FAN: Steelers Punked by Tomlin

This is just fantastic stuff. Fantastic.

Tomlin means business. Jeff "You Can't Ice A Psychopath" Reed was also in the mix. I love it. What a brilliant idea. He may supplant the arrogant Phil Jackson as the king of head games for coaches.

Maybe if they had gone to the movies Ben wouldn't have ended up on a cart, but he'll be fine. If it was serious do you really think the trainers would have allowed him to limp around later instead of using crutches. Ben has a little Emmitt Smith in him when it comes to bumps and bruises, I think we all know that.

On a completely different note, I now get to see Brett Favre play as I have Vikings tickets in October. I can't wait to see how our offense stacks up against their "D".

FAN: Tomlin Dead Serious

Slantedamus strikes again. This is exactly what I had in mind when I wrote about this coming season. No, I didn't get the job. The bastard never even got back to me. Tool.

FAN: Steel Resolve

I was recently trolling Craigslist looking at the gigs link for potential web consulting deals. One caught my eye: an Eagles writer for a new national sports website. Feeling lucky I went to the Pittsburgh link and the same ad was there for the Steelers. I sent an iquiry and was given a faux assignment to write. I shot them this link, but all they found out from it was that I like torture and revenge movies. Actually he said there was was decent stuff here but wanted to see a more realistic article. So, it's been a day or two and I haven't heard back so I thought I'd post it here. The task was to describe the deciding factor in the Steelers repeating or not repeating next year. Hope you enjoy. It had to be 400-600 words so I hope it's not too wordy. I think I've written 2,000 word diatribes about air travel.



Steel Resolve by Still A. Fan


On January 20, 1980, the Pittsburgh Steelers added a fourth Lombardi trophy to their case before any other team even added a third. Quite an accomplishment was that, as was winning all four titles within a span of six years. In February of 2010, should the Steelers find themselves on the friendly side of the Super Bowl scoreboard one more time, they will again own two more trophies (seven) than the next closest collectors – Dallas and San Francisco.

Ask twenty different towel-waving, sandwich-eating diehards of Steeler Nation what they think the odds of that happening are and you will no doubt get 20 different answers. Follow that question up with an innocent “Why?” and watch Mr. Eleven Letters ending in “ski” and his lunch buddies get animated very quickly. “If the O-Line can keep Ben healthy, it’s seven.” “They didn’t go O-Line in round one, they’re done.” “Parker’s health – write it down.” “Ben finds a way to win no matter what – they repeat.” “If Ward or Holmes goes down the season is over. O-V-E-R.” “Remember 2005. They stunk it up the following year. No chance.”

All reasonable assessments coming from some of the most, if not the most, passionate and knowledgeable football fans in the country. One response was both close and yet far away from what I profess to be the main factor in this equation. My black and gold brethren, the deciding factor in the quest for seven is….Mike Tomlin. Why do I say that? Come along for the ride. Short of banging coconuts together on the sidelines and offering shrubberies to referees as bribes - Bill Cowher found his Holy Grail in winning Super Bowl XL. After all the failures to win it all (or even get there) - it is my opinion that the 2006 season was nothing more than a collective sigh of relief. He lost his hunger. He was losing it prior to 2005. In earlier years he could will that team to win in tough spots. Like he did before in his coaching career, I feel that he got too friendly with his key players the following year and it showed. He became one of the boys and he loved his vets to the point of it hurting the team.

The sheer amount of talent on the current team is enough to get them to the Super Bowl every year for the next 3-4 years. To keep the team focused and hungry though is an entirely different story. Mike Tomlin is Bill Cowher in 1994. He’s still hungry. You can hear it in his voice and see it in his actions. The 2009 Steelers will not go “Hollywood”. They aren’t going to pat themselves on the back all through training camp and be media darlings. I have a feeling Tomlin has already delivered a “last year is over” type speech. They are 0-0. True, they’re the defending champions of the world – but anybody who put money on them in Vegas in the 2006 preseason would like to kneecap anyone who suggests doing that this year. The obstacles are focus, determination, hunger and mostly pride. Who is driving the vehicle that will steer them through the emotional obstacle course, knowing when to praise and when to pounce? Mike Tomlin. It is my humble opinion that Mike Tomlin will do in 2009 what Bill Cowher failed to do in 2006 - refocus the team in camp. Yup, it’s as simple as that.

Keep‘em wavin’.

DOG: Judgement Day For Tomlin

We are on the cusp of judgement day for Mike Tomlin. The test is Sunday. The AFC Championship Game is the reason Mike Tomlin was brought in to coach the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not because he is African-Amercian, not because anybody thought he was a better coach than Bill Cowher or Ken Whisenhunt (he may be but...). He was hired specifically to win this game.

Tomlin himself uses phrases like "look at the body of work" and "we are what we put on tape." And looking at his body of work to date I think Mike Tomlin has done a wonderful job in his two years as our coach. At times I questioned him. And to be sure he's made some mistakes. But there is much to like about the man.

First of all, fans can bitch all they want about pounding it into the line on 4th and 1 and not making it. But I don't question the decision to go for it at all. This is something that drove me crazy with Cowher who would sooner kick a field goal than put an opponent on the run/in the grave. And a similar decision for the FG cost Jeff Fisher a playoff game just last weekend. Tomlin will go for the kill shot when it's there. As I always say when playing tennis, an aggressive mistake is OK. When you crawl into a shell is when you lose. Now the play selection on these calls.... well, that's another story for another day.

All week I have been hearing from Shitbird fans and Stiller fans alike about our record when playing an AFC Championship game at Heinz Field. But I say to you that was Bill Cowher's legacy. We got Mike Tomlin now. Let's see what a man who is not afraid can do! How many of these games has Tomlin lost? That's right, none.

Because of our ineptitude when it comes to winning the AFC Championship at home (probably worsened by Bill Belichick's cheating in two games) when Cowher resigned, the first thing the Rooney's looked for was a coach who could get to the Super Bowl. Cowher got there twice but should have been there at least three other times. It gnaws at me that we have had teams that good but could not get over this hump at home. They got their man. So now the time has come.

It is all fitting and proper that we should play the Baltimore Shitbirds, our greatest rival, in this game. What would it mean if we would beat the Miami Dolphins? But beating a worthy opponent is indeed a mark of character. So it's on.

Over the past two years I have said, and I've heard many others say, "I'll reserve judgment on Tomlin until he's coached a few big games." We'll he's been in a few big ones with mostly positive results. But the big test looms. By midnight Sunday we'll know exactly what we have. It'll be on the tape and committed to the body of work. This week and this game is Mike Tomlin's time to prove to the world he's the man. And I for one can think of no one else I would want leading my team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, into this game.

Here We Go Steelers! Here We GO!!

FAN: More Game Musings

The luckiest man in the Stillers locker room yesterday? Mike Tomlin. Can you believe the call to not kick the field goal? For all that is good and holy, I can't get my head around the decision. We have floundered like a rainbow trout on the shores of the Youghiogheny River on 3rd and 4th short distance situations this year. I'll admit Russell has been doing an OK job lately, but for the year, we stink. Especially near the goal line. Especially when we run up the middle. So, what do we do? We run up the middle and get stuffed like a Thanksgiving Turkey. How about some play action? How about a fall down "block" by a tight end only to stand up and go in uncovered for a pass? How about, How about, How about........ I didn't like the call to go for it and I liked the play call even less. Now....all that being said, I criticized Bill Cowher plenty of times for kicking FGs when I thought he should go for it, but there is no way you criticize kicking the FG here. Sure, you can agree with trying to score the TD, but on the same note, you can't criticize taking the 3 when you need 10. His only excuse could be lack of confidence in Skippy Skeeve. Maybe he saw something in his kicker where he doubted him but I don't think that's the case. I think he got caught up in the action and wanted to vote with his heart instead of his head. No harm, no foul. Other things I remember from the game: As soon as I heard the announcers say there was a fight, I knew to look for Anthony Smith. I wish he'd get cut next year. He's a hothead. He's proven it time and time and time again. Ben is very elusive back there. I've never seen a guy that big be so elusive. He literally buys double time in the pocket which is good......but he'll also never have the "thousand-three" clock in his head that tells him to get rid of the ball. If we ant the occassional big play downfield off of a broken play, we'll have to live with the sacks. Trying to be tough with the cold backfired for Homo. He's not tough enough for that. You'd think being coached by The Michilin Man maybe he could have borrowed his coat on the sidelines. I thought Dallas did an awful lot of woofing and walking on defense after making pretty normal plays. Not sure about you, but I wish Ike Taylor would stop doing his little "window washer" move with his hand after he makes a play. It's annoying. Act like you were supposed to make the play, Ike. Along those lines, Santonio Holmes is starting to celebrate a bit much for my liking as well. Troy and Silverback don't celebrate their stellar plays, we don't need Ike Taylor doing it. Casey Hampton looksmad. He's turning it up a notch. I like it. Speaking of Holmes, why did he fair catch the one punt? Oh well......I simply want to destroy the Ravens this weekend.

Good Read On Tomlin

Great little section on Mike Tomlin today in Peter King's MMQB. It's about time he writes something worth reading for Steelers fans. What the heck kind of job was paying $70k right out of school 13 years ago? I wasn't making that kind of cheddar in 1995 and I was out of school for 4 years. I understand it was William & Mary but geez....$70k in '95 right out the door? Is somebody's memory wrong or am I stuck on only considering IT pay scales? I would think $70k out the door today is still a lot of money, let alone 13 years ago.

Not The Rooney Way

The Steelers had Booger McFarland in for look this week. Seems a little odd to me since he got cut after failing a physical with the Colts. usually when we sign a free agent - it's a mid-tier player in their prime. I can't recall the last time we entertained a 10 year vet who is a former 1st rounder. I'm not saying he couldn't give us depth at DL, I'm just saying that with him in the #4 spot, it takes snaps away from our next generation. Our DL is old. We need some fresh meat up there, not somebody that's been around for 10 years. I want young, broke and hungry....not rich and "not hungry". I guess our current #4 is Kirtchke and he's about 47 so this wouldn't be that much of a change. One injury on the line like last year and Booger would look decent in the black-n-gold. I'm torn.

Continuity Will Prevail?

Since I live in the Philadelphia area, it's very easy to tell the world what Andy Reid's biggest issue is as a head coach in the NFL. He's too stubborn. No, not because he won't put down the cheese steak, because he doesn't adjust well during the course of a game and no matter what kind of succes Brian Westbrook has on the ground, he is never going to get 25 carries a game. I always go back to one of the NFC Championship games the Birds were in against the Bucs and it was literally taking 4 people to tackle Duce Staley every time he touched the rock. Now, this was Duce Staley in his 2002 prime mind you, not the sweat suit wearing, money stealing Staley that played for us. Just so I don't lie, I went back to NFL.com and looked up his stats for that game. He was 13 for 58 for a 4.5 yard average. Westbrook was 2 for 5. Levens was 3 for 0. That's 18 rushes ladies and gentlemen and a good way to lose a game. You stop rushing a guy that is averaging 4.5 and you need your head examined. Where am I going with this? Oh yeah, I see a little bit of that stubbornness in Mike Tomlin. I read this snippet on TheBurghBlog today and I clicked through to the article. How he can defend the Special Teams coach is way beyond me. He thinks continuity will prevail? It might. We might CONTINUE to SUCK at calling games, protecting the QB, returning kicks and covering kicks. If we had 1 or 2 important coverage failures in the kicking game I would want to look at replacing the coach. We had 1 or 2 per GAME. (I need a second to calm down.) If he's afraid to admit failure by letting go of some of the people he brought in, we could be looking at bad special teams for as long as Cowher kept playing Kordell after the 1998 "season of regression". On the Offensive Line, maybe the problem is Mahan and not the coach. Maybe he can put a leash on Arians. Unless he plans on suiting up and tackling somebody on special teams, that coach has to go.

Why Not Ask About 3rd and 6?

This is great. Thanks to Still A South for sending it in. It's nice to hear those accents since I don't get that many out here.

The Chin: Redux?

With Joe Gibbs stepping down today, there's a lot of internet chatter that Bill Cowher will be high on Daniel Snyder's list to replace him. Danny Boy has the kind of cash that the Rooney's do not. He could back up the Brinks truck to Cowher's porch and dump the highest coach's salary in the league onto his porch. It's the kind of monetary respect he could have been looking for but was never going to get at home. The thing is......could this coach work for Snyder? I think he wanted complete control of football operations. Snyder will offer that. Gibbs is staying on as a consultant to Snyder. I'm not sure why you need a consultant who went sub .500 over the last 4 years, but whatever. I don't think Bill would come back to his own division and I would prefer him to go to the NFC. While he said he wants to stay in broadcasting at least one more year - we'll see. If he jumps on the money wagon, we'll know it was a crock of poop that he wanted to not coach again until his youngest daughter got out of high school. It would be more about money than the break and time with his family. He threw a little jab at Tomlin over some calls in the game on the show and he secretly may have enjoyed the loss - growing jealous of the love shown Tomlin over his year one success. That's all speculation. I'd like to think that he pulls for the Stillers. Who knows, maybe he'll pull a Gibbs and come back over a decade from now.

Post Mortem

Well, I can't say I didn't expect this. I always like to believe this team is going to win. I told my wife on our drive to the shore this weekend that I thought....really thought....that we were going to lose. It pains me to even type that. I never get that feeling. I was confident during the entire run of 2005. Sometimes you just get a feeling that you can't shake, and man, I had a bad feeling about this one. I feared the special teams all week and correctly so. I feared Najeh not getting it done all week and correctly so. The one thing I feared that I didn't need to fear was the left tackle position. Trai Essex did his part in my opinion. Pressure continues to flow up the middle like me peeing after a six pack...forcefully. It's embarrassing that since Ray Mansfield played center we haven't felt pressure up the gut like this. Ben looked shell shocked at times and with good reason. Can you imagine if for one game he wasn't running for his life after "hut"? I wouldn't know how to act. On to the random thoughts:

I rewatched the kickoff return about 10 times on NFL.com. At 1:14 of the game clip, there is a clip on Ike Taylor. I have to also say that starting at 1:11 or so, Ike doesn't look that inspired to make the tackle in the first place. The thing that bothers me most about the clip is that the guy I watched the game with (knowledgeable football fan C-Mo) said "Clip!" at the same time I saw it so we weren't making things up - furthermore, the ref was facing it when it happened and it was within 8 feet of the guy with the ball. Shrugs.

On the Jags first offensive touchdown - Tyrone Carter was as worthless as hot women at a Priest's convention. Watch the replay.

On Garrard's run on 4th and 2, see comments above about Ty Carter. I like his intensity, but a safety needs to stay under control and not get juked so easily! DAMN!

The worst thing that happened in this game occurred when on 3rd and 6, needing maybe 1 or 2 first downs to secure the game, some AssHat called a QB run...wide. Wait, WHAT? WHAT? Are you kidding me? Hines Ward was making tough inside catches the entire game you flaming idiot! What the HELL did you just do to my season? You giant ASSHOLE!

There, I feel much better now. Quit trying to friggin' out think the other team and get the first down!!! Why do teams curl up in the fetal position at these crucial junctures in games? We were moving the ball at will late in the game, and now, with Najeh at 14 rushes for 21 yards, we run him TWICE to make it 16 for 26 and then run Ben? Maybe if he got 5.5 yards I wouldn't be so bitter, but he got 1 yard. 1. One. Uno.

Dan Sepulveda - I have been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for a 50 yard boot this year....just a friggin' crushing punt when we need one. If we ever needed one, it was right after the AssHat called the QB keeper on 3rd and 6. Instead, you put up a very pedestrian 40 yarder with no pressure in your grill. Sigh. Thanks. I think the second the punt was caught I muttered "game over".

Ben.....Ben, Ben, Ben,.....Ben. BEN! In this game you looked like Terry Bradshaw on the first drive and near the end of the game - but I swear I saw a little Mark Malone in the middle. I know with so many starters out and your main weapon to boot that you felt a lot of pressure to carry the team. It's just that the second pick to Mathis didn't make a bit of sense. I can forgive the first and third to some degree.....but the second Mathis pick was a B-A-D decision.

I'm sick of Najeh Davenport. I need to know what I'm getting out of my power back each week. I can't get inspired one week and lethargic the next. I've been complaining about this for weeks.

Can I please have the head of the Special Teams coach on my desk Monday morning? First thing? Thanks.

I'm sorry, but I just don't think Sean Mahan held that dude on the 2 pt conversion. I'm not a fan and he's a big reason Ben got clobbered this year - but he didn't hold that guy.

I'm done. Enjoy the playoffs. I love to root for the AFC but I'd also like to Favre get another ring. I just don't think they're good enough as a team to accomplish the feat. Predictions later in the week.

Tomlin Rules

This is not Michigan versus Appalachian State.

"Till The Wheels Fall Off....."

I don't remember the exact date that new head coach Mike Tomlin told the world he was going to run Willie Parker until the wheels fell off, but I remember being happy about it. Especially since I had been hearing Bruce Arians crow the entire off-season that the offense was opening up and we should get ready for some vertical football. I did not like hearing that. I don't mind opening up the offense a little, but you don't mess with success. Now, being that Parker was in the mix of league leaders for rushing and being that the Denver Broncos were so bad statistically against the run, you would think that Fast Willie would be in for a long day. In fact, he got used less than Rosie O'Donnell's treadmill. After the game everyone wanted to know 'Why?'. Tomlin explained that he knew Shanahan would gear up to stop the run this week. Plus, I'm not sure Tomlin said it, but Champ Bailey couldn't go and that meant fresh meat in the secondary. After a few days to let all of this marinate - here's what I think about the number of times Willie touched the ball. Let's say they did put 7-8 guys in there and we still pounded it up the middle for 3 quarters getting nowhere. Then, the Monday morning pundits would have called them idiots for not throwing on Bailey's replacement. Had Hines squeezed a few more balls and had the offensive line pass blocked a little better, maybe we would all be calling them wizards for constructing such a great game plan. I want to say they adjusted well because we came back in the 2nd half, but when your QB is saying "Hike" and then immediately running for his life, don't you have to run a little more to try and curb that? I don't know. Sometimes the best thing against a pass rush is a screen pass. I'm not too sure how many screens we saw that night. Anyone? What I know is this, every time the Steelers lose a game and they throw more than 22 times, all you hear out of the blathering idiots is "The Steelers need to get back to running the ball....". Fine. But, if the defense held after the TD and somehow we kicked a FG as time ran out - then what? Would the critics still be saying we need to run more to win? I doubt it. I think the TV analysts have a secret decoder ring. If you turn the ring to Team: Steelers and Outcome: Loss the secret code analysis is always "They need to run more". I hope they don't get too tricky and think "Well, The Bungles know we're going to really try to run it down their throats this week......so let's pass!" We don't need to be 65-35 or 60-40. We don't need to be 50-50 either. How about a nice conservative 56-44? We shouldn't change mule fritters based on the other team's strengths and weaknesses. Our strength is running the ball. In the beginning of games, we run the ball until they prove they can stop it.....then adjust accordingly. Until they stop it, why ruin a good thing?

Defense Blew It

I'm not used to losing games because of the defense. Usually when the Stillers lose, they make special teams mistakes or the offense turns it over too many times or makes mental errors. I'm hanging this one on the defense. True, Ben threw some picks, but they weren't costly or pick-sixes. We clearly had the momentum in the 4th quarter and I thought the game was in hand after the last TD. To see Cutler drive straight down into FG range made me sick. The play that was reviewed irked me a little because it looked to me like the touch occurred right before the catch. When the receiver popped up, it then looked like the ball is what was touched, not the player. I'm not sure, and I wish the ref would have clarified, which player touched him down by contact. In any event, for the defense to give up so many TDs, they didn't play well enough to win. They also gave up far too many 3rd and longs. Ben continues to impress me with his slipperiness, but last night he threw high a lot of times while scrambling. High throws lead to tips and picks. He also waits until the very last second to throw and that's going to cause fumbles as well. Some random thoughts: Our tight ends are TD machines! Spaeth is going to end the year with 12 catches and 11 TDs. Heath Miller should start to be mentioned with the best TEs in the game. I saw Santonio Holmes throw a hellacious block early in the game on a Willie Parker run. It easily got him an extra 5 yards and the announcers didn't even mention it. Is it me or does Hines Ward not look like a $5 million dollar a year player? Yes, he's coming off on an injury, but I didn't see it in the preseason or early on. He needs to ratchet up his game a little bit. Eason looks like a player to me. I'm not sure the play dropped off after Smith was injured. I'm not saying he's as good as Smith, but I didn't notice a drop off last night. You know what pisses me off? The one time Ben was sacked, he was easily wrapped up by 2 guys, with no whistle, and then a third guy jumped on him - he was still slowly moving backwards with no whistle - progress was clearly stopped - and when he didn't go down one of the dudes threw him to the ground. Had that been model Tom Brady or commercial star Peyton Manning, flags would have flown all over the place - I guarantee it. Is Mike Tomlin really as cool as a cucumber, or near the end of the game was that just an act with the hands in the pockets and stuff? I'm also guessing Mr. Rooney may have whispered in his ear a few weeks ago to not pull the old time out as the kicker kicks rule? Maybe he considers it classless? I don't know. You can't be disappointed at 4-2, but the Broncos minus Javon Walker and Champ Bailey should be beatable by a Super Bowl contender. Would it be possible to give Ben a good 3 seconds to throw every once in a while before weaving and bobbing for his life?

I'll Still Take 3-1

Well, the ride had to end at some point I guess. I just wish it wouldn't have ended at the hands of Ken Whisenhunt for the reasons mentioned in a previous article. What an outstanding game to watch if you like defensive football. There were bone crushing hits all over the place. I was really surprised Santonio Holmes hopped right up when he got smacked. It was also good to see him get off the TD goose egg. Some other thoughts from the game:

Tomlin is a calm customer, for sure.

I think Marvel Smith could have been called for False Starts about 42 times. Watch him next week.

Dan Deirdorf is turning into a St. Bernard right before our eyes.

The Cardinals were exceptional at picking up blitzes. Ken knew where they were coming from.

I've haven't seen a front seven handle the Steelers like that in a long time.

Dan stole my thunder, but Ben is crazy out of his skull at avoiding the rush. How he keeps his eyes downfield to find receivers is beyond me.

Was Bruce Arians calling plays or going camping? How much shit did he have attached to him?

Our OL does not have to hang their heads too often, but they have a lot to think about on the flight back.

If Nate is a little faster and/or Ben gets 2 balls closer to him, it's a different game. The failure to score after the deep in the territory turnover is what lost the game essentially.

I would have challenged that call as well. It was slapped out before it was totally set or damn close to it.

McFadden was getting beat on the quick hitch. He never got his guy clean after one of those. DeShea does it routinely.

Going for it on 4th down on your own 30.....now THAT'S aggressive.

Tomlin Needs This One

Everyone surrounding the Steelers matchup this week with Arizona will try to play it off as just another game. In the words of Colonel Potter, "Mule Fritters!". Mike needs this game badly. He needs this game like Rosie O'Donnel needs cupcakes. The Steelers are far superior in talent to the Cardinals, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Should the Steelers lose this week, everyone who questioned Tomlin getting hired instead of Ken Whisenhunt or Russ Grimm will come out of the woodwork to voice their opinion. I don't want to hear it. I originally wanted Grimm for the job when I thought they would only go in-house to fill the position. However, once Mike was hired, I read everything I could about him and I liked what I read....a lot. He is to the point in everything he does. Nothing wasted. Nothing left unturned. The man means business and he captured the players attention on day 1. He challenged Hines Ward to be better than ever and sent him a letter as to what he expected. He's young and he's a football geek, all x's and o's, all the time. So far we've only been involved in blowouts with him so we don't know what he'll do under pressure. We don't know if he'll be aggressive or kick the field goal. We don't know if he'll flip out on the sidelines when we are the ones getting owned. All that being said, I like what I see so far. Focus on the now. Don't look past anyone. Today is the most important day of the season....and tomorrow will be as well. I really want to get behind this coach and give him my support. Will I care if they lose on Sunday? Nah. 3-1 is a good way to start the season. I just don't want to hear the Boo Birds crying that the wrong guy was hired. If you're going to wait until week 4 to say that - why weren't you saying it after the 3 wins as well? The good thing about this being played in Arizona is that their fans suck and I'm betting 20,000 Steeler fans will be in attendance behind Mike. Sure I'd like to be 4-0, but the win over "those two" will mean so much more.

Bills say "Check, Please"

In a total destruction of the Bills, I don't even think 5 plays stand out as being memorable. It was just a methodical dismantling. Willie Parker ran crazy and Ben was again efficient. Maybe the biggest play that stands out to me was very early in the game when Willie Parker busted off a 21 yard run and the announcer (not sure if it was Solomon or Ian) kept saying it was Najeh Davenport. Even after Willie stood up with his "39" facing the camera - he kept saying "Davenport". It was amusing to even think Najeh could get to the corner and turn it up for 21 yards. I even took a power nap heading into halftime. And yes, I may have to rethink my position on Matt Spaeth. I watched Mahan in action more this week and he's very impressive turning his guy away from the ball carrier. Until we play some better competition - it's hard to get a handle on the team we have right now. I'll say this...they're making the playoffs.

Day Of The Turk

The Stillers got down to business today by getting down to their final 53-man roster. There weren't too many surprises, if any if you've been paying attention. Tomorrow after 12 noon they will be able to sign 8 players back for their practice squad. Let's take a look at who got whacked like a weed.

First off WR Dallas Baker, TE Cody Boyd, TE Jon Dekker, WR Gerran Walker and WR Walter Young. No surprises there. Matt Spaeth did nothing (and I repeat nothing to earn a roster spot), but he did. The new regime doesn't want to admit an error in the 3rd round I guess. This leaves a decent enough group of receivers in Ward, Nate Washington, Santonio Holmes, Willie Reid, Cedric Wilson and Miller, Tuman and Spaeth at TE. I guess coach Tomlin isn't sold at all on Willie Reid returning punts and/or kickoffs because we traded a conditional pick next year for return specialist Allen Rossum of Atlanta. I remember watching him quite a bit when he was with Philly. Hope the burst is still there after 10 seasons.

The first "surprise" cut was Chukky Okobi. Sean Mahan won out as predicted and it was determined that Okobi makes too much to be a career backup. They also cut the only other center on the roster - Marvin Philip. I guess Kendall Simmons did well enough in camp that he will be the replacement center if there is an injury. Other OLs cut were Jason Capizzi, Cameron Stephenson and Brandon Torrey. The OL will be Mahan, Starks, Colon, Smith, Faneca, Kemoeatu, Simmons & Essex. I'm surprised Trai Essex made the team. He must have played much better down the stretch. Good for him.

Verron Haynes couldn't overtake the youngsters and Dick Hoak wasn't here to vote for John Kuhn - one of my favorites from last year. On the plus side - Danny Kreider makes the team. Cool. Backs are Parker, Davenport, Kreider, Gary Russel and Cary Davis. That's a lot of undrafted running backs!

There were no major surprises in the defensive backfield or linebackers either. That being said, I love Chidi Owuoma and I hope he catches on with another team. Maybe his base salary is getting too high for his number of years to make the team as only a special teamer. Chidi rarely gets into a game playing corner and I suppose there is a reason for that. Also, Rian Wallace is local to Pottstown PA and I was hoping he would make the roster as well. Didn't work out that way. The final cuts are CB Chidi Iwuoma, CB Jovon Johnson, S Mike Lorello, CB Anthony Madison, CB Grant Mason, DE Ryan McBean, DE Shaun Nua, DT Scott Paxson, QB Bryan Randall, LB Ron Stanley, LB Rian Wallace.

No guesses on the practice squad but I'd like to see Kuhn and Wallace on it for sure. Still A Dog likes Capizzi but doesn't think he'll clear waivers. We'll know by tomorrow.

Random Thoughts About Preseason #3

Ok, what was Ben Roethlisberger doing being interviewed on the sideline with a rub of snuff in his mouth? Yuck. Just another reason for people all over the country to refer to Pittsburgher's as slightly one step above West Virginians went it comes to culture. Oh well, at least he didn't spit while on camera, although I thought the one time he was going to.

Did you see Hines Ward blow-up Brian Dawkins on the catch and run by Dan Kreider? He DESTROYED him and Al & John made no mention?

Anthony Smith better be starting for game one. I won't disagree that Ryan Clark may be a smarter player right now - but I don't think anyone is worried about getting hit by Ryan. Anthony brings the lumber.

The Eagles don't tackle very well.

The Steelers, always known for gang tackling, seem to be doing even more of it this year. There always seems to be a third guy finishing somebody off.

Heath Miller is S-T-R-O-N-G. Would-be tacklers bounce off of him. Let's not forget to use him this year!

Danny Kreider better make the team. We need a www.savedankreider.com website! Don't click that, it's just wishful thinking.

Why didn't Woodley start? Why couldn't our shiny new punter punt last night? Why can't Willie Reid catch a ball cleanly? We still have some issues to clean up. Did you see the shot of Mahan standing right beside Okobi? Mahan is much bigger and looks like more of an athlete in my mind. And when Al & John started talking about the centers....why didn't they mention Ray Mansfield? They said there were 3 starters from Webster on. What disrespect that was for Ray's family. Didn't he start there from the mid 60's until Mike Webster took over?

Last thought.....I bet you didn't know that Carlton Haselrig never played college ball. I bet you didn't know that Jerome Bettis is from Detroit. I bet you didn't know that Chris Gardocki never had a punt blocked. What can we add this year? That Tomlin is taking over a usually long tenured job....see Cowher and Noll. Booooooring. Anyone who even casually follows the sport knows that. Geeeeeez.

KDKA Posts Racist Article

KDKA posted an article on their website with the heading "Tomlin and Cowher are like Night and Day". I am shocked and a little disappointed that they decided to play the race card when comparing the two coaches. The article may as well have just said "Tomlin and Cowher: Ebony and Ivory". It couldn't have been any clearer to me. I thought maybe they should have focused on demeanor....clearly Cowher ran da meaner sideline but it looks like Tomlin runs da meaner camp. I don't want to get dragged into the middle of this because you know everyone in the city is going to be talking about this tomorrow. I hear Paul Zeise has been given 2 hours to do a special report on this as he breaks down racial profiling and sex crimes. I was a little anxious about posting this since I could be asked to never come back to the Sports Call-In Show....PLUS......it's the first thing I've posted since being added to PittGirl's Burgh Blog's Blogroll. Maybe she'll ban me? I can't worry about that. I have the truth on my side.