Steelers Roll "Snake Eyes," Come up Short in 16-9 Loss to Titans

As the 2013 Pittsburgh Steelers took to the field against the Tennessee Titans they did so as a squad looking to answer many questions, questions whose response typically began with “ifs.”

• If the investment in the offensive line pays off… 
• If the injury gods would grant them a hiatus from their wrath
• If they can incorporate 22 new players alongside a group of playoff tested veterans

So what was the answer to those “ifs?” Look no further than Mike Tomlin himself, who said “…we didn’t play well enough. We didn’t coach well enough.”

Steel Curtain Rising whole heartedly agrees with the Steelers reigning field general, but would add one additional “well enough” as in “We didn’t plan well enough.”

Steelers Roll Snake Eyes, End Up Snake Bitten

Steelers Digest editor Bob Labrolia previewed the season observing “The Steelers will be doing a Nik Wallenda imitation this season – working on the high wire without a net….” In fact, the Nik Wallenda metaphor is one he used multiple times in preseason.

• If the high wire metaphor is apt, then Steelers Nation got to see the football equivalent of an offense falling off that wire.

As the game started it looked as if the Fates might have chosen to smile on the Steelers, as Darius Reynaud stepped back into the end zone to give the Steelers a safety.

And on the Steelers first drive the offense gave Steelers Nation a glimpse of the best of what they could have reasonably hopped to see from a unit starting its third tight end, second string running back with a young offensive line learning a new blocking scheme.

• It wasn’t spectacular, the running game struggled, but the Steelers moved the ball in into scoring position in workman like fashion.

Of course they fumbled it away due to a bad handoff – which isn’t excusable, but perhaps understandable given the circumstances.

Its dangerous to extrapolate too many “could haves” based on the first 8 plays of a football season, but Ben Roethlisberger was sharp and Jerricho Cotchery and Antonio Brown showed that they could make a few plays.

Of course nestled into that 8 play series was a disaster of, shall we say, titanic proportions – Maurkice Pouncey went down, tearing his MCL and ACL.

The Steelers worst nightmare had come true, the rock upon which Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert had constructed their offensive line rebuilding project had crumbled.

• After that nothing else went right for the Steelers offense. Literally nothing.

The Steelers offense had 11 drives. Seven end in punts, one got fumbled away, another ended in an interception, the clock ran out on another and yes, on one the Steelers did get a garbage time touchdown.

• …OK, technically that wasn’t garbage time, but did anyone really think the Steelers were going to recover the on-sides kick and score?

Isaac Redman couldn’t run or hold onto the ball. Felix Jones didn’t get much of a chance. LaRod Stephens-Howling did and didn’t look horrible, but of course got injured and it appears may have torn his ACL. Ben Roethlisberger got sacked 5 times and hit 6 times.

If you subtract the 75 yards the Steelers consumed on their garage time touchdown drive, the team had 120 total yards of offense.

There really are no hidden gems, moral victories, or silver linings. The offense was atrocious.

Steelers Defense Above the Line, But….

Normally when you hold a team to 16 points in the NFL, you have a good shot at winning. When you hold them to 13 (as the Steelers defense very well might have had it not been for a 27 yard punt return after a bad punt) you stand a very good shot at winning.

• So judged purely by numbers, the Steelers defense played well vs. the Titans, especially when you consider Tennessee was working with short fields.

That doesn’t mean everything went well. Jake Locker had time to throw and was only sacked once, by LaMarr Woodley. The Steelers run defense held Chris Johnson in check, but the Titans did successfully nickel and dime the Steelers on their only touchdown drive of the day.

• And for the unteethen time since 2010, the Steelers defense failed to secure a turnover.

There’s no way to lay blame at the Steelers defense for this defeat but, given the quality of opposition, the level of dominance needed to carry an offense that looks to limp for a while was missing.

The Problem with Calculated Risks? Sometimes They Go Wrong

So disaster struck on the offensive line, and the Steelers did not have the personnel to compensate. The Steelers shoved Willie Colon out the door and let veterans such as Max Starks and Doug Legursky leave without so much as a token effort to keep them.

• Is it fair to say the Steelers didn’t “prepare well enough?”

Perhaps, and perhaps not. The Steelers salary cap situation is precarious, and management made a number of calculated risks in what amounted to a sort of Loaves and Fishes variety of salary cap maneuvering.

• They gave it there best shot and hoped for the best.

During the first round of what looks to be a marathon 16 round fight, Art Rooney II, Kevin Colbert, and Mike Tomlin’s best clearly wasn’t good enough.

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Steelers to Begin Answering Questions on Peril, Potential vs. Titans

At 1:00 pm the Pittsburgh Steelers will open the 2013 regular season vs. the Tennessee Titans. And it is at that moment that the Steelers Nation will begin to get answers to some of the many questions that face their beloved franchise.

• No one knows what to make of the 2013 Pittsburgh Steelers.

Many, if not most pundits are predicting 8-8, no playoffs, 3rd in the AFC North if not worse. Yet there are others predicting the AFC Championship.

Who is right?

• The truth is no one really knows.

The 2013 Pittsburgh Steelers field a team that is riddled with question marks that intimate peril, yet each one of those question marks also offers potential.

Take the Steelers running back stable. Not happy with mediocre results in 2013, Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin all but whipped the slate clean. Rashard Mendenhall is in Pittsburgh West aka Arizona. Chris Rainey, Baron Batch, and Jonathan Dwyer are filing for unemployement insurance.

Only Isaac Redman remains. Le’Veon Bell was to offer hope, but his NFL career amounts to four carries. Could Felix Jones realize that this is his last shot at NFL glory?

At wide receiver the Steelers situation is much the same.

Mike Wallace’s speed will be missed. But his lack of maturity and “me” focus will not. On paper Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders are more complete receivers.

But are they complete enough to make up for the loss of Heath Miller?

Lynch Pin on Offense – The Line

When “the Steelers have done it before they can do it again” emotions fade, any rational analysis will hold that the Steelers receivers and running backs will face learning curve.

• But there’s a big X Factor at work, and that is the Steelers offensive line.

The Steelers offensive line had been substandard for the better part of the Tomlin era. Some of it has to do with Ben Roethlisberger holding on to the ball too long, but even when you account for that Pittsburgh has not enjoyed consistent run or pass blocking since Alan Faneca departed.

As Steel Curtain Rising (and others) have repeatedly observed, the Steelers Brain Trust has invested heavily in changing that.

• Now is the time for the Steelers investment in the offensive line to begin paying dividends.

Keeping Ben Roethlisberger healthy is certainly the variable of paramount importance in this equation. But it goes quite beyond that.

Ben Roethlisberger’s, the receivers, and running backs have played a lot of winning football in 2008, 2010, and 2011 behind offensive lines that were playing musical chairs.

• If the line’s personnel can stabilize and those men can stay healthy, and even begin to play to their pedigrees, then they can cover up for some growing pains in the skill positions.

But again, this depends on the players both developing and staying healthy, which has been a challenge recently. So there you have a question….

Word on Defense, it Isn’t Quite Polamalu or Bust, But…

The Steelers defense had its soul ripped out when James Harrison opted to walk over accepting a pay cut. But the heart of this defense is Troy Polamalu. As Tim Gleason aka Mary Rose of Behind the Steel Curtain has pointed out, Polamalu is like an expensive European sports car. When not in the shop, he is the ultimate football player.

Polamalu’s ability has almost taken on mythic proportions in Steeles Nation and perhaps those comparisons are simply exaggerations.

ESPN’s Scott Brown has calculated that the Steelers defense allows on average 5 fewer points when Polamalu is healthy.

• It’s a good bet that the defense is stingier yet when Polamalu is healthy.

Beyond keeping number 43 healthy, there are other concerns and questions.

• Can the Steelers make up for Harrisons and Casey Hampton’s run stuffing ability
• Will LaMarr Woodley return to his explosive self?
• Are either Ziggy Hood and/or Cameron Heyward going to have a break out year?

Right now these are all questions.

And there are others. Can Danny Smith transform the special teams into something that is not a glaring liability? What of the depth, the younger players that played so poorly in the preseason?

In a very short time Steelers Nation will begin getting some answers.

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Watch Tower: Dissention in Pittsburgh Over Jonathan Dwyer? Plus Hail to the Chief, Art Rooney Sr.

Cut down day always brings a flurry of news around the NFL, this year things were more active than ever at the South Side as the Steelers 2013 Roster contained some surprises, giving the Watch Tower plenty to focus on. And it begins by shining its light on a story that wasn’t told.

Dwyer:  The Glory and Agony of 140 Characters 

The biggest cut that the Steelers made the release of Jonathan Dwyer. Dwyer was not only their season leading rusher, he was also the only healthy back.

• Nonetheless, he got a visit from the Turk.

The fact that Dwyer’s roster spot was in jeopardy was not a surprise in Steelers Nation. On the blogesphere, (or at least at Behind the Steel Curtain) several articles and many fan exchanges rested on the premise that the numbers game would dictate that either Dwyer or Isaac Redman would be a goner.

But among the professional press, the conventional wisdom was that Dwyer was safe, esp. in light of the injury to Le’Veon Bell, as Jim Wexell’s tweet indicates.

This is why #Steelers wouldn't have cut Dwyer. They can win with him as feature back.
— James C Wexell (@jimwexell) August 15, 2013

To be fair, the arrival of Felix Jones complicated the picture, but the move to cut Dwyer was nonetheless a surprise.

Shortly after the move became public, Mark Kaboly  of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review dropped a bomb via Twitter:

One last thing on Dwyer ... it wasn't the coaching staff that wanted him gone.
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly_Trib) September 2, 2013

In journalism speak, Kabloy had a scoop.

News of the front office overruling the coaching staff on a personnel selection, regarding a past and potential future starter, is a tremendous news coup for Kaboly. In fact, such a morsel literally screams for more.

• Yet none was forth coming.

Not in the regular Tribune Review, not in the Steel Mill Blog (which still remains inaccessible from the Trib’s main Steelers site – yours truly had thought the blog had gone dark and needed to find it by Googling it), not anywhere else.

To make matters worse, Kabloy himself seemed to validate the need for more information in an additional Tweet.

24 hours later and it still makes no sense whey #Steelers released Dwyer.
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly_Trib) September 1, 2013

• The Watch Tower agrees… or at least it makes no sense that a further explanation was given.

Kaboly obviously learned that Dwyer had supporters on the coaching staff, perhaps the entire coaching staff, but that they were overruled by someone else in the organization, and since you can rule out the business and scouting departments, that leaves the front office.

Which means that someone named Colbert and/or someone name Rooney spoke up on the issue. What happened?

• Did the coaches split and Colbert/Rooney provided the deciding influence?
• Were the coaches united, but a cap conscious Kevin Colbert, with backing from Rooney, overruled them?
• Or did Art Rooney II just pull rank?

We know from Bob Labriola’s tweets that coaches had concerns about Dwyer, but no matter how you slice it there’s a story screaming to be told there, and one that goes far beyond the confines of Twitter’s 140 characters.

5 Bars of Hail to The Chief

August 25 marked the 25th Anniversary of the passing of a legend, namely the death of Steelers founder Art Rooney Sr.

The death of Art Rooney Sr. was a touchstone moment for me, as it coincided with my renewed following of the team (not very easy to do from suburban Maryland in the pre-internet era.)

And although his passing had little impact on the Steelers, clearly Pittsburgh lost some of its finest citizens then.

• Credit the Post-Gazette for remembering the anniversary.

It was entirely appropriate to do so and the Tribune Review did not run anything on the Chief. Neither did ESPN, nor did any of the other major fan sites.

• Yet the commemorative piece(s) were not without problems.

The article dealt with the way in which the five Rooney sons divided their father’s possessions, and then offered perspectives on how each of the five Rooney sons, Dan, Art Jr., Tim, John, and Pat, felt about that day and provided some insights into the relationships that the men had with their father.

• The real issue was with the Post-Gazette’s presentation of the articles. There was one article which told the entire story. And then there were five other articles on each of the Rooney brothers.

The problem was that the individual pieces on the Rooney brothers were written as part of a single story, and not intended to be stand alone pieces. So if you clicked on one of the individual links, such as the story on Tim Rooney, the stories were disjointed, making references to events in other stories.

The Post Gazette did later provide some clarifying text and a link to the main story, but that was only after several people complained via Facebook.

PG Takes Shot at SEO?

One possible reason behind the Post-Gazette’s decision to publish multiple articles on the Rooney brothers is to catch more search engine traffic.

• SEO, for those not familiar with the term, is the art of trying to get your pages to rank well on Google (and Bing, for what that’s worth) so that you get more visitors to your site.

While the Watch Tower has not (yet) done any comprehensive assessment of how the various major Steelers news sites fare in SEO, some cursoury analysis shows them lagging behind the competition.

Search rankings for major Steelers related stories are frequently dominated by the likes of Behind the Steel Curtain and the Bleacher Report.

The decision to break the Rooney stories up into multiple pieces, could be a step towards changing that, as could their decision to create a separate landing page for what has been a rather impressive series of regular season previews.

Post-Gazette Goof on Dwyer

While the Post-Gazette’s regular season preview coverage was generally very good, they did let one rather glaring error slip through in Ed Bouchette’s Five Keys piece as the screen shot reveals:

Jonathan Dwyer had been cut by the time this ran...

• The problem with this piece is that Jonathan Dwyer had already been cut by the time this article ran.

Its normal (and highly advisable) to write stories like this in advance of publication, but going back and making these corrections is also necessary.

Steelers Today Goes Dark?

Finally, the Watch Tower notes, and laments, what appears to be the passing of a long established, well written fan site Steelers Today.

Steelers Today has been around for several years, dating back to about 2006 if memory serves. While the site was known for long periods of inactivity during the off season, it had been active up until the NFL draft.

However, attempts to access it now reveal that the domain registry has expired, seemingly signaling that the days one of the more prominent fan-based sites has unfortunately come to an end.

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Steelers Roster Moves Continue: Isaiah Green Returns via the Practice Squad

No one will accuse Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert of taking a "Set it and forget it" attitude to the composition to the Steelers 2013 Roster.

Per NFL rules, the Steelers cut down their roster to 22 players on Saturday. But that was hardly the final 53, as the Steelers went to the waiver wire not once, not twice, but three times, adding guard/center Cody Wallace, punter Zoltan Mesko, and cornerback Antwon Blake to their active roster.

They also placed Matt Spaeth on their injured reserve designated return list, which in turn led them to sign linebacker Terrance Martin from their practice squad.

With the exception of Wallace, all of these moves are aimed at shoring up a special teams until which was an glaring liability in preseason.

Practice squad move by @Steelers -- CB Devin Smith is off and CB Isaiah Green is added
— Bob Labriola (@BobLabriola) September 4, 2013

This shuffling with the regular season is having a spill over effect on the practice squad, which continues today as the Steelers said goodbye to practice squad star cornerback Devin Smith and replaced him with cornerback Isaiah Green.

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Watch Tower: Digging Out Discord in the Steelers Locker Room & for Whom the Bell Doesn't Toll

The Pittsburgh Steelers have concluded training camp and the preseason, the roster has been trimmed, the waiver wire scoured, and the Steelers 2013 roster has been set, meaning that the time of the year when the media enjoys its most unfettered access to the Steelers players, coaches and front office staff is winding down.

With all of that access, what do they do with it? Let the Watch Tower take a look.

Kovacevic Gets to the Bottom of of the Steelers 2012 Discord

As the Watch Tower was critical of Pittsburgh Tribune Review Writer Dejan Kovacevic last season and it is only just that the Watch Tower now recognize Kovacevic for penning on of the top stories of this preseason/training camp.

Locker room discord was a major under current to the Steelers 2012 8-8 season, and since then there’s been plenty of dirty laundry aired – you know, critiques of LaMarr Woodley’s commitment to training, comments from Antonio Brown about players more focused on stats than winning.

And while the issue has been discussed by the press, Kovacevic went right to the leaders of the defense, Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu and addressed the issue and got both men to speak candidly about the dissension that infected their ranks in 2012.

• If you haven’t read Kovacevic’s column yet, do so. 

The role of the credential press in the digital age has been a focus of the Watch Tower lately, and its lights have not shied away from exposing some of the Steelers press corps recent failings.

But Kovacevic’s column shows once again just how fundamentally important it is to have seasoned reporters who have the relationship and the credibility to get straight talk out of players.  This bud’s for you Dejan.

Another Piece of the Todd Haley Puzzle Falls into Place

By now, for all of the talk in 2012 to the contrary, everyone knows that Ben Roethlisberger and Todd Haley had a rocky relationship last season.

• But apparently the Steelers signal caller wasn’t the only one on the outs with the new offensive coordinator.

And Steelers Nation has Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to thank for adding another key variable to the equation.

In writing about the maturing of the Roethlsiberger-Haley relationship, Ed Bouchette offered this:

Relationships with fellow offensive coaches and players never warmed up, and neither did the offense. Things seem to have changed a year later. Ben Roethlisberger, who called it "growing pains," opened training camp by saying he and Haley see more eye-to-eye. [Emphasis added]

One of the question marks that surrounded Haley’s arrival in Pittsburgh was his ability to work and play well with others. So the fact that he might have rubbed coaches the wrong way is nothing extraordinary.

But this is the first time that the Watch Tower is aware of that any journalist has reported that Haley had difficulties with his fellow coaches, and Bouchette deserves credit for reporting this fact.

A Word on Contracts

Kevin Colbert told KDKA News during the Steelers preseason loss to the Carolina Panthers that there were no on-going negotiations for contract extensions.

That fact in and of itself might not mean much, because the Steelers, while not negotiating contracts during the season since 1993, have been known to make 11th hour signings days before the first game.

• The question of who is eligible for an extension has been banded about greatly during camp and preseason.

But Dale Lolley of the Observer Reporter went out on a limb and predicted that the two most likely players to get extensions were Brett Keisel and Ryan Clark. Kudos to Lolley for having the guts to take a swing at a ball that’s barely within the strike zone.

Steelers Radio Goes Live in LATAM

Ed Bouchette shared some important news for Steelers fans in the very corer of the world where Steel Curtain Rising is written:

If you're not in radio distance, you can hear #Steelers games at http://t.co/UfOfVCIJbb free. There is one hitch http://t.co/07YL36wC0V
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) August 10, 2013

As Bouchette explained on Shuila, the Steelers began broadcasting their games live on the radio in Spanish via their website.

The team has a huge following in Mexico and their games have been broadcast in Mexico for at least a year.

• But now radio broadcasts will be carried throughout Latin American cast via the Steelers website.

The broadcast team does a good job and is clearly knowledgeable of the game (which is a plesant treat, during the Steelers 2010 road victory over Baltimore, one of ESPN’s Spanish commentators confused Dante Stallworth with John Stallworth. Several times he claimed that Dante was a former Steelers, until Raul Allegre finally corrected him.)

One element which the production can improve on is filling in the commercial gaps. During the Steelers loss to the Giants, instead of airing commercials there was dead air time – leaving anyone who stopped by the site at that time to wonder if they were indeed broadcasting the game.

• Absent commercials, they could have provided additional commentary, or provided free publicity to American football clubs in Latin America, such as the FAA (Argentine American Football league).

Listening to a football game on the radio doesn’t compare to baseball on the radio, but this is a wise marketing move for the Steelers.

Are the Steelers Injury Problems Really Worse?

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been ravaged by injuries during the last several seasons. But its been an open question as to whether the Steelers are better or wrose off than the rest of the league.

Basic statistics such as starter games lost to injury are not available to the public, leading Art Rooney II to cite one number and a columnist of the Dallas Morning News to calculate another.

PA-VA Steeler from Behind the Steel Curtain took the matter into his own hands (full disclosure, I also writer for BTSC). Using the best available research, the BTSC scribe compiled the Steelers injury totals for the entire Mike Tomlin era and compared them with the rest of the league.

• Steel Curtain Rising’s editorial policy is not to steal the thunder of another writer, so you’ll need to check the piece to see the conclusion.

But the Watch Tower doesn’t need to spill the beans to call out BTSC for sedding light on dearly deserves it.  And again, the Watch Tower asks, why has the credentialed press not pursued this story more aggressively?

Bragging Rights for a Paper Champion?

BTSC also earns kudos for its film analysis of Brian Arnfelt. No one on the press talked about him, but as their film review reveals, he is one kid who really took advantage of his time on the field.

While Brian Arnfelt did not survive the Steelers final cut, he did make the practice squad. Scott Brown, whom ESPN recently poached from the Tribune Review, made mention of Arnfelt after he’d made the practice squad.

But BTSC singled this kid out first, and if he develops into to another one of Kevin Colbert's undrafted rookie free agent steals, BTSC will have “bragging rights.”

Watch Tower Gets Some Competition?

Again, the Watch Tower finds space to single out BTSC, this time for doing a Watch Towerish piece of their own. While not strictly Steelers related, Christopher Carter, rightly called out the NFL for pressuring ESPN to pull out of a documentary on concussions.

• The NFL has gone on the offensive regarding concussions this off season, which they have a right to. 
• Steelers.com has in fact published many well researched articles on the subject.

But the NFL’s only fooling themselves if they think that pressuring broadcast partners to kill projects like this will some out make the concussion issue “go away.”

For Whom the Bell Doesn’t Toll

Finally, without a doubt, the hottest Steelers story in July and early August was the emergence of second round draft pick Le’von Bell. Both the professional press and fans making a pilgrimage to St. Vincents have been at a loss to describe how good Bell has looked.

Mike Tomlin has long been loathe to anoint starters, but there was little surprise when Gerry Dulac reported 3 days before the Steelers preseason opener vs. the Giants that Bell would run with the starters.

On the morning of the game, Ed Bouchette declared:

A new era that harkens back to an old one could begin at Heinz Field tonight when the Steelers play the New York Giants in their first exhibition game.

• Bouchette then went as far as to compare Le'Veon Bell's preseason debut to that of Franco Harris….

…By the time it was all said and done, it was the debut that never was, as Mike Tomlin made Bell a scratch due to knee soreness.

The Watch Tower does not want to single out Bouchette on this one, as the entire Pittsburgh press crops was caught flat footed on this one, in spite of the fact that these reporters are living, working, eating, and sleeping along side the Steelers franchise while at St. Vincents.

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Steelers Roster Moves Continue: Zoltan Mesko and Antwon Blake in, Drew Butler and Isaiah Green Out

Mike Tomlin didn’t promise to “leave no loose stone unturned” in his quest to improve the Steelers from their 8-8 performance in 2012, but he might as well have.

The Steelers initial roster cuts included some surprises, such as Jonathan Dwyer getting the boot. But Tomlin and Kevin Colbert didn’t stop after trimming the Steelers 2013 roster to 53.

First the Steelers signed guard Cody Wallace and cut John Malecki and today they took aim at shoring up what have been some truly atrocious special teams during the preseason.

During the preseason one of the bigger, if less sexy, position battles was between Drew Butler and Brian Moorman. The Steelers cut Moorman leaving Butler the presumed winner of the competition. Butler’s victory was short lived, however.

• The Steelers signed former New England Patriots punter Zoltan Mesko off of waivers.

Mesko is an accomplished punter and has been dubbed by the Wall Street Journal as the NFL’s most interesting man, with 5 languages under his belt and a degree in business administration from the University of Michigan.

They also claimed former Jacksonville Jaguars punter Antwon Blake off of waivers. Blake made the Jaguars as an undrafted rookie free agent last year, but looks to primarily be someone who will contribute on special teams. To make room for him, the Steelers waived Isaiah Green.

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Steelers Continue Roster Moves - Cody Wallace in, John Malecki Out...

The fact that Guy Whimper's name was not alongside Jonathan Dwyer's as one of the 22 players cut by Pittsburgh Steelers was met by outcry in Steelers Nation. And the more level-headed response was, “Don’t worry, Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin will scour the waiver wire seeking upgrades.”

Well, Tomlin and Colbert have made their first waiver wire transaction, and it didn’t include Guy Wimper or an offensive tackle.

Instead they picked up Cody Wallace, who most recently played center and guard in Tampa Bay.

• To make room for Wallace, the Steelers cut reserve guard/center John Malecki. 

The move amounts to somewhat of a surprise, as Malecki played on the Steelers regular season roster last year, and was generally viewed as having had a good camp. And the Steelers depth on the interior of the offensive line is not seen as being nearly as suspect as it is at the tackle position.

Malecki is only listed has having played one game in 2012, although Steelers.com informs that he was added to their active roster in October of that year.

If he has dressed for less than 8 games, he is eligible to return to the Steelers practice squad. Which will be bad news for one of the 8 hopefuls who were added to that list on Sunday….

Further Steelers Roster Moves Expected

Tomlin and Colbert are not likely finished with the Steelers 2013 roster. Observer-Reporter journalist Dale Lolley expects the team to resign linebacker Marshall McFadden after they play Matt Spaeth on injured reserve.

And of course there is Max Starks. One must suppose that if the Steelers were going to resign Max Starks they would have done so already. But until that doesn't happen, rumors will persist.

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Pittsburgh Steelers 2013 Roster at a Glance

Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin swung the axe yesterday in Pittsburgh, cutting 22 players including Jonathan Dwyer as well as members of the 2012 and 2013 draft classes.

• So who was it that made the team?

Here is your Pittsburgh Steelers 2013 Roster at a Glance:

Quarterbacks (3)

Ben Roethlisberger
Bruce Gradkowski
Landry Jones

• Of note:  Jones overcame a weak camp to make the team. Has potential but remains work in progress

Running Backs (5)

Isaac Redman
Felix Jones
LaRod Stephens-Howling
Le’Veon Bell
Will Johnson

• Running Back Renewal:  Steelers showed no mercy in renewing this unit from 2012.

Wide Receivers (5)

Antonio Brown
Emmanuel Sanders
Jerricho Cotchery
Markus Wheaton
Derek Moye

• Of note:  Derek Moye beat out a draft pick. Steelers remain the land of opportunity.

Offensive Line (9)

Mike Adams
Ramon Foster
Maurkice Pouncey
David DeCastro
Marcus Gilbert
Kelvin Beachum
John Malecki
Guy Whimper

• Wait for the waiver wire:  Guy Whimper can and will be replaced if a better option, perhaps Max Starks, can be found via waiver wire.

Tight Ends (5)

David Johnson
David Paulson
Heath Miller
Matt Spaeth
Michael Palmer

• If you missed it:  The Steelers brought in Palmer as a body, but he’s made the team.

Defensive Line (6)

Ziggy Hood
Brett Keisel
Cameron Heyward
Steve McLendon
Al Woods
Hebron Fangupo

• New Face:  Hebron Fangupo beat out a couple of more prominent players to win his spot.

Linebackers (8)

Jason Worilds
Larry Foote
Lawrence Timmons
LaMarr Woodley
Chris Carter
Jarvis Jones
Vince Williams
Kion Wilson

• Below the radar: Wilson surprises some, as Marshall McFadden and Alan Baxter got the preseason press coverage.

Cornerbacks (5)

Cortez Allen
William Gay
Isaiah Green
Ike Taylor
Curtis Brown

• Point to remember:  Curtis Brown has one last shot….

Safeties (5)

Ryan Clark
DaMon Cromartie-Smith
Robert Golden
Shamarko Thomas
Troy Polamalu

• Yin and Yang:  Clark and Polamalu are seasoned veterans, everyone else is practically a rookie.

Specialists (3)

Greg Warren
Drew Butler
Shaun Suisham

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2013 opening day roster is not necessarily set. Guy Whimper could be gone at the earliest opportunity. Likewise Matt Spaeth could find his way on the injured reserve list, Palmer's presence suggests this possibility is real.

And of course the practice squad still needs to be set….

…Stay tuned Steelers Nation.

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Jonathan Dwyer Leads Steelers Cuts

The Steelers waived 22 players today to get within the NFL’s 53 man roster limit. And there were more than a few surprises.

• Leading the list of cuts was none other than Jonathan Dwyer. 

Dwyer was a 6th round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft and at the time many draftnicks felt the Steelers had a steal on their hands.

Dwyer played well in mini-camp, but showed up overweight to training camp, but played his way on to the team in preseason. The same thing happened in 2011. He fared better in 2012 and was the team’s starting running back, but showed up overweight again in spring practices, although he arrived at Latrobe in good shape.

But Steelers coaches had wearied of Dwyer, and Felix Jones performance in the final two preseason games was enough to push Dwyer off of the roster.

Miller Time? Not Quite Yet, But Sooner Than Expected.

The Steelers moved Heath Miller to the active roster. Miller suffered a torn ACL in the Steelers loss to the Bengals, and had been on the Steelers PUP list. Now Miller can join the team at any time during the season. As it is, the Steelers are carrying an unheard of 5 tight ends on their roster.

No Draft Pick Security on the Steelers

The Steelers also showed no sentimentality when it came to draft picks. Alameda Ta’amu, the team’s 4th round pick in 2012, was cut, as where Terry Hawthorne and Justin Brown, who were 5th and 6th round picks from the 2013 NFL Draft.

All three could return to the practice squad.

Steelers 2013 Roster M.O. – Renewal

Cornerback Josh Victorian, linebacker Marshall McFadden, and tight end Jamie McCoy, players who spent time on the Steelers 2012 active roster and/or practice squad were all let go.

• When Kevin Colbert talked about the expendability of players from an 8-8 squad, he was serious.

With that said, at least McFadden and McCoy have practice squad eligibility.

The rest of the players cut include:

Running back Alvester Alexander
Wide receiver Reggie Dunn and Kashif Moore
Tight End Nathan Overbay
Offensive linemen Mike Golic Jr., Joe Madsen, Joe Long and Chris Hubbard
Defensive end Brian Arnfelt
Linebackers Alan Baxter, Terence Garvin and Brian Rolle
Safety Ross Ventrone
Cornerback Devin Smith
Punter Brian Moreman

Potential Practice Squad Members

Expect a couple of three of the names above to return via the practice squad, assuming they do not land spots with other teams. Linebacker Alan Baxter impressed many and will likely be asked back. Defensive end Brian Arnfelt play in preseason impressed the scribes at Behind the Steel Curtain, and he could find his way back.

Mike Golic and Joe Long are also potential practice squad players.

Watching the Wavier Wire

One name not on the cut list is Guy Whimper a free agent offensive tackle who did not impress during the preseason. Max Starks is available, and there is the possibility that Starks could return to Pittsburgh, although he did play very poorly in San Diego.

Either way, you can be very, very sure that Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin are scouring the waiver wire at this very moment, looking for a quality offensive tackle who got caught up in a numbers game some where.

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If Rotator Cuff Surgery End It for Plaxico Burress, Here's Why He Went Out the Right Way

Monday August 12 was Plaxico' Burress' 36 birthday. Per Ed Bouchette's tweet, it’s also the day that he underwent what will likely be career ending surgery to reaper a torn rotator cuff.

Steelers WR Plaxico Burress will celebrate his 36th birthday today by getting shoulder surgery. Ugh.
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) August 12, 2013

If this is the end for Plaxico Burress then it is a real shame for him. It may not be much consolation to him, but Burress can at least know that he chose to distinguish himself on the way out.

Remembering Plex

If Plaxico Burress is glad to finish his career in Pittsburgh then he can thank the fact that Kevin Colbert does not draft scared for his arrival.

Colbert arrived in Pittsburgh in February 2000 on the heels of back-to-back 7-9 and 6-10 seasons that brought a long simmering feud between Tom Donahoe and Bill Cowher to a head. Kordell Stewart was the Steelers quarterback, and Stewart was finishing the “My Buddy’s the Cop” phase of his career.

• Conventional wisdom generally dictates drafting the best available quarterback is the smart (and safe) move for a general manager walking into that situation.

The Steelers had the eighth pick, and Chad Pennington was the top quarterback on the board. Colbert and Cowher took a pass, making Pennington the 2nd most famous signal caller the Steelers never drafted after Dan Marino.

Plaxico Burress was their choice instead. After a rookie season that was a wash, Burress had his breakout game vs. the Titans on Monday Night Football (after Hines Ward instilled some good game preparation habits into him), helped transform Tommy Maddox into Tommy Gun and gave the Steelers 4 good seasons before departing to New York, much to Ben Roethlisberger's chagrin.

Burress’ time in New York will be remembered for him quitting on a long route, a game winning Super Bowl catch, and of course the self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Burress to Go Out the Way They All “Should?”

After prison the Steelers and, more specifically Mike Tomlin, briefly courted Burress, but he opted for greener pastures with the New York Jets.

Out of football for much of 2012, the Steelers brought him in late in the season. A poor route led to an interception, spoiling his debut in the comedy of errors in Cleveland.

His stat sheet will only tell this his second stint in Pittsburgh yielded 3 catches. The video quality isn't so good, but here’s the last one he made:




That touchdown helped seal victory for the Steelers in the 2012 regular season finale vs. Cleveland.

If rotator cuff surgery does spell the end for Burress, his homecoming in Pittsburgh might not have gone as he wished, but Burress' final catch will always be a game winning touchdown.

Isn't that the way every player dreams of ending his career?

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Matt Spaeth Injures Lisfranc; Possible Done for Year; Steelers Thin at Tight End

Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Matt Spaeth went down with an injury on Thursday August 8th. On Friday the Steelers added two more tight ends to their roster, in the form of Michael Palmer and Nathan Overbay.

• The timing of those two events was in no way coincidental.

The Steelers had released little in the way of information on Matt Spaeth’s injury, other than to say it was to the foot. But later this afternoon Pittsburgh Tribune Review writer Dejan Kovacevic broke the news:

Ouch. Unconfirmed, but I’m hearing #Steelers TE Matt Spaeth will have lisfranc surgery that will end season. That’s middle of foot.
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) August 9, 2013

Other reports are pegging the recovery time at 8-10 weeks, which would put the Steelers at mid-season.

• Could Dejan’s prediction turn out to be too dire?

Perhaps, but most likely not. As Behind the Steel Curtain has pointed out, recent NFL history with Lisfranc injuries shows that they are normally season-enders, reminding us of how similar injures end the 2012 seasons of Santonio Holmes and Maurice Jones-Drew.

• One way or another the Steelers must make a decision on Spaeth. There is no way they can carry him on the roster until mid season hoping that he returns to health. 

They could carry him through the preseason and put him on injured reserve and designate him as a player who can return, as they did with David DeCastro last year, but that is not likely.

With Spaeth out, the 2012 7th round pick David Paulson now must “grow up fast” as the starting role will fall to him until Heath Miller can return to health. In the meantime, Ben Roethlisberger is going to need target for passes in the middle of the field.

In addition, the Steelers have David Johnson who is on the PUP list, as well as Jaime McCoy and Peter Tuitupou....

...Where is Preston Gothard when you need him?

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Steelers Tight End Matt Spaeth Carted Off Field @ St. Vincents

This time you can't fault Kevin Colbert for not having a contingency plan.

The 2013 Pittsburgh Steelers entered training camp as a team with many needs and little in the way of a safety net. As recently observed here, the Steelers openly decided to tempt fate, wagering that the offensive line injury muses would not look down in disfavor again, and assembled a roster with precious little depth at either offensive tackle position.

Should Mike Adams or Marcus Gilbert fall injured, the Steelers contingency plans are named Guy Whimper and D'Anthony Batiste. Neither strike fear on to hears of Haloti Ngata or Terrell Suggs.

In contrast, knowing full well that Heath Miller would not be available to start the 2013 season, the Steelers put a contingency plan in place.

• Unfortunately it looks like the contingency plan himself got hurt.

Late into the afternoon Mark Kaboly dropped this bomb via Twitter:

Steelers TE Matt Spaeth carted off with injury. Didn't see what it was.
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly_Trib) August 7, 2013

Matt Spaeth of course was a member of the Steelers 2007 draft class, and Kevin Colbert's decision to resign Spaeth off of the free agent market turned some heads but it ultimately made sense.

• No one would accuse Spaeth of being a world beater, but he certainly offered more value than Leonard Pope. 

Colbert also gave himself another back up option, in deciding to resign tight end/fullback David Johnson, a member of the Steelers 2009 draft class whose shift to fullback in 2012 was widely heralded, only to be derailed by Johnson's torn ACL.

• Johnson however, began training camp on the PUP list.

The nature of Spaeth's injury is not known. The news broke in the late afternoon via Twitter, but it wasn’t until the late evening that the Post Gazette published a story on it, and then on PG Plus. The Tribune Review had not published a story on it as of 11:38 Buenos Aires time (yeah, that’s right, how often do you see that time stamp on Pittsburgh Steelers stories?)

• But players rarely get carted off the field unless it is serious.

At tight end the Steelers also have David Paulson, whom they drafted with their second pick 7th round of the 2012 NFL Draft and Jamie McCoy whom they also drafted in the with their first 7th round of the 2012 NFL Draft.

Spaeth’s Injury Steel Curtain Rising’s Fault?

If a server personnel crisis at tight end can’t be laid at the feet of Kevin Colbert, might Steel Curtain Rising be the culprit…?

Who knows. But the fact that Spaeth got injured on the same day that we published an full throated endorsement of Mike Tomlin’s “No to Golf Carts, Yes to Full Contact” training camp philosophy is ironic to say the least…..

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Mike Tomlin Sets Tone for 2013 Steelers with No Golf Carts, Full Contact Practices

In the late 1990's something happened in Pittsburgh that had not occurred since Chuck Noll agonized over whether not to start Mark Malone or not to start David Woodley. Surely you remember that, right?

Neither do I. At least not too much. Such “quarterback controversies” obviously missed the sports pages during adolescence which was spent in the DC area at the height of the Joe Gibbs era.

And what was this momentous event you ask?

• The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered back-to-back losing seasons.

During the 1998 and 1999 seasons Kordell Stewart's growing pains, a series of draft-misfires on offensive lineman (and wide receivers), and a simmering feud between Tom Donahoe and Bill Cowher resulted in the Steelers their first back-to-back losing seasons since the Apple IIc was hottest tech gadget.

Those consecutive losing seasons cost Donahoe his job and brought Kevin Colbert back to Pittsburgh, and on the eve of that first Colbert-era training camp  my friend Mike, a patron of Baltimore's legendary Purple Goose Saloon, thought we had a solution.

• Take a way the golf carts

That's right.

In either the summer of 1994 or 1995 (new search limitations of Google News archives make it hard to tell) Bill Cowher created a minor stir when he convinced Dan Rooney to provide players with golf carts to shuttle them to and from practices during training camp. Reporters told their readers how remarkable this was but the development was quickly accepted as part of Steelers summers at St. Vincents.

The internet was in its infancy then, or else I suspect the reaction in Steelers Nation might have been a little louder. Remember, fan protest had reversed Cowher's attempt to move the Steelers bench to the sunny side of Three Rivers Stadium. And, after all this was and remains the team with no cheerleaders and a decal on only one side of the helmet.

A dozen or so years later (yes, makes me feel old to say it) Mike Tomlin has stolen a sheet from the Pittsburgh Steelers Fan Club of Maryland.

• For the first time since the early 1990's there will be no golf carts at St. Vincents.

It says here that Cowher’s Steelers went to Super Bowl XXX and ultimately victory in Super Bowl XL and no one in Steelers Nation said, “And to think, the guys were though enough to do this, in spite of the golf carts that took them from the dorms to the practice fields at St. Vincents.”

Likewise, Tomlin’s teams have won Super Bowl XLIII and lost Super Bowl XLV respectively by a hair, golf carts not withstanding.

• But Mike Tomlin is still making a right move.

The attitude behind our “No golf carts at St. Vincent’s” during  the summer of ’00 was simply that the golf carts were fine for a team of seasoned playoff veterans, but perhaps should be a perk to be earned.

• The same logic applies here, only this time Tomlin is following through on it.

Tomlin, of course balks at the notion that his training camp changes have anything to do with the inopportune moments that plagued the 2012 Steelers. “Last year is last year, this year is this year.”

Tomlin loves saying that. The changes are completely irrelevant. Yeah, and the fact that Bruce Springsteen’s first marriage was falling apart had nothing to do with multiple metaphors for marriage gone sour in his seminal work Tunnel of Love.

• One of the glaring needs for the Pittsburgh Steelers at training camp in 2013 was to refocus the team.

The 2012 Steelers, absent locker room leaders like Hines Ward, James Farrior, and Aaron Smith, were simply too inconsistent and too undisciplined at times.

But taking away the golf carts is a symbolic move, Tomlin’s made another move that’s both substantive and riskier

• Live, tackling during full contact practices.

This later development was last seen in the hey day of Chuck Noll, according to any number of Steelers beat reporters.

Lest Steelers Nation tire itself out pumping their fists in approval, full contact in practice is not what the Dr. ordered for a team with an already precarious injury situation.

• But Tomlin’s move is nonetheless the right one.

The decision to go full-contact, full pads is yet another calculated risk the team is taking heading into 2013. But time and time again, Mike Tomlin refuses to coach scared.

As Steel Curtain Rising observed earlier, it is no longer a question of whether the Steelers 2012 draft class, 2013 draft class, and the respective undrafted free agent rookie classes will win starting jobs at St. Vincent’s.

They will win them, because veterans such as James Harrison, Max Starks, Keenan Lewis, and Willie Colon are playing elsewhere.

But by holding full-contact practices Tomlin is sending a message to a team in transition:

• Even though you may end up winning these starting jobs, you're still going to earn them by the sweat of your brow.

So far one of the few players to endorse Tomlin’s approach is Ben Roethlisberger – who can’t get hit. That means the rest of the team is grinning and bearing it.

Which is exactly the reaction Steelers Nation should hope to see.

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