The Steelers beat the Falcons 34-16 Saturday night at Heinz Field in their 3rd preseason game of 2011 and it is now that time again to dissect the roster and project the 53 man roster that will start the season. If you missed versions 1-3 of my 53 man roster prediction, you can view version 1, version 2 and version 3 at each of the links. The first change this week is at quarterback after Byron Leftwich broke his left arm on a meaningless scramble. It was a nasty injury and Leftwich will miss some considerable time by most reports. We may now never know if the Steelers were truly showcasing Read more [...]

The Steelers take on the Falcons Saturday night at Heinz Field in their third preseason game of the 2011 season. The Steelers rebounded last week against the Eagles after a dismal performance against the Redskins and will look to build on the showing they made last. This will be the last game for 10 roster hopefuls as the first wave of cuts will be made Sunday or Monday as they cut down to 80 players. A few questions still linger as far as the 53 man roster goes. As I do every week, here are my 7 things to watch for tonight. Rookie Blind Side - Rookie left tackle Marcus Gilbert will likely get Read more [...]

I suggested a few days ago that Bryant McFadden could be the one out come final cut-downs and it seems that sentiment is picking up steam now as Dale Lolley now reports that rumblings are getting stronger that McFadden may indeed be the odd man. Ike Taylor, Aaron Smith and Emmanuel Sanders were all back on the practice field Tuesday in some capacity. Taylor and Sanders will still be ruled out for the Saturday game against the Falcons. Left guard Chris Kemoeatu said that he indeed plans to play Saturday against the Falcons after missing the first two games because of swelling in his knee. Ben Read more [...]

Day fourteen was the type of day at Steelers training camp that we all hate to hear about as rookie sensation 7th round draft pick Baron Batch has likely torn the ACL in his left knee late in practice today. Batch reportedly got his foot caught in a seam after finishing a run. The injury has not been confirmed yet by the Steelers, but judging by the reaction of Batch and several of his teammates, it will be shocking if it is anything but that. The Steelers were practicing on the field turf today likely because all of the recent rain in Latrobe. We wish Batch the best as he is a breath of fresh Read more [...]

Day 13 of Steelers training camp is in the books and here is your daily recap of the days news and practice report. It was reported last night that free agent tight end Reggie Kelly was visiting Latrobe today, but Kelly has left without a contact according to Gerry Dulac on Twitter. Dulac also reported this morning that Emmanuel Sanders could be back at practice as early as Monday. Sanders reportedly will have X-rays on Wednesday to see how the healing in his foot is coming along after getting the bone marrow and calcium injection done just after training camp got underway. The worst thing Read more [...]

Day ten of Steelers training camp is in the books and if you missed the day nine recap of the Friday Night Lights session you can read it here. Steelers.com also has some video up now from the Friday night practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium. Pat Kirwan And Tim Ryan of Sirius NFL Radio were also at practice last night and Kirwan has his Steelers report up on NFL.com. Peter King was at camp Saturday and here is an interview with him. On to the Saturday practice on a soggy day back in Latrobe. Before you read farther, I suggest you listen to the post practice report called into me by Read more [...]

Day two of the Steelers 2011 training camp is now in the books and here is a recap with links for you in case you missed anything. First I invite you to listen to today's episode of The Terrible Podcast as it is jammed full of info and views of David Todd and myself, following the recent moves and going-ons. Thanks for listening. The day started off with a not so surprising bang as Flozell Adams was released. Adams become expendable after the Steelers came to terms with Willie Colon and Jonathan Scott on Thursday. Adams will save $5 million against the cap and there is no dead money involved. After Read more [...]

The Steelers announced yet another undrafted free agent signing today as Southern Illinois quarterback Chris Dieker was signed today according to the Steelers website. Dieker measures in at 6-foot-5, 230 pounds and compiled a 20-9 record in his three years as a starter. He left Southern Illinois ranked in the top five in school history in 13 different offensive categories. He finished his career at the school ranked third in six different categories: passing yards (5,237), completions (446), attempts (757), completion percentage (.589), touchdown passes (41) and total offense (5,735). Dieker Read more [...]

The NFLPA and the league's owners have reached an agreement on the remaining points needed in their 10-year labor deal and now only requires a majority vote from the players on Monday to finalize the deal to end the lockout. Great news. rces-say Hard not to know now by now that Ben Roethlisberger and Ashley Harlan were married Saturday at Christ Church at Grove Farm in Ohio Township and some pictures from the event are here. Almost all of the Steelers offensive line were included in the wedding and even WWE professional wrestler Triple H and Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux were in attendance. Read more [...]

Last night I tweeted that everyone should keep in mind that the Steelers have (3) restricted free agent tenders and (1) exclusive rights free agent tender still pending with quarterback Dennis Dixon, tackle Tony Hills, safety Ryan Mundy and center Doug Legursky. I will now expand on that tweet and refresh your memory on what these exactly mean and the impact they might have on the rule of 51 salary cap total. These tenders are exactly what they mean, tendered contracts to restricted free agents and took place prior to the start of the lockout.. It is easiest to start with exclusive rights tender Read more [...]

The latest news concerning the 2011 salary cap per Albert Breer and Jason La Canfora is that it is now projected to be roughly $123 million per team. They state as a practical matter that it will "feel" more like $130 million to teams when the cap credits and new cap exceptions are factored in. They also state that teams will have to spend, in cash, 90 percent to the cap minimum and league-wide spending will be pegged at 99 percent to the cap. So where does that put the Steelers? I currently have them at about $130 million, $7 million over the projected cap number of $123 million, with the players Read more [...]

John Clayton speculated Wednesday on five teams that may take a chance on former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who decided earlier this week to enter the supplemental draft. Clayton list the Raiders, Dolphins, Ravens, Steelers and Redskins as the five teams that could possibly take a chance on him. Many are taking this speculation as fact that the Steelers have interest in Pryor and like I posted a short time ago, I still do not see it happening. To recap my reasoning, the Steelers already have four quarterbacks scheduled to show up at Latrobe whenever training camp opens. Those four Read more [...]

Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley was a busy man yesterday and did a great job on NFL Total Access and you can watch most of the video clips here. Woodley says he did not vote in the Top 100 Players of 2011 the NFL Network is running and told fans during a live chat yesterday that he thinks he should have been rated better than 82 and that the Steelers were underrepresented on the list in addition. Woodley laid down the smack hard on the Bengals and the Ravens as he was asked about the Bengals outlook without Carson Palmer and the Ravens chances of going to a Super Bowl with Joe Flacco at quarterback Read more [...]

After posting the penalties on the offensive line last week, I was asked by a few readers if I had an updated Steelers penalty report of all the penalties both accepted and declined from the 2010 season. I have these all tabled up below by player and by week from the 2010 regular season and the players are listed from most to fewest. In total, the Steelers were flagged 124 times with 23 being declined. They resulted in 913 penalty yards and nullified 307 yards in total. The defensive penalties resulted in 29 first downs while the offensive penalties resulted in 22 stalled drives. Jonathan Read more [...]

We are now under two weeks to go until the 2011 NFL draft and I have touched quite a bit on the Steelers current free agents and the upcoming draft. Now is the perfect time to fast forward a little ways and look at the Steelers players that will enter the final year of their contract in 2011. I am not listing 2010 free agent players that have been tendered like LaMarr Woodley, Willie Colon, William Gay, Matt Spaeth, Daniel Sepulveda and Tony Hills and am only focusing on players under contract who are going into their final season. I will list the players below that fit these criteria with a quick Read more [...]