Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

Today the Steelers announced that they have promoted running back Isaac Redman from the practice squad.

The Steelers are seeking to bolster their struggling running game.   The Steelers have not been able to generate an adequate rushing game, and starting running back Willie Parker is suffering from turf toe and will probably not play on Sunday.  Rashard Mendenhall will probably get the start on Sunday, but Mendenhall was benched last week due to having a bad week of practice and not knowing his playbook.

Redman was the Steelers’ leading rusher during the preseason.  He gained the nickname “Redzone Redman” because he of his ability to find the endzone in short yardage situations.  Many Steelers fans were surprised when Frank Summers was named to the final 53-man roster rather than Redman.

Summers was recently placed on injured reserve when he suffered a mysterious injury.  He was replaced by former Steelers running back Carey Davis.

The Steelers made room for Redman by releasing veteran defensive end Nick Eason.

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The Steelers signed seven players to their practice squad.

I was a bit surprised to learn that Tyler Grisham, the feisty rookie wide receiver out of Clemson made the practice squad.  I first noticed Grisham on the first day of training camp.  He had good hands, and seemed to catch everything thrown his way.  However, he seemed to be behind several of the other wide receivers in Steelers camp.  In particular, I thought that Dallas Baker would make the practice squad ahead of Grisham. 

Grisham was the last wide receiver to enter the game during the Steelers final preseason game.  Moreover, he had to leave the game after only his second catch, when he injured his shoulder making a diving grab. 

But I guess the Steelers saw the same things in Grisham that I did, because they kept him on the practice squad.

Also named to the practice squad was Isaac Redman.  “Redzone” Redman, as he had been called, was a surprise cut by the Steelers.  Many thought that he had done enough to make the Steelers’ 53-man roster when he led the Steelers in preseason rushing yardage and touchdowns.  However, the Steelers elected to keep Frank Summers instead of Redman.

Many fans feared that another NFL team would sign Redman.  However, Redman cleared waivers and was signed to the Steelers practice squad.

The other players signed to the practice squad were running back Justin Vincent, tight end Dezmond Sherrod, center A.Q. Shipley, defensive lineman Steve McLendon, and linebacker Donovan Woods.

The Steelers had hoped to sign Ra’Shon “Sonny” Harris to the practice squad.  However, Harris did not clear waivers.  He was signed by the Carolina Panthers.

With Harris gone, the Steelers signed another Harris to the practice squad.  The Steelers signed defensive back Tuff Harris, who was cut by the Tennessee Titans.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Carolina Panthers in their final preseason game of the 2009 season by a score of 21-10.  However, winning or losing was the least of coach Mike Tomlin’s concerns.

With final 53-man rosters due to the NFL on Saturday, Tomlin and his staff have some very tough decisions to make.  The players who hadn’t yet secured a place on the Steelers’ roster had one final opportunity to do so.  The NFL is a “what have you done for me lately” league, and this game was the ultimate example of that.

Because the goal of the game was to evaluate players who were “on the bubble”, Tomlin barely even played most of his starters.  Instead, players like Mike Reilly, Justin Vincent, Keenan Lewis, Ryan Mundy got to show their stuff.

“I don’t make the decisions,” said Tomlin, “They make the decisions by how they play.”

The player who did the most to help his cause was Stefan Logan.  On his first and only punt return of the game, he returned the ball 80 yards for a touchdown.  Welcome to the Steelers, Mr. Logan.

Others who helped their causes included Isaac Redman, Keenan Lewis, Ryan Mundy, and Arnold Harrison.

Isaac Redman led the team in rushing with 79 yards on 12 carries, while also scoring a touchdown.  He averaged an impressive 6.6 yards per carry.  He also fought for some tough yards on his touchdown run.  Redman ends the preseason as the Steelers rushing leader and touchdown leader.  Not a bad resume to leave for the coaches.

Rookie cornerback Keenan Lewis also helped himself.  Lewis had been very impressive at Steelers training camp, but hadn’t shown as much during the first 3 preseason games.  However, in this final opportunity to shine, Lewis led all tacklers with 10 tackles while also adding 2 passes defensed.

Second year safety Ryan Mundy also helped his cause.  Mundy had 5 solo tackles and one assist.  But much more important than the tackles was the fact that Mundy intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown.

“Any time you run one back, that gets your attention” Tomlin said.

Linebacker Arnold Harrison helped his cause by doing a very good imitation of James Harrison.  He recorded a sack, forced a fumble, and recovered the fumble, all on the same play.  He also combined with Ryan Mundy to stop the Panthers on a fourth and one play.

One player who could have done more to help his own cause was rookie RB Frank “the Tank” Summers.  Summers only gained 4 yards on one carry.  However, Summers does benefit from the fact that he had several nice blocks, and he is a good special teams tackler.

The Steelers don’t have much time before their first game, since they kick off the NFL season next Thursday against the Tennessee Titans.  Thus, coach Tomlin said that he is going to announce his final roster at a press conference today at 4:00 PM.

We will all be waiting anxiously to see who makes the team.

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August 14, 2009
By Donald Starver

Thursday’s Super Bowl rematch turned out to be not so super.  While fans are always anxious for the start of a new NFL season, the early pre-season games are always rather dull.  This game proved to be no different.

The Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 20 – 10.  However, the score sounds much more exciting than the game actually was.

As expected, the Steelers starters played very little.  Big Ben completed 4 of 6 passes for a whopping 33 yards.  Hines Ward caught 2 passes for 19 yards, while Santonio Holmes caught none.

But of course these games aren’t for the veterans.  After all, we already know what they can do.  Rather, the early pre-season games are an opportunity for the young players to show what they can do.  So let’s look at how the young players did.

Studs

Limas Sweed – Following an infamous dropped pass in last year’s playoffs, Limas Sweed has been heavily scrutinized by Steelers fans.  He needed a good game, and he delivered.  Sweed only caught two passes, but they both had a fairly high degree of difficulty.  Moreover, he averaged 28 yards per reception, and his longest was a 45 yard catch.

Shaun McDonald – The free agent from Detroit led all receivers with 69 receiving yards.

Joe Burnett – Rookie cornerback Joe Burnett caught his first NFL interception and almost ran it back for a touchdown.

Ziggy Hood – The Steelers’ first round draft pick collected his first NFL sack.

Isaac Redman – The free agent running back made a strong statement that he should be the Steelers’ short yardage back.  He has been the most impressive in training camp, and this game proved to be no different.  Redman led all Steelers backs in rushing yards, while also scoring 2 touchdowns.

Dan Sepulveda – No more Berger.  No more Ernster.  Nope, Dan the man is back.  Sepulveda punted 6 times and averaged 49.5 yards per punt.  That’s much better than the 12 yards per punt that Mitch Berger and Paul Ernster averaged last season (okay, maybe they averaged more than 12 yards per punt, but it certainly seemed like 12 yards).

Duds

Rashard Mendenhall – Did he even play?  I see his name in the box score, but I certainly don’t remember seeing him do anything.

Joe Burnett – Yeah, he made an interception.  But he also fumbled a punt return.  He’s not going to win a job like that.

Frank Summers – Everyone is waiting for Frank “the tank” to become the next bus.  However it’s undrafted free agent rookie Isaac Redman who’s scoring all the touchdowns.

Piotr Czech – It’s going to be almost impossible to displace Jeff Reed as the Steelers’ kicker.  Czech is going to have to be perfect in order to do it.  Missing a 36 yard field goal didn’t look like perfection to me.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Steelers’ offensive line didn’t allow any sacks.  Not one (yeah, I don’t believe it either).  That’s got to count for something.  Meanwhile, the Cardinals’ offensive line allowed their quarterbacks to be sacked 4 times.  It’s too soon to draw any conclusions yet, but I’ll take any opportunity I can to compliment the Steelers’ o-line.

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 August 12, 2009
By John DeWald

Editor’s note:  Prior to training camp, we started a series previewing all of the positions.  Our goal was to make fans familiar with all of the players who would be competing at training camp, and to give our best guess at who would actually make the 53-man roster.  Unfortunately, we did not complete the series prior to the start of training camp like we had originally intended.  We have decided to complete the series anyway.  We hope that it will make fans more familiar with some of the names that you will hear us mention in our regular training camp updates.

Also, please note that this installment is being written by John DeWald.  John is one of our regular readers who alway impressed me with the quality of the comments that he left.  I wanted to share his insight with my readers,  so I asked him to co-write this series with me.  See what happens when you leave quality comments?  Hint, hint.

This is Part 6 in a series.  If you haven’t read the previous installments, please click below:

Part 1:  Defensive linemen

Part 2:  Linebackers

Part 3:  Safeties

Part 4: Cornerbacks

Part 5: Quarterbacks

Last season the Steelers carried 3 running backs and a single fullback on the active roster (and kept 1 back on the practice squad). The incumbents are Willie Parker, Rashard Mendenhall, Mewelde Moore, and Carey Davis.

Early in the 2008 season, Mendenhall was placed on IR (compliments of Ray Lewis) and Gary Russell was activated from the practice squad. Russell is gone but the rest of them are still on the team along with four new backs. So, unless someone really shines on special teams (and is kept primarily for that purpose) we are looking at 8 players fighting for 4 spots on the 53-man roster.

The Steelers appear to be in very good shape with the top 3 RB’s returning.  Of course, as we found out last year, injuries can change that outlook very quickly.  So let’s take a look at the running backs who will be competing at Steelers training camp.

Willie Parker – Parker is a good (although limited) back with blazing speed and good vision but mediocre elusiveness (he’s not going to make people miss unless he can run away from them).  He’s also not much of a pass catcher.  Parker had an off year last season due to injuries and an inconsistent line.  He expanded his off-season training regimen to try to avoid injuries this year.  This is a contract year for Parker and he is playing with a chip on his shoulder so expect him to put everything on the line to earn a new contract.

Rashard Mendenhall- Behind Parker is last year’s #1 pick.  Mendenhall is a more complete back than Parker but is very inexperienced after logging only 19 carries last year.  The Steelers are very high on him and would like to see him shoulder a significant amount of the load to keep both he and Parker fresh for the postseason.  Not to mention, to give them an idea of whether to give Parker a contract extension.

Mewelde Moore- Moore was signed last season as a 3rd down back/return specialist.  Proving that you can never have too many good backs, he logged some heroic performances filling in for the injured Parker and Mendenhall.  Over his 4 starts he carried 80 times for 360 Yards (4.5 YPC) and had 16 receptions for 89 yards.  He is a much better pass catcher than the other RB’s, logging 40 receptions last year (tied for 5th on the team).  His return game was not nearly as impressive but at least he was sure handed.

Parker, Mendenhall, and Moore are all locks to make the team.

Carey Davis- Unlike the other returning backs, Davis should probably brush off his resume.  Davis began last year as the starting FB until it was discovered that Sean McHugh (the 3rd TE) was actually a better blocker.  Given the de-emphasis of the FB in Bruce Arians’ offense, the competition from H-Back/TE players such as McHugh and Johnson, and the intriguing abilities of Summers and Logan, Davis will have an uphill battle to keep his job.  This year the hill will prove too steep.

Those fighting for Davis’s spot:

Frank “The Tank” Summers -  The Steelers’ second 5th round pick is quickly becoming a fan favorite before ever playing a down in the NFL.  The Steelers have been noticeably weak in short yardage situations over the past few years and, given his size, many fans are having visions of the “Tank” being the first effective replacement to “the Bus”.  Needless to say, this will be easier said than done.  Bettis was a unique talent with rare size and agility.  Frank has a lot of upside but, coming from a spread offense, it will take time for him to transition to the NFL.  Lucky for him, the Steelers will not ask him to be anything other than a short yardage back this year – anything else will just be a bonus.  Barring a horrendous camp, Frank is the front runner to take Davis’s spot.

Stefan “The Yugo” Logan- OK, the “Yugo” comment isn’t really fair but this guy is SMALL (5’7 and 185 – and that might be stretching it).  Logan, however, offers some intriguing capabilities.  While lacking the size of Mendenhall and Summers or the speed of Parker, he has great agility and elusiveness.

Logan walked on at South Dakota in 2003.  Four years later, he was the best running back in school history with 15 school records to his credit.  He was the 11th player in Division II history to rush for 5,000 yards (5,968) and surpass 7,000 all purpose yards (7,770).  In his first and only year in the CFL he registered 122 carries for 889 yards (an awesome 7.3 YPC) and had 52 receptions for 477 yards.  He was 6th in the league in combined yards from scrimmage as well as having a 10.5 average on punt returns and nearly a 30 yard average on kick returns.  He is a good receiver, returns punts and kicks, and could be Pittsburgh’s version of Darren Sproles (who is only listed at 5’6 and 185).  Logan has a good chance to make the team but it will be determined almost entirely by his special teams play.

Justin Vincent – Justin Vincent, a 4 year player at LSU, was first signed to the practice squad by Pittsburgh in 2007.  He faced stiff competition for playing time at LSU and never really distinguished himself.  He has spent parts of the last 2 years on the Steelers’ practice squad and has never been elevated to the active roster.  In all likelihood, unless he sets training camp on fire, he is only competing for a place on the practice squad.

Isaac Redman- Redman was signed this year as an undrafted free agent. He ended his college career (Bowie State) as the school’s All-Time leading rusher with 3,300 yards and holds the school’s single season rushing (1,512) record.  He has good size (230 lbs) and good overall skills, but is understandably a bit raw having played in Division II.  Given his upside, I predict that he beats out Vincent for a spot on the practice squad.

So, in summary, Parker, Mendenhall, Moore, and Summers are in. Logan is a possibility as a return specialist. Redman makes the practice squad and Davis and Vincent are out.  Agree?  Disagree?  Your comments are welcome.

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