March 4, 2008

How Much?? Wait, You Mean the PITTSBURGH Steelers?

"This is about being a Pittsburgh Steeler for as long as I can be...I don't want to go anywhere."

- Ben Roethlisberger
You know what guys? That's the last god damn time I allow those clowns over at law school to assign something to be due when some crazy shit like that shit that happened yesterday is going to happen. (Huh?)

Jesus, man. Of all days, I had to have an appellate brief due yesterday?! Go figure. In case you're wondering what the hell I'm babbling about - I had an appellate brief due yesterday...And I spent the better part of the day working on it. Thus I was left with far too little time for the things that really matter - like eating. And working. And blogging about Big Ben's new contract and the Steelers signing a new RB. You know, the necessities.

So yeah, I'm playing catch up right now.

First things first - Sunday, March 2, 2008 was Big Ben Roethlisberger's 26th birthday. Monday, March 3, 2008 the Steelers gave him the best birthday present this side of a young asian prostitute Kristin Bell, Rachel Hunter, a jacuzzi full of vanilla pudding and a snorkel. That's right, $102 million new reasons to smile, approximately 36 million of which are guaranteed (that's a lot of reasons, dude).

The deal, which also came with a $25 million dollar signing bonus, locks Ben up for the next eight years and makes the Louisiana Purchase look like child's play. So congratulations to Ben! Dude, you now make a shitload of cash. Not as much as me. But you know, they weren't about to give you "blogging" money or anything...maybe someday though. So in conclusion, maybe now we can also replace the gelatinous mass that is Sean Mahan and consequently protect the $102 million investment we just made. Sounds so simple, doesn't it...

Second, the Steelers surprised us all by actually participating in free agency signing former Vikings third string RB/PR, Mewelde Moore. From what I can tell, and what little I remember of seeing him play, he seems like a poor man's Willie Parker. 5'11", 209 lbs., career average of just about 5 yards per carry. Fair enough. But he also should be pretty good at returning punts and/or kicks. And by "should be pretty good," of course I mean should be able to catch the ball when it is punted and or kicked to him...fingers crossed.

Finally, in other free agency news - OFTOT understands that the Browns are trying to arrange a visit for Clark Haggans...Ok. And also, the Cardinals just signed Tuman...Ok...Is it just me, or is it patently obvious that a couple of NFL franchises really really really want to be like the Steelers?

Nah, I must be imagining things...

Thoughts, Steeler Nation?

PS - Happy Birthday Cotter's Sister!!!

REFERENCE MATERIAL:
Big Ben Joins the $100 Million Club [Tribune-Review]
Steelers Need to Protect Their Investment In Big Ben [Fox Sports]
Steelers Sign Running Back [Post-Gazette]
Steelers Sign Mewelde Moore to 3 Year Deal [Associated Press]

Ballhype: hype it up!

8 comments:

tecmo said...

Happy B-day, Cotter's sister!

Is you hot?

Steve said...

I hadn't heard about the Moore signing. I'm pleased! He's more of a poor man's Marshall Faulk, aka Kevin, than FWP. He's a great receiver out of the backfield - he had over 4k yards rushing and 2k receiving in college.

Looks to me like the first step in protecting our investment. A dump off option.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree more with Quiet Strenth. MM is the dump off "get rid of the ball more quickly Ben" option. It should upgrade the WR's as teams will ahve to cheat up to keep an eye on him, upgrade the OL as Ben can dump instead of getting dumped and the RB and PR/KR for obvious reasons.

If you haven't seen it yet I gave 7 reasons why I loved the Ben signing on my blog http://www.5goldenrings.net

Cotter said...

tec ~ Watch it there killer, Cotter's sister is well trained in all major martial arts disciplines...not really though.

qs ~ Sounds good to me too. My question will be - how much are we really going to use him? Seems like it could be good, but as of now I think he's still #3 behind Willie and Najeh.

dave ~ You really think teams will cheat up to keep an eye on Mewelde Moore? I'd certainly be happy if they did, and he may be a Faulk/Westbrook type guy, but I think we'll have to wait and see...

Steve said...

I agree that he probably won't get a ton of carries, but I imagine that he'll be in for third and long situations. Najeh and FWP combined for 41 catches and 348 yards - I think it's possible we could see numbers like that out of Moore.

I don't want to set the bar too high or anything, but I'm just glad he could give Ben an easy out when the pressure's coming.

Cotter said...

Totally man! Should we actually use him, and he's successful in that role, I'll piss myself with excitement. Ok, it will probably be more like inebriation, but I'll still piss myself.

domski43 said...

Congrats Big Ben!
Quiet strength..Good point about Moore
Does anyone think the steelers will still target a running back in the draft??
Personally i think there is a good crop to choose from
Everyone knows we are going after o-line, but what other position could they go after?
I'm thinking DE, possibly FB, WR?

EUGENE(SP?) WILSON VISITING STEELERS!!! f the patricheats

Anonymous said...

I think we(the Steelers) ought to trade up/down/over for Owen Schmidt. He can play all the RB/FB roles, TE, punt in a pinch, has great speed and would be a great STer.

And a pure-pass-rush DE.

And MATT EFFING JONES!!! Get the Hundred Million Boy a "big, tall receiver" who was also a QB in college. Seriously.

Uf we do those things i see another run to the Big Game...