A little comedy, a little weightlifting (Weegie)

Okay, that just sucked.

I kept records during the game marking a plus for a good action and a minus for bad action, I'll admit that I may have missed some things, and not all things are equal, even if they're scored that way. (For instance the interception by Polamalu gets one plus, while the play before where he leapt over the pile also got one, just because I'd love to think that that, which looked absolutely like something that would scare the opposition pantsless would have affected the next play.) Let's look at the numbers:
OFFENSE
Ben -3 (2 good/5 bad)
Bettis -1 (0/1)
Randle El 0 (1/1)
St. Pierre 0 (1/1)
Kranchick +2 (2/0)
Rasby +1 (1/0)
Haynes +1 (1/0)
Parker +1 (2/1)
Reed -1 (0/1)
Essex -1 (0/1)
Morey -2 (2/4)
Gibson 0 (1/1)
Washington +1 (1/0)
Wilson +1 (1/0)
Herron -1 (0/1)

Defense
Polamalu +3 (3/0)
Haggans +2 (2/0)
ASmith +1 (1/0)
Hope +2 (2/0)
Harrison +2 (2/0)
Logan -1 (1/2)
Colclough +1 (2/1)
Hampton 0 (1/1)
Townshend 0 (1/1)
Williams -1 (0/1)
Wallace +3 (3/0)
Farrior +1 (1/0)
Taylor -2 (0/2)
Stanley -1 (0/1)
Frazier +1 (1/0)
Jackson 0 (1/1)

So what are we to make of this debacle, and yes, I did use that term, because it fits, for probably the exact wrong reasons everyone thinks.

1. The argument that's being kicked around the sports channels is that Hines' holdout has affected the Steelers badly by knocking everyone out of sync. This just screams of the media looking to keep itself relevant by creating a crazy enough theory. I can't see this being a theory that lasts into the regular season, whether they fix it or not.
2. Ben is out of sync. It's not the recievers, it's Ben. There's only one way to cure this and that's reps in game. Does this mean that Pittsburgh's favorite miracle play, The Agony of St. Backup, will take another turn? Oh, yeah. It's Pittsburgh. (Yes, that could have been the Agony of St. Pierre, but that would have been too cute. By a half and an overtime period.)
3. Alonzo Jackson did get a good play off tonight, forcing a bad pass and laying out Jason Campbell. However, I still don't think he's going to stay. First of all, he seemed to be running around like the special kid. We've simplified his entire playbook to "GO GET THE BALL!" and well, he just runs after the ball, no matter where it goes, he can't catch up to it. I've never seen a Steeler so consistently be the last guy on the pile. This combined with the fact that he seems to have the turning radius of a taxiing 767 means he's being knocked out of position due to his own momentum.
4. The Wallace kid seems to be able to play. He is the depth we were looking for at LB.
5. Hope's +2 is decieving, both of those were on plays where he made the stop, but only because a lot of other people could have made the stop but failed.
6. Okay, Staley is out for a while, Bus is now dinged in a very dangerous spot in the undercarriage. If this continues into the season, oh we are screwed. The prevailing wisdom is start Parker, but then the prevailing wisdom turns around in mid-thought and realizes that Parker is so good that he takes us out of the slow grind offense which allows us to be dominant. The reasonable solution I can see out of this quandary is the Morris/Pegram rotation. Rotate them on drives, if we go up two scores, full Haynes, if we go down two scores, full Parker.
7. Morey demonstrated to me why he can't make this team as the fifth wideout tonight. The position he plays is cruise missile, he gets downfield and locks on to a target, but anything you throw at the missile bounces off. Great for special teams, but let's not kid ourselves that that's a viable recieving threat.
8. I think Mays was injured, but Gibson may have pushed him out the door tonight, not that Gibson was anything good, just that he was able to use his height and leaping to get a pass, and almost get the other one thrown to him. Yeah, he's still a project, but if Ben doesn't get it back down, we'll need somebody on a ladder to pull it down.
9. Look at that Kranchick catch passes. Freaky. Do you realize we had two consecutive plays where the TE caught a pass? And it wasn't even the same TE?
10. Herron didn't look nearly as good as his extended action in the last game indicated.
11. If I'm Cowher, and having seen this, I deliver this message to my first team offense. You're on that field against Carolina until you score a touchdown. Enough's enough, you have one game to get it together. We basically know our roster, there's only about four slots still up for grabs, and those are defense and special teams. You guys have to make it work.

--Weegie Thompson

Madden Ought Six (Rich)

Some writer for the Post-Gazette has his panties in a bunch because of a supposed lack of respect for Big Ben from the producers of Madden '06. If you read the article, it turns out he's ranked 12th overall out of all NFL QBs. I love Ben as much as the next yinzer, but c'mon. Is he going in the top 12 in your fantasy league? Didn't think so. And Madden at heart is a version of fantasy football.

I do take umbrage with one thing about Madden '06, though. If you watch the commercial featuring the Donovan McNabb bird's-eye view, you'll notice he's playing the Steelers. If you're a picky freak like me, you'll notice that in the very first shot, there's a #59 charging McNabb. Now any Steeler nerd worth his salt knows that while Ernie Stautner's #70 is the only number the club has officially retired, by some bizarre coincidence certain numbers from the Super Bowl era have never again seen the light of day: #12, #32, #52, #58, #75, and of course, #59. Unless Dobre Shunka himself showed up to film the commercial, #59 should not show up in black and gold--not even in an ad snippet.

--Rich Erenberg

Projected Roster with Two Preseason Games to Go (Weegie)

We had exchanged these beforehand and even now I'm starting to question my own list, but here goes:

QB(3): Ben, Maddox, St. Pierre
RB(5): Bettis, Staley, Parker, Haynes, Krieder
WR(6): Ward, Randle El, Wilson, Gibson, Washington, Mays
TE(3): Miller, Kranshick, Tuman
OL(9): Hartings, Faneca, Smith, Simmons, Starks, Essex, Okobi, Kemoeatu, Jones
ST(3): Reed, Gardocki, SCHNECK
DL(7): Kimo, Smith, Hampton, Keisel, Kirschke, Hoke, Nua
LB(8): Foote,Porter, Farrior, Haggans, Harrison, Kriewaldt, Wallace, Frazier
DB(9): Townsend, Polamalu, Hope, Colclough, McFadden, Taylor, Stuvaints, Logan, Iwouma

The notes on these:
QB--We see who we can deal to the Bears, it's entirely possible Maddox goes if the deal is right, but I have to think it needs to be very right.
RB--Herron can make it on this team, but I think he has to go through the practice squad to do it. He looks like he could get the tough yards for us, but that may be the effect of him making all his yards look tough. Haynes being a free agent next season also makes this more interesting than it should be.
WR--When I sent this list two days ago, I was more or less figuring that the guy on the bubble was Mays, as Gibson makes Mays' body type redundant on the team, but I figured also that they'd keep Mays for his last year because he knows the system. The recent reports out of camp (which I should take like reports out of the Kremlin circa Andropov) make this more interesting as Gibson sounds like he's not grasping the system well. Now I have to figure that Gibson's more safe since we took a size hit losing Plex, but the example of Danny Farmer is well remembered. And one of the reasons we cut a fourth-round wideout that last time was we didn't want to have to teach two rookies the position, and Nate Washington has looked quality. Still I'll stick with my gut. Meaning Morey is probably out.
TE--With Cushing trying to move to fullback, I think that dooms him making this team, but almost guarantees he's on Kevin Colbert's speed dial on the first injury at either RB or TE. So it's neither a dumb nor smart move. Wow, Marco Battaglia's still on the training camp roster.
OL--I figure Brooks could be the tenth man here, should Nua and Roper both go practice.
DL--Nua could make practice squad or make it here, it's all a question of whether you want the depth here, at OL, or at LB
LB--When I was penciling in my lines here, I had a hard time figuring out past 7 Linebackers. I had forgotten Kreiwaldt, and then I really started panicking because I realized there was a depth question here. I think Jackson goes away, and Roper isn't an impossibility here. Incidentally, Dedrick Roper just completely sounds like he should be the IBF number 3 ranked Lightheavyweight contender.
DB--I want to see somebody, anybody step up and move past Willie Williams. My projecting his being cut, and not immediately replacing him with Tyrone Carter is probably running counter to the team's thinking. Mr. Erenberg's analysis pointed out that 7 Special Teams Specialists seemed excessive, but I'd argue that we had 7 last year (Reed,Gardocki,Schneck,Morey,Kreiwaldt,Iwouma,Stuvaints)

Your practice squad people would be:
Herron, Kuhn(fulfilling that R.J.Bowers type role), Cobb(who just doesn't look recovered from injury), Roper, and other teams' castoffs. I want to see at least 2 RB's here or we could be in a position crunch in 2006 with Bettis gone, Haynes FA'd, and Duce not yet proven to run a full season in Pittsburgh.

-- Weegie Thompson

Projected Roster with Two Preseason Games to Go (Rich)

Here's the current Steelers roster, which stands at 84, and which must be cut back to 53 by Sunday, September 4. Obviously the last two preseason games could have some effect, particularly if there are injuries. Assuming no injuries, here's my best guess for how the roster stands after final cuts.

QB: (3) Ben Roethlisberger, Tommy Maddox, Brian St. Pierre
RB: (5) Duce Staley, Jerome Bettis, Willie Parker, Dan Kreider, Verron Haynes
WR: (6) Hines Ward, Antwaan Randle El, Cedrick Wilson, Fred Gibson, Nate Washington, Sean Morey
TE: (3) Heath Miller, Jerame Tuman, Matt Kranchick
OL: (9) Jeff Hartings, Alan Faneca, Marvel Smith, Kendall Simmons, Max Starks, Trai Essex, Chukky Okobi, Chris Kemoeatu, Jim Jones
DL: (6) Kimo von Olhoeffen, Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, Travis Kirschke, Brett Keisel, Chris Hoke
LB: (9) Joey Porter, Larry Foote, James Farrior, Clark Haggans, James Harrison, Clint Kriewaldt, Rian Wallace, Andre Frazier, Alonzo Jackson
DB: (9) Deshea Townsend, Willie Williams, Troy Polamalu, Chris Hope, Ricardo Colclough, Bryant McFadden, Ike Taylor, Russell Stuvaints, Mike Logan
ST: (3) Jeff Reed, Chris Gardocki, Mike Schneck

The toughest call was putting in Jackson, but I just don't see who's going to beat him out unless it's Dedrick Roper, or unless they only keep 8 linebackers, in which case I guess Chidi Iwuoma makes it, but can we really afford 6 speacial teams specialists? (Counting Morey and Kreiwaldt.)

Obviously there are questions at WR and TE too; Kranchick would seem to be the upside guy, but they might be more comfortable with Walter Rasby. I almost typed "Walter Rasby or Matt Cushing" there, but it just wouldn't be final cuts without seeing Matt Cushing's name in agate type. Also, the WR projection presumes they go with Washington over Lee Mays, trading a little experience for a little upside and cap room. The other guy who could be a cap casualty if they're thinking that way would be Tuman--a nice player to have around, but possibly a luxury now.

I'm also wondering if Verron Haynes might get squeezed out now that he doesn't seem to have much of a role, but I don't know who you'd keep instead. Noah Herron? Zach Tuiasosopo? Cushing? I also assume that backup safety is a 3-man tossup for two slots, with Tyrone Carter my projected odd man out.

I assume Shawn Nua and Herron are strong practice squad candidates, and maybe Zamir Cobb and Walter Young.

I also predict that Charlie Batch shows up to the first game claiming to be Brian St. Pierre, but no one will buy it.

--Rich Erenberg

All Steelers All the Time (Rich)

Welcome to the Best Available Blog. Our goal here is to publish an ongoing conversation about all things Steelers--the games, the roster, the nostalgia, the moves, and The Chin--between two lifelong Steeler fans. With "Weegie Thompson" writing from the homefront and "Rich Erenberg" writing from the nether regions of Steeler Nation, we hope to be entertaining, fun, and just about but not quite so obsessive as to screw up the rest of our lives.

We are both of the generation that was born in time, but barely, for the Super Bowl teams, and for whom AFC Championship disappointment starts with Mark Malone and Louis Lipps, not Neil O'Donnell and Barry Foster. We've seen the Woodley/Blackledge/Brister era as well as the Kordell/Kent Graham era, which makes us especially happy at the prospect of a long and prosperous Roethlisberger era. We remember "Matt Bahr a-kickin' on a Chuck Noll Super Bowl team," "Chuck Noll is building but we don't know what, I hope it ain't the Maulers," and "And if we don't get in the end zone, we'll get 3 points off of Norm Johnson's toe."

OK, enough with the stage-setting, and let the Steeler talk begin!

--Rich Erenberg