Another great interview Blitz. You hit all the main questions we just keep going round and round about on the board. I have to say after reading this, I still would like to see Arians gone after this season. No matter what our record is. An offensive cord that normally abhors short/quick passes with our o-line woes??

1. Despite the 4-1 record and the offensive success against Jax, I still would like to see Arians replaced after this season. I have seen too much evidence in his 1+ seasons to change my mind after one game. Like Wexall said, I’d like to see how he calls a game against a team with a better pass rush. (And don’t think that Pit moved the ball well against Baltimore. They clearly didn’t in the first half, and then only put together some offense in the 2nd half when Ben hit two splash plays to Holmes and Ward. That and the defensive td was enough to eek out the win.)

2. I am still very confused at times with personnel decisions that the team makes.

- For example, why did Mewelde Moore only get a significant chance to play once Carey Davis got hurt in the Balt game? Do they really think that Davis is a better rb than Moore? Hopefully Moore doesn’t disappear now that FWP and Davis are healthy. A case could easily be made that if Davis hadn’t gotten hurt and kept Moore on the sidelines, that Pit would have lost the previous two games.

- Stapleton has only played 1.5 games but he has acquitted himself well. He seems to play with good leverage and he also seams to be very aware. I will not be surprised if he proves to be an upgrade over Simmons this year. That of course begs the question, “Why was Simmons starting over Stapleton to begin with?”

- This has been beaten to death, but is Colon really a better right OT than Starks?

3. The issue with giving Starks 7 million dollars is cap (mis)management. I understand the premise of depth but spending 7 million dollars on a backup tackle (possibly the 4th best OT, or at least the #3b OT, if you consider that Essex was put in before Starks against Jax) is just not a sound decision. The Steelers are up against the cap nearly every year and it limits their options. Many want Mcfadden resigned. Is it possible that part of that 7 million could have gone to Mcfadden and helped the Steelers extend him before this season? Combine Starks’ contract with the contract given to Simmons…..

4. If possible I would like to see the following questoin posed to Wexall in a future interview if possible:

- How has the Steelers philosophy towards putting a roster together, especially with regards to the draft, changed since Tomlin has become head coach? Or has it?

I ask because it seems to me that under Cowher, the Steelers usually drafted with a need based philosophy, especially with their early picks. The only recent first round pick under Cowher that wasn’t need oriented was the Ben Roethlisberger pick. And even then, rumor has it that Cowher wanted to pick Shawn Andrews instead, only to be overruled.

However, that doesn’t appear to be the case under Tomlin. In 2007, it could be argued that lb wasn’t the area of greatest need. And even if you disagree with that premise, few would have thought that the Steelers would draft lb with their first TWO picks (Timmons and Woodley) that year. At the time, many including myself thought that this was done with an eventual move to a 4-3 defense in mind. But that has not turned out to be the case. And as a follow up to 2007, I think most would acknowledge that rb (Mendenhall) and wr (Sweed) were again not the two biggest positions of need this year. And of course, we drafted another lb (Davis) in the 3rd round this year after taking Timmons and Woodley last year.

Now I must admit that I am a believer in leaning towards drafting BPA (especially if a clear BPA presents himself at the time of your pick), so this would please me if it’s actually the case.

5. Speaking of the draft, it appears that the 2007 draft has provided a bounty of fruit. Timmons, Woodley, and Sepulveda should be solid fixtures for quite some time. Spaeth and Gay could be solid role players. (I readily admit that I am not as informed about Spaeth as I should be. But while I thought he was a weak blocker last year, he has not caught my eye as much this year with regards to lack of blocking ability. If he is still a mediocre blocker and has not improved since last season, please correct me.) Of course Stapleton could also be another harvested fruit as well. You can never complain with getting 6 players from a draft, especially when one is already a true difference maker (Woodley) and another (Timmons) could be headed in that direction.

I look forward to hopefully seeing the 2008 draftees contribute next season. Of course, Mendenhall is hurt and the other draftees aren’t contributing this year, but then again, Woodley and Timmons weren’t exactly contributing last year either.

Sorry for the long post.

As a follow up to my previous post and some comments that have followed:

1. I don’t mean to imply that need shouldn’t be addressed or that Tomlin hasn’t addressed need at all with his two drafts.

- I agree that lb was a need heading into the 2007 draft, but he has since drafted Timmons (1), Woodley (2), Davis (3), and Humpal (5). That’s a lot of lb, not that I mind.

- I agree that the trenches need to be addressed. But I have read that this year’s draft is deep in that regard, especially with regards to the off line. If the FO realized that the 2009 draft would be flush with off linemen last year and decided to wait another year instead of just selecting the 9th best offensive lineman in last year’s first round, then I believe that to be very prudent. And while it may seem common sense not to reach for a player at a position of need, this is the same organization that selected Troy Edwards in the first round in 1999 at pick 13.

- I also think sometimes focus too much on addressing a need with a premium pick. But later round picks are also very important. A championship team is going to have to have some later round draft picks pan out. For example, Aaron Smith was a 4th round pick and Keisel was a 7th rounder. Stapleton is an UDFA. One reason that our trenches need an injection of talent is because previous picks like Orien Harris, Ryan Mcbean, Trai Essex, Bo Lacy, Shaun Nua, Marvin Phillip, etc, haven’t panned out. The Steelers are simply going to have to do a better job in the later rounds. If the team does spend high picks in the trenches next draft, they will still have to find gems at other positions later in the draft, or those positions will quickly become areas of need.