Beer We Go Steelers

We are in the heart of the pre-seasons with one game in and a host of interesting story lines!

We were remiss in not commenting on the retirement of four Steeler greats, which is where we will start today.

-Joey Porter, never wanted to leave the Steelers and had some very productive years after he left town including a 17 sack season with the Dolphins. He was as tough as they come and had a great career here. To me, his signature moment was when he came around the corner and crushed Peyton Manning to “seal” the upset against Indy.  Hey that’s how I remember it. He was a little outspoken and his mouth got him into trouble but no one can doubt his play making ability!

-Marvell Smith, was a building block and did a terrific job first on the right side opposite Wayne Gandy and then as the Left Tackle when Gandy departed. He was a pro bowler and of all the people who retired in this group, his departure is still felt. Never has a more important player toiled so anonymously.

– Aaron Smith, would also qualify as someone who was very important, the “when Aaron” plays stats v. when he didn’t were pretty glaring. He was universally loved by his teamates and although his body gave out, his heart never did! He was everything that a Steeler is supposed to be!

-“Fast” Willie Parker, was arguably the greatest non-drafted offensive player in Steeler history, if not the entire NFL. He burst onto the scene and made Deuce Staley and Verron Haynes footnotes in Steelers history. He holds the record for the longest rushing play in Super Bowl History, as well as most yards in a game for a Steelers RB. Injuries slowed him down and eventually he was replaced, but his stats are all over the Steelers record book!   

They were four great Steelers and will be missed.

Out with the old and in with the new…

-Antonio Brown and Ike Taylor had two fairly serious dust-ups. The one thing that I can say is that one is a hotshot young guy and the other a wiley veteran. It is 110 degrees in the shade at Latrobe and I am sure tempers raged a little. Hey so be it, they seem to be buddies today.

-Max Starks is back today. I think Max will start one more year and be the bridge to Adams or Gilbert. He did a good job last year when he was healthy.

-Well traveled veteran Justin Peelle was signed to replace David Johnson. I think the winner here is Wesley Saunders, who will most likely get a second chance when he gets back. Peelle is a short term solution and might just be a camp body.

Winning and losing doesn’t really matter at this time of year, the goal of the preseason is to get the first team quick work and make sure no one gets hurt, then see if you have anything worth building on. The Steelers achieved one of the two objectives.

The Steelers have some good young prospects and had a good night on offense. The bad news they lost David Johnson for the season and had injuries to Mike Adams, who had a productive game and Jonathon Dwyer who ripped off a 33 yard run.

Losing Johnson is a dissapointment because he had a great opening drive and it is obvious that the H-Back/Fullback is going to play a huge role in the new offense. Dwyer and Adams will both be fine. 

The offense looks good but obviously needs work. Chris Rainey IS exciting and his speed was as advertised. He had some very explosive plays and looked great. Dave DeCastro opened up some nice holes and caved in the Eagles defense on some big blocks.

The highlight of the night was Al Woods who had an interception, it is always fun watching the big men with the ball.

Have to be honest, I respect the NFL rule of “next man up” but it is strange not seeing Hines Ward or James Farrior.  

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

While it is only preseason it is very exciting to see a game on the schedule. I couldn’t be happier to have the Steelers back and I am looking forward to watching the game. (Albeit tomorrow afternoon not tonight.)

Tonights Keys to the Game:

-The New Offense: You have about as much chance of seeing the real offense as you do of seeing Puxatawny Phil on Ground Hog’s day with his shadow. But they do promise to show some wrinkles with a huge emphasis on running. I would say look for one series maybe two depending on length for Big Ben and crew.

-The Rebuilt O-Line: Mike Adams and David DeCastro will get the start tonight with Willie Colon and Max Starks being out. Both will eventually be starters and this will be their first test.

-Speaking of Rookies: The rookies will be tested early and often. The most heralded is Chris Rainey, who will return punts and kicks. But look for the Inside Linebacker battle to heat up as well as the 2nd string Running Back.  

-Ben’s backups: Look for Jerrod Johnson to get an extended look. I don’t think both Charlie Batch and “Hard Luck” Byron Leftwich will make the team unless Johnson is extremely lousy. This will most likely be Johnson’s longest look.

-BWG thoughts and prayers are with Andy Reid!

It was a great weekend in Canton as two Steelers Greats were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame!

Dermonti Dawson who in the immortal words of Myron Cope “was the all world, all everything Center for the Pittsburgh Steelers” had the unenviable task of filling the shoes of Mike Webster the Steelers Hall of Famer! Dawson did it and he anchored the position for  13 seasons yielding seven pro bowl appearances. He was an ironman playing 16 games in ten straight seasons and absolutely ran people over pulling from the Center spot. I am very happy to have seen him play his whole career. Dawson’s praise for Mike Webster, was the best highlight of his moving speech.

He also shared his mantra; “Do everything with a purpose, Live, act, play and work with a purpose, with a passion and more importantly with honor!”

http://www.profootballhof.com/multimedia/inductions/2012/8/4/dermontti-dawson-enshrinement-speech/

I never saw Jack Butler play, after reading up on him, I wish I did. He played with discipline and had an incredible work ethic. Above all he was the best DB on some down trodden Steeler teams.

Butler can claim to be one of three players in the history of the league with four interceptions returned for a touchdown and four receiving touchdowns. He was named to four Pro Bowls and had 52 Interceptions when he retired!

He was a ferocious hitter and gave a very memorable albeit short speach.  

“I was also fortunate enough to play in the great city of champions, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,” said Butler during his speech.

http://www.profootballhof.com/multimedia/inductions/2012/8/4/jack-butler-enshrinement-speech/

Coming up next Four Steeler greats retire as Steelers!

The Steelers have brought back Max Starks, who helped stabilize the O-Line last year in a pinch. He came off the couch after week four to solidify the Steelers and he was given the BWG Game Beer! He injured his knee last season in the Denver debacle and got a clean bill of health last week.

Starks and rookie Mike Adams, their second-round draft choice, will contend for the starting job at left tackle in training camp. Either way Starks figures to get playing time and having him Gilbert and Adams in the mix again strengthens the O-line.

With his signing the Steelers released Jonathon Scott. Scott opened last season as the starting LT and had very little success and was back to the bench by week 5. He started in 14 of the 28 games he played for the Steelers, including three playoff games over the last two seasons.

Today marks one month until the opening of Training camp at St. Vincents, here are your quick hits for the month:

-Mewelde Moore goes to the Colts: I am surprised more Steelers haven’t headed there, Mewelde was an excellent addition and really the first “Tomlin guy”. He was solid asset and did a great job for the Steelers. In the NFL it is “next man up” and the Steelers have Baron Batch who sat out last year and they have 5th rounder Chris Rainey.

-Chris Rainey is of course very interesting, he is so interesting that he could possibly be replacing the Dos Equis guy as the “most interesting man in the world”. I have never seen a 5th round pick get this much hype. Not sure how he is going to play out but one thing is certain, he is FAST!

-The Offensive line is rounding into shape. The interior looks to be its strongest in years with Pouncey being joined by Willie Colon and 1st rounder David DeCastro. The tackle spots are up for grabs and it looks like Marcus Gilbert on the blind side and 2nd rounder Mike Adams on the right. Anything at this point will be an improvement from last season.

-Steelers release Troy Smith. I have to be honest, not sure why, but this bothered me. I don’t understand why he didn’t even make it to camp. The Steelers need to have some young blood behind Big Ben and I thought Smith was worth a look. He reminded me a little of Steeler nemesis Jeff Blake, kind of an underutilized asset that might do some damage in a pinch. The Steelers are going with Charlie Batch who struggled in limited duty last year and Byron Leftwich, who has been out for two seasons, Jerod Johnson will make a bid for the practice squad.

-The first “Mr. Irrelevant” was a Pittsburgh Steeler! The Tag has been around since 1976 and it was Kelvin Kirk (487 overall). Never knew that, but thought it was a fun fact. Kirk never saw the field with the Steelers and there is next to no information on him.

-My awesome Girlfriend KGB got me a Steelers Trivia Book for Father’s day. She did it of course to be sweet, however I have come to realize, I honestly don’t know anything about the Steelers. Seriously, I have been getting crushed with the book. I am going to post some questions on line very soon so you too can feel my pain.

-Keep a good thought for former Steeler Clark Haggans. It is easy to dump on people when they make a mistake which Haggans did. He is set to do JAIL TIME, for a crime that so many people would be guilty of if caught. I certainly am not excusing him, there is nothing to justify dangerous and reckless behaviour, it was stupid and his lame excuse, made it worse, not better but have a little charity for the guy.

-Mail Call is well over 10K I try and answer everything sent but at this point it is just brutal. I will continue to do my best.

-Enjoy the next few weeks off as we are about to engage on the 2012 season!

On behalf of BWG Steeeler nation and Captain Tailgate, we wanted to wish our Founder and President Tom Janicki a very Happy Birthday!

Oh mama…

Warren Sapp apparently has some type of issue with the Steelers, last year they were “Old and Slow”. So bad that they had the number one defense in the entire NFL and won 12 games. Despite obviously being a moron, he still gets paid to speak on television, although his accountant and creditors might disagree. About the money, not about being a moron…that seems pretty obvious.

Now he went after our beloved Silverback and LaMarr. See, back in the good old days, when Warren Sapp played in the NFL players looked out for each other. Warren looked out for Green Bay Packer Tackle Chad Clifton as he hit him with a blind side block and put him out for weeks. I don’t fault Sapp for the hit. But this nonsense, fairy tale he talks about is a joke.

LaMarr and Silverback play the game, the way it should be played. HARD AND PHYSICAL!  So Warren Sapp can go dance his fat ass to the poor house as far as I am concerned. This is all I am going to write about this as Sapp doesn’t deserve anymore thought than this.

Sorry it has been awhile, after a great week of OTAs, Here are a couple of quick hits:

-The Steelers moved Willie Colon to LG. This was a great move for Big Willie and stabilizes a transient position. I like Legursky but this protects him and keeps him as a reliable backup. Hopefully, this move will solidify the line and keep Colon off the IR.

-Steelers signed Cornerback Andre Freeman from Slippery Rock, his combine was mediocre and he didn’t get drafted, but he might be a nice project player.

-Unfortunately, that signing spells the end of Trevis Turner, Offensive Tackle. The writing was on the wall for this with the way draft went.  He is a great kid with great potential!

-Does anyone actually believe that Big Ben is feuding with Todd Haley? It is a different system but long overdue, Ben is learning it!  

2012 Draft Class Pittsburgh Steelers:

This has the potential to be one of the most well rounded drafts in Steelers history. The Steelers filled several key needs and look like they reloaded in some key spots.

1             David DeCastro, G: The Steelers biggest need was at guard and they drafted the best one! DeCastro will start probably on the left side and will make an immediate impact. He is an elite athlete who is technically proficient at pass blocking and an absolute mauler on run blocking!

2             Mike Adams, OT: Not projected to start year one, but will absolutely have an impact at some point. He is the epitome of what a starting tackle should look like at 6’7” and 323lbs. He graded out as a First Rounder but discipline problems caused his fall. He could be the steal of the 2012 Draft.

3             Sean Spence, LB:  Superior on field intelligence, good quickness, combined with violent hitting equals exactly what the Pittsburgh Steelers are looking for at linebacker. He absolutely runs through his opposition. This is the typical Steelers pick that they get right. I still think there is a good chance he will play outside after a two year apprenticeship with Woodley and Silverback. PPG believes he will move inside, I just don’t see it.

4             Alameda Ta’amu, DT: The heir apparent to Casey Hampton as the Steelers moved up to get him. Displays great anchor-ability and is extremely difficult to move. He will be a run plugging nose for the Steelers for years to come. Will do well in a one year backup role and if he materializes the Steelers will have the best 3-4 front in the NFL.

5             Chris Rainey, RB: He is an absolute blur in the open field and a natural playmaker. Rainey will be a force on special teams. He possesses great hands and will be fun to watch. At 5’8” and 178lbs might be difficult to be more than a special teams/niche player.

7             Toney Clemons, WR: A good vertical threat with great size and speed. Almost seemed too good to be true this late in the draft at his height with a 4.43 forty and a great vertical. He didn’t have much production in college but has all the physical attributes.  There is great potential to make an already loaded receiving corps. This could be one of those late round gems that the Steelers are looking for.

7             David Paulson, TE: Was drafted I believe as the best guy on the board. Paulson is an excellent receiver but not much of a blocker. With the signing of Leonard Pope, he seems like a long shot to make the team. Classic hard worker!

7             Terrence Frederick, CB: Good physical tools and has nice agility. He is good in zone coverage and looks like a Nickelback. Probably has the best chance of making the team of all the 7^th Round picks.

7             Kelvin Beachum, OG: I studied every guard in three different draft guides, I haven’t seen the film on this guy and he seems kind of small to play for the Steelers. He is a good athlete and tremendous heart combined with great intangibles which will make him a tough contender for a backup role in camp.