By Jeffrey Burton
I don’t know how LB/ST Stevenson Sylvester will pan out for us, but there was a lot of intriguing players on the board when we drafted him at the end of the 5th. Last year my guy that got away was Austin Collie, who I saw as the next Hines Ward. Well it seems he’s doing that, only for Peyton Manning and the Colts. This year’s was Kerri Meier out of Kansas who went to the Falcons. Here are some other players that might have been Steelers. We’ll see what happens to them next year and beyond.
6th Round
RB Anthony Dixon – Can’t argue too much here since we got we got Dwyer, but who knew he’d still be there late in Rd 6?
WR Carton Mitchell – A big fast 6’-4” Receiver with good route running, We’ll see how he does with the Browns, Given both Sanders’ and Brown’s 5’11” size the Steelers are no longer letting Ben Roethlisberger’s wishes influence their Draft decisions.
OT Sam Young – Notre Dame’s longtime starter will probably be a longtime contributor for the Cowboys at RT.
QB Dan LeFevour – Smart, gutsy leader and winner that coaches his receivers as well as the rest of the team. Look for him to develop into something special under Bear’s OC Mike Martz. Chicago is the best place for Dan to go.
C/OG/OT Eric Olsen – This one really hurt, I thought the Irish’s tough guy had Steelers written all over him. Pouncey will be a stand out, but we could still use more line competition. He also fit the bill in terms of the versatility the Steelers look for on the O-Line. I look for Olsen to make at least the practice squad for the Broncos this year and maybe develop into a starter.
DE Clifton Greathers – We really needed a Youth Movement on the D-Line to happen. Three linebackers? Really? If he develops we will see him with the Browns.
RB/WR/QB/ATH – James Starks – I really wished we could have got a Slash out of this Draft. There were plenty available. The Buffalo standout dropped because of missing his Senior year with a shoulder injury. Green Bay may have found something here.
WR-QB-RB-ATH Joe Webb – See above. Oh well, we did get Randle-El back. I didn’t see much from Webb in the Senior Bowl, but it was his first game at WR after playing QB his college career. The Vikings score a guy with loads of athletic ability to develop into an NFL player.
S Myron Rolle – This would have been a great late round pick. A talented player who slipped because he is a Rhodes Scholar and a high character guy? Curiouser and Curiouser, as Alice said. He will be with the Powder Puff Terrible Towel Stompers. Yeesh.
7th Round
SS Cody Grim – This guy is scrappy and it would really tick off his dad Russ, if he became a Steeler. A good match to the Buccaneers.
OT Kyle Calloway – A road grader at RT providing depth for the return to Steelers Football. At Buffalo he might be competing for a starting job before long.
LB Dekoda Watson – I would have picked this guy over Sylvester. Another Buccaneer.
SS – Kurt Coleman – I don’t think we did enough to shore up the Safety position. This was a deep draft for Safeties and we could have snagged a future starter. Our friends across the state in the ‘City of Brotherly Love’ will no doubt warmly greet Kurt, he said sarcastically.
QB Zac Robinson – Smilin’ Zac Robinson was the second best QB in the Senior Bowl, behind Dan LeFevour. He looked comfortable in the pro-style offense and threw crisp accurate passes. The Patriots liked him enough to draft him as a developmental QB prospect.
Steelers Football
Ben’s foolishness and or criminal behavior has forced the Steelers hand. With a four game suspension at least, the Falcons, Titans, Buccaneers and Ravens have the entire offseason to prepare for whoever wins the starting QB spot. They will tee off on Byron, Dennis or Charlie and the only way to protect them is the return of Steelers Football. Maurkice Poncey should help this immediately at OG.
Sean Kugler our new O-Line Coordinator made chicken salad out of you know what at Buffalo last year. He brought OT Jonathan Scott with him. With OG-C Poncey and OT-OG-C Chris Scott being drafted and the emergence OG-OT Ramone Foster, there should be some competition on the O-Line.
The Deuce (Art Rooney II) has been vocal about the need to return to our offensive roots. He has impressed me as someone that’s going to be a little more hands on than his father, Dan, the esteemed Ambassador to Ireland.
Especially if he thinks things are going wrong.
With the addition of Jonathan Dwyer and return of Mendenhall, Moore, Redman, Summers (who I haven’t given up on) and Logan we should be able to develop a scheme diverse running game that will keep OC’s scratching their heads.
We can pound Mendenhall, Dwyer and Redman up the middle and run the end with Mendenhall, Moore and Logan. Logan could be our scat back, slot tweener. Just get him the ball in space and let him turn on the jets. I can foresee the return to the Power-I that was the Steelers mainstay for years, as well.
This is also a very good receiving group out of the backfield with Redman and Dwyer being the only question marks.
Throw in the occasional gadget play with Randle-El and company, some play-action passing and the occasional bomb downfield and there you have it. Steelers Football returns.
Now, how did we get to where we are now?
The Big Problem
I’ve been watching the NFL Network’s Steelers Marathon. One of the main things that has impressed me, is that no matter how good a player was he was never bigger than the team. The 70’s Steelers with all of their future Hall of Famers never had an ego that outshone another’s. The team wasn’t built on Terry Bradshaw’s wishes. Terry was a player within a system and while he could adapt the team to what he thought should happen on the field by calling his own plays he was never bigger than the rest of the team. Having watched all those games as a kid and young man, they are burned into my memory. Terry for all his big play heroics always tried to approach the game as a manager.
Recently the team had been drifting a little more every year to being Big Ben specific.
Big Ben was getting bigger than the team. Those days have to be done. If nothing else he is unreliable. We have to be able to plug whatever QB we have into a scheme that will be successful for all. And I feel we should look to the Draft next year and see if there is a OB that might be Ben’s successor. No, I don’t think Dennis Dixon is the answer. He throws a very flat pass and can be skittish in the pocket, plus he’s one additional knee injury away from a possible career ender. Do I think he could become a starter for an NFL team? Yes, I do. Do I think he can lead a team to a Super Bowl? No, I don’t.
Some candidates to watch next year:
Jake Locker – Washington – 6’-3” 226 lbs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PbienS_enY&feature=fvsr
I love his release and variety of passes. He is the best college running QB since Michael Vick. He’s a little run happy but that might be their offensive scheme. He seems like he’s got a good head on his shoulders in interviews as well.
Christian Ponder – Florida State – 6’-3” 227 lbs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCuu6UyO3B0
He has good mobility as well and throws a lot of pro-style passes in Florida State’s offense. High character guy.
Colin Kaepernick – Nevada 6’-6” 220 lbs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BCJeBchzPA
He’s a bit of a sleeper in Nevada’s weird offense. This guy is an athletic freak that could be Joe Flacco on Wheels. He can get the ball downfield in a hurry with both his arm and his legs. A very interesting and so far mostly overlooked prospect. A lot of Draft sites have the abysmal Terrelle Pryor of OSU in front of him. Oh, and his name fills out a jersey nicely.
Ricky Stanzi also has some potential, playing in Iowa’s pro-style offense, as does Delaware’s Pat Devlin, but there is not enough film or info on any of the prospects above to know how they will shake out. We will have next season to evaluate these very promising athletes.
Random Thoughts
The movie “The Blindside” is not that good. It’s not that the message isn’t good, it’s just shot like a made for TV movie and acted like one too. The Director, John Lee Hooker is a hack and Sandra Bullock’s performance is only above average. I’m a big Sandra Bullock fan by the way. I thought I was going to get my Guy Cry movie on and I felt nothin’.
A Sandra look you don’t often see:
http://www.actress-pictures.com/sandra-bullock/sandra-bullock-61.html
And I like her for her acting too… She is the good witch after all. Right ?
Closing Thoughts
All that being said about replacing Ben, after watching NFL Network’s “America’s Game.”, of the 2005 Super Bowl season I have this. The Ben Roethlisberger that is on that film, that is a constant and good teammate, that commits himself to those around him and puts the needs of his teammates, especially Jerome Bettis, to whom he delivers four game balls, the final at the Super Bowl, above his own, if we get that Ben back, it would be most welcome.
He needs to be that person both on and off the field and to both men and women.
Go Stillers!
About the Author Jim McMillen
The Editor & Chief, the brains so to say, behind Pittsburgh Blitz. Jim is a rabid sports fan who just loves his Stillers, Pens and Buccos. Feel free to contact us at steelerguy26[@]yahoo.com if you have any questions or comments or would like to join our staff and write for Pittsburgh Blitz.
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You’re right, that was good for me. Ben should focus on the game, or he’ll become another one of those million dollar bodies with a ten cent head.
I just hope Ben has learned his lesson and finally focuses on football 100% now and stays away from the party boy life style. He is young and still makes mistakes. Just like the rest of us he is not perfect and had to learn the hard way.
I wish LeFevour would have gotten a shot. I think the Bengals will be better with him.