Not sure Sweed will be able to hold on to a roster spot…

It is spelled Sunny, not Sonny apparently. I could care less, but I find it funny the last time his name was brought up, we had the same thing in reverse.

Hate to see A. Smith done for the year (IR), but I think the Steelers collective hand was forced. It will be interesting to see if Sunny plays, and if so how much.

Mitchell was raving about how advanced and full of promise all of them were during the pre-season. CT is right that they’re still in the oven.

But the OL was still in the oven last year, and overcame a dreadful start to be just good enough to help win the Lombardi Trophy. And now, this year, we all admit we’re surprised at how well they’re doing.

The loss of Smith is a terrible, terrible setback. He’s our best defensive lineman. And the last time he went down, things went straight to hell. But this time, we’ve got three very promising young defensive linemen to try to stand in the breach. They’ll make mistakes. We’ll be patient. If they’re as good as Tomlin and Mitchell seem to think they are, they’ll get better week by week, and the offensive line will end up better better and much younger.

Sonny Harris may well be destined to be a Steeler. And a star. Just a hunch, folks, but I’ve felt that way since August.

Guess drafting a DL in the first round this year turned out to be a pretty smart decision, after all…

Guys, I’m bummed about losing A. Smith, but such is football and life. The beat must go on. The Steelers have needed to get younger on the DL for years and with Z. Hood, R. Harris on the regular squad and S. McLendon on the practice squad, I think the team has a good nucleus going forward.

None can replace A. Smith in this D, but they only thing that they have to do is their job. I think all 3 have some talent and Ziggy is the first on deck to get some real time. I am relieved that they now have R. Harris back in the system. I believe having him back definitely makes this one of the best drafts that K. Colbert has had here. Now comes the task of getting them ready to contribute, which I think between Assistant Head Coach John Mitchell and Mike Tomlin, that will happen.

Would anyone consider inserting K. Fox at ILB some in our base D to help against the run now that A. Smith is down? To me, Lawrence Timmons is no Ray Lewis against the run so far but I guess you got to leave him in there to see if he can handle starting. Just a thought, though.

And remember, even without A. Smith, the standard of expectation does not change. Can’t wait to see Tomlin spin this as a rallying point for the team.

I bet that, before the end of this season, S. Harris will be active on gamedays ahead of Nick Eason, simply because Harris is the better player and will make more plays. Yep, both Harris and Hood will be in the six-man DL rotation before the end of the year because of performance and not injury. Just believe Harris is a little stouter against the run and a better pass rusher than Eason.

Now what that means for the overall D might not be good, but you got to get the kids ready to play now so that they won’t have stage fright later as the games get bigger, ala Limas “Can you just catch the damn ball!” Sweed.

This should also mean more time for Big Snack in the nickel, which is what LeBeau should have been doing all along. LeBeau might have to look at getting another thumper in there like K. Fox to help against the run. If the Steelers can’t stop the run, they won’t have to worry about a team trying to pass on them.

watching him play in the preseason vs. watching Sweed play showed me that Wallace was a better play right now as a WR than Sweed is in his second year.

I saw enough from R. Harris in the preseason to say that he brings more to the table overall than Nick Eason. Harris will be a future starter in this league while Eason is a backup who is fortunate just to be in the league.