FAN: Silver Back in Black (and Gold)

...and it only took $51 bananas. $20 guaranteed. What a good story. I remember the game Stilladog and I went to that he totally dominated.

Silverback Red-Assed

Hmmm. Hey Denmark, do you smell something rotting? I have mixed feelings about this. I want to attack it from many angles. First and foremost, Peter (Steelers Hater) King posted an article the other day calling the Steelers hypocritical for cutting Cedric Wilson and keeping James Harrison. Let me address that first. If he or anyone else is suggesting the Steelers cut Harrison for his alleged offense - they should have their heads examined. Pacman Jones got someone shot and the Titans didn't cut him. He was suspended for a year and the Titans didn't cut him. Ray Lewis was up for murder charges and the Ravens didn't cut him! You almost have to go to jail before a team will cut you. Look at Chris Henry. Yes, he finally got cut, but after 37 offenses. Here's the straight poop - Cedric Wilson is a marginal player. He didn't get cut just because he popped his girlfriend....terrible as that may be. He was on the chopping block already and then screwed up and they just dropped the guillotine sooner. He was on his way out, peeps - true that. Plus - this wasn't his first offense! The police recently had a standoff at his house over a domestic dispute. For King not to mention that is huge. Also, King is suggesting that the Cowboys trading for Pacman is a good idea, so is he condoning Pacman's behavior? I am not condoning ANYTHING and neither did Dan Rooney, but Jesus people, wake up. You cannot compare walking into a bar, walking straight up to a girl and punching her in the face - to busting down a door, breaking a cell phone and (insert choice of story here - One account was a slap - One account was putting a hand on the face and pushing). He should have never laid a finger on her, but just from reading the reports, it's not like walking into a bar and punching a woman in front of witnesses. All that being said, I'm betting the chick is driving around in a Hummer this time next week - because if Harrison didn't make promises and pay her off to drop the charges, maybe somebody else......did? No matter how this story ends, James Harrison - the mighty Silverback - should be red-assed embarrassed. He should also watch his step. The Steelers may believe in second chances, they won't believe in thirds though. If someone gets into an argument with somebody and it turns to blows and one person dies, I do not equate that with someone who hides in the bushes and stalks a stranger, killing them and hacking them up into little pieces. Wow, ok, that's not fair either, but there are different levels of assault.

SilverBack Mad

I haven't read this on a news site yet, but a few blogs have posted that James Harrison was hauled in last night for simple assault and criminal mischief. Seems like he had a confrontation with the lady in his life, broke down a door, destroyed a cell phone. I'm sure the major Steeler sites will be posting what happened shortly.

J Peezey

I read several Steeler blogs and just a lot about the NFL in general and it kills me to read people saying things like "Porter left the Steelers and now he has a chance to be on the worst team in the history of the NFL". Only half of that is true. Remember folks, the Stillers CUT Joey, he didn't leave. Upon being cut, he also said:

"The organization has always been good to me," Porter said in a television interview. "It was a great run in Pittsburgh. I have no problem with them at all. I think it was a tough decision that they had to make, and it was one they had to make and they did it in the right way."

When he made the 75th anniversary team, he was Boo'd when they showed his clips at the game. He said next to winning the Super Bowl it was his highest honor. He is such a fierce competitor, can you imagine how hard it is for him to fall asleep every night knowing how bad the Dolphins are? Wow. That would be like Britney Spears being on top of the world one day as a pop icon and then falling from her perch and landing as a circus sideshow.........oh, wait a minute....that happened as well. Anyway, you get the point. I can't help but think that somewhere today at around 4:00, Peezey is going to wish he was still in Black-n-Gold prowling the onfield warmups screaming at Tom Brady that he's going to do very bad things to his mother. Peezey plays the villain well, but while some guys really are villains, I see Joey more in the Chad Johnson role - he knows it's a character he's portraying and that the home fans eat it up with butter on top. I feel bad for him. Do I like James Harrison? Hell, yeah. Was Joey going downhill the last few years? A little. We have to keep our linebacking corp young and we've been recycling them pretty well since the day Hardy Nickerson left. With four capable starters already, we have two superb draft picks waiting in the wings....both potentially replacements for Silverback. He may not start half as long as Joey did or he could start for the next five years. It's weird that as they suit up to play the biggest measuring stick game they've played yet this year - I'm thinking about Peezey. Maybe I'm wondering who will step up today and fire the team up to the level that Joey would? Maybe I'm wondering if we get down 10 or 14 points early, who will be stalking the sidelines and telling people to not drop their heads and fight. With Polamalu likely out again and not being the vocal leader anyway, it will be interesting to see who plays cheerleader the most today. We got rid of Joey's penchant for personal fouls but did we get more than we bargained for in Anthony Smith? We're going to learn a ton about this team today. We will definitely know sometime around 7:30 PM whether this team can win it all again this year. Let's hope some '72 Dolphin's angels are out there with us.

I'm Bringin' Silver Back

As requested by Still A Dog (and rightly so), here is the link to Pro Bowl voting. James Harrison is listed for Outside Linebackers. Let's get him in. Spread the link!

"That's What You Would Call Excessive..."

I wonder how much of this we'll see this year since LBs were taken with the first two picks?

Smith Gets New Deal, 3-4 Staying

Aaron Smith staying around to retire a Steeler or at minimum play another 2-3 years in the 'Burgh signals what the short term plan is for new coach Mike Tomlin. Finding a solid replacement for Smith would be hard for the next few years. It's not that he's untouchable and we should be grooming a replacement - it's that this team is still equipped to win it all with the current lineup and a few tweaks. I don't personally feel that a tweak is needed on the defensive line at this point. Hampton and Smith have played a lot of games together and Keisel played well last year. I also think the contract is a decent enough deal with the cap going up to $90 million dollars. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't excite me nearly as much as it will when Polamalu or Roethlisberger is resigned - but when you look at the makeup of the team, the DL starters are set in stone and with Hoke signed, Hampton is backed up sufficiently. Maybe the plan is for the contract to really be a 2 year deal and be looking at a younger player, but the cap will keep going up making the later part of the contract still acceptable when he gets to it. The bigger question is - what to do with Joey Porter? I remember the Steelers kept Greg Lloyd late in his career and let Chad Brown walk. It turned out to be a bad decision in retrospect. Also, after it was clear to Steeler Nation that Jason Gildon just didn't have it any more - he was retained past his prime and hurt the team badly in my estimation. Porter can be an enigma. He completely destroyed Manning in the playoff game during the Super Bowl run, but he also disappears completely from other games. I'm hoping that when he does disappear, it's because he's being doubled allowing someone else to make a play. There is no doubt that he's also one of the emotional leaders of the team - but his emotions also cause many issues. At times last year I was surprised that he wasn't yanked from a game until he calmed down. Porter will be interesting because we can afford to pay him what he's due this year and then let him walk - although he might hold out. We could keep him for the next 3-4 years only if the money is right - and he won't like what I think is right. He's on the down side of his career and even if he maintains his current level of play for 2007 and 2008 - I'd hate to be paying him $4 million dollars a year in 2009 just to watch him be too slow like Gildon was near the end. James Harrison has to start at some point. Why not this year? Could Porter be traded on draft day? You bet. I won't be surprised by anything that happens concerning him and I'm not sure what I want to happen to him right now. I'm loyal...but not Bill Cowher loyal. I love it that on a player's poll of 350+ current players, Peezey ranked #1 for most feared player. I like intimidation. I don't like stupid penalties. I think The Dog feels his time is over. I'm tempted to have him play this year for what we owe him and then decide what to do. Look, if we are resigning Troy and Ben this year - Porter has to go. Of all the players that we need to keep, I'm just not sure he fits into those plans. I will hate to see him go. You know he'll probably also tell tales out of school once gone. I wish they could agree on a fair contract where he would play this entire year and then start to come in more just to pass rush in later years. I don't think that will happen. I'm predicting it will get ugly and he's played his last game for the Black-n-Gold.

Fanboy Gets More Love

I sent this amazing picture to James "Silverback" Harrison with the caption "James Harrison - A New Fan Favorite - Meaner Than Lloyd?" and it promptly came back signed, personalized and dated....just the way I like them. It's a nice addition to my collection. Most of the authenticated items of his on Ebay are of him slamming the poor Browns' fan into the ground. It was too obvious to send him that picture and I like this one better anyway. What a complete streak of badasses we've had at linebacker. The linebacking group hasn't been without a badass since before the glory years. Just cince Cowher has been here we've had Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Chad Brown, Levon Kirkland, Earl Holmes, Kendrell Bell, Peezey and Harrison. I'm probably forgetting a few also. Inbetween Lambert and Cowher's crew they still had Mike Merriweather and Hardy Nickerson.

Harrison Good For 4 More Years

The Steelers made another fantastic move by resigning James Harrison to a 4 year deal worth $5.5 million dollars ($1.3 million signing bonus). That is a SUPERB contract, especially since he plays both inside and outside linebacker. He will be "the man" should any one of the starters get hurt this year. Better yet, when one of the starters reaches the end of their contract and wants paid a KAzillion dollars, James Harrison can step in and start and we shouldn't miss a beat. I've heard he is the meanest of all the linebackers and he dropped on draft day because of his knack for getting personal fouls called against him. Lambert, Lloyd, Porter......Harrison? We'll see.