Speaking of former Steelers cut loose, Fast Willie Parker was cut by the Redskins.  Looks like they discovered what we saw last year:  He’s now Medium Speed Willie.  Still, running backs drop like flies during the season so a veteran back up can usually find a job (Does the name Najeh Davenport ring any bells?).  Here’s hoping FWP latches on somewhere because that would be a sad ending to what was a short but glorious career.

Now, let’s talk the Steelers.  Proving that Bruce Arians is indeed bringing the Flying Circus to town, the Steelers kept six wide receivers while keeping only four running backs and zero fullbacks.  David Johnson, a FB/TE hybrid will be the blocking back in I formations.  Arians will also use the Pony Backfield, which is when Issac Redman lines up at fullback and the hand-off can go to either him or Mendenhall.  The Steelers used this formation a lot in the Chuck Noll days with Rocky and Franco so it’s nice to see it back in the playbook even though I’d like a true blocking fullback on the roster.

Rookie Antonio Brown will handle returns with Stefan Logan getting cut.  Logan, who has been scooped up by the Detroit Lions, was a victim of being a specialist who wasn’t very special.  He was brought in as the next Devin Hester and despite setting a single season Steelers record for return yardage, didn’t return any for TDs which soured the staff on him.  Part of me wonders how he’d do returning kicks on a team with halfway decent special teams blocking.

Brown showed potential as a receiver and did an okay job returning kicks so I understand the move, although he also made a couple really dumb decisions in the third game (not bringing out a kick in the end zone, fair catching a ball inside his 5) so let’s hope his youth and inexperience don’t flare up too often.  Arnaz Battle was also kept so he’d likely be the fallback option if Brown fails.   Battle is an all-around good special teams guy so it’s nice to see Mike Tomlin valuing that this season.

Cut day was a bloodbath for the Draft Class of 2009.  Guard Kraig Urbik, defensive lineman Sunny Harris, cornerback Joe Burnett, and fan favorite running back Frank “The Tank” Summers were all axed.  Harris is a bit surprising only because the team lost him off the practice squad last season then eagerly signed him back when given the chance.  The Tank was a converted fullback who had primarily been a running back in college.  He never really adapted to the position change and as a result has shown pretty much nothing.

Burnett is a bit of a surprise.  He saw game action last year (rare for a Steelers rookie) and, admittedly, did not play well.   But considering how lousy our secondary has been, it’s a bit odd they’d give up on him after only one year.  Rookie Crezdon Butler came on strong in the final two preseason games so they evidently liked his upside more than Burnett’s.  And, once again, the Steelers kept a special teams ace, Anthony Madison, who is a way below-average cornerback but is one of the best gunners in the league so I commend Tomlin for learning from past mistakes in that area.

Finally, Justin Hartwig was cut.  First round pick Maurkice Pouncey was expeced to play guard for a year since the center has to learn all the protection calls but he caught on faster than expected.  Plus, Hartwig’s play has really fallen off in the past year.  He looked perfectly capable in 2008 when the Steelers went to the Super Bowl but he was constantly getting pushed around last year.  I thought it might be due to injuries at both guard positions but he still looked terrible with the first team offense this presason.  With Pouncey blowing guys off the ball in games and at practice, it became a no-brainer to stick him at his natural position and bid Hartwig good-bye.   We’ve been asking for a revamped offensive line and this year we have it with three new starters (Pouncey, Flozell Adams at RT, and Trai Essex at RG) from what we had a year ago.

And those, ladies and gentlemen, are your 2010 Pittsburgh Steelers.

Ah, sweet sweet TIVO.  Allowing me to maintain some semblance of a social life and still blog about our fifth string wide receiver’s route running ability.

Some random thoughts from the Pittsburgh Steelers Meaningless Game #2:

QUARTERBACKS - Ben Roethlisberger saw his first action of the season.  He looked to be in mid-season form.  And by “mid-season form,” I mean he ran around in the pocket like a kid with ADD and then showed his typical bad decision making by throwing a poor ball that resulted in a pick.  He also held the ball too long on a 2nd and goal resulting in a sack and five yard loss.   These blunders helped contribute to his being the only quarterback who failed to lead a touchdown drive on Saturday.  To be fair, he appeared to be in good physical shape and showed some nice ability to roll out while making crisp throws on the run.

Byron Leftwich looked pretty good in his brief appearance, highlighted by a 68 yard bomb to Mike Wallace which he dropped in perfectly to the speedy wideout.  Of course, the ignorant bloggers and columnists are using this as proof positive that the Great QB Controversy of 2010 is over.  To them I say this:  the Giants were clearly playing vanilla schemes and generating ZERO PASS RUSH.  On one play, Lord Byron actually SCRAMBLED away from two defenders and lumbered forward for 5 yards.  The chances of him doing that in a real game are about as likely as the Pirates winning the World Series.

Mark my words, as soon as the season starts and he faces a real honest to goodness pass rush, his statue-like pocket presence will doom our offense.

Dennis Dixon looked fantastic as usual but it was strictly in mop-up time.  At this point, there’s no use in my singing his praises until we start the season 0-2 under the immobile Leftwich.

DEFENSE - The Giants held Eli Manning out after suffering a gaping head wound in their first preseason game while backup Jim Sorgi is hurt.  So they went the entire game with third stringer Rhett Bomar.   I’m not trying to sound any alarm bells based on meaningless games but you don’t exactly want to see practice squad fodder like Bomar lead a TD drive against your FIRST TEAM defense.  Which is exactly what happened in the second quarter.

Bomar bomar’d a deep pass to Other Steve Smith for a 45 yard play on coverage by Bryant McFadden.  Granted B-Mac was playing looser than a sorority girl down in Milledgeville but I’d like to see better from a secondary that was torched last year.

Then again, that secondary may have been a bit confused due to Ike Taylor getting tossed from the game four plays into the game.  I always figured players treated these contests like a joke but there was Face Me Ike swinging punches at Hakeem Nicks for some inexplicable reason.  Maybe he had dinner reservations at Tavern on the Green or something.

Slightly more encouraging was the play of second year corner Joe Burnett.  He made a fantastic reaching INT of a tipped Bomar pass.  Considering nobody in our secondary could hold on to a pass last year, I think Burnett may merit a move up in the depth chart past Willie Gay if he continues to show good hands.

Second rounder Jason Worilds saw his first action of the season and showed very little.  He got stood up at the line of scrimmage on almost every play which was the knock on him coming out of college (good rusher, bad run stuffer).  Speaking of which, Keyaron Fox showed very good sideline-to-sideline movement when in with the second team.  Meanwhile, speedy RB Ahmed Bradshaw beat beat both James Harrison and Lawrence Timmons to the outside on a 9 yard TD.

SPECIAL TEAMS - Daniel Sepulveda handled the kickoffs and may have taken the job away from Skippy.   His kicks traveled about 5 yards farther than Reed’s and more importantly, he’d get enough loft on the kicks that the coverage could get into place.

On returns, rookie Antonio Brown saw time as a kick and punt returner.  He didn’t set the world on fire but handled the job capably enough.  I wouldn’t say he’s an upgrade over Stefan Logan but I don’t think he’d be any worse either.   Which is my long-winded way of saying Joystick may be in danger of not making this team.

RUNNING BACK – The Steelers’ commitment to the run is admirable.  And necessary because they aren’t going to win without a good run game.  The problem is, we’re two games in and I’m not convinced they can run effectively.  Mendenhall ran 8 times for a measly 11 yards.

Which isn’t all his fault because anything up the middle is doomed due to massive penetration allowed by a leaky offensive line.  Runs around the corners aren’t much better.  Flozell Adams, in particular, seems to be struggling with the move to RT.  I’ll chalk some of it up to just not knowing the schemes (yet) but he needs to get up to speed soon.

Mewelde Moore had a couple nice runs which should solidify him as the #2 back.  Although Issac Redman continued to impress.  They used him as a fullback on some first team formations giving them the option of handing off to either FB/RB.  And he scored another red zone TD although this one was from 12 yards out.  At this point, I’d be shocked if he doesn’t make it as the 3rd back.

All in all, a good night for the Steelers against a depleted and half-assing Giants team.  With cut downs looming, there should be a couple hard decisions to make in the near future.

The Pittsburgh Steelers fired their second coach in as many days, this time relieving special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky of his job.  I have mixed emotions on his departure.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the least bit surprised.   When you surrender the most return TDs of any team in forty years while ranking 30th and 24th in kick and punt coverage, something is definitely rotten in McKeesport.  And since you can’t fire the eleven men running down the field (although Mike Tomlin certainly tried), it’s easier to can the coach.

However, in some ways I feel Ligashesky is being made a scapegoat.   He can only use the players he’s given.  When you hand a cook a bushel of rotten tomatoes, it’s hard to blame him when his sauce tastes like crap.   Last season, the Steelers were one of the best special teams coverage units in the NFL.   This season, he’s been saddled with a bunch of clueless youngsters (Joe Burnett, Ryan Mundy) and lazy veterans (Keiwan Ratliff, Tyrone Carter).   They even had little 5’6 175 pound Stefan Logan out covering kicks.  They’d be better off running Daniel Sepulveda out there.

The biggest problem with the coverage is the lack of a gunner.   Every good special teams unit has a gunner or player whose specialty is flying down the field like a human missile and disrupting whatever the other team is trying to set up.  Whenever the Steelers have found a special teams ace, be it Chidi Iwouma, Anthony Madison, or the great Sean Morey, coach Tomlin and Kevin Colbert have let them go.  If anybody deserves blame for this year’s fiasco, it’s the two of them.

Also in special teams news, I found this list of players the Steelers signed to their offseason roster.  The interesting name is Piotr Czech, the kicker whom the Steelers brought to camp this past preseason.   After being cut, Czech hooked on with the UFL and now seems to be back in the fold.   Could this be a sign that Skippy Reed‘s days in the Black and Gold are rapidly coming to an end?

Time of death was 4:02 P.M.

That was when a desperate last second Hail Mary attempt hit Limas Sweed in the worst possible place – his hands – and fell harmlessly to the turf, dooming the Pittsburgh Steelers to their fourth consecutive loss.  The Oakland Raiders, who came in as a two touchdown underdog, handed the defending Super Bowl champs a stunning 27-24 defeat.  This loss effectively ends the Steelers season.  While technically there are four games left and technically there is a complicated series of events which would still land Pittsburgh in the playoffs, it’s time to take off the Black and Gold colored glasses.  This is not a playoff caliber team.

In fact, right now this team isn’t very good period.

Let’s once again start at the beginning.  Which is actually appropriate because how the game started was a perfect example of everything they’ve done wrong this year.   The Steelers finally got something positive from their special teams when Stefan Logan took the opening kickoff back 83 yards.  Facing the worst run defense in the NFL, what do you think we did?   Go on, take a wild guess.

If you said, “Came out in a four WR/no RB passing formation” give yourself a cookie.

Naturally, we threw on two of our first three offensive plays.  All plays in the red zone, mind you.  And naturally these two passes, with a token run sandwiched in between, netted us a grand total of five yards.  So naturally we ended up settling for a Skippy Reed FG.   That’s the Bruce Arians way.

The ensuing kickoff was short as all of Skippy’s kicks were yesterday.  Evidently, the Steelers new plan for covering kicks is to semi-pooch it and just hope somebody makes a tackle.  In this case, Gary Russell (yes, the ex-Steeler whose best return move seemed to be “catch the ball and dive straight ahead”) eluded two or three Steelers for a 34 yard return.  The Raiders managed to get a Sebastian Janikowski FG out of the ensuing drive.

In the second quarter, the Steelers struck in lightning fashion.  Ben Roethlisberger lasered a ball down the middle to his frenemy Hines Ward for a 27 yard gain.  On the very next play, he dropped a beautiful pass over Santonio Holmes‘ right shoulder for a 34 yard touchdown.  Two plays, 61 yards, fifty-seven seconds.

But once again, the Raiders showed they weren’t going down without a fight.  Pittsburgh native QB Bruce Gradkowski directed a 53 yard drive that would end up milking over five minutes off the clock.  He started with a 16 yard pass to Zach Miller.  Then they were gifted 15 more yards when Lawrence Timmons face-masked Gradkowski on a blitz.  The biggest play was a 22 yard pass to Johnny Lee Higgins where…  I’ll let you guess what cornerback got his feet twisted up and blew the coverage.   The Raiders made it all the way to the Steelers 26 but were held to a FG thanks to idiotic playcalling on behalf of Oakland.   Gee, let’s have our RB try to throw a TD pass!!!

Halftime came with the score 10-6.  Now, what I haven’t mentioned yet is the Steelers should have had about 28 points at this point.  I already explained how the first drive was a failure.  Later in the first quarter, Arians discovered that the Raiders had a terrible run defense because he actually called a few rushing plays.  I think cavemen took less time to discover the wheel.  Rashard Mendenhall (20 carries 103 yards) took a handoff and rumbled 60 yards.  His next three carries only netted 9 and 3/4 yards to the Oakland 5.

So Mike Tomlin decided to channel his inner Belichick and go for it.  The call?  A quarterback sneak by Roethlisberger.  No, don’t give the ball to your 235 pound #1 draft pick RB.  Don’t give the ball to multi-time 1,000 yard rusher Fast Willie Parker.   Don’t give it to usually dependable Mewelde Moore.   Ask your recently concussed quarterback to dive headfirst into a solid wall of humanity.   Yeah, that’s what you want to do.

To add insult to stupidity, the Raiders stopped Ben in his tracks.   Turnover on downs.  But that wasn’t the only failure Big Ben was to experience on Sunday.  In the second quarter, the Steelers went back to their Flying Circus (against the worst rush defense in the NFL, did I mention that yet?)  They managed to work the ball all the way down to the Oakland 16.  At which time, Ben decided to throw into triple coverage and was predictably picked off.

So let’s recap this tremendous display of first half offensive firepower by Bruce Arians, Ben Roethlisberger, the guy who thinks Ben is a sissy, the Dirk Diggler lookalike, and some other guys who barely ever touch the ball.   First down at the Oakland 18.  Field goal.  First down at the Oakland 14.  Turnover on downs.   First down at the Oakland 16.  Interception.

ARE YOU F#@KING KIDDING ME?!?!?

The second half started and out of nowhere Arians decided to impersonate a competent offensive coordinator.  He gave the Raiders a steady dose of Mendenhall which served to control the clock.   At one point, Mendy ran the ball on five consecutive plays and I began to believe in alien abduction.  By controlling the time of possession and keeping the defense off the field, the Steelers effectively ran out the quarter without any points being scored.

Then came the fourth quarter where the game became the live-action equivalent of Madden Football.  Oakland started with a nice 11 play 67 yard touchdown drive which put them ahead 13-10.  Another good kickoff return by Logan was followed by a 57 yard bomb to Holmes.  Mendenhall bulled his way in to the end zone from 3 yards out.  Then, in an absolutely stunning display of ineptitude, the secondary completely blew the coverage in allowing somebody named Louis Murphy to get wide open for a 75 yard touchdown pass.

A SEVENTY-FIVE YARD TOUCHDOWN PASS.   Thrown by Bruce Gradkowski.   Caught by Louis Murphy.  Yes, the Origami Curtain was alive and well.

Ike Taylor was the man who was roasted like a chestnut over an open fire on the play although I don’t know if he was entirely to blame.  Don’t get me wrong, Ike had an awful game but it definitely looked like he was expecting a safety to be out there with him.  Considering Tyrone Carter and Ryan Clark were out of position or missing tackles all day long,  missing an assignment is definitely within the realm of possibility.

Ben answered by leading the Steelers 80 yards on 7 plays, tossing a go-ahead TD to Hines.   Hines actually got away with one because he facemasked the CB to get wide open on his fade route.   After the kickoff, the Raiders found themselves at their 12 yard line with two minutes left in the game.  And being down 24-20, they had to score a TD.   In the bag, right?

Oh, dear readers, no lead is safe with the Origami Curtain.  They had only just begun to fold.  The first calamity occurred on a 19 yard pass to Murphy.   William Gay had him wrapped up but Ryan Mundy attempted to spear him for good measure.  Instead, he ended up taking out his own man.   Now, I’m clearly not a fan of Will.i.am.  Some might even call me a Gay Basher.  But I want to see him on the bench for the right reason, because he sucks, not because of injury.  Thankfully, he walked off the field although apparently did suffer a concussion.

No word on whether Hines considers him a sissy.

Anyway, out of the oven came rookie Joe Burnett to take his place.  He immediately showed us all that he’d fit in PERFECTLY with this secondary by dropping an INT that hit him right in the chest.  As soon as that happened, I knew the game was lost.  But, like when you slow down as you pass a car crash, I kept watching to see how the inevitable end would come.

I soon had my answer.  On the very next play, Gradkowski threw up a duck that hung in the air like a punt.   I mean, it must’ve floated up there for a good four or five seconds.   Mitch Berger didn’t kick’em that high.   While three other Steelers stood around with thumbs up their asses, Louis Murphy outjumped Burn Me Ike to come down with a 23 yard gain.  Do these guys know you can push a receiver out of bounds?   Do they care?

On the next play, Mundy decided he wanted to spear an Oakland player instead.  Unfortunately, the WR was already down when he came flying in.   So his stupidity cost the Steelers 15 more yards on a personal foul.  Not content with taking out our starting CB then cheapshotting an opponent, Mundy completed the Trifecta of Suck by leaving his man alone in the end zone when Gradkowski scrambled around.

Touchdown, Raiders.

Game, Raiders.

Season over, Steelers.  It was fun while it lasted.

Looks like Terry Bradshaw can’t believe it either.

In the wake of the Pittsburgh Steelers crushing defeat by the Cincinnati Bengals this past Sunday, Steeler Nation is awash in a sea of negativity. The Steelers are 6-3 and in good shape for a playoff berth yet the general feeling is that Sunday’s loss basically ended the season. While I advise you to put away the knives and remove your belts and shoelaces, I’d be less than truthful if I didn’t admit to believing the doomsayers speak a bit of truth. Two teams in 43 years have won the Super Bowl as a Wild Card and, let’s face it, anything less than a repeat makes this year a failure.

Over the past couple days, there’s been good news, bad news, and so-so news out of the Black and Gold.

In the good news category, Mike Tomlin is clearly upset with our shitacular special teams and has set about making changes. He sent a clear message to others on that unit by cutting backup LB Arnold Harrison. In a way, I feel sorry that Harrison is the fall guy for our kickoff fiascos as he’s been on the team since 2005, battling his way back from a torn right ACL in 2006 and then tearing his left in 2008. They’ve signed Donovan Woods off the practice squad to replace him. Woods is supposedly a good special teams player but we’ll have to see about that. Personally, I think they need to bite the bullet and put starters like Brett Keisel or Lawrence Timmons out on coverage. Tomlin has also indicated Mike Wallace will see more action returning punts as preseason sensation Stefan Logan has been a bust so far.

In so-so news, Troy Polamalu is listed as “questionable” for Sunday’s game. Considering Tomlin is a filthy liar, I wouldn’t put much stock in anything he says regarding injuries. For what it’s worth, they’re saying this injury was a PCL strain, not a re-aggravation of the MCL sprain that kept Troy out earlier this season. Regardless of how much faith you put in these medical reports, it seems likely Troy will play again in 2009.  Although his reckless style of play has to make you wonder how long he’ll be back before he’s injured again. One thing is for certain, the Steelers would be insane to let him play in this week’s demolition of the hapless Chiefs.

Finally, in the bad news, all this talk of injured knees and lousy special teams has covered for a truly terrible performance by our offense. Ben Roethlisberger has owned up to playing a bad game but I think he was put in position to fail. He threw 40 passes, was sacked 4 times, and scrambled out of danger twice. For those keeping score, that’s 46 throws against a measly 18 runs. I’m sorry but that is abysmal playcalling. When you look at our three biggest wins of the year (San Diego, Denver, and Minnesota), Rashard Mendenhall had over 150 yards in two of them. The Minnesota game was decided by a pair of Pick Sixes.

In other words, anybody who tries to argue Bruce Arians’ Flying Circus is working this season has not been watching these games. Yes, Ben is an excellent quarterback. Yes, we have good receivers. However, we are not the Patriots or the Colts. The Steelers simply cannot win at a high level by putting the ball in Ben’s hands and saying, “Here, do it all by yourself.” Arians needs to be called out for his game plans and made to realize we are winning in spite of him, not because of him. Until some balance is returned to this offense, I foresee some frustrating days ahead.

Frustrating for me. Frustrating for you. And frustrating for Terry Bradshaw.