While we await more detailed word on the status of Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Wesyle Saunders following the report that he has been suspended for the first four games of the 2012 season, it definitely throws the thought into ones head that the tight end position could now end up being a possible need in the upcoming 2012 draft in April. Four games is of course a quarter of the regular season and that leaves only veteran Heath Miller as the lone reputable tight end under contract right now as David Johnson is slated to be a restricted free agent. While Johnson will more than likely be retained Read more [...]

Onward we continue with our player by player look at the Pittsburgh Steelers 2012 Free Agents as do a complete breakdown of their 2011 season and look ahead to their pending 2012 free agency situation. The post we focus in on restricted free agent fullback/tight end David Johnson. Please check out the links at the bottom to the other free agent player analysis already completed. Player: David Johnson Position: Fullback/Tight End Experience: 3 Years Free Agent Status: Restricted 2011 Salary Cap Hit: $536,068.00 2011 Season Breakdown: Johnson was asked to pretty much do it all on Read more [...]

The questions are rolling in about the Pittsburgh Steelers 2012 free agents so I threw together a quick rundown of the restricted, unrestricted and exclusive rights free agents as the Steelers head into the offseason. The 6 restricted free agents will all certainly be tendered with only Mike Wallace receiving a first round tender. The other 5 will receive the lowest one year tenders. These amounts have not yet been released and I will post those amounts later in the offseason when they are made known. Both exclusive right free agents have no choice but to accept their tender offers and they can't Read more [...]

The week 17 offensive line breakdown report for the Pittsburgh Steelers win this past Sunday against the Cleveland Browns is now complete and overall it was a very solid game for the offensive line as everyone scored 90% or higher. The Browns really did not get that much consistent pressure on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and there front 4 were very inconsistent at defending at the point of attack. Here are the scores and a recap of each lineman. TOTAL POSPLAYER PLAYSGOOD BADGOOD % SP H LGChris Kemoeatu 75714 95%.51 0 LTMax Starks 82775 94%02 1 Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers were back on practice field Wednesday getting ready to take on the Denver Broncos this coming Sunday in one of the two AFC wild card games. Despite finishing 12-4 on the season the Steelers must travel to Denver who won the AFC West with an 8-8 record as the Steelers earned the 5th seed because they did not win the AFC North. The first injury report of the week is now out and it shows that cornerback Cortez Allen (shoulder), running back Mewelde Moore (knee), linebacker James Harrison (toe) defensive end Brett Keisel (groin), safety Troy Polamalu (calf) did not practice Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the playoffs and will play the Denver Broncos Sunday afternoon in Denver in one of the two AFC wild card games with the Cincinnati Bengals taking on the Houston Texans Saturday in Houston in the other first round AFC wild card game. The New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens both received the first round byes and are the 1st and 2nd seeds respectfully. The Steelers are the 5th seed and the Bengals are the 6th. The Texans are the 3rd and the Broncos are 4th. Should the Steelers beat the Broncos on Sunday in Denver, they will travel to Foxboro to take on the Patriots Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns Sunday to close out the regular season at 12-4. As I do every week, here are my deeper post game observations after going through the game tape a few more times. The sack by Lawrence Timmons on the Browns opening saw Timmons come on a delayed blitz and he took on fullback Owen Marecic. Marecic did not hold his block long and Timmons spun away back inside for the sack. Jason Worilds should get a little credit on the play for taking right tackle Artis Hicks up the field to open up the lane. Great tackle on Josh Cribbs by Keenan Lewis on the Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers had another close game to finish out the 2011 regular season, but they held on to beat the Cleveland Browns 13-9 Sunday at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger started despite his left ankle still not being 100% and threw for 221 yards on 40 attempts. He was sacked twice on the afternoon, but did not turn the ball over in the win. Wide receiver Antonio Brown finished out his spectacular sophomore season by hauling in 6 catches for 90 yards. Brown also chipped in 73 yards on 3 kickoff returns in the game and he went over the 1000 yard mark in return Read more [...]

The week 16 offensive line breakdown report for the Pittsburgh Steelers win this past Saturday against the St. Louis Rams is now complete and overall it was a pretty solid performance as everyone scored 86% or higher. The Rams run defense was pretty poor and the Steelers unit was able to push them around on quite a few plays and even get second level blocks on their linebackers, including James Laurinaitis. TOTAL POSPLAYER PLAYSGOOD BADGOOD % SP H RT/TEMarcus Gilbert 220 100%00 0 CDoug Legursky 220 100%00 0 C/LGTrai Essex 51465 90%01 0 Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the St. Louis Rams 27-0 Saturday at Heinz Field and improved their record to 11-4 on the season. I have made it back through the game again twice and here are my further observations from the game not included in the regular game recap. The opening stop of Rams running back Steven Jackson by Troy Polamalu, as he blew by the attempted block of wide receiver Danario Alexander, set the tone for the type of day he would have. Polamalu finished the game with 6 total tackles, second most on the team. he was all over the field Saturday. Ike Taylor would have had the Read more [...]

The week 15 offensive line breakdown report for the Pittsburgh Steelers loss Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers is now complete and overall it was not a good night as far as pass protection went up the middle and on the left side as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had pass rushers on him quite a bit and not a lot of room to step up into the pocket with his lead bad ankle. The pass protection started off OK, but deteriorated, especially in the second half. The run blocking was adequate, just not great. TOTAL POSPLAYER PLAYSGOOD BADGOOD % SP H RGRamon Foster 71656 Read more [...]

Below are the offensive personnel packages, play counts and participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers week 15 loss Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers. Participation wise, the easy thing to point out is the 9 plays that Hines Ward saw the field and Jerricho Cotchery received his most snaps of the season, as he had 54 non-penalty play snaps. Tight ends David Johnson and Wesyle Saunders also saw very little action in this game as well. Personnel group wise, the Steelers got away from their multiple tight end packages in this game as they used two or more just 12 times out of Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the San Francisco 49ers 20-3 Monday night and dropped to 10-4 on the season. I have made it back through the game again and here are my further observations from the game not included in the regular game recap. The first drive started well and included several quick, short passes that were easy throws for Ben Roethlisberger. The interception was him forcing the ball as neither David Johnson nor Mike Wallace had any separation. The throw he should have made was to Antonio Brown underneath on the shallow cross. Roethlisberger also showed the predictable early signs Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns 14-3 Thursday night at Heinz Field and here are some of my post game observations after going through the game again. Lawrence Timmons bit hard on the play action on the early long completion to Evan Moore and never recovered in coverage. On the second big completion to Josh Cribbs, Troy Polamalu guessed wrong and Cribbs was wide open on the seam route. It was James Harrison that prevented Colt McCoy from getting into the endzone for the touchdown that was overturned after McCoy was clearly down. Harrison fought off his block to get a foot. Read more [...]

The week 13 offensive line breakdown report for the Steelers win over the Cincinnati Bengals is now complete and what a great game collectively by the offensive line. While there were 3 sacks in the game, only one of those goes on the line as the other two were results of the quarterback holding the ball too long. The run blocking got stronger as the day went on as the forced their will on the Bengals defensive front. TOTAL POSPLAYER PLAYSGOOD BADGOOD % SP H LTJonathan Scott 330 100%00 0 CMaurkice Pouncey 52493 94%00 0 G/CDoug Legursky 59545 Read more [...]