Keisel the Diesel

The Diesel is now a member of the Steelers for Possibly up to 5 more years. That's the term of the contract he just signed with the Steelers. They've been locking up players left and right since the end of last season, starting slow but picking up the pace prior to Keisel's signing. The only cog that should be signed is Casey Hampton. I am very surprised that they signed Keisel merely because they've recently spent quite a bit in bonuses and the vault's gotta be getting low. Maybe they can find a few more gold bricks for snack before the season starts.

The Steelers also made a few cuts and lost an important part of last years Super Bowl team. It looked like Darnell Stapleton was going to lose his starting job to Trai Essex anyway, but he didn't think he wouldn't have any playing time at all this year. The Steelers placed Stapleton in Injured Reserve, which put an end to his season before it started. His knee injury was not responding to surgery performed earlier and that was it. Unfortunate because he played well last season and it hurts the depth chart. Someone else will need to step up. It will probably be Doug Legursky, a free agent from Marshall last year who has impressed the coaches with his play at both Guard and Center. Being able to play more than one position never hurts.

Other cuts include WRs Martin Nance and Steven Black, Center Alex Stepanovich, and Safety Derrick Richardson.

SO MUCH...

for the winning streak. It is now a distant memory. 3 losses in Milwaukee, which adds to the previous losing streak in Milwaukee makes the grand total of the Milwaukee losing streak to 21. Today I watched most of the doubleheader with the Reds. That was painful. What is the percentage of doubleheaders where a team is swept? It has to be less than 10. Well, the Pirates managed to do it. That stinks.

I can't stand the Reds. I just hope this plan works so they can consistently beat the Reds. I couldn't even name more than a couple of players on their team. Bronson Arroyo and his anti Pirate stance. He is annoying. They might be the nicest guys, they just annoy the heck out of me just because they play for the Reds. It burns me up even more than Kip Wells beat the Pirates in the first game. Why couldn't you win a few for the Pirates here and there Kip. They should have jumped all over him early in the game. But they let him get through that and he just kept getting better and better til they took him out. Geez!

So goes the roller coaster ride this season has brought. Not many ups, the 5 game streak was one and I really can't think of others. There's still hope for next year. There's always hope. Maybe they'll have another winning streak. They better. That disappointing number 82 in the loss column is creaping up.

17-0

I don't remember before this year how much talk there was about the 3rd preseason game being the most important and how they gameplan and all, but this year that is all the talk. It probably has been previous years too, but it just seems the discussion has been more than usual.

The Steelers seem to be clicking right now. Roethlisberger took a week off from preseason games and it didn't seem to affect his performance going 15 of 19

SALEMPIRATE

Thanks for your comment SalemPirate. You were absolutely right. The Pirates record on the road has been horrible this year and that continued to show in Milwaukee. 3 losses in a row with not much of a fight put up. Unfortunate that they can't end that losing streak in Milwaukee. They were playing so well in Pittsburgh. I thought for sure they'd could pull out 1.

Poll Results - When will Pirates win?

The results are in and by a margin of 2 to 1 voters expect the next winning season for the Pirates in 2012, coming in a close 2nd was 2011. I myself hope they keep this recent winning trend up and win 82 in 2010. Let's go Bucs!

Stay Tuned for the next poll

2 of 3

The Pirates had to fight to the end of all 3 games but they took 2 of 3 from the World Series Champs. The Legend came through again with a 2, yes 2, run Home Run in the eighth inning to take the lead and from the Matt Capps sealed the deal in the ninth. Remember my article about gel. There's more and more proof of that each day of these guys gelling as a team.

Let's see what they can do on the upcoming 7 game road trip. Let's take at least 4 of these games.

There's the little matter of another losing streak that they need to take care of in Milwaukee. 18 games to be exact. It would be nice to put an end to that and get it behind us. No reason it should continue with the Buccos as hot and in sync as they are.

DEFENSIVE LINE

As discussed in my teaser article earlier today, it looks like the Steelers made a wise choice with their first round draft choice this year with Ziggy Hood. Of course preseason stats don't accurately tell the story of how a player will do during actual games against other team's starters but there is a reason for preseason games other than giving more revenue to the teams. It is to evaluate the new players to see if they measure up. As I said Ziggy seems to be measuring up. He has been providing pressure on opposing QBs in these first two games and that is great to see. The other good news is that the Steelers did not lose any of their starters, so the line remains intact and unless Ziggy blows them away he will not be taking any of their positions this year, but providing much needed quality depth as these guys are getting up there.

The starters
Aaron Smith: When he went down the year after the Super Bowl the Steelers defense had quite a bit of trouble stopping the run. He should have been making the Pro Bowl every year for the last 4 or 5 years, but the end is not the focal point in this defense and it's not their job to get the sacks, but he's provided plenty of pressure on QBs and is the reason the defense was No. 1 for most of the year last year against the run.

Casey Hampton/Chris Hoke: The 2 headed monster. Hampton plays the running downs and takes up double teams while the linebackers rack up the sacks. Best run stopping Nose Tackle in the game, he is a free agent after this year and the Steelers need to resign him if there's any money left. Chris Hoke is the prime example of unselfishness. He has been on this team for 9 years and could have gone to other teams and started for most of them. He is a quality 1B player. He comes in on passing downs and provides a little more mobility for the defense. There is very little dropoff from Hampton.

Brett Keisel: took over a few years ago and Kimo VO left via free agency. He is just as important as the other 2 guys and it looked like early in his years with the Steelers he would provide some sacks. He has one occasionally but he's mostly another run stuffer.

The backups:
If Ziggy continues to play well I would expect him to be the number 1 or 2 backup, but the coaches could have different ideas. They might want him to watch and learn for a while.

Travis Kirschke will continue to back up Aaron Smith but this is his 13th year.

Scott Paxson in his 2nd year out of Penn State will be the number 3 Nose Tackle if they keep 3. If not he'll probably end up on the practice squad or be one of those guys that gets signed, released and resigned. Hopefully the other 2 will stay healthy and he won't be needed.

Nick Eason will back up Brett Keisel. He is in his 7th year out of Clemson.

Steve McLendon, a free agent, and Ra'Shon Harris, their 6th rounder will fight it out for any remaining positions on the D Line. Expect them to Keep Harris as a project.

All in all these guys are the best 3-4 defensive linemen in the NFL. But they need some youth. That's where Ziggy comes in.

Look for the next poll question: How many sacks will Ziggy have?


Next up: Special teams