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"Isn't it obvious yet that Mike Tomlin is a poor excuse for a coach? Extending Tomlin's contract will mean the competitive death of this team."
(12/21) Pittsburgh Steelers fans are the most passionate fans on earth. I understand that firsthand. Growing up in Pittsburgh, we have been taught to live and die with our football team. We are jubilant when they win and our world is temporarily shattered when they lose. This season in particular has been trying. After having high hopes for a Super Bowl repeat, we have seen our team uncharacteristically blow 4th quarter leads and lose to teams who they should have beaten. Even yesterday's incredible win was met with the reality that our defense is so putrid that our coach decided it would be better to risk an onside kick rather than depend on them to ice the game! I have certainly vented my frustration on this site at various times throughout this season. That being said, we need to take a moment to keep things in proper perspective. The National Football League is not just America's most popular pro sports league. It's become an institution in this country, and the Steelers are the NFL's signature franchise. They have won more Super Bowls than any other team. The same family has owned the team for 77 years and is widely recognized as the smartest, classiest group of people in the league. They have only had three head coaches in the past 40 years, and all three have won championships. They are a model of stability. They bring national attention to a city of people who are fiercely proud of where they're from. Last season, they won another world title by providing us with a dream last-second Super Bowl moment that will last in our memories forever. Despite all this, we are never satisfied. Like a spoiled kid who has never had to experience adversity, we Steelers fans are used to always having the very best. When things go even slightly wrong, we kick and scream and demand justice in the form of a coach being fired or a franchise quarterback being benched. Nothing less than absolute perfection will do, and even then it's still not good enough. When he was walking out of Raymond James Stadium after Super Bowl XLIII, my brother talked to two guys who, instead of celebrating the best Super Bowl ever, were complaining about the offensive line. This is how it goes with Steelers fans. Listen to ten minutes of a local radio talk show the day after a loss. You will hear about how bad of a coach Mike Tomlin is, and how the defense was never really that good to begin with, and how Ben is not a very good quarterback, and how people should lose their jobs. I could write a bunch of reasons why we should appreciate what we have, but as I said, that is often not good enough for many of us. So instead, I am going to try a different approach, better known by grandmothers everywhere as the "starving children in Ethiopia" technique. Rather than dwelling on all the great things about our team, let's instead look at what it is like to be fans of other teams:
So now what can we complain about? The Steelers have not lived up to expectations this season, but they have given us fans a lifetime worth of great memories. For once, let's just appreciate that.
(12/8) One of the sporting events I attended during what will forever be known as the "Pittsburgh Sports Week from Hell" last week was to see Duquesne (my alma mater) play Pitt in basketball. The Dukes jumped out to a huge 16-point lead in the second half but then started to fall apart. Eventually it became obvious that they would not be able to hold the lead. I had just hoped that the clock would run out before that happened, but it was not to be. Two overtimes later, Duquesne had suffered a heartbreaking loss in what could have been a huge "passing of the torch" win for them, which of course fit so perfectly sandwiched between the Steelers blowing 4th quarter leads against Baltimore/Oakland and Pitt blowing a 31-10 lead in the Big East Championship Game. When describing that Duquesne loss to someone the next day, the image that popped into my head was the last scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indy is trying in vain to hold onto Elsa as she is slowly slipping out of his hands. For that basketball fiasco, Indiana Jones was Duquesne and Elsa was the lead slowly and helplessly slipping away. As I start looking at the rest of the Steelers season, the part in the movie right after that comes to mind. Indy has now slipped into the gaping hole and finds himself in the same position that Elsa had just been - trying to be pulled up by his dad while reaching desperately for the holy grail. In this instance, Indiana Jones represents Steelers fans and the grail represents the 2009 post-season. During lost seasons like this, the always optimistic Steeler Nation still tries to figure out playoff scenarios. "Well," we all think, "Jacksonville has some tough games left, and Denver really isn't that good, and Miami will falter." The problem with that logic is that it excludes the most important factor: that the Steelers actually have to WIN GAMES for any of that to even be a possibility! If you haven't noticed, we have lost four in a row, two of which have come against bottom feeders. Why would anyone think that all of a sudden we would run the table? Also, to win in the playoffs, you have to be able to close out games. Even if we do somehow luck our way into the post-season, what is going to happen then? We blow a big lead and suffer some heartbreaking loss like Pitt suffered last weekend? No thanks - I'd rather us sit out this post-season and focus on getting healthy and improving for next year. It's still a very good team. It just has some holes to fix. It's not worth putting ourselves thru more pain and frustration when the grail is so clearly out of reach. In the words of Henry Jones Sr., "Let it go."
(12/1) With five games left in the 2009 season, it's time to look at some realities that have become evident thus far:
(11/10) I know I harp on the media's treatment of Ben Roethlisberger all the time, but this past week just proved once again how out of touch they are with what is going on here in Pittsburgh. All the talk this week is about how THIS season - and apparently this is JUST happening NOW - Ben is the main focus of the Steelers offense. "You always think of Pittsburgh as a smash-mouth running team, but now they pass," quipped Ron Jaworski during the Denver game. Sports Illustrated wrote this week that "this is no longer the young Roethlisberger who simply won games because he happened to be playing under center for a team with a dominant defense and solid running game." This coming Sunday on the studio shows, I predict no less than three similar stories about Ben "growing up" or "coming into his own" or "becoming an elite QB". Someone should really show these people tapes of the 2005 playoffs. Anyone who watches those games can clearly see that the Steelers do not win them without Ben. Better yet, let's watch tape of last year's six 4th quarter comebacks, or look at some pass/run ratios from last year. And if that isn't enough, how about someone popping in the highlights of the last two minutes of February 1 in Tampa. You remember that one, right? Where Ben drove the Steelers 88 yards to WIN THE SUPER BOWL?!?! How dense are these people? On the MNF post-game show, Stuart Scott actually asked Rashard Mendenhall about how "different" it is now with Ben being the go-to guy in the offense. Mendenhall, who has been here two years and has only known the Steelers as living and dying by their QB, looked baffled by the question, and rightfully so. While it is nice that the media is finally realizing what we have known for the past five seasons, the question is what took them so long? Well, for one thing, the media in general is incredibly lazy. They are not as much interested in fact as they are in angles and sensationalism (this is true outside of sports as well, but that's a topic for a different website). So this "Ben is now the man" angle makes for something they can beat to death in order to fill up the countless hours every week that are devoted to the NFL. After all, who wants to hear things like, "This just in: Ben is still good just like in 2004 when he won his first 14 games or in 2005 when he won the Super Bowl or in 2007 when he made the Pro Bowl or in 2008 when he won the Super Bowl AGAIN on a last second drive that he orchestrated." That is boring, so it's better for them to take something that has happened already and make it seem topical. The other problem is that the media's laziness causes them to focus way too much of their attention on flashiness and stats. It's hard to remember now, but this same thing actually happened to Tom Brady. Even after New England won its third Super Bowl, there were still a lot of people who did not want to name Brady as the best QB in the league. He just benefitted from Bill Belichick's system, etc. It wasn't until Brady threw 50 touchdown passes that he was all of a sudden a great QB, and now you are seeing that with Ben being near the top of the league in yards this season. So while Drew Brees has never won anything and Peyton Manning has many more chokes than championships on his resume, those guys rack up the stats, so they will always be glorified more by the media. The bottom line as always is that we shouldn't care. We know what we have in Pittsburgh, and we have the rings to show for it. But it still irks me that we keep having to see these "Is Ben an elite QB yet?" discussions. What more does he have to do? Win THREE Super Bowls? Four maybe?? The other thing I don't understand - and I was reminded of this watching the Steelers play in Denver the other night - is why John Elway never got this same treatment. Elway played in an era where QB's like Dan Marino, Warren Moon, and Jim Kelly were all running high-powered, flashy offenses and racking up tons of yards. Elway was gutting his way to wins by playing anything but a conventional game. Yet Elway still got the credit which he deserved, even though he didn't win a Super Bowl until his 15th season. Perhaps the media has just gotten worse over the years. Regardless, I am going to keep calling them out on this until the absurdity ends. (10/15) January 11, 1987. That is when it all started to fall apart for the Cleveland Browns. They were five minutes away from a trip to the Super Bowl on that fateful afternoon. All they had to do was keep John Elway from driving the entire length of the field. Of course, we all know how that story ended, and 23 years of hardship followed suit. The past several months has been particularly brutal for Cleveland. Many teams look to clean house in an effort to rebuild, but few dump guys who they just drafted in the past five years to be cornerstones of their teams the way the Browns did with The Soldier (whom they passed up Ben Roethlisberger to draft) and more recently Braylon Edwards. Their 2009 team is a joke, and even the joy of their first win last week (a 6-3 fireworks fest over the Bills) was short-lived as a bizarre story involving rookie running back James Davis has emerged from The Mistake by the Lake. Apparently Davis was injured during a "post-practice period" (whatever that means) and will miss the rest of the season. Davis, who wasn't wearing any pads, was hit by a fully-padded linebacker. What?!? What kind of nefarious activity do they have going on up there? Eric Mangini, who is basically a poor man's Romeo Crennel and quite possibly the worst hire ever, chimed in with the typical "we are going to look into it" response. The players all played dumb too. " I don't really know none of that," said The Drug Dealer in between rounds of scoring some hash. This certainly does not bode well for the Browns. I truly feel sorry for those fans. Like us, they really put their hearts into their team and they deserve better than this. (10/13) Mike Tomlin dropped a bombshell at his weekly news conference today: DE Aaron Smith has a "significant" shoulder injury, and it was later confirmed that he is indeed done for the season. This is an absolutely DEVASTATING injury for the already struggling defense. I think we all vividly remember the complete collapse of the defense in 2007 after Smith got hurt that year. There is a bit more depth now with #1 pick Ziggy Hood, but Tomlin says he is not ready to start yet. Let's hope for the best here, but the reality is that this season is now in serious danger of completely unraveling.
(10/12) Thanks to last year's post-season, Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes quickly became a superstar in Pittsburgh. Many fans expected him to follow up his epic Super Bowl performance with a big 2009 season, but so far that has not happened. Rather than continuing to lead the offense to glory, Holmes has gone silent. He has not been terrible by any stretch, but he has not stood out either despite the fact that the passing game is running on high octane fuel right now. Holmes trails Hines Ward and Heath Miller in receptions. He has been overshadowed as deep threat by rookie Mike Wallace. He has not scored a touchdown since the first half of the first game. He was at least partially responsible for the damaging pic-six in Cincinnati a few weeks ago. In short, Holmes has not lived up to the high expectations he created for himself this past winter. We have seen this before from Santonio. His career has really been a series of up's and down's. Last season, just when everyone thought he was ready to breakout as a star, he slumped and then got himself arrested. So this is nothing new, but I think that we all expected Holmes to have shaken the "Plex" syndrome by now. This makes me wonder if it is a matter of motivation. In sports, certain players are highly motivated by big games. There are plenty of examples of this, from Michael Jordan to Mario Lemieux to Tiger Woods. Sometimes though, the players who rise high for the big games have trouble doing the same for the small games. Jaromir Jagr was kind of like this for the Penguins. Despite all those great stats, only once in his career did Jagr put together a regular season campaign so complete that it warranted an MVP award. However, when it came time for the playoffs, he was golden. Jagr holds the team record for most overtime playoff goals, and his best games were always reserved for when it counted most. Still, that did not ease the frustration of having him sometimes underperform when it didn't necessarily matter the most. In his three previous seasons in Pittsburgh, Holmes best moments have also come in the biggest of situations, like overtime in a "do or die" game for Cincinnati in 2006, or trailing the Jaguars in the 2007 playoffs, or at the goal line in a division-deciding game at Baltimore, or desperately needing a punt return against the Chargers in the 2008 playoffs, or against the Ravens in the AFC Championship, or in the final seconds of the biggest sporting event on earth. Maybe this is just where Tone shines, and maybe on the road against a 1-3 team in week 5 just doesn't do it for him. If that is truly the case, then that is disheartening, but the good still far outweighs the bad.
(9/28) Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar: the Steelers are coming off of a Super Bowl title. In the first game of the season, they play the Thursday night NFL Kickoff game at home against an AFC contender. They fall behind in the 4th quarter but pull out a last-minute comeback to win. In the second game of the season, they lose on the road. In the third game, they blow a 4th quarter lead and make a series of bad mistakes in a horrific division loss against Cincinnati. In the fourth game of the season, they take on San Diego in a must-win scenario to try to climb back into contention. That sounds a lot like this season, right? Actually, what I was describing was the start of the 2006 season. The Steelers got sucked into a vortex of defeat early that season and never quite recovered. They eventually finished the season strong, winning 6 out of their last 8 games, but it was too little too late by then. Despite all the talk about not letting that happen again in 2009, so far things look pretty bad. That being said, the reasons for the dreaded "Super Bowl hangover" are quite different. The 2006 disappointment centered around sloppy and undisciplined play. Ben threw a plethora of interceptions (in retrospect, he probably should have never even played that year after the motorcycle accident and appendectomy). The special teams kept fumbling returns. Bill Cowher was counting the days until his retirement. The team in general seemed to just not have their hearts in those first 8 weeks of the season. This season has not been about discipline. The Steelers have played very well for the first three quarters of each game. The defense has shut down incredibly dangerous players like Chris Johnson and Matt Forte. The offense, despite the running game issues, has effectively moved the ball and racked up yardage. No, this season is all about one word (or lack thereof of this one word): clutch. That is what the Steelers were last season when they won all those close games, including the most dramatic last-second drive in team history on February 1. This season has been all about Hines fumbling at the 3 yard line on his way in for the game-winning score and Jeff Reed missing two 4th quarter field goals and the defense not being able to make a play to win the game on 3rd or 4th down. That is what this season has been all about thus far, and it's really been disheartening to sit there and watch. This is not how a championship team performs. So what happens next? Well, in the 2006 season, the Steelers dropped that must-win 4th game of the season against the Chargers, blowing a 10-0 lead in the process. That really marked the beginning of the end, and a loss to San Diego this week may do the same for this 2009 squad. That does not have to happen. History does not have to repeat itself. It's up to the Steelers to man-up and get their act together. They are better than this and they KNOW it. Let's hope that happens. (9/28) If you have been reading this site for a while, you know that I often reference the 2000 debacle at Cleveland as probably the single worst game I have ever covered in the 13 seasons that I have been doing this web site. That game was memorable for the sickening way that it ended, but there was something that happened earlier in that game that many people forget. Going into that game, Scott Shields was a second-year safety who the Steelers had once had high hopes for. They selected him in the second round of the 1999 draft and many thought it was a steal. Shields was an amazing physical specimen. He had size and speed, and he had the potential to become a franchise anchor for the defense. The team even gave him Mel Blount's old number and cut Travis Davis (the 1999 starter at free safety). But somewhere along the way things started falling apart. Shields disappointed the coaches with his preparation and his practices, but since he was a second round pick from the previous year, there was an obligation to let him sink or swim on the field. So when the Steelers traveled to Cleveland for that early season game against the Browns, Shields was in the starting lineup. Late in the game with the score tied, the defense had pinned Cleveland inside its own five yard line when Shields made a fatal mistake. He was way out of position on a play where he should have been covering Browns WR Kevin Johnson. Instead of making the Browns punt from their own endzone, Johnson caught a pass over the middle and ran for 79 yards to set up what would eventually become the game-winning field goal. After that play, Shields was banished from the defense. He spent the next 14 games in exile and was told by Bill Cowher not to show up for the Steelers mandatory mini-camp the following offseason. The Steelers had decided that Shields could no longer be trusted, and even though they had invested so much in him, they were forced to cut their losses. Just like that, Shields' promising young career was finished. The reason I bring up that story is because Limas Sweed may have suffered a similar fate yesterday when he dropped that wide open touchdown pass in the endzone. Sweed had already lost his job to promising rookie Mike Wallace, who has been everything that Sweed was supposed to be. On the depth chart, he is still ahead of Shaun McDonald, a veteran who just two years ago caught 79 balls, but like Shields, he is only in that position because of his draft status. He has been falling fast and that play may have sealed his demise. I truly hope that is not the case. I hope he is able to recover from this, but right now it is looking like he may end up being the second coming of Scott Shields.
(9/14) No other position in football - or in sports in general for that matter - is as important than quarterback. One thing that has always bothered me about the NFL is how we rate quarterbacks. Over the years there have been guys who put up impressive numbers like Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, and Jeff George. There are guys like Kyle Boller who get drafted in the first round because they can throw a ball 50 yards from their knees. The sports media and we fans (and especially us fantasy football players) marvel at these guys because of their passer rating, arm strength, and amazing talent. But at the end of the day, there is really only one meaningful characteristic that should define a quarterback: his ability to win. Take the aforementioned Warren Moon as an example. The Houston Oilers offense that he commanded was feared throughout the league. They ran a fast-paced run-and-shoot style that put up tons of points during the regular season. However, despite making the playoffs almost every year during Moon's prime, the Oilers were never able to even make it past the divisional round of the AFC Playoffs. Instead Moon watched winners like John Elway and Joe Montana outperform him in the clutch. He once blew a 32-point lead against Buffalo. He even lost a post-season game to Bubby Freaking Brister! Moon never once won anything of significance, yet he is in the Hall of Fame while Kurt Warner - a guy who not once, not twice, but THREE times threw a game-changing touchdown pass in the final minutes of the Super Bowl - is considered a "borderline" candidate for Canton. It's not just fans and HOF voters who don't understand this concept. It's teams as well. When the Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2000, the consensus was that their defense carried them to a title and that QB Trent Dilfer was simply along for the ride. So the Ravens, who have made so many smart personnel decisions under Ozzie Newsome, jettisoned Dilfer soon after the victory parade. The result was that the Ravens never again made it back to the Super Bowl despite still having a dominate defense. In fact, the closest they came was in 2008, the year they finally addressed the QB position by drafting stud rookie Joe Flacco. This past offseason, there was much hoopla over Jay Cutler whining his way out of Denver. Fans everywhere wanted their favorite team to win the Cutler sweepstakes. When Chicago traded for him, the Bears were immediately declared Super Bowl contenders (in fact, Sports Illustrated picked them to win the NFC in their NFL preview issue). Few people seemed to remember that Cutler has a sub-.500 record as a starter. Few people seem to remember that in three seasons as Denver's leader, he had never once gotten them into the post-season. Maybe that will all change in Chicago. Or maybe he will keep losing (like he did last night) while people who don't understand that stats mean nothing without wins continue to praise him. The bottom line is that a quarterback must have the ability to lead his team to victory. He can pass for 500 yards, but if he cannot, say, lead an 88-yard TD drive to win the Super Bowl, then what good are all the stats? It took the Steelers and us fans more than 25 years to realize how important a winning QB is to a franchise's success. Many others are still clueless. (9/7) Different NFL decades have always featured dominant teams from both conferences. There have also been teams who have had the misfortune of being good, but just not good enough to overtake the dominant teams. As this decade draws to a close, it's easy to pick out the dominant teams from the AFC: New England, Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis. Those three teams have represented the AFC in seven of the nine Super Bowls played since the turn of the century. The Titans have been no slouch either. With a combined 83-61 win-loss total, Tennessee owns the 6th best NFL record of the decade. Unfortunately four of the teams ahead of them play in the AFC (the aforementioned "big three" and the Denver Broncos). Not only has Tennessee been cursed with being in the dominate conference, it is also in the same division as perennial playoff contenders Indianapolis and Jacksonville. When the Titans have made the post-season, they have usually had to play as a wild card, and the result has some been incredibly tough road losses where they have come up just short. For example, they lost a 2003 playoff game war at Foxboro that will go down as the one of the most underrated post-season games ever. All that being said, the Titans have had their chances. In 2000, they were the defending AFC champs and had compiled the league's best regular season record, but they were massively upset at home. In 2002, a season in which the Patriots, Steelers, and Colts all fared poorly, the Titans lost the AFC Championship Game to an inferior Raiders team. Then came last season. No Tom Brady. No Colts domination. The Titans had a great chance to make their mark. They clinched home field advantage for the entire playoffs. Then they got cocky, stomping Terrible Towels and thinking they had arrived. The result was that they were again upset by a more physical Baltimore team at their own stadium. When we look back at this decade, we will partly remember Tennessee the way we remember the 1970's Oilers as maybe being the second best team in the league at times but not able to beat the best team. But we will also remember that there were years that maybe they were the "best" team and blew their chance.
(9/4) When the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in 1996, one of the big reasons was kick returner Desmond Howard. However, many people do not realize how close the Packers came to releasing him before the season even started. Howard, a Heisman Trophy winner at Michigan, had been a huge disappointment in the NFL. In the summer of 1996, he was on his third NFL team in just five seasons. He came into camp as a potential long shot to make the team. His college career was a long forgotten memory and he needed to impress Packers head coach Fatty McWhiner in order to land a roster spot. He played well in the pre-season, but he really locked up his spot after an electrifying 77-yard punt return at Lambeau against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last night, Steelers KR Stefan Logan found himself in a similar situation that Howard was in 13 years ago. He too capitalized on his opportunity, running a punt back 80 yards thru a mass of Carolina defenders in the final pre-season game. I know I always say that these games are meaningless (and they are), but try telling that to guys like Logan. After he added a nifty speed burst on an offensive end-around play later in the game, it was official - no way the Steelers were cutting this guy. Sure enough, the final cuts were announces today, and Logan will be part of the 53-man roster. Good for him and not bad for a guy who was playing in Canada last season. Let's just hope he can replicate that success in the regular season. Not everyone was as fortunate as Logan. Hard-running rookie Isaac Redman, who also showed flashed of brilliance this summer, did not make the team. Carey Davis, who was essentially the team's starting fullback for the last two seasons (even though technically we no longer use a fullback), was also sent packing. Center A.Q. Shipley (Penn State sucks), a local kid and sentimental favorite, was cut. Veteran special teams guy Anthony Madison will not be on the 2009 roster, most likely the victim of Logan's success. Some of these guys showed talent, but in the end, this is a championship team and you have to be REALLY good to be able to wear the black and gold, so none of these cuts were a huge surprise. One cut that did shock me though was LB Bruce Davis, last year's third round draft choice. It's not very often that a top-three round guy gets cut after just one season, but Davis managed to suck bad enough to have it happen. Give credit to Mike Tomlin for having the guts to waive a player like that. These were the tough choices that Bill Cowher often made early in his career (see: Richardson, Huey) but got a bit too soft on late in his career (see: Jackson, Alonzo). So now the roster is set and the preparations begin for kickoff 2009 at Heinz Field next Thursday. I know I speak for many of you when I say that I cannot wait!
(8/31) You have to love Brett Keisel's reaction upon signing a five-year contract extension with the Steelers today: "I am extremely happy for a lot of reasons. One, I have the opportunity to play my entire career with one team. Two, this team, I can't say enough about how I feel about it." Three, this deal rules! Ok, so I added the third one, but clearly Keisel was elated to be re-signed, and I think I can speak for much of The Nation when I say that we are just as excited. Keisel is one of the most underrated players on the team. His presence and intelligence is so important to the d-line. A good example was last year's Giants game, when he read QB Eli Manning's lips, enabling the Steelers to make a key goal line stand. He is also a personality on the team, not to mention one of Ben's closest friends. He is kind of the Maxime Talbot of the Steelers. It's so great that we were able to keep him. You have to give Kevin Colbert a TON of credit. At one point, the following players were all scheduled to become free agents after the 2009 season: Keisel, Heath Miller, James Harrison, Hines Ward, and Max Starks. All of those guys are now under contract. That is huge, especially considering that the following players are still not under contract come 2010: Casey Hampton, Ryan Clark, Deshea Townsend, FWP, Justin Hartwig, and Jeff Reed. That is still a hefty list, but so far so good. Meanwhile, projections of Darnell Stapleton's recovery were apparently overblown. Stapleton will not be back by opening day. In fact, he won't be back at all. The Steelers placed their starting right guard from Super Bowl XLIII on injured reserve. While it stinks that the o-line cohesiveness that we all wished for will not happen, it can be argued that Stapleton was the one guy on the line who was most expendable. Trai Essex was widely expected to steal that job anyway. Now he just gets it by default. (8/30) As the regular season draws near, many of you have emailed in with some insightful predictions on how the Steelers will fare as defending Super Bowl champions this year. Like many of you, I agree that the season ahead looks promising. If you go down the roster and compare it to this point last season, there is almost nothing but improvement. For example:
So given all of this, what is there to worry about? Certainly you could cite the obvious "Super Bowl hangover" factor. After all, the Steelers went thru that in 2006. However, comparing the 2005 championship to the 2008 championship is an apples to oranges argument. In 2005, the team worked so hard to overcome adversity and to finally shed the ghosts of the 1970's from their past. They were just happy to have won. Look at last year's two miracle playoff teams, the Dolphins and Falcons. Each suffered through arguably the worst seasons in the history of their respective franchises in 2007, and when they made it to the playoffs in 2008, they were just thrilled to be there. Their fans were thrilled to be there. Everyone knew they would lose in the first round, and no one really cared. That was how many of us fans felt about the Steelers in 2006, and the team sure played like they felt the same way (it also didn't help that their most important player was almost killed in a motorcycle accident right before the season). The 2008 title felt so much more different. Now it's no longer a fairy tale run. This is a serious team which has already made serious history, and they want even more. No one will be happy with 8-8 this time around - I can pretty much guarantee that. Rather, I think there is only one thing that can do in the 2009 Steelers: injuries. That is my biggest concern. We all remember how dominate the Steelers were last year, but how many of us remember how dominate the Steelers were during the first few months of the 2007 campaign. They had the #1 defense in the league and a Pro Bowl quarterback who threw 30+ touchdown passes. They shutout two teams. Ben threw five touchdown passes in the first half of a game against hated rival Baltimore. That was a really good team, but they were completely done in by injuries. By the end of the regular season, they were limping around and as good as dead. In 2008, everyone stayed mostly healthy. Yes, losing Sepulveda hurt. Having Ben's shoulder get wrecked in week 1 hurt. Losing our long-snapper in the middle of a game actually cost us a win. But you are never going to make it thru an entire season unscathed, and last year's Steelers came about as close as you can to doing it. That was the biggest difference between Tomlin's two seasons as coach, and he realizes it. This summer he has allowed many veterans to skip practices and take days off. Some fans have criticized that, but I totally agree with it. EVERYTHING rides on this team staying healthy, and so everything must be done to try to make that happen. If they do, expect Pittsburgh to be right in the mix come January. (8/23) As you probably already know, former Steelers receiver Plaxico Burress was sentenced to two years in prison this week. His crime? Shooting himself in the leg. Now as anyone who has read this site for a considerable amount of time can attest, I am not a huge Burress fan. I thought he was a bum. He was an immensely talented player who never lived up to his potential, unlike guys with less athletic talent like Hines Ward who gave 110% for their team. That being said.... two years?!? Was Plex dumb to bring a gun into a club? Yes. Was it reckless to have it loaded and just sitting in the pocket of his sweat pants? Sure. Did he hurt or intend to hurt anyone? No. So how is it that Donte Stallworth gets a slap on the wrist for KILLING someone and Leonard Little gets paid millions of dollars while he also KILLED someone, but Plex gets sent to the slammer for two years? How is that justice?? To me, this was a case of an overzealous New York law designed to appease the anti-second amendment crowd being enforced as an example to anyone who would dare bring a gun anywhere (except for actual criminals of course, who will no doubt be completely unfazed by this). Plex should have known the law and he should have been punished. He maybe should have even been kept out of the NFL for a year or so. But there is no way he deserves to lose two years of his life. Turn on a TV this fall and you will see scumbags like Pacman Jones (WVU sucks) and Chris Henry (WVU sucks) being allowed to roam freely AND make tons of money. Plex is not very bright, but he is not in the same criminal class as these other guys. This whole thing was nothing more than witch-hunt b.s.
(8/3) Last week we looked at part one of this year's installment of training camp questions. Now it's on to part two: What is the outlook for the rest of the AFC North?
What quality did last year's team lack that this year's team should look to improve upon?
Is Daniel Sepulveda back to full strength?
Is the backfield a concern?
Will the Titans regret giving Nate Washington $27 million?
Do the Steelers have an answer for 4th and 1 this year?
Can the defense even come close to repeating what it did last season?
Is there any truth to the Michael Vick rumor?
How easy is the schedule this year?
Are the Steelers the team of the decade?
(7/29) The Steelers had a big list of players entering the final year of their contract, and perhaps no name on that list was bigger than TE Heath Miller. He is an integral part of the Steelers offense both as a blocker and as a pass catcher. Now he will be a Steeler until at least 2014. The Steelers signed Miller to a six-year extension that will pay him $35.3 million with a hefty $12.5 million signing bonus. This is a great thing for the offense. Miller is just starting to enter the prime of his career, and Ben needs all the weapons he can get. This also continues the team's pattern of developing and re-signing their own players. Pittsburgh does this better than any team in football (and perhaps better than any franchise in pro sports), and the results speak for themselves.
(7/27) What a glorious time to be a Pittsburgh sports fan. Two of our three professional sports teams (and the only two that really matter) are both defending champions of their respective leagues! However, that status must ultimately give way to a new season, and for the Steelers, it all gets underway this Friday when training camp opens. As I do every summer, I will present a two-part look at the most criticial questions facing our favorite football team this year. Here is part one, starting with the most burning question on everyone's mind: Can the Steelers repeat?
Is William Gay prepared to take over at CB for Bryant McFadden?
Speaking of William Gay, how many sophomoric "behind the defense" and "blown coverage" jokes will be made regarding his last name this season?
Will any of next year's big free agents - Miller, Reed, Hampton, Keisel, etc - be signed before the season starts?
If a football falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, would Limas Sweed still drop it?
Does the stability of returning all five starters mean that the offensive line woes are finally over?
Will any of the rookies make an immediate impact?
Who will be this year's breakout player?
Will Ben Roethlisberger be distracted by the rape charge?
Is Brett Favre coming back?
(7/20) In the Academy Award winning film American Beauty, there is a great scene in which Lester Burnham (played by Kevin Spacey) catches his wife Carolyn (played by Annette Benning) coming thru a fast food drive-thru with another man. It is clear that the two of them are having an affair, and after the initial shock of getting caught wears off, Carolyn starts her usual berating of Lester. At this point, Lester sharply interrupts her. "No," he says, "you don't get to tell me what to do EVER again." Ben Roethlisberger's 88-yard drive to win Super Bowl XLIII was his Lester Burnham moment. We live in an age of dumbed-down football coverage. There are some fans who only understand the game from a fantasy football perspective, and since Ben does not provide big stats, they think he is mediocre. There are now so many media outlets covering the NFL, each with their own slew of talking heads, that coverage is often watered down or intended to shock. Knowledgeable football writers like Peter King and John Clayton get lost in a sea of sub-standard "analysts", each trying to establish their own niche. When these folks talk about Ben, they either have no clue what they are talking about or they try to rip into him in an effort to garner a reaction amongst what they know is a very large Steelers following. As a result, casual fans are duped into believing that players like Jay Cutler, Carson Palmer, or Tony Romo (combined post-season wins: zero) are better quarterbacks than a guy who won two Super Bowls. Then there are small but vocal minority of local fans the same ones who booed Terry Bradshaw and just about every other quarterback who came thru Pittsburgh. To them the backup quarterback is always the best option for success. There was also the issue of Ben's performance in Super Bowl XL. While Roethlisberger played poorly in that game, he still made big plays and most importantly, the Steelers won. The team also would have never even made it to that game if not for Ben's brilliant performance in the previous three playoff games. But the myth still propagated that the team carried Ben to that title, not vice-versa. When his motorcycle accident several months after Super Bowl XL led to an interception-plagued 2006 season, the myth became fact for much of the football world. Ben responded with a Pro Bowl season in 2007. Then in 2008, he led multiple last-second comebacks en route to the biggest last-second comeback in Steelers history in the Super Bowl. After that drive, there was no more denying it. Sure, you will find morons out there who still think that he is not that good, but those people just look foolish now. Ben's place in NFL history is secure. He is one of only ten quarterbacks ever to win more than one Super Bowl. After winning two titles in his first five seasons, Ben could retire tomorrow and still be considered an all-time great. Any time anyone ever spouts this negative garbage about him, just cut them off with the Lester Burnham line, because after what Ben did this past February 1, no one ever gets to say anything to him EVER again.
(7/5) Tragedy hit the NFL yesterday when former league MVP Steve McNair was shot and killed. The details of this whole story are still leaking out, but needless to say this was incredibly sad news. As a Steelers fan, there was no one player I feared more than McNair. For years he always found ways to beat our team. When I did a countdown of the biggest Steeler-killers a couple of years ago, he topped the list. There is also no one player who I wished we had on our team more than McNair. I will always remember sitting in Three Rivers Stadium on September 24, 2000. The Steelers were minutes away from pulling off a monumental upset of the defending AFC champion Titans when Jason Gildon popped Tennessee QB Neil O'Donnell in the chin. McNair was on the bench nursing one of his many injuries. He was not supposed to play in that game nor did he have any time to prep. When O'Donnell got hit, he had to come out of the game and McNair had to go in. Although he was ice cold, playing on the road, and hurt, he was able to calmly drive his team 70 yards in 35 seconds for the game-winning touchdown. It was vintage McNair. He played in an era where other AFC quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady were breaking each other's single season touchdown records. He played in an era where he would not have been a good choice for a fantasy football team. He was not flashy, but he possessed the most important - and also most overlooked - characteristic of an NFL quarterback: the ability to win. McNair's grit, toughness, and leadership made him one of the best of his era in my opinion. When he came into that game nine years ago, my heart sank because I knew that the Steelers were finished. How many other players could you say something like that about? That is what I will always remember about Steve McNair, and I truly hope that others will remember that about him too.
(5/5) In the wake of Pittsburgh's unprecedented sixth Super Bowl title, much has been made about "The Steeler Way", and rightly so. In an era of professional sports which we see a plethora of greed, crime, and deception, the Steelers serve as the antithesis. They are the ship that keeps right on sailing while all the other ships succumb to the storm. It has been this way for the past 40 years. Since 1972, the Steelers have had one owner, three head coaches, and only seven losing seasons (by contrast, the San Francisco 49ers a historically successful franchise in their own right - have had seven losing seasons in this decade alone). The Steelers reached the absolute apex this past season when they won another title by beating a team who made it to the Super Bowl by emulating Pittsburgh in every possible way. While the Rooney family is often given credit as a whole, the man who has really made the difference is Dan Rooney. I just got done reading Rooney's book, and it should have been titled "Why My Father Had No Clue How to Run a Football Team". Granted, the book is written from Dan's point of view, but it's no coincidence that the Steelers were the worst team in the NFL for 40 years then suddenly became the best-run organization in all of professional sports shortly after Dan started running the show in the late 1960's. No one will dispute that Art Rooney was a class guy who loved and cared about all the people who worked for him, and that he deserved all the adulation he received. That being said, read this revealing excerpt from Dan's book about when the Steelers went searching for a new head coach in 1966. Dan had fired Buddy Parker and the first guy that he interviewed to replace him was Bill Austin, an assistant coach for Vince Lombardi's Packers: Bill interviewed well. He seemed like a guy we could get along with, so my father called Vince for the inside story. Lombardi thought the world of him, and said he'd make a terrific head coach. That was enough for Dad. "Let's hire him!" "Wait!" I said. "This is only our first interview. Let's take a look at the other guys." "If Vince says he is okay, let's take him!" That's the way my father operated. If he could, he'd hire a friend. If he couldn't, a recommendation from a friend was often good enough. And so we hired Bill Austin. Austin of course was a total failure, and the franchise continued to spiral for the rest of the decade. Dan would not allow that mistake to be repeated again, which is why the Steelers have only had to go through the head coach searching process three times since then. The point is that "The Steeler Way" is really "The Dan Rooney Way", and he is more responsible than anyone for the mass success of the franchise. Now he is about to leave to become the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. It's a great personal move for a guy who has been very involved with that country, but it leaves a potential hole here in Pittsburgh. True, Art Rooney II has officially been running the team for the better part of this decade, and two of the six Super Bowl trophies have come under his watch, but his father's office was always right next door. How will he operate on his own? There have been some slight shifts in approach since Art took over the day-to-day operations, mainly that of how they handle current players. In the 1990's, guys were sent packing when they became free agents. Now the Steelers (with a few notable exceptions) seem to bend over backwards to re-sign their own guys. Of course, that could be attributed to the change in GM's that came around the same time. The other big concern with Dan Rooney's departure extends beyond the organization. The NFL is approaching a very contentious time. The CBA expires after next season, and the cool heads who prevented any kind of labor stoppage for the past two decades Gene Upshaw, Paul Tagliabue, and Dan Rooney are all gone. Rooney's presence and his demand for respect of the game carried a ton of weight. Now that he is out of the picture, will the Jerry Jones' of the world dominate this next round of negotiations? Rooney's departure is certainly cause for concern in both Steelers Country and beyond.
(4/29) When the Steelers moved 2007 first round draft pick Lawrence Timmons to inside linebacker, the writing was on the wall for Larry Foote. Timmons played very well splitting time with Foote last season. The Steelers tried to trade Foote before the draft but seemed to be content with him playing out the last season of his contract in a similar role to what he did last year, although his playing time would have continued to diminish. Foote was understandably not content with that arrangement and still feels like he can be a starter in the NFL, which is probably true. So the Steelers granted Foote's request to be released. It probably would have been a better football move to keep Foote around for added depth, but the Steelers did the right thing. He was a loyal Steeler for seven long seasons, and he deserves to get his shot elsewhere. By releasing him this early, the team gives him a good chance to do that. There is talk that he would like to sign with his hometown Lions, which would be quite a drastic change (Super Bowl champion to team that hasn't won a game since 2007), but whatever he does, I hope for the best for him. Foote was a solid player. He was never a star like the guys who played next to him such as Joey Porter, James Farrior, James Harrison, Jason Gildon, etc. But he was an important part of the defense nonetheless. I am hopeful that Timmons can get the job done. He showed a ton of promise last season, and I do not believe the Steelers would have tried to trade Foote if they did not fully believe in Timmons. (4/26) In a somewhat surprising move, the Steelers gave Hines Ward a contract extension (it is still being finalized, but it looks like it will be for four years). This was going to be a possibly rough decision because Ward was due to be a free agent after the season, he is currently heading into his 12th season, and the Steelers almost never give players a third contract. If Ward actually plays thru the end of this deal, he will set the record for longest tenure in team history. I love this deal. From a practical standpoint, the Steelers shave room off this year's salary cap by extending the deal. Ward is also still very effective. The only thing you could argue is that he gets injured more now than he used to, but when he is playing at full strength, he still looks like he did ten years ago. From an emotional standpoint, it's great to see one of Pittsburgh's best and most-loved players staying here where he belongs for his entire career. Hines talked about learning from Jerome Bettis how fulfilling it is to retire in the place where they love you rather than trying to squeeze out more years somewhere else. Ward will be staying right here in Pittsburgh, and like it was with Bettis, it will be a sad day when we finally have to bid him farewell. (4/20) Remember back in the day when the Steelers would pass up exciting skill players in the draft in favor of a solid offensive or defensive lineman, and many of us would get all pissed? "Who is this Leon Searcy guy? There are no exciting clips of him racing past some hapless college kid on his way to the endzone! Why wouldn't you draft Rocket Ismail instead?" Doesn't seem so silly now! The Steelers have used their past five their first round picks on a QB, TE, WR, LB, and RB. In the second round of those same drafts, they have selected a CB, CB ,LB, and WR. It's hard to complain a whole lot about those picks, seeing as how the team won two Super Bowls during that stretch. That being said, it's time to finally start working on building the lines. The offensive line, while starting to come together, is still subpar. The fact that the Steelers have had to hand out HUGE money to Max Starks, a player who wasn't a full-time starter for the past two seasons, underscores the need for depth along the line. The Steelers cannot keep breaking the bank to keep guys like Starks and Holdy McHoldsalot just because they have no other options. Patchwork players have not worked out either (see Mahan, Sean), and the only proven way for the Steelers to build the line back up is via the draft. It also just so happens that this year's draft is rich in offensive linemen. On the defensive line, it's a different kind of problem. Unlike the o-line, the d-line is a solid unit who helped lead the team to the #1 defensive ranking in the league each of the past two years. The three starters Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, and Brett Keisel are all great players, and the backups have been effective as well. However, it is an aging line that has a limited amount of time left in its current state. Also, the Great Collapse of 2007 (when the Steelers dropped four of their final five games) proved that Smith is the key to the entire line. Without him, the line is crap. So if he goes down again or starts to break down (the guy is heading into his 11th season after all), there needs to be somebody ready to step in for him. This is the perfect time to groom someone, especially with other positions well fortified. There are other needs as well. The Steelers will likely want a receiver to help mitigate the Limas Sweed risk, and a cornerback to do the same for William Gay and Old Man Townsend (who like Smith, is one of the three Steelers players leftover from the 1990's). But overall, the Steelers are in excellent shape and can afford to groom young players. They will not have to pay out a ton of money because they are drafting so low. It's time to start addressing this issue before it blows up. (4/13) Awesome news for the Steelers faithful today: the team has locked up NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison with a six-year deal worth $51 million. The deal also reportedly contains $20 million in bonuses. Extending Harrison's contract - which was set to expire after the 2009 season - was one of Pittsburgh's top priorities in the offseason. They now have the most dominant defensive player in the league under contract until he turns 36 years old. This is a great move for both parties. The Steelers have found something special in Harrison, a player who may end up being one of their best defenders ever (which is saying a lot for a franchise with an inordinate amount of great defenders). Harrison gets a well deserved raise (he was making about $1 million per year under his current deal) and recognition for being one of the best. He also doesn't have to worry about what happens in the event that next season goes uncapped, in which case his free agency may have been voided. This really sets the tone for a strong defensive base for years to come in Pittsburgh.
(3/28) Most football coaches, GM's, and fans agree that left tackle is one of the most important positions in the game. NFL teams often pay thru the nose for an even mediocre guy at that position. But how does one determine how good a left tackle - or any offensive lineman for that matter - really is? Linemen have no stats. Their performance is often linked to how the other four guys with them play. Many fans don't spend a lot of time watching a guy block on a play. The typical metrics for rating a player's value just aren't there, so you have to find alternate ways to judge their performance. One of those ways is to look at how many Pro Bowls to which the player has been selected. Another way is to come up with unofficial stats like how many sacks were allowed against them. But I think one of the best ways to judge a lineman's value is by looking at what happens when they are not in the lineup. That method can be applied to the Steelers. On the defensive side of the ball, Aaron Smith proved how truly important he was to the team when the entire 2007 defense, which had been ranked #1 in the league, went on a late-season collapse after he got hurt. Smith was in his ninth season in Pittsburgh and many fans had taken his presence for granted, but never again would that happen after we all saw the disaster that was an Aaron Smith-less defense. Smith had a counterpart on offense who shares the same last name. For years Marvel Smith had been as important to the offense as Aaron Smith is to the defense, but for whatever reason (possibly in part because he was overshadowed by Alan Faneca), Marvel didn't seem to get the same adjulation. Both Smith's have anchored their respective lines for this entire decade. Just like Aaron, Marvel's absence from the lineup during that time often resulted in disaster. In 2003, Smith missed most of the season with a pinched nerve in his neck and the team compiled its only losing record of the decade. One of the main reasons for that 6-10 season was the fact that the offense, which had produced record amounts of yardage in the previous season, could no longer protect its quarterback or make lanes for its running backs. In 2005, Pittsburgh went on an infamous three-game slide which dropped them to 7-5 and nearly saw their post-season hopes destroyed. Guess who missed those three games? When Marvel came back, the Steelers got rolling again and ultimately won the Super Bowl. In 2007 and 2008, injuries to Smith and the crumbling of the o-line were definitely interconnected. The 2007 season saw Ben Roethlisberger running for his life. The 2008 season saw what many Steelers fans never thought was a possibility, especially on a championship team: the complete lack of a running game. Like many football players, Smith's body has broken down over his nine seasons in Pittsburgh. He is no longer able to stay healthy and the Steelers needed to go in a different direction by franchising Max Starks. Smith has found a new home with the San Francisco 49ers. It's a great fit for him. He is originally from the Bay Area and lives in California. The Niners have what appears to be a quality coach in Mike Singletary and could be an up-and-coming team in the NFC. Hopefully Smith will be able to stay healthy and help that franchise restore itself. While I hope he is able to have a few more good years, I hope even more that The Nation is able to appreciate what a truly good player he was during his time in Pittsburgh. Thanks for nine great years. (3/24) The NFL Thursday night opener is now set. The defending champion Steelers will open the season at home against last year's AFC #1 seed, the Tennessee Titans. This is of course a rematch of last season's infamous (and supremely overrated) towel-stomping incident. Should be a good one to kick off 2009. The Ravens were also considered for this game, but they reportedly asked the league not to schedule them in primetime in Pittsburgh yet again. I guess they were sick of being humiliated, and I can't say I blame them. It can't be easy to get your butt handed to you that many times after all. (3/9) The Arizona Cardinals continue to build an NFC clone of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They signed CB Bryant McFadden to a two-year contract. The salary was reportedly $10 million, which the Steelers would have never been able to swing. McFadden had an up-and-down career in Pittsburgh. He always seemed to play well but sometimes fell out of favor with both the Cowher and Tomlin coaching staffs. He was solid last year during the time that he was healthy. The pressure will now be on William Gay, especially with Old Man Townsend entering his 27th season with the Steelers. Gay looked very good at times next year and will now have the chance to really establish himself as a starter in the NFL's best defense. Hopefully he is up for the challenge.
(3/2) The Nate Washington Era in Pittsburgh is over. The wide receiver whose career with the Steelers was characterized by lots and lots of dropped passes has signed a six-year, $27 million contract with the Tennessee Titans. Ok, the dropped passes thing wasn't entirely fair. Nate made some big plays here too, and honestly, I'm happy he made out well for himself. There was no way the Steelers were going to pay him $4+ million per year, so fans shouldn't feel too bad about this one. The question now becomes who replaces Washington as the #3 receiver? The smart money would be on last year's second round draft pick Limas Sweed. However, Sweed was invisible for most of the season and then did not endear himself to his teammates or us fans when he dropped that wide open pass plus faked an injury over it in the AFC Championship Game. Granted, he was a rookie and there is still a ton of room for improvement, but there needs to be a backup plan. There are many veteran receivers who have been cut recently. It would be a good option to at least explore, if the price is right. The Steelers really cannot afford to draft another skill player with the already shaky offensive line having zero depth and the defensive line getting older, so they will have to find someone on the open market to compete with Sweed.
(2/27) The Steelers continue to make off-season moves to shore up their offensive line. Starting guard Chris Kemoeatu re-signed for $20 million over 5 years. He was reportedly being pursued by the Jets, who apparently like stealing our left guards, but he chose to stay here instead. The $3.885 million signing bonus probably helped. Like the Max Starks move last week, a lot of fans are going to be scratching their heads over the fact that the Steelers shelled out huge money to a seemingly average (at best) offensive lineman who is part of a subpar unit and who is very fond of holding. However, just like with the Starks situation, the Steelers were backed into a corner. Free agent o-linemen do not come cheap, plus the constant change on the line the past few seasons has hardly helped things. This signing ensures that unless some team gives up a lot to pick up RFA Willie Colon, the five Super Bowl starters will all be back next season. Is that a good thing? I guess the better question would be what other option would be better? The other big move regarding the o-line was the release of Kendall Simmons. That was somewhat unexpected given that now there is a clear lack of depth at the guard spot. Simmons was the team's first round pick in 2002 and became a very good player, even earning a nice contract extension two seasons ago. But constant injuries caught up with him, and apparently the Steelers felt that he was no longer serviceable. This is an interesting path the Steelers are going down here, showing a TON of faith in the line that they had in 2008 and asking the fans to do the same. I understand it - after all, they did win a Super Bowl with this line - but I also have trouble believing that a lot of these guys are good for our crumbling running game, not to mention Ben's long-term health. I guess we'll see how it all plays out. (2/24) It's that time of the year again. Free agency starts on Friday and the Steelers must make some tough calls. Here is a closer look:
(2/19) When the Steelers gave Max Starks the transition tag last off-season, it guaranteed him a salary of $6.9 million. It did not however guarantee him a starting job. Starks began the 2008 season the same way he began 2007 - on the bench. But when Marvel Smith went down with yet another injury, Starks once again came in to play left tackle and did a decent enough job in an otherwise shoddy offensive line group. His reward for doing that? How about the franchise tag, which guarantees him even a fatter contract - $8.45 million - than he got last year. That is the average of the top five offensive linemen in the NFL! This move will no doubt perplex some fans, but the Steelers really did not have much of a choice. Left tackle has become one of the most coveted positions in football. Teams absolutely pay thru the nose for guys at about the same talent level as Starks. The Steelers obviously felt like they had no better option. It was either pay big money to Starks - a guy who still has upside and knows the system - or take a chance in free agency with someone else where a bidding war could be involved. When you are the defending Super Bowl champions, it makes more sense to keep what you've got. The team also realizes that their other three top tackles - Smith, Trai Essex, and Willie Colon - are all free agents (although Colon is restricted), so they decided to make sure they kept the best of the bunch. This also signals the end of the road for Smith. When he is officially released, I will have more to say about his 10 seasons in Pittsburgh, because he really was a great Steeler. The rest of the o-line is somewhat up for grabs. Center Justin Hartwig and right guard Kendall Simmons will be back, but as previously mentioned, starting right tackle Colon is an RFA and starting left guard Holdy McHoldsalot is a UFA. Just how important is chemistry on the line? Was Ben justified in saying that the o-line just needed time to gel and that they proved everyone wrong in the post-season? Or are most of these guys just crap? And if they are crap, who is going to replace them? Tough questions for Mr. Colbert in the upcoming weeks.
(2/10) We all know the story of how Ben, Tone, Harrison, and the other big name players turned the 2008 season into one of the most memorable years in Steelers history. There were also stories of other guys - players who weren't necessarily in the spotlight but had their own interesting rides down championship lane. Here are some of those stories: Mitch Berger: He was booed, spat on, and cut at various points during the season. He had the ball snapped over his head by substitute long-snapper James Harrison in the final minutes of the Giants game. He injured both of his hamstrings and lost his job to Paul Ernster for a few games, only to get it back when Ernster played even worse than Berger. He got smashed in the face while holding on a field goal during the Super Bowl, which ultimately did not help the Steelers get any more points. His only "skill" was kicking the ball so wildly that the return team often got confused about where it was going to land, thus resulting in a lucky bounce off of one of their players into the hands of a Steeler. And what does Mitch get for all of this? He will be unceremoniously waived in favor of Daniel Sepulveda, who should be back to full strength by training camp. But hey, he gets a Super Bowl ring after 14 years in the league, so you can't feel too bad for him. Orpheus Roye: Drafted by the Steelers three months after they lost Super Bowl XXX, Roye became a dominate player in the late 1990's. When he became a free agent in the spring of 2000, the Steelers made it their "#1 priority" to re-sign him. So what happened? He got scooped up in day one of free agency by the Browns. That was a sign of the times for Pittsburgh back then. They were a bad team with a spiraling front office. They made the tough decision that year to part with Tom Donahoe, and they never regretted it. Kevin Colbert built a two-time Super Bowl winner. One of the moves he made this season was to bring back Roye, who didn't have much left in the tank but could fill in on the d-line when there were injuries. He played sparingly but had the good fortune of coming back to Pittsburgh in time to get a ring. Chris Kemoeatu: I'm not sure I have ever seen an offensive lineman hold like Kemoeatu does. Usually linemen will try to conceal a hold or not be too obvious about it, but not this guy. He clutches on for dear life and doesn't let go until multiple flags have been thrown. Remember, this is the guy who got busted not once but TWICE during his college career for kicking an opponent in the face! He almost killed the Super Bowl-winning drive with a hold on the first play. That being said, his struggles and the struggles of his teammates on the o-line were not enough to keep the Steelers from winning another title. They were good enough when it counted most, and I suppose they all deserve some credit for that. It will be an interesting off-season though, as Kemoeatu and many of the other linemen are free agents. Are any of them really worth bringing back? I guess we will find out what the Steelers think soon enough. Mewelde Moore: Championship teams always have players like that who don't stand out, but without whom the team may not have been in position to win a championship to begin with. Moore was one of those players. He was a journeyman running back brought in for insurance. With FWP starting and #1 draft pick Rashard Mendenhall in front of him on the depth chart, it seemed like his role would be pretty limited. However, injuries to both of those guys early on opened the door for Moore, who played well when he was in the lineup. He also threw a huge block on the 3rd down conversion to Holmes in "The Drive", which was just typical of the kind of low-key contributions he made all season. He really earned his ring. Sean McHugh: For a team to go 0-16 in this age of parity is unthinkable, but that is exactly what the Detroit Lions managed to do in 2008. Years of horrible management and bad coaching finally took their toll, and the Lions incredibly lost every single game they played. McHugh (Penn State sucks) was a member of that team but was cut right before the regular season started. The Steelers picked him up and he became a capable fullback in the rare instances where the Steelers employed one. He went from being on one of the worst teams ever to being on one of the best ever. Talk about hitting the lottery! Byron Leftwich: No one had a more miserable season in 2007 than Leftwich. First the Jaguars, the team who he had started for since 2003, cut him after a training camp battle with David Garrard. Then he got picked up by the Atlanta Falcons, a team whose QB had just been thrown in jail and whose gutless piece-of-crap coach would end up quitting on them before the season was over. He was left for dead when the Steelers picked him up to back up Ben Roethlisberger last summer. Leftwich had one goal: play well enough in relief to earn a shot at a starting job in 2009. Mission accomplished. Leftwich was brilliant in the Redskins game, and he looked good any other time he played. In a league which saw Ryan Fitzpatrick and Dan Orlovsky start games at QB this past season, Leftwich will no doubt get a good look by someone this offseason. Jared Retkofsky: During the Giants game (the more I think about it, that game really marked a pivotal point in the season), long-snapper Greg Warren got hurt, but he appeared to be ok. He was helped up by the trainers and began walking off the field when . snap! His knee crumpled as those of us in the stands that evening let out a gasp of horror. It was obvious that he wouldn't be playing football again for quite some time. In came Retkofsky, who has been cut multiple times by the Steelers and was working for a moving company. He went from lifting people's couches to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. And best of all, he didn't snap any balls over anyone's head.
(2/4) Some random post-Super Bowl thoughts:
(1/19 - 1/30) Super Bowl XLIII columns. Click here for Super Bowl main page. (1/12) The 2008 NFL post-season will go down as the craziest ever. Consider the following:
In the midst of all this craziness stand the Pittsburgh Steelers. While the Steelers were by no means Super Bowl favorites at the start of this season, no one would call their record 14th appearance in the AFC Championship Game a huge surprise. They are a model of consistency in an otherwise inconsistent league. I honestly think a lot of people were upset when the Steelers won last night, and frankly, I don't blame them. As an impartial fan, I love to see crazy, historical stuff like this happen. However, the Steelers spoiled the party and will hopefully continue to do so. No matter what happens, these playoff games have been anything but a let down. The Baltimore-Tennessee game in particular was possibly the most hard-fought, intense game I have ever seen. Let's just be thankful that there is no BCS vote to pick the NFL's best team.
(1/5) On November 14, 2004, the Steelers and Browns came out onto the field at Cleveland Browns Stadium to warm up before their game. Drugged up Cleveland RB William Green decided to try to pick a fight with Pittsburgh LB Joey Porter, and Porter stupidly gave in. Or maybe it was the other way around (except for the drugged up part). Regardless, both players were tossed out. It was 15 minutes before the game was about to begin, and backup LB James Harrison - a guy who had never started a game before and a guy who the team had released three separate times - was informed that he was now going to start at outside linebacker in place of all-pro Porter. You would think most guys would be nervous, but not Harrison. He proceeded to lead the team in tackles and racked up a sack. That day a legend was born, and four years later, Harrison has nabbed the ultimate prize for NFL defenders: he has been named the AP Defensive Player of the Year. Harrison joins some pretty select company. Check out the list of Steelers who have won this award in the past: Joe Greene, Mel Blount, Jack Lambert, and Rod Woodson. Those are four of the greatest names in team history, and now Harrison is right up there with them. That is amazing when you think about the road he traveled to get there. Unlike those guys, who were all first-day draft choices, Harrison wan't even drafted. He was signed by the Steelers as an undrafted free agent out of Kent State in 2002 and made the practice squad, eventually playing in just one game that season (on special teams in the meaningless finale against Baltimore). In 2003, he made the practice squad again but was cut in favor of the immortal Russell Stuvaints. In 2004, he was signed by the Ravens and allocated to the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe where he hurt his knee. Baltimore decided to cut him in favor of TE Daniel Wilcox, and Harrison decided he would go back to school since his football career was essentially over. Then in July of 2004, Clark Haggans broke his fingers lifting weights, and the Steelers picked up Harrison for a third time really just to be an extra body in camp while Haggans recovered. But Harrison impressed the coaches, and the rest is history. In 2008, the Steelers defense was one of the best in team history. Their ultimate legacy has yet to be determined, but in the regular season, they were statistically dominant in every category. The main reason for that is #92. He not only won the Defensive Player of the Year award, but he also garnered votes for league MVP. Harrsion is truly a special player. He has come a long way, not just from NFL Europe exile, but also from having the burden of being Porter's replacement when many Steelers fans were upset that the team had jettisoned Porter and his "leadership". Congrats to James, and let's hope for even more of his great play in the post-season. Also: We now know the opponent for next week's AFC Divisional Playoff game. It is none other than the San Diego Chargers, in a rematch of the 11-10 game. The full preview is coming later this week, so stay tuned.
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