Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held his pregame press conference today prior to the Thursday night game against the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Audio is below: [audio:http://www.steelersdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/mike-tomlin-panthers-pre-game-press-conference.mp3] Tomlin opened by saying this is the last opportunity for a few players to make their case to make the 53 man roster. Ike Taylor, Chris Carter and Jerricho Cotchery will not play Thursday night and several players like James Farrior, Troy Polamalu, Casey Hampton, Bryant McFadden, Maurkice Pouncey Read more [...]

In the offseason, Art Rooney II made it clear that he wanted to see the Steelers top draft picks progress faster and start contributing some time in their rookie year. Only one game into the season, he has to be thrilled with the Steelers top three 2010 draft picks. It goes without saying that first round pick Maurkice Pouncey is already playing at a high level and making both guards on either side of him better. Third round pick Emmanuel Sanders was active on his first Sunday in the NFL and was in on a few offensive sets as well as kickoff coverage and kick returns. He didn't make any real noticeable Read more [...]

Hope you have not purchased your Jonathan Dwyer, Crezdon Butler or Stevenson Sylvester jerseys yet as they have already changed numbers. It is not uncommon after the 53 man roster has been set for rookie to scavenger through the numbers of released players and change numbers. On Monday, Dwyer was wearing No. 27 formerly worn by Joe Burnett, Butler is now No. 28 formerly worn by Justin Vincent and Sylvester is the new No. 55, formerly worn by Patrick Bailey. In a surprising twist, rookie Emmanuel Sanders is all set to stick with No. 88. If I need to tell you who that number belonged to, well you Read more [...]

PPG beat writer Ed Bouchette takes a shot at the terms of the Ben Roethlisberger suspension, calling it counter productive because he is being forced to stay away from the team. We agree, he needs his teammates now. The Steelers announced the 8 man practice squad this morning and there were no new surprises really. It is good to see that Steve McLendon is back healthy. Three of the players the Steelers cut on Saturday were claimed by other teams off of waivers Sunday as the Buffalo Bills signed guard Kraig Urbik off of waivers, the Detroit Lions claimed returner Stefan Logan and the Tennessee Read more [...]

The Steelers reached their 53 man roster limit today when they released 11 players and placed quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the reserve/suspended list. The following released were: LB Patrick Bailey, CB Joe Burnett, S Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith, WR Tyler Grisham, DE Sunny Harris, C Justin Hartwig, WR Stefan Logan, DT Steve McLendon, FB Frank Summers, OG Kraig Urbik and DT Doug Worthington. The Steelers will now look to put together their 8 man practice squad after players clear waivers. Players released over the last two days that are eligible for 2010 Practice squad are  Worthington, Urbik, Read more [...]

Oh how things can change so quickly. One play of the preseason even. As it stands right now, it looks like Byron Leftwich has some MCL damage. Early reports say it is torn, but that is not confirmed. This 53 man roster prediction of mine assumes he will be placed on IR. If not, I get one mulligan before the cuts are made Saturday. Here is the 53 man prediction from last week and I will note the changes and why I made them. First I added Kraig Urbik back because I feel he has improved greatly over the last 2 weeks. This takes me from 9 to 10 lineman. The next change is the releasing of Joe Burnett Read more [...]

The Steelers beat the Carolina Panthers 19-3 in the 4th and final preseason game of the 2010 season, but may have lost quarterback Byron Leftwich in the process. Below are my 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. Byron Leftwich injury looked like a whip to the knee. Read more [...]

The Steelers trimmed down to 75 players on Tuesday morning and now will need to cut 21 more by September 4th. Why 21 and not 22 you ask? This is because quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be moved to the reserve/suspended list, so technically that will not be a cut. I have listed 10 players that will likely be seeing the Turk soon and 16 players who could be considered on the bubble right now in my opinion. None of these are locked in stone mind you and this list is for entertainment purposes only, so no one get your feelings hurt until the cuts are made as ANYTHING can happen in these final days Read more [...]

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will not be permitted to have contact with the Steelers once the season starts, but has said he plans to bring in his own with private quarterbacks coach, Steve Clarkson, from California to work with during his suspension. The pregame notes for the Steelers final preseason game against the Carolina Panthers has been released and you can read it right here. The game is Thursday night at Heinz Field. Head coach Mike Tomlin said Monday that inside linebacker James Farrior and cornerback Bryant McFadden, could miss Thursday's preseason finale against Carolina with Read more [...]

The Steelers beat the New York Giants 24-17 in the 2nd preseason game of the 2010 season. Below are my 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. The team overall looked a little sluggish getting started. Camp finally breaking and traveling did not help. Let us hope Ike Taylor got that out of his system. Any how I gave Taylor the Read more [...]

Mike Bires of the Beaver County Times has a profile article on Bronko Doug Legursky. Sean Kugler loves the guy and calls him one of the strongest guys on the line. His position versatility also will likely help his chances of making the 53 man roster once again. Gerry Dulac of the Post-Gazette seems to think linebackers Patrick Bailey, Thaddeus Gibson and Stevenson Sylvester are battling for one open linebacker roster spot. I disagree and think there are actually two spots open and Bailey is not even in the mix. As much as I like the play of Keyaron Fox, I do not think he can be considered a Read more [...]

The Steelers beat the Detroit Lions 23-7 in the 1st preseason game of the 2010 season. Below are my notes and nuggets I kept on the game of my observations. I have much more coming on this game and am working through the night. Isaac Redman ran consistent and hard, especially between the tackles. Also improved greatly at pass blocking. He should have no problem making the 53 man roster. Maurkice Pouncey is the real deal. Got lots of time at center and can move some flesh as well as get to the second level. Played some right guard late in the game, but looks like he could very well start week Read more [...]

Camp report week is here as the Steelers report on Friday to Latrobe. Today we continue on with our position previews for camp with a look at the linebacker position. That leaves only the special teams and defensive line left for us to cover later on this week. Make sure to read all of our positional training camp previews at the links below. Training Camp Preview – Defensive Line |Training Camp Preview – Safeties |Training Camp Preview – Linebackers | Training Camp Preview – Offensive Line | Training Camp Preview – Tight Ends | Training Camp Preview – Wide Receivers | Training Camp Read more [...]

It looks like the Steelers are indeed done with contracts for the offseason and once the season starts, no new deals are likely to be done, especially with the cloudy NFL labor situation. To the best of my calculations, the Steelers have 25 of 81 players on the final year of their current contract. I did not prioritize them below, but it is not hard to pick out those that are high profile moving forward. Those players would be: LaMarr Woodley, Ike Taylor, Jeff Reed and Daniel Sepulveda in my opinion. Dennis Dixon, Willie Colon and Trai Essex are fringe at this point. I have included a blurb on Read more [...]

NFL.com Senior Analyst, Pat Kirwan has a great piece up on the importance of outside linebackers in a 3-4 defense. Kirwan tells why the Steelers are so effective at re-loading at the position. Special teams ace Patrick Bailey is learning to fly and is working on his pilot’s license during the offseason. Bailey was re-signed this offseason as an exclusive rights free agent and has his work cut out to make the 53 man roster, especially since the Steelers drafted three more linebackers in April. Speaking of the drafted linebackers, Mike Prisuta talked to NFL scouts about their draft-day grades Read more [...]