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 [...]

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 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 [...]

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 [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers week 16 Saturday game versus the St. Louis Rams at Heinz Field. The Steelers were in their base defense for 50 of the 62 non-penalty plays Saturday against the Rams. Only 12 times they were in nickel and we did not see any other sub-packages as Cortez Allen did not see one defensive snap in the game. That was the first game that Allen has not seen action on defense since week 6. Cameron Heyward had 14 snaps and they came at both end positions. 6 of those 14 came on the final defensive series. James Farrior and Larry Foote Read more [...]

Although the play did not end in a sack, it was fun to watch Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison almost get a sack of Rams quarterback Kellen Clemens by using left tackle Adam Goldberg to do it with. Below is the breakdown of the play in pictures that shows just how strong Harrison is. Remember that Goldberg goes about 6'7", 305 lbs and Harrison around 6'0", 242 lbs. Roughly 7 inches and 63 lbs difference in the two. The situation is a 3rd and 7 from the rams 40 yard-line with 5:36 left in the first half. The Steelers are in their nickel defense and will rush 5 on the play as linebacker 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 [...]

There were several great play by the Pittsburgh Steelers defense last Thursday night in their 14-3 win over the Cleveland Browns and I wanted to focus in on the 3rd down and goal play from the Steelers 1 foot line with just over 10 minutes left in the first quarter. This play followed the great touchdown saving tackle of Browns quarterback Colt McCoy by James Harrison, that was originally ruled a touchdown. The Steelers are in goal-line personnel on this play and the first picture has the Steelers players numbered that are on the field so you can see who is where to begin with. Read more [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers week 14 Thursday night game versus the Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field. Rookie Cameron Heyward saw a season high 33 non-penalty snaps in this game and that was likely because Ziggy Hood suffered a groin injury early. Heyward mostly played on the left side. Not much work for rookie Cortez Allen in this game with just 2 non-penalty snaps. Larry Foote got some early work, but none in the second half. Have to wonder if he aggravated his hamstring. Troy Polamalu came off for the final 9 plays after tweaking his hamstring. The Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 54 of The Terrible Podcast is up and David Todd and I get right into the Pittsburgh Steelers 14-3 win last night over the Cleveland Browns and start off with tipping our hat to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his ability to come back in the second half despite a nasty looking ankle injury. We recap the other injuries and wonder if center Maurkice Pouncey might be the one we should worry about the most being able to play a week from Monday against the San Francisco 49ers. During the injury talk we talk about the brief appearance of Charlie Batch in the game. Not very good. Next Read more [...]