thundercleetz

Thanks man. Yeah I sent a message to the admin asking him for registration letting him know you told me about the board.

Personal attacks yes, cities no... haha jk! In all seriousness I like having Steelers fans around for the outside perspective. I would like to post on your Steelers board.

Right I agree. Ben was having an awesome season. I took that into consideration. What I also took into consideration was Ben's durability. He gets hurt a lot and takes a lot of unneccessary hits trying to extend plays. I do not have a probelm with that as that has won him a lot of games (heck, won him a Super Bowl against the Cardinals), but would you rather have potentially 12 games of Ben vs. 16 games of Flacco? How many more hits does Ben have in him? I cannot imagine he will be a guy that will play past his mid-30s as an elite guy. In this tough division where every game matters durability makes the choice difficult. If the Steelers can keep Ben upright, I think he is also primed for a huge season. BTW, I loved your draft. I thought your first two picks, Jones and Bell are perfect Steelers. Markus Weedon fits your new mold of WR like Sanders and Brown, average sized guys who are explosive with outstanding speed and run precise routes. We are in for some serious battles this season.

Orioles are playing great baseball. The defense is bulletproof. It took us a whole season last year to get our defense straight. This year we will have a full season of solid defense, baring injury. I think that will go a long way in stopping potential losing streaks. The starting pitching still worries me a little bit, but Hammel, Chen, Gonzo, and Tillman seem to have our 1-4 locked up. If we could just get one more guy to be consistent I think we would be set. We could probably use another bat as well. As it is, we do not have a DH that can hit RHP. Pierce crushes LHP, but RHP is giving our DH spot a lot of trouble. Another well rounded bat would be nice. The Cuban player we signed, Henry Urrutia is a 26-year old 1B/OF that is currently crushing the ball at AA Bowie in his first ever minor league season (.339/.403/.589/.993 2 HR 15 RBI in 14 G). Maybe this guy can give us some hitting depth later in the season.

From an outside perspective, I thought firing Bruce Arians was a terrible move. I think that caused a lot more unrest in the lockerroom than a lot of Steelers fans would care to admit.

I am perfectly fine staying with who we have at WR. I think brining in a vet now would be a bad move. In past years we have seen TJ Housh, Lee Evans, and many other washed up vets come in with little success, only taking away from valuable reps younger guys could be getting. Let the younger guys get the reps, and come mid-preseason is the diagnosis still looks terrible then bring in a vet.

Here's how I break it down: I would take Ben over the Joe Flacco we have seen the first five years of his career. I would take the Joe Flacco we saw under Jim Caldwell for the last three games of the regular season and through the playoffs over Ben. We saw Flacco's ceiling toward the end of last season, and that ceiling, IMO, is higher than Ben. I think a full offseason with Caldwell and Flacco is primed for a huge year where he gets himself into the conversation with Ben. In the span of seven games (only six if you do not count the one QTR he played against the Bengals) Flacco threw for 1703 yards, 15 TDs, 2 INTs. The only argument Flacco has over Ben is the six game hot streak that resulted in Flacco winning the Super Bowl MVP and beating the best QBs in the league. I think if Flacco shows that type of consistency in 2013 he will overtake Ben. Until then, I have to say Ben is the better QB.

Right I agree. Even domes have their own set of problems, as we've seen in Minny the roof caving in. The cost of stadiums nowadays is going extraordinarily above and beyond simply inflation. M&T cost $220 million ($310 million in 2013 dollars), First Energy in Cleveland cost $283 million ($390 million 2013), and Heinz cost $281 million ($364 2013). All these stadiums were late 90s/early 2000s. For comparison: Lucas Oil $720 million ($768 million 2013), MetLife $1.6 billion, Cowboys Stadium $1.3 billion, Santa Clara Stadium $1.2 billion, new Vikings Stadium about $950 million. As you see inflation is not the variable here, stadiums are becoming as expensive as national defense. My point is teams with outside stadiums in good downtown locations (us, Pittsburgh, Philly, Chicago, Cincy, Cleveland among others) are going to be more likely fixing and doing major rennovations to their current stadium than build new ones. M&T is going to outlive all of us on this board I believe. I could see a multi-hundred million dollar rennovation down the road to keep up with standards. The location is too good to give up in this lifetime. I think more teams and cities are going to be more inclined to take this approach.

Howard Stern made this joke: "I bet players that aren't gay will come out!" No one had any idea who this guy was before this! Jokes aside, I admire the guy's courage. Hopefully society gets to the point one day where someone's sexual orientation doesn't matter at all. This is a step in the right direction.

Some states maybe but Maryland's budget is stretched so thin the lottery revenues are probably allocated for the next twenty years. If this wasn't the case you wouldn't have seen expansion of gambling, increased gas tax, rain tax, etc. This picture could very well change in the future however. Crav my only point is these newer stadiums like Dallas, Indy, Houston and Arizona are much more architecturally efficient. Not to mention the cost of these stadiums is so much astronomically more than stadiums even in the late 90s they HAVE to last a long time as the city isn't paying them off for years. Case in point, why do these college stadiums last so long? The schools simply cannot afford to build new ones, nor have the space, so they will keep renovating the current one. I think the same will be with our football stadium. Anyways Crav, you don't think the Bank is built to last?

Those domes built in the 70-80s were disastrous. Detroit, Seattle, Indy, Houston, Atlanta, Tampa Bay (Rays), Minnesota, New Orleans and St. Louis built domes. The domes in Detroit, Seattle, Indy, and Houston have been replaced and didn't even last thirty years. Minnesota is building a new stadium, Tampa Bay and Atlanta want new stadiums and New Orleans has put hundreds of millions into the Superdome and it is still a subpar stadium (not including Katrina money). The Rams want the city of St. Louis to foot $700 million to renovate their dome or are threatening to leave for LA. Do not forget the dome in Toronto which is poor and the dome built in Montreal which was a reason for the Expos leaving. Tying this in, the original plan for Baltimore was for a Baltodome on the site of Camden Yards to act as a home to the Colts and Orioles. Thank God that didn't pass Maryland legislation as we would be stuck with a crappy dome. No way Baltimore would have been able to build two new stadiums now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Colts_relocation_to_Indianapolis#Baltodome_project We are really fortunate to have two beautiful stadiums. Camden Yards will be able to stand the test of time and will probably more than outlive most of us. M&T is not flashy like a lot of these new stadiums, but the location is great and it is a solid football stadium. Structure is sound so it should be easy to maintain.

Eugene Monroe of the Jags may be available for trade for future draft pick(s).

The way I think of it is: if we did not release or give a pay cut to Boldin then we do not get Dumervil. I don't think Ozzie screwed up, I think he wanted to allocate more money to the defense. At least we spent money. The Pats did the same tactic with Welker and got a low cap number from Brady and still didn't spend.

Good pick... IR candidate. Essentially redshirt him, get to 100% and a full year-and-half in an NFL weight room and see what he can do next training camp. Nothing lost here. Low risk high potential reward.

I noticed that as well: the DBs he's going against look really slow.

I was really disappointed to see the Niners take Quinton Patton a pick before us in the fourth round. I think he could have been an excellent fit for us. I do not know much about Mellette, but interesting measurables and outstanding production even if it was in the FCS. I know the guy had a big game against Vanderbilt and had a goodmweekmofmpractice in the Senior Bowl. Honestly, unless he tears up camp Mellette probably ends up taking Tommy Streeter's spot on IR and has a redshirt year.

I agree with papa Leach might be out the door. This kid also seems to have H-Back and right end flexibility which could give us value as we will only be able to keep one of Pitta and Dickson after next season.

On ESPN they said that Mike Vrabel was really trying to sell Simon to NFL teams. I guess he's taken a mentoring role to Simon. Simon put up outstanding numbers at his pro day. This could very well be a JJ-like pick for us in the future.

I agree in an ideal world the Colts should have certainly called his bluff and waited it out. However, Irsay told Accorsi he had until April 19 to make a deal and if Accorsi did not Irsay would get involved. That's when Accorsi said he'd resign if Irsay delt Elway. Accorsi said he had a plan to trade the pick, but he also wanted to call Elway's bluff and wait it out. From watching this documentary it sounded to me Accorsi had cold feet and wasn't sure what to do. If he wanted to trade Elway, he had multiple opportunities to do so and get Marino and other picks/players but he did not. If Acorsi wanted to call Elway's bluff he should have simply resigned, because Irsay told him that was not an option. Remember, Acorsi was an inexperienced GM. Look at his previous drafts (now I'm not sure how much of that was Irsay's influence) but they were terrible drafts. I think Accorsi's inexperience really shined in this situation. Yes Irsay screwed the pooch with the trade but Accorsi dropped the ball by not making a deal on draft day for the guy he wanted. Accorsi knew Elway was a sunk cost at that point but failed to savage the situation.

I love the Brown pick. I heard an interview with Brown and the guy has the FBI (football intelligence) to match his physical skills. He's not the biggest guy but his weight room numbers are very impressive (bench, squat and hang clean). With his speed he was a three down backer at KSU. He would actually line up in the slot sometimes to jam the receivers. Huge potential here.

I think they will mesh great! Both have range to play a two deep look. Both a solid tacklers and can come up in the box. Huff might be a better matchup for tight-end because of his height, and Elam may be better against backs coming out of the backfield with his quickness. Gives us great flexibility here.

I understand that but IMO Arcosi should have made a deal. It was his responsibility to know that he had a lunatic owner and honestly a hold out to call Elway's bluff was unrealistic. At the same time, Acorsi didn't want to be the guy that traded Elway, but from this documentary Acorsi said he had a plan. To me it sounded like Acorsi was unsure of his plan which is why he didn't pull the trigger. Acorsi said he wanted Marino, he could have easily had him. IMO, Acorsi should have simply resigned if he wasn't going to make a deal (which he said he would if Irsay traded Elway but didn't go through with it).

Interesting... I didn't even know who Earl Morral was. But league MVP that year, impressive record, I see why he played that game. Thanks for sharing. Wow the 30 for 30 was a great watch! Blame Irsay all you want about how this situation was handled, Arcosi has to shoulder his share of the blame for dropping the ball. First he was asking for three first rounders (two in '83, one in '84) and two second rounders (one in '83, '84). Then Arcosi after drafting Elway told any team wanting Elway had to give up a top ten pick and another first rounder. Arcosi's plan was to gets the extra picks/players, then take Marino in the top ten. The Colts staff coached Marino at the Senior Bowl that year and got along great. SD was offering pick 20, 22, a player and a second rounder I believe, but would not give up the fifth pick so Acorsi said no deal. By the time pick 20 came the Chargers reached a contract extension with Dan Fouts. Now here is where things get interesting. Arcosi told the Raiders if you get a top ten pick, you can have Elway. Note here, Al Davis is currently in a lawsuit with the NFL over having his move from Oakland to LA blocked (Raiders won that lawsuit and were awarded $29 million). The Raiders told the Colts they had a deal to move up to the Bears spot at pick six (Howie Long would have been traded to the Bears as part of the deal). The Raiders would have gotten Elway, Colts would have gotten Marino at six and other picks/players. Next thing you know the Raiders are told no deal by the Bears. Apparently the league office called the Bears to confirm the trade, not the other way around (Bears were on the clock). Conspiracy here because of the lawsuit? The agent for Elway and Marino thinks so, as does Arcosi. Here's where Arcosi really dropped the ball. The Broncos asked him, if you were to have the fourth pick who would you like, just in case. He told them Northwestern guard Chris Hinton. That is why the Broncos took a guard, Hinton. Arcosi could have simply said Marino and he would have gotten what he wanted. Even as the draft went on and Marino fell, Arcosi could have made a deal. Of course Irsay goes on to blow the trade. Other interesting notes: - New England really wanted Jim Kelly. Irish guy in Boston was envisioned to be a big hit. Of course Buffalo took Kelly and Kelly didnt even want to go there initially (played in the USFL first; the league folding and $8M changed his mind). - For our Steeler fans that lurk: Why did Pittsburgh pass on the hometown kid Marino? Apparently Art Rooney LOVED Marino. He told Noll we could draft Marino and trade back into the first round to draft defensive tackle Rivera also. Nolan and the front office asked where Rooney got the idea and he said a local beet writer. Noll said he was taking Rivera. Quote from Art Rooney "When I go to the pearly gates to meet my dad I'm scared the first thing he'll say is: 'why didn't you take Marino!'" Dolphins beat the Steelers in the '84 AFC Championship: imagine how many more Super Bowls the Steelers could have won with Marino? - What is amazing is all these teams that wanted Elway passed on Marino (the Bears twice, the Chargers three times). - George Steinbrenner's fascination with Elway was interesting. In '83 Steinbrenner called his GM into his office and unveiled his 1985 starting lineup, had Elway in RF and Mattingly at 1B. The GM asks "who's Mattingly?" George says don't worry he's pretty good. http://www.milehighreport.com/2013/4/24/4260050/30-for-30-elway-to-marino-10-revelations

I'll have to checkout that article. Question about Super Bowl III: how were the Colts considered such a favorite against the Jets despite Unitas being injured and not playing? Nowadays I do not care how good the rest of the team is, if your elite QB is not playing odds are instantly changed. Was it different then? Follow up question: why didn't Unitas play in the first three quarters? I know he came in the fourth and instantly led a scoring drive. What was going on there?

Awesome commentary guys! I love hearing this kind of insight about the "old days" (I know it's probably painful for some but thanks for sharing). I'm pretty excited to watch the documentary tonight! 30 for 30 rarely disappoints.