STEELERS STEELERS STEELERS STEELERS

[thesteelhurtin]

Lackluster off season? The Steelers had a great draft and lost their two biggest cancers in Wallace and Mendy. If you have been paying attention since Colbert has taken over every third year the Steelers have missed the playoffs and everyone comes out of the wood work saying how they are done only to be proven wrong every time. Let's dig a little deeper every where Haley has been his first year the team struggles only to explode the next year. He took the cardinals to the super bowl while having three 1000 yard wrs. His second year in kc best running game in the league and afcw championship after winning 4 games his first season. Before Ben went down he was having a career year and was in the discussion for mvp. Leveon Bell is a huge upgrade over Mendy and is a true work horse. Markus Wheaton brings way more then the straight line speed of Wallace and his go route. Wheaton cab line up all over the place not just on the outside. The oline will be very good as long as they stay healthy. Also unlike the ravens the Steelers still have about 4.5 million dollars to spend.

 

Now onto the defensive side of the football. No more slow old big snack in the middle of it now you have to deal with a 325 pound dieseled NT who can get after the qb. I really don't need to go too much into the defense because well it's the Steelers defense. I will say Jones is going to have a huge impact though. Also the defensive depth is a lot better this year. O and you want to talk about speed I'm calling it now this being his first full year with coach lake DVD is going to surprise some people. You can run all the deep plays you want you aren't getting behind his 4.22 speed.

Lets move onto special teams where the Steelers also upgraded tremendouly. Thomas is going to be a cruise missle on specials along with Williams from FSU. The Steelers also have three legitimate returners in LSH, Dunn, and Brown.

My question to you is what have the ravens done that was so great this off season. They have no ilbers. They lost a bunch of leaders in lewis, reed, and boldin. They have no position wrs and ray rice is getting ling in the tooth when it comes to rbs.

[cravnravn]

7-9 at best.

[thundercleetz]

My question to you is what have the ravens done that was so great this off season. They have no ilbers. They lost a bunch of leaders in lewis, reed, and boldin. They have no position wrs and ray rice is getting ling in the tooth when it comes to rbs.

I agree your Steelers have had a great offseason. I even said as much on your Steelers board. With you it all comes down to protecting Ben (who's been hit more time than any other QB and its not even close) and developing a run game (which is not a given at this point). If Ben can play 16 games you have as good a chance as anyone. At this point I have the consider that a big if. Your defense is great but where are the turnovers? Number one defense looks great on paper but if you're not forcing turnovers you're not giving your offense easy points. You guys haven't forced turnovers at a high level the past three years.

 

What have the Ravens done? Our defense was only sixteenth in the league, there was lots of room for improvement. First off the Ravens have stolen the Steelers motto: two star OLBs who can post at least twenty sacks between them. Backing up Dumervil and Suggs we have Courtney Upshaw, B1G defensive player of the year Jon Simon, and sack specialist Adrian Hamilton. And that is just the outside. Inside Ozzie rebuilt the interior line for pennies on the dollar. Marcus Spears and Chris Canty were brought on board to join Ngata, budding star Arthur Jones, and Pernell McPhee. Those are just the proven guys too. We drafted a monster of a man Brandon Williams (6'3 325 pounds, benched 225 38 times) and if Terrence Cody can ever get his stuff in line, he'll be in the mix too. How many other teams can legitimately go six deep on their front three? Cody and Kemoeuato were starters last year and were ranked by PFW as two of the worst run stoppers in the league. We drastically upgraded our defensive front against the run and pass, and will wear out offensive lines with our depth.

 

In the secondary we got faster and younger. We are very solid with our nickel package at corner with Webb, Jimmy Smith, and Corey Graham. Safeties we drafted Matthew Elam out if Florida with our first round pick and signed Michael Huff, who was second team All Pro in 2011 before the Raiders insanely moved him to corner in 2012. James Ihedigbo is a solid third safety. Sure we lost Ed Reed, and he was a playmaker and leader in the secondary, but he left a lot to be desired in the run game and his range was declining. Heck Ed might not even play the first few games of 2013 due to injury. Pollard was a hitter and intimidated offenses but he wasn't much in coverage. Pollard's physical style had him always beat up. We now have two guys who can play the run and pass and are durable. I told you I like your rookie safety out of Syracuse but Clark and Troy and old. Thomas is going to be expected to play immediately as a fourth round pick.

 

Our weakness is definitely ILB. Jameel McClain is coming off of serious injury. Daryl Smith is solid but also coming off of injury. Arthur Brown, our second round pick out of KSU, is a good looking prospect with elite speed, but his size conerns me as a day one starter. As good as Ellerbe was last season he only played 13 games and was on the injury report every week.

 

Yes, our biggest loss is Boldin. He was a guy who defied X's and O's and could Make a catch even when coverage was great. WR is a question mark. You guys lost Wallace. You have Brown and Sanders and unproven behind them, we have Smith and Jones. Wheaton brings more straight line speed than Wallace? I'm fact checking you there; check the 40 times. And until Wheaton produces Wallace's numbers there is no way to prove otherwise. I do not anticipate WR being a problem for you guys, and I do not anticipate major drop off with us. Here is where we will make up for Boldin's loss: Boldin had 65 catches last season. Dennis Pita had 61 catches, I think he could easily be a an 80 catch guy as Joe's top target. Ed Dickson only had 21 catches in 2012 but had 54 in 2011. I do not think its unrealistic he gets back to that number. That's about fifty catches made up right there. I say there's an excellent chance Torrey Smith gets more than the 49 catches he caught in 2012. If Torrey gets 60 we are in good shape. Any improvement from young guys like Tandon Doss (best hands on the team), Deonte Thompson (fastest guy on the team with legit 4.2 speed, Harbaugh said he could be the favorite for the #2 WR) or Tommy Streeter (6'5 redzone target with 4.4 speed) and we will be beyond fine.

 

How's the Steelers tight-end situation looking?

 

Ray Rice old in the tooth? He's 26 years-old. Check LT's or any other elite back: prime years are 25-28 with a steep drop off from 29-31. Ray has three elite years left in him so don't you worry. And don't forget we have Bernard Pierce as a backup, who is an elite talent. All Pro Vonta Leach at FB and versatile rookie H-Back Kyle 'Juice' Juszczyk (22 TDs for Harvard) and we have one if not the best backfield in the NFL.

 

And finally Joe Flacco. The guy was a new QB under Caldwell. In six games with Caldwell Joe had 15 TDs and 1 INT for 1,703 yards. This is Joe's team now and he is finally comfortable with the OC and play calling. Joe playing at the level he was down the stretch is as good as any QB in the league.

 

I do not want to underrate leadership with us. We will miss Ray and Ed's film study and on the field audibles. But these guys have had a profound effect on our younnger players who are extremely hard workers. Torrey Smith, Lardarius Webb, Ray Rice; these guys are our next set of leaders. Elvis Dumervil is already a leader for us. Not to mention we have an extremely cohesive, intelligent, and experienced coaching staff. Don't worry about us we will be just fine. The division is as much our's now as it is your's.

[thesteelhurtin]

I didn't mean Wheaton had wallaces straigh line speed I meant he has more then just straight line speed. Wallace could only line up out side the numbers where as he can line up at all three spots and having three wrs that can line up anywhere is pretty big threat. That is what made covering ward, El, and Wilson so difficult to cover. Our TE spot worries me a bit but heath is running 100 yard sprints and I believe cutting is next on his list. I think he will be ready week 1. Also with the wrs we have cotch or Burress in the 4 slot.

 

I see a ravens defense that is set up to stop the pass but may struggle against the run again this year.