Let's take a trip back in time for a moment.  

The day is, April 26th 2008.  

You, like me, are glued to the TV waiting for the Steelers to draft in the first round.  At the time most mock drafts and much of the fan base had us taking a tackle in the first round. A few had us taking Jonathan Stewart, a big bruising back out of Oregon, to compliment Fast Willie Parker.  Others among the fanbase were hoping we would take a big bruiser on the defensive side of the ball.  

After an early run on Defensive linemen, we watched a run on O-linemen.  Ryan Clady, Brandon Alpert, Chris Williams, Gosder Cherilus, Sam Baker and Jeff Oteh all come of the board between pick 12 and pick 21.

In total 7 O-Linemen and 6 D-Line men were taken by the time that we picked 21st pick. What's more Jonathan Stewart, was gone - taken by Carolina with the 13th pick. 

Amidst all of this a young guy by the name of Rashard Mendenhall was quietly sliding down the board.  Mendehnall had been predicted as a 10-20 pick in most mocks.  A lot of people had him going to the Cardinals. Many others to the Bears or Panthers. 

When the Cowboys came on the clock with the 22nd pick it seemed likely that they would grab Mendenhall. Instead they took a speedster by the name of Felix Jones.  

Like many fans, I was both excited and a bit stumped when the Steelers grabbed Mendenhall with the 23rd pick.  

via i.cdn.turner.com

Fast forward a year and half. It's the week leading to the fourth game of what is shaping up to be a disappointing start to the season for Both Mendehnall and the Steelers.  

The Steelers are 1-2 having failed to run the ball in two disappointing losses and one scary win. Mendenhall is coming off a week in Tomlin's non-existent dog-house, after being benched because of his lack of attention to details.

In his year and a half long NFL career he has played a total of 7 games. He has never carried the ball more than 10 times.  He has never gained more than 39 yards.  

During two training camps he has struggled to hold on to the ball.  He has already received a bad rap, because following an injury early in the season, he disappeared during most of the teams 2008 championship run, preferring to take hip-hop dance classes (great pictures in this link) rather than spending time working out with his team mates. 

via www.post-gazette.com

(Mendenhall's struggles holding on the ball caused the coaches to give a $100 award to anyone who managed to get a fumble out of him) 

via media.collegepublisher.com (It's much easier to enjoy these pictures after watching Mendenhall hurdle the NFL competition in the past 5 weeks) 

The fan base was up in arms. Much of the frustration came pouring out during training camp 2009.  Mendenhall looked healthy but failed to make many splash plays during the pre-season.  During that time many of the fans rallied behind a hard hitting UDFA by the name of Issac Redman.  When Redman was cut from the final squad many were apoplectic. For some it was clear that this guy had out hustled Mendenhall. A couple of irritating posters on this site, spent most of the season refusing to mention Mendenhall without talking about his "skirt".  

But it wasn't just the fan base who is screaming for Mendy's head.  At the start of the 2009 season, no less of an authority than Jerome Bettis officially called out Mendenhall.  In a scathing piece where he tossed pretty much the whole team under the proverbial Bus, Bettis said of Mendenhall "I haven't seen him - Period" 

A couple weeks later, Ron Cook one of the post-gazette's usually level headed columists used the B word to describe Mendy, and for that matter the whole 2008 draft.  In a scathing piece Cook said this among other things about Mendy.

This guy is supposed to be a professional? He certainly doesn't look like one.

How can Mendenhall let his teammates down like that? How can he let himself down?

Is he not smart enough to realize the opportunity he has with the Steelers?

As if that weren't enough, Cook finished his assessment of the young back's performance by writing "Shame on Mendenhall" . I for one, thought it was an absolutely awful piece and said so at the time, but it certainly reflected the mood of much of the fan base. 

In the week leading up to the San Diego game, many were calling it a make or break game for the young 2nd year player. 

I for one remember thinking this was rather unfair. Up until that point in his career, Mendenhall had a total of 26 carries for 84 yards.  To put that into context that's 13 less carries than former bust Cedric Benson had against his former team in one game two weeks ago.  

What made all of this even more frustrating was just how damn good the rest of Mendy's draft class had been.   With the exception of McFadden (you can always count on the Raiders to produce busts), the rest of the class has been nothing short of exceptional.  More on them in a bit.

Although it was unlikely that the coaching staff would have given up on Mendenhall if he had a bad game against San Diego, it's hard to imagine that a large part of the fan base wouldn't have completely turned on the guy.  

via 3.bp.blogspot.com (Tomlin has done a good job of keeping this young man positive and moving in the right direction)

In his second ever career start, and his first complete game Mendenhall rushed for 165 yards on 29 carries. In one game he eclipsed his career totals for carries, TD's and yards.  Despite some lingering doubters he also went a long way towards silencing any talk of his being a bust.  

After his 155 yard effort on Monday night against the league's number one ranked defense, the bust talk is fast being replaced by talk of him as one of the up and coming young running backs in this league.   

In fact, since Rashard got the starting job, due to Willie Parker's toe turf, he has been great.  During that 5 week stretch only two backs in the NFL have been more productive. That would be the sueprflous Chris Johnson who has averaged 122 yards a game at 6.6 ypc and Cedric Benson has averaged 108.8 a game at 4.1 ypc

Mendenhall has averaged 105.6 and 5.6 ypc.  His worst game came against Cleveland when he ran 17 times for 62 yards.  It was, in fact, the only time since becoming a starter that he averaged less than 5 yards a carry.   

In today's Steelers Q and A with Ed Bochutte, a fan asked if the Steelers should pick up Larry Johnson. The bristly Ed Bocuhette was dismissive. saying that we would be stupid to get Johnson (I agree) because of his age and history of being a trouble maker. More importantly he added that that " Mendenhall is fast becoming one of the best backs in the league."  

Bochutte is a cantankerous old crank but he is rarely a homer (he doesn't consider himself a fan) or hyperbolic.  While his is sarcastic he it is rare that he is effusive with either praise or criticism.  I take this statement as a sign of how high both the coaches and the serious analysts are on Mendenhall's potential.  

via d.yimg.com

Now here is the scary part. 

Pop Quiz folks.  TE David Johnson was born in August of 1987.  He is the youngest player on the roster. Anyone want to hazard a guess at who the second youngest is?  

Yup.  Mendenhall.  

In fact of all the backs taken in the first two rounds of the past two years, only one Bonzi Wells (taken this year) is more than a month or two  younger than Mendenhall.  

Some, like the amazing Chris Johnson, are as much as two years older.  Add to that the fact that Mendenhall had significantlly less carries than all of these guys in college (see cgolden's breakdown in the comments section) you begin to get a sense of how his coaches view this guy.  Not only is he good, but if he works at it, he has the potential to get a whole lot better.  

Anyone excited yet?  You should be.  

From my perspective, one of the most interesting possibilities is that Mendenhall will get better catching the ball out of the backfield. Despite having good hands and looking good in space, we have seen almost nothing in the way of screens and short pass plays for Mendy.  I imagine that as he get's more comfortable in the backfield and continues to improve with his blitz pick-ups you will see him becoming more and more of a safety blanket for Ben.  If that happens it will open up the play action pass which will in turn open up even more running lanes for Mendenhall. 

More than anything you really have to like the fact that since becoming a starter, Mendenhall has looked more and more comfortable at finding the holes.  "Slow to and fast through (the hole)" is one of the timeless catch-phrases coaches use when describing how they want a runner to approach the line.  In the past couple of weeks we have seen Mendy do some very nice work finding and running through holdes against two of the better defenses in the league.  

Two main question marks hover over Mendy's future at this moment.  First does he run too high? And second does he protect the ball?  It's hard to know what to make of these two issues right now. The second is coachable, the first may not be.  I am not sure about the issue of pad level. Have their been other backs who run with a rather high pad level, who have great success? Weigh in with your thoughts. 

via a.espncdn.com (someone has to teach the young guy where the football belongs)

via www.post-gazette.com (Mendy's tendency to run with the ball held high and out and his generally high pad levels have raised questions about his future)

The game against Cincinnati

This Sunday the Steelers  the Cincinnati Bengals come to our house, owning sole possession of first place in division.  It is important that the Steelers find an appropriate welcome for such esteemed guests. Mendenhall has a good chance to be part of the welcome committee.  

 Let's start with the running back match up. The starting at RB on the other side of the ball is a guy who knows a thing or two about being labelled a first round bust.  Cedric Benson is having a wonderful year for the Bengals and may be one of the biggest reasons these guys are 6-2 and not 2-6.  Add to that a Bengals defense that is currently statistically (and only statistically) better than the Steelers defense and you have an intriguing match up, to see who is real and who isn't.  

Personally I think the Steelers will win this one, and Mendy will shine.

If not for a costly Limas Sweed drop in the endzone, the first game would likely have been a laugher. The Steelers had an 11 point lead before Polamalu's absence allowed the Bengals to claw their way to an improbable victory. Since then the Steelers have re-gained Polamulu and Mendenhall. The Bengals meanwhile have lost both Odom and Henry for the season.  You cannot ignore the fact that the Steelers will be without Aaron Smith their best DE for the better part of a decade, but the truth is that he might have been playing hurt during first game - and Nick Eason and Ziggy Hood have filled in nicely in his absence.  

Either way it looks to be a great game another nice chance for Mendenhall to make his mark on the league.  

BTW here is the breakdown of what the Mendenhall's draft class has done as running backs.  

Also for you consideration, a poll.  I am less interested in the answers as I am in seeing a comparison of the answers from this week to the answers we would have gotten after week 3.