Well as the title suggest, I meant to use this fanpost as updates on who got signed where, I just thought it'd be better if we could gather all of that information on one page.  Another reason for starting this post was to use it as a guide to who we might be playing next year, player wise. So I'll start us off:

Brian Dawkins, to the Denver Broncos, will definetely see him next season playing against us

Kerry Collins, to the Titans, will see him next season too, unless Young starts

Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Bengals to Buffalo, so we won't be seeing him

Jabar Gaffney, to Denver, another potential receiver for Cutler

Sean McHugh, back with Pittsburgh, sorry if someone already posted this

So anyways, if you guys want, use this post to address random signings that might affect next season or if they didn't make it on to the front page or a fanshot/fanpost.

There is only one person on the Arizona Cardinals that scares me.  Larry Fitzgerald.  I just got my butt kicked in Madden 2009 by this beastly receiver and I have to say, he's really good.  Now I know you might say Madden is just a game or I suck at Madden, or whatever.  Still it's not just Madden, it's in real life as well.  He is simply one the best receivers in the league. 

In this season alone, he has recorded 1431 yards and 12 TDs.  Those are pretty good numbers if I'm not mistaken, they have helped him reach the #2 spot in Receiving yards for the season.  However, he already has 419 yards and 5 TDs in the postseason.  Wow.  He's had beack-to-back-to-back 100 yd games in the run towards the Super Bowl and that makes me wonder, can we stop him?  Now, before you brand me as a Larry Lover, I'll tell you I'm not. Our defense is PHENOMENAL.  We have stopped the likes of Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Antonio Gates, Santana Moss. They're all great receivers in their own right, but have we faced a receiver like Fitzgerald?  One thing that worries me greatly is covering this guy one-on-one. 

I've noticed that the spotlight is on Ike Taylor, who will be covering Fitzgerald, yet something bothers me about this matchup.  I remember during the SD game, the opening drive for the Chargers, that Ike was covering Jackson and considering that it was only Vincent Jackson, whom i think is mediocre compared to Fitzgerald, I think Ike is gonna have some trouble. I just hope he brings his A-game because we're gonna need it.

Yes, I know I'm going to take a lot of heat or backing him up yet I feel I have to.  Seriously, I really don't think we're being as fair to him as we should be.  Don't get me wrong, that drop was HORRIBLE.  I was crying inside after he decided to pull a fake injury.  It was a HUGE drop, but you have to remember, we were playing in the AFC CHAMPIONSHIP game, and against who? The Baltimore Ravens, they are definitely NOT a pushover team.  I mean look at what happened to Mendenhall, obviously as a rookie, Limas had to be thinking, " Oh shoot, that could've been me."  Cut the guy some slack.  So now he's playing in a game for all the chips against one of the most physical teams in the NFL, I don't blame him for being a bit nervous. 

He's still a rookie!! I think we should acknowledge that.  Why don't the Ravens throw out Flacco because he had a 18 passer rating against us?  Well Limas dropped a ball against the #2 ranked pass defense, woopdidoo. Okay, so now I have to counter argue the fact that he was wide open.  Uhh, I'm not a psychic but I can pretty much speculate that he was pretty darn scared.  Somebody pointed out in another post that Lynn Swann only had 11 catches in his rookie year, yet they still went to the Super Bowl right? I see the same situation here.  Give Sweed time and we're gonna call him "Greedy Sweed" 'cause he'll catch everything, or so I hope.

I'm kinda tired of people giving him a hard time. It was a mistake, a rookie mistake.  People have said that it was a missed TD, and I agree 100% but how bout the Nate TD that was lost in the regular season by a stupid flag by Colon [ sorry Colon you stood out to me the most, I really don't know if it was you or not ] or by holding or something?  Did we give the culprits the same treatment that we're giving to Sweed?  Guys relax, give him another season and if he still sucks, I will openly admit that I was wrong and that I was an idiot for believing in him.

[ Is that a drop? ]

Take a moment to see some stats:

He caught his first ball when we played Cincy in Week 7, so he had about 6 weeks of buttwarming on the bench incl. the BYE but he caught one ball for 11 yards, which i think is decent for a #4 receiver on a team that insists on running the ball.  Next game against NYG, he caught 3 passes for 28 yards, doing a little bit better no?  The next game he where he caught a ball, 2 actually, was against Cincy again.  So basically, he hasn't seen real teams except for the Giants where he put up semi-decent numbers for the position he's in.  Don't anyone try to blame that pick on him, Ben under-threw him and we all know it.  And next he caught 2 more balls against Baltimore in the postseason, for 20 yards.

Give him time & he'll do more of this...

Hey guys, I'm totally ecstatic about our win today, it was absolutely amazing.  I ran around doing a victory dance when Troy scored on that INT. Now, I'm enjoying my pizza and a thought came to my mind.  Should I get a jersey?  My immediate answer was yes, but from where? So now I ask BTSC, where can i get an authentic jersey that will gain the envy of my friends? I want a really super cool jersey of either Heath or Troy, something like the 75th year anniversary ones.  So anybody got ideas where I can find these jerseys? Authenticity, for me, is the key thing.

Thanks in advance, and guys, I'm gonna tell you what's for dinner in two  weeks... more birds! =]

I just read an article about how his helmet didn't fit right because his head was swollen.  He also mentioned headaches and we all know that headaches are NOT good.  I don't know if this is something we should worry about because I doubt that BB will not play on Sunday.  I just hope this doesn't affect him.  Anyways here's the link.  As long as we get that win against the Chargers, and regain some momentum, maybe we might have less difficulty through the postseason? Just to let you guys know, I think the whole AFC West might be rooting for the Chargers to win this one.  I know for a fact that some Raider fans want San Diego to come out on top.  Anyways, that's totally irrelevent information but it would be wrong not to expect some trash-talking in the next couple of days from not only San Diego but maybe even their whole division.

I still say we win 20-6

Go Steelers!

To get straight to the point, Willie Colon sucks. He hurts our team more than he helps it. Seriously, he can't block so he decides to hold & get penalized. He himself knows he can't block so he decides to get a jump start & draws another flag for a false start. This guy does not deserve to be part of the Black & Gold in 2009 or for the rest of eternity, but still I'd like to share with BTSC his amazing journey of 2008 season.

Willie got his start all the way back in Week 3 against our dear old friends, the Philadelphia Eagles.  We were down 10-3 & had just gotten a 1st down, but Mr. Colon here wanted to get the edge against the defense that dominated him all night and so he gets a False Start penalty which puts us in a 1st & 15 situation. Ben gets a little jumpy and goes long but gets intercepted.  He was probably still a bit dizzy from the sack that Willie allowed two plays earlier. We forward to the 4th quarter and we're facing a 3rd & 7 but Ben gets sacked for a loss of 5, and once again #74 decides to hold, but still allows the sack. Good one, Willie!

So next week, Balitimore comes over to visit.  We are down 13-3 facing a 3rd & 11 but Mr. Colon loves Baltimore and decides to embrace the B-more D-line before the snap, oh no Willie that's a false start, tack on another 5 yards and eventually... we punt.

Week 5 comes along and we go to JAX for the weekend, Willie is anxious, he doesn't remember if he got any penalties last season in that playoff game. He decides to get right to it in the 1st quarter and brings about another false start. We are now at yet another 1st & 15 but luckily Ben hooks up with Nate and it's only 2nd & 5, and we score a FG at the end of the drive! Uh oh Willie's mad, how could we score, even after the penalty?? And so he gets his revenge right after a 20-yd pass to Heath Miller and negates the play by holding. Thanks Willie!

BYE week? Willie's sad, he can't hold anybody. So he waits... until week 8! Willie's upset it's been 3 weeks since his last flag so he decides to crank it up a notch He waits for the oppurtune moment right when Nate The Great gets a 53 yard TD, Mr. Colon smiles sinisterly as he high-fives the refs for his holding call. Great timing Willie!  Hold on though we're up 14-9 Willie doesn't like that, so he decides to hold again, Ben now decides to cooperate with Willie and throws a beautiful interception two plays later. Go Willie!

Willie debuts again against San Diego.  He's waited another 3 wks for his chance to see some yellow flags. He ses an oppurtunity as we're down 7-2, this time it's not holding or a false start, it's an illegal formation! WOW, switching it up eh Willie? Nice! But even after Mr. Colon's efforts, he sees them wasted as Hines Ward basks in the glory of his 30-yd reception. Willie mutters angrily to himself, and he's mad, how come everybody else contributed more towards the 115 penalty yards and he only got 5? He plans out his next act of revenge but he realizes that he has to somehow get flags without Mike Tomlin's noticing because Mike Tomlin's been telling him that he won't be able to play anymore if he gets more flags. So he silently promises to himself that he will attempt to get at least one more penalty before the end of the season and will apologize to Mike Tomlin, because Mike Tomlin is a nice guy, and so he waits...

All the way until week 15 when he sees his Baltimore buddies again! He's overjoyed to see them and gives props to Ray Lewis for that brutal hit he gave to Rashard in the last game.  Secretly, Willie is still mad about the reception that Hines Ward had so he tells Ray Lewis to fulfill his bounty and he will repay them with penalties. He does so quickly in the game with a false start, because he simply cannot contain his love for the defense of the Baltimore Ravens. He succeeds as we punt the ball away on the next play. But as the game progresses Willie sees that nobody has hit Hines yet! He decides to take another chance and holds again and we punt, Willie is hoping that his penalties will be enough to trade for the bounty hit, but at the end of the game he is disappointed and starts to cry as he realizes Ray Lewis already has an intimate relationship with Ed Reed and never cared about the bounty in the first place.

Willie is now deeply angered, he decides that  he will get as many penalties as he can and in the game against the #1 seed in the AFC, he gets a false start call late in the game, the fact that we were losing got him a bit excited and he jumped the gun again. By now everybody hates Willie Colon but Willie Colon looks at himself as a savior of the Pittsburgh Steelers, nobody in Steelers history could possibly draw as many penalities as he did.  He decides to go out with a bang and nullifies another Nate TD, this one for 41-yds, by holding yet again.

Mr. Colon now takes pride in every step he takes, he holds the title of being the man with the most penalties, and man is he proud of it, he only hopes that his legacy continues throughout the playoffs and into the Super Bowl, he know that we will win but he will try with his arsenal of penalties to make that dream unattainable. 

via i57.photobucket.com

Ben: Augh dammit, again Willie?!

Like every Steeler fan, I want us to beat the Tennessee Titans and after seeing how relaxed our D is in that ESPN photo shoot video, I'm thinking the odds are in our favor.  Now, just to be nice, the Titans are a good football team, it shows in their record, but i think LeBeau has all too much experience with how to stop the run.  Also, I think Farrior and Foote will not only do great against the Titans run duo, but they'll stop them in their tracks.  Combine that with pressure from Deebo and Wood from the outside and Mr. Collins is gonna start going to the air a lot more and once again we have that area covered with our one and only Troy.  So pretty much I think that we have this game on lock and we'll be the AFC #1 seed by Sunday afternoon, but there is that little voice in my head that asks the question, " How will the offense do?"  My first reaction is always that 92 yard drive in Baltimore last week, so I do have faith in our offense, but I do hope that they're bringing it this week.  I kinda want them to get jealous of the D's attention so that they step up even more.  Hopefully, Big Ben leads that offense so we make it to the SB which I think will result in our sixth ring.

Anyways, I've noticed, along with every one else, that the offense is coming back, little by little and mostly, I think it's because they practice with the #1 Defense everyday.  I know they could be better, maybe LeBeau should give Arians a few  pointers so that Arians can learn how to confuse the D, but the bottom line, we're gonna do great in Tennessee, the Defense is gonna be pumped because the whole world, and not just Steeler fans, recognizes their talent, and the Big Ben is gonna give his Offense a little motivational speech on how they should compliment the best D in the league by being on par with them.  I know they're a long ways away from being the best O in the NFL but they're up there with the rest of them.

To conclude this post, I'm gonna say that Tennessee is gonna try to smash but they'll crash into Farrior and Foote and maybe even Timmons for a little bit.  Furthermore, I don't think they'll score a touchdown at all, the only points they get are through FGs and if they do, by some miracle, get a touchdown, it will be in the 4th quarter but it won't be enough to win the game.

We win it, 20-6. Go Steelers!

Nate Washington anybody? OK, so there have been some cases where he's dropped easy TD passes in earlier games or just wasn't there to grab it, but I have to admit, the guy has a lot of heart.  Let's rewind back to the fourth quarter of today's game.  Nate Washington gets a reception of 16 yards and gets pulled down by Ken Hamlin at the 6.  Did anybody notice the pain Nate was in?  I sure did, now the way he popped back up? WOW!  It takes a man to just jump back up after having your left leg being twisted around like 270 degrees.  AND even before that he had a reception for 21 yards.  So out of a 67 yard drive, Nate contributed a total of 37 yards, slightly more than half the distance AND it resulted in the only offensive touchdown that we scored.  I just want to take this time to admire that drive, except for that stupid 4th and inches but anyway, if we were to dedicate this drive to someone, I'm sure Nate would be a top contender.  What do you guys think?

I believe that Heath Miller is one of the toughest players on our offense.  Actually, I want to take it even further and say that he is one of the toughest in the league.  I think it's good that we have a tight end who can catch the ball and actually HOLD ON to it.  I don't think that all these passes from BB to Heath would exist if we didn't have have Heath but the likes of Kellen Winslow or whomever.  No matter how many mistakes our offense makes, I'm still proud to have the players we have.  They make up for it with their toughness.  Like I said in beerman's post ,that hit from Lewis Sanders left Sanders kneeling over like he was blasted by a torpedo or something.  I'm proud of Heath, he's a beast in his own right.  Sure, tight ends such as Antonio Gates or Tony Gonzales consistently get receptions and yards but I still wouldn't trade Heath for them.  He helps us out in those tight situations and I think that's enough for him to be recognized for.

Lol, yes, I am a huge fan of Heath's [ particularly because his birthday is the same day as mine ] as I am of Troy, hence the screen name =].  Anyways, this is my first ever fanpost, my apologies if I made any mistakes of any sort.  I don't want to get dissed as often as beerman does, no offence.