Official Pittsburgh Steelers Season Thread (6-5) Vol. Return of the 6x Champs

[craftsy21]

Originally Posted by DeadsetAce

whats the word on willie parker this year?

That he's awesome.

what do you mean though? Injury wise? How he's looking so far?

 

[krazy88s]

There's nothing on Willie thus far. I think he's pretty healthy. It's his back up (Mendenhall) that I'm worried about. That boy aint right.

 

[DeadsetAce]

Originally Posted by Craftsy21

Originally Posted by DeadsetAce

whats the word on willie parker this year?

That he's awesome.

what do you mean though? Injury wise? How he's looking so far?

yeah like is he healthy and how does he look? is he goingto get the lion share of the carries or is he gonna be splitting carries big time? im asking for fantasy purposes

 

[brrraptors]

hes healthy and he looks as fast as hes ever been. hes 100% to start the season and should put up good numbers barring any major OL meltdown or injuries. Iwouldn't be surprised at all if he puts up 1200-1400yds and 8-9TDs easy. Even the year where he only had 2TDs he lost out on all goal line carries whilestill putting up 1316yds in 15 games. last season's stats were definitely an exception and not the norm.

 

[dmxfury]

I am so excited for LeBeau, if he goes in, it will be my first HOF induction ceremony. LeBeau = Defensive God



And even if Mendenhall doesn't pan out, I'm not overly worried. That draft was the biggest "miss" perhaps of Colbert's era, but this yearmay more than make up for it.

 

[krazy88s]

Big Ben plays this Saturday Vs the Bills.

 

[craftsy21]

Freaking Limas... he's catching every tough pass, but still missing most of the easy ones... and Mendenhall shows glimpses, but at times I just don'tthink he has the instincts at all. Not sure about him at all, I'd rather see Moore on the field as WP's backup/3rd down guy right now.

I love our two return guys.. not sure if Logan is going to find a spot though given that he has no true position, but he's exciting for sure.

Hines, as I'm typing.. is just doing his damn thing STILL.... dude is going to play forever I guess

love it.

Ben looks great, as far as I'm concerned.. he's had great touch all night, he looks like he's very patient and in control of the game already, justhaving a good time.

O-Line is hot and cold... mostly better than I thought though.

Defense is fantastic overall so far... We actually have too much talent right now, on paper.. to keep everybody that I'd like us to. And this is rare.

But anytime I've gotten really excited about the steelers this early, things never pan out the way I want... that being said, this is the most potential Isee of any steelers team in my generation... there is loads of depth here.

 

[dmxfury]

Just watching the NFL.com gamecenter and message boards, looks pretty good overall though. Should be a really good season barring injuries. Hines isfreakin' ridiculous, just the type of player that every team wants, can't wait till he gets in the Hall as well

 

[fade on you]

 

[brrraptors]

that was a good game. hines ward at his vintage best. ben looked real solid. im not worried about our starters at all. mendenhall did show flashes of wow. whenhe does hit the hole, a guy with that kinda size and speed combo is quite something to watch. I still wanna hope that he can pan out to be a solid backup toparker. sweed had that sick catch over the middle but he still needs to work on being consistent. this is a make or break year for limas. burnett with theblocked punt! that was some athleticism!

 

[krazy88s]

O-Line is hot and cold... mostly better than I thought though
I missed the game. But that is my biggest concern for the entire season. So far, they've looked pretty good. I'm getting my hopes justyet. Need to see more consistency.

 

[fade on you]

Lots of news these past few days.

Stapleton placed on IR, Four others released.


PITTSBURGH - The Steelers placed third-year offensive guard Darnell Stapleton on their Reserve/Injured List and released four others to trim their roster to the NFL-mandated limit of 75 players, the team announced today.

Stapleton (6-3, 305) started the final 12 regular-season games and all three playoff games in 2008 after former starter Kendall Simmons suffered a season-ending injury. Stapleton, who was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2007 out of Rutgers, played in every game last season after being inactive for every game his rookie season.

The Steelers also released wide receiver Steven Black, wide receiver Martin Nance, safety Derrick Richardson and center Alex Stepanovich to trim their roster to 75 players. The club must get their roster down to the league limit of 53 players by 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5.

Steelers sign defensive end Keisel to a five year deal.


PITTSBURGH ─ The Steelers signed eighth-year veteran defensive end Brett Keisel to a new five-year contract that extends through 2013, the team announced today. Financial terms of the deal were not released.



Keisel has started at right defensive end for the Steelers 2006, after being selected by the team in the seventh round (242[sup]nd[/sup] overall) of the 2002 NFL Draft out of Brigham Young. He has registered 157 tackles (107) solo, 11.5 sacks and 11 passes defensed during his first seven seasons.



Keisel began his career as one of the Steelers' top special teams players. In 2005, he led the team with 22 special teams tackles and recorded two key sacks in the AFC championship Game against the Denver Broncos.

 

[uptown roamer]

Sucks about Stapleton...

The upside of that is, it creates a roster spot for somebody else and with so much talent to choose from, that's a great thing for the team.

The downside is, of course, how it would it affect the chemistry of the o-line. Hopefully they respond well.

I'm ready to see the final roster cuts in a few days, though. Should be interesting to see who makes the team and who doesn't.

 

[brrraptors]

its definitely going to get interesting as sept 5th approaches. what are the chances that stefan logan gets cut?

I like the spark he provides on the special teams, something we severely lacked last season.

 

[krazy88s]

Yeah, it sucks Stapleton. I think Logan should make the cut. We had no spark in the retun game last season.

Also, why Keisel signed to such a deal at his age. Since he's signed for 4 years, what does that mean for Ziggy Hood?

 

[craftsy21]

Originally Posted by brrraptors

its definitely going to get interesting as sept 5th approaches. what are the chances that stefan logan gets cut?

I like the spark he provides on the special teams, something we severely lacked last season.

Love dude back there.. but given that he has no position besides returning kicks, it makes it tough to keep him with the roster restrictions. We'd have togo thin at another position to keep him on.

We'll see what they decide to do.

I think I'm most excited about this team because Sepulvada is back... that is going to be huge for us if he can keep kicking it well, like we drafted himto do.

 

[ag 47]

Steeler Fans,

What's the deal with Casey Hampton? I'm hearing rumors that the team might cut him.

I find that hard to believe.

 

[krazy88s]

Originally Posted by AG 47

Steeler Fans,

What's the deal with Casey Hampton? I'm hearing rumors that the team might cut him.

I find that hard to believe.

Nevah!!

EDIT: If his contract isn't renewed by the start of the season he'll likely be gone at seasons end. Steelers dont negotiate during the season and oftenlet their older vets (Faneca, Porter) walk if they feel they're replaceable.

 

[brrraptors]

here is an interesting scenario regarding the rumours about Hampton, ziggy hood played NT in college. They can do one of two things, let big snack walk at theend of the season and move ziggy to NT full time. Or they can re-sign hampton and let aaron smith walk at the end of the season. casey is 31 and aaron is 33,theyre both getting up there in age and punishment. But there is no visible downfall in the play of aaron smith, the guy is a beast. casey too is veryimportant because hes stuffs the run like very few can. hes a big reason why the linebackers have the freedom to have the kind of impact that they do. he cameinto the season in better shape than last, and hes a 4-time pro bowl NT that can still play at an elite level. I hope he gets re-signed but not long term. Idon't think the steelers drafted ziggy as a project, they know hes capable of having an immediate impact.

It'll be interesting to watch which route they take in handling this situation.

 

[fade on you]

^^ Very interesting to see whats going to happen. Im a fan of both guys, seeing big %*# Hampton chasing people on the field is priceless....and Smith is thedefinition of solid. Guy is 33 and shows no signs of slowing down.

Last pre-season game tonight...im hoping Redman will get more touches tonight. Its make or break for a bunch of guys tonight...i hope we really get to see somegood football. Logan, Redman, Summers and Mundy need to stay IMO. I went to school with Mundy dudes a beast.

 

[brrraptors]

last pre-season game, exactly 7days till regular season

i amAMPPPPPPPED

keyaron fox getting the start this pre-season game. ill be keeping an eye on this dude. nice stop

STEFAN LOGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN PUNT RETURN TD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ah man! i am going crazy

edit: keyaron fox with the sack, tell me you say how he rag dolled that 297lb'er

my goodness!

 

[fade on you]

My - Logan!!! hahaha

 

[craftsy21]

The guys I've been talking about this preseason have made their presence felt early... Logan, Fox, and Sepulvada...


I'm telling you guys, I've gone from being very so-so coming into this year to now feeling like this is the most talented, deepest team in the leagueright now.

Will they perform up to it? I don't know yet.. but I can't ever remember us being this deep at every position. We have about 3 inconsistent spots onthe entire roster between D, O, and ST...and all 3 are on the o-line.. so that's a pretty big deal, but considering about 95 percent of our roster isbetter man for man than anyone else by a safe margin, I'm still extremely optimistic for our outlook.



As far as the Hampton thing goes... i agree that it won't be the end of the world if he's gone after this year. A guy his size will probably struggleto keep playing many more years anyways. Plus - you guys forgot to mention a guy named Chris Hoke - yes, he's 33 also but he's been fantastic fillingin for Casey when needed the past 5 years or so... i think he's nearly interchangeable with him, and definitely still has more years left in him than bigsnack does... so that helps us ease Ziggy in even more slowly and correctly over the next few years.

I don't worry about that situation at all as of right now.

 

[fade on you]

My _ redman!! hahaha i love it...the 2 dudes that needed to step up did.

 

[brrraptors]

Redzoneeeeeeeeeee Redman just took 6 guys with him to the endzone!!

cant stop wont stop. that was some bruising run