Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Who's the most indispensable Steeler?

Earlier this week, NFL.com had an article asking who was the most indispensable player in the NFL. Most of the people who contributed to the article went with either the Saints' signal caller Drew Brees; or the new quarterback in Denver, Peyton Manning.

This got me to thinking, what player in the Steelers is the most indispensable?

The players that came to mind for me were:

QB Ben Roethlisberger - The Steelers won zero Super Bowls between the Bradshaw and Roethlisberger eras. Since Roethlisberger has become the Steelers' starting quarterback, the team has won two Super Bowls and been to a third.

C Maurkice Pouncey - Most people wouldn't consider an interior offensive lineman indispensable. However, Pouncey is one of the top two centers in the AFC, if not the entire NFL. He makes a lot of the line calls and is the anchor of the offensive line.

OLB James Harrison - The attitude of the defense comes from Harrison. He plays mean, angry. He doesn't want to injure anyone, but he's not opposed to hurting somebody (his words, not mine). When he missed those games with a broken orbital bone (that's his eye socket), the Steelers defense had trouble getting to the quarterback.

OLB LaMarr Woodley - Woodley is another sackmeister, and it was obvious that the pass rush was hurt by him missing games and then being limited by a hamstring injury. When Woodley and Harrison are both on the field together, they are one of the best pass rushing duos in the league and big plays often happen. He has also won a Defensive Player of the Year award.

FS Ryan Clark - Ryan Clark is a hard hitting safety. He plays within the scheme and allows Troy Polamalu to be Troy Polamalu. He missed the playoff game against the Denver Broncos last season and Tim freaking Tebow (TEBOW OF ALL PEOPLE!!!!!) had his best game as a QB. If Clark is there, I think the Steelers probably win that game.

That's a pretty good list of candidates. They are all excellent players. They have all been to a Pro Bowl, they all have Super Bowl rings. However, none of them are the most indispensable player on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That indication goes to Troy Polamalu.



He is the only player on the defense that's allowed to play outside of the scheme. He's allowed to play completely on instinct. He causes big plays. He's the one player on the defense in which the other team's quarterback has to know exactly where he is when the QB snaps the ball, not that it matters much because that spot is likely not where he will be when the ball is thrown.

Troy Polamalu is the ONLY player that I have ever seen dive over the offensive line and sack the quarterback. And he's done it twice.

If he's lined up at the line of scrimmage like a pass rusher, he's likely going to end up somewhere in the defensive backfield breaking up as pass or coming up with an absolutely stunning interception. If he's way back at his spot at safety, next thing you know he's in the offensive backfield chasing down the quarterback or stuffing the running back for a loss.

This is the guy that makes the Steelers defense so good. He allows Dick LeBeau to call a lot of those exotic schemes and blitzes. When Polamalu isn't players, it's a watered down version of the defense.


Sunday, May 13, 2012

AFC North Camp Battles

This weekend the NFL has 20 rookie mini-camps going. The Pittsburgh Steelers held theirs a couple of weeks ago.

Rookie mini-camps are held for multiple reasons. They are for drafted players, undrafted free agents, and first year players with that team that are trying to gain  a training camp invite. There are no team veterans there, so this allows the rookies and first year players to actually get practice reps and coaching focused on them.

In the coming two months there are going to be full team mini-camps and organized team activities. A lot of these are going to be "voluntary," but it will be nearly full team participation. These are why the rookie camps are so important, once the team vets come in a lot of the rookies fall to the wayside. First and second round picks, the ones expected to start or make major contributions will get individual coaching. However the guys that have to make the team by showing that can be special teams monsters, they won't get that type of tutoring.

So with most teams' rookie camps coming to a close today, here is a list of what I feel the most compelling camp battles involving rookies will be in the AFC North.

Pittsburgh Steelers


Offensive Line Battles: David DeCastro, the Steelers first round pick, is projected to start the season at one of the two offensive guard spots. However, which one the Steelers are going to plug him in at, nobody is sure of yet. At Stanford, he played right guard but the Steelers could easily plug him in at left guard. The two incumbents at the guard spots are Ramon Foster and Doug Legursky. One of them would be losing their starting jobs, so I am sure both are going to do their best to not let that happen. However it will, that's a fact.

The other, and to me more interesting battle on the offensive line, will play out at the tackle positions. Right now, it looks like it's going to be Marcus Gilbert on the left side and Willie Colon on the right side. The monkey wrench thrown into this plan is that in the second round, the Steelers took Ohio State's Mike Adams who most teams gave a first round grade. It will be these three players competing for two positions.

Throw in there that last year Gilbert started at right tackle due to Colon going down for the season with an injury and was told over the offseason that he would be the left tackle, and then the team drafted Adams who exclusively played left tackle in college. Many believe that Adams is the left tackle of the future which would put Gilbert back on the right side in the near future.

As long as Colon can stay healthy, which hasn't happened in the past two seasons, I expect him to start t right tackle with Gilbert starting at left. However I think Adams will be starting on the line by the end of the season either due to a Colon injury or just by being the better player overall eventually.

Baltimore Ravens


Outside Linebacker/Offensive Guard: The Baltimore Ravens, for the most part, have their roster set.

However, there will be a battle at outside linebacker. With last year's Defensive Player of the Year  Terrell Suggs currently out with a "small" tear in his ACL, it's almost guaranteed that second round pick Courtney Upshaw out of Alabama is going to start at outside linebacker this season. However, if Suggs comes back, will he still be starting? And if Suggs can start the season, will Upshaw be able to lock down the outside linebacker spot on the other side? His competition is going to be Paul Kruger, who has been a backup for most of his career.

The Ravens lost Ben Grubbs to the Saints and failed to find a suitable replacement in free agent. With their other second round pick, they selected Kelechi Osemele and he's going to challenge Jah Reid for that starting left guard spot. I truly think that Osemele can win that battle, but it should be a fun one to watch.

Cincinnati Bengals


Starting Cornerback: The Bengals drafted Dre Kirkpatrick in the first round of last month's NFL Draft, and part of that is because of the issue at corner.

Assuming that Kirkpatrick isn't penciled in as a starter, the two starters would be Nate Clements and Adam "Pacman" Jones. Leon Hall is currently recovering from an injury which might keep him from being ready to start the season.

So at the moment, Kirkpatrick needs to only unseat one of the two aforementioned players to start at the beginning of the season, and that's a real possibility. The problem will be when Hall will be ready to come back, does Kirkpatrick start across from Leon Hall or does he move to the nickel role because either Clements or Jones will be one of the starting two.

This is going to be a pretty interesting battle because Clements has tons of experience but is getting up there in age for a starting corner, and Jones has regressed over the past couple of seasons. Last season, Jones only played in eight games and didn't record an interception.

The wild card in this battle is Terrance Newman, signed as a free agent this past offseason after being cut by the Dallas Cowboys. Often thought of as old and lost a step, he could wrestle away a starting job from Kirkpatrick.

Cleveland Browns


Quarterback Competition: In last month's draft, the Browns drafted 28 year old quarterback Brandon Weeden out of Oklahoma State late in the first round. He wasn't drafted in the first round at his age to sit for a season or two, he was drafted to play soon.

However, the Browns refuse to just flat-out say that Weeden is the guy they want to start the season like the Colts and Redskins have already said about their first round quarterbacks. But from the sounds of it, the starting quarterback job is Weeden's to lose.

His competition is former third round pick and last season's starter Colt McCoy, and career backup Seneca Wallace.

While I expect Weeden to end up with the job, I think McCoy does however have a chance to keep his grasp on the starting spot because he already has experience in the West Coast Offense and has seen a lot of NFL defenses in his two seasons.

But you know what they say about thinking you have two quarterbacks, if you think that, you really have none. In the end, a QB competition throughout camp could hurt the Browns more than helping them by not allowing a QB to get into a rhythm with his receivers and get as many first team practice snaps as possible. But Weeden's cannon of an arm should hopefully wrap this competition up quickly, allowing the Browns to settle on a QB sooner rather than later.