By Jeremy Hritz This weekend, many Pittsburgh Steelers fans are content, not because the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots are on the verge of a Super Bowl appearance, but because the oft-derided offensive coordinator Bruce Arians will not be returning for the 2012 season. There seems to be two camps regarding the Arians-as-offensive-coordinator issues: those that believe in his efficacy, and those that believe he is inept. The bottom line is that Arians is and has always been average. The table below provides a detailed look at Arians’ performance as offensive coordinator not just Read more [...]

The last episode of of Agree To Disagree with Bob Labriola and Mike Pristua is now up on steelers.com as they argue about the playoff loss against the Denver Broncos and try to predict if Joe Flacco will lead the Baltimore Ravens to the Super Bowl. Speaking of the Ravens, several of their players took great joy in the Steelers loss this past Sunday as you would expect. Who the hell is Arthur Jones and why is he talking? Hines Ward gave a very candid interview to Tunch Ilkin and Craig Wolfley yesterday and tells about his plans for the offseason that includes having some bone spurs removed Read more [...]

Below are the offensive personnel packages, play counts and participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers Wild Card game loss on Sunday against the Denver Broncos. Running back Isaac Redman played 42 of 47 non-penalty plays that a running back was on the field with John Clay seeing just 5 snaps. Hines Ward saw all of 11 non-penalty snaps. Jonathan Scott finished up at left tackle for Max Starks after he went down with his ACL injury right before the first half ended. Package wise, 28 of the 68 non-penalty plays featured 2 or more tight ends on the field. 5 plays had no tight ends on the 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 Pittsburgh Steelers saw their 2011 season come to an abrupt end Sunday in Denver with 29-23 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Wild Card game. Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow hit wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on the first play in overtime for a game-winning 80-yard touchdown pass to give the Broncos the win. Tebow had 316 passing yards and two touchdowns in the game and the Broncos now advance to play the New England Patriots in a divisional playoff game Saturday night in Foxboro. The Broncos finished with 447 total yards against the Steelers No. 1 defense that allowed an average Read more [...]

The playoffs begin today for the Pittsburgh Steelers as they take on the Denver Broncos in the 2nd AFC Wild Card game of the weekend in Denver. With a win, the Steelers will move on to face the New England Patriots next Saturday. As I have done each and every week this season, here are my 7 things to look for against the Broncos. Also included is my score prediction for the game. Seeing Red - Isaac Redman will make his second career start at running back now that Rashard Mendenhall was lost for the season last week with a torn ACL in his right knee. His first start came back in week 5 against Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 66 of The Terrible Podcast is up and David Todd is tracked down as he is cashing in his chips from the tables to join me from Las Vegas. The first part of the show is my interview with Cecil Lammey, the NFL Insider for 102.3 ESPN in Denver. Cecil and I get a good 20 plus minutes in previewing the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Denver Broncos AFC wild card game coming up this Sunday. We talk about the Broncos injuries, Tim Tebow and the spread option and preview both sides of the ball for each team. If you like hardcore game previews, you will enjoy this interview i did with Cecil. In Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped up practice preparations on Friday for their AFC wild card on Sunday against the Denver Broncos and the Friday injury report has some expected bad news as center Maurkice Pouncey (ankle) did not practice for a second straight day due to aggravating his injured left ankle during practice on Wednesday. Pouncey is listed as questionable this week, but Gerry Dulac reported earlier today that he will not play Sunday. With Pouncey expected to be out, guard Doug Legursky (shoulder) will likely get the start at center against the Broncos after practicing fully again Read more [...]

When the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Denver Broncos this Sunday in their AFC wild card matchup they will do so with all undrafted running backs in uniform. Starter Rashard Mendenhall was officially placed on injured reserve Tuesday with a torn ACL in his right knee that he suffered in the final regular season game against the Cleveland Browns and that means Isaac Redman, the Steelers undrafted running back out of Bowie State, will make his second career start. Redman was originally signed as an undrafted free agent in 2009 after offensive coordinator Bruce Arians saw him on tape after a 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 [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin met the media for his post game press conference following the 13-9 win over the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland. Tomlin said it was good to get the win in a division town and now they have their marching orders to head to Denver and take on the Denver Broncos in one of the two AFC wild card games. Tomlin said the Steelers suffered several injuries in the game of which several are minor. The knee injury to running back Rashard Mendenhall unfortunately is not minor according to Tomlin. Tomlin said they will get the knee looked at again when they get back Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said in his post game press conference following the 13-9 win over the Cleveland Browns that the knee injury suffered by running back Rashard Mendenhall in the first half is likely not good. Tomlin said Mendenhall will have the knee further examined, but being as it was a non-contact injury, Tomlin insinuated that it could be serious and thus be a season ending injury as it could be an ACL tear. With Mendenhall sidelined, the load in the running game will now likely shift to Isaac Redman and rookie John Clay next week against the Denver Broncos in the Read more [...]

It is the final game of the 2011 regular season for the Pittsburgh Steelers as they look to beat the Cleveland Browns before they head into the playoffs. A Steelers win combined with a Baltimore Ravens loss or tie against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday would give them the AFC North title along with a first round bye. As I do every week, here are my 7 things to look for against the Browns as the Steelers look to finish the regular season at 12-4. Also included is my score prediction for the game. Healthy Hillis - Last week St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson ran for 103 yards on 24 carries 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 [...]