The offensive line breakdown report from the Sunday night game against the Baltimore Ravens is now complete and I had to even do this twice because of the tremendous grades that I gave the first time through. This was by far the best the offensive line has played as a unit all season and the best against the Ravens in some time. All 5 starters scored in the 90% range and that is just unheard of. The sack allowed on 3rd down however in the redzone can't be ignored though as it was a huge play in the game and the Steelers had to settle for a field goal because of it. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger Read more [...]

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said yesterday that second-year wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders will be out for a couple of weeks now after having minor knee surgery that involved getting his knee scoped. While veteran Hines Ward seems to be on track to play Sunday against the Bengals after suffering a concussion or concussion-like symptoms as they called it Sunday night, it is easy to speculate that Jerricho Cotchery will have an even larger role this week in four wide receiver sets and perhaps even in 2 and 3 wide sets depending on the situation. The Cotchery signing prior to the season starting Read more [...]

As I do every week, here are more of my observations from the Steelers loss to the Baltimore Ravens last night after going back through the game now. I will have much, more content from this game later on today. I mentioned it before and certainly understand the reasoning why Mike Tomlin defers when he wins the toss, but I still do not like it. It is not like the defense needs a boost of confidence. I would rather see the offense get lathered up first to start the game. The game looked like it was going to get off to a similar start as week 1, only worse, as Ray Rice went 76 yards for a touchdown. Read more [...]

The Steelers are 6-2 at the half way point of the 2011 season so I thought it would be fun to hand out some mid-season awards before they take on the Ravens tonight. I was going to post these Friday night, but thought it would be fun to poll Steeler Nation first to see what they think as opposed to just putting up my selections. Here are the links to all the polls I put up and I have my selections and reasoning below for each in addition. Best Offensive Lineman My Choice - Max Starks - Many would think this is a slam dunk award for center Maurkice Pouncey, but since Starks has returned, the Read more [...]

Here we go again! Steelers Ravens re-match and I do not think this game will let down the prime-time viewership. The Ravens really took it to the Steelers back in week as they ran away with a 35-7 win. The Steelers did not help their own cause in the game by turning the ball over 7 times. So many things have changed since week 1 as the defensive line has a different starter and the offensive line has 3 different pieces. The Steelers have key linebacker injuries, but also get back a few linebackers that have been out a while. Should the Steelers win this game, it will give them a firm 1 game lead Read more [...]

The offensive line breakdown from the week 8 game against the New England Patriots is now complete and what a great performance it was overall by the unit. This was the first time this year that the Steelers started the same group from a the previous week as they had been forced to start a different combination every week for the first 7 games of the season due to injuries. Overall, the Steelers had all 5 starting linemen in the 80% or higher range this week and 3 of the 5 starters over 88%. That is always a good sign. They were certainly helped in pass protection by the huge amount of short Read more [...]

I have gone back through the Steelers game against the New England Patriots now a few times and jotted down some more observations that I did not include in the post game recap. I do this every week as it is impossible to see everything just one or two times through a game. Many will judge off of a stat sheet and it is what sets this site apart from the rest as we actually watch the games more than just one time. Here we go. The Patriots were so protective against the long ball early on that is opened up the middle of the field for Heath Miller and Ben Roethlisberger took it. The Steelers Read more [...]

My offensive line breakdown from the week 7 game against the Arizona Cardinals is complete and I was fooled a bit from my initial views. I stated earlier that I thought it was a roller coaster type performance, but after going through it thoroughly, I found a pretty consistent showing. I think the play of Chris Kemoeatu made it seem like the line was worse than what it actually was. While I thought the run blocking was adequate, there were not huge holes or big creases as the Cardinals did a great job of avoiding second level traffic and did a good job loading the box to outnumber interior blockers. Read more [...]

Voting is now open for the 2012 Pro Bowl game that will be played Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii. The Steelers have several players you can vote for per the usual and here is the rundown of the players that can ve voted for on offense, defense and special teams. You can vote here. Steelers Offense: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger - After a rough start against the Ravens he has really come on strong the last few weeks. Running Back Rashard Mendenhall - Certainly not the best start and he missed a game due to a hamstring injury. Fullback David Johnson - Plays both tight Read more [...]

As the Steelers head into their two biggest games of the season, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is warming up at just the right time. Through the first 4 games of the season it was obvious that his accuracy was a bit off and his week 1 performance against the Ravens was one to forget. After the week 4 loss to the Texans, Roethlisberger had an 80.2 passer rating with a 62% completion rating. He still had a very respectable yards per pass average though of 8.3, thanks to Mike Wallace, but he also had thrown 5 interceptions compared to just 3 touchdown passes. He was pretty banged up as we all know Read more [...]

It pains me to see Steelers defensive end Aaron Smith limp off into the sunset now as he likely will do now after being placed on injured reserve yesterday with a bad foot, but there are not many of us who did not see this coming based on his recent injury history and inability to stay healthy an entire season. I think even General Manager Kevin Colbert knew the extreme risk involved in keeping Smith along with his high 2011 cap charge this season, but he chose to do it anyways. Colbert is great at what he does, but this decision will not go down as one of his top ten best, regardless of how Read more [...]

We now know the second half of the transaction of Corbin Bryant being promoted to the active roster as veteran defensive end Aaron Smith has been placed on injured reserve with his foot injury thus ending his season and perhaps career. 2011 was slated to be the final year under contract for Smith, but he restructured prior to the signing of Max Starks and an extra year was added. Smith played in just 7 games last year before being shelved with a triceps injury and made it just 5 games the season before. He seriously injured his foot this season against the Texans back in week 4 and has been Read more [...]

Yesterday I had a look at the long ball stats of Ben Roethlisberger from 21+ yards and Pro Football Focus has a look this morning at all quarterbacks in the league from 20+ yards. The 1 extra yard does not change the fact that Roethlisberger has had accuracy issues this year with his deep passes. Speaking of Roethlisberger, he joined Jim Rome this week on his television show to talk about the Steelers 4-2 start and the preferential treatment that quarterbacks get from the referees. Video is below. Left tackle Max Starks recently sat down with Teresa Varley for a long interview on the latest Read more [...]

It is that time again as I have now finished the offensive line breakdown from the week 6 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. While the first half was not perfect, it was above average and the offense as a whole seemed to have good rhythm and jump early on. The second half was a different story. I kind of relate it to a NASCAR driver saying he had a great car until the engine blew up. if the car does not run good the entire race, the driver has no shot at winning. As I always, I like to disclaimer these breakdowns. Each player is graded as a pass or fail on each play. There is also quite a bit Read more [...]

The Steelers players have voted left tackle Max Starks the team winner of the 2011 Ed Block Courage Award according to Starks himself on Twitter. The award honors one player from each of the NFL teams who, in the eyes of his teammates, best exemplifies and displays courage. The award is named in memory of Ed Block, a former trainer of the Baltimore Colts and it is administered by the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation. That foundation promotes the prevention of child abuse by raising awareness of the epidemic and assisting agencies who provide for the care and treatment of abused children. Starks Read more [...]