Adam Schefter reports that the Steelers are actively contacting teams in hopes of landing (at minimum) a top ten pick in this years draft.

This isn't a statement by me as far as "what is Ben worth," etc. Just a cold, hard look at those teams that are staked out in the top 10 draft spots. 

Schefter reports, also, that at least one of these top 10 teams is seriously considering snatching up our two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback.

There are certainly some no-brainer rules for trading a huge, effective player in his prime, such as never trade within the division, but in this case, I'm not holding my breath. Standard rules may not apply this time.  Have at it. Should be interesting.

Just a disclaimer: This is defintiely not a "pile on Roethlisberger and hate" opportunity.

Strictly a fun poll to let us vent which direction you think our front office should take in regards to the QB position.

If you know the way the Rooneys' and the Steeler brass operate, it is generally with their feet firmly planted on the ground, with one eye fixed on the here-and-now, and another on the horizon.

In that spirit, I felt I would take the liberty of offering up some options, since realistically, not a single one of us knows for sure which way things will shake out in the next few days before the draft, and immediately following.

There seems to be quite a debate on what to do regarding Ben at this point.

He's managed to escape the clutches of Johnny Law. He apparently has seemingly escaped the billy club of Warden Goodell (although action on the Warden's part has not been entirely ruled out.) It seems the in-house suspension that is possible from the Steelers front office is nothing compared to the public backlash of fans across Steeler Nation, near and far.

With all that being said, what, if any, further repurcussions should Ben Roethlisberger be subjected to?

Cast your vote. 

This is the 2nd round of the voting to see who BTSC readers vote as who would benefit the Steelers most by getting more playing time.

This is by far scientific, it's just for fun, and if you don't see your favorite player up here (I'm sorry, Burnett fans!) I wish I could help. :)

There's two polls, each containing 3 players that survived the last round. The top two vote getters from last round head up each poll, and rounded out with the other survivors. Their seedings ae listed in parenthesis to the right of their position.

POLL #1:

Evander "Ziggy" Hood  - DE - (1).     Ryan Mundy - FS - (4).     Ra'Shon "Sunny" Harris - DE - (5).

Poll #2:

Mike Wallace - WR - (2).     Limas Sweed - WR - (3).    Keenan Lewis - CB - (6).

Breakdown of the overall voting from round one:

Hood (92), Wallace (84), Sweed (58), Mundy (48), Harris (35), Lewis (27), Bunrett (24), Foster (16), Urbik (15), Legursky (14), Bailey (8), Hills (2).

Section 1: This bracket saw Hood dominate Lewis and Bailey. Bailey mustered all of two votes...then goes out and give us a pick 6. Nice. :)

Section 2: A very close battle between Mundy and Harris, with Ramon Foster being the surprise player to me in the voting. 16 votes was impressive. Not sure if he would have gotten that if he had been in Hood or Wallace's bracket, but noonetheless, nice job.

Section 3: Sweed came back againstBurnett, who had led early. Legursky finished off the voting in this bracket with a respectable 14 votes.

Section 4: Wallace absolutely killed this bracket, taking 84 out of 101 total votes. Urbik, who I thought beforehand would have a higher vote total, finished with just 15, while Tony hills tllied all of 2 votes.

This is the 2nd round of the voting to see who BTSC readers vote as who would benefit the Steelers most by getting more playing time.

This is by far scientific, it's just for fun, and if you don't see your favorite player up here (I'm sorry, Burnett fans!) I wish I could help. :)

There's two polls, each containing 3 players that survived the last round. The top two vote getters from last round head up each poll, and rounded out with the other survivors. Their seedings ae listed in parenthesis to the right of their position.

POLL #1:

Evander "Ziggy" Hood  - DE - (1).     Ryan Mundy - FS - (4).     Ra'Shon "Sunny" Harris - DE - (5).

Poll #2:

Mike Wallace - WR - (2).     Limas Sweed - WR - (3).    Keenan Lewis - CB - (6).

Breakdown of the overall voting from round one:

Hood (92), Wallace (84), Sweed (58), Mundy (48), Harris (35), Lewis (27), Bunrett (24), Foster (16), Urbik (15), Legursky (14), Bailey (8), Hills (2).

Section 1: This bracket saw Hood dominate Lewis and Bailey. Bailey mustered all of two votes...

Section 2: A very close battle between Mundy and Harris, with Ramon Foster being the surprise player to me in the voting. 16 votes was impressive. Not sure if he would have gotten that if he had been in Hood or Wallace's bracket, but noonetheless, nice job.

Section 3: Sweed came back againstBurnett, who had led early. Legursky finished off the voting in this bracket with a respectable 14 votes.

Section 4: Wallace absolutely killed this bracket, taking 84 out of 101 total votes. Urbik, who I thought beforehand would have a higher vote total, finished with just 15, while Tony hills tllied all of 2 votes.

We here in Steeler Nation have recently seen two of our most important defensive cogs, Aaron Smith and Troy Polamalu, be led to the sidelines with significant injuries. In the case of Smith, the 11th year veteran and anchor of our run defense, injury has cost him this season.

While these and other injuries have forced some of the Steelers to the sideline, it has pushed many in Steeler Nation to the ledge.

I would like to offer a little perspective on these injuries. Whether or not any of what I offer helps those on the ledge to back away and grasp for life and see color in the world again, well....One could only hope.

(Continued after jump)

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First off, I never want anyone to get injured. Ever. So save it.

But regrettably, this seems to be the beginning of what always happens to the Bengals.

From the way it sounds, and how it looked, Odom was done before the official word came out. So my question would be, do you guys feel confident with Johnson and Rucker on the right side going forward?

A sincere "get well and get back soon" to Odom, and a sincere "welcome back to Earth, Cincinnati."

Jim Irsay lashes out at potential ownership bid for Rams by group which includes Rush Limbaugh.

Why should this be mentioned? Simply, history, Jim.

This from Joe Bryant, FootballGuys.com.:

"On that angle though – a note to Jim Irsay. Your family pulled one of the slimiest moves in NFL history. Just look at what they did to those guys in the bar in the paragraph above when they slinked out of town in the middle of the night and kicked a city and it's fans in the teeth.

Yet Irsay was one of the first owners to claim the moral high road opposing Rush Limbaugh's reported bid to become a minority owner in the Rams. "I, myself, couldn't even consider voting for him," Irsay said, according to the Associated Press. "When there are comments that have been made that are inappropriate, incendiary and insensitive ... our words do damage, and it's something that we don't need." I'm no Limbaugh fan so save the emails. This isn't about Limbaugh. This is about knowing that you should keep your mouth shut when your name is tied to one of the more inappropriate, incendiary and insensitive owner moves in recent history."

Baltimore should still be home to the Colts. The fact that Baltimore has a team called the "Ravens" and not "Colts"  is a joke in my opinion, to me all they are is Browns v1.0.

Just a thought, but...

Every time I see JokeMarcus take his helmet off, or the camera pans to him standing on the sideline, that MASSSSSSIVE diamond earring jumps out and knocks me in the cornea.

What the ***.  WHen I see something like that I think "Wannabe."

Actually play well and "arrive" JokeMarcus, before you try to LOOK like you have "arrived."

Because, sad to say it, I have NEVER seen a worse starting QB EVER in the league, and I had to endure the Bubby Brister era in Pittsburgh.

THAT is saying something, Oaktown fan.

What a joke this dude is. Cable, grow a pair and freaking bench the waste of roster space already.

1st, congrats on the win.

As a Steelers fan, I am rooting for the Browns to come back and be relevant again. Please keep winning!

But, I have an issue that is killing me, and that is the common thread with some bad teams regarding their front offices.

Time and time again I see some shady/underhanded/slippery type of behavior that belies something underneath the surface with some teams' coaches/front office. Most recently we've seen the 49ers file tampering charges against the New York Jets concerning Michael Crabtree. As soon as that was filed, the Jets appeared to back off, cooling Crabtrees leverage, and pushing him closer to his deal last week with the 49ers, with a tail-between-his-legs appearance. Were the Jets tampering? We don't know. But was it more than just mere coincidence that after the 49ers filed that claim, they signed Crabtree? And was it again just mere coincidence that immediately after they unofficially, errr, lost the Crabtree angle, they sign Braylon Edwards? (The same day, in fact).

I'm usually an optomist, and would like to believe in the inherent good in people. But money and power corrupts, and both are heavily involved in the National Football League. I will leave you to decide for yourselves if the Jets were pursuing Crabtee illegally, and just coincidentally made the deal for Edwards immediately after Crabtrees' signing with the 49ers.

But this all just leads me to ask the question regarding James Davis' injury. Davis was apparently hurt in  a recent post-practice "opportunity period" when he was hit by a Browns linebacker. According to the report, witnesses said Davis was not wearing shoulder pads while the unidentified defender who hit him had them on.

Seems simple enough. Rookie hurt during practice, albeit a little strange since he was not wearing the proper protective equipment.

What concerns me is the coach-speak, and the double talk that sounds important and good on the surface, but really says nothing.

According to the report, "League spokesman Greg Aiello said the league is aware of the alleged incident and has been looking into the matter."

And from Coach Eric Mangini, the fearless commander who loves dispensing information apparently as much as his sage mentor Bill Belicheat:

"I talked to the league about it and feel comfortable with where we are on it," Mangini said. "I like James Davis a lot. The last thing we want to do is ever put him in a position or anybody in a position where they could get hurt. I've talked to a lot of people involved in it and we're going to continue to work with the league on it."

My two cents, and take from it what you wish...

1) The incident in question is not alleged. The details concerning the cause of the injury are. There's a talented rookie not playing this week, nor for the rest of the year, and being prepped for surgery. Done for the year, affected hopefully just for that long, not longer. How it happened is relevant, but more so, you the fans and the Browns, the team, are suffering for it.

2) Mangini says he is "comfortable" with where they are at with the investigation. I'm sorry, but no investigation is going to make someone "comfortable," especially when it will all fall in Mangini's lap if/when there is a failure to run practices (whether they are regualr or additional rookie practices) legally, and safely, within league guidelines. Hell, try the guidelines of COMMON SENSE at the very least. 

3) Mangini has talked to a lot of people involved...really. Good. But shouldn't he have SOME kind of influence over these practices? They are, after all, additional to the standard team practice, and includes primarily his younger talent he's developing for the future. I know a coach can't be all places at all times, but you sure as hell can hire people to be able to run these practices correctly.

His lack of being straightforward and open about the situation is what troubles me the most, Browns Fan. This is NOT meant as a knock on your team, or a chance for me to gloat over the condition of your franchise. Like I said before, I long for the Steelers-Browns rivalries of the past. I would love to hate you with more passion than I hate those full-of-themselves Ratbirds over in Baltimore. I would love to see your center pancake Ray Lewis as he attempts to knife through and stuff your running back at the goal line, and watch Lewis stumble over to the Browns bench and have a seat, thinking it's the Ravens sideline. That would be amazing. Please make that happen, so we can hate you again. We want to despise you and hate you. We really do.

I'm writing this because, I fear, you have a Belicheck  disciple that is more "Belicheat" than "Belicheck." I'm not sure the integrity is there to be a solid spine for your football team to lead you into the future success you are hoping for.

I'm intereseted in knowing your thoughts.