Five things to watch in today's kerfuffle (Rich)
1. The elevation of Big Ben's passes. As Weegie suggests, this could be a problem, and everytime a pass flies just over the head of Randle El or Wilson, the erstwhile Mr. Burress will be the first name out of color commentators' craws. (Not the craw, their craws.) Just remember that contrary to what they will be telling you: (a) Hines Ward has been our #1 WR for years, not The Tall Guy, and (b) Ben's most prolific passing game came against the Giants last year, with Plex injured, playing for neither team.
2. The rook. We like the Heath Bar. We fully expect that he's a 50-60 catch guy, at least next year if not this. Again piggy-backing on Weege, it's entirely possible for a TE to disappear after one game, but it's more often because the TE caught 3 for 35 yards and a TD on opening day, and fans overreacted because the Steelers don't never throw to the TE, they just rarely do. Tuman and Riemersma combined for 5 TDs last year, and Tuman is Jerome Bettis's favorite receiver. If Heath has the proverbial 3 for 35 and a TD, then maybe he's not catching many this year. But if instead Heath has 5 for 52 and either Tuman or Kranchick has 1 for 5 and a TD, then the TE renaissance may well be underway.
3. The O-line. Do Parker, Verron, and (gulp) Herron have running room? Does Ben have time to throw? Does the right side continue its reasonably solid preseason? Do Jeff Hartings' knees finally give up the ghost? If theses guys are good, the offense will do just fine despite itself.
4. The secondary. Having more faith in McNair, Chow and Bennett than Mr. Thompson, I'm concerned about this. We should have a deep corps of corners to play the nickel, but I don't know if anyone matches up well with Bennett deep. We're going to have to hit 20 to win today, not 7 in my book. This is subject to revision if the Titan offensive line collapses like (Editor's note: the joke that was going here has been marked "TOO SOON").
5. The long-snapping. My personal worst case scenario involves hearing Craig's computer playing calliope music every time we attempt a punt or FG, with special teams hijinks leading to one of those games where you give up 150 yards, rack up 400, and still look up late in the game and are inexplicably trying to come back from 11 down.
Honorable mention: Does Casey Hampton come back from knee surgery to be a destructive force or a Steed-esque solid plugger? Is Sean Morey playing linebacker by the end of the game? Will Phast Willie run wild? Is Pacman Jones the victim of a vicious Hines Ward block, and does someone else beat me to the "Act 1: They Meet" joke? Do we get Gus Johnson and Brent Jones despite going 15-1?
--rich erenberg
2. The rook. We like the Heath Bar. We fully expect that he's a 50-60 catch guy, at least next year if not this. Again piggy-backing on Weege, it's entirely possible for a TE to disappear after one game, but it's more often because the TE caught 3 for 35 yards and a TD on opening day, and fans overreacted because the Steelers don't never throw to the TE, they just rarely do. Tuman and Riemersma combined for 5 TDs last year, and Tuman is Jerome Bettis's favorite receiver. If Heath has the proverbial 3 for 35 and a TD, then maybe he's not catching many this year. But if instead Heath has 5 for 52 and either Tuman or Kranchick has 1 for 5 and a TD, then the TE renaissance may well be underway.
3. The O-line. Do Parker, Verron, and (gulp) Herron have running room? Does Ben have time to throw? Does the right side continue its reasonably solid preseason? Do Jeff Hartings' knees finally give up the ghost? If theses guys are good, the offense will do just fine despite itself.
4. The secondary. Having more faith in McNair, Chow and Bennett than Mr. Thompson, I'm concerned about this. We should have a deep corps of corners to play the nickel, but I don't know if anyone matches up well with Bennett deep. We're going to have to hit 20 to win today, not 7 in my book. This is subject to revision if the Titan offensive line collapses like (Editor's note: the joke that was going here has been marked "TOO SOON").
5. The long-snapping. My personal worst case scenario involves hearing Craig's computer playing calliope music every time we attempt a punt or FG, with special teams hijinks leading to one of those games where you give up 150 yards, rack up 400, and still look up late in the game and are inexplicably trying to come back from 11 down.
Honorable mention: Does Casey Hampton come back from knee surgery to be a destructive force or a Steed-esque solid plugger? Is Sean Morey playing linebacker by the end of the game? Will Phast Willie run wild? Is Pacman Jones the victim of a vicious Hines Ward block, and does someone else beat me to the "Act 1: They Meet" joke? Do we get Gus Johnson and Brent Jones despite going 15-1?
--rich erenberg
posted at 11:05 AM
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