Steelers Today - A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

Just when we thought the 2010 season couldn’t get any worse for the Pittsburgh Steelers, it just got worse.

As if an off-season full of Big Ben drama and the Steelers practically giving away Santonio “Wake & Bake” Holmes weren’t already enough to make Steelers fans pull out their hair, here comes more bad news.

Steelers starting right tackle Willie Colon injured his Achilles tendon today during agility drills. Colon will undergo an MRI tomorrow, but the early indication is that he will probably be lost for the season.

Steelers tackle Willie Colon

Colon has been extremely durable since he joined the Steelers’ starting line-up 3 years ago. He has not missed a game due to injury during that time.

The Steelers’ offensive line has been under scrutiny for the last several years, and this can’t possibly help. Colon is considered by some to be the Steelers’ best offensive lineman.

To compound the problem, the only back-up that the Steelers have with starting experience at tackle is Trai Essex. Essex is likely to lose his starting spot at right guard this season to rookie Maurkice Pouncey. Moreover, I never felt that Essex was particularly dependable at tackle when he was called upon to play that position.

It’s unclear what the Steelers will do, but I would surmise that they’ll probably sign an experienced veteran to provide more competition at the position during training camp.

The Steelers’ 2010 season hasn’t even started, and already it’s been full of excitement. I don’t know about you, but I wish August (i.e. Steelers Training Camp) would hurry up and get here already.

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This was going to be Limas Sweed’s year.  I really believed that.

Sweed, a second round draft pick out of Texas, was going to be entering his third season with the Steelers.  The 3rd season has often been a turning point for Steelers wide receivers.

If we look at former Steelers wide receiver Nate Washington, his career had many parallels with Sweed’s.   Washington was a fast receiver who had lots of physical talent, but who just couldn’t seem to master the mental aspects of the game early in his career.  He would get great separation from his defender, but then he would drop a perfectly thrown pass.  This (very frustrating) scenario played out repeatedly during Washington’s first two years on the team.  He just couldn’t seem to hold onto the ball.  But then, in his third season, something just seemed to click in Washington’s brain, and the drops turned into catches.

I was optimistic that the same transformation was going to happen for Limas Sweed this year.  He came into Steelers mini-camp with a renewed focus, after being placed on injured reserve for the final two games of the 2009 season due to emotional problems.  Limas seemed to be working hard, and he had even changed his jersey number to indicate that he was looking for a fresh start.  But then on the final day of mini-camp, Sweed injured his left achilles tendon.  The extent of the injury has not yet been announced, but it is thought to be potentially serious.

Steelers WR Limas Sweed

A major achilles tendon injury could easily cause a player to lose an entire season.  That would be a big disappointment, both for Limas Sweed and for the Steelers.  But injuries happen.

Sweed was probably the leading candidate to become the Steelers’ #3 wide receiver.  Despite bringing back Antwaan Randle El, Sweed was the favorite to win the job.  Sweed is taller and faster than Randle El, and we all know that Ben Roethlisberger likes tall wide receivers.  That’s why the Steelers drafted Sweed in the first place.

With Sweed out, the door is suddenly open for a few players to work their way into the wide receiver picture.  Arnaz Battle was brought in primarily as a special teams player, but he will now get a closer look at wide receiver.  Tyler Grisham spent most of last season on the practice squad, but he was activated for the final 4 games of the season.  He will also have an opportunity to work his way up the depth chart.  And of course, the Steelers drafted two rookies who both had prolific college careers.  Both Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders will have an opportunity to try to win a spot in Bruce Arians’ passing offense.

While Sweed’s injury is unfortunate, it definitely shines a spotlight on several players that I didn’t expect to make much of  a contribution this season.  The question is, “which one will rise up and snatch the opportunity?”  If I were a betting man, my money would be on……….

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Okay, it seems like nobody else is willing to say it, so I guess I’m going to have to be the one to do it.  Charlie Batch is made of glass.  He’s like that guy in the M. Night Shyamalan movie “Unbreakable”.  He’s fragile.  He breaks upon the slightest contact.

Some have referred to him as “Brittle Batch”.  Perhaps that nickname is appropriate.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love Charlie Batch.  He has been an excellent backup quarterback for the Steelers for many years.  Unlike Byron Leftwich, Batch always seemed to be comfortable playing a backup role.  Moreover, he was a hometown boy.  So getting to play for the Black and Gold was a dream come true for him.

Charlie has been a mentor to Ben Roethlisberger throughout Big Ben’s career.  He can always be seen offering Ben words of advice and encouragement anytime Ben makes a mistake.

Steelers QB Charlie Batch

But despite Charlie’s many good qualities, he has one quality that is very bad for an NFL player; he gets hurt too easily.

Did anyone even realize that Charlie was hurt during the Kansas City game?  After all, he only participated in 4 plays.  When did he get hurt?  How did he get hurt?

Big Ben took a vicious knee to the head, and he’s already promising teammates and fans that he is going to play Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.  Meanwhile, nobody saw Batch take a hit, but he’s out for the rest of the season.

The same thing happened in 2008.  Batch played a few plays in the preseason opener, and he broke his collarbone, which caused him to miss the entire season.

Steelers fans are probably spoiled because we get to watch Big Ben play each week.  Ben gets sacked 59 times per game, and he just keeps ticking.  How many times has Ben been sacked in the last 2 years?  3,000?  4,000?  But he just gets up and keeps playing.  I’m sure all of those hits are going to take their toll at some point, but so far, he shows no sign of slowing down.

That’s why it’s hard to accept Charlie’s injuries.  It seems that if a defender looks at Charlie too hard, he gets injured.

Lets take a look at Charlie’s history.

As a college quarterback, he missed the 1996 season when he injured his leg after only 2 games.

When he was with the Detroit Lions, Batch also had a history of injuries.  He played the 2nd half of the 1999 season with a fractured knuckle that severely hindered his performance.  In 2000 he injured his knee in a non-contact drill and had to have surgery.  He came back from the knee injury later in the 2000 season, but suffered bruised ribs  that seemed to slow him down for the rest of the season.  He also suffered a concussion that season that made him miss playing time.  Batch’s injury history, along with the Lions’ selection of Joey Harrington in the draft, finally made him expendable in 2001.

With the Steelers, Batch missed most of the 2004 season after having knee surgery.  Then as mentioned earlier, he missed the 2008 season with a broken collar bone.  Now he will miss the rest of the 2009 season with a broken wrist.  That’s a lot of time missed due to injury for any player.  But it’s a ridiculous amount of time missed for a backup player who seldom even gets onto the field.

Lets look exclusively at Batch’s time with the Steelers.  If we were to calculate the ratio of Batch’s time missed due to injury relative to his actual time spent on the field in games, the ratio would equal infinity.  He’s missed a lot of time while playing very little.

Batch will be 35 years old on December 5, 2009.  Brett Favre has proven that a quarterback can play long after age 35.  However, do the Steelers want to continue to place their faith in an aging quarterback who can’t seem to stay healthy?

As I said earlier, I really like Charlie Batch.  I truly do.  But someone has to ask the tough questions.  Since nobody else seems to be willing to, that burden apparently falls to me.

So what do you think?  Is it time for the Steelers to move in another direction with their backup quarterback, or is Batch worth keeping after the 2009 season?

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It was never mentioned during Sunday’s game, but at some point, Charlie Batch broke his wrist.  He played through the injury, so most of us weren’t even aware of how badly he was hurt.

Batch only participated in 4 plays in the Steelers overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.  He  entered the game when starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went down with a possible concussion after being hit in the head by an opponent’s knee.  But at some point during those four plays, his wrist got broken.

QB Charlie Batch

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Batch will undergo surgery on Tuesday or Wednesday.  The Steelers organization has not made an official statement on the matter.  The team says that Coach Tomlin will provide an official update during his Tuesday press conference.

If the reports are true, then Batch would miss the rest of the regular season.  Depending on how well the wrist heals, he could potentially be available for the playoffs.

With Roethlisberger potentially having a concussion, and Batch out for at least 6 weeks, the Steelers might be forced to start 3rd string quarterback Dennis Dixon in Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens.

Even if Big Ben is healthy enough to start on Sunday, the Steelers are still left without a 3rd quarterback on the active roster.

Sources say that the Steelers have signed quarterback Tyler Palko to their practice squad.  Palko, a former QB for West Allegheny H.S. and the Pitt Panthers ,was most recently with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League after brief stints with the New Orleans Saints and the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL.

Palko has never held a consistent spot on an NFL roster, so he is probably not an ideal candidate for the Steelers’ active roster.  The Steelers may also be looking for a more seasoned veteran to add to the active roster.  Several players are available, including Jeff Garcia who was recently released by the Oakland Raiders.

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According to head coach Mike Tomlin, the MRI revealed that Troy Polamalu’s injury is to his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL).  This is not the same ligament that Troy injured earlier in the year.  Troy’s earlier injury was a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury.  This injury doesn’t appear to be as severe.

Troy Polamalu

Troy is said to be “questionable” at best for this Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

We all know how the Steelers defense struggled the first time Troy was out of the line-up.  Hopefully, this absence will be much shorter.

But as Mike Tomlin always says, “the standard doesn’t change”.  Looks like Tyrone Carter is going to have to step up again.   We all know that he is a seasoned veteran who is more than capable of pulling his weight when called upon.  Go Steelers!

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