The following players were released by the Steelers: LB Patrick Bailey, CB Joe Burnett, S Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith, WR Tyler Grisham, DE Sunny Harris, C Justin Hartwig, WR Stefan Logan, DT Steve McLendon, FB Frank Summers, OG Kraig Urbik and DT Doug Worthington.

Looks like Dwyer, Sylvester and Butler all made it. Not suprised at all by this list as most of the mock 53 rosters were pretty close. I think both Dwyer and Butler made a strong push in the last 2 games to get on the final 53. Love the 2010 Steelers! Here we go Steelers here we go!!

QB: Charlie Batch, Dennis Dixon, Byron Leftwich
RB: Reshard Mendenhall, Mewelde Moore, Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer
TE: Heath Miller, Matt Spaeth, D.J. Johnson
WR: Hines Ward, Mike Wallace, Antwaan Randle El, Emmanuel Sanders, Antonio Brown, Arnaz Battle
OL: Max Starks, Chris Kemoeatu, Maurkice Pouncey, Trai Essex, Flozell Adams, Doug Legursky, Ramon Foster, Jonathan Scott, Tony Hills

DL: Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, Brett Keisel, Ziggy Hood, Chris Hoke, Nick Eason
OLB: James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley, Jason Worilds, Thad Gibson
ILB: James Farrior, Lawrence Timmons, Larry Foote, Keyaron Fox, Stevenson Sylvester
S: Troy Polamalu, Ryan Clark, Will Allen, Ryan Mundy
CB: Ike Taylor, Bryant McFadden, William Gay, Keenan Lewis, Crezdon Butler, Anthony Madison

K: Jeff Reed, Daniel Sepulveda, Greg Warren

The narrative is the same, a white privileged athlete takes advantage of an innocent college girl in a small bathroom. The DA holds a press conference to proclaim the athlete guilty in the court of public opinion. The mob demands justice and to send a message to all privileged athletes.

The reality is that Ben was not charged with a crime. The DA could not prove a crime was committed nor did he even have probable cause to arrest Ben on the allegations. There is no DNA evidence and the alleged victim could not recall the incident or if there was an incident due to her level of intoxication. When the alleged victim was first questioned, she stated that she was not raped. The "witnesses" that did come forward were mostly intoxicated and did not witness the alleged crime but were sure that a crime had been committed. Amongst the most preposterous allegations was that two police officers colluded in kidnapping and detaining the victim to facilitate the rape. If one were to objectively look at ALL the evidence, ALL witness statements and weigh the veracity of those witnesses and look at the physical evidence, can you really come to the conclusion that a rape had occurred in the manner that was told by the alleged victim's sorority sisters? Can you really believe that the officers aided in the rape by dragging the alleged victim to the bathroom as her friends claimed and blockade the door to keep her from escaping? The alleged victim stated that Ben penetrated her while she was sitting on the toilet. Ben is 6'4, is that even physically possible in a 5'x5' bathroom stall? And finally, where is the DNA evidence? So often DNA or lack there-of has been used to clear the wrongly persecuted, yet in this case, we are willing to ignore this physical evidence and deem a man guilty based on statements from intoxicated eyewitnesses that did not witness the commission of the crime.

Big Ben is guilty of many things but he has not been charged, prosecuted or convicted of rape. In the court of public opinion, shaped by the same narrative as the Duke La Cross case, he has already been deemed guilty by the angry mob. Rodger God'ell, by suspending him yesterday on these allegations and the mood of the public, has put himself on a slippery slope. No longer is the high bar of conviction a reason for him to take action but mere allegations, no matter how false, are justification enough. Yes, the NFL is a private entity and any player that wants to be employed by the NFL must abide by their rules, but by setting this precedent, those rules are a lot more vague today than they were yesterday.

I was listening to the radio this morning and they were talking about local product, Phillip Rivers and his new contract. The two DJs agreed that if Pee Rivers was playing for the Steelers, he'd have at least 2 Super Bowl rings.

I seem to recall that year in and year out, the Chargers are stacked with talent and never do much in the playoffs. They are everyones favorite each year to win it all and all they do is under achieve. So I went back and looked at the Pro Bowl rosters for the past 4 years and here are the number of Pro Bowlers on the Charger's roster vs Steelers' roster (in parenthesis).

2005 - 6 Pro Bowlers (4)

2006 - 6 Pro Bowlers (4)

2007 - 11 Pro Bowlers!!! (4)

2008 - 9 Pro Bowlers (6)

The past 2 years, the Chargers have been stacked with talent and they have not even sniffed the Super Bowl. You could argue that if Shawn Merriman was not hurt, they would have had 10 Pro Bowlers last year. Even without Merriman, the Chargers have sent twice as many pro bowlers to Hawaii as the Steelers in the past two years. So I think the question really needs to be turned around and asked, how many more Super Bowls Big Ben would have won if he were playing for the Chargers.

As John Madden said, it's not just how much you do, but when you do it. And Pee Rivers may have padded his numbers playing against the AFC West, but by no means is he clutch.

Is it me or do the football analyst on TV don't really watch football,  except for Mike Golic. Everyone is saying that the Steelers are a blitzing team and Warner will burn them just the way he burned Philly. The reality is, and only Golic seems to grasp this, is that the Steelers don't really blitz, they get pressure usually with only 4 sometimes 5 guys rushing through scheme or through mismatches that favor our rushers. That is why our pass defense has been so good, we have more people covering and STILL get pressure on the QB. Philly went all out and blitzed Warner with 5-6 guys and he burned them with the hot read passes. Technically, those hot reads won't be there for Warner against the Zone Blitz because we have people dropping back into the throwing lanes. This favors the Steelers and no-one in the media seems to grasps the concept of the Zone Blitz.

Is it me or does Limas Sweed hit harder then all the Raven's linebackers? Seeing his propensity to drop balls, maybe he can play opposite of Ike Taylor.

Speaking of the Ratbirds, they got what they deserved. A hard hitting game. I liked how Fart Scott got up celebrating the hit he put on Parker with the rest of the inmates. Uhm...Parker got up and kept playing so I guess it wasn't that big of a hit. I didn't see any Steelers celebrating after Ryan Clark's hit on McGayhee. Yeah, he was hurt, but doesn''t McGayhee come up limp on every other play, or is it just me?

I guess we'll never know who is the best Safety in the NFL since Ed Reed wasn't able to suit up for the game. At least I don't think he played cause I never heard his name.

So much for the unflappable Joe Flacco. Seriously, do we really want to see a Super Bowl where the team is afraid to throw the football? Talk about boring.

Was anyone really surprised that the Ratbirds came out throwing? I know the Steelers defense wasn't as they immediately dropped back into coverage. I know Flacco is the 2nd coming of Big Ben, but I didn't realize Cam Cameron was the 2nd coming of the Whiz!

What is it about the Steelers that grown men who don't even know each other are hugging one another after that Troy pick?

So now that Simmons is gone for the year (as most on this board have wanted, albeit not to injury), what is now the starting line up for the Offensive line?

Do they make the safe move and go with Stapleton at Right Guard or do they go for broke and as many here have suggested go with Starks at Right Tackle and move Colon to Right Guard?

So from left to right

Smith, Kemo, Hartwig, Colon, Starks !!! Man, for some reason, I think that would be a kick ass line. Thoughts?

With the performance of last week still fresh in everyone's mind, ie the domination of the Steelers and the egg that the brownies laid, I feel this could potentially be a trap game for us.

The browns are still dangerous on offense, and even though their secondary is depleted, if the players are not focused, we could have a big let down here. Not to mention special teams where they are still very dangerous.

Any thoughts?

Looking for a place to hang and watch the game this Sunday in Raleigh. Seeing if any of my fellow BTSC bloggers are in Raleigh.

Stupid 75 word minimum....the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Hmmm...the slow brownies have lazy dog pound fans...Slow drunk brownie fans ate the dog bones...the dog pound is full of lazy fat dudes...the slow bronw jumped over the lazy dog pound fan for a bone

Here is his bold predictions for 2008 for the Steelers

1. If it weren’t for the pitiful Ravens and Bengals, the Steelers would've made an even louder thud in the AFC North.

2. Ben Roethlisberger has a Pro Bowl season and puts up gaudy numbers but the sudden ineptitude of the Pittsburgh defense makes that a necessity.

3. It becomes clear that Willie Parker’s 75-yard touchdown run in Super Bowl XL was the height of his career, not a sign of things to come.

Ouch, and here is what he has to say about the Brownies (FYI, I think the color of kool-aid is purple no puke brown)

1. Between adding Donte Stallworth on offense and Shaun Rogers to the defense, Phil Savage gets support for Executive of the Year.

2. Brady Quinn gets more time under center than anyone intended, as Derek Anderson’s preseason injuries carry over into the regular season.

3. Despite winning the division, the Browns find themselves with a full-fledged QB controversy as Quinn’s performances make him a reasonable option.

Did anyone catch the Clowns last night? What a joke! This is the team that is suppoed to challenge the Steelers for the AFC North title? I think the most telling stat of the night was when they flashed record of the oppoentents the clowns beat (.3xxx) vs. the ones they lost to (.5xxx) which include 2 wins by the Stellars. As I have said before, they were the beneficiery of a last place schedule. They are playing a 2nd place schedule this year....I am also hearing excuses such as some of their players did not dress, like Shaun Rogers, and Bedwards. I think their biggest concern is really their cornerback play. 2 easy TDs by the G-men's 4th string WR. I can just see us linining up 4 wide and BB dropping bombs on them all day.

In other clown news, I heard the bungles are brining back chris henry after they relasesed him. Enough said.

Watch out for the Ravens!!

Cleveland is getting a lot of hype as the major challenger to the Steelers this year in the AFC North. I however, believe that it is just that, all hype. They are now playing a 2nd place schedule and not a last place schedule. Derek Anderson got exposed at the end of last year and they are not going to sneak up on anyone. I would say they remind me of the Bungles the year they tied the Steelers in the ACFN and ocho cinco procliamed a new error.

So, look for the ohio teams to battle for last place in the AFCN. Which leaves us with the Ravens....who I think will be the surprise team this year. They beat the Steelers last year with Troy Smith. The team is still fundementally sound, esp. on defense. They are playing a last place schedule, and there is rumor that Farve may wind up there.

Just one man's thoughts.