Pittsburgh South

Many Pittsburgh sports fans are rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs to win the upcoming Super Bowl. Sure, part of this is because KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes is likable, so fun to watch, and appears in commercials with Steelers legend Troy Polamalu. 

However, the bigger reason some Steelers fans will support KC is because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers employ the most decorated QB in NFL history (and frequent Steelers tormentor) Tom Brady and former Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown. Although Brown was arguably the best WR in the NFL over the last decade, let's just write that he did not depart from Pittsburgh and Steelers on the best of terms.

Have you looked at the Tampa Bay organization though? And yes, I'm talking to Pittsburgh sports fans here. If you did, you'll see a lot of familiar names. Let's start with the obvious. Head coach Bruce Arians served as the Steelers wide receivers coach from 2004-2006 and offensive coordinator ("OC") from 2007-2011. The Steelers reached the Super Bowl twice when Arians was the OC, winning the title in the 2008 season. Then, after the 2011 season, he "retired." I still don't think the retirement was fully explained as he joined the Indianapolis Colts the next season.

Looking at the roster, there are several players with Pittsburgh or Western Pennsylvania ties. The biggest name is obviously fellow Woodland Hills High School graduate Rob Gronkowski. Gronk and I have a lot in common besides graduating from the same high school. Gronk is going to be in the NFL Hall of Fame. I've visited the NFL Hall of Fame. Gronk appeared on The Masked Singer and CBS' Game On! I've watched both of those shows. I mean, there's a lot more, but I'm getting off topic.

Starting safety Jordan Whitehead is from Monaca and had a successful career at the University of Pittsburgh. While LeSean McCoy is now a back-up and hasn't played much this year, Pitt fans will also remember him well as part of an excellent crop of running backs in Panthers history. Deep on the depth chart is WR Justin Watson who went to South Fayette High School. And reserve cornerback Russ Cockrell played two years for the Steelers. Oh, and while not Pittsburgh, WR Chris Godwin, tackle Donovan Smith, and center A.Q. Shipley (though on injured reserve) went to Penn State. This matters to a lot of people in Western PA.

You're not convinced yet. I get it. Well, let's look at the coaching staff.

- Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich played 4 seasons as the Steelers back-up QB. I've always had a soft spot for Leftwich. When I attended the Steelers-Washington Football Team game in 2008, Leftwich led the Steelers to victory after Roethlisberger got injured. I also love the video of his Marshall offensive linemen carrying him down the field when he basically played on one leg. You want to play for or with Byron Leftwich!

- Assistant Head Coach / Running Back Coordinator Harold Goodwin worked with Arians as an offense assistant with the Steelers from 2007-2011.

- Offensive Assistant Antwaan Randle El was the most exciting offensive player on the Steelers over the last 20 years. You never knew what could happen when he had the ball.

- Defensive/Special Teams Assistant Cody Grimm. This one is a bit of a stretch since I'm not sure how much time Grimm spent in Pittsburgh. However, his dad Russ was the Steelers offensive line coach for five seasons and was part of some elite Pitt teams in the late 70s and 1980.

- Outside Linebackers coach Larry Foote played 11 seasons with the Steelers. He was so solid, dependable, and a team leader. He was also part of one of my favorite post-Super Bowl pictures.

- (I missed this one before.) Safeties coach Nick Rapone is from New Castle, was a grad assistant at Pitt in 1979-80, coached at Pitt in 1989-1992, and worked at New Castle High School in 1993-1994.

- The final Pittsburgh connection is a bit surprising. Tampa's Speed & Conditioning Coach is two-time Olympic gold medalist Roger Kingdom. How would you like to be coached by arguably the greatest 110m hurdler of all time? Oh, he's also a Pitt graduate.

Look, I understand that the dislike of Brady and Brown is strong. However, if the Bucs win, I think you can be happy for all of these other people with Pittsburgh connections.

Steelers Season In Review

I've written and rewritten parts of this post several times. I'm trying to balance the disappointment of not making the playoffs after coming off of a Super Bowl Championship with the fact that the organization is still one of the best in football. I'm sure many of you don't see that today, but living in the DC area, it's easy to see that the Steelers are in significantly better shape than the Washington Redskins and many other teams in the NFL (ex. Detroit Lions, St. Louis Rams).

Before I share my thoughts, let's look back at the 2009-2010 predictions by drinkyourmilkshake of Behind the Steel Curtain; Phil of Phil's Occasional Musings; Michael Rizzo of Rizzo Sports (and the Rizzo Sports Blog); Messiah, Marc & Gobo of White Nerdy Wonks; Donald of Steelers Today; Steve of Steve Is Alive; Rob of The Bluey Blog; and me.

1. Number of sacks James Harrison will have this season.
Steve predicted 12 for James and that Woodley would lead the team with 15.5. Messiah also believed that Harrison would have 12 sacks. The actual amount was 10 with Woodley leading the team with 13.5 sacks.

2. Limas Sweed's numbers (catches, yards & touchdowns).
The actual amount was 1 catch for 5 yards and 0 touchdowns. We all expected significantly more except for Rob who predicted "no more than 10 catches, 1 TD and 150 yards."

3. Stefan Logan: Reminds me of Antwaan Randle El as a Steeler; Greatest returner in team history; or Another Allen Rossum?

Well, Logan didn't have any touchdowns but he set the Steelers record for most kick-off return yards. Logan wasn't anything special returning punts and was often replaced by Mewelde Moore when a fair catch was probable. Overall, though, he was a solid returner and improved his special teams coverage as the year progressed.

Messiah - I'd say he's not quite Twaan, but certainly better than Colclough.
Donald - I predict that Logan will become the greatest 5'7" returner in team history.

Points for both Messiah & Donald!

4. Will Jeff Reed be arrested during the season?
Rob - Once, for drunk and disorderly conduct.

During the season, Reed was cited by police for disorderly conduct and public intoxication.

5. Who will lead the team in touchdowns scored?
Rob - Rashard Mendenhall. Mendenhall led the team with 8 touchdowns followed by Hines Ward, Heath Miller and Mike Wallace with 6 each. I need to take Rob with me to Vegas the next time I go!

6. Season prediction (please include the team record) + Any other thoughts/predictions:
All of us predicted division champs and playoffs. I think Phil's prediction was the closest though. 11-5. It's extraordinarily difficult to repeat as Super Bowl champions. I think we're going to have another good year and win the division but lose a close-game heartbreaker in the playoffs. Maybe that's just what I'm used to as a fan. Despite our success, I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I didn't have something to complain about when it comes to the Steelers.

Phil, that brings us to today. There were certainly positives to the season such as the pending stardom of LaMarr Woodley, the thought that Rashard Mendenhall can be a #1 running back and the fact that Mike Wallace may be the offensive rookie of the year. Unfortunately, there were more negatives. The kick return coverage was among the worst in NFL history and the defense rarely made stops when needed. The secondary struggled, particularly in the fourth quarter, though I wonder how much of this was related to Troy Polamalu's absence. Taking away one of the best players in football certainly impacts the rest of the team and especially the secondary. I'm a big fan of Tyrone Carter playing spot duty or in specific packages. Unfortunately, he was exposed playing nearly every down. It also didn't help that rookies Ryan Mundy (I know he's not really a rookie, but he never left the practice squad in 2008) and Joe Burnett were playing significant minutes and that another rookie Keenan Lewis couldn't get on the field.

Now here's the positive to all of this. The Steelers have had a history of getting little production out of players in their first season only to see great improvements during their second season. It happened with Mendenhall, Polamalu, Woodley, and Lawrence Timmons. If we get similar growth out of players like Mundy, Burnett, Lewis, Ziggy Hood, and tackle Ramon Foster along with a healthy Polamalu and Aaron Smith, I think the team will be in good shape coming into next season.

There are a few other items that should be addressed. I know that a lot of people think offensive coordinator Bruce Arians should go. I'm not so sure. The Steelers finished 7th in the league in total yards with better numbers than playoff teams such as Indianapolis, San Diego, Philadelphia and Baltimore. While we may miss the days of giving the ball to Jerome Bettis 25 times a game and watching him run for over 100 yards, the NFL is now a passing league and that's where the team excels. Unfortunately, the team isn't able to close games like we did in seasons past. To have Bettis run out the clock in the fourth quarter when everyone knows that the team is going to run. However, I don't think you can pin this on Arians. The team, and in this case I'm referring to the personnel department, hasn't adequately addressed the offensive line over the past few years.



Bottom line: Perhaps this was Super Bowl Hangover Part II. It's certainly possible that the team overlooked Kansas City, Oakland and Cleveland. They may not have said it, but I'm sure that the players came into those games knowing they were the better team and believed that they would win just by showing up. That won't happen next year. I also believe that having Polamalu and Smith healthy would have translated into at least one more win. One more win would have got the team into the playoffs.

Finally, not everything is bad in the world. The Steelers have won two Super Bowl Championships over the last 5 seasons. How many teams would dream of having even one?

Steelers-Jaguars Recap

I’ll preface this post by writing that I have no idea what Al Michaels or John Madden said during Sunday night’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Jacksonville Jaguars game. I have not read recaps of the game by Pittsburgh newspapers, national sports websites or the Pittsburgh sports related blogs listed on my links list. The following are my comments, thoughts and pictures from attending the game live.



This picture was taken a half hour before game time. Notice the large banner covering two sections on the top left and the Jaguars banner behind the end zone. Apparently, these seats and several other sections throughout the stadium are completely covered during the entire season to help the team avoid blackouts. That would never happen for the Steelers. Oh, Jacksonville has no problem selling these seats for the Florida-Georgia college football game.



I really don’t know what to write about these guys. They were loud and somewhat annoying, but overall, pretty cool. Of course, I was not sitting directly next to them unlike the guy on the left wearing a white shirt. His sleeve ended up being mostly black from the body paint. He wasn't too happy being next to them.



The Steelers with an empty backfield, which they used more on Sunday than during the last 75 years combined. Did Mike Tomlin or Bruce Arians mention anywhere why used this set so often? Did it force the Jaguars to have more defenders in coverage instead of blitzing?

When the Steelers used this set, it seemed like the receivers were Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Nate Washington, Heath Miller and Mewelde Moore. Do the Steelers have a fourth WR?



Occasionally, the Steelers really did run the ball. I think this was one such case. Moore was definitely more effective on the outside as opposed to between the tackles.



Your halftime entertainment was a fireworks/laser show. The smoke was a little overwhelming after it ended. Maybe that’s why Fred Taylor had trouble picking up yards in the second half.



This picture was taken at the end of the game and did not come out well. The guy in the center had green hair and was an obnoxious Jaguars fan. To quote the Pensblog, STUNNED!

Other notes:

- Washington Capitals’ Sergei Federov’s brother Anthony sang the national anthem. Apparently, he was on American Idol.

- After a first down, the Jags fans cheer "Move Them Chains, Move Them Chains, Move Them Chains, Huh." Seemed kind of silly.

- I’m sure that everyone is saying and writing that Ben Roethlisberger is amazing in his ability to make plays after avoiding the pass rush. While he did make a great pass to Hines Ward late in the fourth quarter, he really needs to throw the ball away once in a while. On that particular play, he could (should) have been sacked, which may have knocked the Steelers out of field goal range. He probably did take 3 sacks during the game when he could have thrown it away. Yes, I’m nitpicking, but it really is OK to throw it away once in a while.

- "Welcome to Teal Town" is not very intimidating.

- Although Crazy Train is a great song, the Jaguars played it on three separate occasions (not including the fourth time when they played the Lil’ John version). I’m sure there are other songs out there that could be used to excite the crowd.

- My guess is that 25% of the fans supported the Steelers.

- I probably received a dozen compliments on the Louis Lipps jersey.

- I wanted to take a picture of the final score, but as soon as the game ended the team removed the score from the scoreboard. Did the Jaguars think their fans would forget that the team lost?

Most importantly, the Steelers won 26-21 and are now 4-1 heading into the bye week.