I Don't Want Him

This guy has been in the headlines of every person that has done a podcast or wrote an article about the Pittsburgh Steelers for the last couple of months. Funny thing is he's not on the Steelers and he's getting 100% more publicity than any Steeler at his position. He is the most annoying part of this off-season and now I just don't want him.

It all started when the Steelers traded Diontae Johnson to the Panthers. That gave anyone that covers the Steelers or NFL a license to name every WR in the NFL a possible candidate to be traded to the Steelers to be their number 1, 1B, or 2 Wide Receiver. They have done a fantastic job of naming all the WRs in the league. There's a couple with San Francisco, one with Seattle, one with Buffalo, one with Denver, one with Washington, and many assorted others.

One guy just keeps popping back up over and over and over again, though. Brandon Aiyuk. He apparently wants 30 million a year, and I don't think the Niners want to pay him 30 millions a year. He's caused all kind of havoc saying he wants to stay with San Fran, but at the same time saying, or making it known he wants 30 million. He is under contract for this year so he wants to extend that.

The Steelers do have salary cap space, around $16 million, but I can't see them paying a receiver that much.

Also, he may be a number one receiver, but he's not proven he can do that. Meanwhile, we have another guy already on the team that could be asking for a lot of cash next year. Pickens is still under contract this year and next, but if they want to keep him they might want to extend him before next season, because WR money is going up. Or, they can simply do what San Fran and Green Bay do and draft on or two a year. Seems like a smart thing to do with these prices. Then, at the end of the 3rd year try to find a buyer to give a draft pick or two.

I really do want Aiyuk despite the title of this article because he's a proven receiver. Maybe not a 1, but he's shown that he's at least a 2 and that's what the Steelers need. I'd really like to keep our first round pick next year and get a receiver then or a D line stud with it. Whether Cam stays after this year or not we still need a replacement soon.

Just a thought

 At some point in every game, they should play the clip of Captain Kirk yelling Khaaaaannnnnnn.  I just don't know the scenario it would be in.  Omar might not appreciate it though, so let's put that on the backburner til the time is right.

Just as I suspected

Last weekend the Steelers played the Ravens and they appeared "too old" for the NFL as many of the broadcasters put it. Funny, most of those guys, including Warren Sapp were former players who had had their butts whooped up and down the field many times by those old players.

You can write that first game off for a couple of reasons

1. The Steelers were not prepared for their first game. To me, this a very shocking part about the Ravens game, but not as big a concern for the rest of the season. The Steelers knew the Ravens would be a tough opponent. It looked like the defense did not expect Ray Rice to catch passes out of the backfield and they did not expect him to try to run the ball. Uh, he's the starting tailback guys. It also seemed like Ben didn't expect them to come up with anything exotic on defense. It kind of looked like they were just waiting for the Ravens to walk over and give them the game ball and say, "You're too good, we quit." It looked like Ben was as confident about his line on the field as he talks about them off the field. When you start players one year and discard them the next you can't expect the offensive line to be great. The Ravens and Terrell Suggs brought the pressure and caused Ben to make mistakes and turn over the ball. When the Steelers start finding Alan Fanecas and Maurkice Pounceys in the draft every year instead of Tony Hills that's when Ben can really have some confidence in them. The problem is they are hit and miss alot in the draft with Offensive Linemen. So you need Sean Kugler to work his magic and come up with a line that will be able to plug the dike.

2. I could almost see the game resulting in a loss, not that much of a loss, but a loss. Yeah, they keep beating them in the playoffs and that's something to be proud of, but do you have to get on their nerves the whole off season. Take it to the field and show them who's better there. Not on twitter or wherever. The game was in Baltimore after the Ravens had all off season to think about it. The fans were mad at them for not beating the Steelers and the Steelers even helped them out as much as possible by giving them the ball 7 times on turnovers. The Steelers had talked trash the whole off season about the Ravens and Flacco not being able to beat them. They had the bragging rights but why do they need to fire up the opponent before the opener. Not a good choice. They're already sore from losing that playoff game so you add insult to injury and add to that a noisy stadium filled with people dressed in purple.(I don't think the color the people were wearing has anything to do with it, I just threw that in). Frankly they were just pissed off and fired up. Sometimes that emotion runs out, sometimes it's maintained throughout the game. Last week they maintained it, this week it ran out.

3. The schedule maker apparently does not care if you played in the Super Bowl the previous year or not. They scheduled the Steelers at Baltimore to start the season, really? This is usually an extremely intense game and it is important for whoever comes out on top of the AFC North. I'm pretty much dismissing the Bengals and Browns from the competition. Can the NFL give the Steelers some kind of advantage for getting to the Super Bowl? Wait til they start clicking before the game is scheduled or let them have the first game at home. You know, give em a game or two against the MAC conference of the NFL. They gave 'em the Seahawks but it was a game too late. Well, what's done is done. The Steelers are 1-1 and could possible end up behind the Bengals if the Bengals win today.

Oh yeah, the Steelers Defense is old, with some of those starters being over 30, but they have some youth lined up in there at linebacker and lineman. Ziggy Hood showed last year he could continue the run stopping job of the defensive line. Cameron Heyward will probably play behind the Diesel this year and be ready to take over when he's done. Yeah, they'll need to replace Casey Hampton, but he's still holding his own plugging up the middle with his girth. Those youngsters can substitute in and give the old men a break at any time. Then, Harrison and Farrior are getting up there, but there are some quality guys in Worilds and Sylvester, ready to step in when father time says enough is enough.

I'm concerned about the defensive backfield most of all. They've tried to draft several dbs after the first round in the last few drafts and can't seem to find one that can start. They need to address that position in the next draft, preferably in the first round, or the defense will drop off badly. Gay has been bad several years and they just keep running him out there. Keenan Lewis showed signs in preseason, but injuries sidetracked his progress. Clark is slowing down, but Polamalu, if healthy, can help him out and he will be around a couple more years.

This defense will be better than they showed in the Ravens game, but it will be hard to tell if they'll be as good as they looked in the Seahawks game until they play a real opponent. Look for more of the same inferior talent from their opponent next week when they play the Colts minus Peyton. The Browns beat em. Enough said.

What happened at halftime?

Did you wonder what happened at halftime. With the Steelers down 21 to 7 and the Ravens having the momentum by scoring 21 points I have to admit prospects were a bit bleak. But most of these guys had played on at least one Super Bowl winner and a lot had played on two.

Did coach Tomlin give a Knute Rockne speach and tell them to win one for the Gipper? According to most of the players the answer is no. Really, no rousing speech from the coach. The battle tested defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau must have willed his defense to make some big plays and Ryan Clark accepted the challenge forcing a fumble and intercepting a pass setting the offense that had turned the ball over twice up for two easy TDs. Not according to the players.

It must have been the two time starting Super Bowl Champion Quarterback. Where else would a team look but to it's starting Quarterback. Ben has had his problems off the field, but all he does is win big games and make big plays. Just ask anyone in the stadium last Sunday. Just ask a rookie receiver playing in his first playoff game. Just ask any of his teammates. Ben is just a winner. But, according to the team Ben did not will them to the Victory.

One of my theories is that the coaches did have a plan. Seeing as how the Ravens forced the Steelers to turn the ball over twice, the plan was to try to get them to turn the ball over wherever they had a chance. The Ravens had been on a tear forcing turnovers in the last several weeks, why not give them a taste of their own medicine and see what happened. The result was that Joe Flacco felt the wrath of the Steelers Defense and the noise of the crowd and was shaken. How else would you explain that perfect pass to Clark and the botched snap.

The other theory I have is that this team just plays for each other. They simply are an extremely cohesive unit. Each of them know what the other is doing. They will do anything to win. You need look no further than Doug Legursky. He is a man of many talents for this offense and each time someone on the line went down he came in to take their place. The guy plays center and anywhere else he's needed. He even lined up as tackle eligible. Geez, throw the guy a ball once to reward him. There's no doubt in my mind he'd catch it. I heard Ben talk about it one time. He said they throw it to him all the time in practice, but never in a game.

So, what happened in that locker room to turn the game around. The answer is not what, but who. The team is who. This team will not give up on their goal and on each other. Here we go.

Ravens Meltdown

The Pittsburgh Sports Buzz has heard the phrase over and over again. It was a tale of two halves. So I will not use that one. The Steelers just took it one half at a time and the strategy worked.

After the Ravens failed to score on the first possession of the game the Steelers methodically took it down the field, thanks in part to a lengthy pass interference call on the Ravens. Then Rashard Mendenhall took it in for a touchdown. That made the Steelers and their fans feel pretty good. But, anyone who has watched these 2 teams play knew that the game was far from over. Each of the 2 games in the regular season were decided in the fourth quarter and this game would be no different.

Anthony Madison returned the pass interference favor with a 33 yarder of his own and Ray Rice found a hole 13 yards out and the Ravens were back in the game and tied up at 7, then the drama began.

A penalty on a kickoff return backed the Steelers up near their goal line. Ben dropped back to pass and Terrell Suggs, ala James Harrison, tomahawked the ball as Ben was starting his motion. Hmm...., a ball on the ground and no whistle blown. The majority of the players on both sides stood and wondered why the referees did nothing until Cory Redding decided the ball was lonely and picked it up to take it home. Any number of players had their chance at it, but Redding took advantage of the misfortune of the Steelers and the Ravens took the lead.

Soon after that Ben handed off to Mendenhall for a short gain and another turnover. It didn't seem to be a hard hit but the ball was simply jostled out of Mendenhall's grip and the Ravens recovered. At this point, playoff games past started flashing through the PSB's memory.

Remember how the Steelers made a formerly unknown tight end for the Chargers an All Pro. Alfred Pupunu had an inauspicious career til one AFC Championship game where he could drop nothing and would not go down when he made those catches.

Luckily there was still one half to play and remember what I said, this game would not be be decided until the 4th quarter. After the fumble Flacco connected with Todd Heap on short TD pass and Mo was on the Ravens sideline taunting the Steelers.

The thing about it is the Ravens haven't had much luck getting past the Steelers in the playoffs. What was said in the locker room at halftime. Maybe coach Tomlin reminded them that this team has been to the playoffs, and they didn't need to panic. Maybe he didn't say anything. This is a veteran team and if they didn't know there were 2 halves in a game then why even go out for the second half. They didn't need to be reminded as evidenced by the second half.

They did not instill confidence back into the fans immediately in the second half. The initial drive fizzled and they gave it back to the Ravens. That's where the tide turned in this game. The sure handed, 405 carries without a fumble, Ray Rice didn't know what hit him. Rice broke free and that other Safety, Ryan Clark made a beeline toward him and punched the ball free from Rice. LaMarr Woodley recovered and Mo standing behind all the Ravens players took off his Ravens helmet and put on his Steelers helmet. Roethlisberger found a wide open Heath Miller in the back of the end zone and the Steelers closed the gap. The fans were back in it and the stadium was rockin'.

Any QB nicknamed "Joe Cool" would surely settle his teammates down and take control. "Joe Cool" promptly completed a pass to that other Safety, and the Steelers had the ball back. Ben found Mr. Reliable, Hines Ward, for the score and tie after the conversion by Suan Suishman. If you looked closely on the Ravens sideline after this score you might have seen Mo in full Steelers gear. The game was tied up and so was the turnovers.

Surely, "Joe Cool" could stem the tide and muster up something to get Mo back on his side, right? Wrong. Joe Cool became Joe Butterfingers when he couldn't even handle a snap from center. Brett Keisel corraled it and the ball was again the Steelers. Mo was rounding the endzone and headed for the Steelers sideline. Suan Suishman put a 35 yarder through the goal posts and the lead was back to the Steelers.

A couple of punts followed and a return for a TD nullified by a holding penalty on the Ravens. Flacco threw a pass to Anquan Boldin that bounced off his chest as if he were wearing armor and the Ravens settled for a field goal to tie the score.

If you were Dan Dierdorff you were thinking this could be the first overtime playoff game under the new NFL overtime rules. If you were the Pittsburgh Sports Buzz or a Steelers fan you were thinking this is where Ben puts the Ravens away. Ben gets sacked and it is 3rd and 19. A look at the Ravens sideline reveals overconfidence that they'll get the ball back. No way Ben will convert a 3rd and 19. Who's the target? Sure handed Hines Ward or Mike Wallace outrunning the defense. Streaking down the right sideline is Antonio Brown, Ben heaves it and Brown passes the defender, reaches up and pulls it in, the ball slips up the jersey but Brown pins it against his helmet controls it and goes out of bounds. After a pass and a few runs Mendenhall takes it in for a TD. A look at the Steelers sideline and Mo is standing beside Coach Tomlin giving him a big hug.

The Ravens make one last futile drive, but Mo has already chosen his team and the Steelers sack Flacco and Houshmanzadeh drops a pass on fourth down. It's over. The Steelers will play against the New York Jets next week in Hines' Field. "Classic" as Hines said.

The Ravens have

Time to Put Up or Shut Up

Hey Pittsburgh Sports Buzz Readers

One game to go in the regular season, and this one is big. Thanks to that opening kickoff return for a TD to the Jets this is quite an important game. It has a ton of implications for the playoffs.

First of all, it's the Brownies. This rivalry isn't what it used to be, but I still cannot tolerate a loss to those guys in the Brown unis. I don't like Josh Cribbs, I don't like Eric Mangini, I don't like Mike Holmgren and his whiny self, and I don't even like ex Browns like Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow. They're just plain annoying. It's almost enough just to beat these guys just for the satisfaction of beating them.

But, there's much more riding on this game. Remember last year, another win would have put the Steelers in the playoffs, but they lost to the lowly Brownies. It's payback time.

Here are the other things riding on this game:
This win will clinch the 2nd best record in the AFC. What does that mean. Simple. It means that the Steelers will have a first round playoff bye, at least one home playoff game and if they win that game and the Patriots lose their first game a second home game. It's happened before. Without the win in this game they will be a Wild Card team and will have to travel a path they've traveled successfully before, but it will be difficult. Remember the path to Super Bowl XL. Three victories on the road in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Denver. Carson Palmer remembers it, that's where his career started going downhill. Jerome Bettis remembers it. Hard to forget that goalline fumble and subsequent tackle by Ben.

But, the Steelers are much better off playing that first game at home and taking their chances. The bye week will help a few players get a little bit better.

Remember Aaron Smith? He's been trying to rehabilitate that torn tricep he injured earlier this season. I would say he would be a great addition to the run defense, but the Steelers run defense has been historically great this year. What would they have done with Aaron Smith. Who knows, but I sure would like to see what he can do with even more time to rehabilitate that injury.

There's a few other players who are nursing injuries and it would be great to get them as healthy as possible. There's Troy Polamalu, a candidate for defensive player of the year. He has been a key to all the games he's played in this year and probably locked up at least 3 with big plays. Tomlin says that he is close to being able to play against the Browns, but a bye week could help him heal even more.

Then there's the quarterback with one extra large shoe. Does he have a broken foot or did he just aggravate an old injury. Who really knows but the doctors. A week off could do nothing but help that injury, not to mention that broken nose he's dealing with.

Needless to say this team would benefit greatly from a win this week against their AFC north rival. Forget the other stuff, payback would be sweet.