"I'm sure if we win, I'll have nothing to do with why we won." -Joseph Flacco

1. Ray Rice
2. Everybody on Defense
3. The OL line
4. J. Harbaugh
5. Pass Interference Calls
6. Everybody on the Special Teams Unit
7. TEs
8. A. Bolden
9. R. Williams
10. Ray Rice's shoes
11. The Creator of the Screen Pass
12. Meltdown by the Steelers
13. Vonta Leech
14. The turf
    
15. Home field
16. Ray Rice's shoelaces
17. The Waterboys
18. The reputation of the Raven's D
19. Ray Rices mother
20. The color purple

Part of being a fan of NFL football is maintaining a paradoxical, multiple thread of allegiances and hatred of various teams, players, fans, et cetera. I like making lists so I've ranked my favorite NFL teams from Most Loved, through Like, Occasionally Root For, and Don't Care, down to Hate and Downright Loathe from the Cockles of my Heart.

Here's my list. Lemme know what yours is.

1. Steelers : Whoyathink be here?

2. Seahawks : I used to live in the NW and go up there ever summer to visit inlaws. Also, as a Bama fan it was easy to follow Shaun Alexander into the NFL and keep rooting for him.

3. Buccaneers : I didn't watch much NFL football in the early 90s but the two teams I liked the most were the Steelers and the Bucs and I don't really know why I liked the Bucs now. But as I became a hardcore Steeler fan in 1998, my affections for the Bucs waned. But now with a new coach, an exciting core group of players I've once again begun rooting for them again.

4. Falcons : I'm a Braves fan, so it became natural to root for the Atlanta NFL counterpart. Brian Jordan, Deion Sanders, those were exciting times. Then Vick, who, while never an elite QB, is in a class of his own as an absolutely riveting performer. My affections have waned a little despite the fact that they're better these days. I don't exactly dislike Matt Ryan, but I certainly think he's one of the more overrated of the young QBs in the league.

5. Saints : This is weird really, because I watch the Saints play every week, because I live in La and everybody roots for them (since they've been winning). So I halfheartedly go along, but even when they win I sigh with relief that I'm not a real Saints fan because they are one of the most frustrating teams to watch lose. The last few years the Steelers have lost some very competitive games. Even in the loss, I'd have to admit that it was a good game. But when the Saints lose, it's for one of the most miserable, boneheaded reason. Also I hate Brees, Bush, and Lance Moore as much as I hate Ray Lewis (sorry Blitz). I do love to watch Colston and to spite all the Bush fans I root heavily for OT Jermon Bushrod.

6. Cardinals : Notice how my favor doesn't affect SB losing teams? Guess where the Packers used to be. Not much to say here aside from the fact that I love watching Fitzgerald. Also, I was one of the few that was relieved when Whisenhunt wasn't hired. The guy is such a Cowher clone that he doesn't have his own identity. 

7. Bears : I don't necessarily like Cutler, but I don't like to see a guy get ground to pieces unfairly. It's a team I enjoy watching because their D is fierce when it's playing tiptop so I can sometimes scratch that Steeler D desire watching them.

8. Texans : They've got some exciting players on the roster, but haven't put it together yet. Anyone who doesn't think the reason is Kubiak needs to get fired faster the Kubiak. Hiring Wade Phillips to be the D coach might just turn this team around though.

9. Giants : Two words: Tecmo Bowl. Yes, that's my reason. I played the NYG and destroyed everyone with Laurence Taylor. They continue to drop in my rankings because I don't have much to do with the new team, but since I hate WAS, DAL, and PHI more I do tend to root for them a fair bit.

10. Lions : I hate poorly run teams, but I also root for bad teams a fair bit and since they look to be turning the corner I've bumped them up a few slots from previous years.

11. Rams : I've got a buddy who's a Rams fan so I tend to root for them all things being equal. Also, I have to tip my hat to Bradford who's played better than I ever thought he would.

12. Jaguars : I like Del Rio because he looks good in his leather jacket and shades. They're a boring team to watch in my opinion, but like TEX they get bumped up because they play the Colts and Titans.

13. Chiefs : Why? Because I have to rank them somewhere and I dislike the teams beneath them more. Even as a Bama fan it was hard to watch Brodie Croyle QB for them. Also, they wear pink.

14. Dolphins : Not sure why I don't like the Dolphins. They have that stupid fish with the helmet is my best reason.

15. Panthers : Like I said, I hate poorly run teams and this team has been on the decline for quite a while. I used to root for them a fair bit, but recently that turquoise has been too galling for me to cheer for. 

16. Bills : I don't know nothing bout the Bills.

17. 49ers : I still have some residual disdain for the Steve Young era team. I don't really know what to say here. I hate their colors?

18. Broncos : I hated Mike Shanahan and I'm currently filled up to the top with Tebow fatigue. Lord help us if he becomes a star in the league.

19. Chargers : I used to like the Chargers, but Norm has got to be one of the worst game managers in the NFL. Up there with Wade Phillips. Imagine if they had done the hard smart move several years back and cut LT and extend Michael Turner. Yeah, that's the team I want to root for.

20. Vikings : I'm hating the Vikes more and more. Ugh, best move in years was firing their goofball coach.

21. Raiders : I hate badly run teams and that means I hate the Raiders. 

22. Browns : I hate the Browns, but I'm starting to feel bad for the Browns. They surprised some people last year, but they easily could've been the proud owners of a 3-29 record the last two years and almost certainly would be that bad if you take out Cribbs. Once the Browns sort things out I'm sure they'll descend in my most hated teams list.

23. Redskins : I hate the Redskins, I hate the dudes in dresses and pigs noses, I hate their unis, I hate their coach. I'm not even sure where it comes from. I just never root for them unless they play one of the below teams.

24. Eagles : As a Braves fan my disdain for the Phillies knows no end and that has carried over to the NFL team. This makes complete sense to me. I hate the Eagles.

25. Cowboys : Normally they'd be a lot lower, but they've been so bad lately it's getting hard to root against them. Nonetheless, I persist in disliking them.

26. Colts : I have the ability to hate Manning. I'm even good at it. I also have an obnoxious buddy that loves the Colts so much that he will not hear one negative thing about them. So we have this back and forth all year long because he hates the Steelers. This has made me hate the Colts more than I normally would, but I can't help my fanhood heart. I hate them.

27. Jets : I hate Sanchez, Rex, Revis, all their receivers, their running backs, but I love to play them because I think the Steelers are built to eat this team alive. I love beating the Jets.

28. Titans : I hate this team. Cortland Finn. has to be one of the most unlovable people in professional sports. I actually like Fisher so I'm glad they fired him so I can take the restraints off my hatred.

29. Packers : My how the liked have fallen. I used to root for the Packers whenever I watched them, but having seen them in the Super Bowl I never realized how much I love that hangdog face of Rodgers and I can't stay Matthews and all their receivers and Raja, and really what a nasty group of people that I will now hate forever.

30. Bengals : I could hate this team for it's colors alone. Tiger stripes? What is this the Arena League? Add in the character issues, the sloppy play, even if they were in another division I couldn't root for them, but especially since they're rivals I have to hate them. I can't imagine how anyone roots for this team.

31. Patriots : I can't stand Brady. Manning at least seems to be a decent guy, but Brady to me is the A-Rod of the NFL. Also I hate cheaters and crybabies and the Pats are both.

32. Ravens : who else could I hate more than the Ravens? I have an enormous amount of respect for the team though. I respect them more than every team on the list except the Steelers in fact. I could even envision being a Ravens fan had I not been blessed by God Almighty to love the good guys. But I hate the Ravens. Ray Lewis most of all, but I still have a reservoir of hate for Suggs, their goofy QB, their WRs, Carr, Ngata, Reed, I could go on. Most of all I hate their coach who has been one of the most overrated coaches the last two years. I'm not saying he's as bad as Norm or Phillips, but he hasn't been nearly as good as people say. His best moves have been to hire former headcoaches to do all the real coaching for him. So I hate the Ravens.

I've been wondering about the value of Derek Lowe. Like many Braves fans I was unhappy with the 60 mil 4yr deal to Derek Lowe in 2009. Since then he's thrown 388.1 innings and has a WAR of 5.3. That hasn't been worth the 30 mil we've paid him and you can see why the Braves were so interested in moving him last year.

However sometimes stats, even sabermetrics, don't give an accurate picture. Lowe is a big game pitcher and his performance in the postseason is really where the Braves will get their money's worth out of him. In the two games he pitched he went 11.2 innings, giving up three runs, striking out fourteen (1.02 WHIP).  What's the value of that in the postseason?

Okay, so here's where I get a little meta. Because the Braves signed Lowe, the Mets signed Ollie Perez to a 3yr 36 mil contract. He's been "worth" -1.9 War. There's been talk that the Mets might cut him even though they're on the hook for another 12m. Against the Braves he's been terrible: 12 IP, 8 ER (7 BB, 5 HR). That's gotta be worth something.

To be honest, I still would rather have passed on Lowe and let the Mets have him for 56M (which was their rumored offer), freeing up 60M for a bat, but since we have him we should at least acknowledge that he's been worth a tad more than the numbers indicate.

10. Julio did the shuttle run with his shoes tied

9. Julio did the long jump with A.J. Green on his shoulders.

8. Julio was signed to do a reality tv show by the NFL called NFL Football that will air on Sunday (occasionally on Monday) with a season finale airing on February 5th in Indianapolis.

7. When Julio did the vertical jump he had to duck.

6. Julio signed with Gatorade, they want to bottle his sweat.

5. The NFL has already banned Gatorade's Julio Sweat as an illegal performance enhancing drug.

4. Julio threw his own passes in the catching exercise. 

3. Julio filmed a commercial for Chevy, he played the part of the truck.

2. Officials asked Julio to take his shoulder pads off for the benchpress, but Julio was shirtless.

1. Julio benchpressed A.J. Green benchpressing 200 lbs.

As a Bama fan nobody was more exciting to watch on the defensive side of the ball than Rolando McClain. I have seen first hand his ability to take charge of the game, something that as a Steelers fan I've see in guys like Polamalu and Harrison (and will hopefully see more from guys like Timmons and Hood).

It has been my hope for a long time that the Steelers draft McClain. Initially he was ranked in the neighborhood of the 18th pick, but since the end of the college season he's steadily risen. And is ranked by many as the #1 ILB and between the 5th and 9th best prospect overall.

Recently Mike Singletary came out and declared his mancrush. San Fran has the 13th overall pick. With the 18th pick the Steelers are not likely to be in a position to draft him unless they move up. At 10, 11, and 12 are the Jags, Broncos, and Dolphins. With the Dolphins possibly losing Jason Taylor and Jason Ferguson, it's doubtful that they'd pass up McClain. That leaves the Broncos and the Jags. McDaniels, as we all know, is Bill Mini-chick, and is likely to trade down for more picks. The Jags also seem to be open to trading down since they traded this years 2nd rounder last year and are in need of a slew of players.

Last year NE traded their 23rd pick to the Ravens for the 26th and the 162nd (5th round). Then they traded both of those to the Packers for the 41st, 73rd and 83rd (that's a 2nd round and two 3rd rounders). Not a bad value, getting three picks for their 23rd overall 1st rounder. That's a team moving down. I think that if the Steelers could trade their 1st and 5th rounder to move up eight places they'd do it in a heartbeat, especially considering the compensation picks they'll get. But the Ravens weren't trading up to the 10th pick, they were only moving up three from 26th to 23rd. For the Steelers to move up to the 10th, 11th, or 12th it would be more expensive. 

Last year the Jets moved up to the 5th overall pick for their first-round pick (No. 17), their second-round pick (No. 52), plus QB B. Ratliff, defensive end K. Coleman and safety A. Elam. That's pretty pricey, but also there were a couple of peculiar circumstances that allowed such a move. Rex Ryan, a former Raven coach) wanted to bring in his own guys (Marques Douglas and Jim Leonhard) and was trading players to Mangini (the former Jets coach). Already knowing the players, plus entering into an obvious rebuilding situation made such a trade possible. Even if there was such a situation for the Steelers (as of now) they don't have the depth on defense to make such a trade.

It's hard to put a value on picks but here are a few recent trades for position in the draft: 2007 the Jets moved to 14th overall by trading their first, second, and fifth round picks (25, 59, 164 over all). 2006 the Broncos moved to 11th overall for their first and third picks (15 and 68th over all). Also in that year the Steelers moved up to get Holmes (25th over all) for their first, third, and fourth picks (32, 96, 129 over all). That was the price to move up 7 slots.

I think the most likely team to trade is the Jags. They have holes all over the place and are missing their 2nd rounder, but more than anything else, the Jags need to sell tickets. Selling more tickets to Florida people is spelled this way: T-E-B-O-W. Since Tebow isn't first round talent it means moving down. 

What the Steelers are looking at to get the 10th pick is their first rounder (18th), plus either a third and a fifth or a second and a sixth/seventh. Top ten picks come at a premium. The Jets had to give their 1st and 2nd despite throwing in two starters and a back-up QB. I suspect the Steelers will get two compensatory picks (probably a 4th and a 5th for MacFadden and Washington) so losing two picks won't be too detrimental, but it isn't cheap either.

What do you guys think?

I defend the NFL's Overtime. You heard me correctly, I defend it. It isn't perfect, but it's far superior to what is done in college and even superior to every theory I've heard "fixing" the NFL OT. Break out my improvement for the system let me defend the current system, mock the college system, and criticize other solutions.

Before I defend Overtime, I first need to defend overtime itself. For one, the NFL cannot have ties. Too many ties would throw a wrench into the sport. So it needs an overtime. The reason it cannot add just another fifteen minutes, and play regular rules is because of the increase of injuries and fatigue. The player's union probably wouldn't allow it. So Sudden Death is also a must. Understanding this we can get to my defense of the NFL's OT.

The Defense:

The current system is nothing more than the extension of the Final Drive, which is the most exciting aspect in all of football. If one team scores as time expires there can be no complaint that “it isn’t fair” that the other team doesn’t get a shot. This is what overtime is: the extension of the final drive.

 Criticism #1: “It’s no fair the other team doesn’t get a shot.”

They do have a shot. Stop the other team from scoring, that’s football.

 Criticism #2: “Overtime is decided by a coinflip”

While it’s true that the win percentage skews favorably (but only slightly) toward those who win the toss, the one possession scenario happens about 30% of the time, meaning both teams will have a possession 70% of the time.

College Overtime

I hate it. For one it reduces the glories of football to a one dimensional exercise, but moreso it is categorically not fair. That’s right, it isn’t fair. Consider that the team going last in overtime has an enormous advantage, it’s like they get an extra down. If they need a touchdown they have four downs to get one, whereas the team going first would have to settle for a fieldgoal and hope the defense holds.

In the NFL the team losing the toss has to cover a kickoff. The average starting position in the NFL is the 30 yard line, that means a defense has to give up 30 yards before even a long range FG can be attempted. That’s three first downs a defense has to give up in OT before a team can even attempt a FG. Also keep in mind that teams make less than 50% of all FGs that are fifty yards or above (the percentage for FGs from forty yards plus is about 70% successful).

Since ensuring that both teams get a possession, thereby ensuring that the team with the last possession has an enormous advantage (of knowing how much to score and having an extra down to use), the college system is unfair. But the NFL system means a defense/special teams must stop a team from getting 40 to 50 yards so that a FG can be attempted.

Proposed Solutions:

Inferior Solution #1: “Ensure both teams get a possession”

Anything that demands both teams get a possession I won’t listen to. As mentioned above, it puts one team at an unfair advantage, but also teams routinely get more possessions than another team in a game. Just because one team gets an extra possession shouldn’t be considered unfair any more than time of possession should matter.

 Defense is a part of the game. If you can’t stop a team from driving forty plus yards at the end then you don’t deserve to win. Saying this after the season the Steelers just had makes me all the more vehement about this point. They didn’t deserve to go to the playoffs despite the talent.

Inferior Solution #2: “Possession should be determined by submitting secret bids, the team with the lowest bid gets possession.”

 Yeach. That’s not football, that’s some MMORPG strategy. But I understand the desire to limit the effect of the cointoss, but I don’t want this to turn into some sort of talking point for commentators. Think of all the crappy “drama” television would turn this ordeal into. “Sean Peyton has turned in a bid of less the ten yards only once in his career. Rex Ryan, on the other hand, routinely places the bid on odd half-yardlines.” Just flip the damn coin and get it over with.

 A Less Inferior Solution: “Make the fieldgoal posts more narrow.”

 Not a bad solution, this reduces FG attempts across the board. The result would mean zero +50 attempts and only a few +40 attempts. That changes the game fairly radically, which is why I oppose it.

 My Radical Solution

 Is not so radical, really. My only change would be to have the kickoff at the 40 yardline instead of the 30. This would result in more touchbacks meaning teams would need to drive forty to fifty yards. After that, who would complain that their team didn't get a fair chance? It seems to me that this is the most simple, most effective change that would improve the best overtime in clocked sports.

It's been pretty quiet here on the SteelCurtain front, so I thought I'd ruminate on some positives of an early off-season.

1. A Higher Draft Pick. The average pick for a nonplayoff team is blah blergh gah fug....I hate losing. S' not worth it.

2. Improving Your Fanhood. The only thing worse than a bandwagon fan is a Ravens or Bengals fan. Losing is part of the game and if you can't maintain a high level of commitment during the down times you can't really call yourself a fan. After a SuperBowl win there's always a whole slew of people that want to call themselves fans of the winners, that's human nature. Sometimes these johnny-come-lately's do indeed become true fans, but others merely forget the team once hard times set in. These are the days where the true fans stand out. Football season is over for Steelers fans, but Steeler fandom doesn't stop.

3. Exploring You Fanhood. Exploring your sexuality is for losers, but exploring your fanhood is an important part of a nonplayoff season. At root we're here because we are football fans. Football is the foundation for Steeler fans, so even when the Steelers aren't playing we can still appreciate other teams. Very often we pick a team to root for, for whatever reason, and have a good time hooting and hollering. For example, I was struck by the Vikings. Had I not taken an interest in them beating the Cowboys I would've never noticed how many prissy names they have on that team. Percy, Chester, Adrian, Sidney, Bernard, Vasanthe. Seriously, it's like a Prep School on Martha's Vineyard.

4. Buy Steelers Gear Now. I don't know why, but I only buy Steelers gear on nonplayoff seasons. I suppose it's to separate myself from fairweather fans or maybe because the prices aren't so high. Anyway, one of the limited benefits of losing is cheaper gear. Don't get me wrong, these are bargain Brown prices, but cheaper than a bunch of apparel with XL or XLIII all over it.

5. More Fantasy Baseball Prep. I don't know about you guys, but with the Steelers prolonged season last year my fantasy prep suffered. Most of my friends had switched over to baseball mode, but I was in football season for two months more. Then with the afterglow of victory...sheesh, I drafted Santonio Holmes as my closer in two different leagues.

and finally Nobody needs a reminder that losing sucks, but losing sucks and I don't like it. Yeah, humility, glarb blorgh yakyak, it's not like we need to practice this. This ain't Cleveland.

Tell me how you console and better yourself as a fan during the downtimes.

It seems like the return of Willie Parker hinges on a variety of things. It seems like the Steelers were happy with his attitude and his (albeit limited) performance, but they seem unlikely to pay too high a price for an injury prone back-up, even in an uncapped year. 

So what is the likelihood that he gets offered more money? Here's some notable names in the RB free agent pool. The big ones are Ronnie Brown, Pierre Thomas, and Darren Sproles. I think it likely that their respective teams keep them. The Charges would be insane not to resign Sproles, but if they don't Sproles will be the most desirable option at RB. There is also some rumors that the Chargers might look to trade LT or potentially even cut him. LT is older than FWP (and as injury prone) but he has a glitz about him that might make him more desirable. 

Of the other free agents there are a few that project as starters (all are restricted FAs except for Chester Taylor): 

Leon Washington (28) is the most intriguing, but he's coming off a brutal leg break and there is some questions about his size. With the emergence of Shonn Greene the Jets might pass on Washington, but with their passing game as it is, I see them trying to maintain their strength in the running game.

Jerome Harrison (27) seemed to be the more explosive back in CLE, but we're talking about the Browns here so who knows. I would expect them to hold on to Harrison, but he might draw some other offers.

For a more known commodity a team might try Le'Ron McClain (25), whose natural position is fullback, but who nearly had a 1,000 yd season when he filled in at RB. He might get an offer of RB money which means the Ravens would probably let him go since he doesn't figure into the ground game too often.

LenDale White looks like a bust so far, but he's still young (25) and someone might be willing to take him on.

Another unknown is the Falcon's Jerious Norwood (27) who has shown flashes greatness, but hasn't had the opportunity or health to put it together. He's similar to Parker in speed and size and at two years younger might bea better value.

Two third down options would be Mike Bell (27) and Chester Taylor (30). Bell was primarily used in garbage time and short yardage situations and Taylor was primarily used on passing downs. Both showed they still had gas in the take and would be excellent compliments somewhere. Sean Peyton has a crush on Bell and Taylor seems to fit into the Viking's plan so well I expect both to stay on their teams, but in an uncapped year some big spender might lure them away.

Younger untried options would be Kenneth Darby (27), Jason Snelling (26) and Kolby Smith (25). Of these Snelling has shown the most promise, but there was a contingent in St. Louis that wanted to trade Steven Jackson and rebuild with Darby as an adequate replacement. I would expect Parker to rank higher than these three, but the point is more about the options available to teams in finding a back-up RB. This is not to mention the up coming draft where the is no end to the supply of cheap available talent. 

Looking at the names available Parker might find a smallish 1/2 year contract from the Steelers his best option. I have  many fond memories of Parker breaking it to the outside and burning past the secondary and I think he should that he has enough left in the tank to be a contributor, the only question seems to be at what cost?  

Great post over on Mark Bowman's page about Santonio Holmes and Chipper Jones mutual appreciation of each other.

Holmes on why Chipper is his favorite baseball player:

"One of the main reasons I liked him was the ability to switch sides," Holmes said. "That's amazing for somebody to be able to do that and have the great hand-eye coordination with his swing lefty and righty and have the ability to hit home runs.  That's amazing."  

There's a lot of interesting fallout from the combine, here's a rundown of things that concern the Steelers:

Andre Smith kills his draft status. In a year that once again has 7 or so top of the line OLs even the slightest set back could cost you millions, but for someone who earlier was in the top three best OLs and a lock to be drafted in the top ten, Smith could hardly have done more to make it worse. Some writers have suggested he might slide out of the first round entirely, certainly an overstatement, but if he slides far enough down could the Steelers trade up to get him?

As an Alabama fan I've been watching Smith for three years and he's got the tools to be a great lineman. I would be thrilled to land him.

Michael Oher was exposed too. His draft status was inflated more from the book he was featured in (The Blind Side) than his own ability. He still projects to be a mid first round pick. 

The WR crop looks deep. The big news from the combine was all around speed and agility in the WR position. If the Steelers aren't be able to sign Nate Washington to a reasonable contract they might be looking to snag a WR late. 

The CB crop is deep as well. With the big contracts being handed out to CBs this year (see Asomugha's 50mil deal) it is looking more and more unlikely that the Steelers will be able to resign McFadden. The goodnews is that there should be several quality CBs in the second round.

Winning does several things for a team. One of benefits is that it takes the pressure off the draft. Not that it becomes less a priority, but it clears the table of all extraneous questions such as A) what will the fans think of this pick? or B) what's the safest pick? 

The way I see it is with some of the turmoil and attrition in the OL rankings the Steelers's first round pick can only improve as teams (feeling the pressure to draft safe) fill other positions. With our second pick we can take a CB. And with the third or fourth pick snag a speedy WR that can double as the return guy.

Blitzburg has a great analysis about Heath Miller and how much it might cost the Steelers to resign him. As great as Miller's been here are some reasons why they won't resign Miller.

1. Matt Spaeth has been fine in limited playing time and comes at a cheaper price than Miller. In 09 we should see him get a little more playing time before he takes over in 2010.

2. The Steelers drafted Heath Miller in 05 (first round) and Matt Spaeth in 07 (third round). If you're wondering if they drafted a TE in 03 they didn't, but they did sign one, Jay Riemersma to split time with Tuman who they drafted in '99. So since 2005 we've taken one year off between drafting a TE.

Interestingly enough, looking at pre-draft rankings Spaeth was ranked all over the place from a late 7th round pick to the third. He was the third TE taken (after Greg Olsen and Zach Miller). Apparently the Steelers saw something they liked.  Another note: the NYG drafted Kevin Boss in the 5th round (the 6th TE taken).

3. Taking the first three rounds of the drafts from the last six years we see that the number of TEs drafted goes up and down. In 2008 seven were drafted. In '07, three. In '06, eight. In '05, three. In '04, five, and in '03, seven. Outside of 2003 we see this up/down pattern. Assuming this has more to do with the needs than overall talent, in 2009 we should see fewer TEs drafted in the first three rounds. Few teams take the best overall player like the Steelers do.

Of the 33 TEs taken over the last six years, 8 have been in the 1st round, 12 in the second, and 13 in the third. I see us taking a TE in the third round, possibly the second if one of the elite TEs in the draft falls to us.

4. There are 4 top ranked TEs in this years draft: Brandon Pettigrew (Oklahoma State) Jared Cook (South Carolina), Shawn Nelson (Southern Miss), Chase Coffman (Missouri). Drafts never go the way people think they'll go (just spend some time looking at mocks from a few years ago like I did), but it seems like that at the very least we'll get the fifth best TE in the draft in the third round, and perhaps one from the top four will fall to us. But as we learned from Spaeth, pre-draft rankings don't always tell the whole story.

Looking at various mock drafts there seems to be 5 teams that need a TE (NO, Phi, Atl, Car, and SD) and there isn't much in the free agent market (Scaife,  Daniels, LJ Smith, Kleinsasser), so assuming a couple of these sign TEs (therefore knocking TE priority down a few notches) that leaves three teams in the hunt for a 1st or 2nd round TE.

Few teams have been as successful as the Steelers in drafting talent. It looks like the strategy for the Steelers is to draft and develop a TE rather than spending the big bucks. I love Heath, but I expect this pattern to continue. Draft, develop, and draft again.

I'll be honest. Last year I hated Ike Taylor. Overrated. The only time I did that shut down hand waiving thing he does was when he got burned or when he fouled someone to avoid getting burned. Last year I chortled a little whenever announcers called him our best CB. 

But this year he won me over. Don't get me wrong he still screws up, he's one of the few NFL players to deserve every single Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty he's ever been called for (and a few that he hasn't been called for), and the only reason he's a CB is b/c if he could catch he would be a WR.

via www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com

That said, you can't defend Larry Fitzgerald much better than this. Sure Fitz caught it, but he's a freak of nature.

All year long Ike played well and slowly I quit congratulating him for not screwing up or ceased expressing surprise that he knocked the ball away without commiting a foul. In the Super Bowl (of course I yelled something unkind when Fitz came down with the ball) watching the replay I realized that Ike did a heck of a job (only two people could've caught that ball and Jesus Christ doesn't play football) and I finally agree, he's a pretty goob CB.

ESPN Magazine (the undisputed worse sports magazines in the history of sports magazines) took a fanwide poll (of 177,673 responses) and broke up the percentages by teams. Overwhelmingly people were rooting for the Cardinals with four exceptions:

Bengals fans, Browns fans, Ravens fans and the Buccaneers fans.

It makes a weird kind of sense that our division foes would root for us, but what explains the support from Bucs fans?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I was prepared to root for the Cards in the Ravens got in.

One thing the Steelers desperately need is a big third down back. If Mendenhall is the one, great, but if he can't be that guy I want to get some beef. None of this kicking on 4th and 2 Blades of Grass from the Goal Line. I would've signed Bettis on the spot if he would've offered his services.

Options at other positions:

Anyone think we can get JP Losman as the backup QB?

Maybe Devery Henderson will come cheaper than Nate.

There's still so much to do, basking in the SB victory, breaking down personel, anticipating front office moves, not to mention the mother of all offseason projects in mock drafting. But I would like to jump over all that and look at the Steeler's upcoming schedule.

This year we have the AFC West and the NFC North. I've read that our home games (excluding the division): Ten, SD, Oak, GB, Min and our away games: Den, KC, Chi, Det, Mia. Not nearly the intimidating schedule the Steelers faced this year.

Looking over the teams many of them our in outright rebuilding mode: Det, KC, and Oak. Chi is not really rebuilding, but not ready to compete yet and I'm not sure I buy Mia's rapid turn around. Min and Ten lack QBs to win (though I've heard rumors that Min will be looking to acquire Cassel or McNabb, Ten will look to Collins to manage the game or continue to develope Vince Young), while Den, GB, and SD have championship pieces, but not the overall make up yet.

Looking at the division, I think we all expect Bal to improve. Flacco showed great poise for a rookie who came from nonpowerhouse football program, the D is as brutal as ever, and it's a hungry team. Suggs will probably be lured away by big bucks, but the D always seems to be able to reload. Cin is a difficult team to gauge. With so many weapons you can't write them off, but their season rides on Palmer, if he's healthy they might be a pesky team. Cle still seems another year or two from competing.

You should never count on sweeping the Ravens and away games are tricky even if you're playing the Browns or Bengals so I'll estimate that we go 4-2 in the division.

Among the AFCWest, we should beat Oak at home and KC away and I think we could go 1-1 against SD at home and Den away. So 3-1.

NFCNorth, depends on how tough Min or GB  will be but assuming we split with them, and I think we can beat Chi and Det away, which would mean 3-1 again.

That leaves Ten at home and Mia away and let's just say that they both beat us, 0-2.

For the season we would be 10-6 and 7-5 versus the AFC. There's always a surprise or two and the Steelers could easily be a 12 win team, but I find it hard to believe, excluding serious injuries, that we'd be worse than 9 wins. Winning 10 is usually enough to get into the playoffs and from there -as Arizona just demonstrated- anything can happen. Looks like another good year for us Steeler fans.