A few thoughts/musings on the Green Bay game. I apologize in advance for the ridiculous length.

First the O:

- It’s impossible to overstate how good Big Ben is when he brings his A game to the field. 503 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 37 points. Ben is Truth. Fun Fact: Big Ben, Y.A. Tittle & Warren Moon are the only NFL QB's to throw for at least 500 yards and 3 TD's w/o an INT. That’s two hall of famers and one in the making.

- Mendenhall made his money burning GB in the passing game to the tune of 6 catches for 73 yards. If you add in the middle screen TD that got called back, then he‘s nearing a hundred yards in receiving alone. This guy is just going to be monstrous in all phases of the RB position. There is a reason everybody thought this guy should have been the second if not first back taken in 2007. Luckily we benefited from Al Davis and Jerry Jones drafting 40 times instead of football players. (Although Felix is just a big play waiting to happen. He just can’t stay healthy).

- However, the lack of confidence Arians shows in him (and in the running game in general) is just reprehensible. Seriously, how do you justify giving this guy ONLY 11 caries? He can grind it out, he’s capable of making the big play, he can stone a blizter and burn you through the air. I have absolutely no idea why he doesn’t get more carries.

I’m not a run for the same of running guy. But with a D that can’t get off the field, a sack prone QB, and a great young running back at your disposal, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t run it more than you do. Still, it’s hard to argue running it more when your passing game can lead to 37 points against the 2nd ranked D in the NFL.

- Ben holds the ball for too long. Ben also makes game changing (and game winning plays) by holding onto the ball past the point of sanity. As Tomlin says, sometimes gunslingers get shot. And sometimes they do the shooting. An almost perfect performance from Ben. Considering many of his incompletions were either drops or him trying to force the ball on the last drive, I don’t think you can underestimate how great of a performance this was. That’s my quarterback.

- Hines Ward is still a great receiver and will probably continue to be for another couple of years. I was critical of Hines dicision to play in the Cleveland game and I honestly think that if you look at the difference between today’s game and the Browns game you’ll see how slowed down and distracted he must have been by the pain. When he’s healthy though he is as clutch and brutal player as you’ll find. And you won’t find that description applied to a WR often.

- We all love you Mike Wallace. Why? It’s not because you don’t sometimes drop balls you should catch. It’s because you’re psychologically tough enough to come back and catch the ones that really matter. Mental toughness is something you have to learn on your own and, it needs to be said, something that no amount of training or performance enchancing drug can give you - it's a special quality that some guys just have. This guy is going to be a good WR for the Steelers for a while.

- Heath is a great TE. Put him in the Pro Bowl. Your ILB’s cannot cover him. He will repeatedly burn you on 3rd and (today) 4th downs. You have been warned.

- Holmes has probably secured himself a new deal during the off season, CBA or no CBA. He’s clearly got what you want in a WR - good route running, very good speed, good blocking, and he’s clutch. He drops too many balls, but like Wallace he doesn’t let the drops affect his play. A great day from him, especially seeing as he was going against Charles Woodson. The run after the catch on the game winning drive was absolutely key for the Steelers.

- The OL has regressed somewhat in the last few games. It’s not that they sometimes get beat on individual assignments - given the talent on the Packer’s D you’re just going to get beaten sometimes. It’s the mental mistakes, the false starts, the missed assignments, the bad communication. On an NFL OL this should not happen or, at least, it shouldn’t happen as often as it has been. I also worry that Hartwig will turn out to be a bad long term investment. He’s a capable stopgap at the position, but he’s not the trench captain you want him to be.

The (very)Special Teams:

- Skippy hit all of his field goals. Robopunter was okay, although he had a shank heard round the world. We didn’t give up any big returns on kick offs and punts. The bobbled kickoff at the end was almost a game ender and certainly took a couple of weeks off my life. Not a bad day, but not a good one either. However, given how poor the ST play usually is, I thnk they should be commended for not screwing up too much. 

- Props to Reed though. His ability to kick at Heinz was the big difference in today’s game. The Chicago debacle seems like a long time ago.

The Defense:

- Casey, Keisel, Woodley, and Harrison continue to play at an elite level. Other than the 24 yard touchdown run by Grant (which happened because Harrison got blocked out of the play and Carter was too slow and took too poor of an angle to bring him down) they held up reasonably well against the run. Given that Smith is out this is no small accomplishment. The D has (rightfully) taken a lot of flak for their play much of this year, but we also need to realize there are a lot of guys on it that are playing really, really well right now. Until convinced otherwise, I am going to take the lack of production by Harrison in the last couple of weeks as a sign of respect by OC's. That and obvious and uncalled holding.

- Travis K, Timmons, Burnett, and Hood continue to play okay. Timmons, Hood, and Burnett have considerable upside and given their young age it’s a good sign that they’re still out there gaming. Burnett was tooled a couple of times, he caught a case of the Willie Gay’s, but overall I wasn’t too disappointed with him. Ziggy plays well in spots, but it’s clear that he’s still not entirely comfortable with the position - which is not unexpected given the switch from a 3 technique DT and 5 technique DE is considerable. Timmons is clearly outplaying Farrior, but is still prone too mental errors. By next season we’ll have a much better idea of what to expect from him. I know he takes a lot of heat on here, but I still think Timmons is at this point our best ILB and has the potential to get much, much better.

- Ike’s play is confounding. Sometimes he looks like an honest-to-God shutdown corner. A couple of plays later he looks like he’s doing a William Gay impression. I tend to think that Ike is a good corner, easily our best, but the type of guy that’s prone to mental slumps. And, perhaps, the type of guy that doesn’t give it his all unless he thinks he’s playing a receiver that’s worthy of him.

- Townsend had a couple of good stops. He was mostly invisible though. This means he didn’t make any big plays. But it also means he didn’t screw up royally often.

- Farrior, Gay, Carter, and Clark are all more or less useless in coverage - at least they are when they don’t have Troy to protect them. Much has been said about them and, honestly, I have nothing original to add here. At this point in the season they simply are what they are.

- My private Farrior theory: So, it’s well known that Farrior is intentionally playing lighter this season than the last few. To me this says a couple of things: 1) Farrior realizes his speed isn’t what it once was (there was a time in which his speed was almost as renown as Timmons) and is trying to compensate a bit by getting thinner, 2) One of the consequences of this is that he’s not nearly the player against the run that he once was - he simply doesn’t carry the weight that he used to. An unintended consequence is that he’s getting out muscled by stronger RB’s (Leonard, Rice) and TE’s in coverage. Notice how he simply can’t arm tackle at this point - he simply doesn’t have the muscle to bring somebody down or even slow them much. So, by losing weight he’s become a less than stellar player against the run, and less imposing in match up’s in coverage with stronger guys. I don’t think Farrior is slumping like Ike, I don’t think there’s any coming out of this. James has simply reached the point in his career in which he is no longer a feared ILB Pro Bowl selections be damned.

Overall

- Overall a really good game by the O (not a turnover even) and pretty much the game we expected from the D. While I know many disagree with me, I think Tomlin was absolutely right to go for the onside kick. Some have pointed out that if Ben doesn’t connect with Wallace then that looks like a horrible decision and, by this logic, Ben’s amazing game saved Tomlin’s ass. I want to answer that the only reason Ben got that chance to win the game was because of Tomlin’s guts. There is simply no way that D doesn’t give up at least a field goal to the Packers. Tomlin just made sure there was enough time left for Ben to drive the field. If Tomlin doesn’t call that play, I truly do think we lose this game.

So, if you're like me then you're quite intrigued by the prospect of Dennis Dixon eventually becoming the number 2 to Ben. He was certainly a surprise in the fifth in the 2008 draft when it seemed as if we should be looking at linemen on both sides of the ball. Still, it was hard not to get caught up in his potential.

 God know's we all love Charlie and Lefty, but the end of Charlie's playing days are not far off and Leftwich has gone south to backup a kid from Kansas State. So, the need to move on and find the next bright prospect at QB is upon us.

There were huge questions about Dixon last year. While no one questioned his sheer athleticism and intelligence, there was considerable debate as to whether he had the complete skill set to be a good fill in for Ben. This is perhaps especially important for a team like the Steelers, since Ben usually ends up missing at least one game a year.

James Walker and Dale Lolley have both reported from the Steelers minicamp and both have spent considerable time praising Dixon, with Lolley even saying there is little to no difference between Batch and Dixon at this point. While Dixon may stay - or at least start - the year as the #3 QB.  this is at the very least encouraging news for the future at the position. Having Dixon active on gameday would certainly allow us to work in a few interesting wrinkles into the offense...

Thoughts?

So, we find ourselves in the No Man’s Land of the football year – stuck in the offseason between the multi-multimillion dollar opening days of free agency and the 2009 NFL draft. As football fans, it’s a fairly boring period. And, might I add, particularly boring for Steelers fans. Seeing as the Rooney’s rarely make a big splash in free agency and have the tendency to keep their opinions as to the draft pretty close to their chest, most of us have nothing else to do other than complain about the impending loss of our own free agents (see McFadden, Bryant), the need resign upcoming free agents (see Harrison, James & Miller, Heath), and wonder what second- or third-tier free agent we might be able to pick up. Oh, that and look at endless and oftentimes ill informed mock drafts. Indeed, it’s almost enough to make you want to sign up for the NFL network just to NFL Replays on a Sunday afternoon (Disclaimer: I am actually watching NFL Reply right now, God help me).

In order to pass the time then, I thought I might speculate on what might happen with our (barely) first-round pick at 32. Of course, I am no more informed than anyone else, but having done some research in the last few weeks I thought I might offer a few opinions and hopefully open up some thoughtful discussion (with a sense of history, of course). In particular, I am interested if there will be any lineman –OT, G, or C – worthy of our number 32.

Now I understand that our first rounder might very well not go to rebuilding an offensive line that is, at best, frustratingly adequate in its best moments. It could very well also go to a CB (there’s been considerable discussion about Alfonso Smith for this pick), to bolster our aging Dline (one could dream Tyson Jackson would be available), or if a monster WR happened to fall – although this doesn’t seem to me to be a position of need that ought to be looked at this early in the draft. That is, again a top rated monster falls to us. It seems highly unlikely that we would be interested in a Safety, QB, RB, TE or OLB here (although if a monster ILB falls to us I wouldn’t see us passing just because it’s an ILB – Farrior isn’t getting any younger and Foote is on the last year of his contract). It seems most likely that we will take the highest rated OT, G, C, CB, or DL available at 32, with a slight bias in favor of the positions in the trenches.

The Offensive lineman we could realistically draft at 32 might include OT’s William Beatty (UConn) and Eben Britton (Arizona); Guards Duke Robinson (Oklahoma) and Andy Levitre (Oregon State); and Centers Alex Mack(Berkley) and Max Unger (UOregon). I think it possible that a tackle such as Michael  Oher (of The Blind side fame)could fall into the 20’s, making it possible to trade up for him without giving away the whole draft – although I would also find it hard to believe that he would get past Philly at 21, although the fall of Andre Smith may push Oher down as well since Oher is seen as a less polished talent than Smith.

My initial thought is to pass on Beatty outright. He’s a one-year wonder at UConn who only started to show up to games this last year – coincidently right before he would declare for the draft. While he had a fine Senior Bowl, I still question his work ethic as well as the pride he might bring to the position – if he is okay taking plays off we’re no better off with him than with our current roster. Also, as some folks on here have mentioned before, I am a bit skeptical that our current Oline or Oline coach have the ability to motivate new guys. It seems like whoever we draft for this line will have to be a great self-motivator, he’ll need the kind of motor to keep going no matter what the attitudes of those around him. Beatty just doesn’t seem like that sort of guy to me.

Britton is a tougher case to decide. He’s played solidly his entire career, but might lack the athletic ability to make it at LT in the NFL (unlike someone like Oher who has tons of physical ability, but might lack the mental toughness/quickness to be a great LT). Most analysts argue that he projects at an RT in the NFL, although as we all know RT is a position of weakness for us. I have no qualms about taking an RT in the first round, but I don’t want to take a lesser athlete at RT than we could get at G or C simply because there’s a run on tackles in the first round. We could get a quality RT in Day 2 of the draft. And, besides, the Coaches have yet to see the wisdom of moving Colon to Guard and I doubt they would with the addition of Britton. Combine that with our tendency to more or less “redshirt” our draft picks for a year, it seems unlikely that if we picked up Britton he would start before next season anyway. There is also the Tony Hills experiment to consider, who if he develops properly could take the job after Colon’s current contract is up. So, I say we pass on Britton – I think we could get a comparable talent later in the draft that would play well with a year of conditioning/practice with the team.

On to Guard. This, as almost everyone recognizes, is a poor draft for guards. There is some quality depth, but there is probably no elite guard in the draft. Or, alternatively, there probably isn’t a huge talent gap between the top 10 guards going in this year – or at least not as much as you would hope. I remain unconvinced that either Robinson or Levitre is first round material. Robinson plays well as a run blocker in a power scheme – he’s a rhino in a phone booth as some say  - but he lacks the technique to be a great pass protector, and lacks the speed/coordination to do much pulling - a skill that is essential to be a good guard in the Steelers running scheme. Robinson is also said to have a soft body (a bit too flabby for a power blocker) and doesn’t possess the kind of fundamental’s to rely on if he gets “out physical-ed” by an opposing player. Robinson is aggressive at least, which may make him an upgrade over Simmons. But I also don’t think a slight upgrade over Simmons is what we want out of a first rounder lineman, especially at guard. Levitre is a pick I could probably live with since he is big, technically sound, and appears mentally tougher than Robinson. He played left tackle at Oregon State, so he has the kind of speed, footwork, and athleticism to develop into a pulling guard. This is not to say that he would develop into another Fanaca, but he might be a more than serviceable left guard for the next 10 years. Still, I think we could get greater value for our pick with one of the top centers. That being said though, if we pass on this guy at the end of the first it’s obvious that he won’t be there at the end of the second. Robinson, however, just might. And as a second rounder he would be of great value.

Unlike the class of guards, the center class is one of the strongest in a number of years, with at least 3 possible first day selections available (Mack, Unger, and Louisville’s Eric Wood). Of the three top centers, only Mack and Unger deserve first round consideration – Wood is a going to have a great pro career, but for different reasons Mack and Unger could be impact players for a decade on whatever team they fall to. If we decide to pass on the centers, Wood may still be available at the end of the second and if he is, we should strongly consider him a bargain there.

Mack is a big, strong three year starter from Berkley. Most of you are familiar enough with Mack to know that he is considered by some to be the strongest center in the draft and perhaps the best center to come out in the last five years or so. However, looking through a number of Mock Drafts/Scouting organizations, there appears to be no consensus as to who the top center is. While Mack is lauded as being a mentally tough, tenacious, play to the whistle brawler, Unger is praised for his versatility and obvious physical skills. They are of similar size (although Mack is a little heavier) and have both excelled in their respective schools. My preference, however, is for Mack. In what follows I’ll attempt to make my argument.

Unger is a fine athlete, and while I would not be upset if we went with him over Mack, he seems a worse fit for us than Mack. First, the issue of strength is an issue with Unger – he only put up 22 reps at 225 at the Combine (Eric Wood, for instance, put up 30). While I am not sold on the notion that Combine drills predict much about professional success (work ethic and selflessness seem to both matter the most and be immeasurable) , it does demonstrate that Unger is one of the weaker Olinemen this year. Of course, his functional strength may be much higher, there is certainly a difference between benching and pushing around a big nosetackle, this still tells us that he was not much of a workout warrior in college. It may also demonstrate that he faced a lot of smaller, quicker DT’s in college in which his strength mattered much less than his feet. However, against big AFC north nosetackles like Rogers and Ngata, strength as well as technique will be absolutely necessary in order to open up running lanes and protect Ben. While Unger can certainly bulk up, it seems like he may also need to learn how to play with both power and finesse. Again, this is possible, but Mack seems to be more naturally suited to take on Ngata on 4th and short than Unger.

Another concern I have regarding Unger is his football IQ. Next to the QB, the Center should have the highest football IQ on the team – he should be able to pick up blitzes, audible blocking assignments, and generally command the line of scrimmage like Macarthur. Jeff Hartings, a great center in his day, never possessed the physical skills of someone like Dermontti Dawson, but was gangbusters at reading defensive schemes and making last second adjustments. The decline in our line play from 2006 to 2007 was not entirely because of Mahan lacked Hartings physical gifts (although he did, of course), but also because he lacked his intelligence on the field. Unger comes from a spread offensive and the whole point of the spread is to make the defense your facing declare themselves early – when you’ve got four WR’s lining up with a QB in shotgun you know that you won’t have much of a chance to disguise your defense since, if they are out of position, the offensive will burn you. Therefore you give up on the idea of disguise and simply play personal – you bet that your corner can cover their receiver; your linebacker can cover their tight end etc. However, since there is never a disguise to a defense your QB doesn’t need to attempt to decipher blitzes or coverage schemes – they are all easily seen from back in the shotgun position. This is one reason that spread QB’s have a hard time making it in the NFL, they lack the experience at trying to ferret out what a defense is doing. The same, it seems to me, might apply to a center in the spread; since it is already apparent what a defense is going to do they rarely find it necessary to spend much time developing their recognition skills.  And, as we all know, a confused Oline is a recipe for Ben to be decapitated by Terrell Suggs.  Even a line with marginal upside – like our current one – could be greatly improved if they were given good adjustments and accurate assignments.

Mack comes from a style of offense that is closer to the NFL’s and, might I add, has received the Draddy Trophy which is given to the top scholar athlete in college football.  You can do worse than have a big, strong, high motor center, with a better than average IQ, going up against Ngata and a Ravens defense that prides itself on disguise. Mack certainly has shortcomings to his game – he ends up on his back too often and lacks the speed of someone like Unger – but his determination and IQ could make him the centerpiece of the new offensive line that will almost certainly be created after the current one blown up after this year. Mack could make an immediate impact as a guard (or at least compete with the Stappler) and slide over to center next year. This, of course, doesn’t mean we couldn’t resign Hartwing if we wanted since he could naturally slide into the guard spot himself (where he started).

In any event, of the lineman I’ve mentioned it seems as if Mack has the most upside and could also make an immediate impact upon the play of the line. There are good arguments to be made for them all – although I think Robinson is better left to somebody in the second round – but Mack has the skills and determination to be the guard of the present and the center of the future.

Obviously this is too long, but it seemed like a good way to pass a Sunday afternoon and hopefully get some conversation going.

Thoughts?

Hey Steeler Nation, I just ran across a sample Wonderlic test and thought i'd pass it around to anybody that might want to try it out. Given that the Combine is upon us and all our future draft picks will be taking something similar i thought it might be fun.

Keep in mind that it's timed - I didn't.

I got 9/10 on it for a 45. Sadly, this is certainly the best stat I could ever possibly record at the combine.

Does anybody know the scores of the players on our current roster?

Hey BTCS Folk,

The NFL Network just reported that the Steelers signed Leftwich as our backup QB. For some confirmation check out: http://www.theinsideronpittsburghsports.com/

This, I think, is the lesser of two evils, however necessary.

A few other items of interest:

1) As we've talked about here, Steelers Safety Ryan Mundy was injured - by a cheap shot - during the preseason game with the Eagles. While at first it appeared to be a minor shin injury, it looks like it may be a fracture to his lower leg. This, of course, sucks. He was beginning to show something in that game.

2) The Steelers have brought in another punter/kicker in Mitch Berger.

3) Big Snack is off the PUP list, but it is unclear if he'll play Thursday against the Bills. Still, he's lost as much as 25 pounds since the start of camp and will probably lose some more before the end of it. This is a good sign for our defensive line.

Hey BTSC Folk,

The venerable Dale Lolley is reporting that local Pittsburgher tackle Jason Capizzi is finished for the season and, probably, with the Steelers. Capizzi re-injured his left foot and then quickly reached an injury settlement with the Steelers. This means he will be dropped from the roster. It also look as if the injury is serious enough to require surgery as well

Mr. Lolley's blog: http://nflfromthesidelines.blogspot.com/ (as if we didn't all have it bookmarked anyway)

So, I guess this means Trai Essex is offically on the team again.

Hey BTSC Folk,

It looks as if our stud punter (if there is such a thing) will be out for the entirety of the 2008-9 season. Dale Lolley, a very trusted source of Steelers news, is reporting that tests on Sepulveda's right (non-kicking) leg have revealed an ACL tear (He had apparently been experiencing some discomfort in it, prompting the tests). Danny S was the Steelers 4th round selection in the 2007 draft.

The Steelers have quickly moved to pick up Paul Ernster off waivers from Detriot.

Here's the Lolley Link: http://nflfromthesidelines.blogspot.com/

While our problems on special teams are well documented, the problems seemed to be less to do with the punting/kicking, and more to do with poor coverage. However, any blow to a unit that is already suspect has to be considered a setback  - especially this early into the (off)season.

So, thoughts? Anyone know anything about this Ernster guy?

Dave Lolley is reporting that Big Snack failed to complete the required number of 100 yard sprints (he needed to do 8 and could only make it through 5) and thus Tomlin placed him the physically unable to perform list.  While this is probably not a huge deal - Casey's failed these sorts of things before and come out to have a great season - it doesn't exactly sooth many of the concerns at D line; if for some reason Casey can't perform this year we have a decided lack of depth (though we all love Hoke).

Anyway, here's the link to Lolley's site

http://nflfromthesidelines.blogspot.com/

So....any thoughts?