FAN: NFL Draft Is Four Months Away

Swagga. Ike Taylor......Swagga. Hey Ike, you're supposed to be able to stop the most dangerous receivers in the league. Maybe that doesn't include bush-league players. I'm so disappointed. Not mad, disappointed. We now need to win out and most likely get help from other teams. Unleash Hell? Did Mike Tomlin really say that? We're going to unleash Hell in December? We're just not that good on defense right now. It's sickening. When William Gay went down and they surrounded him on the field, I thought it was like a YouTube fight video and the other Steelers were kicking him out of view of the cameras. I could care less about the call on Mundy. We were going to lose regardless. The only way to not lose is to take the lead with about 3 seconds left on the clock. I was almost positive that Tomlin wouldn't let the team respond this way this year. I was wrong. Can they make the playoffs? I don't know. They can get hot and win out, but Geez who wants to go at it as the sixth seed again after winning it all last year? I say the second they are mathematically eliminated, lose out and draft a DB. We have to draft a DB. I'll scream bloody murder if they don't draft a corner because William Gay is not an NFL corner, I'm sorry. Also, how freaking appropriate that Sweed got his hands on the Hail Mary at the end of the game.

What Happened To Our Defense?

I understand Ben, Troy and Hines didn't play today and they are three of our best players, but week after week, I am more and more upset by our defensive showing. When a 3rd string running back tears us apart like Mr. Ross did today, you have to wonder if it's our players, our player's psyche or our schemes? With the above players dinged and Aaron Smith, Marvel Smith and Willie Parker gone for the year, I really don't know how we will compete with Jacksonville next weekend. I can hear Jack Del Rio firing his troops up right now. If Musa Smith and company can hurt us - what will Fred Taylor and Jones-Drew do to us? If a rookie quarterback can drive the ball on us, what will the more seasoned Garrard do with even better receivers? If our coach is calling timeouts at 2:04 will he crack in his first playoff game? Should he have tried a second onside kick? Should he have challenged the catch in the endzone of the kickoff? He has not shown a keen ability yet at managing the "game time" decisions. I'm more than a little worried. I think we could have bounced Cleveland or Tennessee on talent alone. Jacksonville could very well come into our house as a slight favorite. I'm not giving up or turning negative - I'm speaking the truth. I'm worried. I think if you're not worried, your NFL IQ might not be as high as you think it is. I'm putting our chances of winning this game at 51%. Also, that 51% is based on Ben, Troy and Hines all playing. Some other thoughts:

I was looking for one bright spot today...one! I'm not sure I saw one. If I missed it, please fill me in. I guess you could say we covered kicks ok today.

I think Willie Reid will not make the team next year. With Rossum hurt, this was his time to get pissed off and show Steeler Nation why he was drafted so high. Well, you see how well that worked out. If he can't be a decent #5 receiver and we're forced to make Cedric Wilson field punts, cut him. Apparently we can add him to the list of good college receivers who can't play in the NFL.

Ike Taylor continues to aggravate me with his inability to catch.

Najeh Davenport looks like a different runner every week. He may be the most inconsistent player on the team. If he's not - who is? I have laid down the gauntlet.

Willie Colon and Keamoeatu are going to rack up a ton of penalties next year. Bank on it. I like a Steeler with a bad disposition, not one that has to push and shove every time they don't like the way they are handled.

I'm done complaining, more to follow this week.

Today's Spin

Well, it certainly would have helped to have Troy Polamalu in the lineup today as the deep middle of the field got mauled, but every team has injuries this time and year and you have to overcome them. If you want to take the glass half full approach, you could say that at worst - this game could only change our playoff seed from 3 to 4 and if we beat Jacksonville next week, we'll still probably end up being the 3 seed and this game didn't affect our season too much. If you want to take the glass half empty approach, you would say that mentally, if we have to face the Patriots again in the playoffs, it will be in our heads that we got beat by more than 2 TDs. If you need to spin it in your head again to the full side.....maybe you can convince yourself that we played it close for 39 minutes and had our heart ripped out by the double lateral that maybe Troy could have covered. Of course, the half empty glass is screaming that they threw on almost every down and we didn't sack Brady once. It was a great gameplan by the Pats. Our defense is super aggressive and the second the first play-action stayed in Brady's hands....I knew it was a TD from the length of time it took to develop at that point. You just have to wonder if the double lateral play was only put in the gameplan because of Anthony Smith? Also, for Christmas, could somebody please get Ike Taylor a pair of hands that aren't made of granite? Thank You. The first half was very exciting to watch and I enjoyed it tremendously. The second....."meh". Ten years ago this loss would have bothered me a lot more than it did today. My glass is still half full. Smith was a hair away from knocking that ball down. What if he did? Football is a game of inches and momentum. It can change on a dime. Congrats to the Pats, see you in the playoffs.

I Like Ike

Ike is staying and to do so he accepted less money than he would have garnered on the open market. The key thing to remember here though is that it's not the same as him choosing the Steelers for less money than say the Redskins would have offered him at the same time. Everyone knows how we roll, and we roll very smartly by offering these young guys bonus money right NOW that they so desperately want. Same deal with Parker. We got Ike for $6.4 million in bonus money and he originally wanted $10. I would take $6 now as opposed to $10 next year - what if he plays terrible this year or gets injured? It all starts with drafting smart or you don't have the opportunity to make these kind of deals. He will get $15+ over the first 3 years and $23+ over 4. He'll play the first three and then the Steelers will probably try to have him resign to lower the cap number for year 4. Smart. Smart. Smart.

Whew, Ike Staying!

The deadline passed for another team to make an offer for Steelers restricted free agents Ike Taylor and Sean Morey. Now, it's imperative that the Steelers lock up Ike for the next 4-5 years. With Ike Taylor and Troy Polamalu roaming around in the secondary - youth and speed are not a concern. The only snag we could hit is if Ike's agent talks him out of taking the Steelers offer this offseason in hopes of landing a huge payday next year as an unrestricted free agent. The Steelers, of course, will try to get him for less than market value - hoping he'll take the smaller contract so he can get his hands on the signing bonus right now. The only upside for Taylor doing that is he gets to bank the money today instead of next year. It also protects him to some degree if he sustains a serious injury this year. He'll already have his signing bonus. I hope he doesn't gamble and he takes the Steelers offer, counters once, and then signs the Steelers second offer sheet. Everyone's happy with that ending. I was happy to see Sean Morey remain a Steeler also. $722,000 is a lot of money for a Special Teams player - but he is usually the first person down the field and unlike a lot of people with that distinction - he makes the tackle at least 30% of the time. I think he's valuable in that regard and one of the reasons special teams has gone from bad to good over the last 2-3 years. Signing him away from the Eagles was superb scouting in my opinion. Man, I can't wait for the draft. It's good knowing that we don't have a glaring weakness.

Locking Up Ike

The Steelers are hard at work this week trying to come to terms with Ike Taylor on a long term deal. Currently 9 of the eleven starters on defense are signed beyond the 2007 season. Taylor and Troy Polamalu currently are not. If Taylor doesn't sign a long term deal, he will play this year for the tender the Steelers offered him and then he will be an unrestricted free agent in 2007. Troy's current deal expires after the 2007 season. Obviously both of these guys mean a lot to the team. Troy is fast becoming the best safety in the league because of his versatility and Ike is probably the best cover corner we've had since Rod Woodson roamed the secondary. It's been that long since we've had a shutdown corner. I don't know what it will take to sign Ike, I'm guessing a minimum of $5 million dollars up front and maybe 4-5 years for a total of $3.5 million a year on average including the signing bonus. I think right now we are negotiating from a position of strength since I'm guessing Ike would rather have the signing bonus right now as opposed to waiting another year. This will be his first "real" contract and he's probably anxious to get that big check cashed! He desrves it. I just hope the offer to Ike stays reasonable so we don't have to sell the farm to pay Troy and Ben. I'm going to predict that we resign Ike and Troy before the season starts and then take care of Big Ben next year. That's going to cost us some serious dough! Remember, Carson Palmer got $105 million! Ouch!

Wow. Perfect Predictions So Far

Superb job by the front office. We signed Keisel the Deisel....let Kimo walk. Chris Hope took a walk and we signed a replacement before he left. We restructured Hartings. We signed Rodney Bailey to a very cheap contract and kept Tuman. Good solid players at backup prices. Depth and defense win Super Bowls. The thing that worries me is that Ike Taylor is drawing interest. I feel like he is now a core player. I would hate it if he walked. Townsend is still up in the air, but it is not the end of the world if he leaves either. The Steelers offerred Hope about 2.5 per year but he left for greener pastures. Have fun not making the playoffs in Tennessee, Chris. His replacement, Ryan Clark, is only making $7 million over 4 years....an outstanding Steeler contract. Don't forget we also signed a solid backup QB in Charlie Batch. He could be integral if Big Ben misses time again this year since Batch knows the offense well. After cutting Maddox it was great to see Charlie come back. I would now like to focus on getting Quincy Morgan signed. As I've stated here before, I like him to start at the #2 wideout position more than Cedrick Wilson just because of his size and blocking. Ced can play the slot. I'd love to make this 10 paragraphs - but I'm still in St Louis and trying to make a meeting! Go Steelers!!!!!