SB Nation User Blog: betelgeuse

A question about Cowher

betelgeuse — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 07:45:48 -0000

If Cowher quit the Steelers during the emergence of a its first real quarterback era since the 70s, I doubt if he'll go to the Eagles, who will no doubt rehire McNabb. He'd fit the Browns so well, but gee, I'd hate to see him cry over losing to us. Someone mentioned the Chiefs. I have to say that fits perfectly. The Chiefs are an old-school team that hasn't won respect in a long while but has always been tough ... until lately.

I'd love to see the Chiefs return to power with or without Gonzalez. They need so much, they should probably trade him.

Incidently, if anyone knows how I can get a hold of a video of the Chiefs first superbowl win, it was III or IV, I'm interested. My grandpa knew coach Hank Stram from way back and I'd love to get the video of that superbowl. Any ideas?

Sunday weather vs. The Daftest Cowed Boys

betelgeuse — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:31:56 -0000

The storm that brewed in Foxboro last weekend has inexplicably swung southeast, bringing Hurricane Harrison, Tornado Timmons and, uh, High Dew Point Woodley! Woo-haa!

Seriously, this could be good for the home team. For Sunday, it looks like a low of 21, a high of 30, with wind and a 40 percent chance of snow/rain showers

We got used to frigid, wet conditions last week. Any word on the field conditions? They were supposed to lay some new sod down, last I heard.

Welcome to the north-side boys.

Baker waived ... CB Lewis up from practice squad

betelgeuse — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:54:42 -0000

Wow. Dallas Baker was waived today to make room for CB Roy Lewis who was promoted from the practice squad. Baker may not be an offensive dynamo, but I thought he was a fine backup. I guess this shows how much the coaches think of him.

At any rate, I learned that Lewis is a 5'9" 190 CB who is a good tackler. He also has experience as a KO return man from his freshman and sophomore years at Washington.

Here's some more from the U of W website/ stats are at the bottom:

2007: Named a team captain ... started all 13 games at one cornerback spot ... posted five tackles in season opener at Syracuse ... 11 tackles, one tackle for loss, three breakups and an interception in the win over Boise State ... named Pac-10 defensive player of the week and the team's defensive MVP after the win over the Broncos ... four tackles vs. Ohio State ... posted 11 tackles at UCLA ... six tackles and a blocked punt vs. USC, when he earned the team's MVP for special teams ... seven tackles at Arizona State ... six stops vs. Oregon ... 11 tackles and a forced fumble vs. Arizona ... five stops at Stanford ... four tackles and 37-yard fumble return at Oregon State ... eight tackles, two pass breakups vs. Washington State ... season-high 12 tackles, plus a forced fumble, in season finale at Hawaii.

2006: Started all 12 games at cornerback ... also returned kicks ... finished the season ranked 10th in the Pac-10 Conference in kick returns with an average of 18.8 yards per return (339 yards on 18 returns) ... also ranked 28th (tied) in the Pac-10 in tackles with 5.5 per game ... 66 total tackles ranked third on the team ... had a season-high nine tackles, including a sack, in the victory over UCLA ... six tackles, including one for a loss, at Cal ... seven tackles and two pass break-ups at Oregon ... six tackles and two break-ups at USC ... also had six tackles vs. San Jose State, Oklahoma and Oregon State ... returned five kicks for a total of 89 yards vs. San Jose State, when he had his season's longest kick return, a 31-yarder ... four kick returns for 82 yards vs. Oregon State ... won the UW's Pepsi Player of the Week Award after the Fresno State game.

2005: Played in 10 games, starting eight ... missed the Idaho game with an injury ... returned an interception 42 yards for a score in Huskies' win at Arizona ... totaled season-high 11 tackles at Oregon ... averaged 21.4 yards per kick return ... named the KING-TV Most Improved Defensive Player at the team's postseason banquet.

2004: Redshirted the season after transferring from San Jose State in September.

2003 AT SAN JOSE STATE: Appeared in 10 games, starting five ... missed one game with a shoulder injury ... 42 total tackles ranked seventh on the team ... made career-high 14 tackles in loss to Nevada ... added nine tackles against Boise State, and seven at Rice.

HIGH SCHOOL & PERSONAL: As a senior at Narbonne, was credited with 108 tackles, seven interceptions and four fumble recoveries, including three defensive TDs ... also scored 13 touchdowns as a running back ... played both linebacker and cornerback on defense ... earned first-team all-league honors on offense ... was named to the Long Beach Press-Telegram's "Dream Team" as a second-team all-purpose back ... also sprinted and long-jumped for the Narbonne track squad ... tied for 11th in the long jump at the 2003 California state meet ... teamed at Narbonne with former Husky safety Dashon Goldson ... cousin of former UW safety Chris Hemphill.

Lewis Career Statistics

TACKLES G UA A Total TFL-Yds PD FF FR Blkd
2005................ 10 29 18 47 1.0-3 5 0 0 0
2006................ 12 45 21 66 1.5-11 5 0 0 0
2007................ 13 71 23 94 2.0-5 10 2 1 1
TOTAL............... 35 145 62 207 4.5-19 20 2 1 1

SACKS G UA A Total Yds
2005................ 10 0 0 0.0 0
2006................ 12 1 0 1.0 8
2007................ 13 0 0 0.0 0
TOTAL............... 35 1 0 1.0 8

PUNT RETURNS G No. Yds TD Lg Avg/R Avg/G
2005................ 10 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
2006................ 12 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
2007................ 13 1 32 0 18 32.0 2.5
TOTAL............... 35 1 32 0 18 32.0 0.9

KICK RETURNS G No. Yds TD Lg Avg/R Avg/G
2005................ 10 12 257 0 38 21.4 25.7
2006................ 12 18 339 0 31 18.8 28.2
2007................ 13 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
TOTAL............... 35 30 596 0 38 19.9 17.0

INTERCEPTIONS G No Yds TD Lg Avg/R Avg/G
2005................ 10 1 42 1 42 42.0 4.2
2006................ 12 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
2007................ 13 1 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
TOTAL............... 35 2 42 1 42 21.0 1.2

ALL PURPOSE G Rush Rec PR KR IR Total Avg/G
2005................ 10 0 0 0 257 42 299 29.9
2006................ 12 0 0 0 339 0 339 28.2
2007................ 13 0 0 32 0 0 32 2.5
TOTAL............... 35 0 0 32 596 42 670 19.1

SCORING G TD Rush Pass Retn PAT 2PAT FG Total Avg/G
2005................ 10 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 0.6
2006................ 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
2007................ 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
TOTAL............... 35 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 0.2

Clement clipped from team, Steelers sign DE Huntley

betelgeuse — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:45:18 -0000

According to Dale Lolley, (http://nflfromthesidelines.blogspot.com/), the Steelers have released DT Clement and signed, off waivers, third-year DE Kevin Huntley (6-7, 290 lbs).

According to Lolley, Huntley has not seen much playing time but put up some decent stats. Played 3 games last year, and 5 the year before with the Raiders in 06. But with the Raiders he scored 2.5 sacks when the Raiders won only a few games. I didn't research to find out if they were against us or not.

He was signed by the Raiders in January, but according to The Washington Insider:

"Defensive end Erasmus James has passed his physical and will be activated from the physically unable to perform list.

That means someone had to go and that someone is Kevin Huntley, a veteran defensive end who had failed to move up the depth chart. He's a DC area guy who had spent some time with Atlanta, but after the Jason Taylor trade and with James getting healthy, Huntley was expendable."

My first concern is why oh why would you not play a beast of that size unless . . . . he's gotta be cursed, right? Why else would 3 teams (brief stint w/ Atlanta) cut him? No injuries from what I researched.

We'll see. I am excited we got a Kentwan Balmer-sized DE! If this guy is just so-so, he will still take a huge weight off our line as far as substitutions go. Here's hoping he doesn't totally blow chunks.

Disappointed we lost Clement, though, I had hopes for him.

Game Video Clips

betelgeuse — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:43:49 -0000

I found two Steelers video links on the NFL website:

This one just shows a few passes from Ben:

http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d809dc44

This one has a nice variety with most, if not all, of the above passes:

http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d809dd887

By the way, if anyone finds a download link for the complete games, please please post that. I'd love to find a torrent link or something! Just watching these clips is not enough!

Farve traded to Jets for undisclosed draft pick

betelgeuse — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:22:01 -0000

Farve traded to Jets for undisclosed draft pick

I can't tell what made me laugh harder, the look of excitement/concern on that girl's face or the...

betelgeuse — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:47:46 -0000

I can't tell what made me laugh harder, the look of excitement/concern on that girl's face or the size of Willie's left python.

Would somebody dis Balmer accurately, please?

betelgeuse — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:54:27 -0000

Otherwise, I want to hear why we're not crapping ourselves with joy that this seemingly ideal 3-4 end, at a beefy 6'7" and reported to be a tackler, a sack threat, and a guy that regularly draws double o-line coverage, has been mocked all to often to be drafted after #23.

Pardon that run-on, but unless we're changing over to 4-3, this guy definately makes RE on my team. I haven't heard much talk about him, so I wonder what I'm missing. That hulk could eat lots of blocks for Timmons/Foote/Harrison to do some dirty work.

I'd provide a link to the nfl.com draft site where I did some research, but my browser's acting funky.

After reading about the RT prospect Gozer because Albert might not make it to #23, a negative was that he is very poor against edge rushers. How can one be an effective NFL tackle without that skill?

If he has to spend a year to learn it, let's pick a tackle in round 2.

Thanks, by the way, for that breakdown of what draft picks each active player comes from.

Lifer, I'd like to hear you're response, but i'll wait till pick #23:)

Rossum released

betelgeuse — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 03:19:14 -0000

I just read that our new old kick returner was released. Same with Kriewalt and Tuman.

Dropping Rossum shows our hand, and makes me think that means we'll definately pick up a WR or CB or somebody with real return talent.

Does this change anyone's perspective on draft choices? I doubt we'll go back to free agency for a return man unless we get stuck, again.