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.