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...

Things I've Been Neglecting, May 2 Edition...

With all the draft analysis, and the lack of free time to blog recently, I've been neglecting some key pieces of Steeler news. This is my attempt to catch up (bear with me, it might be short).

First order of business - the Steelers have a new mascot, and he needs a name. I don't even know where to begin with this guy. A lot of people have been saying that he bears a striking resemblance to our recently departed coach, affectionately referred to as "The Chin". And this guy sure has a mountain of a chin, but somehow I don't think naming him Bill Cowher will quite do. Anyone have any ideas? I keep drawing a blank. It's probably going to end up being something stupid that rhymmes anyway (Ten Bucks says it's like "Steel Mill Will").

But I digress. Next, despite some less than impressive play last year (but plenty of Chunky Chilli commercial appearances), Max Starks got a one year contract extension worth 1.85 million last Friday. Chances are (as the article indicates), this was a move designed to force any team who might want to trade for him (Arizona Poaching Cardinals, ahem ahem) to give up their first round pick to get him. Nonetheless, it gives Starks one more year to either put up or shut up. He's got all the tools, but like Plaxico Burress, we're just waiting for him to use them. If not, after the season, sayonara Maxwell (though deep down I want to see him kick ass and re-up the contract next season).

Last but not least on my hit parade - we are now (not that we ever ceded this title) once again "Linebacker Paradise." The Steelers staff showed their love for the position by drafting two of the top prospects in the first two rounds of this past weekend's draft. Those individuals being Lawrence Timmons and Lamar Woodley (see this entry for more). Who will assume the role of Joey Porter incarnate? After watching the Post-Gazette's video of Timmons' first Steeler press conference, it seems like the media wants him to be the guy (but with a little more tact of course). He's a soft spoken guy, but was probed about being a leader on defense. Seemed like their was a lack of confidence in him saying what needed to be said. As for Woodley, from what I'm getting, it sounds like he might be the heir apparent to Peezy's swagger. Can't fault a guy who "hates to lose," though I'm curious to know what this so-called "attitude" he has looks like...

There you have it, certainly wasn't short. What can I say, I'm a long winded type of guy...

Don't Cry for Me Patrick Willis...aka 2007 NFL Draft Retrospective Part II

I guess that subject should probably read "Don't Cry Over The Steelers Not Getting Patrick Willis", but who's gonna split hairs?

For the sake of appropriateness, let's talk Steelers draft picks first. Going into the day, I was a little worried that we would draft a CB with our first pick (at #15), and further that we would be so microcosmically (probably just invented a word there) considering Pitt's Darelle Revis (nothing personal Darelle). So as things unfolded in the first round, and Patrick Willis/Adam Carriker came off the board just a few picks before 15, I was really worried Revis would fall right into our laps and we'd abandon what I thought was the best use of our Round 1 pick - Linebacker. As it were, the Jets traded up to get Revis right before we were on the clock, and I felt somewhat relieved.

Then we picked OLB Lawrence Timmons. Again, nothing personal to Timmons, but the more I thought about it, the more I wished we had taken Revis. Timmons is a great pickup, but Revis is a top prospect at CB and has great pro potential. So while I don't think we should have had to pick a CB (since Ike Taylor, DeShea Townsend and Bryant McFadden really are good enough in my opinion), when a guy like Revis is available to you (though he wasn't due to a daft Jets move), you kind of have to take him.

Oh well, what's done is done. Timmons, no doubt, will be a great OLB for us and hopefully will be a force on Special Teams until he's ready to step into a starting role.

But let's talk about the other Steelers picks - so far we've gotten LaMar Woodley, DE out of Michigan with the 2nd round pick and Matt Spaeth, TE out of Minnesota with the 3rd round pick. As far as Woodley goes, I think its a great pick up. We were looking to get an end this year, and I trust the Steelers draft prowess enough to know that Woodley must have been a great value in the 2nd round. Plus I'm sure Tomlin is happy because he got his "tweener" - a guy who can play DE or OLB (though after picking Timmons, I gotta think...what?) Here's what I don't quite get - why would we draft ANOTHER TE with the 3rd round pick? We've got Heath Miller, who obviously is among the leagues best TEs, and for blocking purposes (mostly), we've still got Jerame Tuman. So I'm not sure why we'd pass up drafting maybe a backup RB, or O-lineman for a third TE prospect???

I suppose I will have to put my faith in the Steelers on this one and trust that they know what they're doing (not exactly a proverbial "leap" of faith, so I am overall happy with our progress thus far).

On a seperate note - kudos to the Steelers for looking at the Big Ten big-time(pun intended) when analyzing talent...now if only we could've found a role for Paul Posluszny!

Hopefully more to come as the Steelers continue to select...