacks. They are one of the worst defenses in the league.

-Horrendous time management at the end of the game. We could have had two drives to try to tie it but for some reason we attempted one 5 minute drive for all the marbles.

-This was one of the worst coached games I have seen in a while in every aspect. Read the article I linked to but why in the hell was Santonio returning kicks. At least this showed that it is our blocking that is the issue on special teams. I would not be surprised if Arians and our special teams coach get canned.

-Probably one of the darkest days in the burgh in recent memory. I just pray that Troy doesn't play the rest of the year and that rookies get a ton of PT to prepare for next season. Let some positive come from this awfulness.

-Feel free to vent in the comments. I will respond if needed. We all need to be there for each other in these trying times.

Worst Team in the League?

2009-12-10T21:38:00.002-05:00

When you lose to the Chiefs. Raiders, and Browns over a four week period, does that make you the worst team in the league?

I think it does.

Tomlin Thursday POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

2009-12-10T10:55:00.005-05:00

I know everyone is upset by the fact that the Steeler's season is effectively over causing Tomlin Thursday to be postponed but there is still football to be played and there is still hope. "Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."
Imagine how epic a run it would be if the Steelers could somehow get up off the mat from this debacle and get to the Superbowl. I'm not saying I think it is going to happen, just that there is still a chance, albeit a really small one. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that for the second time in 4 years we could miss the playoffs after winning the Lombardi. 5 year grace period. 5 year grace period. Here is how we could avoid that scenario according to John Clayton:

Without making this too complicated, the AFC wild-card race probably will come down to the Week 17 matchup between the Steelers and Dolphins.

The Broncos appear to have the AFC's first wild-card spot locked up unless the San Diego Chargers slip and the AFC West title becomes a possibility. Denver is 8-4 and has winnable home games against the Chiefs and Raiders. The Broncos will reach 10 wins. There is no guarantee that the No. 6 seed will do the same.

The Jaguars face the biggest problem even though they are currently sixth in the AFC with a 7-5 record. Their next three games are against the Dolphins, Colts and Patriots, and they could lose all three. The Ravens (6-6) still can reach nine wins because they'll play Detroit and Chicago at home and finish the season in Oakland, but to reach 10 wins, they also would have to beat the Steelers at Heinz Field in Week 16.

The Steelers should beat the Browns on Thursday night. Then they'll need to win home games against the Packers and Ravens to head into the season finale in Miami at 9-6. The Dolphins would have to beat the Jaguars, Titans and Texans to be 9-6 heading into that last week.

The journey begins tonight, as the Steez play perennial punching bag Cleveland. If there is a way to get this season back on track, it would be a throttling of the Brownies. However, I would have said the same thing about KC and Oakland and we all know how that turned out (slamming my head on my desk). The weather tonight is calling for cold, high winds and snow. Sounds like a battle in the trenches to me which should favor the Steelers. Our D is pretty solid against the run. Cleveland has no running game and our running game has been fairly decent this season. Brady Quinn can't throw in good weather. I am fully expecting the Steelers to win this game but it will be close, similar to last year's 10-6 affair in similar weather conditions.

The game tonight should be an excellent measuring stick to see whether Tomlin has lost the team. I would like to think he can hold the ship together and finish the season strong but there is clear dissension among the ranks. After Hines called out Ben for not playing with a concussion, Ben came back with a "Hines will do what is best for Hines" comment regarding Hines's injured hamstring this week. Although definitely true, Ben should have kept his mouth just like Hines should have done the week before. Tough times bring good teams closer together not tear them apart. I am interested to see which direction this group goes starting with this evening's game.

Another factor that will keep this game close are injuries. Troy is out and may not play again this season according to some sources. Hines is out with Tyler Grisham up from the practice squad to take the 4th WR slot. That means my favorite jersey purchase, Limas Sweed will be on the field tonight to drop some key passes. I really hope he can show something tonight. William Gay is out with a concussion caused by his teammate, Ryan Mundy. Joe Burnett will get most of the reps replacing him but Keenan Lewis will also see some time. It is important to get these rooks some reps to see what we have going forward for next season. Get the bumps out of the way this year and we will be better for it next year. Some links to keep you busy at work until kick:

Tomlin claimed that roster moves would be made in the wake of our 4th consecutive loss. Here are the moves PGH would make.

The Tomlin press conference this week with commentary by PGH. HERE

Since losing has been a theme of late in the 'burgh, here is a list of the 50 most devastating losses in Pittsburgh sports from 1990-today. (Mondesis's House)

A close look at how the Steez salary cap situation has imprinted this season (BTSC)

Awesome Pittsburgh song (B94)

Go STEEZ!!

UPDATE:

It is being reported in various places that Hines Ward WILL play tonight.

Is This Real Life Right Now?

2009-12-08T16:46:00.004-05:00

First off I would like to apologize to the SteezBros, SteezBros Nataion, and the rest of the blogging community for my abrupt and unexplained absence from this community. It appears that I have bitten off more than I can chew with school and two jobs and as a result have neglected my duties as a Steezbro and as a part of Steeler Nation. I haven't been on the internet to read or contribute in many weeks and even more embarrassing I have missed games because of work. Some say this is part of becoming a grown-up but I say that that is a lame-ass excuse for old people, who are trying to convince themselves that they are real fans.

About a month ago everyone was beginning to love this years version of the Steelers and saying they were on the path to repeating and the love fest was on. Well Tomlin and Co. must be color blind because we are not on the yellow brick road any more and apparently were on the fast-track to the highway to hell. --Disclaimer this "hell" I speak of is the opposite of the "hell" Mike Tomlin promised to unleash for the rest of the season, because Tomlin's "hell" is actually a foam padded room with a bunch of sissies running around with Sock 'em Boppers on while wearing helmets and pads and no shots to the head or below the belt are allowed. PS you can't hit as hard as you can either, you may break your Sock 'em Bopper and actually hit someone (Josh did this to me several times in our youth, it's not that pleasant). Mikey T I love you, but please step up your shit, because your team is piss poor which you have now promised several times to not let happen but it has continued.

What happened to our D??? We cannot tackle, when we get to the QB we can't finish, coverage is not a term in our vocab, and we are letting below average QB's rip us a new one at the end of the game. After holding Oakland to 6 points all game we allow 3 TD's in the 4th??? WTF!?!?!?!? What I am about to say is blasphemy, but has Coach Dad Lebeau's age caught up to him? How is our defense slipped up so badly when we need it the most? As always our team still lacks the killer instinct that is needed and refuses to put teams away early in the game and lets them linger and their confidence to build going into the end of the game.

Early in the year I praised Ryan Clark and begged for his extension, but at this point I have no problem seeing him go after the year. He has not been himself all year and along with plenty of others on this team, has blown his assignment and/or let up a big play that should have been defended quite easily. After watching this team I am completely convinced that Troy is the best player in the league. Hands Down. TROY POLAMALU IS THE BEST PLAYER IN THE NFL!!! The difference with and without him is black 'n white. I dare you to take a look at our record with him in the game and us without him. This team lacks the self-need to be the best and show that they are the biggest, baddest, D in the league. Somehow we are still ranked in the top 5 in total defense in the league, which to me is a giant surprise. Willy Gay and Lawrence Timmons are also disappointments this year.

On to a positive (kind of) note. If somehow we make it to the post season, which I don't see happening because a couple of teams will have to shit the bed and us win out, the last time we had at least 3 losses in a row, coupled with a looming Bengals AFC North Championship, and everyone counted us out, we sneaked into the playoffs as the sixth seed by winning out and shocked the world by winning 3 games on the road and won Super Bowl XL. Hopefully this time history will repeat itself and we will be playing into January and crushing fools like normal. I should be making a return next week as a hiatus from school and work looms ahead. Again I'm sorry to all and hopefully some of my hate will satisfy the hungry dogs out there.

Season Over

2009-12-06T18:11:00.002-05:00

Instead of unleashing hell , the Steelers laid an egg against a hapless Raider team.

I'm not sure what's more embarassing. Losing to the Raiders or allowing Bruce Gradkowski to throw for 300+ yards to receivers named Louis Murphy and Chaz Schillins. Either way it's not good. The Raiders had 10 total offensive touchdowns this year. They scored three on their last three drives today.

Embarrassing.

The defense continued to write the story of the 2009 Steelers - defensive collapses. I don't even know what to think after watching the Raiders drive 90 yards in less than 2 minutes. Most of the passes were just thrown straight up into the air and the defensive backs were unable to bat the ball down.

Enraging.

Even though Steeler nation likes to spew hatred toward Bruce Arians, all the vigor this season should be directed at Coach Tomlin, Dick Lebeau, and the defense.

But at least Gary Russell didn't hurt us on kick off returns.

Season over.

I'm not one for hyperbole, but if you think a Steeler team that has lost four straight, with two against the Chiefs and Raiders, can run the table to make the playoffs, you might be nuttier than Al Davis.

End of Tomlin Thursday.

If you really want to get mad, Kansas City has lost by more than 60 in its last two weeks.

Maybe we'll get 2 minutes of hate from Alex tomorrow. Maybe not.

End of post.

Tomlin Thursday Must WIn Edition

2009-12-03T10:22:00.015-05:00

"We will unleash hell here in December because we have to. We won't go in a shell. We'll go into attack mode, because that's what's required."

-Mike Tomlin, after losing to Baltimore.

Let's hope the Steeler players take that message to heart or we will be missing the playoffs for the second straight time after winning the Superbowl. It is about time the team shows some passion this season. If they can't muster it up now, it won't be happening this season.

If we lose on Sunday to Oakland at home, Tomlin Thursday is postponed indefinitely. Also, we probably won't post for a while because normally in the Steezbros world, we don't speak to each other for at least a few days after a Steelers' loss. On a happier note, Jenn Z., comes through yet again with her weekly contribution:

As the sun shines brightly over the Mon,
We Steez fans think of past games we should have won.

But the Steelers are nothing if not tenacious,
And the Raiders should be afraid to face us;

With Tomlin at the helm, the Steez soldier on!

"Illegal contact and pass interference on the same play! What the what?"

Here is a thought provoking article comparing Tomlin to Jon Gruden? Comments please.

It's going to be back to training camp tactics at practice this week.

Here is an awesome link to a ton of great Tomlinisms. HERE

Fisher: "I took the blame for our 0-6 start this season. You will get blamed if you miss the playoffs, trust me."

Tomlin: "We will not miss the playoffs. I do not know how to fail."

Deflating

2009-11-30T10:20:00.004-05:00

It was a valiant effort by our boys yesterday. Despite playing a quarterback with one career pass attempt and missing the best safety in the league, the Steelers fought the Ravens into overtime. But, you know what they say, a loss is a loss.

Some thoughts from the game:

- Leave it to the Steelers to turn a game they likely should have lost into a game they should have won into a game they lost in excruciating fashion. Even though I should be used to it by now, I still lose way too much sleep over this team

- In a game that has a thousand moving parts, it seems foolhardy to blame one aspect of the team for a loss. Having said that (Curb Your Enthusiasm, anyone?), this loss gets pinned on the defense. Again. The defense put Dennis Dixon in a hole early by allowing an opening drive touchdown and a 90 yard touchdown to end the half. It played much better in the second half, forcing two turnovers and preventing a late game winning drive by the Ravens. But given a 3 point lead by Dennis Dixon with less than 5 minutes remaining, the defense allowed another game tying drive. It was especially excruciating, because the team had the Ravens at 3rd and 22 from their own 3o. The defense promptly allowed a 17 yard completion and then decided to let James Farrior cover Ray Rice on 4th and 5. Farrior is a great leader, but his old balls should no longer be covering anyone that can be described as quick, shifty, or fast. Tell Farrior to cover Todd Heap's old balls, and let Timmons chase down Ray Rice.

- Kudos to Dennis Dixon, the Steelers offense, and Bruce Arians. Dixon played very well through regulation and avoided making a turnover or taking a sack. He engineered a great 4th quarter drive to take the lead and showed his ability both passing and running the ball. No shame in being fooled by a zone blitz. It's just sad that it happened in overtime to lose the game. I thought Bruce Arians put together a nice, conservative package for Dixon to run. I would have liked to see a few more running opportunities similar to the long touchdown run, but with no reliable back up quarterback, it was wise to limit the number of hits on Dennis Dixon.

- Kudos to Dennis Dixon's dad for wearing the old school Pirates hat. The shots of Dixon's dad and sister celebrating after his touchdown run were awesome.

- The Steelers had their opportunities to win - 4th and 5, near Deshea Townsend interception in overtime, Dixon leading Mike Wallace out of bounds on a deep pass - but it was the Ravens that made the plays when it mattered most.

- I'm not sure it is ever going to happen, but I'm excited to see a healthy Lawrence Timmons play with a healthy Troy Polamalu. Timmons was a game changer against the Ravens with two explosive sacks and a forced fumble.

- It took five games, but the Steelers finally missed Aaron Smith. It's been a long time since a team ran successfully on the Steelers, but the Ravens pushed around the Steelers d-line. Give major credit to their offensive line and to Ray Rice, who looks like a superstar who should not be losing carries to Leron McClain or Willis McGahee.

- Ramon Foster acquitted himself pretty well for an undrafted free agent starting his first game. In fact, the o-line did a great job on blitz pick up protecting their young quarterback.

- Congrats to the special teams for not allowing a touchdown return. The punt coverage was shaky, but no return touchdown is a step in the right direction. Who knew Corey Ivy and Rocky Boiman could have such an impact?

- The Steelers have a longer road to make the playoffs than a team that starts out 6-2 should, but, given three consecutive losses, they still have a strong shot at a wild card spot. Although they would currently lose the tie breakers, they are tied for the 2nd wild card spot with Baltimore and Jax. If the Steelers win out, they would definitely make the playoffs. The more likely scenario is the Steelers lose one game, but beat Baltimore, to finish at 10-6 and grab the last spot. It's not that unlikely, considering the Steelers should take care of business against Oakland and Cleveland in the next two weeks. That would put them at 8-5 with games remaining against Green Bay and Baltimore at Heinz Field and a week 17 match up in Miami. It's more difficult than I would like, but it's eminently doable.

- That's all I have time for. What are your thoughts? Moral victory or another blown opportunity?

Meet the New Breakout Star

2009-11-29T00:20:00.002-05:00

You heard it here first.

Tomlin Thursday - Thanksgiving Edition

2009-11-26T15:31:00.005-05:00

Mike Tomlin doppelganger Omar Epps wishes he were as cool as Tomlin

This is a special Tomlin Thursday. No, not because it's Thanksgiving. It's Raven Week.

Super submission from Jenn Z. this week based on the poem that shares the name of our biggest rival.

And the Ravens, though strong in beginning, won't be winning, won't be winning
By the hand of Flacco as his O-Line the Steez shake to the core.
Though Lewis' eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the bright-lights over them throw their shadows on the stadium floor
But the the Steelers rise from those shadows on the floor.
Ravens beat the Steez? Nevermore! Nevermore!

Coach Tomlin is as stunned as you that the Steez lost to the Chiefs.

So it's no more Mr. Nice Tomlin.

Coach Tomlin remembers the last time we played the Ravens. That one turned out pretty well.

Coach Tomlin wishes YOU a Happy Thanksgiving.

Throw to the Running Backs!

2009-11-25T10:37:00.003-05:00

Give credit to the guys over at PostGameHeroes who have been on Big Ben and the Steelers for the last two years about the lack of throws to running backs. There is much to be said for hitting vertical throws downfield, but, the best offenses take what's given to them. Especially, when the alternative is a sack or interception. By no means do I want Big Ben to lose his playmaking drive, but fewer sacks and interceptions, along with major match up advantages isolating Rashard and Mewelde vs. a linebacker, means better drives from the Steeler offense. The lack of throws to running backs made more sense when Willie Parker was the starter, because Willie is a terrible pass catcher. But with Mendenhall taking over, the pass to the running back would add another dimension to the offense.

Jason Cole at Yahoo! Sports has picked up on the story as well. Although he focuses more on extending Roethlisberger's career by limiting hits, than the improvement of the offense.

With 8:35 remaining in regulation on Sunday at Kansas City, Roethlisberger hit running back Rashard Mendenhall with an 8-yard touchdown pass to take a seven-point lead. It was a beautiful, tight throw into the teeth of the Chiefs defense. It was Mendenhall’s first career scoring reception and one of a career-high four passes he caught on the day.

Those facts are significant because the overall success of Roethlisberger, and the Pittsburgh offense, is greatly impacted by plays like that one.

While Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning has thrown eight touchdown passes to current running backs Joseph Addai and former Colt Dominic Rhodes
during the past two seasons, Roethlisberger only has four to his three tailbacks (Mendenhall, Mewelde Moore and Willie Parker) in the same period. Ultimately, Roethlisberger would be wise to make more use of his running backs, who have combined to catch only 81 passes since the beginning of 2008 (the Colts trio has 115).

Moves Galore

2009-11-24T18:52:00.003-05:00

The Steelers are making moves Galore. Most, thankfully, seemed to be aimed at fixing the special teams' issues. Tyler Palko, former Pitt QB, is reportedly being signed to compete for the backup job since Chaz Batch is out 6 weeks. Cleo Lemon and Jeff Garcia have also been rumored. Also, a guard was signed to add depth with Kemo down. According to PFT:

They [Pittsburgh] have added two players to the active roster, dumped two, and swapped out a player on the practice squad for a new one.

Specifically, veteran linebacker Rocky Boiman and veteran cornerback Corey Ivy have joined the team. To create spots for them, linebacker Donovan Woods and cornerback Keiwan Ratliff were cut.

The Steelers also released running back Justin Vincent from the practice squad, replacing him with guard Jonathan Palmer.

I don't have too many thoughts on this except that it is encouraging to see them trying some things to fix the issues. We will just have to wait and see what impact these moves have on the team.

"The coaches have to put us in a better position"

2009-11-23T13:27:00.003-05:00

After writing last week that I got over the loss to the Bengals very quickly, the opposite is true this week. I feel like I'm wearing a cement necklace. I haven't felt this bad after a loss since the AFC Championship loss in 2005 to the Patriots.

But, life must go on. The Steelers are still in the AFC playoff race and it's important to see how the team responds to this loss. Let's take a look at what they had to say after the game.

Coach Tomlin
“Really it is quite simple; I take responsibility for that performance. I have to have this football team better prepared to play and, ultimately, we have to play better than what we played today in that stadium. We are capable of much more than that. You have to tip your hat to the Chiefs because they played well enough to win, but that is not what we are capable of and that is not us, it won’t be us. It was us today (emphasis mine) and as a guy that stands out front, I accept responsibility for that. We were highly penalized and we turned the ball over in the red area. We gave up big plays and we gave up a kick return. When you do those things, regardless of time of possession, yards or what have you, you open yourself up to defeat and that is what happened in that football game.”

Did you sense that your team was not prepared?
“Actually, I did not, but the execution would indicate the case. That is where I judge the preparedness, ultimately, on how we perform. The performance was below the line so the preparation must have been.”

Our take: Good to see Caoch Tomlin take responsibility for the loss. The team looked unprepared and made critical mistakes. Tomlin noted that we played poorly today and the standard of expectation is much higher. I would expect nothing less from our coach. But, let's hope we're more prepared next week.

RB RASHARD MENDENHALL
Did you feel prepared for today’s game?
“I’m not really sure. I’m still new to all of this and trying to figure it out. I know on offense that we didn’t do enough on our side of the ball to win. You know that to play at this level and be a professional the margin of error, the difference between winning and losing, is so little that you’ve got to be on top of your game. We had a chance at the end of the game to put points on the board and put ourselves in a winning position and we didn’t do it.”

Our take: Nothing eye opening here (other than flat out denying that the team wasn't prepared), but it seems that Rashard is starting to get it. I've become more enamored with him as each game progresses. He's learned the hard way that you can't skip the details and expect to win against anyone in the league. This loss was hardly on Rashard, and it seems like every week we talk about he should have been more involved. 20 carries for 80 yards is not outstanding, but I find it inexcusable to not have him in the game in overtime on 3rd and 2.

Hines Ward
"[Tomlin] is our leader and the veteran guys on this team will do what he says," Ward said. "All of us are responsible for this. All of us need to look in the mirror."

"The coaches have to put us in a better position. All of us have to look in the mirror, but we're all in this together; the coaches have to evaluate themselves as much was we do.

Re: the 3rd down play call in overtime
"I guess we thought we could catch them in something. I cracked down on the end, but it didn't work. If you run something else and it doesn't work, maybe it's fourth-and-1 and you give us a chance. But when you lose 3 yards, you have no choice but to punt. The play call is what it is; we have to execute it."

Our take: Hines Ward is one of the leaders of the club, so he's one of the few guys who could get away with criticizing the special teams and criticizing the coaches. But, he walks a fine line, also mentioning that the players need to perform better. You have to think it would take a lot to make Ward publicly criticize the coaches. Maybe I'm seeing what I want to see, but when you take a shot at a play call, that is a direct shot at Bruce Arians. Maybe some of the players disagree with some of Arians play calls. Arians is a lightning rod for criticism, but rarely from his own players. It will be interesting to see how this is handled.

Charlie Batch
"I guess if they go zero -- and all-out blitz, we might have been able to pop one outside on them. But they didn't."

Our take: Batch trying to rationalize the play call. And not doing a very good job.

James Harrison
Man, special teams haven't helped us very much lately.

Our take: Maybe it's time Harrison gets involved in special teams. Then again, maybe we're not having this discussion if the defense holds the KC offense without a touchdown in the final 6 minutes of the 4th quarter.

Casey Hampton
"We play like we played today, you deserve to lose. You play like that, that's the outcome. We'll get it corrected, whatever it is. We can still win 12 games, so it don't matter. Twelve will get you in [to the playoffs]."

Our take: I love the positive attitude from Big Snack. But, a loss of this magnitude does matter. Let's just hope it spurs a late season winning streak that gets us back to the playoffs

Could it get any worse?

2009-11-22T20:11:00.003-05:00

This recap is going to be short. Because the more I think about losing to the Chiefs, the more I want to run into oncoming traffic.

The only way the Chiefs could win this game is if the Steelers made major mistakes. Like say, special team gaffes and major turnovers. One kick return touchdown, three turnovers, and a ghastly blown coverage in overtime later, the Steelers lost to a 2-7 team.

It's pretty clear when you outgain your opponent 515-282 and hold the ball for 44 minutes and still lose that you made huge mistakes. An eighth straight game allowing a return touchdown, a terrible Heath Miller drop, and an unexcusable Big Ben pick in the red zone, turned this from a dominating win to a demoralizing loss. Perhaps even more concerning, the Steelers held a 7 point lead with 6 minutes in the game and the defense allowed a terrible offense (that was missing its best player) to score the game tying touchdown. And then put together a drive to win in overtime.

That's enough of this discussion. I don't want to even get into the details. At least Big Ben's injury doesn't look serious.

The loss is a huge hit to the playoff hopes, but the situation is not desperate. The Steelers still hold the second wildcard spot. If the Steelers beat Baltimore next week, and then follow that up with wins against Cleveland and Oakland, all is well. But if Baltimore beats Pittsburgh next week, this could be the second time this decade the Steeler follow up a Super Bowl with a non-playoff season.

My attempt at positive spin: could this game help Pittsburgh? The team just won the Super Bowl. It was 6-3 despite turning the ball over every game and allowing 8 return touchdowns. This is a wake up call. You are not that good. You cannot be careless with the ball. You cannot coast. In 2008, Pittsburgh was the most intense and passionate team in the league. I'm not seeing it this year. Maybe this will give the team an urgency that is missing. Or maybe the team falls apart.

Coach Tomlin, it's time for your team to show some mettle.

And the Caption Contest Winner Is....

2009-11-20T12:36:00.002-05:00

"You know why you won, right? This laminated play sheet got switched with my wife's grocery list. I was calling 'Eighteen double butter, cross Z tomato, tandem egg slice, turbo OJ,' all game long!!"

The caption was submitted by one of our most faithful readers, David Scerbo. Congrats on having the winning submission! Your prizes will be delivered shortly and I believe you already got your congrats email from Alex. Thanks to all who submitted a caption.

Tomlin Thursday Week 11

2009-11-19T14:15:00.003-05:00

Caption Contest winner will be announced tomorrow!

Tomlin Thursday is upon us once again. For the first time in a few weeks, it is after a loss. The above photo was taken by a friend of mine who was at the game. Tomlin clearly looks frustrated with the boys.

Culture is returning to Tomlin Thursday once again with another spectacular effort from our Cultural Corresponent, Jenn:

There once was a team from Kansas City,
Whose play is so bad you almost feel pity.
For Haley's an inexperienced head coach,
But Tomlin's beyond reproach, and this week, a Steez win will be pretty!

I love the shirt and I love the smile. Time to inject some enthusiasm to this bunch, especially the special teams.

Someone clearly likes Mike Tomlin as much as we do.

Did you know that he is an All Pro Dad as well as an All Pro coach?

The best owner with the best coach. I'm glad they found each other.

Tidbits from Special Teams

2009-11-19T09:57:00.003-05:00

The mainstream media likes to cover certain things about the NFL. Quarterbacks - particularly those that wear Wranglers - diva wide receivers, discussing the death of parity, defenses that force lots of turnovers, and controversial coaching decisions. As I often noted last year, when the mainstream media starts writing stories about the struggles of your offensive line, it's a major problem. This year, the mainstream media is recognizing the new depths of the Steelers special teams. Probably a sign of how bad it has become.

I figured I'd throw out a couple articles and thoughts about our not so special teams:

- According to Football Outsiders, the Steelers kick off team is nearing the record for worst special team unit since they started tracking special teams in 1994. Not only does Jeff Reed have the worst kick-offs of the year, but Pittsburgh has the worst coverage too, and by a healthy margin.

- Mike Tomlin made headlines by smacking down Stefan Logan this week when Logan remarked that lanes open on Steeler kickoffs, but not on Steeler returns. "That's the perspective of a kick-returner who hasn't run one back yet, so that perspective may not be reality," Tomlin said.

I certainly respect Coach Tomlin for how he handles the players (his handling of a disgruntled Willie Parker last year was excellent), but Logan has a point. Logan never has return lanes on kickoffs or punts. He's basically surrounded immediately and has to fight for everything he gets. I doubt Josh Cribbs would be anything special if he had Pittsburgh's blocking.

Judging by the blogging world, there seems to be a decent portion of Steeler nation that are so disappointed in Logan this season that they think he should be cut. That it's a waste of a roster spot when he hasn't returned a kick for a touchdown. I disagree that Logan has been that bad. And he is still better than any returner we've had in Pittsburgh since Randle El. But I do agree that it's a waste of a roster spot if he has no blocking up front.

- Any thoughts out there on Bob Ligashesky, the Steelers special teams coordinator? Normally, if a unit is playing this badly, fans are clamoring for a firing. But Ligashesky's coverage unit was the best in the league last year (ignoring all the special team returns in the playoffs) and now it's the worst in the league. Is it coaching, lack of talent, or lack of desire?

- Steeler Nation should take it easy on Jeff Reed for his tackling ability (or lack thereof). Kickers across the NFL look foolish weekly when trying to make tackles. The coverage unit has failed if the kicker is making a tackle. So let's stick with criticizing Reed for his terrible kickoffs and poor judgment off the field. After all, not every kicker can tackle like Mitch Berger (2:45 into the video - let's be honest, I just wanted to post the AFC Championship highlight)

- Arnold Harrison was cut this week to make room for Donovan Woods, who is supposedly a better special teams player. Don't expect much improvement solely because of Woods.

- On the subject of roster changes, is anyone else interested in Steve Hauschka, the now unemployed former Ravens kicker? Sure, he sucks at field goals, but he was a kickoff specialist last year. That sounds like a better use of a roster spot than Keiwan Ratliff.

When Should Troy Return - Part 2

2009-11-17T13:02:00.004-05:00

After Troy got injured in the first game of the season, the debate began as to when he should return. I argued here, that he should delay his return until he was fully healthy because of the relative ease of our schedule at that point and the upcoming bye week. This time around, the injury does not seem as serious as the first time Troy injured his knee. Mike Tomlin said the news on the knee was encouraging, according to PFT. The TRIB is reporting that Polamalu was seen walking around the Steelers facility without crutches or even a limp which is most definitely an encouraging sign, however both Tomlin and Ed Bouchette of the PG suggested that Troy is questionable at best for Sunday's game against KC.

Since this is the second time Troy has injured this particular knee this season, I doubt he will be brought back till fully healthy. The Steelers need Troy for the playoffs and do not want to risk any permanent damage to Troy's knees. If it really isn't that serious he will probably miss 1-3 weeks. My opinion would be toward the longer end of the range for precautionary reasons. If you look at our remaining schedule, it really is not that difficult. Here are the remaining games:

@ KC
@ Balt
Oak
@Clev
GB
Balt
@ Mia

The only game in the next four I would want to have Troy for would be @ Balt in two weeks but I think we can afford to hold him out until GB if the injury requires that much time. We should easily beat KC, Oak and Cleveland without Troy in the lineup. I am not as concerned as I normally would be with Baltimore after watching their pathetic first half performance last night against the Browns. I am all for bringing Troy back as soon as he is 100% healthy or as close to it as possible, but I think the schedule gives us the luxury of holding him out until that occurs. We may not need him to win regular season games, but we will need him come playoff time.

The division goes through Cincinnati

2009-11-15T22:53:00.006-05:00

Over the last two years (ok for the entirety of my life) I'm normally tormented after a loss. I retrace my steps, relive the problems, and gradually accept the proceedings. Basically I move through the stages of loss and move on sometime midweek.

However, Sunday's loss was different. Even though it was an important game, I was over the loss rather quickly. I'm not sure why, but I think it was this:

The Bengals were the better team on Sunday.

After the Bears loss and first Bengals loss, I thought the Steelers were the better team. They just made bad mistakes. Missed field goals, dropped touchdown passes, and late game missed tackles. Every game in the NFL is important. So you can't afford to lose games when you outplay the opponent.

But, the Steelers were outplayed on Sunday.

They didn't bring their best. The offense was 0-4 in the red zone. Despite making it inside the 10 yard line four times, the team didn't sniff the end zone. Give credit to an impressive defensive performance.

The Steelers defense played an extraordinary game, but when opportunities arose to make a game changing play, the ball slipped through their hands. Ryan Clark dropped an interception on a Bengals drive in the fourth quarter. Willie Gay dropped two earlier in the game.

The Bengals made the plays.

The special teams did what the special teams does and let up another game changing touchdown return. For the 7th straight game, the Steelers allowed a return touchdown. Those eventually catch up to you. And the 6 points from that touchdown was the difference in an 18-12 game.

The Bengals defense earned major respect from this blogger. The front four dominated in the run game, holding Rashard Mendenhall to 30+ yards on 13 carries. The blitz schemes of Mike Zimmer had Ben Roethlisberger running for his life and the O-line looking like the 2008 version, not the new and improved 2009 version. Even when Big Ben had time to throw, the Bengals secondary smothered Steeler receivers. This defense made Roethlisberger look like Alex Smith. And this was all done without Keith Rivers. A Bengals turnover generated 3 important points for the team. It held a talented Steelers offense to 0-4 in the red zone and 3-16 on third down. That won't get it done for Big Ben and Company.

Bruce Arians has long been the whipping boy of Steeler Nation and he looked overmatched again on Sunday. But, what I have learned is that if you lose the matchup on the line, every offensive coordinator will look like an idiot. Of course I would have loved to see more screens, draws, throws to running backs, and other tactics to slow down a defense that blitzed nearly every third down, but the Steelers aren't all that good at those plays. And God forbid we ever try a run on third and short. But, we stuck with our bread and butter and just got beat by a hungrier team. No more fingers should be pointed at Arians than should be pointed at the players.

The Bengals offense did just enough to win, but didn't look overly impressive doing so. The Steelers defense, minus Troy Polamalu who was injured early, held the Bengals without a touchdown and played exceedingly well, for all but the Bengals final drive. The defense only allowed 9 points. 6 came from a kickoff return and 3 came from a Roethlisberger interception. James Harrison cannot take a stupid penalty.

In the end, Big Ben and company had 2 minutes to drive down the field for the win. But, he didn't get a yard.

What does it all mean?

It means that the Steelers will probably be a wild card team. But, other than that, not much. It was an off day. I don't think it has any long term consequences. The Steelers weren't exposed. They didn't lose because of stupid mistakes. On this day, the Bengals made more plays.

And I'm not losing any sleep over it.

Bengals Game Day Links

2009-11-15T11:29:00.002-05:00

Needless to say, today's game is huge. Here are some links to get you prepared for the battle for the AFC North crown. Rememeber, you can still submit a caption for our caption contest.

The pre-game zone blitz from BTSC contains some interesting statistics. HERE

Steeler mid-season awards. HERE

Steeler stats at the mid-point of the season. HERE

Preview from Post Game Heroes. HERE

A look at Ziggy Hood's playing time increase. HERE

Comparing Ced Benson to Delicioius. HERE

Gameplans from the Post-Gazette. HERE

Enjoy the game. GO STEEZ!!!!

Who wants it more?

2009-11-13T10:51:00.004-05:00

It's certainly a surprise to hear the words "Cincinnati Bengals" and "important AFC North match up" in the same sentence. But, with the Baltimore Ravens struggling and the Bengals at 6-2, it's not a stretch to say that Sunday's game is probably the most important regular season game on the schedule.

The Bengals are the surprise team of 2009. Carson Palmer is returning to pre-Kimo Von Oelhoffen form. Cedric Benson is running like he was at Texas. The offensive line improvement, without #1 pick Andre Smith, is even more surprising than the Steelers improvement at O-line. And the Bengals defense has turned into a smash mouth unit.

I can't provide a detailed breakdown as good as the one at SteelerFury, so I'll link you there and be done with it. (Beware of a little homerism)

Instead of dissecting individual match ups to see who has the upper hand, I want to analyze the remaining schedules for the Steelers and Bengals to determine just how important this game is.

Both the Bengals and Steelers sit at 6-2, but the Bengals currently hold the tie breaker due to a better AFC North record. Even if the Steelers beat the Bengals this weekend, the team will still have to beat the Ravens twice to equal what Cincy has done in the division. If Cincinnati wins on Sunday, the Bengals will have a one and a half game lead in the division. Insurmountable? Let's find out.

After the Pittsburgh game, the Bengals play:

@ Oakland

Cleveland

Detroit

@ Minnesota

@ San Diego

Kansas City

@ NY Jets

Football outsiders ranks it as the second easiest schedule in the league. It's really tough to find a scenario where Cincy doesn't win at least 11 games. Cincy should go on a three game winning streak after Sunday (Oak, Clev, Det) and will have no trouble beating Kansas City. I'll give the Bengals a 1-2 record against Min, SD, and NYJ. That places their record at 11-4 without the Steelers game. If they beat the Steelers, Cincy would be 12-4 on the season, meaning Pittsburgh could only win the division by winning all of their remaining games.

Pittsburgh's remaining schedule looks like this:

@ Kansas City

@ Baltimore

Oakland

@ Cleveland

Green Bay

Baltimore

@ Miami

Let's give the Steelers wins against KC, Oakland, and Cleveland. I'll be generous and give the Steelers wins over GB and Mia. Then, let's assume we split with Baltimore. This gives Cincy the tie breaker. Those assumptions put Pittsburgh at 12-3.

Meaning a win against the Bengals wins the division and a loss against the Bengals loses the division.

So there you have it, this game will decide the AFC North winner.

Kidding.

The scenarios above are generous to the Steelers. Meaning, even if the Steelers win on Sunday, if they would drop an extra game (say to Mia or GB or Balt) or Cincy went 2-1 against SD, Min, and NYJ, the Bengals would still win the divison.

This game means more to Pittsburgh in the AFC North division race than it does to Cincinnati. If the Bengals win, the AFC north division is theirs, unless (maybe even if) Pittsburgh wins out. If Pittsburgh wins, it will be a competitive race to the end.

Barring major injuries, both of these teams should be locks to get to at least ten wins and make the postseason. And that's all that matters.

Because remember, Cincinnati won the AFC North in 2005. The Steelers won the Super Bowl.

Tomlin Thursday Caption Contest Edition

2009-11-12T11:42:00.008-05:00

Since this picture is exceedingly awesome, we decided to let you, our readers (all 17 of you, but we greatly appreciate each and everyone of you) decide what the caption should say. Please submit your caption suggestion via the comments to this post. We will determine which one we think is most fitting. The winner will have a post devoted specifically to their caption, will receive a congratulatory email from the most enigmatic Steezbro, Alex, and maybe a signed picture of the Steezbros, depending on the greatness of the caption. Get your submissions in by Sunday so we can pick a winner by early next week. Make sure to leave your name with your submission.

Tomlin takes it all in. I don't think I have seen a more intense set of eyes on anybody.

Tomlin, always happy to give an interview, answered a bunch of questions for Steelers.com yesterday. Here is an excerpt. Click the link to read the entire interview.

On big hits, reputations, fatigue

Throughout the 2009 NFL season, Coach Mike Tomlin will provide his insight and observations to Steelers.com on a variety of topics pertaining to the team and the National Football League.

Q. The Adrian Peterson hit on William Gay has been getting a lot of air time. Is that something you have to address with a young player so that it doesn’t linger?

A. That’s one of the beautiful things about the National Football League. It’s a humbling league. Every now and then you are going to lose physical confrontations, and I don’t care who you are. That one is getting some air time because it was in open grass the moment that it occurred. Who it was – Adrian Peterson – makes it a big story, but over time it’ll pass when somebody else gets caught in a compromising position either this weekend or next weekend, and then it’ll be old news. William Gay is a competitor, and he understands that. We live by the motto: every now and again gun fighters get shot. He got shot in that instance.

"Rashard, I am giving you the ball for the rest of the season. Don't let me down, Delicious, and for my and all of Steeler Nation's sake, hold onto the ball!"

Tomlin knew it was a touchdown as soon as Tyrone Carter touched the ball. Our team is great because we are solid from 1-53. The Denver game proved it. Great job Keyron Fox, Ty Carter, Nick Eason and Ziggy Hood.

Steelers Broncos Pictures

2009-11-11T12:12:00.002-05:00

Check out our pictures from the game on Monday. It was quite a sight to behold seeing how much support the Steelers have this far away from the friendly confines of Heinz Field. Even on TV, you could tell how many fans there were at the game by the strength of the Heath chant when he caught a ball. Make sure you check out the awesome Bubby Brister jersey that is in the pictures somewhere.

Steelers Broncos MNF

We Hold These Truths To Be Self Evident...

2009-11-10T13:14:00.008-05:00

Some things change and some things remain the same. Let's take a look at last night's stellar victory over the media darling Broncos and see what has changed and what has stayed the same.

The "All Men are Created Equal" Things that have stayed the same:

1) The Steelers continue to dominate in prime time games, especially Monday Night Games.
-Overall the Steelers are 35-22 on Monday Night Football, but starting with Bill Cowher and continuing with Mike Tomlin, the Steelers are 21-8 on MNF and under Tomlin they are 5-0.

2) Troy Polamalu, when healthy is the best safety in football and the most exciting player to watch.
-In consecutive plays last night, Troy showed everyone what he is all about. The first play, Troy perfectly times the snap count, shoots into the backfield and stuffs the Denver runner for a loss untouched. The next play is an interception that sets up the Steelers for a TD that puts the game away. I am glad he is back and healthy. The D is totally different with Troy in the game.

3) Santonio shows up in a big way in a primetime game.
-Once again, 'Tone saves his best games for the biggest stage. He made a ton of tough catches last night in traffic. He continues to excel at gaining yards after the catch.

4) Hines makes big plays in big games.
-His first TD catch was huge but so were a couple of his drive sustaining first down grabs. His hurdling of Champ Bailey to ice the game at the end was nothing short of awesome.

5) Ben has another high efficiency game. The media acts like this is the first time they saw him play, still holding onto the ball too long.
-20 for 28 for 230 yards and 3 touches, 1 pick. Ben seems to be in complete control of the offense. He had us moving easily downfield in the no huddle before he threw a pretty awful pick in the redzone. The 2 sacks were both his fault. The line gave him plenty of time to throw. Extending plays also resulted in the TD to Mike Wallace.

6) The Steelers coaches and Ben trust Mike Wallace.
-Wallace should be in contention for Rookie of the Year. He had another solid game with 4 catches,1 for a TD. He also had a great catch on a low thrown ball for a first down.

7) The defense made all the big plays when they mattered.
-Carter with two picks, one for a touch. Troy with a huge pick. Keisel with two sacks.

8) The Steelers get knocked down, but continually get off the mat.
-The Steez were driving down the field easily on their first possession in the second half before Ben got strip sacked and the Broncos returned the fumble for a touchdown. How do the Steelers respond? With a 2 minute, 80 yard touchdown drive with a 25+ yard run by Rashard, and a 35 yard pass to Santonio. Great response. Tomlin has created a great attitude with this team.

-This is emphasized by the fact that the Steelers have given up a return TD (int, fumble or kick) in, according to Josh, six straight games. Return TD's are momentum shifting events that normally turn the tides of games. In 5 of the 6 games that a return TD has occurred, the Steelers have shaken it off and bounced back to win. Call it a silver lining.

9) The team is very tight.
-did you see how supportive Ryan Clark was of Ty Carter? Clark was the first one out there to congratulate Carter on both of his picks.

10) Steeler fans travel like no other teams in the league.
-From being at the game last night, I can attest to the fact that their is no other fan base like Steeler's Nation. The black and gold was everywhere. Seemingly every tailgate had a mix of Broncos and Steeler fans. Even an accident we passed on the freeway heading to the game was between Steeler and Broncos supporters. It was just as loud when the Broncos had the ball as it was when the Steelers had the ball. After the game was out of reach and all the Bronco fans had exited early, you could really see just how many Steez fans there were as the towel waiving maniacs stayed till the very end to cheer on their squad. The people sitting next to us had driven to Denver from Alberta, Canada to see the Steelers. That's dedication.

-The tickets we got were from friends of a friend in Dallas, TX, who happened to be Steeler fans who could not make it to the game. They were so excited that the tickets were going to other Steeler fans, they sent us a note along with the tickets and a Terrible Towel. The note said, "So glad you are a Steelers fan. Please use this Terrible Towel (it has been to Heinz Field) for me! Here We Go Steelers Here We Go." Amazing. You will be seeing the towel soon when I post pics from the game.

The "Prohibition is a Great Idea" Things that Have Changed:

1) The O-Line is playing well.
-For the past few seasons, everyone's favorite target has been the O-line. Well, we won the Superbowl with them last season. People still complained at the start of this year. Well, who's laughing now O-line? Ben routinely had tons of time to throw last night. Both sacks were pretty much Ben's fault for not throwing it away. The line also paved the way for Rashard to gain 155 yards on 22 carries with a 7 yard per carry average. Don't forget that the Broncos were one of the top D's coming into this game, especially against the run. Dumervil leads the league in sacks. Last night, he had a big fat goose egg. It was nice to see the Steelers imposing their will with the run to ice a game. If we can run like we did last night for the rest of the season, opposing defenses will really have their hands full trying to stop us.

2) Heath Miller dropped a ball.
-The normally sure handed Heath dropped a very catchable ball down the seam which would have been for a crucial first down. You don't see that happen too often from him.

3) Rashard Mendenhall living up to being a 1st round draft choice.
-After missing most of his rookie season with a broken shoulder suffered at the hands of Ray Lewis, there were many questions about whether Rashard was going to be a bust. He pretty much steered clear of the team for most of last year. He had a not so great pre-season and a lousy start to the year. He then got benched by Coach Tomlin for not being prepared during practice. Was this a masterstroke by a master motivator? It seems like just the wake up call Mendy needed because since then he has been a beast. After the benching, he put up 165 yards against SD averaging 5.7 yards per carry. The next week 5.1 yards, then a sub-par 3.6, but the next two games going against the leagues' two best run defenses he averaged 6.9 and 7 yards per carry. If he gets fumbling under control, he could be a beast for a while in this offense.

4) Good coaching decisions.
-What happened to the ultra-conservative approach of days past? With the Steelers up 11, and around 2 minutes remaining, Denver had 1 timeout left. The only way the Steelers could screw up the game was a turnover. They were easily in field goal range which would put them up two touchdowns. On third down, the Steelers should have run the ball, forced Denver to use its last timeout and kicked the field goal to ice the game. Instead they throw the ball. Granted it was a high percentage throw and it is nice to see the Steelers trying to put a game away by trying to win it instead of playing not to lose, but pretty much the only way we could lose is by a turnover. The Steelers got a first down. They got down to the three, ran twice and were faced with third and goal. What do they do? Another pass. It resulted in a TD but the call was a little edgy for my taste.

5) We played better in the second half
-This game was a tale of two halves. The Steelers somehow were leading at the half via a Ty Carter pick 6, but were badly outplayed. The Broncos had the ball for the vast majority of the half and the Steelers offense could only muster 53 yards to the Broncos 183. Credit the D for bending but not breaking. Check out the second half stats. The Steelers had the ball for 24 of 30 minutes. They put up over 300 yards of offense with great balance. The D made great adjustments and held Denver to about 60 yards for the half and no points. The D only gave up 3 points the whole game. And this was while missing 4 defensive starters from the beginning of the year. Fox and Carter played great. Ziggy Hood was in the backfield alot and Denver could not run at all against us. This D is getting better each week which is a scary thought for the rest of the league.

6) Who would have thought that the biggest game of the year for the Steelers and maybe the league would be Cincy at Pittsburgh on November 15th?
-The Steelers and Bengals are both 6-2 coming into the matchup, but the Bengals have already beaten us once. If they win next week in Heinz Field, they effectively have a two game lead over us for the division. In Sunday's game, the Bengals did pretty much whatever the wanted to the Ravens who after a hot start to the season, are 4-4 and two games behind us and Cincy for the division lead. It should be an awesome matchup. If we can continue our level of play from last night and cut down on turnovers, we should win this game. I know the team wants revenge for the loss earlier this year.

I will get pics from yesterday posted soon.

1st Monday Nighter of the Year

2009-11-09T11:37:00.005-05:00

After the bye week , the NFL made us wait an extra day before getting back to Steeler Football. I have a feeling it will be worth the wait. Normally, the bye week is useful this late in the season because it helps injured players get back on the field. Unfortunately, that isn't the case for the Steelers. Our D will be missing 4 starters tonight. Aaron Smith we know won't be playing for the rest of the season. However, we weren't certain about his replacement, Travis Kirschke. It now looks like he won't be playing along with Lawrence Timmons and Ryan Clark. The bye helped one defensive player get back to near full strength, Troy Polamalu. Luckily for the Steelers, the Broncos offensive is not their strength. Hood, Eason and Sonny Harris will fill in the spot emptied by Smith and Kirschke and Keyron Fox takes over for Timmons. He has played well this season, especially his key pick six against Minnesota. Tyrone Carter will take Clark's spot.

Clark is an interesting story. The Steelers have been playing games all week, saying he might play but anyone who is familiar with what happened the last time the Steelers were in Denver, realizes there is no way he suits up tonight. On our last visit to Mile High, Clark, who suffers from sickle cell anemia, which was aggravated by the high altitude, had to have his spleen removed, lost 30 pounds and missed the remainder of the season (and nearly died). Clark has been practicing all week with the team. Officially there has not been any word from the Steelers regarding his status for the game tonight. It seems like, Clark really wants to play in this game, but ultimately the decision will be made by Coach Tomlin. I doubt that he would risk the life of one of his players for one regular season game. Ty Carter is a decent back up and I think his style of play is much more suited for filling in for Ryan Clark than it was for filling in for Troy.

Two Steezbros will be at the game tonight so check back for pictures and stories tomorrow. Sorry you can't join us Alex, we will miss you.

Here are some links to peruse until kickoff tonight:

The PG has a bunch of stories analyzing matchups for tonight and reliving games past. HERE

Pre-Game Zone Blitz from BTSC. Always a good read. HERE

A comparison of how Mike Tomlin and Josh McDaniels career paths are similar. HERE

A video preview of tonight's game from AFC Bloger, James Walker. HERE

5 keys for the Steelers. HERE 5 Keys for the Broncos. HERE

Enjoy the game tonight. It should be a good one. GO STEEZ!!!!

Any predictions?

Gunslinger

2009-11-06T21:00:00.004-05:00

I had a lot of good stuff I wanted to post about the Denver game this week. But, paying the bills got in the way.

That made me sad.

Hopefully, watching this makes you happy. Especially around the 1:21 mark.

Tomlin Thursday Denver Edition

2009-11-05T11:11:00.007-05:00

Tomlin leads the team into Denver this week for a Monday night clash with the 6-1 Broncos. Denver just happens to be where two of the three Steezbros reside. You better believe we will be out searching for Tomlin, once the team arrives to the Mile High City. We will also be attending the game on Monday in full Steeler's regalia, so be prepared for alot of pics next week from Invesco Field.

I posted this in my links column on Friday, but since it is a rap about Tomlin (He's the boss), I thought it should be posted again in this space. So, once again, the Tomlin rap:

http://psamp.com/2009-articles/october/mike-tomlin-is-such-a-boss.html

Our weekly literary showcase continues with another stellar effort from Jenn Z.:

Mile High Stadium will be filled with crowds,

Watching football from the clouds.

They’re gathered to watch the phenom coach;

But a win tonight, the Broncos won’t approach.

Tomlin’s too smart, and his supporting crew

Will hand McDaniels the worst loss he knew.

The victory will be sweet, but with a touch of injustice,

For in the stands, the Steezbros. But at home, the rest of us.

I recently found a ton of pictures from the Superbowl. It made me think about last season and how we were pretty much in the exact same place at this point last year. I am fully confident in Tomlin's and the teams ability to get us back to the promised land. Here is what we are shooting for:

In case you forgot, we are still the defending champs. 5 year grace period. We are actually in a double grace period this year and next. Let's make next season a triple! I liked this pic because it is a picture of Tomlin holding a picture of himself!

Tomlin might be closer to his players than any other coach in history, yet he maintains their respect.

I call this respectful Tomlin, but maybe they were planning for Hines to have one of his best seasons ever after winning the Superbowl. It's pretty incredible the year he is having, especially considering the physical condition he was in after the season.

Another player having an awesome season, Bungy (Ben). I would like to be in on this hug.

Bring on the Broncos!!!! GO STEEZ!!!!!

Great interview with Ben Roethlisberger

2009-11-04T12:01:00.000-05:00

From PGH

Steelers need special teams help; Madison released by Browns

2009-11-03T19:19:00.003-05:00

The question isn't should we sign him, it's who should we release when we sign him.

The most likely players include Keiwan Ratliff, who has been bad on defense and special teams, Carey Davis, who is a good special team player but has been inactive b/c of David Johnson, Patrick Bailey, another special teamer, or Limas Sweed.

I don't think Sweed should be or will be cut.

My vote is Ratliff. Keenan Lewis or Joe Burnett can replace him in dime packages.

A Conversation with Coach Tomlin

2009-11-03T12:26:00.002-05:00

For many Steeler fans, it would be a dream come true to meet Mike Tomlin. I'm sure some of us have imagined the conversation we might have with him if we ever did get to meet him. Here is one fans dream conversation. It isn't what I would go with, I would throw in some questions here or there but hey, it is his dream not mine. What would you ask if you had the chance to meet Mike Tomlin?

Me (Dave Scerbo): Coach I just want to personally thank you for choosing to come to coach in Pittsburgh.

Coach: Thank-you it's my pleasure to be associated with such a great organization.

Me: As a life-long Steeler fan, I feel you truly embody the fundamentals and ideals that this franchise stands for.

Coach: You seem like a pretty smart guy, maybe you'd like to come watch a practice some time.

Me: That'd be great, I consider you one of my heros and you truly are an inspration; not just as a coach, but as a man.

Coach: Maybe after this we could go grab a burger.

Me: I just want to say that I really admire your focus, and your desire to be at your best, always improving and learning from the past.

Coach: You really sound like you know what you're talking about. How would you like to an assistant coach. You can follow me around on the sideline and make sure I don't trip over the cord that goes to my headset.

Me: ROCK!

Me: By the way; You had one sweet-ass flat-top back in the day.

Coach: Thanks, that thing was known to hold bricks straight up in the air without any deformation what-so-ever.

Me: That's one gnarly weave!

1st Half Developments: Offensive Line

2009-11-03T12:14:00.004-05:00

With the bye week complete, we have at least nine straight weeks of enjoying Steeler football. Let's hope it's much more.

The Steelers have a big matchup with the 6-1 Denver Broncos this week. After being manhandled by the Ravens, expect the McDaniels' crew to bring some extra intensity against the defending champs. Of course, the Steelers are coming off of a bye week, so they've had extra time to prepare. Hopefully, that will counteract the very real homefield advantage of playing in Denver and the several players that may not play due to injury (Travis Kirschke, Lawrence Timmons) or chance of death (Ryan Clark).

Monday night games are awesome. Especially, when yours truly will be in attendance.

But before we get to game previews, let's review some of the interesting developments of the first half of the season. With the Steelers approaching the midway point of the season, there have been some major surprises in the first 7 games. We think it will be instructive to look back at those games to see if we can get a handle on what will happen over the next 9 games and, fingers crossed, deep into the playoffs.

The first major development worth discussing is the improvement of the offensive line.

It's rare for the national media to focus on non-skill position players. But even the national writers were lamenting the state of the offensive line prior to the season. After the opening game against the Titans, the criticism increased. Here at Steezbros, we have been critical of the O-line and the front office for not addressing the position through the draft or free agency.

It may be time to eat some crow.

Or as Big Ben put it after the Super Bowl, "who's laughing now O-line"?

That's not to say the line is one of the best in the league, but they have certainly made major strides from last year. Even though the team is once again in line to allow 40+ sacks, Big Ben isn't under nearly the amount of pressure of past years. And because of that, he is on pace for a career year in completion percentage (don't even get me started on how ridiculous it is to complete more than 70% of your passes with a yards per attempt around 9) and yardage. Despite running the ball less frequently than any Steeler team in history, the average rushing yards per game is up from last year and the line is providing enough holes to allow Rashard Mendenhall to average more than 5 yards per carry.

It's gotten to the point that offensive line is not one of my top three concerns going into most games*. If this development continues, Pittsburgh will be a very tough opponent to play in December and January.

Kudos to the offensive line and the coaching staff that believed in them. Keep up the good work.

*Bonus: I don't claim to know the intricacies of offensive line play. So I'll just link to a columnist that follows the O-line very closely.

This is an article from JJ Cooper at AOL Fanhouse:

For three years I rewatched every Steelers game with an eye on the offensive line. And a good bit of the time, it wasn't pretty. Whether it was a debacle against the Raiders in 2006 or the mass of confusion against the Eagles in 2008, there have been plenty of lowlights. After watching the Steelers win the Super Bowl last year despite a struggling offensive line, I kind of figured that if everything went well, Pittsburgh could figure out a way to do it again. They had enough defense and enough skill position players on offense to make up for the offensive line's problems.
That appeared to be what the Steelers thought as well--they brought back the starting five from the Super Bowl team, although Darnell Stapleton (sitting on injured reserve) has been replaced at right guard by Trai Essex. It was a somewhat scary formula--stick with what you got and hope for the best. But after rewatching the Steelers-Vikings game with a focus on the line play, it's clear that I was wrong. The defense may be good enough and the skill positions (thanks to Mike Wallace) are even better than expected. But if the Steelers managed to defend their Super Bowl title this year, the biggest reason will be because the offensive line is significantly improved.I haven't watched the Steelers offensive line in detail every week this year like I have in past years, but with them facing off against the Vikings--the NFL's leader in sacks and the team with arguably the best front four in football, it seems like a good time to check back in on the Steelers O-line.
What I found was pretty impressive. In watching the Steelers against the Vikings, the offensive line actually got the better of the Vikings for much of the game. Defensive end Jared Allen, one of the top pass rushers in the game, finished the game with two tackles and no sacks. Kevin Williams, one of the top defensive tackles in the game, had only one tackle. Not only did he end up with one tackle, but right tackle Willie Colon put him on the ground several times on running plays. Colon's play stood out more than anyone. Colon showed dominating run blocking while also showing dramatic improvement in pass blocking from previous years. The Steelers ran nine called running plays to the right for 78 yards. They ran nine other called runnnig plays up the middle or to the left for a grand total of 25 yards. Colon was a big reason for that. When he teamed up with Essex to block Kevin Williams, he put Willams on the ground on three different occasions. On other running plays, he did an outstanding job of sealing the corner.
Over at the other tackle spot, Max Starks had the toughest assignment of anyone. He was asked to block Allen, who came into the game second in the NFL in sacks, one-on-one throughout the game. Pittsburgh didn't give Starks an inordinate amount of help, but his combination of long arms and good footwork allowed him to neutralize one of the game's best pass rusher. I counted only four plays in the game where Allen clearly beat Starks--one pass deflection where Allen got his hands up at the line, a run play where he missed his block but it didn't play a part in the play and two pass plays where Allen got free eventually, but not in time to really bother Roethlisberger. When Allen tried to bull rush, Starks swallowed him up and showed that he could throw out an anchor that kept Allen from driving him back. And when Allen tried to beat Starks with a speed rush, Starks was able to get his hands on Allen quickly enough to win the race to the corner.
Essex wasn't as dominating as Colon or Starks, but he was quite impressive. He doesn't have Colon or Chris Kemoeatu's strength that allows them to plow people at times. But what he did show was an impressive awareness of angles and of his responsibilities. Essex's best play may have been as a pass blocker early in the first quarter. He got in his initial punch on Brian Robison, only to watch Robison loop away on a stunt. Essex quickly handed Robison off, picked up defensive end Ray Edwards looping around and then handed him off to block Jared Allen, who had come all the way around from the other defensive end spot.It may not sound like much, but those handoffs from one offensive lineman to another are the kind of switch-offs that cause sacks every week, usually because a lineman drops his head and fixates on the man he is currently blocking. Essex instead keeps his head up and looking around, which makes it much easier to stay alert to line stunts and loops. Last year, the Steelers were an easy mark for a team that blitzed and stunted to create confusion. This year, they seem to handle it like veterans who have played together and who know what everyone else along the line is doing.
Pittsburgh line still isn't one who will blow teams off the ball. But there pass blocking has improve to the point where it gives Roethlisberger the time to carve up defenses. Because of Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh will continue to have high sack totals--eight of his sacks this year have come on plays where he's held the ball for 3.5 seconds or more--but the improved pass blocking also explains why Roethlisberger is second in the league in passing yardage.

Bye Week Links

2009-10-30T12:13:00.004-04:00

With no Steeler game to occupy our thoughts for the upcoming weekend, here are some links to keep you busy. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

For any TECMO BOWL fans out there, here is a simulation of the Steelers vs. the Vikings. It's pretty sweet. HERE

A few good reads from Behind the Steel Curtain:

-State of the Union, Steez style. HERE
-Reasons Hines should make it to the hall. HERE and HERE
-Mike Wallace's impact complete with video. HERE

Mondesi's House takes a look at the state of the Steez and the NFL. HERE

The Broncos have signed Mitch Berger, the Steelers' comic relief from last season. HERE

Will Ryan Clark play next Monday in Denver? Last time he played here it nearly ended his career. HERE

From Post Game Heroes, a nice video breakdown of the great job Max Starks did against the Vikes Jared Allen. HERE

It has just come to my attention that there is a Tomlin themed rap. Had I known, it would have gone up yesterday, but here it is today. HERE at PSAMP

Enjoy the Halloween festivities.

Tomlin Thursday Bye Week Edition

2009-10-29T12:34:00.008-04:00

The Steelers veteran players received the week off from Coach Mike, but Tomlin Thursday does not take time off for anyone. Tomlin heard we were still posting pics this week and got super pumped. Or maybe he is just excited because we are 5-2 heading into the bye week after beating his former team.

BYE WEEK POEM:

Playing his old team raised the stakes,

But Tomlin proved once more he's got what it takes

To pit the Steelers against the NFC's best.

And now, in week 8, a much-deserved rest.

-Jenn Z.

With no football this week, Tomlin wants to remind us what we are playing for and where this team should end up. There is only one goal and it is Stairway to Seven.

I think this speaks for itself.

He is a learned man. Look how proud he is to be back at his alma mater.

No questions until next week. Enjoy a Sunday without the nerves.

No More Purple Perfection

2009-10-26T12:46:00.005-04:00

The Steelers like to make it interesting. But for the first time this year, the defense won the game.

On a play by play basis, this was far from the team's best game this year. The offense couldn't get into a rhythm. The defense let up long drives. Minnesota held the ball for 36 minutes to the Steelers 24. That doesn't sound like a winning recipe against one of the best teams in the league.

But, as Mike Tomlin likes to say, the splash plays made all the difference.

The first "splash" play wasn't a turnover. In fact, it was a big play from the Vikings. On 4th and 2, Sidney Rice got behind the defense for a long catch. It looked like it might be a touchdown, but Troy Polamalu caught Rice from behind and tackled him at the 1 yard line. The play seemed meaningless at the time, but after three consecutive plays that resulted in no gain and an ultra-conservative field goal from Brad Childress, Troy's tackle saved 4 points.

The second splash play was made by a player that hasn't been mentioned much this year - Brett Keisel. Keisel beat Steve Hutchinson, one of the best guards in the game, and stripped Favre. After Woodley picked up the ball, we saw an envoy of black and gold surrounding him on his way to the end zone. A marvelous sight that we've seen too few times this year.

The third splash play was more luck than skill. But the Steelers haven't seen many balls bounce their way early in the season. A ball thrown a little hard and high caused Chester Taylor to tip it into the hands of Keyaron Fox.

The Steelers picked a good day to finally win the turnover battle.

After the game, Brad Childress described the Vikings loss as fluky.

Bad etiquette? Perhaps. But Childress was right. The Vikings outplayed the Steelers in nearly every facet of the game.

The Steelers offense was out of sorts all day. Big Ben looked uncomfortable in the pocket. Despite a well played game by the O-line, Ben failed to find open receivers. Whether that was a case of the Vikings great coverage or Ben not accepting the check downs provided to him, who knows. But with Antoine Winfield out of the game, I certainly thought the offense would be more successful than it was. Perhaps the most surprising occurance was the success of the Steelers running game against the stout front of the Vikings. As a team, the Steelers averaged 5.3 yards per carry. Mendenhall averaged 6.9 yards per carry. For the second time in three weeks, it's striking that Mendenhall isn't getting more carries. The easy explanation is that the team is a pass first team. But this week, it may be more of the fact that the offense couldn't sustain drives, so the opportunities just weren't there.

Despite what you may hear and read, the 2008 Steelers defense was not back. The Vikings offense moved the ball easily throughout the last three quarters and racked up 386 yards, a season high let up by the defense. Considering that the defense only allowed 300 yards in a game one time last season, this wasn't a dominating defensive performance. But it was an opportunistic one.

Brett Favre lamented after the game, "There's a lot of 'what ifs' in a game like this. Pittsburgh can probably say the same thing,"

Pittsburgh can definitely say the same thing. Consider the variety of mistakes made by the Steelers:

- Penalty negates a Santonio Holmes touchdown

- Four offsides penalties

- 0-3 in the red zone, including a Mendenhall fumble at the 5 yard line

- A kickoff return touchdown allowed

- Ben Roethlisberger fumble late in the 4th quarter

But that's the beauty of splash plays. The cover the other mistakes.

As Mike Tomlin said after the game, "When you put a couple of splash plays defensively; you put 14 points on the board defensively you can overcome a lot of errors. We were far from a perfect team, but we won today...It’s good to get into a bye winning a few in a row and we’ll continue to improve in our areas of deficiency, kickoff coverage being one of them."

5-2. Bye next week. Sounds good to me.

Minnesota Gameday Links

2009-10-25T11:32:00.002-04:00

Needless to say, today's game is huge. It would be awesome to get a win over an undefeated team heading into the bye week.

Troy sat out practice Wednesday and Thursday but practiced Friday. He will be playing with a brace. HERE

The biggest matchup of the day. AP vs. Steelers run D. HERE

Are two Key members of our 2 Superbowl wins on the way out the door? HERE.

Good Stuff from Behind the Steel Curtain. See what the Minny blogs are saying about us. HERE

A google map of all the Steeler bars out there is in development. HERE

A great QB matchup today- Favre vs. Ben. HERE

GO STEEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!

Statement Time

2009-10-23T12:03:00.000-04:00

The Steelers face their biggest challenge of the year on Sunday against the 6-0 Vikings. The game is a big one for many reasons. Nearly half way through the season it appears the Steelers will be in a fight to defend the AFC North title. So every game matters.

But does the Vikings game matter even more? I believe it does.

The Steelers (or at least the team's fans) thought this season should have been a cakewalk. The team returned nearly all of its starters. The schedule was much easier. And Coach Tomlin would keep the crew focused.

But after six games, this Steeler team hasn't played like a Super Bowl contender. Maybe that's a little harsh seeing as though the team is 4-2. But the Steelers schedule thus far has been a joke. Football Outsiders ranks it as the second easiest schedule in the league.

The four teams they beat have a combined record of 4-19.

Tennessee (0-6)

San Diego (2-3)

Detroit (1-5)

Cleveland (1-5)

Tennessee, Detroit, and Cleveland are probably three of the five worst teams in the league. And the Steelers only beat one of them by double digits. Although they've outplayed each of their opponents, little mistakes have kept the Steelers from closing the deal in losses and blowout wins against lesser competition.

The Steelers have no wins against teams with a winning record. The two losses were to Cincinatti (4-2) and Chicago (3-2). Granted they were on the road, but neither of those teams are juggernauts. They are not teams a Super Bowl contender would lose to.

Nonetheless, at 4-2, the Steelers are in fine shape to position themselves for a playoff run. But, the joke part of the schedule is over. Of the last 10 games, 7 of them are against legitimate playoff contenders. The team needs to start playing better to keep itself in contention.

Which brings us to why this game is so important. If the Steelers want to show the world that they are still an elite team, this is the time to do it. At home. Against the 6-0 Vikings. A win would put the team in great shape at 5-2 going into the bye. Confidence would be high. Polamalu will have time to rest. And the early collapses will be forgotten. A loss would leave the team at 4-3, with no quality wins. And a tough schedule left to face. It's only a one game difference, but it seems a lot bigger than that.

It's easy to forget, but at this time last year, Mike Tomlin had no signature wins. He got enough last season for an entire career. But it's time to get the first one in 2009.

I'm avoiding predictions - the team lost the last two games I predicted - but the Steelers are 4.5 point favorites. Time to remind America, and the purple, Wrangler-loving quarterback, that the black and gold are still World Champions.

Losing the Turnover Battle

2009-10-23T11:45:00.001-04:00

Win the turnover battle and you'll win the game.

This statement is discussed weekly by coaches, studio analysts, and broadcasters. It's nearly accepted as fact.

The 2009 Steelers are doing their best to disprove the theory. The team is 4-2. Their turnover differential is -4, which is good for 27th in the league. It hasn't won the turnover battle in a single game:

Tennessee: 3 Turnovers - 2 Turnovers Forced: -1 Differential

Chicago: 2 Turnovers - 0 Forced: -2 Differential

Cincinnati: 1 Turnover - 0 Forced: -1 Differential

San Diego: 1 Turnover - 1 Forced: 0 Differential

Detroit: 1 Turnover - 1 Forced: 0 Differential

Cleveland: 4 Turnovers - 4 Forced: 0 Differential

The good news - it's getting better. The last three games have been a stalemate in terms of turnovers.

The bad news - each side of the ball has its issues. Until this week against Cleveland, the defense has struggled to create turnovers. Perhaps, with Troy back, that will stop. Offensively, the Steelers have turned the ball over in every game.

This trend needs to stop soon. The Vikings are 4th in the league with a +8 turnover margin. It would be nice to bring that number down this week at Heinz Field.

Tomlin Thursday v. 6.0

2009-10-22T11:39:00.008-04:00

YEAH THURSDAY! We had been trying to find a pic of Tomlin in the pink breast cancer hat for a while. This morning the dream came to fruition. Here, Coach Mike explains to Andrea why sideline reporters and their questions are worthless.

Huge game this week vs. the undefeated Minnesota Favres. Here is a preview:

A team called the Vikings,
Has an offense so striking, While led by a QB quite old and quite gray.
But though Adrian's a speeder, Tomlin's our leader;
And the Vikings our Steez will outplay.
-Jenn Z.

For those that remember, Tomlin was the D-Coordinator for the Vikes before becoming the Steelers' Head Coach. Luckily, Tomlin's defensive wizardry caught the Steelers attention and resulted in him becoming head coach.

Tomlin and Childress are considering whether Childress should ever coach without his hat. Also being discussed were facial hair options for both going into the future.

Clearly, Brad did not listen to Tomlin's advice. If he had, he would not look like this.

Although he is donning Vikes gear, he still looks like a badass. The Black and Gold just take it to a whole other level.

"STOP FUMBLING THE DAMN BALL"

Since fumbling has become an issue, Tomlin is taking matters into his own hands. I would not want him hitting me.

GO STEEZ!

Steelers Nation

2009-10-21T12:07:00.003-04:00

It's a snowy and cold morning here in the Rockies so I wanted to post something that warms my heart and gives me goose bumps while being read. It was sent to me a while back. I just stumbled upon it in my email inbox randomly while searching for something else. It reminded me just how unique the Steeler Nation is and how awesome it is to be a part of it. Enjoy.

Nation Building

January 18, 2006
Scott Paulsen

Think about this the next time someone argues that a professional sports
franchise is not important to a city's identity:

In the 1980's, as the steel mills and their supporting factories shut
down from Homestead to Midland, Pittsburghers, faced for the first time
in their lives with the specter of unemployment, were forced to pick up
their families, leave their home towns and move to more profitable parts
of the country. The steel workers were not ready for this. They had
planned to stay in the 'burgh their entire lives. It was home.
Everyone I know can tell the same story about how Dad, Uncle Bob or
their brother-in-law packed a U-Haul and headed down to Tampa to build
houses or up to Boston for an office job or out to California to star in
pornographic videos. All right. Maybe that last one just happened in my family.

At this same time, during the early to mid-eighties, the
Pittsburgh Steelers were at the peak of their popularity. Following the
Super Bowl dynasty years, the power of the Steelers was strong. Every
man, woman, boy and girl from parts of four states were Pittsburgh
faithful, living and breathing day to day on the news of their favorite
team. Then, as now, it seemed to be all anyone talked about.
Who do you think the Steelers will take in the draft this
year?
Is Bradshaw done?
Can you believe they won't give Franco the money - what's
he doing going to Seattle?
The last memories most unemployed steel workers had of
their towns had a black and gold tinge. The good times remembered all
seemed to revolve, somehow, around a football game. Sneaking away from
your sister's wedding reception to go downstairs to the bar and watch
the game against Earl Campbell and the Oilers - going to midnight mass,
still half in the bag after Pittsburgh beat Oakland - you and your
grandfather, both crying at the sight of The Chief, finally holding his
Vince Lombardi Trophy.
And then, the mills closed.
Damn the mills.
One of the unseen benefits of the collapse of the value
systems our families believed in - that the mill would look after you
through thick and thin - was that now, decades later, there is not a
town in America where a Pittsburgher cannot feel at home. Nearly every
city in the United States has a designated "Black and Gold"
establishment. From Bangor, Maine to Honolulu, Hawaii, and every town in
between can be found an oasis of Iron City, chipped ham and yinzers.
It's great to know that no matter what happened in the lives of our
Steel City refugees, they never forgot the things that held us together
as a city - families, food, and Steelers football.
It's what we call the Steeler Nation.
You see it every football season. And when the Steelers
have a great year, as they have had this season, the power of the
Steeler Nation rises to show itself stronger than ever. This week, as
the Pittsburgh team of Roethlisberger, Polamalu, Bettis and Porter head
to Denver, the fans of Greenwood, Lambert, Bleier and Blount, the
generation who followed Lloyd, Thigpen, Woodson and Kirkland will be
watching from Dallas to Chicago, from an Air Force base in Minot, North
Dakota, to a tent stuck in the sand near Fallujah, Iraq.
I have received more e-mail from displaced Pittsburgh
Steelers fans this week than Christmas cards this holiday season.
They're everywhere.
We're everywhere.
We are the Steeler Nation.
And now, it's passing from one generation to the next. The
children of displaced Pittsburghers, who have never lived in the Steel
City, are growing up Steelers fans. When they come back to their
parents' hometowns to visit the grandparents, they hope, above all, to
be blessed enough to get to see the Steelers in person.
Heinz Field is their football Mecca.
And if a ticket isn't available, that's okay, too. There's
nothing better than sitting in Grandpa's living room, just like Dad did,
eating Grandma's cooking and watching the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Just like Dad did.
So, to you, Steeler Nation, I send best wishes and a fond
wave of the Terrible Towel. To Tom, who emailed from Massachusetts to
say how great it was to watch the Patriots lose and the Steelers win in
one glorious weekend. To Michelle, from Milwaukee, who wrote to let me
know it was she who hexed Mike Vanderjagt last Sunday by chanting
"boogity, boogity, boogity" and giving him the "maloik". To Jack, who
will somehow pull himself away from the beach bar he tends in Hilo,
Hawaii, to once again root for the black and gold in the middle of the
night (his time), I say, thanks for giving power to the great Steeler
Nation.
All around the NFL, the word is out that the Pittsburgh
Steeler fans "travel well", meaning they will fly or drive from
Pittsburgh to anywhere the Steelers play, just to see their team. The
one aspect about that situation the rest of the NFL fails to grasp is
that, sometimes, the Steeler Nation does not have to travel. Sometimes,
we're already there.
Yes, the short sighted steel mills screwed our families
over.
But they did, in a completely unintended way, create
something new and perhaps more powerful than an industry.
They helped created a nation.
A Steeler Nation.

Steelers Slam the Browns

2009-10-19T11:51:00.004-04:00

Before I get to the Browns game, it should be mentioned that Jeff Reed was cited for public intoxication last night at McFadden's. After the paper towel dispenser incident in February, it appears that drinking may be an issue for Mr. Reed. With Jeff Reed being a free agent at year's end, run ins with the law do not increase his chances of being re-signed with the Steelers. Reed has been a solid kicker for the most part and will not be easily replaced. Clearly the people who are in charge of the development of the North Shore did not consider Reed's proclivity for drinking when they put multiple bars within walking distance of Heinz Field. Reed was cited around 9 o'clock. The game didn't end till 4. He had to shower, get dressed and then make it over to McFadden's. Let's say that took an hour. Reed was drinking pretty heavily for the next 4 hours. On to the game...

THOUGHTS

1) We won. But I am getting tired of Tomlin's spin that style points don't count. We played one of the worst teams in the league. We turned it over 4 times and did not run the ball as well as we should have. This should have been a blow out but once again we played down to an opponent's level.

2) Troy should not have played. Yes he made a pick and his impact was felt, but was a not 100% Troy really that much of an improvement over Ty Carter? Watch the Titans game and then the Cleveland game. How much more did you see of Troy vs. the Titans in one half than you saw all day yesterday? He was still fairly limited by the knee injury. Why not rest him at least one more week and get him back 100%? We didn't need him to beat the Browns. Why risk it? I wrote about it a few weeks back. He shouldn't have come back till next week at the earliest.

3) Where is the killer instinct on this team? After creating multiple turnovers with a chance to put the game out of reach, we should be scoring. Instead we are playing pong. 5 consecutive possessions between the Browns and Steelers resulted in a turnover. Can we start acting like the defending champs?

4) The D did not miss Aaron Smith in this game. Kirscke, Eason and Hood filled in admirably and the D only let up one touchdown. They also came up with some big plays in big spots by getting pressure and creating turnovers.

5) Ben is having an amazing year and he is really at another level right now. 417 yards yesterday, 2 touchdowns and an int. He is finally utilizing all our weapons. Everything we ever complained about seems to be taken into consideration this year. Throwing to the tight end? Check. Throwing to running backs out of the backfield? Check. Holding onto the ball too long and never throwing it away? Still working on that one. The only thing that worries me is that Ben has 1 or 2 throws every game where he become Brett Favre. You know, the whole screw it, I'm Brett Favre, I can throw it into any spot play, that results in an int. Take your checkdowns, the big plays will come.

6) For the first part of the game at least, our o-line was getting pushed around by the Browns D-line. The Browns were ranked 31st in the league against the run. We could have played better but we still went for 140 on the ground and over 500 yards total offense. We just needed to put more points on the board.

7) Timmons was finally used to rush the passer with big results. 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.

8) Our special teams coverage units are poor but our return blocking is pathetic.

9) Once again we got stuffed on a 3rd and 1, and 4th and 1. However, we were given a first down somehow, even though it looked like we were short on tv. It shouldn't be that close against the Browns.

We have a very tough stretch coming up starting with Minnesota next week in the 'burgh. Hopefully Tomlin has something up his sleeve to get this team fired up and playing up to their talent level instead of down to the level of other teams. The Steez have yet to play a complete game in my opinion. Let's hope they are saving them for the latter part of the season.

Browns Gameday Links

2009-10-18T11:09:00.004-04:00

I am hoping for a blowout today so we don't have to sweat it out for a change. The Clev Brownies have only scored 4 touchdowns this season. Even without Aaron Smith, this game should not be a problem for the D. Troy is back and I think a little fire got ignited last week at the end of the Detroit game. The offense has been looking good for two consecutive weeks. I see that trend continuing today. The Browns have lost the last 17 of 18 vs. the Steez. The score of this game should be like 37- 6. Here are some links to occupy yourself till gametime:

Behind the Steel Curtain pulls together a lot of stuff from the Browns websites if you want to get familiar with them. HERE.

Who is 2nd in the NFL in passing yards? Ben. Check out this article about the amazing season he is having so far. HERE.

How bad have the Browns been since they returned to the league? It's not pretty. HERE.

Joe Thomas vs. James Harrison. Thomas has given Harrison trouble in the past. HERE

The Matchups and Breakdowns. HERE

YEAH SUNDAY!

Tomlin Thursday v. 5.0

2009-10-15T11:58:00.007-04:00

Here we see Tomlin after getting the news that Aaron Smith is done for the year. It is a gloomy day here at Steezbros, but nothing like some Tomlin love to cheer us up and a haiku to get the D pumped up:

Steez D brings the blitz;

Browns offense does not progress.

Dog pound barks not bites.

Coach Mike heard about the winter storm about to crush PA and brought out the beanie. Winter is coming early everywhere this season. Break out the skis! It's Steeler weather.

How can this image not cheer you up? We are still the champs! If you buy into Bill Simmons 5 year grace period after a championship theory, no complaining is allowed until 2014.

How awesome is the 'burgh? Tomlin knows. Don't try to tell him otherwise.

A blast from the past. Could anyone else rock a shirt like that tucked into jeans and still project an aura of confidence and badassness? I think not.

Take a Deep Breath

2009-10-14T20:04:00.003-04:00

Aaron Smith is done for the season. Inhale...exhale. To be sure, this is a major blow to our defense which has already shown signs of mediocrity this season. Anyone that remembers the last time Smith was out for an extended period should be freaking out; our run D totally fell apart. One piece of uplifting news is that Troy should be back for this week's game and hopefully the rest of the season.

The Steelers re-signed their 6th round draft pick, Sonny Harris from Carolina's practice sqaud, to fill the roster spot created by Smith being placed on IR. Harris showed alot of promise in the pre-season and was one of the final cuts made. He would have been on our practice squad if Carlina hadn't signed him. Out of the bad some good must come.

I believe it will come in getting more experience for our young guys, especially 1st round draft pick, Ziggy Hood. Between Hood, Sonny Harris, Nick Eason and Travis Kirshke, we should have a decent rotation filling in for Smith. I would love to see LeBeau get creative. Chris Hoke has filled in more than admirably for Casey Hampton when he was injured. Why not move Hampton to left end and put Hoke in at the nose. Casey will take up two blockers and normally gets good push into the backfield. This should open up some space for Woodley on that side.

Expect a heavy dose of running to the right side from now on from opposing offenses. Like I said, this is a major loss for our D. Let's rely on the depth this team has and hope for the best. We have Cleveland this week which should get the new starters some decent reps without having to worry to much about a crucial game and making mistakes. Even thought the D-line is awesome, it is getting old. Smith's injury should benefit us in the long run by getting the young guys in the rotation that much quicker.

Aaron Smith Significantly Injured?

2009-10-13T13:32:00.004-04:00

According to the Post Gazette, Aaron Smith may have a significant shoulder injury.

Smith's right shoulder was injured in Detroit Sunday and coach Mike Tomlin said today it "potentially could be significant."

Tomlin said the injury potentially could keep Smith out for awhile, pending the result of tests today.

The Steelers regard Smith as the best 3-4 end in football.

Tomlin said Ziggy Hood, their first-round draft choice, is not yet ready to replace Smith as the starter and they would do so "by committee."

Smith is highly underrated in the NFL, but Steeler fans know how important he is to the defense. As mentioned in the Post Gazette, he may be the best 3-4 end in all of football. When he was lost to injury in 2006, the defense dropped off significantly, especially against the run. More information is needed to determine if this is season ending, but the injury has serious ramifications for the Steelers attempt to repeat as champions.

Crap

UPDATE: Aaron Smith will be out at least 3 months with a torn rotator cuff.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

Can we call that one a Four-Star match up?

2009-10-12T12:21:00.006-04:00

The facts are the facts. Right now, Pittsburgh is a team that is only one score better than the Lions.

The mojo of 2008 is gone. Of course, it's still early in the season. We could get it back when Troy returns from injury. But it's certainly hard to get excited about a 28-20 win against a Detroit team that has won once in the last two seasons. Especially considering that the team was missing its starting quarterback and its only offensive playmaker - Megatron.

Those blessed with a positive temperment will point out that a win by 40 counts as the same as a win by 1. And in the final standings it doesn't matter if the win came against the lowly Lions or the dominant Giants. Which is all true. But when you need a last minute defensive stand to beat such a bad team, doesn't that bode poorly for the rest of the season?

The defense, in partcular, was less than stellar. It employed the bend but don't break method and only allowed 13 points (7 points came from another Big Ben pick 6). I suppose in most cities a defensive performance of 13 points should be extolled, but not in Pittsburgh. And not against Daunte Culpepper and the Calvin Johnson-less Lions. The Steelers defense struggled to get off the field and let up a few too many long drives. All it would have taken to make this game a blowout was a couple three and outs. But the Steelers could not cover Dennis Northcutt and could not get off the field. Allowing the Lions to go 11-18 on 3rd down and win the time of possession battle by 5 minutes certainly needs to be improved upon.

That's not to say that it was all bad. When the team needed it the most, the defense stood up in a big way. After allowing Detroit to drive to the Pittsburgh 21 with 2 minutes to play, the defense recorded 3 straight sacks to effectively end the game. The team finished with 7 sacks led by James Harrison with 3. LaMarr Woodley chipped in with 1.5 sacks; Willie Gay had 1.5; and Lawrence Timmons had 1.

After a 3 and out to start the game, the offense got into a nice rhythm scoring touchdowns on all five of its next five possessions (excluding the drive that ended the first half). Of course, one of those touchdowns was for Detroit. Big Ben had another solid night finishing 23-30 for 277 yards 3 TDs and 1 int. Ben's play has been exemplary all season, but he still needs to do just a little more to avoid the big turnover. I know the 3 touchdowns make up for the one pick 6, but remember he had another interception negated by a questionable roughing the passer penalty.

Nonetheless, the second half offensive effort was less than stellar. Going against a Detroit defense ranked 27th against the pass and 20th against the run, I expected the Steelers to put up at least 35 points. A little too much to ask? Maybe. But I was expecting a big play or two from the defense and special teams.

Much of the reason the offense didn't score often in the second half was lack of possessions. The Steelers defense couldn't get the Lions off the field, so Pittsburgh only had four possessions in the second half. One went for a long touchdown to Mike Wallace. The other three possessions resulted in a total of 11 yards. The poor performance gets pinned on a lack of execution, but it seems unfathomable that Rashard Mendenhall, who again played very well as the starter, only got 5 carries in the second half. Especially considering the Steelers had a two score lead, Mendenhall was averaging 5 yards per carry, and the offensive line was playing more physically than the Lions defense. I'll give Arians a pass because the offense was efficient overall and the Lions are vulnerable against the pass, but the team was just a little too pass happy on Sunday.

Despite all the doom and gloom above, the Steelers are only one game back of the AFC North leading Bengals and are now tied with the Ravens. With the Browns coming to Pittsburgh on Sunday, bringing a starting QB that went 2-17 for 23 yards and an INT against the Bills, the Steelers should be heavy favorites to get to 4-2.

Other quick hitters

Poor Limas Sweed. He had one ball thrown his way on Sunday and he dropped it. At least the man's consistent.
Mike Wallace also did his best Sweed impression, dropping a perfectly thrown deep bomb that should have been a touchdown. At least the mohawked-one came back strong with a long touchdown catch later in the game.
It's been two games against bad defenses, but Mendenhall should at worst split carries equally when Willie Parker returns. Mendenhall runs harder and blocks as well as Fast Willie, but he is a much better receiver. I'm not anointing Mendenhall the starter after two games, but he's earned himself more carries.
The Steelers defense can no longer hide behind the "we played good quarterbacks" excuse. Kerry Collins has not played well all season and Daunte Culpepper is way past his prime. But both were able to extend drives against Pittsburgh.
Was Dick Lebeau holding out on his exotic blitz packages until the end or did Detroit's O-line and Daunte Culpepper wilt under pressure?
Stefan Logan had one big return yesterday and it came at the perfect time. Detroit had just scored a defensive touchdown to get within 1, and Logan returned the ball to midfield, where the Steelers quickly scored to take an 8 point lead.
That said, the coverage units and blocking for Logan remain shaky. The punt return unit committed another penalty. Robo-punter continues to robo-punt.
Nice coordination by the defense to copy the Larry Foote dance. Wonder if he misses Pittsburgh right about now?
Long way to go in the season. Let's hope the early season struggles get ironed out and we peak in December, January, and February.

Gameday # 5

2009-10-11T11:26:00.002-04:00

An actual 1 o'clock start today. I just want to let everyone know that if we lose today, Tomlin Thursday is canceled until further notice. Reports are that Daunte Culpepper will be starting for the Lions today. Hopefully that will mean some sacks and turnovers for the D. Willie Parker is out again. Here are some links to get you through till gametime:

-Behind the Steel Curtains' take on the keys to the game.

-Post Gazette looks at the matchups.

-Ike gets the assignment of covering Calvin Johsnon today.

-Three things to watch for from One for the Other Thumb.

-Check out the mini-pony of the day and the Unnamed Steeler Pregame show.

As always, GO STEELERS! We need to take care of business the next two weeks and get this team on the right track for when Troy comes back.

PREDICTION Steelers 35 - LIONS 17

Thoughts from LaMarr Woodley

2009-10-08T15:12:00.002-04:00

One of the many questions of the early season is where has LaMarr Woodley gone? Our beloved left outside linebacker had 11.5 sacks last year, and teamed with James Harrison for the most sacks in Pittsburgh linebacker history. This year, he has 0 sacks.

Post Game Heroes, a blog that follows the Steelers, is telling fans to calm down, because they found LaMarr Woodley.

But, it turns out LaMarr Woodley isn't hard to find. He's writing a column at SI.com.

In the many musings of Woodley, he claims that quarterbacks are overprotected, the Steelers have a target on their backs, he's excited to return to his home state this week, and he will get off the sack schnide this week.

Here are some of the more interesting comments:

We won the Super Bowl last season, and expectations are high. We know we've got a target on our back. Every team we play acts like we're their biggest game of the year. Whenever we come to town it seems like the stadium is built up that week. I think other teams like to match up with us just to see where they stand. They know we're going to play hard-nosed football, hit hard and run the ball. That means they're going to have to play at 100 percent to beat us.

When Chicago beat us in Week 2, you'd think they'd just won the Super Bowl. And when we went down and lost to Cincinnati, you'd think they just won Super Bowl XLIV. Some teams can handle winning, some can't. We're used to winning, so we know how to handle it. We also know how to handle when we lose, too. It all goes back to the guys we have. We know it's a long season, and we know where we need to be by the end of the year. We'll get there.

...Last year I also had seven games without a sack. Everything goes up and down. I used to get down on myself when I wasn't getting sacks, but it wasn't just about that. It was when I wasn't getting sacks and we were losing. That's when I get mad at myself. Most of the top pass-rushers have their ups and downs. The main thing for a pass-rusher is, how do you bounce back? For me, as long as we're winning, I'm cool.
Like last week against San Diego, it was good for me to get some pressure on the quarterback, but most importantly we won.
I haven't gotten a sack yet this season, but I think I'm going to kick it off back home in Michigan this week.

See full article here

Tomlin Thursday v. 4.0

2009-10-08T12:30:00.007-04:00

After giving the greatest motivational speech ever, Tomlin had the boys fired up and it showed vs. SD. Let's hope we can continue the trend this week against Detroit. Coach Tomlin, we salute you!

Another Tomlin Thursday, another ode to the Steelers from Jenn Z. We have a reader submitted photo this week as well. Thanks for sending stuff, we really appreciate it.

Quarter Season Sonnet

Week one- a low scoring, defensive brawl;

O’ertime ended, and the Titans wore scowls

But Steelers rejoiced when Reed kicked the ball.

Titans regret marring Terrible Towels.

Week two and week three had no good result.

Just as we Steez fans began to feel down,

Tomlin inspired without placing fault.

Against the Chargers, they turned it around.

As Mendenhall runs for yard after yard,

And their D-Backs Big Ben’s passing destroys,

Steelers will show no mercy or regard

Defeating Detroit, who’ll make little noise.

Week five is the first step to take control

Of division, conference, and Superbowl!

Thanks to our biggest fan E$ in Chi town for this vintage Tomlin Photo. Can you see the greatness already?

Tomlin preparing Obama for his subsequent visit after this season.

'Tone and Mike joking about dropped balls. I don't really think it's that funny.

Could anyone look more badass in a suit? I think not.

TOMLIN'S MOTIVATION SPEECH

2009-10-07T18:20:00.003-04:00

I just received an email with a video that is exclusive to SteezBros. In our inbox we just received actual footage of Mike Tomlin's motivational speech that happened sometime during the week leading up to the Chargers game. We have all heard the stories about how he is a great motivator but just look at the man do his work!

Best City Ever

2009-10-07T17:47:00.004-04:00

A dream come true came when I ran into an opportunity of a lifetime with this picture. My friend and I unknowingly sneaked into Mayor Ravenstahl's office after the public appearance at the county building downtown and got pictures with the Cup and Lomabardi trophies. We definitely were not supposed to be in the Mayor's office but somehow got in unquestioned. What a spectacle to behold and a way to cheer you up after getting crushed by an exam. Alyonka was also there and was looking mighty fine.

whoda thunk it? Pittsburgh was named by the Sporting News as the best sports city in North America. Was this even a contest? How could it possibly not be after winning both the Stanley Cup and the Super Bowl? Does this picture on the front of the Sporting News ruin the chances of SI recreating the Sportsmen of the Year with Pops and Bradshaw with Sid and Bung? I hope not. I was really hoping SI would do that.

Another dream come true happened on Monday Night Raw, getting to see my favorite thing as a kid and my favorite quarterback teaming up together. What a site to behold seeing Ben and the offensive line hosting Raw on Monday night and teaming up with DX. It looked like they got to have some fun with the Pro Wrestlers. Seeing Ben next to the Big Show made me realize how big Ben actually is. Without pads Ben isnt much smaller than his O-line either. Also it didn't appear that Darnell Stapleton is that injured and looks like he could play. Was putting him on IR just a reason to play Essex?

Are people really serious already crowning Mendenhall the running back of our future and that Willie Parker is finished and that there is now a RB controversy? Less than a week ago people were calling for Tomlin's head because of his "poor" draft classes. I guess people's heads only last a week in the NFL.

Should Troy come back this week?

2009-10-06T13:08:00.004-04:00

The Post-Gazette has a report today that Troy may start practicing this week. Who knows what this really means for the actual activity level he will be subjected to. It could mean he may just start doing some running and non-contact drills or it could mean he returns to full practices. It does not necessarily mean that he will play this week at Detroit. It is probably just some preliminary testing to see where his knee is at physically. My question is why bring him back this early?

I can understand if the knee is close to being 100% why they would want to bring him back. The D has clearly struggled in the 4th quarter without him. However, our next two games are against Detroit, while improved is still far from a good team, and Cleveland, possibly the worst team in the league. The Steelers should have beat Chicago and should have beat Cincinnati without Troy, they did beat SD without him. I don't think we need Troy to beat either Detroit or Cleveland. I would much rather have Troy back at 100% for the end of the season run and the playoffs than for games against the league bottom feeders. The Steelers are currently 7th in total defense, although the pass D has dropped to 17th without Troy.

The Steelers should be 4-2 after wins against Detroit and Cleveland. The game after Cleveland is Minnesota at home. If Troy is fully healthy, I would bring him back for that game. If not, the week after Minnesota is our bye week and he should be ready to go the week after that on Monday night in Denver. I see no reason to rush him back and possibly jeopardize the rest of the season. I know the D needs him, just not yet.

UPDATE: Here is a quote from Coach Tomlin's press conference today regarding Troy:

"Some injury issues, I’ll start with Troy (Polamalu). You guys probably want to hear about Troy. Troy’s been doing well and progressing well. He may participate in a limited basis tomorrow in practice with a brace on, some individuals (drills); just see how he runs around and changes direction. Last week he ran some in a straight line to pretty solid reviews, so we’ll take another step to see where he is. What that means for his game participation is unclear to this point. Really, we just want to get him out there on the practice field and see how he responds to that and then kind of proceed from there. So, anticipating him participating in a limited fashion, in some form or fashion, here maybe as soon as tomorrow."

That was Quick

2009-10-05T19:23:00.002-04:00

The Steelers released Isaac Redman today and re-signed Nick Eason to the 53 man roster, undoing what they did on Saturday.

Apparently, Mike Tomlin was satisfied with Mendenhall's short yardage performance.

Booyah.

San Diego Hates Playing in Pittsburgh

2009-10-05T12:48:00.007-04:00

The Steelers got what they needed last night. And though it was too close for comfort after taking a 28-0 lead, the end result was still the same. A 2-2 record, with Detroit and Cleveland as the next two opponents. Coupled with a Baltimore loss, the Steelers are back.

Following the game, there are many storylines to dissect. As any self-respecting blogger would do, I've put them in list form.

The Media Stories

1.) RASHARD MENDENHALL!! - In two seasons prior to the San Diego game, Mendenhall's stat line was strikingly similar to Carey Davis's, not exactly what the Steelers were hoping for from its first round pick. But after his breakout performance last night - to the tune of 190 total yards and 2 TDs - Steeler Nation is ecstatic over its next big star. A week after he was benched for committing mental errors, Mendenhall looked explosive as a runner and receiver, and also threw in some punishing blocks in pass protection. Expect the fans to be out in full force to install Mendenhall as the starter and demote Parker to a back up role. While excited to see a player I said was a bust in preseason perform so well, I can't help but think that this was a perfect storm for the former first rounder from Illinois. Pittsburgh manhandled San Diego twice last year with Parker running for more than 100 yards in both outings. San Diego lost it's best run stuffer - Jamal Williams - to an injury and Pittsburgh was playing with a sense of urgency after blowing its last two games in the 4th quarter. Am I excited about Mendenhall? Undoubtedly yes. But, I need to see this kind of performance a couple times before I start wearing a Mendenhall jersey. (And with the Lions and Browns as the next two opponents Rashard will have plenty of chances to repeat the performance). And one more thing, Rashard. Please learn to tuck that ball. You look like a fumble waiting to happen.

2.) The Demise of the Steelers Defense - If we could only convince the defense to play every quarter like it was the first. The defense was its excellent self for 2.5 quarters. Yet, the 2009 Steeler defense isn't like its predecessor. After securing a 28-0 lead midway through the 3rd quarter, this game should have been over. But like we've seen too many times in the past five games (Super Bowl included), the defense fell apart in the 4th quarter. Sure, it was hurt by a punt return turnover for a touchdown and an onside kick, but the defense was terrible at the end of the 3rd and entirety of the 4th quarters. Knowing that it only had to milk the clock and prevent big plays, the defense allowed two touchdown drives that went 66 and 59 yards that lasted 1 minute and 30 seconds and 1 minute and 17 seconds, respectively. Steve Nash plays better defense. It would be one thing if the team played in a deep prevent, but the defense was not sitting back on its heels. It was bringing rushers and collapsing in the secondary. The absence of pressure on the quarterback has been noticeable in the first four games and all the more concerning because it can't be blamed on the injury to Troy Polamalu. James Harrison is getting double-teamed more often and Lamarr Woodley has been invisible. Also, the interior rushers on passing downs - Aaron Smith and Brett Keisel - rarely generate pressure. But the secondary has really struggled late in games. In particular on Sunday, it had no answer for Antonio Gates. Troy can't come back soon enough.

3.) The Offensive Line - The O-line has taken a beating both on the field and in the press for its play the last two years, but after one great offensive performance, praise is being heaped upon this unit like never before. Cris Collinsworth was tongue-bathing Chris Kemoeatu all night. Peter King in his MMQB column lineman named Kemo and Justin Hartwig as his offensive players of the week. Could this unit be gelling like Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin planned? Or was this a case of playing a bad run defense? We'll see over the course of the season.

The Story We Should be Hearing

1.) Ben Roethlisberger - I always feel the need to get on a soap box when talking about Big Ben. Despite leading one of the best drives of all time to win the Super Bowl and leading the league in comeback wins in the last five years, Cris Collinsworth kept saying Big Ben needed to win games for the team in the fourth quarter. Then Deion Sanders and Rich Eisen talked about how the team wasn't going to win with Ben throwing the ball. But, through four games, Ben Roethlisberger is averaging 298 yards per game with a 98.1 rating. His completion percentage is a ridiculous 73%. If the Chargers would have won, the big story would have been Phillip Rivers. The Saints won with only one offensive touchdown (a running one at that), but Drew Brees gets all the pub. Big Ben threw for 333 yards and led the Steelers to 38 points, but he's mentioned as an after thought.

Puzzling In-Game Decisions

1.) Like his predecessor, Mike Tomlin is a master motivator and constantly puts his team in position to win. We love our coach here at Steezbros, but some of the in-game decisions have been perplexing. Last week, Tomlin kicked a field goal from the 1 yard line, but decided to go for it on 4th and 4 (the latter move I defended). An interesting mix of conservatism and aggression. This week, the Steelers went for it on 4th and inches on their own 30, a move which I fully support and will likely defend in a post later this week, but made some other peculiar calls.

After surrendering a touchdown to make the score 35-21 with 5 minutes left, the kick return unit seemed utterly unprepared for an onside kick. Instead utilizing the "hands team", the Steelers had only five guys up for the kick, with the five comprised of mostly backup defensive players. Ryan Mundy had a perfect chance to recover the ball, but his hands were poor and he couldn't hold on to the kick. That play is squarely on coaches Mike Tomlin and Bob Ligashesky.

Later in the game, with 1:44 left and facing 3rd and 9 a the San Diego 25, the Steelers lined up in shotgun and attempted a pass. San Diego was down 7 and had no timeouts. A run, if nothing else, would have bled the clock to under a minute and kept the Steelers easily within field goal position. Even if they missed the kick, the Chargers would have had to go 70 yards in less than 50 seconds with no timeouts. An incomplete pass would have left 1:40 on the clock, enough time that a long drive is achievable. Worse, a sack that could have taken the team out of field goal range or an interception would have been devastating. In the end, Roethlisberger threw incomplete, but the team was called for holding. Now out of field goal range, the Steelers should have once again bled the clock with a run play and, at worst, punted, making the Chargers go at least 80 yards in less than 50 seconds. Instead, another pass play was called.

I'm all for playing aggressively, but this was stupid. The coaches, while great in preparation, have left much to be desired in the decision making department.

Other Quick Thoughts

- Nice to see the team score touchdowns instead of field goals. Four for four in the redzone sure goes along way. In a related note, it turns out Heath Miller is pretty handy near the end zone.

- It was also great to see the team convert on 3rd and 4th and short. Obviously, Carey Davis and Isaac Redman made all the difference.

- Fullback situation solved. Good job Big Legursky.

- Hines Ward is still a gamer.

- Should we be worried about Stefan Logan? He's a great return man - the best the team has had in a long while - but that was his second turnover in four games. Something to keep an eye on.

- Other than the meaningless sack-fumble at the end of the game, the defense has no big plays since the loss of Troy Polamalu. Three straight games without a meaningful turnover is unacceptable.

- Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians is often criticized for his play-calling, which is frequently questionable (as noted above), but if the team executes like it did yesterday, the play calling seems brilliant. I especially loved the opening play call on the final drive - a pass to Santonio Holmes on first down when most expected the run.

- Also exciting was the trick play that resulted in a Mewelde Moore passing touchdown to Heath Miller. Reminded me of the Ken Whisenhunt/Mike Mularkey days.

- Despite the poor decisions at the end, it's certainly encouraging to see Jeff Reed make a clutch field goal to close out the game. Reed's services will be needed to win games down the stretch and the confidence from that kick should go a long way.

Isaac Redman Returns

2009-10-03T16:36:00.002-04:00

Every year it seems, Steeler fans fall in love with a a player in training camp. This year it was a little known running back from Bowie State named Isaac Redman. The love fest was not without reason, he had a great camp but with so much talent on the roster he was cut during the final roster trimdown. The Steelers luckily kept him on the practice squad. With Willie Parker out this week, Redman has been signed to the 53 man roster and I wouldn't be surprised to see him suit up. To make room for Redman, Nick Eason, a reserve D lineman, has been cut. I would like to see him get some carries to determine if he can actually play against 1st team defenses. However, with our poor run blocking I am not sure if anyone can get a fair shot at showing what they can do.

Feel Good for Aaron Smith and Family

2009-10-02T18:51:00.005-04:00

After predicting Steeler victories the last two weeks, I decided to get out of the prognostication business. Check out a different Steezbro's prediction, if you're in to that sort of thing.

Instead, I'm going to direct you to a feel good story posted at Steelers.com about one of my favorite players, Aaron Smith, and his son Elijah who was diagnosed with leukemia last year. Elijah and his family faced tough times, but they are doing much better. To celebrate and fundraise for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, the Smith family and a number of Steelers showed up for a fundraising walk.

The story is uplifting and also provides a brief glimpse into the cameraderie shared by the Steeler players.

Smith and his wife Jaimie received news almost a year ago that sent their world spiraling. Their son Elijah, who was five at the time, was diagnosed with leukemia. Tears were shed and prayers were said. There were good days when things were hopeful and bad days when the world seemed dark.

But light has returned to the Smith family. Elijah is now a happy and healthy six-year old with a bright smile and boundless energy. And that was on full display when the Smith family, along with a huge gathering of teammates, family and friends took part in the Light the Night walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as a part of Team Elijah.
“It’s hard to describe the feeling,” said Smith, a burly defensive end who learned how vulnerable he can be. “To be able to come out as a family and celebrate this with people who are dealing with the same issues and same things it’s unbelievable to me and my family. I can’t say how far we have come in a year. It’s just amazing.”
“...What Aaron had to go through all last year, being a Super Bowl year, having to leave work and go home to this was hard,” said wide receiver Hines Ward, wearing light up glasses for the walk. “We are a close knit group. Elijah has 52 uncles on the team. He is one of ours. When one family is affected and having to go through something like this then we are all affected."
Click here to read the entire story.

San Diego Sunday Night

2009-10-02T14:21:00.003-04:00

The Chargers are something like 0-13 in Pittsburgh lifetime during the regular season. Will that streak end Sunday Night? I don't think so. The Chargers are pretty banged up defensively and it seems to me like the Steelers should be fairly desperate for a win. Behind the Steel Curtain has a great preview and looks at a lot of numbers. It is definitely worth checking out to see where each team should have advantages.

It is looking more and more like Willie Parker is NOT going to play on Sunday. He sat out practice today and will be a game time decision. This should open the door for Rashard Mendenhall to get a lot of carries. However, he was benched last week for not knowing his assignments. Hopefully, he put in the time this week and we can get a real look at him. Still, expect alot of playing time for Mewelde Moore who I think is our best option right now. One factor that bodes well for the Steelers running game this week is that San Diego's main run stopper, Jamal Williams is out. He has caused tons of problems for the Steez in games past. Also Shawn Merriman is not 100%.

LaDainian Tomlinson should play this week after sitting out the last two. The Steelers normally have shut him down for the most part. I am more worried about screens to Sproles, Rivers throwing to Gates, who would normally be covered by Troy and Rivers going downfield against our secondary are our biggest concerns this week on D. If we don't get pressure on Rivers, we could be in for along evening. Pressure and forcing turnovers are huge.

The offense needs to score touchdowns in the redzone and sustain drives. I think the blocking has improved each week and I look for that to continue. Mike Wallace is locked into the third wide receiver position. I am interested to see if Shaun McDonald gets more playing time this week than Limas Sweed. At least he can catch the ball.

What are your predictions for the game? Leave some predictions in the comments.

Tomlin Thursday v. 3.0

2009-10-01T12:02:00.008-04:00

It's Thursday yet again which means time to pay tribute to our Superbowl winning leader. It amazes me how short Steelers fans' memories can be as demonstrated perfectly by this reader in the Post-Gazette yesterday:

Question: Isn't it obvious yet that Mike Tomlin is a poor excuse for a coach? His first two drafts stunk and the defense is showing its age now that Troy's out. The players won the Super Bowl, not the coach; extending Tomlin's contract will mean the competitive death of this team.

John Hardaway, Locust Grove, Va.

BOUCHETTE: I wondered how long it would take for this kind of reaction. Three games after his team won the Super Bowl in his second season and you want to run him out of town? His first team also won the division despite a spate of injuries. The Steelers are 1-2, having lost both games by three points, one in overtime, both on the road. Plus, his first two drafts -- they are not solely his drafts, by the way, they do have scouts and a personnel department -- did not stink. The first draft under his tenure included linebackers Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley, who contributed greatly to that No. 1 defense and a Super Bowl victory last season. So too did current starting corner William Gay. He's also the one who installed James Harrison as a starter, and all Harrison did was set the Steelers' sack record and earn NFL defensive player of the year. I'd say that Tomlin has been a resounding success and the Steelers remained thrilled with their choice of him as their head coach.

The idiocy of this fan aside, at the the very least Steeler Nation needs some inspiration heading into this week against SD coming off two straight last second losses. I happen to be inspired by our coach who won us a Superbowl in his second year. I hope you are as well. I also find inspiration in reader submissions, like the following, once again from Jenn Z:

There once was a coach named Norv Turner,

A playoff spot? His Chargers won’t earn her!

Tomlin will coach so well, Steez fans will cheer and will yell;

For Week Four will sure be a barn burner!

If going up against a Norv Turner coached team doesn't give you some inspiration, how about some pics of the badass known as Mike Tomlin to fire you up.

Tomlin giving leadership advice to Obama and Biden.

Tomlin capturing how every Steeler fan feels right now.

Tomlin trying to fire up the running game.

Coach Tomlin doesn't give a damn if you think the season is in the shitter. He will not let the team lose this week.

Steelers Re-Sign Carey Davis

2009-09-29T16:35:00.004-04:00

Much maligned, in these pages, full back Carey Davis has been re-signed by the Steelers according to the Post-Gazette. With Frank Summers performance being less than stellar and rookie tight end David Johnson suffering injury, the front office decided to bring in a familiar face. Just what we needed to get the offense going, a FB who constantly falls down short of the first down marker. Since Bruce Arians doesn't like to run behind a full back normally, I'm not sure why we didn't bring in another TE. He is in love with 3 TE sets but Willie Parker prefers running behind a FB so maybe that played into the decision. The Steelers were also very high on Davis when most of the fans and the media weren't.

UPDATE: Frank Summers has been placed on IR ending his season.

Awesome Jersey Sightings

2009-09-29T13:28:00.010-04:00

When the bros where in Pittsburgh, we saw a plethora of jersey's being worn by the Steeler faithful that defy reason as to why they were purchased and/or why they are still being worn. We wanted to share those with you now.

Above is a Dan Kreider jersey who was our fullback, albeit a great one, I just don't know too many people who purchase and wear the fullbacks jersey.

I have always been a big Jeff Reed supporter, Josh has not. Any time Reed has a big kick, Josh bets me he will miss. I have always won these bets until the Chicago game, but Josh did not offer the bet. That is why he missed.

You can see my excitement in the first pick. We saw a Reed jersey in the aftermath of the Superbowl victory on Forbes Ave. and I photographed myself with the Reed jersey in the background. The second pick is from our tailgate before the Titans game. I asked this random chick to get a pic with me because of the Reed jersey (really who wears a kickers jersey). I wanted her to face backwards but she chose to face forward.

I am normally entirely against personalized jerseys, however this one is awesome. If the guy wasn't such a jagoff it would be that much better. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a straight on shot but the jersey says Mr. Picnic and is number 00. He also displayed bunting on his truck when he left for the game.

Next we have a guy wearing an "Famous" Amos Zereoue. A classic example of buying into the hype of a player that has had one good year and purchasing the jersey, which is almost as bad as purchasing a rookie's jersey before they have even play a down, only to have them drop game changing toucdown passes. (See Sweed, Limas).

Amos is back, this time joined by Mike Logan. This couple needs to invest in some new jerseys.

And finally another personalized jersey, I am guessing this guy just became a grandpappy.

2nd and Long

2009-09-28T19:06:00.004-04:00

First Down Play Calls Against the Bengals in the 2nd Half:

Five-yard pass to Heath Miller
Willie Parker rush for no gain
Willie Parker rush for one yard
Willie Parker rush for two yards
Willie Parker rush for a two yard loss
Nine-yard pass to Willie Parker
Willie Parker rush for three yards
Willie Parker rush for three yards
Willie Parker rush for no gain
Willie Parker rush for three yards
Incomplete pass (final play of the game)

Draw your own conclusions.

Thanks to FO.

Right or Wrong: Analyzing the Decision to Go for It on 4th Down

2009-09-28T11:32:00.005-04:00

Mike Tomlin is taking some heat for the decision he made at the end of the second quarter in the 23-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Leading 13-0 with 1:15 to go in the first half, the Steelers faced a 4th down and 4 from the Bengals 35 yard line. Tomlin decided to go for it. The conversion attempt failed and Cincinnatti capitalized by driving down the field and scoring a field goal at the end of the half.

Writers from the Post-Gazette are calling it a terrible decision. But we shouldn't be surprised. Members of the media often defer to the standard NFL thought that going for it on 4th down is always risky and taking the field goal or punt is the safe - read correct - decision. If you watch football at all, the announcer almost always prefers the safe play and questions the coaches decision making when they go for it on 4th down.

The coaches usually follow suit, choosing punts and field goals over fourth down conversion attempts. ESPN writer Gregg Easterbrook often explains that coaches choose the "safe" option on 4th down because it saves them from criticism. If a 4th down attempt fails, the media blames the coach. If the team punts and the defense can't hold, it's the players fault. As we're seeing today, this sentiment probably has some truth to it.

But, the announcers and media members are wrong. In certain situations, the decision to go for it on 4th down is not risky. It's playing the percentages. Which is why I want to spend a little time analyzing the decision made at the end of the first half.

If you read extensively about the NFL, you've probably seen quotes that coaches go for it on 4th down less than what researchers say is optimal. According to research by the football statistics web site, Advanced NFL Stats, the optimal decision chart for 4th down looks like this.

If you are interested in the full analysis of how this chart is derived, read the four-part post here, here, here, and here. This is the cliffs notes version. Using real data, the researchers assigned every yard line an expected value of points. If you have the ball on your opponent's one yard line, you have a very high expected point value (because you are one yard from scoring a touchdownn). If you have the ball on your own one yard line, the expected value is actually negative, because it is more likely that your opponent will score before you will. Using this data, the researchers created the decision making chart above. On the vertical axis is yards to go on 4th down and on the horizontal axis is position on the football field. For example, on 4th down and 4 from the opponent's 15 yard line, the team should go for it if it is 4th and less than 4 and should kick a field goal on 4th and longer than 4.

According to this chart on 4th down from the opponent 35 yard line, the Steelers should go for it if less than 10 yards is needed for conversion. It was 4th and 4. The decision, according to the math, was absolutely the right decision.

I work in finance so naturally, I'm biased towards following the math. But, even I recognize that not every decision should be made purely on empirical data that averages every team in the league. Adjustments need to be made for the situation in the football game and specific team strengths and weaknesses.

At that point in the game, the Steelers had dominated both offensively and defensively. The offense was averaging 8 yards per offensive play, double what they needed to get on the 4th down play. The defense was allowing less than 3 yards per play, indicating that even if the conversion failed the defense could prevent the Bengals from gaining the 35 or more yards necessary to attempt a field goal. Additionally, if the Steelers gained just one first down, they would be in position to get a field goal (or touchdown), making it a three possession game. With only one half to go, the Bengals would have had an extremely difficult time making a comeback. Thus, all these signs, along with the empirical data, point toward going for it.

On the flip side, if the conversion attempt failed, the downside was two-fold. One, the Bengals would have a chance to score before the half. Two, the momentum of the game could change on that score. The first scenario is taken into account with the research above. The second scenario is purely qualitative. Had the Bengals went into the half having generated 0 points, 60 total yards, and losing by 13, their mentality would be much different than putting together a last minute drive and cutting the deficit by 3 or 7 points. It may not be captured quanititatively, but no one can convince me it doesn't matter. Thus, there was a definite downside in going for it.

The other two options were to kick a field goal or to punt. A field goal from 52 yards is a 50-50 proposition at best. If missed, the Bengals would have only needed 25 yards to get into field goal position themselves. Taking into account Jeff Reed's struggles last week, the field goal attempt was probably the lowest percentage play.

Punting was the other serious option the Steelers considered. At the time, I thought it was the best option. A punt would have pinned Cincy deep with little time left. Unless something strange happened, the halftime score would have been 13-0. Not an insurmountable lead, but certainly tough given the way the teams were performing on offense and defense.

Knowing what we know now, the Steelers should have punted. Their lead would have been safe at 13-0 and perhaps the Bengals wouldn't have played as hard in the second half. But these kinds of decisions should be evaluated based on the information known at the time. It's similar to blackjack. Of course hitting on 16 is a bad decision when you go bust, but it's the right decision if the dealer is showing a 10. Same situation here. It was labeled a bad decision because the dealer flipped a 10 on our 16. But, given what we knew at the time, I can't fault the coaches for making the decision that research said was the right one.

If only the coaches would have made the "right decision" earlier in the game on 4th down from the Bengals 1 yard line.

Deja Vu: Steelers Lose Again

2009-09-27T21:10:00.007-04:00

Last week, we told you not to panic. This week, I hope you'll tell us not to panic.

We are only three games into the season. All is not lost. The Steez have an unusually easy schedule after next week's game with San Diego. But, this is certainly not how I imagined the Super Bowl champions would start the season. It's like 2006 all over again.

In a game similar to the one against Chicago, Pittsburgh managed to lose to the lowly Bengals despite drastically outplaying them for three full quarters. Through the first three quarters, the Steelers outgained the Bengals 364-134. Yet the domination on the field did not manifest itself on the scoreboard. The Steelers held a 13 point lead in the first half and an 11 point lead in the 4th quarter, but those numbers could have been much larger.

Continuing a recent trend, the Steelers moved up and down the field, but couldn't score touchdowns. Twice they were held to field goals from 1st and goal at the 10. Once Jeff Reed missed a field goal. And Limas Sweed dropped another sure-thing touchdown that could not have been more routine. Add to that a Roethlisberger pick-6, and the Bengals were able to keep the score close despite being dominated in most major categories.

Perhaps, the most disappointing thing for Steeler Nation to see was, for the second straight week, the defense collapsed in the 4th quarter. After allowing a 70+ yard touchdown drive from Jay Cutler in the 4th quarter, it allowed touchdown drives of 85 and 71 yards to the Bengals (the BENGALS!) in the last 12:45. The defense struggled to pressure Carson Palmer and finished its second straight week without a turnover, which is especially difficult to take knowing that Jay Cutler and Carson Palmer both had 4 interceptions prior to their games with Pittsburgh. Despite the poor fourth quarter play, the Steelers defense had an opportunity to win the game with 35 seconds left. On 4th and 10, the team needed just one stop to win the game. But, James Farrior could not stay with Brian Leonard on a short drag route. And the next play, Carson Palmer threw the winning touchdown pass to drop Pittsburgh to a 1-2 record. The same record as the Detroit Lions.

Pittsburgh learned the same lesson this week (and last week) that the Steelers opponents learned last year. You can't let teams stick around. Given a chance in the 4th quarter, any team in this league can win. The Steelers won in an inordinate amount of close games last year, and no team can consistently win those games. All three of Pittsburgh's games this year were of the nail biter variety. And unless this team can learn to dominate an overmatched opponent on the scoreboard, the expectations of making a magical playoff run will quickly disappear.

Other nitty gritty thoughts from the game:

Offense

Roethlisberger looked in control for the third straight game. Through three games, Big Ben is completing 71% of his passes and averaging a ridiculous (for the Steelers anyway) 287 yards per game. Unfortunately, that hasn't translated into wins.
Despite the great play from Roethlisberger, Mike Tomlin and Bruce Arians still don't fully trust him at the goal line. Ridiculous statement? Maybe. But explain to me why we continue to run the ball from inside the ten yard line. On first down and goal from the ten yard line, the Steelers chose to run the ball on two separate drives. Given the run blocking from this unit, it's basically a wasted down. Not to mention that most defenses will be more susceptible to play action on first down. On third down and goal from the one, we went to Willie Parker (who I refer to as the worst short yardage back in the NFL) instead of letting Ben throw it or running it in himself. Then on 4th and goal from the half yard line, Tomlin orders a field goal. No excuse. Trust Big Ben inside the red zone. It's the only hope of scoring touchdowns.
Without looking at the box score, take a guess at the Steelers average yards per carry in the game. More than 4 yards per carry, right? Wrong. 3.6 yards per carry. The running game seemed to be back on track, with Willie Parker running like wild in the first half. The problem - the running game was non-existent in the second half. After half time, the Steelers rushed 13 times for 42 yards. Not exactly stellar when trying to run out the clock. Sure it looked better than before, but rushing 28 times for 102 yards isn't scaring anyone in this league.
Not that it would have made a difference, but I wonder why Rashard Mendenhall got no carries in this game. Our running back of the future should probably get some chances before next year.
The Steelers used a new formation with Ramon Foster lining up at tight end. It didn't seem to be particularly effective, but it's certainly better than having Matt Spaeth attempting to seal the edge.

Mike Wallace had his coming out party on Sunday. 7 catches for 102 yards, including several third down catches and one long bomb for 51 yards. The competition for the #3 wide receiver is over. Now if we can only teach him to run straight into the end zone as opposed to running out of bounds.
It's tough to defend Limas Sweed any longer. He dropped a perfectly thrown ball with no defenders hitting him on the play. Don't be surprised to see Shaun McDonald taking his place as the 4th wide receiver.

Adding to our wide receiver frustrations, Santonio Holmes played like he did in the second half against the Bears. Utterly inconsistent. He dropped one pass, only caught one other one, and may have run the wrong route on the Roethlisberger interception. Egads. The man only comes to play on nationally televised games. So I guess we should be good next week against San Diego.

The decision to kick a field goal from the one yard line was disappointing, but the decision to go for it from the 35 yard line at the end of the first half was more complex. I'll cover this in more detail in a post later today.

Special Teams

Stefan Logan isn't tearing it up like preseason, but he is looking like the best return man we've had in years. The 56 yard kickoff return after the Bengals pick-6 is exaclty the kind of momentum changing play the Steelers needed, and have lacked for the last couple years.

Jeff Reed isn't kicking it well. We can excuse him for the 52-yard missed field goal, but even his kickoffs are shorter. Come on skippy, pick it up.

The coverage units don't look as solid as last year. Granted, they aren't as bad as 2006 either. But, the opening kickoff coverage sure wasn't pretty.

Robo-punter dropped another one inside the 20 and booted his other punt 51 yards. Punting is no longer a problem in Pittsburgh.

Defense

Last, we get to the most disappointing unit - the defense. Although they played well for the first three quarters, Dick Lebeau's boys folded again when it counted most. Steelers fans aren't used to seeing opposing offenses move the ball at will in the fourth quarter, but we've had to deal with two straight last minute losses doing exactly that.

In the Steelers roundtable on Friday, none of the SteezBros were overly concerned about the defense. But, what I saw yesterday concerned me. The pass rush was virtually non-existent. Casey Hampton had the only real sack of the day (James Harrison got credit for a sack as well, but it was a 0 yard sack). Harrison and Woodley are getting controlled at the line of scrimmage, with an extra blocker usually helping on Harrison's side. But, it certainly seemed like Lebeau only rushed 4 for most of the game, with Harrison and Woodley on the edges and Keisel and A Smith on the inside. And Smith and Keisel aren't exactly pass rushing forces. Their job is to push the pocket so quarterbacks can't step up when the linebackers come off the edge. I'd be interested to ask Lebeau if the Steelers are dropping more guys into coverage because teams have been keeping in extra blockers. By dropping more people into coverage, the Steelers would have 7 defenders to cover 3 or 4 receivers. Not a bad strategy. But without Troy Polamalu, a new starter in Willie Gay and an old Deshea Townsend, the specialty of this defense is not in the secondary. The team needs to get quick pressure to have sustained success on defense.

No turnovers for the second straight game against turnover prone quarterbacka. Do opposing quarterbacks play their best against the Steelers or is this defense not doing enough?

I love James Farrior, but he seems a step slower than in the past. He's still one of the better leaders and a heady quarterback for our defense, but he doesn't inspire confidence covering a running back in space.

The play in the secondary provides evidence that the Steelers are much worse without Troy. But the play against the running game also shows how much #43 means to this team. The Cedric Benson touchdown run absolutely would not have been a touchdown if Tyrone Carter was replaced with Troy. Tyrone took a terrible angle and was outrun by Benson to the corner. No defensive back in the league should be outrun by Cedric Benson.

Gameday # 3 Links

2009-09-27T12:12:00.004-04:00

Another 4:15 start, so here are some links to kill time during the early games if you can tear yourself away from watching your fantasy scores and NFL betting on the computer.

-Bengals DE Antwan Odom has 7 sacks already this season. Max starks has the task of stopping him today. Check out the matchup, here.

-Behind the Steel Curtain looks at the Bengals and what their own people are saying about today's matchup.

-Post Game Heroes has an interesting theory regarding sports betting. Apparently whenever we are 3.5 point favorite or less under Tomlin we aren't very good.

-A breakdown of all the matchups from the PG, here.

-Troy Polamalu is eying October 11 against Detroit for his return according to the curmudgeon, known as Ed Bouchette

-From the Trib, apparently Fast Willie has averaged 130 yards aginst the Bungs in Cincy. Let's hope that trend continues today.

-Just throwing this out there, but the Steelers have only scored one more point than Cleveland has this season.

Enjoy the game. GO STEEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!