Unfortunately the rain drove Friday’s practice at St. Vincent to another field which was only open to family members. The next day we met Lake McCree’s Dad at our hotel. He drove up from Texas to watch his son practice. Too bad we didn’t meet him the morning before, perhaps Christina could have convinced him to include us as relatives.

That left us with Friday, now Saturday Night Lights. From the get go you knew this practice would be different. For the first time since we have been going, the Steelers buses arrived on time. We have heard McCarthy was a stickler for having practices start and end on time. Here was the proof. During Tomlin’s time, the buses would show up when they’d show up. This would cut into the carefully orchestrated schedule of FNL.

Every year getting autographs in the VIP section is a crap shoot. Fans in that section complain they don’t get the star players, I on the other hand want to get the draft picks and prospects. I did get Mason McCormick to sign my 66 practice jersey. Other starters that came by to sign were Zach Frazier and the newly “minted” Nick Herbig. I was able to get draft picks, Everett, Wetjen and Rubio. I also got a few others including Robert Tonyan…more on him later.

Another concern from years past is that the players stand on the sideline in front of the VIP section. Well, as mentioned in other articles, there is no standing around in McCarthy’s camp.

1’s and 2’s went to one end and 3’s and 4’s went to the other. It was a well oiled machine. I watched the 3’s and 4’s since this is where Howard and Allar were. They ran 11 on 11 inside the 30. I noticed a lot of flag routes to the end zone trying to drop the ball in over the defender. Both QB’s looked very comfortable. There was an altercation between Rayshawn Jenkins and Ryan McCollum. Looked like McCollum did something Jenkins didn’t like since he went after the backup center.

Another new feature was the tackle dummies. They would place 5 of them on the field. A QB and RB on one side and an ILB on the other. The QB would hand off the ball to the RB, the RB would pick a hole as the 5 tackle dummies represented 5 o-lineman. The ILB would have to read which hole the RB would use. They then would reverse it to a blitz. The QB would drop back and the RB would have to pick up the ILB on the blitz. The third drill was the QB would fake the handoff and the ILB would have to pick up the RB out of the backfield on a pass pattern. Payton Wilson excelled in all 3 areas.

Payton Wilson was the star of the defense. He was everywhere, doing everything, with visible and audible emotion. I hope this translates to a breakout season. I won’t harp on coaching as you all know my opinion, but it seems like he has been freed. Was Wilson late to the hole or missing tackles due to being hesitant within the old system? Or is he now able to let his abilities take over in a system that allows him to do so. Stay tuned.

We all saw what Wetjen could do in open space during the preseason game. This was on display at F(S)NL. They ran a kickoff practice much different from the other camps. When it was Wetjen’s chance to return, it was like the other players were standing still. He hit the openings with speed and cut just enough to make people miss. That being said, I think he’s going to get killed, I swear he looked like a peewee player out there.

Oh, Robert Tonyan. He looked like what a TE should be. It looks like Rodgers will throw to him every play. He caught, he blocked, he hustled. He was a consummate pro. He will eat into snaps of the other TE’s if he continues like this. Freiermuth looked great too. He and Tonyan caught, get this, passes over the middle. Again and again and again. Tonyan had a nice sideline catch he had to comeback to. For some reason Washington looked like the odd man out however he had a nice catch going against Patrick Queen. Even Lake McCree, the aforementioned son of the father we met, had some nice catches over the middle.

Asante Samuel Jr and newly drafted Dayton Everette looked really sharp covering. As I mentioned, it was not easy to tell them apart since their rolled up jerseys made it hard to read 22 from 23. Everette is listed at 6’1”. He seemed shorter. But nonetheless, both made several plays and their abilities to adjust to the ball in the air was impressive. They were easy to watch since they were on my side. Dean was on the other side of the field. He did bait Rodgers into a pick 6 which was one of the highlights of the practice.

DK Metcalf made a nice catch which I caught on video. Drew Allar looked good hitting his deep routes. And number 28 was making plays and I wish I watched him more. I didn’t realize it was Robert Spears-Jennings until after the practice. I really didn’t focus on the safeties knowing the potential starters were out. I completely forgot about Spears-Jennings.

After practice I met Keeanu Benton. He seems just so happy to be playing football. I hope Benton and Herbig (which you can tell they are close) are a big part of our defense for years to come. As mentioned before, I also met Broderick Jones and Max Iheanachor. They are very large human beings. Jones also just seems like a big kid, and happy to be here. I am rooting for him. Max was signing for the kids and had a great demeanor. Fautanu was a few yards behind the two. Hopefully it was just the distance perspective but he seemed to be dwarfed by Broderick and Max. Drew Allar was talking with friends from Penn State as I just stood near and listened. He was describing the difference of the pro helmet he was now wearing vs the college one. I thought he is really skinny for his height compared to Ben, then I went back and looked at pictures of Ben when he was drafted…pretty similar. Fingers crossed we may have an answer at QB.

It was just a good, clean, crisp, organized practice. Will it translate? Maybe, maybe not. One thing that was not crisp was false starts in practice. That seemed to carry over into the game.

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Stepping Out – Breaking Us In Two

For many, January 22, 2007 seems like a lifetime ago. For others, it actually was. 19 years is a long time period. It was too long to be a head coach for the same team. Especially a coach as stubborn to change as an Irish Mule.

Tomlin was my preference over Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm. Mostly for the reason that I wanted a complete change and not a promotion from within. The Steelers, it seems, made the right choice. 2007 was a good season, The Steelers finished 10-6 and won their division. They were rewarded with a home playoff game. I think Steeler fans were just happy that they were back in the playoffs after a down year. Jacksonville came to town with a 12-5 record but this didn’t matter. Steeler fans were excited to have a home playoff game for the first time in 3 years. Before you knew it though, the Steelers were down 21-7 and then 28-10 entering the 4th. How could this be on our home turf? But we still had Ben. Throw out the game plan, let Ben be Ben. Ben first pulled the Steelers to a 28-23 deficit pending the extra point. There was 10:25 left and Tomlin went for 2 which was the correct call. The Steelers 2 point try was good! However, Hines Ward was called for a penalty. With 10:25 left and all your timeouts, most coaches would kick the extra point to make it 28-24. I believe the announcers saw the predestined doom when they said you don’t want to leave points out there. The two point try from the 12 yard line was not even close. 28-23. More Ben magic was to come. With 6:21 left the Steelers scored a TD making it 29-28, a one point Steeler lead. Now, it was an obvious 2 point try. And it failed. Yes, hindsight tells you that if you kicked the extra point from the 12 on the previous TD and then you automatically go for the kick on this TD, you’d be up by 3 (remember extra points then were almost automatic). Going for the 2 point try from the 12 when it was NOT absolutely necessary seemed to be a harbinger of doom, not just for this game…but for a coach’s future. The Jags got the ball back and instead of kicking a game tying FG, the kick was a winner. When asked about why he went for 2 from the 12 after the penalty, Tomlin said these words, “You can’t live in your fears”. For the next 18 years, Steeler fans had to live with their own fears.

Read More “A Tomlin Epitaph”

Make your pick:

1. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame head coach (39 years old)
2. Brian Flores, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator (44)
3. Jesse Minter, Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator (42) => RAVENS
4. Klint Kubiak, Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator (38)
5. Arthur Smith, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator (43)
6. Vance Joseph, Denver Broncos defensive coordinator (53)
7. Mike McCarthy, former Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers head coach (62)  <<====
8. Chris Shula, Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator (39)
9. Robert Saleh, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator (46) => TITANS
10. Mike LaFleur, Rams offensive coordinator (38)
11. Antwaan Randle El, Bears assistant head coach and receivers coach (46)
12. Nate Scheelhasse, Rams offensive assistant and passing game specialist (35)
13. Bill Cowher, former Steelers HC, CBS analyst, and Carlynton superjock (68)
14. Curt Cignetti, Indiana Hoosiers HC (64)
15. Kevin Stefanski, unemployed (43) => to FALCONS
16. John Harbaugh, unemployed (63)  => to GIANTS
17. Matt Canada, unemployed and unemployable (53)
18. Write in: _________________________________
19. Someone else, but I’m too chicken to propose a name.

A wild and crazy season can only be concluded with a wild and crazy finish to the Fickle Finger contest. In this year’s contest, we had three contestants who correctly predicted the final total of Steelers wins: Eleven, Earl, and Tuskeegee_Brown, which earned them each a bonus point. However, Drock trumped them all with more accurate divisional predictions, proving that it’s rarely a successful strategy to expect good results from the Ravens or Bengals, and always a good strategy to expect a faceplant by the Browns. So, this year’s winner is Drock.

Scoring		Copanut	TPBB	drock	Walsh	Eleven	Earl	EP	TB	GPT
Steelers		2	1	1	3	0	0	2	0	2
Ravens		3	3	3	4	4	4	6	4	4
Bengals		3	3	3	4	5	4	5	3	4
Browns		2	1	0	1	0	1	1	2	2
Bonus						-1	-1		-1
Total		10	8	7	12	8	8	14	8	12

But the story doesn’t end there! An honorable mention has to go to Eleven, who had four dead-on predictions. Not only did he perfectly predict Steelers and Browns win totals, he also nailed two tie-breakers: the number of games not started by Aaron Rodgers (1) and total team sacks (48). Unfortunately, the tiebreakers didn’t come into play this year, but it’s still a noteworthy achievement. Also, special props go to Earl, who made the best record of game by game predictions, hitting an amazing 14 out of 17.

Scoring		Copanut	TPBB	drock	Walsh	Eleven	Earl	EP	TB	GPT
Games not started by AR		2	1	2	4	0	5	7	1	1
Total team sacks		5	4	13	3	0	3	6	3	3
Total touchdown passes		6	5	2	1	4	2	5	3	2
Total Tiebreakers		13	10	17	8	4	10	18	7	6

The legend lives on from the Strip District on down

Of the confluence, they called the Three Rivers

The Steelers, it is said, always wind up ahead

When the skies of December turn gloomy

With a load of Cowher’s men, they won the Super Bowl again

And the other teams rosters looked empty

That good team and true other offenses they chewed

When the games of December came early

The team was still the pride of the city’s North side

With a loss to Green Bay, Wisconsin

As the veterans did go, the cracks did begin to show

With a team and a new coach not seasoned

We lost to some teams with losing records it seems

And they even got blown out by Cleveland

And in later years now with Tomlin’s gang

Could it be that the standard was no longer “Steel”ing?

Tomlin on the side lines never makes a damn sound

When the team on the field is a failing

And every fan knew, as the players did too

That the head coach of team was a reeling

The first downs came late, and the touchdowns had to wait

When the Hell of December came crashing

When January came, it was always the same

Not a chance for a team playoff win

With the end of the game, Tomlin came on TV sayin’

“Obviously, the barn’s painted red”

At seven pm, at the post game, he said

“Obviously, the only paint I had was red”

Tomlin stated again he had Hell comin’ in

And the good team and players would give all

And later that season when playoff chances went outta sight

Came the wreck of the Tomlin Fitzgerald