After playing the Baltimore Ravens three times last season, including an epic AFC Championship game, it’s safe to say the Pittsburgh Steelers know this enemy quite well.  And if familiarity breeds contempt, these teams must outright hate each other by now.  Pittsburgh sports has a number of great rivalries, including Pitt-WVU who meet later today in their annual Backyard Brawl.   But I dare say none can compare to the Ravens and Steelers.

Earlier this week, the FOX medical drama “House” made a joke of the fact Omar Epps is a dead ringer for head coach Mike Tomlin.  In an ironic twist, Tomlin probably spent a lot of time this week thinking he was trapped in a medical drama.  The Steelers are getting absolutely hammered by injuries to key personnel.  Where’s Dr. House when you need him?

For those keeping score at home, Travis Kirschke continues to nurse a torn calf although he practiced this week and will probably play Sunday.  Of all the guys we could get back, Kirschke is the least important since Nick Eason and Ziggy Hood were doing a pretty good job in his absence.  LG Chris Kemoeatu sprained his MCL and looks to be out one, possibly two, weeks.  Undrafted rookie Ramon Foster will make his first NFL start.  Ben Roethlisberger has been monitored all week and seems to have practiced normally so should be cleared to play.  Finally, Troy Polamalu will reportedly miss a month with his knee injury which probably rules him out of at least the next two games.

The Ravens will be dealing with some injuries of their own.  Their best LB (sorry Ray Ray), Terrell Suggs, is out with a knee injury thanks to a heroic chop block by fabulous Brady Quinn.  One of their main corners, Fabian Washington, tore his ACL and is gone for the year.  Keep in mind this defense no longer has LB Bart Scott or S Jim Leonard, who went to the Jets this off-season along with mastermind D coordinator Rex Ryan, their new head coach.  The Ravens are going to be a hard-nosed football team no matter what but they are definitely weakened and depleted on the defensive side of the ball.

Offensively, Joe Flacco has taken another giant step forward from his already highly successful rookie campaign.  Last season, they tried to protect Flacco and keep him out of situations where the game rode on his shoulders.  This year, he’s been asked to shoulder more of the load and responded to the challenge.  Still, the Ravens remain a run-first and ask-questions-later team.  Flacco has the ability but Baltimore is lacking in quality targets for him. Last year’s top receiver, Derrick Mason, is 35 and coming off shoulder surgery.  If a team can effectively stuff the run, the Ravens run into trouble because their passing game seems limited to big play threat Mason and short safe outlet throws to emerging superstar RB Ray Rice.

Offensively, the story will be how Big Ben rebounds from last week’s brain rattling hit.  I would hope the Steelers try to lean a bit more on the running game to spare him unnecessary abuse.  Baltimore will have no qualms about dialing up the pressure and considering we’re playing with a banged up offensive line, one would think this is a good time for Bruce Arians to rein in his Flying Circus.  Of course the words “logical playcalling” and “Arians” seldom belong in the same sentence.

Finally, heads have rolled on the Steelers special teams unit.   CB Keiwan Ratliff and LB Donovan Woods have been cut.  Woods was just promoted from the practice squad as an alleged upgrade to the kick coverage but his only notable achievement last week was to get flagged to nullify a beautiful 35 yard punt return by Stefan Logan.  With the injury to Troy, they’ve used Ratliff as a safety in nickel and dime packages in addition to special teams.  Regardless of where he’s played, he’s constantly out of position and missing tackles.

Your newest Steelers are LB Rocky Boiman and CB Corey Ivy.  Boiman is an eight year vet who won a Super Bowl with the Colts back in 2006.  I don’t know anything else about him except he’s got a cool name.   Ivy played the past three seasons for the Ratbirds so we know him.  He was someone the Steelers repeatedly picked on as well as being the doofus that Limas Sweed obliterated in the AFC Championship game.  Regardless, their primary job will be to run down the field and make a lousy freakin’ tackle.  Hopefully they’ll succeed where others have failed miserably.

Believe me, the Steelers will need to be on their game in all three phases Sunday night if they want to escape with a win.  I know I’ve typed the words “Biggest game of the season” several weeks in a row but in all seriousness, this game is the season.  If the Steelers lose, they fall into a tie with the Ravens (one game behind with the tiebreak) and will be tied or a game behind three or four teams in the Wild Card race.  More importantly, a loss and I fear the team will mentally pack it in for the year.  Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Last night featured one of the most important events in the world of sports.

Oh, and the Olympics held their opening ceremonies.

The event I am referring to is the annual Battle of Pennsylvania between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philthydelphia Eagles. The reason it’s important is most years, that game signifies the start of the preseason, which, by extension, means the start of the football season. And truly, what event is more important than football season?

Actually, please don’t take away my Terrible Towel but I confess to flipping between the game and the ceremonies. If anybody can appreciate a futuristic, lit-up city and an outstanding fireworks display, it would be a Pittsburgher. Plus, the Chinese delegation featured flag-bearer Yao Ming and his little buddy Lin Hao. Hao is a nine-year-old boy from China’s Sichuan Province, where a devastating earthquake killed thousands of people back in May. According to Bob Costas, Lin Hao escaped his school when the quake struck and instead of doing what I would do and run away crying like a girl, he risked his life and suffered multiple injuries by going back to try and rescue some of his schoolmates. When asked why, he responded, “Because I’m a class monitor and it was my responsibility to look out for the class.” Nine freakin’ years old and he’s already manlier than I’ll ever be.

From what I saw of the game, here are the important things to note:

1) The Steelers won 16-10. Sure, preseason games are meaningless but losing to Philly (New motto: City of Brothas on Crack) is not an option. Ever.

2) Backup QB Charlie Batch broke his collarbone. He’ll likely be out 4-6 weeks which means Brian St. Pierre finally has the chance to… Oh shit. I forgot he took his clipboard and moved to Pittsburgh West (Phoenix). Let’s see, I guess that means, um, well, looks like rookie Dennis Dixon is our new backup. Not good. Well, he actually did look good last night (6 of 9 for 30 yards and had a gorgeous 41 yard bomb called back by a holding penalty) but I wouldn’t want to put the season on him if Big Ben makes another wrong turn on his Harley.

The Post-Gazette is suggesting former Jaguars bust Byron Leftwich is a possibility. Wait, I thought Coach Mike Tomlin had a problem with fat people?

3) Ben Roethlisberger and Willie Parker played two series. Ben had a nice TD pass to Santonio Holmes on a blitz pickup. Rookie Rashard Mendenhall chipped in with 34 yards on 7 carries. The offensive line looked okay on run blocking. There wasn’t enough evidence to judge their pass blocking. The play Batch got jacked up on wasn’t their fault as new RB Mewelde Moore missed his assignment and Charlie paid the price.

4) The first team defense only played two series. NT Casey Hampton didn’t suit up as he’s evidently still stuck in Fat Camp. DE Travis Kirschke, S Anthony “Hines Ward is my bitch…in practice” Smith, and, go figure, S Troy Polamalu all did not play. S Ryan Mundy, a local kid in his rookie season out of WVU, injured his leg on a tackle which puts the Steelers fairly thin at safety right now.

5) Special teams-wise, well, who cares about the kickers? Let’s talk about real football players. Mendenhall, surprisingly, was the kickoff return man. Actually, Najeh Davenport did fairly well in the role last year so I understand Tomlin’s thinking. I don’t think you want your star rookie running back kickoffs though. Moore returned one punt for 9 yards while Eddie Drummond, another local guy, returned his 21 yards. The key here is Moore is a lock to make the team as a 3rd down back while Drummond probably isn’t sticking around unless he wins the return job.

6) First roster cuts take place August 26. Final cuts come four days after that. Teams only have to cut five players on the first date, but ditch 23 more by the next one.

That’s head coach Mike Tomlin basking in the afterglow of his first two picks in the 2008 NFL Draft. Tomlin and Director of Player Personnel Kevin Colbert have every right to be pleased with their work as the general consensus seems to be the Pittsburgh Steelers had themselves one of the finest hauls in this year’s draft. Scanning the interwebz, it appears many of the so-called “experts” graded our picks quite generously.

Jason Cole (Yahoo Sports) – A
Paul Zimmerman (SI.com’s Dr. Z) – Very Good
Larry Weisman (USA Today) – B+
Mel Kiper (Great Hair) – B
NPC (Me) – A

Wait, I gave our draft an A? Didn’t I say in my draft preview post that taking a running back like Jonathan Stewart would be a luxury pick? Didn’t I say a luxury pick is not something we can afford with so many pressing needs? Have I gone mad?

Not really. See, when you evaluate a team’s draft, you have to do so on a sliding scale. The teams picking early almost always have the “best drafts” because they pick the biggest name players. Of course, if those drafts were really the best, or if those big names always panned out, then the Detroits and Atlantas of the world wouldn’t be picking in the top 10 seemingly every year. As John Steinbeck would say, “…the best laid plans of Mice and Matt Millen…”

Mangling of classic English literature aside, I judge a draft by value. As in, what did pass up, what did you get, and what did you give up in getting what you got? By those criteria, the Steelers did a tremendous job this weekend.

Did the draft address our needs? Well, in a word, no. Our biggest needs were OL, WR, DL, and CB in that order. The Steelers only filled one of those four needs (WR). Looking at it that way, you’d think their draft was a total disaster. But this goes back to what I said about value. We passed up guys who’d fill our needs but didn’t have legit first round ability, we got players who are talented enough that most people think they should’ve went 10 to 15 picks sooner than when we got them, and we gave up nothing in order to draft them.

Pittsburgh could’ve gone a similar route as Carolina. The Panthers also needed help on the OL and when there was a run on linemen, they panicked and traded up to get Jeff Otah. As someone who saw him play in a few Pitt games this season, the idea of using one 1st round pick on Otah is questionable. Otah has raw talent and great measurables but he’ll definitely need a lot of coaching and is far from a complete package. Carolina, however, gave up not only several picks to draft him, but next year’s 1st as well. That’s far far too steep a price.

I’m glad the Steelers didn’t play that game. Gosder Cherilus and Sam Baker are nice players but they’re both 2nd round talent. Taking them in the first would’ve been dubious. Trading future draft picks to MOVE UP to take them would’ve been insane. Especially when legitimate first round talent was there to be had.

I don’t believe in drafting specifically to fill needs. That’s how you end up with Troy Edwards instead of Jevon Kearse. I firmly believe you take the best player available. Obviously, all things being equal, you try to fill your needs first but this year, things were not equal. Every offensive lineman of any ability, projected to go in the first OR second round, was gone by the time the Steelers picked at #23. What was sitting there was a running back who many considered the 2nd best back in the entire draft.

It’s a no-brainer.

Of course, like we learned with Huey Richardson, we’ll truly see how smart the Steelers are when these guys actually put on some pads and take the field.

3rd Round:

Pros: Good athlete with decent speed (4.78 sec in the 40). Outstanding quickness off the blocks and is a great closer. Scary as an edge rusher. Very active with a motor that does not stop. Rangy player who will make plays in pursuit. Has played both DE and OLB so can play from either up or down position. Very much in the mold of James Harrison, except he hasn’t backhanded any women (yet).

Cons: Like Harrison, considered to be undersized. Also a liability against the run as he struggles to hold his ground or get a push when being run blocked. One reason he fell is his strength measured well below average. Considered a one trick pony as a pass rush specialist who only dominates against weak opponents.

4th Round:

Pros: Huge man with ginormous frame and long arms. Considered a terrific athlete as he ran the 40 is 5.3 sec flat. Nifty feet with good balance and agility. Outstanding as a pass blocker. Is mobile and when put in space, is very good at lead blocking. Could possibly play guard. Thought to have quite a bit of upside potential.

Cons: Suffered a catastrophic knee injury in high school that required almost total reconstruction.  Obviously that was a while ago but still raises concerns over long term durability. Combine was disappointing as he didn’t measure very strong and doesn’t play with a lot of power. Seems to lack the killer instinct all top notch OL have. Isn’t stout at the point of attack and doesn’t get a great push so needs work on his run blocking. Plays too upright at times and his technique is a bit rough. Considered an underachiever in college whom the Steelers are no doubt hoping will eventually play up to his potential.

5th Round:

Pros: Outstanding athleticism. Played minor league baseball for the Atlanta Braves. Is probably one of the best pure athletes in the entire draft. Reminded many scouts of another Vince Young, which I guess belongs in the Pros but I leave that up to you. Mobile in the pocket and makes plays with his feet. Decent height with the body to put on some weight. Decent arm strength but a quick release who throws extremely well on the move. Was having an awesome Senior year where he was widely considered the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy when a torn ACL ended his season. The Steelers love converting this type of mobile QB into a WR and that is very likely the plan with Dixon. If it works out, could potentially be their best pick this year.

Cons: Health and durability are obviously a concern. Claims to have his ACL completely rehabbed but that’s a major injury which sometimes needs 2 years to fully heal. Needs to bulk up and add some weight if he wants to survive in the NFL. Didn’t play a pro style offense with the Ducks so there will be a learning curve if they expect him to compete for a backup QB position. Much like another #10 for the Steelers, he has poor mechanics, erratic accuracy, and questionable decision-making skills as a QB. As a WR, will have to learn route-running and technique basically from scratch. Also timed at 4.6 sec in the 40 which is good for a QB but not particularly fast for a wide out (although to be fair, he ran it in 4.46 sec prior to the injury).

6^th Round:

Mike Humpal LB Iowa

Height: 6-2^1/2
Weight: 244

Pros: Good size with a non-stop motor. A real ball-hawk as he’s always where the action is. Sure handed tackler. Plays stronger than his size in shedding blocks while remaining stout at the point of attack. Chad Brown-like in demeanor and playing style.

Cons: Not a great athlete. All his measurables, especially timed speed and quickness, are considered below average. Doesn’t have the best footwork so can be twisted around making him a liability in pass coverage. Will probably be a special teamer and a career backup as he’s a solid worker but doesn’t have much upside potential.

6^th Round:

Ryan Mundy S West Virginia

Height: 6-1
Weight: 205

Pros: Adequate size and weight for a safety. Sure tackler. Not afraid of delivering the big hit. A true playmaker with good hands and will make the pick if given the chance. Very active with a non-stop motor. Despite attending WVU, Mundy is a smart player who is seldom fooled or out of position. Will contribute to the special teams immediately and will probably push Tyrone Carter and Anthony Smith for the backup S position a couple seasons from now. Born and raised in Pittsburgh (Woodland Hills).

Cons: Does not have great timed speed and lacks a burst. If beaten, not fast enough to recover. Also isn’t strong enough to cover tight ends or jostle for position with bigger wide receivers. Does not have great measurables but could be a solid backup while also contributing on special teams. (more…)