The Pittsburgh Steelers must do this to return to the Super Bowl #5

It was great to see the Pittsburgh Steelers resign Casey, and it looks like and sounds like there's a good chance Ryan Clark will resign, but that doesn't help the fact that the core of this team is getting older. Have you noticed that the Patriots haven't won a Super Bowl the last few years. Though I will not admit the quarterback on that team is the best, I will admit that he's pretty good. Good enough to win a couple of Super Bowls. But, a quarterback is just one part of a team. The reason the Pats haven't won a Super Bowl lately with a Super Bowl caliber quarterback is that they got old and lost that depth that they had during those Super Bowl years. Unfortunately, I see the same thing happening to the Steelers with their D-Line, Cornerbacks, Linebackers and Safeties. They need a good draft this year to improve their depth.

Ziggy Hood showed last year that he may be able to take over a spot on the D-Line and reclaiming Sonny Harris may have been a positive eventually. After that the depth is a bunch of 30 somethings, Travis Kirschke, Chris Hoke and Nick Eason. Believe it or not it is hard to find an athletic 300 pound guy, and even harder to find one of them that is a quality defensive lineman.

At Cornerback same story, Ike Taylor and Deshea Townsend are the senior members of the group. These guys still give quality minutes and Ike is still shutting down the other team's number 1 guy, but Deshea is no longer that guy that can play the whole game. In fact if he is around this year there's a good chance he'll be a Safety. William Gay is a younger guy in the cornerback position and after playing well 2 seasons ago it looked like he would take over the number 2 spot after the departure of McFadden. He got burnt time after time this past season and was finally replaced in the starting role by Townsend. The cornerback position does at least have a few other youngsters in Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis, but the jury is still out on them.

At Safety there's Troy, Tyrone Carter, Ryan Clark hopefully, and Ryan Mundy. The Pittsburgh Steelers either need Mundy to grow quickly into a quality Safety or find one in the draft, especially if they can't keep Clark. Even if Tyrone and Ryan are around this year Tyrone is 33 and Ryan is 30. 2 out of 4 in their 30's.

At Linebacker James Farrior and James Harrison are in their 30's, Farrior 35 and Harrison 31. Farrior still provides quality play, but for how much longer. There are not many players still contributing a lot at 35. Harrison, at least is a young 31 since it took him a while to be a regular starter. So he doesn't have the miles on his legs that most 31 year olds do. They do have the 2 young studs at linebacker in Woodley and Timmons and Keyaron Fox played well last year. It wouldn't hurt to pick up another quality Linebacker to play behind Farrior, though and take over in a year or 2.

So, the 5th thing the Steelers must do to return to the Super Bowl is add some depth in these positions to spell the older guys and eventually take over. Supposedly this is one of the deepest drafts in recent history and one of the deepest positions is Defensive Line. So it wouldn't hurt for the Steelers to pick up one or two D-Linemen. Hopefully the can restock a few other postions with some depth, Safety anyone.

5 Things the Steelers must do to return to the Super Bowl, #4

Whoosh!
Do you know what that was? Josh Cribbs just returned another kickoff for a touchdown against the Steelers. The Steelers have rarely had great special teams play. When Mike Tomlin came in his first year he actually put some effort into stabilizing the Special Teams. They made it a focus in part of training camp. It really didn't seem to show in games though. Maybe it took a year to kick in because in the 2008 season they actually played decently. Maybe James Harrison threatened their lives, who knows. Anthony Madison was an important part of the unit that year, but then was let go before the start of this season. I don't know if one person is going to make a big difference on special teams, but several kick and punt returns later the Steelers quickly re-signed Madison after he was let go by the Bengals and the Special Teams coverage improved near the end of the year.

Crash!
Do you know what that was? That was Ben Roethlisberger getting sacked again. Ben has hit the ground again and again the last 3 years. He has been one of the most sacked QBs in the league since Russ Grimm left. Insiders say that has a lot to do with Ben holding the ball too long. But, Ben makes a lot of plays when he holds onto the ball and quite a bit of the time they are big plays because the defense breaks down and Ben finds the open guy. I heard one of the NFL analysts say one time that Ben is the best playground quarterback in the NFL. You know, either draw the play up in the dirt or say go long, if you're open I'll hit you. Imagine what Ben could do if his line could give him a little more time and he could be comfortable back there just waiting for those guys to run their routes. The Steelers run game started to become more and more effective toward the end of the year, some of that due to a young Rashard Mendenhall growing as a back
and knowing what to do with the ball. Maybe some of that had to do with the O-Line growing familiar with each other and knowing what each other was doing.

Do you know what these 2 situations have in common. The Special Teams Coach and the Offensive Line coach were both released after the season. The Steelers have 2 new coaches, bringing hope that these two facets of the team can improve with a change of coaching style. The Steelers have won in the past with average Special Teams, and that would be an improvement over last year. Let's hope the Special Teams can climb the Mt. Everest of quality playing. I tried to fit that in not really very successfully. Al Everest is the new Special Teams Coach.
Sean Kugler, formerly of the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions, will be the new offensive line coach for the Steelers.

Hopefully these two guys will bring fresh perspectives to the team and keep those kick returners from reaching the end zone and Ben from landing on the turf.

#4 thing the Steelers must do to return to the Super Bowl. Listen to their new coaches to improve their play on Special Teams and the Offensive Line.

Steelers Rule!!!!!

Step 1 Check, Step 2 Check

If you've been reading the blog you'll notice that I was in the process of explaining the five things the Steelers must do to return to the Super Bowl. Guess what happened today, Step 1 the Steelers re-signed Casey Hampton to a new 3 year deal. This may not have totally solidified the Defensive Line, but it did keep that big cog in the middle. Teams will continue to think twice about running up the middle and they will continue to have to put 2 guys on Hampton, to continue to free up the linebackers. Along with the signing of Hampton, the Steelers took care of step #2.



Step#2 Re-sign Jeff Reed. I don't know where Jeff Reed falls in most accurate kickers in NFL history, but I'm sure he is right up there in accuracy at Hines Field. Jeff also has his share of game winning field goals. The Steelers could have drafted a kicker or signed a decent free agent from another team, but as the Steelers well know Hines Field is a tough place to kick and if you've got someone that can kick there, why let him go? Despite his off field skirmishes he seems to be a good guy. Not too many kickers are amongst the leaders of their teams. The Steelers tagged Reed as their franchise player which pretty much locks him up to play for the Steelers for a few years to come. If another team signs him in a year the will be obligated to give the Steelers a first round draft pick. Teams rarely draft a kicker in the first round, but they will not give up a first rounder for an aging kicker.



Steps 1 and 2 taken care of.

Big Play Woodley

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-cant-miss-plays/09000d5d813ad438/WK-7-Can-t-Miss-Play-Watch-Woodley-go

Red Fridays

As I've said, occasionally I will put something non sports related in the blog. This is the first time I've done it, but it's definitely a worthwhile story. It's something I believe in strongly and I think the Pittsburgh Sports Buzz Nation is built on these values. If we didn't have these men and women protecting us we might not be free to back our favorite team.

This was sent to me by a friend.

Will you give this to my Daddy?

Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a
conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I
heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer.
I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the
greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen.
Moving through the terminal was a group of soldiers in
their camos.. As they began heading to their gate, everyone
(well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their
hands waving and cheering.
When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being
applauded and cheered for, it hit me. I'm not alone.
I'm not the only red-blooded American who still loves
this country and supports our troops and their
families.
Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for
these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the
line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home
without fear or reprisal.
Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country
or of our service men and women, a young girl, not more than
6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers. He
kneeled down and said 'hi.'
The little girl then asked him if he would give something
to her daddy for her.

The young soldier, who didn't look any older than maybe
22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give
to her Daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck
of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster
and then kissed him on the cheek.
The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter's
name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband
was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11
months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter
Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear
up.
When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her
situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief
second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a
military-looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with
the device and talking back and forth on
it..
After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked
back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her,
'I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to
you.' He then hugged this little girl that he had just
met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying
'your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more
than anything and he is coming home very soon.'

The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and
as the young soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney
and her mom.. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from
this entire event.
As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate,
people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding
and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including
my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness,
turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear
rolling down his cheek.
We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their
families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the
end of the day, it's good to be an American.

RED FRIDAYS ----- Very soon, you will see a great many
people wearing Red every Friday. The reason? Americans who
support our troops used to be called the 'silent
majority'. We are no longer silent, and are voicing our
love for God, country and home in record breaking
numbers..
We are not organized, boisterous or over-bearing. We get no
liberal media coverage on TV, to reflect our message or our
opinions. Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends,
simply want to recognize that the vast majority of Americans
supports our troops.

The first thing a soldier
says when asked 'What can we do to make things better
for you?' is...We need your support and your prayers.
Let's get the word out.
THEIR BLOOD RUNS RED---- SO WEAR RED! --- MAY GOD HELP
AMERICA TO BECOME ONE NATION, UNDER GOD

Punxsatawney Polamalu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzIdZbypNk&NR=1

The Steelers must do this to return to the Super Bowl #3

Ask 10 people what caused the Steelers to miss the playoffs after their Super Bowl Championship last year and I'm convinced a majority of them will tell you the absence of Troy Polamalu for large part of the season. Troy looked unbelievable for the short time he was in the opening game of the season. He flew into the backfield and made an amazing tackle. He made an ubelievable one handed interception. Then injured his knee. Later on in the season he injured his other knee and didn't play again. Troy is a difference maker for the Steelers. But, his all out play has a tendency to lead to injuries. In the postseason prior to the Super Bowl he decided to forgo the Steelers offseason program and go with his own in California. The plan seemed to work and the Steelers got another ring. He went with the same offseason program this year, but 2 knee injuries ensued and that was the season. The thing about Troy is that he makes other players around him better. Ryan Clark is a true Steeler, a hard hitter and the quarterback in the backfield. But, with the area Troy covers that cuts down significantly what Ryan has to take care of. With Troy out and aging Tyrone Carter as his replacement Ryan has to make up for that. A few years ago Ryan probably could, but now not so much. Again, don't get me wrong. He is still a quality safety. But, he needs help. Ty Carter is also still a good player. He is no Troy Polamalu. But, who is?



So, item 3 on the list for the Steelers to get back to the Super Bowl is upgrade the depth of the Safeties. Two knee injuries is not a good indication that Troy has a healthy future ahead. Hopefully, he'll rebound and have a healthy 2010 season, but they can't depend on that. They need to resign Ryan Clark hopefully at a discounted price and also sign a free agent or draft a quality Safety. Ryan Mundy hasn't shown that he can give them what they need so back to the drawing board. Meanwhile, hope Troy has a healthy 2010 and 2011.

The Steelers must do this to return to the Super Bowl

I have a name for you. Nate Kaeding. You know, the kicker for the San Diego Chargers. Let me rephrase that, the always reliable kicker for the San Diego Chargers. That is until that fateful day this playoff season against the New York Jets. Kaeding missed 3 field goals on his home field. Just one of those would have resulted at least in getting the Super Chargers into overtime and give them another chance. But he missed 3 field goals, 9 points that could have won the game.

Did you know the Steelers have a pretty reliable kicker, on the field that is. His name is Jeff Reed, and he will soon be a free agent. Can you name the kicker before Reed. Not Kris Brown. The Steelers signed a free agent after Brown exited to the Texans. Remember Todd Peterson. Thankfully, Peterson became injured early in the season causing Bill Cowher to bring in several kickers for a tryout. They went as far as to take them out to Hines field to see if they could solve the mystery of the goalposts there. Reed passed with flying colors and won the job. Where is Peterson now? Managing a Citgo as my favorite sports show hosts would say. Reed has won countless games for the Steelers. Strangely enough he missed a few in a playoff game against the Jets a few years ago. So, I guess it happens. But, this guy is money in the clutch and he can kick at Heinz field. If the Steelers let him go they could end up with Todd Peterson. Seems like the Steelers had another kicker that was as close to a Hall of Famer as any kicker could be. He had a few more good years in him too.

The downside to Reed is his penchant for off the field antics. So he likes to use paper towel dispensers for his offseason boxing training. I'm sure he was feeling a little out of shape so he took advantage of the first thing he saw. C'mon. I don't have any excuses for his parking lot incident. He apologized and is active in the community and charity work.

He is a must sign and worth the money. Put the morality clause in his contract and if he doesn't stick by it have a backup plan.

#2 Thing the Steelers must do to return to the Super Bowl - Re-sign Jeff Reed.