thundercleetz

Common Suggs, start earning that $60+ million!!! Get a pass rush, they have you one-on-one!

Man, Ellerbe has some jets.

You know Cam, if you go on a different snap count you give your line a chance to pick up the blitz.

We only have three receivers in a route... =P

Horrible routes on that play. Heap, Washington, and Clayton were all right next to each other covered by ONE defender. Why wasn't anyone in the flats?

I am not worried, it is obvious that we are the better team then Oakland, they have been playing over their heads. I think we are going to dominate this half.

Demetrius must have had another "bad week of practice." I am tired of this bullcrap. Williams is a playmaker, give him some PT!!!!!

Or put Demetrius Williams in the game... why is Clayton playing?

You are right, since Houston won this is the scenerio Pittsburgh would need to get into the playoffs.

Flacco did have a problem getting rid of the ball last week, but on that last sack there was no one open. Mason and Clayton were getting bitched on the press. The Raiders have big corners, why aren't Williams and Washington in the game!?

It doesn't effect anything, NE owns the tie-breaker over Cincy. Cincy will likely rest its starters. If they win, they play us and Pittsburgh gets in the playoffs, if they lose they play the Jets again next week.

If Cam gets hired I would be more than comfortable with Hue Jackson taking over as our OC. I just do not see Cam getting a head coaching job in this league again. From everything I have heard he is not very outspoken or commanding and is more of a behind the scenes type of guy.

We will also have had the advantage of playing all the AFC playoffs teams during the regular season, and we were in it until the end with all of these teams (except we beat the Chargers). We know we can compete, which is like you said, all we can ask for. I felt we had a gimme game in the playoffs last season with the Dolphins, there will be no gimmes this year. What encourages me is the win in the playoffs against the Titans. That is a team we lost a close game to during the regular season and came back and beat them in the playoffs. Who says Harbaugh and co. cannot do the same against the Pats, Colts, or Bengals?

This is no different than the Jacksonville game for last season's finale. We needed a win against a struggling, but dangerous team and we got it. I do not expect anything to be different today. Harbaugh dominates inferior, sub-.500 teams.

I bought my dad and little brother stitched black Ray Rice and Ray Lewis jerseys from lookjerseys.com for Christmas. They were only $20 each and look legit. The only catch is that shipping is $20, so you might as well buy more than one when ordering.

Every team plays their share of cupcake teams that boost the stats. It is not fair to take that into consideration. The bottom line is that we dominate the teams that we should.

I think that is a little unfair of a comparison. Berkman got a six-year, $85 million contract back in 2005 at the age of 31 ($14.17M/yr.), Howard broke into the majors late and still has not hit free agency, and Justin Morneau is another guy who had his salary abritration years bought out. Morneau signed a six-year, $85 million contract as well back in 2008 at the age of 27 ($14.17M/yr.) and Howard signed a three-year $54 million extension in 2009 at the age of 29 ($14.33M/yr.). My point is that if any of these guys hit free agency they would have easily gotten Tex-money. You cannot compare the contracts of players who had their arbritration years bought out by their own team to players that signed free agent contracts. If we had the stud at first, then yes, a contract in the $13-15M/yr. range is fair. But when you have to get the guy in free agency, you have to pony up. Lets see what the Phillies, Cards, and Reds do when Howard, Pujols, and Votto hit free agency. To get Votto or Gonzalez would require giving up the farm (remember, Cincy wouldn't give up Votto in a potential Bedard deal). It does seem like everyone else has that power hitting 1B, but how come we don't have one? And it is not just about power either, Howard, Tex, Fielder, Votto, Gonzalez, Berkman, and Morneau all post an OPS north of .900. So not only are they hitting for power, they are getting on base. Could Reimold post a .900+ OPS? Maybe, I wouldn't put it past him. Then comes into the question, how much do you value solid defense? Tex, Votto, Gonzalez, Berkman, and Morneau all play very good defense. Sure we could put Reimold at first, but that is not as easy of a position as everyone thinks it is. After seeing Scott, Wigginton, Millar, Huff, Segui, Gibbons, etc. stink it up the past five years plus, I want someone who is solid on the bag. Yeah, I cannot criticize the Loewen pick as he was seen as a stud. Nevertheless this reinforces my point about how getting a stud first baseman through the draft is luck. In 2001 we sweep the last three meaningless games against the Yanks and lost our inside track on Tex in the draft. We go Wade Townsend in the 2004 MLB draft then Billy Butler gets picked seven picks later. In 2008 we go Matusz in the first round, which is now seen as an excellent pick, but two stud first base prospects were on the board in Smoak and Alonso. In 2009 we hold the fifth pick again and there is nowhere near the amount of quality hitters on the board as there were in 2008. There have only been two All-Star first base prospects taken in the first round of the draft this decade, Tex and Gonzalez. Even in the draft can't miss first base prospects don't come around every year. So here is my main point, getting a stud first baseman through the draft is a crapshoot and getting one through trade requires giving up the farm for a couple year rental if you are not willing to overpay. Thus, overpaying in free agency is the easiest way to get one of these studs. But even then a guy like Tex only comes up once every five years or so.

From John Clayton: Like you stated max, Flacco is only going to get better. I think it is obvious that he has surpassed his draft class rival Matt Ryan. Ryan has more weapons on offense and is going through his own sophomore slump.

Oops, double post!

I always hated Bret Hart. I was always a Shawn Michaels fan.

Those numbers should only look better after next week's game. If we upgrade the pass rush and add depth to the secondary, we will be very scary next season. Anyways, hats off to Mattison. It took him awhile to adjust to his personel, but the gameplans the past month or so have been very solid. It looks like Harbaugh made the right choice. Lets get to the playoffs now! By the way, this week's game against Oakland is no different then last year's season finale against Jacksonville. We needed a win against a struggling, but potentially dangerous, opponent to get into the playoffs. Harbaugh had the guys motivated and we dominated. I expect the same thing this year, we know what we need to do, and we will dominate the inferior competition like we have the whole season.

This is exactly why I believe we should have gotten Tex, Gonzalez will not be on the market until after the 2011 season. Then why haven't we gotten one? Sure, we could get Gonzalez, Cabrera, or Fielder, but we would have to give up the farm and if we didn't offer that $200 million contract, they would bolt as soon as they hit free agency. I guess we could grab a power 1B like Carlos Delagdo at any time, but not a guy like Tex, Gonzalez, M-Cab, or Fielder (well, we could have gotten Fielder, but we went for Adam Loewen). I agree with this, which is why I truly believe Tex's $140 million offer last offseason was geniune. McPhail has a plan and I have never doubted it. This organization is heads and shoulders better than it was when McPhail first took over. I am glad McPhail is not spending on this year's free agent class. Much like the potential Carlos Lee contract and Alfonso Soriano's contract, we would probably regret that offer in three years (which is what the Stros and Cubs are starting to do now). 8-years at $16 million-plus is too much for a LF. I am just saying we would be in a lot better shape this season to contend if we had signed Tex last offseason (McPhail admitted as much). And signing Tex to a $200 million contract would not come back to bite us as he is likely to give the Yankees solid production over the length of the contract. Maybe we will spend on Gonzalez in 2011 or Mauer in 2010, but the Red Sox or Yanks will probably give these guys $200 million. I do not think McPhail is afraid to spend, I just think he is afraid to overspend. He has a number in his mind of what a player should be worth, but often times that number is higher in reality because of competition. To get a big bat, you have to overpay, which is what McPhail will not do. And in the case of Tex and Gonzalez, not only do you get your big bat, but you likely keep that bat out of the lineup of a division rival, so that must be taken into consideration as well. When you do find a franchise bat (which I consider Tex, Gonzalez, M-Cab, and Fielder to be) who is likely to give you solid production over the length of their contract, whether or not that player is worth an extra $5 million a year is irrelevent (which was the difference between our offer to Tex and the Yanks) in the sense that you will not get another opportunity to get a bat like that for another three years. So in the mean time, that extra $5-10 million is going toward stop gaps like Wigginton and Atkins. Case in point, look at the stop gaps in the outfield like Sosa, Gibbons, and Payton that we paid for because we did not take that extra step for Vlad. Those guys more than paid for the extra money per season during the length of Vlad's contract in LA, so in a sense we DID overpay by not getting Vlad. And the sad part is that Vlad put up solid production for the length of his contract, much like Tex probably will. We are curently on track to do the same thing with Tex with the likes of Wigginton and Atkins (who will make a combined $8-15 million this season), so we better hope that Snyder or Bell pans out.

Yes, Tex might have gotten too much money, but there is no denying his talent as a franchise player. He will post a .920 OPS and play GG defense for the next seven years, he has a skill set that is going to age very well. Add that to his hometown appeal and I would have given the guy whatever he wanted. If you are not going to overpay for a guy like Tex, then who are you going to overpay for? Worst comes to worst you could have always traded him for a package of top prospects down the road. Tex proved in Texas and Anaheim that he could be "the guy" in the lineup. Players like him are hard to come by in trade and rarely hit the free agent market. The only way to get these types of hitters is (1) get lucky in the draft or (2) overpay in free agency. That is just the name of the game. Holliday on the other hand is more of an unknown. He doesn't play good defense and he is not an anchor in the lineup. He struggled as "the man" in Oakland, and really only thrived in loaded lineups in Colorado or hitting in front of or behind the best hitter in baseball. There is no way he is worth that much money, and he only plays LF. Now, if he was a GG 1B with his bat, I would be much more inclined to give him that deal, but not as an average left fielder. I know what you are going to say dc, for every Tex there will be a Gonzalez or Fielder on the market soon enough. Well, what do you do when these guys are offered $200 million contracts? Is that too much? Overpaying is just part of putting a competitive team on the field unless you get lucky in the draft.

Maybe Holliday could be the one moving to first base? I am not sure if I like this offer. I do not see Holliday as a franchise player, and this is a franchise-type contract. BTW, here is the Fox article: The same article says the Cards "had made a proposal that could reach $140 million over eight years." How are the Cards going to pay Pujols after paying Holliday this much?

NO WAY on Hines Ward, I do not want that asshole on this team no matter how good he is! D-Will has been a waste of space because Harbaugh decided not to use him the whole season. I would definitely bring D-Will back for cheap next season. I still believe he could become a deep threat for us. Flacco was looking his way a lot in the Steelers game, the Steelers had to account for him opening up our run game.