Blame it all on Burress

In another blatant attempt to fan the flames of the so called feud between Big Ben and Hines Ward, the Post Gazette's very own instigator, Ed Bouchette, ponders aloud the impact of losing Plaxico Burress. Let me paraphrase Ed's underlying message...the Giants are in the Superbowl and the Steelers are sitting at home for one reason - the free agency loss of Burress. Yeah, right. You all remember Ed Bouchette, he's the guy that fueled the great Anthony Smith "guarantee" controversy.

I, like many, believe that we took a big step backwards with our receiving corps after losing Burress, and I think the addition of Ced Wilson was really not a good replacement since Wilson is more a Ward/El type slot guy, and not a big downfield weapon. However, we must first remember that we actually won the Superbowl without Burress, or any other tall wide out, for that matter. We must also remember that had we retained Burress, we probably would have lost Ward through free agency, we would have passed up Wilson, and we most likely would not have opted to trade up to draft Santonio Holmes.

Let me further complicate the debate, by throwing another what-if at you. Let's say the team breaks open Dan Rooney's pigg bank and manages to extend the contracts of BOTH Burress and Randle El in the summer of 2004, then opts to let Ward move on after 2005. The team then decides to draft Holmes to fill the loss of Ward in 2006. This leaves you with a corps that looks like this: Burress, Holmes, Randle El, and Nate Washington. This quartet would seem pretty dangerous, although it would lack the sure handed clutch guy.

I think this debate will rage on throughout the summer, or at least until the Pirates throw out the first pitch. Then the Post Gazette will have a new target to overly scrutinize.


like any good journalist, Bouchette asks us to ask ourselves "what if???"

Words Can Hurt

Big Ben can add a few more items to his wish list; a dozen roses and some fancy chocolates to send to his scorned and sullen receiver, Hines Ward. Ward, commonly regarded as the NFL's toughest wide out, showed his deep sensitive side by taking offense with Ben's public coveting of a tall receiver.

Insiders close to the team suggest that this is not the first time that Ben has shown a bias against the vertically challenged. Some sources claim that part of Ben's pre-game ritual is to repeatedly listen to Randy Newman's "Short People". Ben has also been known to throw parties in which entrance is restricted to those 6'3" and over. More on this newest Post-Gazette induced Steeler melodrama as it unfurls.


Ben is in favor of height discriminating signs like this posted throughout Heinz Field

Cedric...I Understand

Cedric Wilson is my newest favorite Steeler. Why? Because of those 20 yearly receptions? No, I love Ced because he has a girlfriend zanier than my ex-fiance! When Big Ben said that he wanted more weapons in his receiving corps, I don't think he was referring to the 9mm that Ced stashes in his sock drawer!

Have you ever gotten stuck in the middle of a dispute with a waiter or a salesperson because of your woman's constant quest to be right? Imagine a bitch that gets into a 12 hour stand off with the local SWAT team. Now, that's the girl to take home to Momma.

We all wish Cedric the best of luck during his stint in the Protection From Murder by Angry Bitch Girlfriend program (PFMBAB)


If you look closely, you'll see the bullet resistant Kevlar re-inforcement on Wilson's helmet and body armor.

Welcome Back

After four long months, I am finally back out of hiding. Where did I go? Well, lets just say that being a Pittsburgh sports beat blogger opens one self up to living life underground. Actually, I jest. I just got really lazy, and I completely underestimated the toll of being the Steeler season ticket holder yet living in eastern PA. Let's just say that most of the last four months is blurry.

So, where are we now? Let's see, Steeler Nation is bitching about a promising season gone wrong, the Pens hopefuls are hailing the surge of a team cresting behind their franchise forward and an overachieving journeyman goalie, and the Pirate faithful are, well, quietly optimistic about this year's bobbleheads. Yep, sounds like 2001...or is it 1998? Maybe just 12 months ago.

I guess the most commonly hashed topic in Steeltown sports these days is the sudden ending to the Steelers 2007 season. Lets keep faith and chime in with our opinions.

2007 Pittsburgh Steelers - team opens with new life as the Mike Tomlin era begins. Big Ben is out to show the haters that: (1) 2006 was an anomaly, (2) that he is, in fact, no longer suffering from brain trauma related to vehicular accidents, and (3) that the offense will do just fine with the Whiz off in Arizona. Questions surround James Harrison's ability to replace veteran assassin Joey Porter, Bruce Arians' "expect a reduced role from Danny Kreider" concept is unveiled, Colbert shocks the world by trading up to draft a punter, and the perennial "Alan Faneca's pissed off about something thing" remains a constant...

END RESULT - despite surging out of the gate to records of 3-0, 7-2, and 9-3, the Men of Steel fade in the end and finish 10-6. They lose several close games to inferior teams, and lose a few core players to the IR down the stretch. They win the AFC North (barely), but make a painful early exit out of the playoffs at the hands of their new kryptonite, the Jax Jags.

Before we all cast ourselves off the Clemente Bridge, let's look at 2007 objectively, and hone in on the goods and the bads.

WHAT WENT RIGHT:

-Tomlin was a good pick. Ok, so he's not fire, spittle, and man-on-man kisses. So he doesn't charge after hapless refs and shove pictures into their pockets. So he doesn't say "special" in every other sentence. He did manage to get his team right back into the playoffs, create a climate for his franchise QB to blossom, and allow his team leaders to be leaders. Reality is that this team was only a few plays away from winning 12 or 13 games, and one first down away from the second round of the AFC Playoffs. He'll take the bumps and bruises and learn from 2007.

-Big Ben returns to form...and then some. Large Benjamin uncorked a statistically awesome season, with a 104.1 rating, and shattered mostly all single season team passing records. Only Shady Brady, during his hall of fame season, produced better numbers. The naysayers can say what they want about Ben's inflated rating due to 'eating' the ball and taking sacks. The fact that he produced a 104 rating with a somewhat shallow and often injured corps of wide outs, a ho hum offensive line, while playing in no less than five games of adverse weather should tell you that this guy is for real. Time for Mr. Rooney to write that check with lots of zeroes and a few commas.

-Santonio Holmes' development. Ok, so maybe he ain't Torry Holt yet, as I predicted, but Santo H really blossomed down the stretch this year. His big plays against Baltimore and Jax jettisoned two near comebacks. Hate hearing that word "near"???

-I Like Ike. Who was everyone's favorite goat in 2006. Ok, next to the bitch that wanted Ben's face as a hood ornament...Ike Taylor was under constant scrutiny in '06, but he completely rebounded in '07. The Steeler corners were the pleasant surprise of the season.

WHAT WENT WRONG:

-The Sean Mahan Experiment. 1000 great bloggers have already crucified Mahan, please record me as 1001. The Rooneys don't often dabble in free agency, but when they do, they usually find the right fit for the need. (Farrior, Batch, Hartings). This one was a major step backwards. Mahan single handedly undid what 35 years of excellent Steeler centers achieved before him. Ok, yeah, that's over the top, but this guy stunk royally. Mahan was consistently undersized, outworked, and over matched, and by Week 10 every defensive coordinator knew to just load up inside on us with their biggest and orneriest guys. Watching Big Ben get clobbered by rogue nose tackles became routine in the Steel City this year, and the inside running lanes were less trafficable than the Parkway East on a Monday rush hour. One can only wonder what this season would have been like had the ageless Jeff Hartings returned for one mo' season. Somewhere in Western PA, some kid is trying to sell his Chucky Okobi jersey on E-Bay.

-Lack of depth in the stable. Over the last few years we've all read about the genius of the Steelers' talent acquisition philosophies, particularly that of the running back. We all know the Willie Parker story forwards and backwards. We all know that the Steeler brass rarely spends a Day 1 draft pick on a running back, and we all know that the Rooneys don't often go on free agent spending sprees. So how does a team acquire and replenish it's stable of runners? We all remember when Tomlin brazenly stated that "we will run Willie until the wheels fall off"...well, they fell off, Mike, literally. So what was the next move? Najeh is a decent role player, and a versatile compliment to any team...but he's also the dude that blew out his foot on a stairmaster. The fact of the matter is that he is not, nor has he ever been, an every down back. If Garry Russell was the team's plan as a third stringer, then why did he rate seven whopping carries on the regular season. One day in the distant future, you will be at a sports bar on trivia night, and you will be asked to name the four running backs that suited up for our 2007 wild card game. Shock the world with your answer: Davenport, Carey Davis, Russel, and Verron Haynes. No, not quite the Four Horsemen. Simple truths prevail here. Of the teams that had success in the playoffs this week, all of them had multiple backs who could move the ball. A Michael Turner would have looked really good last Saturday night. Would you still have drafted Matt Spaeth over Tony Hunt now? The Steelers no longer have the luxury of sending in Jerome Bettis or a Fu or even a Duce Staley to acquire those 10 close out yards, and it showed. Lights out.

-The return game. This old horse is beaten, bloody and wobbly, but I'm going to pile it on. In recent years, there has been no greater factor in adverse outcomes during big Steeler games. Tomlin now blames the players. LEARN HOW TO TACKLE!!!

-The Injuries. Great teams overcome injuries. The great Steeler teams of 2001, 2004, and 2005 all found ways to overcome injuries, right? I think a line is drawn somewhere. Maybe it just couples with our lack of depth this year. Season enders to Aaron Smith, Ryan Clark, Dan Kreider, Willie P, Marvel Smith, Max Starks, as well as nagging injuries to Polamalu, Holmes, McFadden, and even Ben really slowed the train this year. I can't remember a year when this many core players finished on the IR. One can only wonder if the Anthony Smith guarantee saga would have even played out had Ryan Clark not been mourning his lost spleen. Oh, remember when you all blasted me for stating that Aaron Smith will be remembered as one of the Steelers greatest defenders...2 wins minimum was the cost of losing him.

FINAL WORD: Every blogger, beat writer, commentator, and fan has an opinion about the Steel collapse, and they are entitled to them. After all the arguments about O line and D line, the depth, the poor draft, the running game, the playcalling, Tomlin's lack of emotions, and Ben's sacks, it all comes down to one word - execution. The Steelers were a play or two away from victory in several losing efforts, to include the wild card game, which now stands as the definition of the season. For whatever reason you care to list, the Steelers just didn't quite finish it this year. They just didn't quite make the play or block or tackle that they needed when it was on the line. They just didn't get it done. In summary, this version of the Steelers was a stark contrast to the team of 2005. In '05, they made these plays, they made these stops, they got it done.

But don't take my word for it, send in your comments.

happy days will return to the North Shore