Colts fans cheer on the team and their coach. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

What We Learned in Week #5 in the NFL:

• BA gets his first win as interim Head Coach
• Chiefs players and media attack fans for booing Matt Cassel injury
• Drew Brees breaks Johnny Unitas’ passing td record
• Steelers win in final seconds but lose more starters to injury (more…)

Recognize this guy? Yeah me neither. Yet, someone thinks the Steelers should 'lure' him in. Credit US-Presswire.

I love Erik Lambert.  In what has been a typically quiet offseason  for the Steelers, it can be tough to find good news out there to report or comment on with a little more in depth analysis.  I tend to think we do a pretty damn good job of finding worth while things to talk about, and who doesn’t love reminiscing about the good ol’ days?  So I search and scour for those ‘interesting’ stories to read up on during the ‘slow days,’ and I keep coming across Erik Lambert from Gather.com.  Lambert continually reaches for the absurdity when it comes to talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers – and I love this stuff.  In fact, I’ve bookmarked this guy.  Whether he does it for attention like the way a shock jock pleads for it with their offhand comments, or he truly believes the absurdity he puts down on the ‘interwebs’ I don’t know.

Lambert has tossed up another softball topic to wreak havoc on yet again today.  The title of the post is ‘Could the Pittsburgh Steelers Lure Chris Ivory from New Orleans Saints?’  ’Lure’ is a word that Lambert loves to throw around in his titles and throughout his articles – as if Mike Tomlin is poking his head out of the South Side practice facilities and seductively calling over players using his index finger and calling ‘You hooooo!’  Lambert feels confident that the trading soup is a right mixture of desperation from both teams that would inject some enticement into a trade.

Lambert feels the Saints are decimated by the Bountygate and are desperate to right the ship or suffer years of having to rebuild from such a scandal.  While this sentiment is not completely unfounded, the Saints aren’t in a terrible situation.  They are in a bad situation, but not in one where they would trade off a running back who is developing into one of their premier backs.  Ivory is one of their bigger backs and has out performed others like Mark Ingram.  Are things that bad to trade off a guy who will actually help build up this team once Darren Sproles’ wheels fall off?  I think not.  If the Saints want to make an impact in overcoming Bountygate, they just simply need to survive the weeks most of the suspensions are worth and get back to work.  Drew Brees will return as the QB and the offense will continue to produce – that is assuming that the team won’t implode without head coach Sean Payton.  And there’s no trade that will fix that.

But what about the Saints trading some picks for Ivory?  Well you would have to assume that Ivory is worth a couple of picks – which he’s not – and you would have to assume that the Steelers would trade away picks for a running back who may or may not be the answer for Rashard Mendenhall’s departure – which he’s not.  Even if Ivory was worth a high pick – say round two or three – the Steelers would not give up early round picks.  The Steelers take pride in being able to draft great valued talent and develop them into household names.  The Steelers wouldn’t trade picks for Ivory, even if the Steelers were hurting for a running back – which they aren’t.

This is where Lambert always falls completely apart for me – his analysis (or lack thereof) of the Steelers situation.  Lambert is worse than some political talking head who ignores the facts and only uses the talking points that’s been generated by the base.  It doesn’t matter what’s taken place.  What was true 9 months ago, is true today.  For what?  Just to make your point?

Here are the highlights from Lambert on how bad Pittsburgh’s situation is:

- ‘Not only is their best receiver Mike Wallace stuck in a contract holdout, but their best running back Rashard Mendenhall will start the season injured with no real idea when he will return.’

- ‘That means quarterback Ben Roethlisberger could throw to secondary receivers behind a suspect offensive line while handing off to back up running backs.’

- ‘If the Steelers can’t solve the Wallace problem, they may try to help Roethlisberger through trade.’

- ‘The two names that must step up are Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer.’

- ‘New Orleans needs draft picks and Pittsburgh always has them to spare. At the right price the Saints could send him to a city who loves power football.’

Lambert knows this guy plays for the Steelers.... right? Credit: Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWIRE

Where oh where to begin?  The most egregious statement of them all is about Ben throwing to secondary receivers behind a suspect line while handing off to backup running backs.  Has Lambert even heard of Antonio Brown?  Brown, who proved to be of more worth than Wallace last season set an NFL record for 1,000 receiving and 1,000 return yards in a single season.  ’Manny’ Sanders is solid and still growing.  Todd Haley’s TE happy offense has Heath Miller and Leonard Pope.  Haley also loves to utilize his running backs as receivers, and that’s where rookie Chris Rainey comes in.  Ben having a hard time finding an open target?  Hardly.  The offensive line has vastly improved with the draft – run blocking and pass blocking.  Even though David DeCastro and Mike Adams have yet to take a snap, I find it hard to even come close to comparing last year’s line from this one and conclude they are the same line.  Redman has yet to carry the load for an extended part of the season, but he’s ready for it.  He’s built to be the back the Steelers need, and has actually had very solid games when taking the majority of snaps – something Lambert fails to realize and in fact says Redman makes a play only once in a while.  And how in the world could you mention Dwyer as being the next immediate backup when you have Chris Rainey, Baron Batch and Jonathan Clay mixed in that group as well.  The running back situation is the most plastic out of all the positions going into camp this season.  We have no idea what that depth chart will be like.  So why pick Dwyer out of thin air?

As I said before the Steelers hardly trade picks if ever at all.  And, they certainly don’t have any ‘to spare’ in a trade deal.  It’s an absurd idea to think Kevin Colbert would give up the thing he does best for some back who will be one of many competing for backup roles in the offense.  No dice, Lambi.  The Steelers are far from a desperate situation and actually sitting pretty before heading into camp.  We are just weeks away, and this should prove to be one of the more fun and interesting training camps in a long time for the Steelers.

Trade for Chris Ivory?  Not by a long shot.  No that’s not buzzing in your head.  It’s just Erik Lambert making another Steeler analysis.  Keep’em coming dude.  Camp is still weeks away – I need more entertainment.

Megatron might be on the cover but Tebowing will be inside the game of Madden 13. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

What We Learned This Week In the NFL Off Season:

• Tebowing makes it into Madden ‘13
• Steelers shake up offensive line
• OTA’s begin this week without key players across the league

For video game nerds everywhere a new highlight to the upcoming Madden game has been released this week.  The game is set to feature “Tebowing” as part of player celebration, which apparently is an essential part of the game.  Awesome.  Just to make sure the Tebowmania doesn’t settle down even if he’s stuck behind Sanchez, millions of 13 year old boys and 13 year old boys-at-heart can relieve the phenomenon as long as they hit the right buttons on the controller.  The Steelers retooled their offensive line a bit, shifting veteran Willie Colon from right tackle to left guard.  The announcement came out early to allow Colon to have plenty of preparation time to ease into the new position as well as allow the rookies time to learn the snap counts and formations in the upcoming OTA’s.  Speaking of OTA’s, many will start today and tomorrow across the league without some key players suiting up.  The Saints will start without QB Drew Brees, the Ratbirds will start without RB Ray Rice, and the Steelers begin OTA’s without Mike Wallace as well as their top two draft picks, David DeCastro and Mike Adams. (more…)

The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered their first decisive loss of the season on All Hallow’s Eve, falling to the New Orleans Saints 20-10.  Prior to yesterday, you could easily argue the team was one play and about fifty seconds away from being undefeated.  Not any more.  While I’m sure sports talk radio in the ‘Burgh will be dissecting this game like Frankenstein’s monster, it really came down to a handful of plays.  The Saints made them and the Steelers didn’t.  End of story.

Ziggy Hood, making his first career start for the Black and Gold, acquitted himself well in place of Aaron Smith.  He’s clearly not as stout at the point of attack and New Orleans was down to their third and fourth string running backs but he showed flashes of getting it.  He still gets pushed around more than you wan to see from your 3-4 DL.  Nick Eason, an 8th rounder and career backup, stood out much more impressively than our prize first rounder which is not exactly what one would hope for.

This game wasn’t a real test of our run defense, though, as the Saints abandoned the ground attack fairly quickly.  Drew Brees threw 44 times, completing 34 for 305 yards.  In my preview, I said we needed to pressure Breesus because our corners have no chance when a quarterback has time to throw.  Well, the Steelers ended up with only 2 sacks because tricky Dick LeBeau went with a different scheme where only three or four guys would rush while everybody else dropped back into coverage.

This strategy worked for the most part, holding the high-powered Saints offense to only two field goals through the first three quarters.  Ike Taylor even picked off his second pass of the season late in the first half.  HANDS OF STONE!  TWO PICKS IN ONE SEASON!

However, the secondary collapsed by the fourth.  The Steelers had a HUGE problem getting off the field on third down.  The Saints were 7 for 16 on conversions where Miami was only 3 of 12 last week.   Bryant McFadden and William Gay had all sorts or trouble once again.   Even Troy Polamalu did not play particularly well (to put it nicely).

B-Mac was torched for a 16 yard touchdown early in the fourth.  I can almost forgive that because B-Mac made up for it by recovering a fumbled kickoff by Antonio Brown and caused a Brees fumble.  Meanwhile, Troy’s guessing led to a 50 yard bomb which altered field position and he was also out of position on the late TD to Lance Moore which sealed the game.  I realize freelancing and roving are what makes him unique but against a great quarterback he really should dial it back a notch.

Coming in, I didn’t think the Saints D was that great but they held the Steelers to only 279 yards of total offense.  Ben Roethlisberger was only 17/28 for 195 yards.  The pass/run ratio wasn’t bad (28 to 21) but they couldn’t sustain anything.

The Steelers came out chucking the ball.  It almost paid off as Antwaan Randle El caught a 12 yarder where he clearly broke the plane of the goal line but the refs, obviously under orders to make up for last week, took the score away.  Mike Tomlin already wasted a challenge earlier in the half on a play he had no business challenging so he didn’t challenge when Mendy appeared to cross the line two plays later.  By the way, Tomlin is the worst challenger in history.  Whoever watches things in the booth and calls down to him is either blind or an imbecile.  Hey, guys, I work cheap.  In any case, he didn’t want to waste another challenge when he had 1st and goal from the one foot line.

Three predictable runs failed to punch it home.   Redzone Redman up the middle I have no problem with.   Rashard Mendenhall off tackle didn’t work.  So on third down, they ran THE EXACT SAME PLAY.   This is why I hate Bruce Arians.  I swear he doesn’t watch what’s happening on the field because he never seems to see what’s working and what’s not and then react accordingly.   Anyway, Mendy was stuffed on third down leading to a Skippy FG.

Mendy’s final stats (15 for 71, a TD) are a bit misleading.  38 of those yards came on one run in the fourth quarter where a few short passes over the middle set up an off-tackle run which he broke for the Steelers lone touchdown.  The rest of the time, they had him plunging straight ahead for little to no gain.  I thought the return of Trai Essex and Flozell Adams might help him but the running game has inexplicably gone down the tubes since Ben returned.

The passing game wasn’t much better.  It was all dink and dunk stuff to tight ends or Hines over the middle.  When Randle El is targeted nine times, that’s not a good sign.  I like Captain Faircatch but he’s a possession guy, not a playmaker.  Mike Wallace was held completely in check.   Hines’ lone big play was broken up by Emmanuel Sanders, who looked to have ran a bad route.  Ward had his man beat and was cruising down the sideline when the rookie cut in front of him.  Ben had a hissy fit although if he put more loft on the ball, Sanders wouldn’t have tried to make a play on it.  Great leadership, dude.

That was a fourth down play so I guess I understand the rookie being a bit anxious.   But it was just another of the Steelers various miscues.  Even with the failure to punch the ball in from the goal line, the blown fourth down play, and various secondary breakdowns, I thought we were going to see yet another legendary Big Ben comeback.  Down by 3 with nine minutes left, B-Mac strip-sacked Breesus to cause a huge turnover.

A couple plays later, Ben hit reliable Heath Miller down the middle for a big  25 yard gain.  However, he tried doing a Mendy Spinerooni out of a tackle and left the ball exposed.   The second tackler put his helmet on the ball and the helmet won.   Tomlin’s college teammate, Darren Sharper, pounced on the fumble.   I don’t think the deflated Steelers ever recovered from the sudden change in momentum.

The defense, charged with getting the ball back, put up only token resistance.  James Harrison got a bogus roughing the passer penalty, as the league continues to single him out in an effort to drive him into early retirement, which moved them into FG range.  With a little over three minutes left, holding them to a field goal would’ve been fine since Ben had time to drive for a winning TD.  But the defense completely embarrassed themselves on a 3rd and 8 when Moore caught a little 3 yard dump-off then ran through Farrior and Gay for a first down.  One play later and it was a 10 point New Orleans lead and all that was left for Ben to do was fling risky passes which led to the game-sealing INT.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing from “The Sky Is Falling!” yinzers all afternoon.  Other than the fourth quarter meltdown, I don’t think the Black and Gold played that badly.  I think many (myself included) were lulled into taking the Saints a bit lightly after they lost to the inept Browns.  They’re a quality team.  My only concern is we’re in week three of Big Ben’s big return and our offense seems to be regressing.  Hopefully they can get things straightened out in time for Monday’s crucial divisional match-up against the faltering Bengals.

Thanks to my friends over at Benstonium for our Halloween themed opening. Check out more great Pittsburgh sports videos at their website.

The Pittsburgh Steelers play their first prime time game of the season when they take the field in front of 70,000 cross-dressing lunatics in New Orleans on Sunday night.  In many ways, this will be the first real test of the season.  Yeah, the Steelers have played some quality teams already but there were mitigating circumstances.  Against the Ravens, they were starting Charlie Batch.  Against the Falcons and Titans, they had a completely healthy defense.

The defending Super Bowl champion Saints have issues of their own.   They’re plodding along at 4-3, coming off an embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Browns.  And you thought the Steelers’ post-championship funk was bad.  Hangovers probably last longer in New Orleans.

STEELERS DEFENSE vs. SAINTS OFFENSE

The Steelers currently boast the 4th ranked defense in the NFL.  Looking deeper, their rankings break down as 1st against the rush but only 24th against the pass.  Some of that poor showing against the pass is misleading.  For one, many teams realize quickly they can’t run the ball so they throw a lot more than they ordinarily would.  Also, in a few of their games they’ve gotten big leads and then allowed the other team to pile up garbage time yardage which skews the final stats.

That said, I’ve been clear about my concern about the quality of their secondary.  Bryant McFadden returned after a disappointing year with the Cardinals and hasn’t really distinguished himself.  Troy Polamalu is one of the best safeties ever and Ike Taylor is a good cover corner but safety Ryan Clark and nickel William Gay have struggled at times.  The Steelers also like to drop linebackers into coverage which sometimes works and sometimes backfires.  You may see that less this week with LaMarr Woodley nursing a sore hamstring, although he is expected to play.

DE Aaron Smith is the key to the Steelers run defense.  When he’s been injured, their ability to stop the rush has always suffered.  Smith tore his tricep last week and is expected to be gone for some time.  Ziggy Hood gets his first start of the season in his place.  If the Saints had any inclination to run the ball, it just got a whole lot easier.   We did catch a break as both Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas are injured and not expected to be in the lineup.  That leaves rushing duties to rookie Chris Ivory and Seahawks castoff Julius Jones.

Of course, the Saints offense revolves around Drew Brees.  Breesus is having an off-year, throwing almost the same number TDs as picks (14/10).  Last week, he was intercepted four times by the Browns.   THE BROWNS!

For the Steelers defense to succeed, they have to get to Drew Brees.  The Steelers have the best quartet of linebackers in football.  When they pressure the quarterback, the secondary looks a lot better.  When they don’t and the corners are left in one-on-one coverage for an extended period of time, they get burned.  It’s all about the pressure in Hall of Famer Dick LeBeau‘s defense and the more you see on Sunday, the better off the Steelers will be.

STEELERS OFFENSE vs. SAINTS DEFENSE

Last year, the Saints had  39 total takeaways and a +11 turnover differential.  As I mentioned last week, extremely high (or low) numbers in that department tend to be the product of freakish luck and they usually baseline the following season.  Indeed, the 2010 Saints have forced only 14 turnovers, plummeting to a -5 turnover differential.

FS Darren Sharper is their dime-store version of Troy Polamalu.  He was sidelined from off-season knee surgery but returned last week.  Sharper has a nose for the ball and his return to full strength is expected to help the Saints D create more turnovers.  Their front four led by Will Smith and Sedrick Ellis don’t generate a lot of pressure so big plays have to come from the back end or they don’t come at all.

Flozell Adams and Trai Essex have been practicing and both are expected to give it a go.  Hopefully their presence will help get Rashard Mendenhall back on track after last weekend’s miserable 37 yard performance.  This team simply cannot win consistently without a strong ground attack.  Long grinding drives keep the defense fresh while also cutting down on turnovers.  Not to mention the longer you keep Brees off the field, the better.

Make no mistake, the Steeler can throw the ball with the best of them.  Last year, Ben Roethlisberger led one of the most dynamic offensive units the Black and Gold have ever had.  Who can forget his epic 500 yard passing performance in that manic shootout with the Packers?  Second year WR Mike Wallace is an emerging star, a pure burner who blows by coverage for a big play practically on a weekly basis.  All that said, I still don’t like the Steelers chances in a track meet with the Saints.

Then again, the Saints lost to the Browns.  THE BROWNS!

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