Ben comes through bigtime for home opener win. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

What We Learned in Wee 2 in the NFL:

• Replacement refs are getting better…at ruining our Sunday afternoons
• Rookie class of QB’s bounce back in Week 2
• Vick pulls out another game winning drive
• Greg Schiano brings bush-league to the NFL
• Steelers ground Jets in spite of horrible officiating

If the first Monday after Week 1 in the NFL is overreacting Monday, than the second Monday should be known as back to reality Monday.  Who had the Arizona Cardinals at 2-0 and the Saints at 0-2?  Fans finally get to see if their team’s week 1 win or loss was a fluke, or a sign of how the season might go.  For a lot of teams, it’s the first chance to iron out the kinks that might have held them back from starting their season with a victory.  Except for maybe Cowboys fans, it’s less likely to overreact after the Week 2 games than after Week 1. (more…)

“I don’t know if it’s a new era, but there are a lot of guys out here I have no idea who they are.” via The Sports Xchange on CBSSports.com

Granted, I am sure most of this quote was made in jest because the Steelers experienced so much roster turnover this offseason, but “The Beard” really made a good point.  There are numerous new faces on this football team, that is a straight up fact.  The old faces of the early decade we grew to know and adore have either left, or are now on the verge of packing it in over the next couple of seasons.  But you know what?  It is not necessarily a bad thing at all for this team.

Kevin Colbert, Art Rooney II, and Dan Rooney have done a terrific job over their careers. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

All things considered though, the Steelers franchise has replaced talent and transitioned from consistent roster turnover better than almost any team during the Free Agency/Salary Cap era.  So last night, I thought about some of the talent which Pittsburgh has developed and helped to become terrific players over the last 20 years, and then ultimately had to replace for whatever reasons.  This list is just a short sample I came up with:

Offense

Running Backs: Barry Foster, Jerome Bettis, Willie Parker

Tight End/Wide Receivers: Eric Green, Yancey Thigpen, Plaxico Burress, Santonio Holmes, Hines Ward

Centers/Guards: Dermontti Dawson, Carlton Haselrig, Duval Love, Jeff Hartings, Alan Faneca

Tackles: John Jackson, Marvel Smith

Defense

Defensive Linemen: Ray Seals, Joel Steed, Kimo von Oelhoffen, Aaron Smith

Linebackers: Hardy Nickerson, David Little, Kevin Greene, Chad Brown, Greg Lloyd, Levon Kirkland, Earl Holmes, Kendrell Bell, Jason Gildon, Joey Porter, James Farrior

Defensive Backs: Rod Woodson, Thomas Everett, Carnell Lake, Darren Perry, Deshea Townsend

Kicker: Gary Anderson

Some of these guys were above-average contributors and played to a very high level during their tenures with the club like Randle El, Jackson, Seals, von Oelhoffen, Nickerson, Holmes, Everett, Perry, and Townsend.  Santonio had one of the greatest individual Postseasons ever and was named Super Bowl MVP for his efforts.  The rest of these players made the Pro Bowl at least once during there time in Pittsburgh, and a good number of these guys made multiple Pro Bowls like Lake, Lloyd, Greene, Farrior, Foster, Anderson, Green, Parker, Porter Hartings etc..  Yet the awesome thing about this list is that it includes two Hall of Famers already inducted in the forms of Woodson and Dawson, and Ward, Bettis, and Faneca all likely will have their tickets punched to Canton in the near future as well.  And this is a list of guys that are gone now.  Who knows how awesome this list will be in another decade when a few names like Casey Hampton, Maurkice Pouncey, Heath Miller, James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley, and Troy Polamalu are added to it.

With all the change, it honestly goes to show the solid work of people like Dick Haley, Tom Donahoe, Kevin Colbert and the rest of their fellow employees during their regime’s when they were Front Office heads.  The talent may come and go, but the key has been to make it a never-ending process, and it is what the Steelers have done a masterful job of over the last couple decades.  And yes, Pittsburgh is again in the midst of yet another rebuilding/reloading process as we speak.

Yet as Coach Mike Tomlin has stated over and over again: “The Standard is The Standard.”  And that singular phrase itself embodies almost the “The Steeler Way” of doing things, and how they have kept building winning teams over the years.  Players, and talented players at that, may leave for whatever reasons.  But the Steelers and their Front Office have always been on the lookout to add new and talented players to the roster on a consistent basis.  We might not know very many of these new names and faces right now in June of 2012, yet over the next few years I am sure they will all be familiar to us and we will be cheering hard for them.

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First, let me apologize for my erratic posting schedule the past week or so.  I’ve been waylaid by the Avian Flu so haven’t felt much like posting as you may well imagine.  I’m starting to feel a bit better so I should get back to my Pittsburgh Steelers Report Cards and other stuff in short order.

Anyway, in between trips to the bathroom, I saw on Friday that the Steelers placed the Franchise tag on LaMarr Woodley.  This is interesting for a few reasons.  Not the least of which is the salary cap implications.  Last season, Mister Woodley made $550,000.  Next year, he’ll make a cool $10 million.

The use of the Franchise tag on Woodley as well as Michael Vick and Peyton Manning seems to indicate the owners think it’ll be part of the next CBA.  Maybe, maybe not.  It’s well known the players hate it and if they walked in to the meeting room and said “Get rid of the tag and you can have your 18 games” it would likely be gone before the owners could start smiling like a butcher’s dog.  Thanks Mike Lange.

Also expected to be part of the next CBA is a salary cap.  This is where Woodley’s new salary presents an interesting situation.  The last cap (in 2009) was approximately $127 million.  The Steelers’ payroll back then was about $120 million.  Since then, the only significant salary which has come off the books has been Fast Willie Parker.

Everybody else has gone up.  James Harrison went from $1.4 million to an estimated $7 million+ next season.  Ben Roethlisberger‘s contract extension signed three years ago is also going to increase his cap hit by about $2 million.  Factor in Woodley’s salary going up almost 10x and that leaves the Steelers with precious little cap room assuming the new cap is determined the same way as the old one (as a percentage of revenues).

Therein lies the problem.  The owners are trying to roll back player salaries by changing the method revenue is shared much like they do in hockey.  In simpler terms, they want the players to accept a smaller share of the pie.  Since the size of the pie determines how big the cap is, a smaller slice by extension would equal a smaller cap. Good for lousy teams like Detroit or Carolina who only have a few highly paid players on the roster.  Bad for the Steelers who have already committed big money to their stars.

Since we have no idea when the CBA will be ironed out and what it will say, this is all speculation.  But it does open up a pretty big potential can of worms for this team.  Do they use whatever scant space left under the cap to bring back Ike Taylor and basically go into next year with the exact same team?  Or do they lose Ike because they can’t pay him enough?  If they lose Face Me Ike, are you prepared for B-Mac and Willie Gay to be your starting corners?  The thought of that gives me the chills.  Or perhaps that’s the bird flu.  Either way, I’m pleased Woodley will continue to be part of the best defense in the NFL but I’d be lying if I said I’m not worried about the cost.

With the season over, I find myself with a frightening lack of structure.  It was nice knowing every Monday I could recap the previous afternoon’s game and every Friday I could roll out Know Thy Enemy.  So in that vein, I’m starting a recurring feature whereby I look at every area of the Pittsburgh Steelers, evaluate their 2010 performance, and assess their outlook for 2011.  I’ll still post relevant Steelers news and talk a little about the ongoing labor strife but this will give us a little something to talk about from now until the draft.

We’ll start by getting the most insignificant part of the team out of the way.  I know some people don’t like it when I say kickers aren’t real football players so allow me to explain.  The average guy off the street would get killed trying to play linebacker.  They would have no chance at wide receiver.  But my schlub of a brother, whose greatest athletic accomplishment is two years of J.V. soccer, has successfully booted a 40 yard field goal to win a free meal at Benihana.

In fact, my favorite non-Steelers moment of the season was when Ndamukong Suh attempted an extra point.  The Big Fella had nice form and was only about a foot and a half away from an exact copy of Shaun Suisham‘s hideous conversion in the Super Bowl.

Speaking of which, did anybody else catch the Punt, Pass, And Kick girl whose dream is to be an NFL kicker?  Frankly, I wouldn’t be shocked if it happened.  My cool physics professor at CMU once broke down the mechanics of kicking and “leg strength” is actually a misnomer.  Acceleration of your leg through the kicking motion and the angle which you strike the ball are just as important.  And we all know women, at least the ones who make the best girlfriends, are much more flexible than men.  So I fully expect to see the NFL’s version of Gina Carano take the field before the end of the decade.

Anyway, back to Suisham.  He did a pretty good job for the team after replacing drunk malcontent Skippy Reed midway through the season, converting fourteen of fifteen field goal attempts including eight of nine from 40-49 yards.  His kickoffs were more than satisfactory as well.  The only question with him is how he responds to pressure.  Suisham is infamous in Washington for missing an easy kick against the Saints and shanking two easy ones in the playoffs for Dallas.  He kicked the game winning 41 yarder in OT against the Bills so I’m willing to chalk his previous failures up to playing for cursed franchises.  Yeah, he had a shaky Super Bowl but a 52 yarder isn’t automatic for any kicker so I fully expect him to be back next year.

The punting situation is a little more interesting.  Daniel Sepulveda, who suffered his second season-ending injury in three years, is a free agent.  His replacement, Jeremy Kapinos, was adequate at best.  Then you have to factor in that the Steelers used a 4th round draft pick on Sepulveda.  Kevin Colbert may re-sign him just to prove he didn’t waste that pick.  Obviously I don’t have access to Sepulveda’s medical reports but if he’s healthy, I would imagine he’ll be back.  Otherwise, the job is likely wide open to whomever the Steelers bring into camp this fall.

I cannot finish this post without talking about actual football players so let’s talk returners.  The three-headed monster of Manny Sanders, Antonio Brown, and Antwaan Randle-El shared duties at various points throughout the year.  We’ll eliminate ARE from this discussion because he’s basically the football version of a DH.  Or, in his case, Designated Fair Catcher.

Which leaves us with the youngsters.  Sanders began the year as a return man and handled the duties fairly well.  Then Brown was given a shot and responded with an 89 kickoff return for a touchdown.  By the end of the season, Brown had “won” the job and I expect that to continue going forward.  He narrowly missed breaking a few after that and his 27 yard return in the AFC Championship Game was crucial in sealing the victory.

Oh, one final point about special teams.  Mike Tomlin has learned from previous years where he refused to have “special teams specialists” and would cut guys who excelled as gunners because they couldn’t play during the game.  A big part of our improved coverage this year was because of guys like Anthony Madison and Arnaz Battle.  Although one guy who better not be here next year is Keyaron Fox.  Fox’s dumbass antics in the Super Bowl severely hampered Big Ben’s chance to perform the superhuman heroics only he can perform.  It was not his first offense as his dumbass penalty in the Ravens game was what pushed the team back inside their 5 where a few plays later Ben was sacked and fumbled.  If your only job is to be a special teams ace and you suck at it, pack your bags for Kansas City because that crap don’t fly in the ‘Burgh.

FINAL GRADE FOR 2010:  B

Breaks down as follows:  Kickers: C+ (Skippy gets an F, Suisham gets a B+), Punters: C  Returners: B+ and Coverage: B+

Don’t judge.

I’ve finally managed to pull myself together enough to write about the Pittsburgh Steelers without having to blink back salty yet manly tears.  It’s time to lock memories of Super Bowl XLV in the same box as Super Bowl XXX and never speak of either again.  Rather let us turn our attention to next season.  Provided the greedy dickhead owners and high-living meathead jocks ever agree on a new collective bargaining agreement so we have a season.

Let’s start with the coaching staff.  Pittsburgh West Arizona wasted no time trying to poach yet more assistants from our staff.   Unfortunately for Ken Whisenhunt, the Steelers denied him permission to speak to LB coach Keith Butler.  Butler was given a new deal last season and word around town is he has been promised the defensive coordinator job when Dick LeBeau retires.   And if the Rooneys promise you something, take it to the bank and open an account.

So the Cards will have to settle for secondary coach Ray Horton, who is also interviewing with the Cowboys.   Maybe he can teach Whiz’s corners his fabulous technique of backpedaling at the snap so every receiver gets a nice comfy five yard cushion.  I sure hope this Butler guy is worth the hype when he eventually ascends to the top job.  Although that won’t be in the immediate future as LeBeau has told his men he is definitely returning for next season.

Which leaves us with Bruce Arians.  B.A.’s contract has also expired and he’s really done precious little to earn a new one.  People seem to have forgotten the stretch in the middle of the season where we scored two offensive touchdowns over three entire games.  In an ideal world, B.A. would be gone although the labor issues may prevent any changes.  If there is a lock out, it would be stupid to bring in a new offensive coordinator since they would have very little time to work with the players over the off-season.  Then again, the Steelers could promote from within since the plays aren’t really the problem but rather the Einey, Meany, Miney, Moe Method he uses to call them.

Roster-wise, Hines Ward (34), James Farrior (36), and Aaron Smith (34) are all reaching retirement age.   All three have said they plan on returning for one more go-round, with Ward scheduled to have multiple surgeries this week.  Hines and Farrior are not as effective as they used to be but aren’t at the stage where they embarrass themselves out there.  Smith is the question mark.  He’s due to make about $6 million this year which is way too much for a guy who gets hurt all the time.  Smith is a good man but the emergence of Ziggy Hood makes him kind of expendable.  I can see the Steelers asking him to renegotiate to a much smaller cap hit and, if he refuses, releasing him ala Joey Porter.

The Steelers have a list of free agents which I will get into when/if the free agency period ever begins.  Suffice it to say, the list is headed by LaMarr Woodley and Ike Taylor, both of whom we absolutely need to keep.   Woodley is a young stud linebacker who’ll be a fixture on the outside for years to come.  Taylor, whether you like him or not, is by far the Steelers best corner.  They’ve already started talking with Face Me Ike so I can see them signing one and Franchising the other.

Unless talks completely break down and Taylor leaves via free agency, I wouldn’t expect the Steelers to do anything except dumpster diving for free agents.  Paying high-priced mercs is just not their way.  So anybody dreaming of Nnamdi Asomugha in Black and Gold should just put those thoughts out of their head.  If he pulled a Bettis and told the team he’d play for a winner for a meager contract, maybe, but he’s not going to do that and the Steelers don’t have the cap room to pay him what he’s worth.

Would you let Woodley and Taylor go in exchange for Asomugha?   The Steelers wouldn’t but that is the choice you have if you’re in the Sign Nnamdi! camp.  For the sake of argument, let’s say you make that trade.  Then you still have B-Mac on the other side and instead of him getting targeted 15 times a game, he gets thrown at 20.  And you lose Mister Woodley in the process.  I love Asomugha as both a player and a character guy but it makes no sense.

If the salary cap returns (as expected) and the Steelers keep Woodley/Ike (as expected), that gives them very little wiggle room.  They may sign a few unloved veterans to either fortify the offensive line or play nickel but I wouldn’t expect any major roster additions to come through free agency.  Picking at the ass end of the draft, they’ll likely go Best Player Available which means I can see them taking anything from a corner to a young safety to groom behind Clark/Troy to another young defensive linemen (remember, Ziggy was our pick after our last Super Bowl).  We’ll examine both free agency and the draft in more depth in the days to come but suffice it to say, I don’t expect major help to come from either.

It’ll be more of the same from the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2011.  Can they rebound from arguably the most devastating loss in this core group’s history?  Can they stay healthy?  Can Big Ben stay away from drunk sluts?   They’ll be plenty of questions heading into the off-season but remember this group was good enough to still be playing when 30 other teams were sitting at home.  And that’s good enough for me.