A leaner meaner Dwyer could be a big help to the running game this season.Credit: Jason Bridge-US PRESSWIRE

Jonathan Dwyer is a big guy – 245-250lbs. worth.  And while it wasn’t a direct cause of his broken foot, that kind of size in a running back can keep the foot a problem.  Steelers Depot reports that Dwyer could very well be taking care of the weight issue by working with Tom Shaw this off season.

“And he’s [Dwyer] a big guy and you know sometimes he’s a little too big quite honestly.  he has to keep his weight in check, be he’s 245 to 255 and he can run…. So everything is still ahead of him and he lost a year this year with the injury.  So we still think he can get better.”  ~ Kevin Colbert

Appears that Dwyer got the hint.  Shaw works with guys like Ike Taylor who is in incredible shape every year he shows up for training camp.  As soon as Dwyer can get back to running on that foot, which won’t be until summer time, he can work on getting his weight down and potentially be in the best shape of his early career.

I’ve been on the ‘Anybody but Mendenhall’ train for quite sometime.  I’m putting a lot of stock in Redman, Dwyer and Batch as the future of the Steelers running game.  I feel good about this news with Dwyer and Shaw, and I hope that we can see some great results come camp time.

With the New England Patriots lacking the services of franchise QB Tom Brady and being far from the undefeated juggernaut which rampaged through the NFL last season, I thought it might be useful to provide my fellow members of Steeler Nation a few reminders why we should still hate the Fighting Belicheats.

5) Tom Brady is a dandy.

Kordell Stewart had his sexuality questioned when he cried bitter manly tears after Coach Bill Cowher benched him during a poor performance. What would people think if there were pictures of him carrying a man purse? Also, note the hat. Even their star quarterback can’t stand the Bosox.

“Hey Silvio, look at Jerry here, prancing around in his coat with his purse. Yup, he’s a dandy. He’s a real fancy boy!”

- Kramer, from “Seinfeld”

4) Everybody needs a break from hating the Red Sox.

Sure we all felt sorry for them when they hadn’t won in 90 years but now that they’ve taken two in the last five years, they’ve quickly wore out their welcome. Cub fans are the worst but at least you can laugh at them when they experience their inevitable failure.

Watching Jason Bay get game-winning hits for the Bosox was a little like watching the end of Star Wars when Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader for the first time.

3) They need six states to have a fan base.

In the beginning, they were known as the Boston Patriots. The problem was they always finished a distant fourth in the fans’ eyes to the Celtics, Bruins, and Sox. So in order to beef up their fan pool, they decided to represent all of New England. Who’s to say Vermont or Rhode Island even want to root for the Pats? Kind of presumptuous, isn’t it?

It’s all good, though. The Patriots can have the six New England states; the Steelers will have to settle for being the favorite team of the other 44 (and District of Columbia).

2) Coach Bill Belichick is still a douchebag.

With his team up 41-20 against the Dolphins last week, Spycam Bill had his first team offense out there throwing long passes and trying to score instead of doing the sportsmanlike thing and taking a knee. Maybe he confused the NFL with the BCS and thought he needed to pile it on in order to be invited to the post-season. This was neither the first time, nor will it be the last, Belichick has run up a score showing the lack of character and class which has epitomized his reign of terror.

By the way, Rashard Mendenhall looks way better in a hoodie.

1)  ‘Nuff Said

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He’s baaaaack.   And no closet in Western Pennsylvania is safe from his dookie dropping Anus of Doom.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen of Steeler Nation, Najeh Davenport has returned.

In the wake of last Monday’s game with the Ravens, where the Steelers helmet logo should’ve been replaced by a Red Cross, Pittsburgh has resigned every coed’s nightmare.   Joining him in the backfield will be Gary Russell, who had been banished to the practice squad when head coach Mike Tomlin decided an extra special teams player was more important than a 3rd string running back.

I can’t really blame Tomlin, though.   One back getting injured?   Okay.  Two guys going down?  Alright.  Three RBs out of commission?  No way, no how.

Except that’s exactly the situation our favorite team currently find themselves in.  Fast Willie Parker hurt his knee and is out until after the bye.  Rashard Mendenhall broke his collarbone and is finished for the year.  FB Carey Davis sprained his ankle, which is being kept hush-hush but sounds a lot like the high ankle sprain which kept WR Santonio Holmes out for significant time last year.  Mewelde Moore, ostensibly our third-down back, is the last man standing.

Thankfully, the cavalry is on the way in the form of the Dumptruck.  Being familiar with the offense allows him to be put into a featured role right away.   Also, Davenport’s big enough to play either RB or FB, thus allowing him to fill in for Davis.   Don’t be shocked to see him and Moore share the backfield.  Sure, he didn’t show much last season when thrust into the featured back role but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Besides, what else is there?  The Cincinnati Bungles just signed Bears castoff Cedric Benson.   You know, the guy who was cut after getting busted for two DUIs.  Way to address that character issue, Cincy.   There’s the World’s Most Fertile Running Back, Travis Henry.  He could use the work, what with having to support 8 different kids from 8 different women.  But there’s the whole stealing stuff out of teammate’s lockers issue.  Finally, I guess we could sign former Super Bowl nemesis and league MVP, Shaun Alexander. You’d think someone would’ve taken a shot on him. I mean, not the Steelers, because they like players who run towards contact, but other, less interesting teams.

Other than the running back sitch-U, there are a few other injuries to report.  RG Kendall Simmons tore his ACL and is out for the season.   Darnell Stapleton looked halfway decent when pressed into emergency service against Baltimore.  It’s between him and veteran Trai Essex.   I think Stapleton has the inside track.   Tomlin seems to have a man crush on him as he’s been carrying him on the roster since last year when he made the team as an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers.  He was projected to be a center and his supposed potential was one of the big reasons Chukky Okobi was cut.  So far Tomlin has shown extraordinarily bad taste in personnel decisions so we’ll have to see how this one plays out.

If Darnell fails, Essex played capably in limited action last year.  He’s in the final year of his contract so he’d be extra motivated to prove his worth.   If he failed, and let’s face it, our O-line is one big bucket of FAIL, they could move RT Willie Colon inside to guard.  That would allow the $7 Million Dollar Man Max Starks to finally earn some of that grossly over-inflated salary.  However, this is only a disaster case scenario as Tomlin seems to really have a hate on for Bionic Max and pretty much refuses to play him unless the other linemen are crippled.

Anyway, for those keeping score at home, these are the fresh faces to keep a lookout for on your 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers starting line-up (and the player they’re replacing):  DE Travis Kirschke (Bret Keisel), NT Chris Hoke (Fatass Hampton), RB/FB Najeh Davenport (FWP, Mendenhall, Davis), RG Darnell Stapleton (Kendall Simmons).

Suzy Kolber has a potty mouth.

Then again, I’m pretty sure every member of Steeler Nation who watched Pittsburgh defeat the Baltimore Ravens 23-20 in overtime last night directed a few cuss words at their television screens.  Yes, we managed to hand the Ravens their first loss.   Yes, this puts us in a fairly commanding position in the AFC North.  And yes, there were a few individual performances which stood out.

Chief among them was the play of Mr. Monday Night James Harrison.  Harrison absolutely wrecked the Miami Dolphins last year during the MNF Sod Bowl debacle.  Tonight, he played even better.  11 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and a caused fumble resulting in a defensive TD.  He was all over the field, causing havoc wherever he went.  I know he drew at least 2 holding penalties but from what I saw, he could’ve easily drawn a half-dozen more.  He was literally a runaway freight train and the Ravens couldn’t hope to stop him, only contain him, which they were barely able to do.

Overall, the defense didn’t quite play as well as in previous games although there are a lot of mitigating factors which I’ll get to in a minute.  The line, minus starters Bret Keisel and Fatboy Hampton, held their own in the running game.  I loved how the Worst Commentators Ever™ criticized the lack of Ravens running plays.  I guess they never bothered to read their own obtrusive graphics which showed at one point they gained 9 yards on 8 carries.  Plus, RB Willis McGahee was gutting it out when he was clearly injured.

They did have some problems with rookie QB Joe Flacco, though.  For a guy who is supposedly a statue back there, he scrambled around like Kordell Stewart on a crucial first half scoring drive.  The secondary, particularly S Troy Polamalu (who had another outstanding game), was one step away from an INT on numerous plays but never came up with the big pick.  Flaccos’s cannon arm really gave them problems as he moved the offense by repeatedly rifling passes into tight spaces.  S Ryan Clark had a tough game in missing a number of tackles and CB Deshea Townshend looked very rusty in his first game back from injury.

Thankfully, the linebackers were like daytraders on Wall Street, an angry, snarling, drooling bunch who almost single-handedly kept the Steelers in the game when it looked like they could possibly be blown out.  I already mention Mr. Monday Night but his partner in crime, Mister Woodley, had another fantastic game.  He chipped in with 2 sacks and returned the poor sad unwanted football Flacco carelessly discarded to the endzone for the aforementioned TD.  James Farrior and Larry Foote also showed up in force.  Even Lawrence Timmons looked good in limited action, although he got absolutely flattened by Baltimore RB Le’Ron McLain from the planet Melmac on the crucial game-tying TD.

So that’s the good.  The bad and the ugly can be summed up by one word:  OFFENSE.   Offense so bad, it led poor Suzy to utter a cuss word on national tv.   Too bad Joe Namath wasn’t around to ask if she kissed her her mom with that mouth…and if he’d kiss her, too.

Watching the Steelers attempt what can only loosely be classified as offensive football was roughly akin to losing your virginity on prom night:   you grasp around blindly hoping to stumble upon something that works but most of the time you just end up with an elbow in your eye and a quick but unsatisfying ending.

We had, no joke, 45 yards total offense in the first half.  The running game was not even given a chance.  Basically, it seems like O-coordinator Bruce Arians wants to see the back rip off a 24 yard gain on every carry.  If he should get stopped for a 2 yard gain, however, that’s clearly a sign all is lost and we should go back to passing every down.  Great plan, except our offensive line has more holes than Nevillewood, although they managed to limit the damage to 3 sacks last night.

Actually, I did notice a lot of the problems in terms of protection were exacerbated (made worse) by poor scheming and poor QB-WR play.  On a few of the jail breaks, the guy rushing in was unblocked because they had more guys rushing than we had O-lineman.  I don’t expect our guys to knock out two men each.  Likewise, on other plays, a clear pocket was formed for QB Ben Roethlisberger to step up and throw.  Instead, he steps up and looks and looks and looks some more…   One time the WR didn’t read the blitz and break off the route, another the RB either failed to stay back to block or didn’t turn around for a dump off.  This is all a sign of poor coaching which needs addressed.

Big Ben was in a funk the entire first half, throwing inaccurately, missing open receivers, making poor decisions, and/or running for his life.  I’d like to give the coaches credit for righting the ship in the 2nd half but they don’t deserve it.  They went to a no-huddle where Ben got to call his own plays and VOILA! we managed to move the ball.  What does it say about your offensive coordinator and/or his playcalling if your QB needs to run the offense by himself in order to get anything done?

Rookie RB Rashard Mendenhall, in his first pro start, had one nice run but didn’t move the chains much beyond that.  WR Hines Ward’s mouth contributed more than his hands as his smack-talking caused a crucial unsportsmanlike penalty on a pea-brained Raven linebacker which eventually lead to a TD.  WR Santonio Holmes scored that TD but, to be honest, it was a little slant play designed for 10-15 yards which the inept Ravens secondary miss-tackled into a score.  Mewelde Moore, the last healthy back on our roster, finally showed something when he was pressed into late game action.  Maybe these injuries will be a blessing in disguise as now they’re forced to use more Moore, giving Ben a chance to familiarize himself with his screen pass catching abilities

The story of this game, beyond Suzy Kolber saying naughty words (which in my book makes her all the more desirable), was the injuries.  To call this game a “war” would be like calling Vietnam a “spitball fight.”  Players were hitting the turf left and right.  Before Skippy Reed had nailed the game winner in OT, the Ravens were down to their 3rd string RB.  The Steelers lost special teams ace Andre Frazier in a scary moment right off the opening kickoff.  RG Kendall Simmons tore his ACL shortly before the half.  Then Sugar Rashard broke his collarbone on the first play after.  Both men are likely out for the season which means the injury situation is getting dire.

But not so dire is our record.  A loss tonight would’ve put the Steelers behind the eight ball early in the year and really opened the door for the division to be up for grabs.   This win solidified our hold on 1st place.  Never forget that last year we would’ve missed the playoffs but for two wins over the Brownies.  Should we find ourselves in a similar battle with the Ravens this year, the heroics of the two linebackers I call MISTER may very well have saved our season.

There’s an old saying that you should “believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see” and that old adage applies very well to the National Football League. The Baltimore Ravens typified that saying in 2007 as it appeared that they finally had developed an efficient offense by finally finding a quality starting quarterback in Steve McNair.  They wound up giving head coach Brian Billick a four year extension and, despite losing to the Colts in the playoffs, felt they were a team on the rise after going 13-3.  But the reality was the Ravens were a team that was once again being carried by their defense and McNair more or less managed the game. By 2008 there were issues on the defense, particularly the loss of LB Adalius Thomas, trouble at cornerback, and other injuries mostly related to the advancing age of their core players. This meant that the defense was downright mediocre at times. McNair also got hurt, which meant Kyle Boller and Troy Smith time as the season spiraled down the drain.  They finished 5-11 and Billick wound up getting fired.

The Ravens surprised a lot of people by hiring one of the best special teams coaches in the league, John Harbaugh.  With limited coaching experience, Harbaugh is a very unknown commodity.  But the same could be said of a local guy by the name of Mike Ditka, who came to the Chicago Bears as a special teams coach with Dallas.  While the Bears had a great defense, they didn’t reach the pinnacle of their success until the offense became more than simply manageable.   The hope is Harbaugh can make the same improvements in Baltimore.

STEELER DEFENSE VS. RAVENS OFFENSE

There’s another old saying that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”  The Ravens sacrificed their 1st round pick next year to move up and draft QB Joe Flacco.  Flacco was a redshirt at Pitt who transferred to greener pastures when he couldn’t beat out the mighty Tyler Palko for the starting job.  Then again, talent evaluation and optimal player usage aren’t exactly hallmarks of Wannastache’s tenure with the Panthers.  Flacco is every bit a clone of Ben Roethlisberger given his size and his ability to move a little and throw on the move.  I’d say Big Ben is more athletic and effective throwing while on the run (he’s had enough practice) but Flacco definitely has a bigger arm.

Flacco has made rookie mistakes but he’s shown a remarkable learning curve and while it’d be unrealistic to think he’d replicate Ben’s 15-1 rookie season, he definitely gives the Ravens their best chance at winning right now.   Still, he’s young and Steeler defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau loves young quarterbacks.   Not in the Michael Jackson sort of way.   He just loves to throw a wide array of looks, stunts, and assorted trickery at the noobs because at that point in their careers, they aren’t equipped to read the defenses and make adjustments.  Unless Flacco turns out to be a prodigy, he’s going to have a long night trying to figure out who’s coming, how many, and from where.

Cam Cameron is the offense coordinator and while I’m not a big Cameron fan, his scheme and philosophies will probably be a breath of fresh air for the Ravens. Gone is the slant happy, dink and dunk West Coast Offense and in comes a more explosive deep pass pattern offense. Expect Todd Heap to play a bigger role in the passing game as they will try to get him to attack the deep middle.

Long time left tackle and future Hall of Famer, Jonathan Ogden has retired. Ogden was built like the perfect left tackle as he was 345 pounds but not the least bit overweight as he stood 6’9” tall. He had great feet, quality technique, and good power to be an excellent drive blocker.  Their money is on second year man Jared Gaither to take over for Ogden. He was a supplemental draft pick for the team and did pretty well in limited time as a rookie.  Ben Grubbs was very good at guard in his rookie season and will likely only get better and perhaps become a top 5 guard in due time. Marshal Yanda is average at best as he beat out Adam Terry at right tackle, which isn’t something to brag about.

If he can stay healthy, WR Demeterius Williams is a player to watch out for. This guy has tremendous athletic ability and can catch the ball.  Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton are pretty solid players provided the QB gets them the ball. Mason had 103 receptions last year, but only at 10.3 yards a catch which means he wasn’t very explosive.  Steeler CBs have shown solid coverage skills this season and there’s no reason to think they’ll have a hard time with this group, especially with injured starter Deshea Townshend healthy enough to at least play in the nickel.

RB Willis McGahee is a beast and given all of the injuries the Ravens had on the O-Line last year, his 1,207 rushing yards on 4.1 yards per carry is better than it looks. He’ll be backed up by rookie Ray Rice, who hasn’t shown much of anything so far this year.  I always thought Rice would be best suited to being a Mike Alstott-style fullback and his demonstrated lack of speed and elusiveness seems to have proven me correct.

The Steeler defense will be playing with a decimated defensive line as everybody’s favorite Fatass, Casey Hampton, is experiencing crotch pain, the kind antibiotics don’t help.  We all knew they were an aging group and with age comes increased injury problems.  That’s why it was so smart of Director of Player Personnel Kevin Colbert to draft a couple young DL in last year’s…

Oh yeah.  Never mind.

DE Brett Keisel will be out for at least another week which to be fair didn’t hurt the Steelers too much against Philadelphia.  DE Travis Kirschke played capably in relief of Keisel while NT Chris Hoke had a solid game when he came in for Hampton.  Hopefully they’ll be able to fill their roles as space eaters and allow our tremendously athletic linebackers to run around making plays all over the field.  The Ravens would no doubt love to establish a physical presence and a running attack early on and it’ll be up to the big boys up front to stop that from happening.

STEELER OFFENSE VS. RAVENS DEFENSE

The Ravens use a 3-4 scheme, but it’s a 1 gap scheme instead of the standard 2 gap. The Cowboys use this as well as Wade Phillips pretty much invented it while coaching under father, Bum. In many ways, it’s kind of like a modernized version of the old 46 defense. They will play some 4-3 scheme and just move Terrell Suggs to defensive end as defensive coordinator Rex Ryan definitely follows in his father’s footsteps by loving to bring the blitz.

The down linemen are about as good as it gets, starting with the incredibly underrated Kelly Gregg. He’s not that big of a guy for a nose guard (300 pounds) but he’s got a great motor and good technique. In the 1 gap scheme size is less important and he’s an even more tenacious defender. Haloti Ngata is a behemoth who wreaked havoc at defensive end last year. They’ll move him to nose tackle or defensive tackle in the 4-3 from time to time. Trevor Pryce got injured last year, but he’s always been a quality player who registered 13 sacks back in 2006.

The linebackers are still pretty good in Baltimore. Terrell Suggs has always been a quality pass rusher at the outside linebacker spot. Bart Scott is quite the beast at inside linebacker, even if he does chuck a referee’s flag. And Ray Lewis is still an above average inside linebacker, no matter how many homicides he commits. Where they saw problems last season was at the strongside outside linebacker spot as the level of production dipped greatly from Adalius Thomas, who left for New England, to Jarrett Johnson.

The Ravens are going to be stout against the run.  They have the size and speed to plug the gaps and prevent a running back from getting to that second level.  Fast Willie Parker sprained his knee late in the debacle in Philly and won’t play.   It’s time for rookie RB Rashard Mendenhall to put on his big boy pants and show us what he can do.

The good news is, his power style running might be better suited to this sort of game.  The bad news is, if Rex Ryan looked at tapes from last week, he’s going to be keen on selling out to stop the run.  At least until the Steelers offensive line can prove they can keep Ben Roethlisberger vertical long enough to complete a pass.

This is the key to the game because the Ravens cornerback play was miserable last year, although they’re leading the league in total defense so far this season. Chris McAllister, whom I swear has been around since the first Bush administration, got hurt last year and the Ravens couldn’t come anywhere near replacing him. Samari Rolle is hurt and will be replaced by Corey Ivy who is a good nickel back, but when placed in the starter’s role has not done well.  The Ravens do have an excellent safety with Ed Reed being….well, Ed Reed. When Reed is on, he’s easily the best safety in the league.   But when Reed is off his game, well, that’s when he becomes Hines Ward’s bitch.

If Ben isn’t busy running for his life, our receivers could enjoy a very productive night against that Baltimore secondary.   However, they harassed and disrupted Cleveland last week to the point they only surrendered 10 points and watching that gaping black hole that is our O-line last week, I’m not confident we won’t suffer a similar fate.

With a win, the Ravens will take a commanding two game lead in the AFC North division.  Yes, you read that right.   Before the season began, I thought there was a small chance they could be a Fab Four team.   Fab Four teams refer to the fact every season for the past ten years, four teams that missed the playoffs the previous year were in them the next.  The Ravens have a solid defense, solid running game, and a solid corps of receivers.  If their young quarterback can manage the game and make the throws when he needs to make them, I can see this team in the playoffs.  In fact, when I made my preseason Power Ranks for FSB, I thought they were a better pick than those trendy Cleveland Browns.  I guess we’ll see how much they’ve improved this Monday night.