Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 at
4:45 pm
During his Tuesday conference call with season ticket holders, Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert was asked about the health status of inside linebacker Sean Spence, who is still recovering from tearing up his left knee last preseason in the game against the Carolina Panthers.
“Sean is progressing," said Colbert. "When you have as serious a knee injury as he unfortunately had, it sometimes is a very long process. Sometimes it takes over a year to fully rehabilitate. But the good thing is we are seeing signs of progress, albeit small steps. But it is progress. Sean’s attitude
Read more [...]
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 at
1:58 pm
The always honest and entertaining Ike Taylor was guest Tuesday on The Jim Rome Show and while several of the same topics were discussed that were discussed in his interview last week on The David Baumann Show, the Pittsburgh Steelers veteran cornerback talked quite a bit about his offseason workout obsession and routine.
Taylor, who in the past has described himself as an OCD workout warrior during the offseason, was asked by Rome what he likes to do when he wants to blow off steam being as he is always working out all off the time.
"I work out again," said Taylor, who still insist that
Read more [...]
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 at
10:20 am
According to Josina Anderson of ESPN on Twitter, free agent tackle Max Starks is visiting with the Arizona Cardinals on Tuesday and she is told that he is already in the midst of taking his physical.
https://twitter.com/JosinaAnderson/status/334321660234702850
Starks, who played every offensive snap last season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, reportedly visited the San Diego Chargers last week, but left town without a deal.
Starks link to the Cardinals is an obvious one as former Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians is now the head coach there, and former Steelers offensive assistants
Read more [...]
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 at
9:28 am
Thanks to the new slotting system provided in the 2011 CBA, almost 100 of the players selected last month in the 2013 NFL Draft are now under contract. The Pittsburgh Steelers, however, have yet to sign any of their nine selections, but you shouldn't be losing any sleep over that.
Being as the Steelers will be close up against the salary cap until after June 1st, you can probably expect that Jarvis Jones, Le'Veon Bell and Markus Wheaton will remain unsigned until at least then as that's when the Steelers receive the $5.5 million worth of cap space coming to them from the early offseason release
Read more [...]
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 at
8:07 am
On Monday, we took a look at cornerback Josh Victorian, who will be battling to make the Pittsburgh Steelers 53 man roster out of training camp this year and today we will look at cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke, who figures to be competing against Victorian for that same roster spot.
Van Dyke, who was drafted in the third round of the 2011 draft by the Oakland Raiders, did not arrive in Pittsburgh until right before the 2012 season started as he was waived by the team that drafted him during their final roster cut down. Right after the Steelers signed him, head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about
Read more [...]
Monday, May 13th, 2013 at
4:35 pm
The Pittsburgh Steelers allowed cornerback Keenan Lewis to run off to the New Orleans Saints uncontested via free agency this offseason as they were comfortable with Cortez Allen stepping into the starting spot opposite Ike Taylor moving forward. In addition to letting Lewis walk, they signed cornerback William Gay back following his one year away with the Arizona Cardinals to serve as the nickel cornerback in 2013. Behind Taylor, Allen and Gay, however, sits a large group of young cornerbacks that will be batting it out in training camp this year for roster spots and today we will focus in on
Read more [...]
Monday, May 13th, 2013 at
1:31 pm
On Monday, the Arizona Cardinals released quarterback Brian Hoyer just a little over two months after they tendered him at a second round level prior to the start of free agency.
Hoyer, who was with Pittsburgh Steelers last season for just a short period time while quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich recovered from their injuries, was claimed by the Cardinals following his waiving by the Steelers.
Hoyer saw action in two games with the Cardinals and it included him starting the final game of the season against the San Francisco 49ers. In those two games, the former Michigan
Read more [...]
Monday, May 13th, 2013 at
1:00 pm
The New Orleans Saints made several roster moves on Monday and it included them waiving offensive lineman Ryan Lee, who the Pittsburgh Steelers originally signed as an undrafted free agent last April.
Although Lee only played late in preseason games last year, he showed enough promise that the Steelers signed him to their practice squad to start the season. He remained on the practice squad until late November, but was ultimately waived and thus claimed by the Saints.
Lee ended the 2012 season on the Saints injured reserve list after undergoing hernia surgery.
With the Steelers still currently
Read more [...]
Monday, May 13th, 2013 at
12:32 pm
Season 3, Episode 102 of The Terrible Podcast is up and co-host David Todd and I start off by talking about the week that Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark had on ESPN as well as the passing of Hall of Fame defensive back Jack Butler on Saturday.
We have a look at explosive plays produced by the Steelers running back position last season compared to the rest of the league and hope that running back Le'Veon Bell can produce during his rookie season in the area.
Center Maurkice Pouncey was on SiriusXM NFL Radio this week, so we discuss what he had to say and we also take a long look
Read more [...]
Monday, May 13th, 2013 at
8:48 am
While he only played just over 560 snaps on defense last season, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Cortez Allen certainly made the most of them as he registered two interceptions, three forced fumbles and 10 passes defensed in 2012, his second season on the league.
The Steelers thought highly enough of Allen that they allowed fellow cornerback Keenan Lewis to run off uncontested to the New Orleans Saints as a free agent. Lewis, while he didn't register any interceptions last season, did have 23 passes defensed to go along with one forced fumble and 71 total tackles.
2013 will mark Allen's third
Read more [...]
Sunday, May 12th, 2013 at
2:00 pm
Pro Football Talk is doing a 32-part series this month that features a Mount Rushmore for each of the NFL teams. This question has been beat to death over the years, but in the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers, it always produces great discussion as there are so many members of the organization that one could argue as a candidate to be one of the four faces of the franchise.
I think that everyone would agree that Art Rooney Sr. has to be one of the four faces on a Steelers Mount Rushmore. If you disagree, make your argument for leaving him off below.
Once you get past "The Chief, however,
Read more [...]
Sunday, May 12th, 2013 at
11:48 am
By Jeremy Hritz
Back on March 4th, Dave Bryan wrote this about second year outside linebacker, Adrian Robinson: “When you watched rookie Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker Adrian Robinson play last preseason you could see a good deal of expected flaws, but you could also see a young player that could get after the quarterback.” Many Steelers fans that watched those preseason games from 2012 understand what Bryan is describing, as Robinson was quick off of the edge and flashed a promising ability to get after the quarterback. Although when the preseason concluded, he did not record any
Read more [...]
Sunday, May 12th, 2013 at
9:33 am
Prior to the new CBA of 2011, NFL teams used to be allowed to have grueling two-a-day practices during training camp, but now they are limited to having one full-contact padded practice per day accompanied by a walkthrough period. On the latest episode of the Craig Wolfley Podcast, this topic was discussed as it relates to undrafted players and younger players on the offseason roster not getting the necessary work in training camp.
Former Steelers nose tackle Chris Hoke, who made the Steelers team as an undrafted free agent in 2001, was asked particularly to give his thoughts on the subject,
Read more [...]
Saturday, May 11th, 2013 at
5:12 pm
By Jeremy Hritz
One of the most overused arguments regarding the decline of the Pittsburgh Steelers over the last couple of seasons, including the approaching one, is the age of many of their defensive stars. True, several of the players on defense are well into their thirties, but how much can we expect that to negatively impact their play? Let’s take a look at those players under scrutiny because of father time heading into the 2013 season.
Ryan Clark – Current Age: 33, Birthday: October 12, 1979
By the time October rolls around, Clark will be 34. Clark is a player that is known
Read more [...]
Saturday, May 11th, 2013 at
1:39 pm
The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost a second former player in less than a week as it was reported on Saturday that Hall of Fame defensive back Jack Butler has died at the age of 85.
Butler, a Pittsburgh native and defensive back out of St. Bonaventure, signed originally with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 1951. During his rookie season, Butler intercepted five passes for 142 yards and in 1953, he had nine interceptions and returned two of them for touchdowns. In 1957, Butler had 10 interceptions and was named to his first of three All Pro teams.
Butler was inducted into the Pro
Read more [...]
Saturday, May 11th, 2013 at
9:26 am
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark was all over ESPN this past week and during one of the Cold Hard Facts segments that aired, he was asked who he thought was the toughest opposing wide receiver to cover in the league and who the toughest opposing quarterback to face.
"Calvin Johnson," said Clark, about the toughest wide receiver to cover. "Any time a guy goes in the red zone and you decide to go punt formation and put two guys vice-ing him, because you cant stop him - you know he's the guy to cover in the NFL. Sometimes Matthew Stafford, he just gets back there, rares back, throws it as
Read more [...]
Saturday, May 11th, 2013 at
9:01 am
John Alderton, the Pittsburgh Steelers seventh-round pick in 1953 NFL draft, passed away this past week at the age of 81 in Cumberland, Maryland.
Alderton, a defensive end, played his college football at Maryland where he was a co-captain of the 1952 team that went undefeated and won the Sugar Bowl.
Alderton, who wore No. 83, only played one season with the Steelers before joining the Air Force where he played football at Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C., for two years. During his Air Force years, Alderton became an offense tight end and was known as one of the top receiving threats in
Read more [...]
Friday, May 10th, 2013 at
7:43 pm
Free agent tackle Max Starks visited with the San Diego Chargers on Wednesday, but according to Michael Gehlken of The San Diego Union-Tribune, he left town without a contract and remains unsigned as of Friday.
Gehlken goes on to state in his reports that just because Starks left without a contract, doesn't necessarily mean that the Chargers won't have interest in signing him at later date.
The Chargers reportedly had interest in left tackle Bryant Mckinnie prior to him re-signing back with the Baltimore Ravens earlier this week, so it is not surprising that they wanted to kick the tires
Read more [...]
Friday, May 10th, 2013 at
3:42 pm
In the latest segment of Inside the Huddle, John Clayton of ESPN said that the Pittsburgh Steelers consider running back Le'Veon Bell to be the next Matt Forte, who currently plays for the Chicago Bears.
"John Elway believes he may have drafted the next Terrell Davis with his selection of Montee Ball in the second round, but the Steelers think that they have the next version of Matt Forte, and their happy about it," said Clayton.
"Le'Veon Bell, the Steelers second round choice, displayed the potential of being a thousand yard runner during last weeks mini camp and he also showed the hands
Read more [...]
Friday, May 10th, 2013 at
12:13 pm
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed free agent tackle Guy Whimper earlier this week and I have since been asked on Twitter about the sacks that he gave up last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars as well as the penalties that he committed. I figured I would knock out both of those questions in one post, so below are the penalty stats for Whimper for the past two seasons as well as animated GIFs of the five sacks allowed he was charged with last season.
In total, Whimper played only 392 plays on offense in 2012 and gave up 5 sacks, 6 quarterback hits and 15 hurries during those snaps to go along
Read more [...]
