As the Pittsburgh Steelers get closer to having to make key personnel decisions for salary cap purposes, I thought I would take time to research out the ramifications of terminating the contracts of nose tackle Casey Hampton and running back Rashard Mendenhall from both a salary cap savings angle and because both are still recovering from ACL surgeries, as both expected to start the 2012 season on the PUP (physically unable perform) list. Let us start from an injury standpoint first, as I was confused how this worked myself. I was trying to look at it from an injury grievance viewpoint as it Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers GM Kevin Colbert not only acknowledged the reality of running back Rashard Mendenhall starting the 2012 season on the PUP list, but also told reporters on Monday that veteran nose tackle Casey Hampton will definitely be a PUP candidate if he is back with the Steelers in 2012 according to Scott Brown of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Hampton had surgery late in January to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that he suffered early in the AFC Wild Card game against the Denver Broncos and it was the second time he has had the surgery on his left knee. Hampton, Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers have already made a solid dent in the 2012 salary cap problems that they faced heading into the offseason, but there is still a lot of meat left on the bone that needs to be chewed off. The release of Bryant McFadden and Arnaz Battle on Wednesday, combined with the expected contract restructures of LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons, instantly slashed almost $15.25 million off of the 2012 cap number. Currently I have the Steelers 2012 cap number at just shy of $129 million with the players currently under contract and the current dead money. That number does not include Read more [...]

The Senior Bowl is now in the books and so kicks off the march towards the 2012 NFL draft. The next big event of course is the NFL combine that begins February 22nd and that is followed by the individual college pro days and pre draft visits. I purposely waited to release my first version of the 2012 Steelers mock draft so I could watch the Senior Bowl week coverage and game as to allow me to see several of players play and practice. With that said, I also like to research extensively to get a feel of what rounds players are expected to go in. As we have seen time and time again, several players Read more [...]

While not totally unexpected and certainly on the horizon for a while now, the Pittsburgh Steelers officially took two punches to the nose on Thursday as it was reported the veteran nose tackle Casey Hampton would indeed require ACL surgery on the left knee he injured in the Wild Card game against the Denver Broncos and veteran backup nose tackle Chris Hoke made his retirement official. Heading into the offseason, Hampton has been at the top of the list of possible players the Steelers will need to cut or restructure to get underneath the projected salary cap number of $125 million when the 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 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 Pittsburgh Steelers saw their 2011 season come to an abrupt end Sunday in Denver with 29-23 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Wild Card game. Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow hit wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on the first play in overtime for a game-winning 80-yard touchdown pass to give the Broncos the win. Tebow had 316 passing yards and two touchdowns in the game and the Broncos now advance to play the New England Patriots in a divisional playoff game Saturday night in Foxboro. The Broncos finished with 447 total yards against the Steelers No. 1 defense that allowed an average Read more [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers week 17 Sunday game versus the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Steelers were in their base defense for 25 of the 58 non-penalty plays Sunday against the Browns. 33 plays in the nickel sub-package with Bryant McFadden replacing Keenan Lewis later in the game after Lewis suffered a hamstring injury. Rookie Cameron Heyward had 6 snaps in this game and they came at the right defensive end spot. Steve McLendon saw 3 snaps at left defensive end and none as a base nose tackle this week. No snaps for Cortez Allen Read more [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers week 15 Monday night game versus the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park. The Steelers were in their base defense a whopping 48 of the 61 non-penalty plays Monday night against the 49ers. 8 times they were in nickel, 3 times in dime and 2 times in goal-line. In the dime, linebacker Lawrence Timmons was the linebacker off the field. Both Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark were pulled very late in the game and that is how Ryan Mundy and Will Allen got their snaps. Stevenson Sylvester was also in for the final 2 kneel downs 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 [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns 14-3 Thursday night at Heinz Field and here are some of my post game observations after going through the game again. Lawrence Timmons bit hard on the play action on the early long completion to Evan Moore and never recovered in coverage. On the second big completion to Josh Cribbs, Troy Polamalu guessed wrong and Cribbs was wide open on the seam route. It was James Harrison that prevented Colt McCoy from getting into the endzone for the touchdown that was overturned after McCoy was clearly down. Harrison fought off his block to get a foot. Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger showed why he is the toughest quarterback in the league Thursday night as he returned from a high ankle sprain suffered in the second quarter to lead the team to a 14-3 win over the Cleveland Browns. The gimped up Roethlisberger was 16 of 21 passing on the night for 280 yards with 2 touchdown passes to Jerricho Cotchery and Antonio Brown. He also had one interception in the game. He left the game with just under 6 minutes left in the first half after being sacked by Scott Paxson. On the play Roethlisberger had his ankle twisted severely during Read more [...]

The Steelers are back home this week to host the Cincinnati Bengals at Heinz Field. The final injury report on Friday showed two players ruled out in Arnaz Battle and Chris Carter. Larry Foote was listed as questionable, while LaMarr Woodley, Troy Polamalu, Emmanuel Sanders, Ben Roethlisberger, Stevenson Sylvester and Maurkice Pouncey were all listed as probable. Let's have a look at the injured players and predict the other remaining inactives this week as the Steelers look to move to 9-3 on the season and 2-2 in the AFC North. The official inactive list are released 90 minutes before kick-off Read more [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Steelers week 12 Sunday night game versus the Kansas City Chiefs. Rookie Cameron Heyward went from getting no snaps against the Bengals last game to getting 17 against the Chiefs. Heyward played on both the left and right side this game and only in base formations. Rookie Cortez Allen saw just 3 snaps and 1 of those was when the Steelers had 12 men on defense. In reality the Steelers played dime just 2 times if you do not count that play. Steve McLendon saw 12 snaps and 2 of those were even at left defensive end in base formations. Troy Polamalu Read more [...]