Beer We Go Steelers

The Steelers lost to the Chiefs in overtime yesterday. Being an out of town fan I didn’t get to see the game last night as it came on in NY at 1:00AM. I have the game film and will review it and give you my full report. Jarvis Jones was injured last night with a chest injury.

Stealing the famous quote from the father of the Terrible Towel, the Steelers were “El Stinko” last night. They racked up injuries and they looked disjointed completely. They certainly don’t look ready to start the season and they need to get back to work.

What went wrong:

1. INJURIES!!! Le’Veon Bell showed flashes in his brief outing, but was injured after only four carries, this was on top of Larod Stephens-Howling(GUY NEEDS A NICKNAME) and Ike Redman not dressing for the game. The Steelers also lost Will Johnson to a rid injury on a nasty hit and Baron Batch to a stinger.

2. The offensive line was AWFUL. They had no answers for the Redskins pass rush and just looked lost and confused. They also racked up a mile in penalty yardage and stopped nearly every drive that the Steelers had momentum. Last week they pushed the Giants around the field, this week they got pushed around.

3. The Steelers were 1 for 13 on third downs. Most of that can be attributed to the O-line woes.

4. Three first half turnovers by mostly the first team offense. AWFUL

What went right:

1. NOT MUCH

2. Big Ben played well considering the pressure he was under. I know he threw a pretty lousy pick six but he played fairly well and it is obvious the offense is plain vanilla right now.

3. There was a LaMarr Woodley sighting! He creamed the Redskins right tackle Polumbus and had some nice push up front!

Player who distinguished himself: No one that is worth mentioning. Seriously, it would have been Dwyer if he didn’t fumble.

Player who is in trouble: It is unfair but he is back in this spot, Jon Dwyer carried most of the load and made some nice plays, BUT HE PUT THE BALL ON THE GROUND!!! It ruined what would have been a big night for him.

Beer of the game: IC Light, my local distributor gets it now for us!

Coach Tomlin summed it up best again, “we need to get better in a hurry.”

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

So if you were left unsatisfied last week, tonight is your night to see some football again. Honestly, its preseason so it’s hard to get pumped but I will take it. Tonight brings the Washington Redskins and for those of you who are regulars, I attended the regular season game last year, only to have to dash back from the ‘Burgh to have a showdown with Hurricane Sandy!

Here are tonight’s Quick Hits:

1. Le’veon Bell should make his long awaited debut. This is his chance to win the starting job that the coaches are trying to gift wrap for him.

2. Can the Offensive line build off of last weeks early performance?

3. Who is the “next man up” for Plaxico Burress and Mike Wallace?

4. Look for the defense to put together a bone crunching performance.

5. The special teams needs show something after the disaster they had last week.

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

The Steelers dropped the preseason opener in a very sloppy game to the New York Giants. It’s hard to get upset about anything but injuries but the Steelers looked uninspiring and made some critical mistakes. Going to sum it up pretty quickly.

What went wrong:

1. The Special Teams put together one of those “Magical Nights” that cost us the AFC championship in 2001. Just awful!

2. Linebackers were mediocre, Lamar Woodley where are you? Jason Worilds had two personal fouls and Jarvis Jones didn’t make an impact. Stevenson Sylvester continued my streak of lousy picks as he disappeared after being spiked. We need a much better effort out of this unit or this will be a short season.

3. Landry Jones, the highest quarterback picked since Big Ben, looked like an amateur.

4. William Gay hasn’t gotten much better since he left and definitely can’t start.

5. No Le’veon Bell, better to be safe than sorry, but was expecting him to play.

What went right:

1. La’Rod Stephens Howling and the O-line blocked well and pushed the Giants around. He averaged 5.7 yards per carry.

2. Bruce Gradkowski made some nice plays and looks to be a competent backup.

3. Nice job by the receivers when they were called upon, great catches by Wheaton and Sanders!

4. The defensive line was plain good, Al Woods broke my streak of bad predictions, he looked excellent! “Steelhead” Heywood and Ziggy Hood played great up front. If he can keep out of legal trouble, Alameda Ta’amu could be a good addition.

Player who distinguished himself: Larod Stephens-Howling, he clearly is in the lead to make the team. Also Considered: Al Woods, he was a force to be reckoned with.

Player who is in trouble: Jonathon Dwyer, he had a rough night playing behind the second string line and he may get beaten out by Baron Batch because he doesn’t play special teams. Dwyer shouldn’t be counted out but he needs to do something and do it soon. Also Considered: Dave Gilreath, who took a huge step backwards.

Beer of the game:

Not to be confused with the game beer was Croxley’s 20th Anniversary Ale from Bluepoint Brewing Company, excellent beer and they went down easy! The beer made a great showing and might make the cut for the regular season beers!

Coach Tomlin summed it up best, it was not an acceptable performance. Look for a nice bounce back week.

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

GAME DAY!!! okay, maybe I am stretching it a little as this is just the first preseason game and the “varsity” is only playing ten to twelve snaps! WHO CARES, it’s football with two great franchises about to play!

Some quick hits:

-Le’Veon Bell to play with the first team offense. He will have every opportunity to win the job.

-The new look offensive line, with their zone blocking scheme. Mike Adams is having a great camp after being stabbed in the off season.

-Big Ben is back and he looks healthy and in great shape.

-Most important thing, STAY HEALTHY!!! Last preseason was an unmitigated disaster.

By the way apologies to Nick Embernante and Plaxico Burress, I picked them both to have breakout camps, instead they just broke. Love Plex and feel terrible he is done, I still have high hopes for Embernante but it won’t be this season. Look for Mike Golic Jr. to take a shot at the team now.

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

After a horribly long offseason we are back! Tomorrow is Game Day against my “hometown” Giants. I know it is preseason but I can’t wait for the game and since they are playing the Giants, we will be able to see it live. This game doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things but hey football is football and couldn’t be more excited.

So… camp is here and the NFL 2013 season has begun. The Steelers are picked as third place dogs in the division. The cupboard is bare supposedly and the Ravens and Bengals will be fighting for the division…not so fast.

A quick message to all the Ravens fans and Bengals fans… don’t go buying the division T-shirt just yet. The Steelers are on a rebound and put together one of their most complete drafts in years. This is a site written by Steelers fans, and while we aren’t going to run down the Steelers we will always be honest. This team is younger and more athletic, and that is a fact.

Here are the five biggest questions going into Camp?

5. Who replaces Silverback?

BWG Take: You can’t.  A guy like him isn’t just sitting around. The Steelers defense relies on a strong pass rush and Silverback’s departure leaves a void. The Steelers have some awesome talent and they drafted well to compensate for his loss. Jason Worilds, in limited duty, has shown to be capable and he should hold off the young buck Double J, Jarvis Jones. A good season by Worilds and some strong play by Jones will light a fire under the under-achieving LaMarr Woodley. The Steelers need Woodley to produce, and between the three players mentioned they should make up for Harrison statistically.

4. Will the offensive line finally protect Ben?

BWG Take: The Steelers want smaller and more athletic lineman. They jettisoned Willie Colon, Doug Legursky and Max Starks. They are going with mostly inexperienced, but tough, linemen. The penciled in starters right now are LT Marcus Gilbert, LG/RG Dave Decastro, and Ramon Foster depending on how they sort it out, All Pro Center Maurkice Pouncey and Mike Adams at RT. If things go right, this could be a huge strength after years of issues.

3. Will Steelhead Heyward and Ziggy Hood finally step up?

BWG Take: It’s time for both players to take the leap. Hood has shown flashes but lacks consistency, this should be his year. Heyward is athletic and has all the ability to be a force up front. This will be the make or break year for both players and both will make significant contributions.

2. Who will lead this team?

BWG Take: The Steelers have lost in consecutive seasons James Farrior, Aaron Smith, Hines Ward, James Harrison and Casey Hampton. They still have Brett Keisel and they need Big Ben to be the leader that everyone thinks he can be. Someone has to step up and lead this team.

1. Can we stay healthy?

BWG Take: This is the difference between being 12-4 and 8-8 last year. The Steelers lost a whopping 78 Starts including, Troy Polamalu, Big Ben, Harrison, Woodley, and almost every starter on the O-line at least once. The Steelers lost Big Ben for the heart of the season, they dropped games to the Ravens by 3 and lost to the dreadful Browns by six. After having his best start ever, when he returned he was never the same. If any of these guys could have stayed on the field this discussion would be a completely different conversation. The Steelers lost 5 games by 3 or less last year and if they have a healthy team I find it hard to believe they couldn’t have at least split.

The top things that the “real” media has gotten totally wrong?

3. The Steelers upgraded the backup QB.

This is partially true because Landry Jones is a nice pickup and he gets them a fresh look at QB. I am not however, sure how Bruce Gradkowski, who I personally like, but think is dreadful, is an upgrade over Charlie Batch who beat the Super Bowl Champ Ravens last year. Gradkowski is a local boy who made good, but has a 6-14 record as a starter and a miniscule QB rating. He is familiar with the division…familiar losing to every team in it.

2. Todd Haley and Big Ben are at odds.

Somehow these two have become Kardashians. Who really cares if they like each other? Seriously, the numbers don’t lie and Ben was off to the best season of his career when he was injured. So if he doesn’t like Haley, WHO CARES?  If he produces like he did at the beginning, the Steelers will be in this thing all season. Tom Janicki volunteered to take Haley’s spot at Ben’s poker night if they can’t patch things up. Lets get back to scoring points.

1. The Steelers lost several key players.

With the exception of Keenan Lewis who was a bona fide starter, the Steelers got younger and more athletic. Mike Wallace is a world class talent but the Steelers are not going to pay 11 million dollars for a receiver who had a pretty awful season. Miami will rue that contract. Casey Hampton and Silverback still had more to contribute but it is hard to fault the Steelers for going with Worilds and McLendon when they have proven to be capable when they have played. The Steelers almost always get these decisions right, see Levon Kirkland replacing Hardy Nickerson, Jason Gildon replacing Kevin Greene, Silverback replacing Joey Porter.

Did anyone think Rashard Mendenhall should be back? Not likely.  The Steelers grabbed a solid back in Le’Veon Bell in the draft and have two good bangers in Jon Dwyer and Ike Redman. Baron Batch and LaRod Stephens-Howling should really round out the corp.

My sleeper players to keep an eye on:

Offense: Nick Embernate; has a nasty streak and fits what the Steelers are trying to do on the offensive line, he should find a spot. He was like getting a free draft choice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd4z903GKew

Honorable Mention: Plaxico Burress; many have written him off, I haven’t.  I like his chances for one more great season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHED1YttiiM

Defense: Stevenson Sylvester; he has huge upside and this is his make or break camp. I think he can make a huge push to at least be the top backup at the Mac linebacker spot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGHOnGctDZQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ZPoWFDITA

Honorable Mention: Al Woods; who may be a one trick pony, but he is pretty damn good at his one trick.

Camp is a few short weeks away!

First and foremost these guys earned this and deserve it, but this image ABSOLUTELY sickens me.

I am using it as motivation for this year, WE GOTTA GET BACK!

I wanted to share with you this video of Ike Taylor and Ambassador Rooney!

http://prod.www.steelers.clubs.nfl.com/video-and-audio/videos/Ike_Taylor_Interviews_Steelers_Chairman_Dan_Rooney/13e95245-4c4b-47fb-b2c5-29b1d8f0d26a

Over the next few weeks we are going to start to publish again! KEEP POSTED!

When you are the best of anything it usually is prestigious. When you are the greatest Steeler that is saying something more. “Mean” Joe Greene has officially retired from the Steelers. He leaves behind the legacy of being the greatest Steeler of all time. Greene is the rock that Chuck Noll built his dynasty on, arguably the greatest defensive lineman in history and he is without question the greatest Steeler player of all time.

 http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/joe-greene-retires-for-final-time-686617/

He has been a part of all Six Super Bowl wins, four as a player and two in his front office position.

I am proud to wear his number on Sundays!

I tell my kids stories of when he appeared on “The Great Space Coaster” and they created a song about him! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMugnTspS2c

The commercial is a timeless classic and considered one of the greatest Super Bowl Commercials ever; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xffOCZYX6F8

To steal a line from the commercial; “I think you’re the best ever.”

Photo from Mean Joe Greene Fan Page on Facebook