Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II sat down with a few members of the Pittsburgh media on Tuesday for a half hour interview to discuss the Steelers past season and look ahead to 2012. You can read the question and answers here on the Post-Gazette blog. When you read through everything there were not too many surprises if you ask me, but I will go over the main talking points below with my own comments and view points added to a few of the things that Rooney said. Even though we do not usually learn too much from these interviews every offseason, it is just good to hear some of the things Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 69 of The Terrible Podcast is up and with David Todd back in the co-host chair we talk about the playoff games this past weekend in the Divisional Round and continue to cry about the Steelers loss to the Denver Broncos in the Wild Card round. It is still very hard to get over and will be for some time. The first half of the show we talk about how close the Houston Texans were to beating the Baltimore Ravens despite their turnovers and how San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith answered the critics against the New Orleans Saints. Although I did not pick the New York Giants Read more [...]

By Jeremy Hritz There is going to be much debate moving forward about which current Pittsburgh Steelers free agents will return to the for the 2012 season. The debate will be much less about which soon to be free agents on other NFL teams will join the black and gold next year. Historically, the Steelers are wary of signing coveted free agents, opting for mid-tier to somewhat above average guys such as Jerricho Cotchery this year, or a few years back, Cedrick Wilson. Some of these offseason free agents have worked out well for the Steelers in longtime captain James Farrior, who came from the Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 68 of The Terrible Podcast is up and with David Todd tied up in New York, Nick Richetta helps co-pilot the show today and I get the thoughts from Nick from the AFC Wild Card Game against the Denver Broncos from an offensive perspective to start things off with after we get through the latest headlines. Nick and I talk about the offensive line, running backs and wide receiver in addition and get to several questions from Twitter followers and emailers as well. Make sure to follow Nick on Twitter at @SteelerCityKid117 and if you want to buy him a cup of coffee, you can send him Read more [...]

When you look at the daunting salary cap issues that the Pittsburgh Steelers have facing them in 2012, there seems to be some wiggle room on at least a couple of the high priced contracts of linebackers LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons and it comes as a result of how the new contracts each signed prior to the start of the 2011 season were structured. In 2012 Woodley has a $5.5 million roster bonus due to go along with his $3.4 million base salary and his amortized portion of his signing bonus which is $2.6 million. His 2012 cap hit is currently scheduled to be $11.5 million. The Steelers Read more [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers Wild Card game loss versus the Denver Broncos this past Sunday in Denver. The Steelers were in their base defense for 44 of the 55 non-penalty plays Sunday against the Broncos. Just 11 plays in the nickel sub-package. Nose tackle Casey Hampton left after just 2 plays with his ACL knee injury and left defensive end Brett Keisel left with an injured groin after 11 non-penalty snaps. Steve McLendon, Ziggy Hood and Cameron Heyward all finished out the game on the defensive line. LaMarr Woodley saw 37 snaps and Jason Worilds Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers are already nearly $20 plus million over the 2012 projected salary cap number of $125 million and that is with just 44 players under contract for 2012. The still need to tender contracts to their restricted and exclusive rights free agents and fill the offseason roster to get to the 80 player limit as well. They need to get compliant to the salary cap with their top 51 salaries by the start of the new league year around the beginning of March. Knowing what we have as far as 2012 salary cap figures, it is easy to go through and list the players most likely to be cut or restructured. Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers season came to an end Sunday in Denver and now all of the attention turns to the 2012 season, especially as it relates to veteran players on the roster and salary cap concerns as well. One player that will be talked about all offseason is veteran inside linebacker James Farrior. Farrior just finished his 15th season in the NFL and his 10th in a Steelers uniform and there is some speculation that he could possibly retire or end up being a salary cap casualty. I talked to Farrior's agent today, Ralph Cindrich, and asked him if Farrior intends to return for 2012, his 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 [...]

Below are the Pittsburgh Steelers coverage stats for their week 17 win against the Cleveland Browns on the road in Cleveland. These stats are broken down by play and include down and distance, line of scrimmage, direction, yards gained, yards after catch, personnel the offense used, defensive package, number of pass rushers and whether or not the defense blitzed on the play. Browns quarterback Seneca Wallace was 16 of 41 for starters, with two incompletions being spikes. Those are not accounted for below. He also threw for just 177 yards on the day. William Gay was the most targeted in coverage 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 [...]

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 press conferences of Pittsburgh Steelers 2011 Team MVP Antonio Brown and Chief Award Winner James Farrior from yesterday are up on steelers.com for your viewing pleasure. Bruce Arians and Dick LeBeau both talked to the media on Thursday and here is what they had to say during their Q & A's. Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron also talked to the media yesterday and discussed the possibly blitzing Ben Roethlisberger more and how tough it is covering the Steelers receivers. Brian Baldinger does a great job breaking down some of the Steelers favorite plays and how they do it out of Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced today that rookie right tackle Marcus Gilbert was voted the teams 2011 Rookie of the Year and inside linebacker James Farrior won the Chief Award for his cooperation with the local media. Gilbert was drafted by the Steelers in the second round this past April out of Florida and started 13 games at right tackle this season. Gilbert was thrust into action as a starter in week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks after starter Willie Colon was lost for the season in the opening game against the Baltimore Ravens with a torn right triceps. Center Maurkice Pouncey won the Read more [...]

The Steelers defense created 35 take-aways in 2010 as opposed to just 14 so far this season. I went back and watched all off the takeaways from last year to refresh myself with how they were created. 8 of them were caused by getting to the quarterback in some shape or form. 6 were results of good hits on either a ball carrier or strip after a catch. 8 of them were results of bad throws by the opposing quarterback, 5 were nice plays where the Steelers defender jumped the route. 4 were balls that originally came off of a receivers hands and 4 more came on special teams. Below is a play-by-play Read more [...]