The Steelers allowed 2 sacks Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens and we have the breakdowns of both of them below in animated gif form. If you click on either of the images, you can see the full size replay on NFL.com. In the first sack on just the third offensive play of the game, the Ravens show blitz , but only rush 3. Haloti Ngata eventually gets the sack after 7 seconds and it was plenty of time for Charlie Batch to get rid of the bal despite having to move around in the pocket. If you were going to charge anyone on the line with it, it would have to be rookie center Maurkice Pouncey, but Read more [...]

3-0 is not good enough now as the Steelers look to open 4-0 and knock off the division rival in the process of heading off into the bye week and getting back starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the rest of the season. Every game with Baltimore is a war and below are what we deem to be 7 keys to the game for the Steelers to beat the Ravens in week 4. Keep Rice One Dimensional - Ravens running back Ray Rice can take over a game if you let. In his 3 games against the Steelers, Rice has 310 all purpose yards and a few key 1st down conversions. He can run between the tackles as well as outside Read more [...]

Time again to read the tea leaves for who will be inactive for the week 4 game Sunday at Heinz Field against the Baltimore Ravens. We nailed last weeks prediction and this week is a bit easier to predict with both Chris Hoke and Trai Essex ruled out on the injury report. Below are the eight players we expect to see on the Steelers inactive list released 90 minutes before kickoff on Sunday. NT Chris Hoke - Hoke sustained a MCL sprain late last week against the Buccaneers and did not practice at all this past week. He was ruled out on the Friday injury report and the Steelers were forced to activate Read more [...]

The Steelers wrapped up practice preparation on Friday for the week 4 game on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Not practicing once again were NT Chris Hoke (knee), G Trai Essex (ankle) and QB Dennis Dixon (knee) and all were ruled out on Friday on the injury report. Doug Legursky will make his second straight start at right guard in place of Essex and in all likelihood, Steve McLendon will be elevated from the practice squad to back up Casey Hampton at nose tackle with Hoke being out. Speculation remains that Dixon could be placed on IR to make room for McLendon if indeed he is will be signed Read more [...]

Ed Bouchette thinks the Steelers may want to sign Steve McLendon again from the practice squad if Chris Hoke can not practice again today. The Steelers only have 5 healthy defensive linemen besides Hoke. If McLendon is signed, Bouchette thinks Dennis Dixon will be placed on season ending injured reserve and we agree with him. Scott Brown blogged about how guard Doug Legursky may indeed have won the right guard job from Trai Essex based on the comments of Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. Regardless, it is safe to say Essex will be down this week again with an ankle sprain and Legursky Read more [...]

Audio from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin press conference on Tuesday September 28th, 2010. Mike Tomlin met the media on Tuesday for upcoming week 4 game against the Baltimore Ravens and goes over the upcoming game, injuries and recaps the week 3 Buccaneers game. Tomlin takes questions from the local media. Check out our notes and recap below as we add them. [flv:http://prod.video.steelers.clubs.nfl.com/PIT/video/news_conference/092810_tomlin_presser.flv 550 345] [audio:http://www.steelersdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/mike-tomlin-press-conference-sep-28-2010.mp3|titles=Mike Tomlin Tuesday Read more [...]

The Steelers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-13 in the 3rd game of the 2010 season. Below are my recap notes and nuggets I kept on the game along with my observations. I have much more coming on this game and am working through the night. These are initial reactions of mine as I am about to watch the game a second time and begin working up tape selections. Below are the notes I compiled throughout the game. remember these are initial reactions one time through the game. What can you say about Charlie Batch? As I showed you last week, he played a good game. This week the receivers caught the Read more [...]

Here we are in week 3 and the Steelers are 2-0 without Ben Roethlisberger, without Byron Leftwich. They also were without starting nose tackle Casey Hampton and starting left tackle Max Starks last week in Nashville. Can you say defense? It should not be surprising that Dick LeBeau has this unit firing on all cylinders already. The linebacker play has been out of this world and the secondary looks galvanized by the return of Troy Polamalu. All that said, the Steelers must now travel to a hot and humid Tampa to face an undefeated Bucs team. Per my usual, below are my 7 keys to the game that I believe Read more [...]

Time again to read the tea leaves for who will be inactive for the game Sunday down in Tampa against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The list remains hard to nail down in two spots mainly because of the unknown future status of Dennis Dixon and his prospects of being placed on injured reserve and the expected heat down in Tampa. The Steelers get back Max Starks this week, but lose Trai Essex to an ankle injury. The Steelers rotated in every dressed lineman last week in the Nashville heat and they very well could dress all healthy linemen this week just in case. What we know for sure is that Dixon, Essex, Read more [...]

The Steelers wrapped up preparations of Friday to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday down in Tampa and released their official practice report following practice. As expected QB Dennis Dixon (knee) and G Trai Essex (ankle) were both ruled out after missing all week. It is speculated that Dixon could be placed on IR as soon as Saturday. Reserve lineman Doug Legursky will start in place of Essex at right guard on Sunday. WR Hines Ward (calf), T Max Starks (ankle), G Chris Kemoeatu (knee) and NT Casey Hampton (hamstring) all are listed as probable after all practiced fully on Friday. Starks and Read more [...]

Buccaneers rookie Cody Grimm will replace Tanard Jackson at the starting free safety position against the Steelers on Sunday, Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris said. If the last name sounds familiar, it is because he is indeed the son of Hall of Fame offensive lineman and former Steelers and Cardinals assistant coach Russ Grimm. The pregame release for the Buccaneers game this Sunday and ready to peruse. This is a must read every week for a true Steelers fan. I love these things. Steelers left guard Chris Kemoeatu said he "definitely" will play on Sunday even though he hurt his left knee Thursday Read more [...]

Audio from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin press conference on Tuesday September 21st, 2010. Tomlin addresses the upcoming week 3 game against the Tampa Buccaneers and goes over injuries, the quarterback situation and recaps the week 2 Titans game. Tomlin takes questions from the local media. In the process of transcribing and will post transcript as soon as I am done along with notes I took from the presser. [flv:http://prod.video.steelers.clubs.nfl.com/PIT/video/news_conference/092110_tomlin_presser.flv 550 345] [audio:http://www.steelersdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/mike-tomlin-press-conference-sep-21-2010.mp3|titles=mike-tomlin-press-conference-sep-21-2010] Mike Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Mark Kaboly reports that if the ankle tweak to left guard Chris Kemoeatu is not serious, backup lineman Ramon Foster and Tony Hills will be gameday inactives against the Falcons on Sunday. The 6th and 7th lineman active would be Doug Legursky and Jonathan Scott. This clarifies our gameday inactive list guesses earlier in the week and means that in all likelihood that rookie 5th round draft pick, linebacker Stevenson Sylvester, will be active on Sunday as he has shown the most ability on special teams in the preseason. This means that now with this clarification that Read more [...]

Opening Statement: So much has happened since the final 2009 season game against Miami and the start of the season must be a welcome sight for the Steelers players and coaches. The preseason was a bit of a blur and was overall a success until quarterback Byron Leftwich went down with a MCL injury in the final game against Carolina. The roster has been paired down to 53 and features 8 rookie draft picks and 17 players 30 years of age or over, 10 of which are defensive players. The picture heading into the 2010 season is pretty clear for the Steelers as franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger Read more [...]

The 53 man roster is set for now and the Steelers are about to announce their practice squad and begin preparations to face the Altanta Falcons in week 1 of the 2010 season. Before the season starts, I wanted to take a look at the current players on the 53 man roster who are in their final year of their contract and schedules to be free agents in 2011, if a new CBA is reached and a lock out is avoided. Currently 18 players are entering the final year of their contract and I have a small blurb on each. we will revisit this list much later in the season as it surely will be changed. QB Dennis Read more [...]