Antonio Brown has become the real star on this offense. Photo Courtesy espn.com

I’m going to go against the grain here and say that I wouldn’t be too surprised if Mike Wallace was let go this off-season. That is not to say that’s what I want (haven’t made up my mind on that one yet), but just that I wouldn’t be too surprised. Here’s why.

Mike Wallace was largely a non-factor throughout the second half of last season. Everyone in the NFL knows where Wallace is going. He’s going deep, and even though there are a handful of #1 CBs who can’t cover him even when they know that’s what’s going down it doesn’t matter, because Big Ben can’t hit him in stride anyway. Ben has showed that he can sling the ball around the field, but when it comes to the long ball, accuracy is not one of his strong suits. He can over-throw Wallace (many joked that it’s not possible, it is.) he can under-throw Wallace, but it doen’t look like he can really strike when the iron is hot with Mikey.

Is that Wallace’s fault? No. There are benefits to having Wallace back even though it’s not likely, in my opinion, he’ll have a big year like the first half of last year again. He stretches the field. Sometimes he even has to be double covered which puts guys like Antonio Brown in one on one situations, and we all know what AB can do with his feet after catching the ball (something Wallace lacks, might I add).

SO if Wallace isn’t brought back that leaves us with the two young studs Emmanual Sanders and Antonio Brown, and leaves us with some combination of Cotchery, Ward, and perhaps a draft pick or a practice squader like Tyler Grisham.

Now let’s talk about Ward vs. Cotchery. Ward is old and slow, but reliable and is a great mentor for the younger WRs. Cotchery is a stud. Has a lot left in the tank, and when everyone else was covered, Cotchery was finding ways to get open and catch TDs from Big Ben last season. With some more oportunities, I think Cotchery could be a great signing for the Steelers. Ben likes him, and he’s a beast. Problem is, you all think the Steelers should be loyal to Ward because he’s been loyal to them. Not sure I agree there. Ward wants to finish his career in Pittsburgh, but he may have to take the league minimum to do so. The Steelers have never been a nostalgic team in the way they do Front Office business. What’s most important now is what gives them the best chance to win now and in the future. Is a Hines Ward signing/restructuring really the answer to that problem? I’m just not sure.

Word is that Cotchery wants a 4 or 5 year deal. Where it is uncharacteristic for the Steelers to sign vets to longer deals, it may not be so far fetched, especially if they let either Hines or Wallace go. I know you’re sitting there thinking it’s just impossible for the Steelers to make such a move, but I assure you, nothing is impossible. Tomlin has been calling Wallace a “one trick pony” for years. The news people always laugh like “aww that’s so cute Tomlin is razzing Wallace” but I think Tomlin is serious. I think he really does think Wallace is a one trick pony, and I think he’s right. Antonio Brown is the total package. He can run slants, deep routs, screens…and he is always good for some YAC. Wallace has trouble using his feet to get open or to break tackles except when he is in the open field. His perceived value is still very great though, considering the bottom line numbers Wallace had last season. That means either the Steelers will have to shell out some big money, Franchise Tag him, or they get an onslaught of players or draft picks in a trade. Certainly a thought worth entertaining.

Emmanual Sanders makes me a little nervous since he has spent so much time on the sidelines watching the games due to injury. I hope that he can stay healthy this year and prove that he belongs in the #3 at the least. I know at the beginning of the year we all thought Sanders would be the #2, but I think Antonio has claimed that spot (maybe even #1…) The Steelers have also signed Derrick Williams, a WR from the Lions who is a Penn State album. Not a lot of info on him out there, so we’ll see.

Needless to say, I’m interested and ready to find out what decisions the Steelers make. For me, the ideal WR core would be: #1 Antonio Brown, #2 Mike Wallace, #3 Emanual Sanders, #4 Jerricho Cotchery #5 Hines Ward. That’s clearly not possible and will not be the case, but I’ve numbered them in order of their value at this time, so you can deduct where I’d like it to be if one or two have to be cut out.

Over and out.

Follow me on Twitter at @AdamMeckler, I tweet a lot.

"Why did I throw that ball away in the end zone?" - Photo Courtesy http://mix1065fm.radio.com

OK, that’s a loaded title, but it says pretty much everything I want to say here. I’ve been hearing all these talking heads and morons on Twitter talk about how Brady and Manning were “pretty much even” in the way they played last Sunday. There are even some who say that Brady played better because he has fewer weapons (right, because Hernadez, Gronk, Brach, and Welker are nobodies…) than does Eli. Well as you’re probably already aware, I disagree whole-heartedly with those people. You could make the argument that I am extremely bias because of my fan hood for the boys in black and gold, but I’m determined to show you that my disdain for Brady is not the only reason I think Eli was a better QB on Sunday. (more…)

Dont' cry for me Terrel Oweeeeennns, the truth is we neeeeever liked yooooou.

Ok, so there’s Ryan Fitzpatrick, and maybe a couple other quarterbacks out there who have nearly as much brain as bronze, but the majority of the NFL is full of morons. Seriously, it’s pretty amazing. It feels like every day someone is sending me an article about some football player who once had lots of money from footballing around, and no has no more money because of too much footballing around. Not too long ago it was our very own Charlie Batch who had been recently robbed of all his money by some phoney investment, leaving him to scratch his head. The other day, it was Terrell Owens who spilled his guts to GQ about his four babies and his four different baby mamas. $44,000 per year per child is what this man owes for child support. That’s no problem for a HOF wide receiver, right?

Wrong. Because all football players are morons. (more…)

But, it was ultimately what he didn’t do that ruined his image and brought about his firing. You know the story. There was a man on Paterno’s staff who was habitually raping young boys. Joe was given an eye witness account, however vague it may have been, passed it on to his higher ups and never gave it another thought. Just the other day Joe gave an interview where he said now, looking back, he wishes he would have done more. Hindsight is always 20/20. (more…)

They won’t say what the settlement was for and no one will say whether Ben paid her off, so we will just have to wonder. Or what’s more likely is we’ll all just forget about it again.

One down, One to go.