SB Nation User Blog: acrollet

Playing not to lose makes you lose?

acrollet — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:23:43 -0000

So I don't know how many of watched the game last night, but it was definitely some classic football, even if it did include the Cowgirls. Entertaining the whole night - couldn't decide whether to hope a loss and a short week would make Philly easier to beat, or hope a win and over-confidence. (just kidding, I pretty much always like to see Dallas lose, if only 'cause I live down here and it's always great to hear everyone crying about it on the radio)

Anyway, here's my question for you all - After two Philly field goals and two Dallas touchdowns, Asante Samuel (glad he's not in a Patriots uniform anymore) intercepts Romo, and the resulting drive leads to a McNabb - Westbrook TD. The score is now Eagles 12, Cowboys 14. I said, and continue to say, that Philly should have gone for two. Even if you miss it, you're only two back, less than a field goal. Make it, and you've tied the game. In the end, Philly was down 4, had to start at their 22, and it was a touchdown or nothing.

So, is there a downside to going for two there that I'm missing?

To the bold go the spoils...

Fanhouse gives the O-line some respect

acrollet — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:22:41 -0000

Fanhouse gives the O-line some respect

nice breakdown of some the o-line play last Sunday...

Keyaron Fox

acrollet — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:29:05 -0000

Keyaron Fox

Pretty nice article about Fox at the trib website - looks like other people are starting to get as excited about Fox as we have been for a while :)

BTSC Community

acrollet — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:55:02 -0000

Hey everyone,

I'm not really the type to join hands and sing Kumbayah a whole lot, but I think we really have a great online community here. People like blitzburgh, cgolden, maryrose, rickva, datruth, and many other (not slighting anyone by not including!) spend a lot of their time and energy contributing great commentary, history and perspective on the game and the team that we all love. (except for maybe kwoog ;) The articles and fanposts are half of why I came to this site and continue to follow it closely, and the great discussion in the comments section is the other half. It's always been polite, knowledgeable, informative, and lots of fun. However, lately I've been noticing some personal attacks in the comments - here's a sampling. I've left out usernames, because the point is not to call individuals out.

---

Who the hell are you! Leave Leftwich alone. I bet you can’t throw the football at all. It’s easy for you to sit on your fat ass and critique his performance does your wife or girlfriend critique yours? What a serious hater!

--- You are a moron

It’s Labor Day wtf! IDIOT

---

If there were any white coaches that had taken that position, i problably would never hear from you ignorant paistey a--.

---

Don't get me wrong, I think the signal to noise ratio is still very high. I would just hate to see the general level of discussion devolve until this board just wasn't fun anymore. It's entirely possible that I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but I just think that it would be great if we could stick to discussing football, and avoid making personal attacks. (*even* on Browns fans ;) ) I don't know how to make this happen, but I feel like one good approach might be the silent treatment - if someone makes a personal attack, let's just not feed into that by responding - attacking the attacker will probably only make things worse...

Anyway, what do you guys all think? Feel free to post your thoughts, suggestions, aspersions on my character/heritage/sexual ability, etc. here ;)

open thread - Steelers @ Vikings

acrollet — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:15:09 -0000

Hey guys,

thought I'd start an open thread in case anyone else is watching and wants to comment. Pasting in some junk to get my 57 words or whatever it is :)

3-15 MIN11 (11:52) (Shotgun) PENALTY on MIN-M.Birk, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at MIN 11 - No Play. 2-18 MIN8 (12:39) (Shotgun) A.Peterson left tackle to MIN 11 for 3 yards (B.Keisel). 1-15 MIN11 (13:12) G.Frerotte sacked at MIN 8 for -3 yards (Aa.Smith).

Training Camp report for Aug. 6th

acrollet — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:05:11 -0000

I'm in the 'Burgh with my fiancée visiting my parents for a few days - so, of course, I ditched all of them for a few hours and drove to Latrobe to catch my first ever Steelers training camp. It was interesting, and a lot of fun. I took a lot of pictures, so I apologize to those of you with slow connections. I'll start with my notes, and put pictures below...

Notes: this is going to be pretty stream of consciousness, just in the order I took them. Filling in as best as I can remember - I'm giving no guarantees as to the accuracy of this material! There's much more on the offense than the defense, as they were on the far field most of the time.

Passing Drills:

Gerran Walker looked really good - he was worked quite a bit today, ran hard, and I didn't see him drop it once. I'm sure he's quite the long shot to make the team, but he was practicing hard and looking good. As for no drops... Willie Reid not so much. He looked really good some of the time, and not so great other times. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I don't see him making the final cut. He just seems too variable to me.

11 on 11s (I think):

Jeremy Bloom looked pretty decent. They were working Mewelde Moore in the passing game a fair bit. Woodley did a nice job getting to Ben really quickly in one of the drills.

Kick Returns:

Kickers always look small on TV next to the other players, but I have to say that Jeff Reed has some pretty big arms. Mendenhall took a couple of KR's, and looked decent at it. Moore also looked pretty good. Bloom took a return, practiced a spin move.

I'm pretty sure I saw Big Snack walking slowly waaaay off in the distance.

Hines Ward and Heath Miller both had some nice catches in traffic. Mendenhall looked good running - he moved fast and had some nice looking moves.

Moore had kind of an awkward catch on a PR, but fielded it and got going quickly.

7 on 7s + full team:

FWP did a lot of practice receiving today - I don't know if we'll see it in the regular season, but it was nice to see today. All in all, I would say that they practiced the short passing game more than anything else. (Maybe Arians has been listening to us gripe)

Nate Washington went deep and looked good almost catching a pass that was about half a foot off the ground. (As good as you can without actually pulling it off, anyway)

Stapleton got some reps in with Big Ben. Holmes had a really nice high grab - got some cheers for that. (Picture down below) I really think Moore looks good carrying the ball - He's big in the upper body, and runs really low. It sure would be nice to see someone getting some tough yards this year.

Dallas Baker had a pretty decent grab. Sweed doesn't back down from contact - he had a catch and then did his darndest to run straight through a defensive back. They had a lot of short throws to Moore. Another nice grab by Baker - from Dennis Dixon this time. Ward got decked pretty hard - collective gasp from the crowd, but he got up smiling like usual. Heath Miller is looking really good out there in the passing game. Matt Spaeth went long and pulled in a pass for 25 or 30 yards (easy) near the goal line - that got the biggest cheers of the day.

Yet another pass to Moore - I'm really liking how he runs. Sweed got a slant thrown to him - didn't make much of it though... Dixon took a run - he really is pretty speedy.

Now for some pictures:

Silverback chatting before practice.

Nate shows off his new haircut.

"OK Bruce, I'm gonna need you to upgrade your play calling, m'kay?"

"Too far! Too far!!!"

Jonathan Dekker pulls one in - Dezmond Sherrod also got quite a few reps, but looked kind of rough IMO.

Gerran Walker grabbing one - I really thought he looked good out there.

Jeremy Bloom running hard.

Santonio goes up.

Mahan at center. (sigh)

Special delivery for a Mr. Ward...

Ben throwing on the run.

Hartwig in now - not sure if that's the 2cd team lineup.

One for Dallas Baker - I think that's Keyaron Fox just to his left.

Sorry, guys - Steely McBeam is back.

Ward looking awesome as usual.

Mendenhall shows off his stiff-arm.

I swear Santonio is like 3 feet off the ground here - he definitely got some cheers for that grab.

Mewelde Moore running.

Big Ben chats with his star receivers.

True Blue Fan, seen on the way home.

I hope I was able to share a little bit of the training camp experience with those of you who can't make it this year. It was a lot of fun, and a cool opportunity to see some of what's going on with the team... Go Steelers!

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...

acrollet — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:26:44 -0000

so I shouldn't need to say anything more than to post this photo:

via www.pittsburghlive.com

(Max Starks in front, Sean Mahan behind him)

OK, I wil say something more - that dude looks tiny next to Starks. If Sean Mahan is starting under center on Sep. 7th, I'm going to go to a corner and rock back and forth, quietly whimpering....

Not that it should be too much of a problem against the Texans, unless Mario Williams really does his thing. My father-in-law to be is from Houston, so normally I'm happy to root a little for them, but not in this game!

Poll

Who wins the battle for Center '08?

Round #3 - Bruce Davis from UCLA

acrollet — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:04:34 -0000

I'm surprised no-one else has posted anything, but anyway, that was our round 3 choice - listed as OLB, maybe we'll play him as a DE? I don't really know much about him, but anyone who sacks the QB 12 times a year for the past two years can't be all bad :-D

Some nice info here:

http://www.nfldraftdog.com/2008_nfl_draft/bruce_davis.htm

highlights:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nbl03WpCpXk

opening it up for discussion :)

<<update>> We Take Tony Hills, a 6'6", 300 lb. OT from UT - finally some help for the OL :)

<<update>> That was a little unexpected - we take Dennis Dixon from Oregon in the 5th round - seems like his draft stock fell a lot after a knee injury. Grooming a Batch replacement? Here's hoping we don't see him on the field for quite some time... Or maybe he's a conversion project?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9cZwClh3bg&feature=related

Nice Tomlin quotes

acrollet — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:48:05 -0000

Bumped from the diaries. We'll keep rolling this draft along, but man, I'm itching for some Steelers banter. I'll get on that tomorrow, but for now, thanks to acrollet for this entry about Mike Tomlin.

-Blitz-

The more I hear of what Mike Tomlin has to say, the better I like him as our team's coach. He never seems to speak in clichés or make excuses, just straight talk all the way. The Post-Gazette had a mini-retrospective article about him one year out. Here are a couple of the quotes that stood out to me:

When asked whether he has his players' respect:

"I don't worry about that. Every job I've ever gotten people have asked me that question because I was a young guy. I coach, they play. Mutual respect is, of course, part of it." Thoughts on the potential longevity of his position: "I don't look for security. If I was looking for security, I'd be a professor or something, some tenured position." Talking about how he likes his job: "Man, I'm living a dream. Every day I come to work it's an awesome thing. I walk past five Lombardis to my right every morning when I walk to my office. It's fun, it's awesome, it's challenging, it's tough, it's all those things, but it's what you dream about doing. I love it." I think the Rooneys really found a smart, down to earth coach for the Steelers. He will ultimately be judged mostly by his record, but he had a first year most coaches would kill for. For a combination of skills and attitude, I don't think I would take another coach in the league right now.

Poll

SB Nation User Blog: acrollet

Playing not to lose makes you lose?

Fanhouse gives the O-line some respect

Fanhouse gives the O-line some respect

Keyaron Fox

Keyaron Fox

BTSC Community

open thread - Steelers @ Vikings

Training Camp report for Aug. 6th

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...

Who wins the battle for Center '08?

Round #3 - Bruce Davis from UCLA

Nice Tomlin quotes

How many Lombardis do you think Tomlin will bring to da Burgh?