What, Me Worry?

Word around the water cooler is that the Steelers are already in trouble this year. I can assure you nothing could be farther from the truth, except maybe Favre’s next retirement speech. This is errant thought is based on the lack-luster performance against the Redskins Saturday night, Big Ben’s injury, and the Curse of XL. I’ll break these down from littlest to biggest.

It’s true. Pittsburgh lost to the Redskins, and did not look great in the process. But it was a pre-season game. Let me put that in perspective. What is the purpose of pre-season? It is the tool coaches use to whittle a camp-sized roster down to 55. (Deadline is September 1st by the way.) It is an opportunity for players to go out and to exchange hits in a non-competitive environment. I use the term non-competitive because pre-season results have never had a bearing on or correlated to regular-season results. With the exception of injury. Which brings me to my next point.

Last Thursday, Big Ben and Max Starks entangled and went to the turf. Max got up. Ben didn’t. And the Steelernation held their collective breath. Now the extent of Ben’s injuries has been grossly exaggerated. One less credible source indicated he may never walk again without extensive reconstructive surgery. Really? So it turns out it is a sprained Achilles tendon. That still has a bit of an ominous sound to it. And here is why I am not worried:

1) The medical response to Ben’s injury was to ice it and put him on the sideline. Now I have no medical degree, but this is hardly the treatment of a serious injury to a starting quarterback of a team preparing to defend a championship title.

2) When the Steelers broke practice, Ben limped out to the huddle to be with his teammates. Here is a two-fer. A person doesn’t walk on a badly injured foot. And a coaching staff preparing to defend a championship title wouldn’t let their star quarterback aggravate an injury.

3) Ben participated in a Softball game Thursday night, as a third-base coach…(see the end of the previous explanation.)

4) The Rooneys and the coaching staff typically meet in the middle of the field in plane sight following practice. The air of the meeting was light and jovial. No concern was demonstrated. Not a typical reaction of a staff that might have just loss a key element to their offensive package.

5) Starks said he did not hear the season/career-ending pop of an injury that many linemen hear while laying directly on top of players.


And now the Curse of XL. Honestly I had never heard of this before. Apparently the 8-8 record following the winning of Superbowl XL has incited stories of the XL Curse. A curse that says ‘the Steelers can’t do well after winning a Superbowl because Ben will be injured just before the season starts’. OK so it’s a long curse. And it is as ridiculous as Brett Favre’s return to the NFL. Did I just zing him a second time this week?

Anyway, a quick note on Dr. Z. His recovery from last year’s stroke is coming along well. His wife reports that he is able to play cards with her and plays as quickly as she does. We hope to see him return in 2010.

BACK IN BLACK AND GOLD

After a long hiatus, I have a lot of catching up to do.. So let’s start at the beginning. Ring number 6. Love it! If you haven’t seen it yet, just check out the slide show to the right. There are stones to denote each of the Superbowl titles as well as all the AFC North and AFC Central titles. And of course the icing on the cake……who else has six rings?

OK. Moving past that…..the draft:

(32) Evander Hood (Ziggy) DT Missouri
(79) Kraig Urbik OT Wisconsin
(84) Mike Wallace WR Mississippi
(96) Keenan Lewis (CB) Oregon State
(168) Joe Burnett (CB) Central Florida
(169) Frank Summers (RB) UNLV
(205) Ra’Shon Harris (DT) Oregon
(226) AQShipley (C) Penn State
(241) David Johnson (TE) Arizona State

It looks like the Steelers did well at addressing their line issues. I am not going to spend a lot of time on this. Being drafted is one thing. Making a contribution is what keeps you on the team.

Now that Superbowl rematch last week? I really liked what I saw. Dixon demonstrated a strong ability to keep the offense moving down field. Mendenhall got some work and looked good. Sweed got some work and looked good. McDonald and Dixon connected on several passes as if they were playing out in the back yard. But my little project is Isaac Redman. Redman had 10 carries for 32 yards and scored both of the Steelers’ touchdowns. Who is this guy? He’s a free agent from Bowie State. Now I know what you are going to say: ‘This is pre-season ball’, and you are right. But in Sunday’s practice, Redman scored 8 out of 10 times against the first-string goal-line defense.

Anyway, it’s good to be back in the writer’s chair and I will be updating this at least once a week. I have to thank EILEEN FLINN for taking the photos of the Vince Lombardi Trophy while it was in Harrisburg. Thanks EILEEN, you are the best!