Jay Glazer of Fox Sports first reported the news Friday night that the Washington Redskins have acquired the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft from the St. Louis Rams and it cost them this year’s first and second round picks as well as their first-round picks in 2013 and 2014. The Redskins are now most certainly going to draft Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III after Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck is taken first overall by the Indianapolis Colts. The trade also signifies that the Redskins will not be making a run at free agent quarterback Peyton Manning as well. Manning was released Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark has never been shy about letting his feelings known through the media and always jumps at the chance to battle his nemesis Skip Bayless, who is notorious for reading into comments made by players. Such was the case Monday morning when Clark phoned into ESPN First Take to clarify his tweets he made on Twitter Friday after the reports surfaced that the New Orleans Saints had a long running bounty system in place under then defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. During the interview, Clark made a point to distinguish the difference between whistle blowing and Read more [...]

The recent hot news topic around the NFL right now is the bounty program that Gregg Williams ran while he was the defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints. Williams, who is now the defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams, has already come forward and apologized for his role in the bounties, and now he and the Saints organization will wait for the investigation to finish. Williams, players and the Saints could all be subject to significant penalties, including suspensions, fines and the loss of draft picks when the league issues their final findings. On Saturday the news escalated Read more [...]

It was announced on Tuesday that the first game of 2012 NFL regular season will be played on Wednesday, September 5th at at MetLife Stadium as to avoid a conflict with President Barack Obama’s Thursday night speech at the Democratic National Convention. The Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants will be the home team of course and the speculation has been rampant as to who they will play. When you look at the Giants 2012 opponents that they will play at home in 2012, you will see that they are scheduled to host the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints, Read more [...]

Alby Oxenreiter, Sports Director for WPXI in Pittsburgh, reports via Twitter this afternoon that a source has told him that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin may be interested in talking to recently-fired Oakland Raiders head coach Hue Jackson about the still open offensive coordinator position. Jackson has long been speculated as a possible candidate for the job ever since it was announced that Bruce Arians would not return next season. Jackson began his coaching career at his his alma mater, Pacific, in 1987 and has since had several coaching stops at both the college and professional Read more [...]

The news officially broke this morning that Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians will not be back in 2012 according to a statement by head coach Mike Tomlin. With the offensive coordinator position now open I have put together a list below of the likeliest candidates to be the Steelers next offensive coordinator. Tomlin will be down in Mobile, Alabama next week for the Senior Bowl and there could be a few interviews that take place down there, but that is just speculation. Those interviews could include a few coaches not on my list below as well, as the Senior Bowl always is a Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark announced on Twitter tonight that he will attempt to change his number from 25 to 21 if running back Mewelde Moore does not return in 2012. Moore will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. The number switch is a tribute to Sean Taylor, a good friend and former teammate of Clark's when he was with the Washington Redskins. Taylor died from critical injuries due to gunshots suffered during a home invasion back in November of 2007. Taylor was just 24 years of age. Clark honors the memory of Taylor by wearing 21 during Steelers practices and has Read more [...]

By Jeremy Hritz Right now, it still hurts for Steelers fans. Two of our most hated opponents will battle for the AFC crown that we proudly wore last year. And in the NFC, we have to watch the other hated Harbaugh and the Eli Manning-led New York Giants. While Sunday will no doubt be agonizing as it reminds us of what could have been, it is time to move on. And what better way to do so than taking a closer look at the 2012-2013 Steelers' opponents. Opponents’ 2011 Records: 103-105 (.495) 2011 Playoff Opponents on 2012 Schedule: 4 - Baltimore, Cincinnati, Denver, New York Giants Divisional 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 [...]

We still have one week left to go in the 2011 NFL season, but we now have enough to go on to give you the Pittsburgh Steelers 2012 opponents that will be on their 2012 schedule. The only thing that remains to be decided is if the the Steelers will host the New England Patriots or the New York Jets and if they will travel to play either the Houston Texans or the Tennessee Titans. Should the Steelers win the AFC North on Sunday, they will host the Patriots and visit the Texans. If they do not win the AFC North on Sunday, they will host the Jets and visit the the Titans instead. Those are the only Read more [...]

If you read my post on a regular basis you know of my fondness of the TOX stat and my new fascination with the Adjusted Net Yards Per Passing Attempt Differential Stat. Both are not new by any stretch, but neither are actively tracked. If you want to read up on the first post I did on ANYPPAD Stat I did in relation to teams making the playoffs and winning it all, just follow the link. Also here is the year to date of the stat last week as I will be tracking this for the remainder of the season. Below is the year to date Adjusted Net Yards Per Passing Attempt Differential Stats for all 32 teams Read more [...]

Despite their win last Sunday night against the Chiefs, the Steelers received almost no help in the other week 12 games to get some separation as far as the 2011 playoff picture goes. The Ravens, Bengals, Texans, Patriots, Raiders and Titans all won, and unfortunately the Bills did not knock off the Jets. The Steelers can certainly knock the Bengals out of the AFC North race with a win against them on Sunday, but let's look at a few other games in week 13 that could certainly help the Steelers inch even close to a playoff birth. Browns Over Ravens - Yes, this one is an obvious one, but we have Read more [...]

These are pretty much meaningless stats during the preseason, but they are fun to watch week to week as the Steelers progress through the preseason. Below are play direction stats from the Steelers first preseason game Friday night against the Redskins. The thing that sticks out the most is that the Steelers did not run to the left side any on Friday night. Now they of course are a right handed running team and they only ran 18 times on the night with 2 of those times being Dennis Dixon scrambles. We should see a few runs to the left this week mixed in. As far as the passing offense went, 16 Read more [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Steelers first preseason game Friday night versus the Redskins. Not much sticks out as far as a first preseason games go. Aaron Smith started over Ziggy Hood as expected and he saw more snaps than what I figured he would. Chris Carter spelled Jason Worilds at right outside linebacker while Worilds was getting coached up on the sidelines. I doubt Carter was scheduled to enter the game so soon. Ryan Mundy and Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith saw extensive action due to the shortage of safeties and the same went for cornerbacks Keenan Lewis and Donovan Warren Read more [...]

Below are the individual coverage stats and totals from the Friday night preseason game against the Washington Redskins. The top table is by play and consist of which Redskins player was targeted with the pass, the yards gained on the play and the yards after the catch the receiver had on the play. Also included is the number of pass rushers the Steelers used on the play and if they blitzed or not on the play. The bottom table shows the totals for each defensive player thrown at in coverage for the Steelers as well as the completion percentage and yards per attempt. Let me know if you find Read more [...]