This Would've Been Better With Assless Chaps...

Quoth Greg Warren: "We got Deshea Townsend in there using a nail gun like he's in a western or something."

So, I figured this needed a photoshop.

And now, thanks to this post title, I'll forever be letting people down on Google.

Double WIN!

Check back tonight (or tomorrow) for something even more bad ass (hopefully).

Also...

It's now or never.

GO PENS!

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Taking Inventory...

Night terrors, here I come...

Ok, so here's the state of the Steelers affairs, as I currently understand it...

Tomlin is only "hopeful" that Ben can PRACTICE this week.

Willie Parker, despite reports of a torn labrum, will hopefully be back in practice tomorrow and in the lineup on Sunday.

The Steelers signed Fernando Bryant to the active roster and Ryan Mundy to the practice squad. Which, as Domski pointed out earlier, is particularly apropos because it appears Deshea Townsend will not play Sunday and McFadden's still out with the forearm injury.

It also "appears" that Heath Miller's going to miss Sunday's game, but The Wood should be back.

And as if the eight interceptions in the last three games aren't embarrassing enough, Steely McBeam is still in existence (see above).

The Steelers are 6-3. So are the Ravens.

So as I'll paraphrase from Matt this morning - Playoffs? Are we talking about playoffs?

Personally, I think the Steelers will be fine. I'm certainly not pleased with the Offensive inconsistency and predictability. But when it comes right down to it, I have faith in Tomlin, Big Ben, Hines and the rest of the squad to go strong down the stretch run even with all of the injuries.

Besides, the Defense is playing out of its mind. It sucks that neither Deshea (likely) nor McFadden will be playing on Sunday. But Willie Gay has been filling in nicely and at least we've got a veteran backup there behind him (in Fernando Bryant) as well as Special Teamer Anthony Madison.

So at this point, I'm cautiously confident.

That said, I'd love to know what you all think about how the rest of this season will play out for us...?

Oh No, We Suck Again!

Just kidding. But in all seriousness, I was pretty unimpressed with what both the offense and defense did against Washington this weekend. First of all, 0 points off our starters who played basically the whole first half (at least Ben did) is pretty piss poor.

Even beyond that, there were a number of things I noted in the first half of Saturday's game (which I watched Sunday...and yes, only the 1st half...what're you gonna do), including:

• Verron Haynes looked better than all running backs. How many times in the recent past have you been able to say that? 7 rushes for 30 yards. Not too shabby. Speaking of running backs though, Gary Russell, 7 rushes for 24 yards, not bad either.


• It's seconds from the end of the 2nd Quarter, we're on the 'Skins goal line, and we false start? I'm sure this was because Ben was trying to snap the ball and Mahan just didn't hear him, but blame is not important. What is, is that it happened and as a result we had to settle for a field goal. That just isn't going to fly in the regular season.


• McFadden getting beat by Brandon Lloyd for that TD in the 2nd quarter wasn't exactly a slick move. I don't believe we were in man coverage so maybe "getting beat" is the wrong term but however you slice it, McFadden was responsible for covering Lloyd and he obviously did not do that well enough. This was just disappointing for me because he has been so good lately and was jockeying for a starting job. Not that this will negatively impact that but just that it will be duly noted.


• Was anyone covering Chris Cooley at any point? After first 2 or 3 catches you'd think we'd pay more attention to a pro bowl TE. Just so we're clear, Cooley (the TE) finished with 5 catches for 60 yards! You think Todd Heap will do any worse? Kellen Winslow? We need to be able to keep these guys under control. Didn't look promising on Saturday.


• On a brighter note, the punt coverage looked pretty good and Willie Reid didn't fumble. Actually, he had 2 kick returns totaling 37 yards. Hey, could be worse.


• O-Line still does not look like it's there. As Ed Bouchette pointed out in his recap, not having Marvel Smith at left tackle is a big problem, the only solution to which seems to be moving Alan Faneca into that spot. Max Starks clearly is not able to play there (nor is he really able to play his true position but that's another story) and Trai Essex did not exactly impress on Saturday. So that's one problem. But generally we just looked week in pass protection. That's gotta get better and fast.


• On another bright note, Santonio looked great as the starting split end. 2 catches for 51 yards in limited action is alright by me. He showed some of that speed we wanted to see and clearly he's going to become quite a weapon. Rock n' Roll.


• William Gay had yet another INT. Kid is a machine! Getting him in the 5th round seems to be a steal. Sure, we could've taken Revis in the 1st round but apparently we may have made another great decision. Gay has been exceptional this preseason...whereas Revis has yet to play (or did he play the other night? I didn't really watch that game).


• I think I might owe DeShea Townsend an apology. I've been touting McFadden as the right option at starting corner opposite Ike Taylor, and saying how DeShea is older, and a little on the short side. But who cares if he's making plays. From what I saw, he had a nice sack and played some pretty nice coverage. Overall he looked good. Cheers DeShea!


• Woodley continues to kick ass, with a sack and two solo tackles in Saturday's game. Going to be a tough decision where to put him this year. He's still young but he's already shown he's ready to run with the big boys. I'm curious to see where this nets out...


• Another dominant force was Sepulveda. 50 yard punt avg! I can dig that...I mean hopefully we won't be punting all that often, but if we have to, I wouldn't want anyone else performing that duty but SEPULVEDA!


• Last but certainly not least -- No TDs? None? We better get ourselves together. No TDs against Cincy and Baltimore will = no win. Especially since our first team offense couldn't even get a score out of an entire half of play!

So all in all not the best effort we've put forth. Still, this coming week is another test, and hopefully we will use the results of this game to correct mistakes and come out stronger on Sunday against cross-state rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. What did you all think of the game? Any other spots of promise? How did the 2nd half go? I only saw the first couple minutes...

Movin' On Up...

Good news on a Thursday morning! Mike Tomlin announced two fairly significant modifications to the team's starting lineup for this weekend's game against the Washington Redskins.

Among the "improvements" (relative term of course) are -

• Bryant McFadden starting at right Corner over Deshea
• Santonio Holmes starting at Split End over Cedrick "The Entertainer" Wilson

What this means for the longer term is anybody's guess, that is at least with any degree of accuracy, but I'm pretty sure it means Tomlin is willing to give these guys a shot at starting if they're able to perform when given the chance, NOW. In my opinion, and I'm sure I'm not alone here, both of these are inevitable "changes." McFadden and Santonio are the future, while DeShea (no offense to him) is definitely the past and Wilson was never really meant to play that central a role in the Steelers passing attack. He has made great contributions thus far, but there's a reason we drafted Santonio so high last year.

Something to keep an eye on...

Free Deshea Townsend...

Too late, they already did.

A report late yesterday afternoon stated that Deshea, who was being charged with punching a guy in the face (anyone know what that qualifies as under our legal system? Beuller? - I kid, it's simple assault, everyone knows that...), was exonerated of all charges (if you can use exonerated in such a benign case).

As the story was told in court, one of Deshea's "associates", if you will (perhaps part of his entourage or "crew" as they say in the streets) was accosted by the alleged victim who he then punched in the face while Deshea was in another part of the club.

So for the time being, Deshea is a free man...

The question still remains though...how long will Chris Henry be?