Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

Today was cut day.  All 32 NFL teams have until 9:00p.m. to announce their 53-man roster.  The Steelers wasted no time announcing theirs.

There were a few surprises, but for the most part, everything went as most fans probably expected.

The biggest surprises were that they cut Trai Essex and Jeremy Kapinos.  Essex has managed to hang onto a position for years, despite his obvious deficiencies.  I guess that position flexibility outweighs overall ineptitude.

One move that may have come as a surprise to some, but not to me, was that they chose to keep Charlie Batch.  Batch clearly outplayed the much younger Jerrod Johnson during the preseason.  And his knowledge, experience, and leadership made him an easy selection, despite his age.

QB Charlie Batch

Despite generating a lot of excitement when he was drafted, due to his size and speed, the Steelers also cut rookie wide receiver Toney Clemons.

So the Steelers’ 2012 roster is as follows:

Quarterbacks (3):  Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich, & Charlie Batch.

Running Backs (6):  Rashard Mendenhall, Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer, Baron Batch, Chris Rainey, & Will Johnson

Offensive Linemen (9):  Max Starks, Willie Colon, Maurkice Pouncey, Ramon Foster, Marcus Gilbert, Mike Adams, Doug Legursky, David DeCastro, & Kelvin Beachum.

Wide receivers (4):  Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Jericho Cotchery

Tight Ends (3):  Heath Miller, Weslye Saunders*, Leonard Pope, and David Paulson

Defensive Linemen (7):  Ziggy Hood, Casey Hampton, Brett Keisel, Al Woods, Steve McLendon, Cameron Heyward, Alemeda Ta’amu

Linebackers (9):  LaMarr Woodley, Larry Foote, Lawrence Timmons, Chris Carter, Brandon Johnson, Stevenson Sylvester, Adrian Robinson, James Harrison, Jason Worilds.

Cornerbacks (4):  Ike Taylor, Keenan Lewis, Cortez Allen, Curtis Brown

Safeties (5):  Troy Polamalu, Ryan Clark, Ryan Mundy, Will Allen, Robert Golden

Kicker:  Shawn Suisham

Punter:  Drew Butler

Long Snapper:  Greg Warren

Injured Reserve:  Sean Spence

Note:  Weslye Saunders is not technically on the team because he is suspended for the first 4 games.  When he comes back, David Paulson will probably be moved to the practice squad.

The Steelers’ backups beat the Panthers’ backups 17-16 in the final preseason game of the year.

I don’t think anyone really cares about the details of the game, so I won’t go into it in very much detail.  However, I will highlight a few things that Steelers fans need to be aware of.

1)  Charlie Batch will probably be the #3 QB.  Batch played very well, completing 11 of 14 passes, including a TD to Emmanuel Sanders.  That likely sealed a place on the roster for Batch.  So enjoy your 15th season in the NFL Charlie.

2)  Chris Rainey lights it up.  If you look at the statistics from tonight’s game, it will look like Chris Rainey didn’t do very much.  But statistics don’t always tell the full story.  Rainey ran back two punts for touchdowns.  One was a 78 yard return, and the other was a 90 yard return.  Unfortunately, both runs were called back due to penalties.  But fans and coaches know what Rainey did, and it probably won him a spot on the 53-man roster.

3)  Sean Spence gets injured.  Third round draft pick Sean Spence was carted off the field with a left knee injury.  Spence had been lighting it up all through training camp, so this is a big loss for the team.  I’m no doctor, but Spence’s injury looked far worse than David DeCastro’s.

4)  “Big Snack” comes back.  Nose tackle Casey Hampton made his 2012 debut tonight, following an injury at the end of last season.

5)  Curtis Brown got hurt.  Brown left the game with an injury, but it doesn’t look like it’s serious.

6) Terrence Frederick probably played himself out of a job.  He hasn’t had a particularly good preseason, and by getting beat on a 79-yard touchdown pass, he may have ended his career with the Steelers.

7)  Jonathan Dwyer improved his status.  He hasn’t played well enough to bump Isaac Redman from the starting spot in Rashard Mendenhall’s absence, but he’s proven that he’s a capable backup.

Now that the preseason is over, it’s time to cut the team down to the final roster, and then get ready for September 9th against the Denver Broncos.

Go Steelers!

Mike Wallace returned to the Steelers on Tuesday.  Finally!

Wallace showed up at the Steelers offices and signed the one-year, $2.7 million tender offer that’s been on the table for months.

After a long holdout that apparently gained him nothing, Wallace was back on the sidelines at Steelers’ practice.  Although in accordance to the new collective bargaining agreement, he isn’t allowed to practice with the team yet.

“I couldn’t even go on the field. That was a little different,” said Wallace.  “I am here now, learning the plays. I get to at least see it. At home I couldn’t even see it. At least getting to watch those guys I am getting a couple of mental reps.”

Even though he wasn’t allowed to practice, Wallace was happy to be back among his teammates.

“My teammates need me,” Wallace said when asked why he decided to report after missing nearly all of training camp and the preseason.  “It’s time to get ready for the season. I felt like it was time to go.  I’m ready to roll.  I’m here.  That’s really all that matters to me.”

Wallace has been working out, and he’s in very good physical condition.  However, being in good shape is not the same as being in good football shape.

WR Mike Wallace

“As far as conditioning-wise we have two weeks until the game,” said Wallace.  “I have been working out, doing really good conditioning so that is not going to be a problem.  Nothing is like getting in football shape.  It’s a little different.  The first couple of days I might be a little more tired than the rest of the guys, not because I am not in shape but because it’s different with the pads on.  I will be ready when it’s time to go on Sunday night against Denver.”

Both Wallace and offensive coordinator Todd Haley believe that Wallace can be ready in time for the season opener against Denver.

One thing that Wallace’s absence did do was answer the question of whether Antonio Brown could thrive without Mike Wallace to draw double teams.  Brown answered that loud and clear, as he dominated in the preseason, despite being the Steelers #1 receiving option.

Now that Wallace is back, Brown should become even more dangerous.  And Brown’s emergence should help reduce the number of double teams that teams are able to throw at Mike Wallace.  Defensive coordinators will have to pick their poison.

Wallace isn’t eligible to play in the Steelers’ final preseason game against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday, so he’ll likely make his debut against the Broncos on September 9th.

The Steelers got off to a slow start, but went on to beat the Buffalo Bills 38-7 in the team’s third preseason game.

The Steelers’ starters struggled in the first quarter, and Buffalo actually led 7-0 at the start of the 2nd quarter.  The Steelers were only able to convert one 3rd down in the entire first quarter.  But Isaace Redman scored a touchdown for the Steelers halfway through the 2nd quarter to tie the game, and then Antonio Brown scored another touchdown just before the half, and the Steelers never looked back from there.

Byron Leftwich threw a 39 yard touchdown to Antonio Brown on the Steelers first play of the second half.  Leftwich tossed another TD to Derrick Williams early in the 4th quarter.  Daniel Hrapmann kicked a 40 yard field goal to put the Steelers up 31-7.  And then Chris Rainey made a 41 yard touchdown run to put the final nail in the coffin.

On defense, Troy Polamalu and Robert Golden each got an interception, and Chris Carter and Corbin Bryant each contributed a sack.  Lawrence Timmons also forced a fumble that was recovered by Ziggy Hood.

But all of the news from the game wasn’t good.  In fact, some of it was terrible.  First round draft pick David DeCastro left the game with a right knee injury.  He was scheduled to get an MRI following the game, but Mike Tomlin’s description of the injury was that it was “potentially serious”.

David DeCastro suffers injury

I’ve been following Coach Tomlin long enough to be fairly good at interpreting his comments.  My gut tells me that when Tomlin says that DeCastro’s injury is “potentially serious”, what he really means is that the kid is likely out for the rest of the season.

There are no medical reports to confirm that, but Tomlin is known for having a gift for understatement.  So when he says that an injury is “potentially serious”, fans shouldn’t expect to see that player again until next season.

Most of the Steelers players who were asked about DeCastro’s injury said that it didn’t look good.

I guess we’ll all have to wait until tomorrow to hear the results of the MRI, and to see just how serious the injury really is.

The Steelers looked like they had the game won.  They were leading the Eagles 23-21 with 12 seconds left in the game.  But Andy Reid called on kicker Alex Henery to boot a 51 yard field goal, and Henery delivered.  Game over.  Steelers lose.

Of course, nobody really cares who wins the first preseason game of the year.  After all, the purpose of the game is to get an opportunity to see the young players under game conditions.  Winning or losing is a secondary concern.

Despite the loss, there were some important things that we saw in the game.

The first thing that we saw was that Ben Roethlisberger looks good in Todd Haley’s offense.  He only played in one series, but Big Ben completed 7 0f 8 passes for 49 yards.

Just as we’ve seen in training camp, Ben threw mostly short passes.  That’s a big departure from the long downfield passes that he used to throw to Mike Wallace when Bruce Arians was the offensive coordinator.

Haley’s new offense may have taken a hit when fullback David Johnson left the game with an ACL injury.  Preliminary reports say that he may be lost for the season.  Unlike Arians’ offense, Haley’s offense sometimes uses a fullback to block.  But with the loss of Johnson, the Steelers are left with only one fullback on the roster.

Rookie tackle Mike Adams also left the game with a knee injury.  But reports from the team say that the injury is minor.  Running back Jonathan Dwyer also left the game with an injury that doesn’t appear to be significant.

In addition to Haley’s new offense, fans also got to see the offensive line for the first time.  And frankly, they didn’t look good.  Big Ben was sacked twice, despite only playing one series.  Byron Leftwich was also sacked twice when he came in to replace Roethlisberger.  And rookie left tackle Mike Adams was responsible for 2.5 of the sacks during the game.  That’s not a good performance by the young guy.

But what was good was rookie running back Chris Rainey.  He caught a short pass, and turned it into a 57 yard touchdown.  Based on what we’ve seen so far, this kid has the potential to be absolutely electrifying.

Another highlight was Baron Batch.  Batch got plenty of opportunities to work of the rust from a season spent on injured reserve.  Batch led the team with 19 carries, and he converted those carries into 41 yards.

Jonathan Dwyer also turned in a 33 yard run in his limited action.  He ended the game with 2 carries for 40 total yards.  That’s not a bad night.

On defense, nose tackle Steve McLendon recorded a sack on Michael Vick.  That’s pretty impressive because Vick is very elusive.  More importantly, it’s one more sack than we’ve seen from Casey Hampton in years.

Overall, I’m not drawing many conclusions from this game.  But the one conclusion that I did draw was that I want to see more of Chris Rainey.