Onward we go with our player by player look at the Pittsburgh Steelers 2012 Free Agents. we are breaking them down one by one and look ahead to their pending 2012 free agency situation. The first part of this series I am focusing on the restricted free agents and this is the fourth player in that series. In this free agent analysis we will have a look at guard Ramon Foster. Player: Ramon Foster Position: Guard Experience: 3 Years Free Agent Status: Restricted 2011 Salary Cap Hit: $527,668.00 2011 Season Breakdown: Foster did not own a starting spot on the offensive line out of Read more [...]

Onward we go with our player by player breakdown of the 2012 Pittsburgh Steelers free agents. We are still looking at the restricted group and next up is offensive lineman Doug Legursky. Player: Doug Legursky Position: Guard/Center Experience: 3 Years Free Agent Status: Restricted 2011 Salary Cap Hit: $525,000.00 2011 Season Breakdown: Legursky was a very busy guy in 2011 for the Steelers. He started the season as the starting right guard after getting the job late in the preseason as Chris Scott, Tony Hills and Ramon Foster failed to nail it down. He started the first three games 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 [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2011 season will be remembered as an injury plagued one and the offensive line certainly had their fair share of them. In the 17 games the Steelers played this past season they started 10 different line combinations due mostly to injuries as the table below shows. Offensive line coach Sean Kugler broke his personal best this year with starting line combinations as he used 9 different offensive line combinations in his final year with the Bills. Here is a rundown by game of the musical chairs on the offensive line. Week 1 - Against the Ravens the starting 5 left to 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 week 17 offensive line breakdown report for the Pittsburgh Steelers win this past Sunday against the Cleveland Browns is now complete and overall it was a very solid game for the offensive line as everyone scored 90% or higher. The Browns really did not get that much consistent pressure on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and there front 4 were very inconsistent at defending at the point of attack. Here are the scores and a recap of each lineman. TOTAL POSPLAYER PLAYSGOOD BADGOOD % SP H LGChris Kemoeatu 75714 95%.51 0 LTMax Starks 82775 94%02 1 Read more [...]

Below are the offensive personnel packages, play counts and participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers week 17 win on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. It is not surprising that Hines Ward saw 26 snaps in this game as they looked to feed him the ball to get him to his 1,000th career reception. Emmanuel Sanders saw 23 non-penalty snaps in his return to action. Rookie running back John Clay received extra playing time due to the early ACL knee injury to Rashard Mendenhall, and saw 15 non-penalty snaps. Personnel wise we saw the return of the 0 personnel grouping this past week with Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the playoffs and will play the Denver Broncos Sunday afternoon in Denver in one of the two AFC wild card games with the Cincinnati Bengals taking on the Houston Texans Saturday in Houston in the other first round AFC wild card game. The New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens both received the first round byes and are the 1st and 2nd seeds respectfully. The Steelers are the 5th seed and the Bengals are the 6th. The Texans are the 3rd and the Broncos are 4th. Should the Steelers beat the Broncos on Sunday in Denver, they will travel to Foxboro to take on the Patriots 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 [...]

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 week 16 offensive line breakdown report for the Pittsburgh Steelers win this past Saturday against the St. Louis Rams is now complete and overall it was a pretty solid performance as everyone scored 86% or higher. The Rams run defense was pretty poor and the Steelers unit was able to push them around on quite a few plays and even get second level blocks on their linebackers, including James Laurinaitis. TOTAL POSPLAYER PLAYSGOOD BADGOOD % SP H RT/TEMarcus Gilbert 220 100%00 0 CDoug Legursky 220 100%00 0 C/LGTrai Essex 51465 90%01 0 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 [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers notched their second shutout of the season on Saturday at Heinz Field with their 27-0 win over the St. Louis Rams. The win moves the Steelers to 11-4 on the season and they remain in second place in the AFC North after the Baltimore Ravens held off a late charge by the Cleveland Browns today. Veteran quarterback Charlie Batch, who started in place of the ailing Ben Roethlisberger, was 15 of 22 passing on the day for 208 yards in the game. He had just one interception on the day on a ball intended for wide receiver Antonio Brown. Both Batch and Brown had slips on that Read more [...]

The week 15 offensive line breakdown report for the Pittsburgh Steelers loss Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers is now complete and overall it was not a good night as far as pass protection went up the middle and on the left side as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had pass rushers on him quite a bit and not a lot of room to step up into the pocket with his lead bad ankle. The pass protection started off OK, but deteriorated, especially in the second half. The run blocking was adequate, just not great. TOTAL POSPLAYER PLAYSGOOD BADGOOD % SP H RGRamon Foster 71656 Read more [...]