Move it along people, Nothing to see here

William Gay would have trouble covering this woman right now

For those who prefer to live their life immersed in drama, you might want to stop reading now.  The Steelers lost their initial pre-season game (oh the humanity!) to the Washington Redskins on Friday night.  For some, it is the end of the Steeler empire.  For those of us living in reality, it was a pre-season game. 

There were a few things that I thought were interesting.  Yes, Big Ben overthrew Mike Wallace and Byron Leftwich overthrew Antonio Brown (who is looking better every day).  This is what happens when guys haven't played together for 6 months.  This was a recurring theme throughout the game.  There were episodes where the timing was off and that affected the defense, blocking schemes and pass patterns.  Am I concerned?  Only about injuries.  The pre-season is conducted to work out the kinks so that the regular season showcases the true abilities of the NFL's athletes.  Practice heals most wounds, especially with a veteran team where they know the playbook but just need to fine-tune the timing.  There were some other observations and here they are:

I said last year that Rashard Mendenhall had more spin moves than The Four Tops.  It appears that Isaac Redman is following in his (spinning) footsteps.  Add Hines Ward (and his DWTS moves) to the mix and we are a lead singer away from having the best 60's R&B group in the league.

Speaking of Isaac Redman, if you are going to try to tackle him, you better bring your crew because he sees the first tackler as a mild nuisance.

The more I watch William Gay in coverage, the more I need to drink while watching the game.  Right now, he couldn't cover the woman in the picture.  It just seems like WR's are always open when the ball is thrown in his direction.

In the long run (the 2011 season), I think the lockout will benefit the Steelers due to our advanced age on defense.  In the last 3 years, this veteran team has played more games than any other team in the league.  Our guys needed rest this spring, not more minicamp or OTA reps.  Be patient Steeler fans and don't panic unless we don't see any progress by the end of the 3rd preseason game.



Plaxi-goes to the Jets

Plaxico Burress signed with the Jets today. The deal with the Steelers never materialized because the Steelers are still over the salary cap by about $3 million (we have 3 $1million exceptions that get us in just under the wire). I expect at least 1 veteran to restructure his deal for a lot less money or someone or two is getting cut. Aaron Smith had dinner with Omar Kahn the other night and I imagine that they talked about this. Smith is scheduled to make around $4.5 million this year. If he doesn't restructure then I would expect Larry Foote and Limas Sweed to be cut. Foote is going to make $2.5 million and Sweed is around $500k. We also would like to work out long-term deals for Lamarr Woodley (our franchise player), Mike Wallace and Troy Polamalu (both of their contracts are up at the end of the season). Look for more moves by the Steelers but not in the way of signing outside talent.

The Steeler Way

I know that around the league when people say "The Steeler Way" of doing things, it either sends a feeling of pride through the veins of a Steeler lover and a shiver of jealousy through the bones of the Steeler haters. But I think we saw 3 examples of "The Steeler Way" today from three players who love their team and what has become their town.

First, there was Willie Colon. I have been listening to Willie, on Sirius NFL radio for the last year, talk about how much he loves the Steelers and that he didn't want to play anywhere else. Some people questioned that loyalty because they knew that Willie would receive free agent offers from other teams that could very well rival what the Steelers could or would offer him. Willie agreed to a 5 year, $29 million contract with the Steelers today. You might say that $29 million buys you a lot of loyalty. But when a player is offered $3 million more dollars by another team (10% more than the Steelers were offering) and he has just come back from a serious injury, I think you can assume that he values "The Steeler Way".

The other two Steeler players that I am referring to are Emmanuel Sanders and Mike Wallace. James Walker, who writes the AFC North blog for ESPN, tweeted "after being told WR Emmanuel Sanders is aiming for 1000 yards, Mike Wallace then said his goal is 2000 yards receiving". This might be the most competitive group of wide receivers we have seen since Lynn Swann and John Stallworth were chewing Terry Bradshaw's ears off for the football. Word was that last year, the competition between Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders was so fierce, that coaches struggled up until gametime to decide who would be activated.

All in all, this team is a fiercely competitive one and failure is NOT an option.

Photo courtesy of Steelers.com