Burress staying in Pittsburgh. Tomlin still has holes to fill on the roster. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

What We Learned This Week in the NFL Offseason:

• Steelers active in Free Agency
• Wes Welker defects from Patriots to join Manning in Denver
• Mass Exodus from Baltimore as Ravens can’t afford anyone but Flacco
• Emmanuel Sanders visits New England but leaves without offer sheet
• Steelers lose more players to free agency
• Tomlin speaks on state of Steelers

The free agency period is open for business and there is plenty of moving and shaking involved, even with the Steelers.  The team usually remains relatively quiet during the free agency period, typically re-signing their own players but no splash signings to speak of.  Within the first week of free agency the Steelers re-signed Ramon Foster, Greg Warren, Larry Foote, Plaxico Burress and signed Pittsburgh native back up QB Bruce Gradkowski.  In addition the Steelers welcomed back TE Matt Spaeth from the Browns, whose re-signing is pending a physical.  The signing of Gradkowski likely means either Charlie Batch’s or Byron Leftwich’s time is done in Pittsburgh.  I’d lean towards Leftwich not getting signed back as he’s spent more time on the IR the past few years than Willie Colon, who incidentally was signed by the Jets this week as well.

In moves across the league remember that time when Tom Brady restructured and took a “pay cut” so that the Patriots could make some big signings during the offseason?  Yeah apparently that didn’t work out too well for them seeing as how they couldn’t come to terms with their leading receiver, Wes Welker.  Welker now joins Peyton Manning and what has become a very dangerous receiving corps in Denver.  Too bad they can’t play against their own secondary every game or they’d run away with the Super Bowl hands down.  Also the Baltimore Ravens seem to be closely following the 2003 Florida Marlins offseason handbook and starters are jumping ship like beads on a Mardi Gras float.  After they traded their top WR Anquan Boldin to the 49ers for a stick of Double Mint Gum and some Chuck-E-Cheese tokens they watched starter after starter sign contracts with other teams.  The Ravens not only have to look for the next Ray Lewis in their linebacking corps but will also be faced with replacing Paul Kruger and Dannell Ellerbe along with safety Bernard Pollard.  Not to mention the fact that longtime safety Ed Reed is in the process of being courted by the Houston Texans.  The Ratbirds fell into this whole after offering Joe Flacco the biggest contract in the NFL and having relatively no space left under the cap to resign the rest of the players undoubtedly feeling underpaid as Super Bowl Champions.  Basically they Ratbirds will consist of Flacco, his eyebrow, Suggs, and the kid from the Blind Side.  Good luck with that guys.

Last week Emmanuel Sanders made news after word broke that he was in New England visiting the Patriots.  Sanders is a restricted free agent whom the Steelers offered a tender to before the free agency period started.  Sanders himself cleared up some confusion that was circulating as to if he had signed/not signed/was going to sign/ with the Pats by saying he had not been offered anything.  If Sanders does receive an offer sheet by the April 19^th deadline, the Steelers would have a week to match or beat their offer or they will receive that team’s 3^rd round draft pick as compensation for losing Sanders.  Steeler Nation is all a flutter awaiting the outcome similarly to last year when we were wondering if anyone would offer up their 1^st round pick for Mike Wallace.  I realize losing Wallace is a blow to the receiving corps but I’m not understanding why the collective Nation is stressing the outcome of a wide receiver that had only 626 receiving yards and 1 touchdown last season.  If Sanders choses the same path that Wallace just went down and thinks he’s due a big payday for his potential rather than his numbers, then I’m not sure we’re losing a whole lot there.  Let’s just see how this one plays out before stressing out, shall we?

Speaking of Wallace, the free agency period was barely a few hours old and his massive contract with the Miami Dolphins was already signed signifying the first of three Steelers to defect in the first three days of free agency.  Next was Rashard Mendenhall to the Arizona Cardinals and then Keenan Lewis signed with his hometown team the New Orleans Saints last week.  That wipes out the entire 2008 draft class for the Steelers.  Willie Colon also signed with the Jets last week after being released by the Steelers.  The departure of Wallace will hurt, his talents can’t really be replaced even if that’s hard to admit.  Mendenhall, on the other hand, was part of a lackluster rushing game last season and topped it off by quitting on his own teammates by punking out and pulling a “no show” for a game he wasn’t slated to play in.  See ya later buddy, I’m sure you can do plenty of dancing at the line of scrimmage for 1 yard gains in AZ.  Keenan Lewis showed signs of promise at the CB position opposite Ike Taylor last year and his efforts will certainly be missed.  Cortez Allen had an amazing end of the season and will most likely have the starting position opposite Taylor to start the 2013 season.  Can’t really hold it against Wallace and Lewis if they wanted to leave Pittsburgh.  Aside from all the Plaxico’s and Foote’s in the world who have left the Steel City only to return and never want to leave again, there are some that just don’t get it.  Best of luck to Wallace and Lewis, here’s hoping that Tannehill can stay upright long enough to hit Wallace downfield and Lewis can effectively matchup against Julio Jones twice a season.

Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin and GM Kevin Colbert are in Arizona this week for the owner’s meetings and took some time to talk about the recent departures from the roster.  Both expressed sentiments that there is no need for panic and even Colbert reminded us that we lost players that were a part of an 8-8 team, therefore we were bound to make some kind of changes.  Tomlin said that Worilds would be first in line to take over for the loss of James Harrison, adding that

“We’ll see what Jason Worilds is capable of doing.”

I think we’ll have to see what Tomlin and Colbert are capable of doing too.  They have a big challenge, not only with the upcoming draft and trying to fill some of these holes, but also with maintaining a team that should be re-tooling to compete for a Super Bowl each year and not be losing key players that can’t be replaced.  I agree with Colbert that after the disappointing season the Steelers had, changes were due to come about.  I just hope that the right changes are being made and the right players are being brought in.  On the other hand, you can argue that if Ben doesn’t throw that interception against Cincy we’re in the playoffs and then who knows what could have happened so you have to put yourself in a position to do better next year, not worse.

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It’s getting hot and awkward in here.

What We Learned in Wild Card Weekend in the NFL:

• Todd Haley yet to agree to interview with Cardinals
• The Bungles playoff win drought continues
• Adrian Peterson cannot replicate the magic against Packers
• Ray Ray’s last dance successful for Ratbirds
• RGIII not so great on one leg

Wild Card Weekend and the Divisional Weekend are two of the best weekends of the year for a football fan.  Unfortunately, for a Steeler fan this year it was tough getting into the games without a little bit of bitterness creeping in.  The weekend was not uneventful for Steeler Nation, or maybe it was considering reports surfaced Thursday morning that the Arizona Cardinals had requested permission to speak to Steelers OC Todd Haley in regards to their vacant head coaching position and the rumor mill started cranking.  The questions of will/should Haley go and who could/would replace him spread over Steeler Nation like wild fire.  So far it’s all turned out to be moot because as of Monday morning Haley has yet to even agree to be interviewed.  Apparently Haley wants Arizona to show their cards a bit more in respect to what exactly they might be offering him as he views just an interview for the head coaching position not worth his current situation which apparently he enjoys.  Who knew?

One thing we all knew was that no matter how “hot” the Bungles were heading into the post season after winning 4 of their last 5 regular season games that they were destined for an early exit.  It looked like they might have had a shot with Matt Schaub throwing a pick 6 to Leon Hall in a very similar spot where Hall picked Roethlisberger off win Week 16 for the first touchdown of the game.  It looked for a while as though the Texans weren’t going to get into the endzone as they didn’t score a touchdown until Arian Foster, who rushed for 140 yards, ran it in from the 1 yard line in the 3^rd quarter.  That proved to be just enough as the Houston Texans walked away with at 19-13 victory and will head to New England next week to take on the Pats in the divisional round.  The last time the Bengals won a playoff game Wilson Philips was popular and Home Alone was all the rage in the movie theaters.  To put it even more in perspective, the Pirates have won a playoff game more recently than the Cincinnati Bengals.  Suck on that Bungles.

During the Cincy @ Houston game reports started surfacing out of Green Bay that Viking’s QB Christian Ponder was going to be unable to start and will be replaced by Joe Webb for their Wild Card matchup.  Not that Ponder was going to play a huge role in the game as most of the Vikings hopes for an upset would rely on Adrian Peterson’s amazing comeback season continuing with running success over the Green Bay Packers defense.  Now in spite of how many commercials Clay Matthews does where he states he will “eat” perfect strangers, the Packers have never been considered a defensive juggernaut as of late.  Their basic defensive strategy has been to let Aaron Rodgers try to outscore the other team.  Unfortunately for Minnesota, with Joe Webb under center they looked a lot like a top ten defense.  Webb was sacked three times and was off target the entire night as Peterson was held to 99 rushing yards and was a non-factor in the game.

Sunday morning up until kickoff there was a national love-fest for Ray Lewis on every network available as he was gearing up for his final home game and his final interpretive dance out of the tunnel of M & T Bank Stadium.  Lewis announced earlier in the week that this would be his “last ride” mostly to try to steal the emotional momentum the Colts have been riding on all season long as well as because Lewis is one of the biggest media whores in the league.  The anticipation to Lewis’ dance out of the tunnel was more than ridiculous and just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse the dance started with Nelly’s “Hot in Here” blasting in the stadium (I’m not even kidding) and Ray rubbing a part of a patch of grass over himself and then starting his final stabby shuffle.  After the “what in the hell did I just watch?” moment was over, the game began with what looked like a defensive battle that neither team was able to score until Anquan Boldin was unable to not catch anything that was thrown his way.  Seriously, someone needs to check his gloves for stick’em.  Boldin caught five passes for 145 yards and a touchdown in a 24-9 Ratbirds victory.  The purple ones will now travel to Denver to await their playoff destiny at the hands of Peyton Manning and a much superior defense to their own.  Looks like we’re in for yet another week of “this will be the last time you see Ray Lewis____” crap all over the various sports news outlets.  Awesome.

The weekend started with three rookie quarterbacks starting with a chance to advance their team in the playoffs and it ended with only one of them moving on to the next round.  The one moving on is the last one picked in the bunch, the tiny Russell Wilson took his Seahawks on the road and outplayed a one-legged Robert Griffin III for a chance to play Atlanta next week.  RGIII entered the game with a knee injury that appeared to be reaggravated in the second quarter.  He never looked right the rest of the game and eventually in the fourth quarter took a bad snap, lost his footing on the sloppy field and the whole world saw his knee buckle and you could almost hear the ligaments snap into a million pieces.  First off, what kind of playoff field was that?  That turf looked worse than Heinz Field did after Bane blew it up.  Second, the controversy over whether or not it was right to keep RGIII in the game and whose ultimate call it was to allow him to continue to play will be debated over and over again but this is just another example of the hypocrisy over injuries in the NFL.  Players who take themselves off of the field when injured are almost always called “soft” while players who play visibly hurt are always lauded as “heroes” or “warriors”.  Nevertheless the Seattle Seahawks played a great game and will definitely give the Falcons a tough matchup next week.  Bring it on Divisional Round!

Follow me on Twitter @Kimmy_KimKimM and follow all of NPC’s posts @NicePickCowherC

'Red Zone' will need to step up this season. Can he produce with a new OC and a young offensive line? Credit: David Richard-US PRESSWIRE

ESPN’s Ravens reporter AFC North reporter, Hensley, posted today about the Steelers and Ravens having ‘matchup-busters’ at the wide receiver postion.  Mike Wallace (should he sign his tender) and Antonio Brown represent the Steelers.  Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith represent the Ravens.  Hensley points out that the AFC North is usually a run first kind of division.  Truth.  Which got me thinking – who is going to run the ball the most, and who will run most effectively between these two?

The Steelers are looking to ‘find their way’ again through new OC Todd Haley.  No one really quite knows how this change will work out.  We know that Haley wants to run the ball more than Arians did in past seasons.  But, with Mendenhall still recovering from his knee injury, Redman unproven (yet I think he’s the real deal), and a young offensive line that is practically changing from diapers to pull ups this season, there is much uncertainty about the Steelers running game.

What will Rice's status be by Week 1 with his holdout? Credit: David Butler II-US PRESSWIRE

The Ravens and their running game are also under scrutiny for 2012.  Ray Rice is holding out for a big contract and is sitting out OTAs as he waits.  Averaging well over 1,000 for the last three season and a beast against his divisional foes throughout the North, Rice feels he is worth more than the $7.7 million he got last year.  The Ravens also lost OG Ben Grubbs to the Saints during free agency this spring.  Grubbs was the cornerstone to the Ravens running game and will be missed.  They tried to bolster their offensive line by drafting OT Kelechi Osemele and OG Gino Gradkowski.  Will they be able to help whomever carries the rock come the start of the 2012 season?

So my question to you readers is two fold. 1) Who will run the ball more in 2012? and 2) Who will run the ball more effectively (not necessarily more yards)?

Pittsburgh has a long history of athlete-endorsed food products. There were Louis Lipps‘ uber-delicious Lippsmacker cookies. Bubby Brister had the Bubby Bar. Not to be outdone, Mario Lemieux countered with his unfortunately named Mario Bun. I even remember Terry Bradshaw Peanut Butter. My mother claims it was the only PB I’d accept with my J back when I was a wee lad.

I’ve been a diehard Steelers fan a loooooong time.

City of Champions Cereal is the newest entry on that list. The box, featuring Hines Ward and Max Talbot on alternate sides, will be available exclusively at local Giant Eagle stores in mid November.  For the out-of-towners, you can also order this fine product directly from the PLB Sports website beginning November 9th.  Heck, order some Big Ben Beef Jerky while you’re at it.  You can never have enough beef jerky.

Now, let’s get down to the reason I’m giving PLB Sports this free publicity.  First, they’re a well-respected company probably most famous for producing Flutie Flakes.  And more importantly, they’re having a contest.  Everybody knows I love a contest.

Anyway, PLB Sports will be having a press conference on November 24th to promote City of Champions Cereal.  The are giving YOU a chance to attend this press conference.  Why is that a prize?

How about because both box boys, Hines and Max, will be at this press conference. Live and in person. And you are guaranteed to receive a box of cereal autographed by both of them!  In addition, Hines and Max have a reputation of being two of Pittsburgh’s nicest athletes so, time permitting of course, you’ll get a chance to have a few moments of face time with them after the press conference is over.

Unfortunately, there will be no guessing of a score to win this awesome opportunity.  PLB Sports is running the contest themselves, I am merely a humble messenger. If you’d like to enter, first make sure you’re either in Pittsburgh or able to get to the ‘Burgh on November 24th.  Mooch off your relatives if you have to, that’s what they’re here for.

All the official rules and legal mumbo jumbo can found here. Once you know you can make it, there are two ways to enter the contest.  You may enter both ways, but only ONCE each.

1. Send an email to info@plbsports.com with the headline (City of Champions Cereal). The entrant should write their name, age, telephone number, and how you found out about the Contest.

2. Follow PLB Sports on Twitter (@plbsports) and send them a reply which states “enter me in the contest #cityofchampions”

The contest will run from today until November 19th so get those entries in!  PLB has generously extended me the chance to cover the press conference so, work permitting, I may be there to fulfill my bloggy duties.  In fact, I feel a cold coming on as we speak.  Hope to see you there!

The Pittsburgh Steelers continued their dominance over the hapless Cleveland Browns on Sunday, handing them a 27-14 defeat. The ever-generous Steelers tried to hand the Browns a lot more than a loss, committing four turnovers and playing awful special teams. Our Black and Gold have developed a nasty habit of playing to the level of their opposition. These brief fits of stupidity hurt what was otherwise an outstanding effort on both sides of the ball.

Let’s start with the record-setting day by Ben Roethlisberger. Big Ben passed for 417 yards, only the fourth time in Steelers history a QB has surpassed four bills through the air.  He already had one of the other 400 yard games so he’s the first to do it twice.  Ben finished the day with two TD passes, which should’ve been three if Hines Ward hadn’t dropped a ball while doing a Stop-Drop-and-Roll demonstration in the end zone.  I wonder if the fan in the #86 jersey he gave the ball to gets an IOU since their souvenir is kinda worthless.

Hines did have a great game, amassing 159 yards, including a fantastic 52 yard deep catch and run for a TD. Not to be outdone, Santonio Holmes chipped in with 104 yards on only 5 catches. His day was highlighted by a 41 yard play where he caught a deep pass down near the sideline, then cut all the way across the field, leaving a pile of white jerseys in his wake. The offense ended up with an astounding 540 yards of output yesterday, the majority of which came from Bruce Arians‘ Flying Circus.

The running game, however, had some issues. Rashard Mendenhall got the majority of carries, finishing with 76 yards and a TD. Fast Willie Parker returned to action and it may have been a little too soon. FWP looked awful, running tentatively and having a lot of problems making his cuts. The announcers seemed to think his spiffy new Titanium Reinforced Twinkle Toe Shoes might be too cumbersome for him. I’ve seen Buster Browns cause some tragic wipe outs in the church parking lot so there may be something to that. However, the image of Parker bumbling and stumbling to the ground after catching a screen pass in the flat with nothing but 15 yards of green grass ahead of him is going to be hard to forget.

Equally hard to forget will be the miscues by our offense. Ben Roethlisberger, despite his virtuoso passing performance, had some turnover issues. He mishandled a snap, leading to a turnover. He also threw a terrible interception into TRIPLE coverage. But his sins were nothing compared to those committed by our Dynamic Duo. Late in the third quarter, Arians tried to kill the clock with some running plays. Give the man credit for learning from past mistakes. Unfortunately, his faith was rewarded with Willie Parker fumbling the ball away like it was coated with AstroGlide. On the next possession, they handed the rock to Mendy, who proceeded to carry it looser than a sorority girl after a Jager bomb, leading to another fumble.

This lead to the humorous situation at the end of the game when the Steelers took the ball on their 1 yard line following a Ryan Clark pick. Who did Mike Tomlin call on to close the game out?  Who had the unwavering faith of our Super Bowl winning coach?  Was it FWP, our highly paid superstar? Was it Mendenhall, our highly paid first round draft pick?

Of course not! It was third down back Mewelde Moore!

Speaking of turnovers, the Steelers D also caused a smorgasbord of miscues by Browns. Troy Polamalu got a “Welcome Back” pick thrown right to him. Troy’s return shored up the secondary a bit, although he seemed to be noticeably slower than usual. The Steelers linebackers, lead by Lawrence Timmons, harassed poor Anderson all day. Timmons, it should be noted, had a dominant performance, recording 2 sacks and causing 2 fumbles. When QB Derek Anderson did manage to get a pass off, it didn’t matter since the entire Browns receiving corps seemed to be infected with Sweeditis.

There was much debate in the comments section over what to do about replacing injured DE Aaron Smith. The Steelers answer appears to be a heavy dose of Travis Kirschke with a sprinkle of Nick Eason. Those of you pining for some Ziggy Hood will be disappointed to know his crust hasn’t risen or something because he didn’t take the field at all. The plan seems to be Kirschke plays in the base defense while Eason comes in on obvious passing downs. They looked decent enough although next week will be the real test.

The defense limited the Browns to a little less than 200 yards of total offense. Two turnovers, two sacks, and numerous pressures all amounted to a pretty good effort on that side of the ball. They only gave up 7 points so it’s nice to see the stinginess coming back to Blitzburgh. If not for Joshua Cribbs‘ 98 yard kickoff return TD, this game would’ve been the blowout we all hoped for.  Speaking of which, it was sad to see the Steelers run up the White Flag on special teams after that fiasco, squib kicking the rest of the game.

So what did we learn this week? Not much, I’m afraid. The Browns are a wretched awful team that would be lucky to win the Arena Bowl.  Next week, we face Brett Favre and his undefeated Fighting Wranglers Minnesota Vikings. If you wanted a measuring stick to gauge exactly where this team is at this year, that will be it. If they can find a way to clean up this week’s sloppiness while managing to keep the explosiveness on both sides of the ball, the sun may be coming out in Steeler Nation.