But I had to give a shout out to Clark. The numbers make for a poor measurement given his illness, but he made many more clutch plays this year. He was important on our goal line near the start of the season and he was a missile in the backfield.

I think Woodley is a good choice, my only other choice would be Nate Washington. If you look at Nate’s numbers on the other hand it doesn’t appear that he had that much better of a season. He had 11 more receptions for 189 yards more than he did in 2007. I think these stats don’t accuratly show hom much more Big Ben & the Steelers offense counted on Nate to make big plays througout the season.

He really was an importent part to our regular season sucess even though he somewhat disapeared in the post season.

woodley is a great choice, but in my opinion i think it was an issue of increased playing time rather than improvement, per se. like varmint, i would go with ryan clark because i felt like he played like a different player this year. coming back from the injury, he seemed to have a fire in him that i had never seen before, which made him a force to be reckoned with across the middle and on long pass routes. #25 gets my vote, but there are many worthy candidates.

and i agree with you, blitz, that woodley is going to keep getting better. our defense is stacked with deebo, woodley and timmons. i know there are some age issues with the d line and with farrior and townsend, but our defense really looks like a force to be reckoned with again next year. should be fun.

I guess playing time hurt Troy, Clark, and Woodley last year, but Troy was on the field the most last year. From 0 to 7 interceptions from 07 to 08 I believe. Amongst other contributions.

Polamalu, Timmons, and Woodley are all top rated players who showed improvement but more or less met expectations. William Gay was an unheralded defensive back who improved so much that he’s no a viable candidate to start if we lose B-Mac. This kid plays much better than his size would suggest and he contributed in many different ways this season.

I have no problem with Woodley. I can’t say Troy because — even though he was better this year than last — I think that was just him being healthy again. In other words, Troy is great, but by now I expect him to be great…

But Tone… Not for the whole year — but certainly down the stretch and in the playoffs, Santonio really stepped up his game. Honestly, if I were to pick one player who was MVP in the Super Bowl, I might say Ben… but for the whole playoffs… I think it was Santonio.

The Punt return singlehandedly stole the momentum from San Diego. Before that, did anyone think it would be a laugher?

Then the catch and carry for six against Baltimore put us in front to stay.

Then coming up big on the final drive in the SB… when we needed him, he stepped it up big time….

also I agree with Troy, and also I should take in count Deebo, but my personal first choice should be Santonio Holmes ´cause IMHO, all those issues that were appearing as stumbling blocks before him and that in some way put him in the lowest level of his career, most awfully in the eyes of Coach Tomlin, all that ended in an week out of the active roster and also how he manage through all those personal lows and slumps and he resurfaces as a clutch player in the slumps of OL, Ward, Sweed, and in that final play of the offense he asks for the ball, almost blatantly asking the OL to give time to BB, and showing consistence between words and acts, that will make easier to see him as the story inside this season for the ages, and finally that catch, and Ward´s and BB attitude, put our offense in another mental level, I hope this will remain for the future. Also his catch put aside all the Steeler Nation of all the rest of the league, I repeat IMHO.

Who do you all think will be ‘most improved’ next year?

I got my money on Gay.

I took this from SI, Sorry Blitz, but BB last year was not a very good one,

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/peter_king/02/08/steelers/index.html,

against Our team, rendered, just can´t resist.

but Woodley has to be the most improved, excusing it as an increase in playing time essentially means he improved enough to warrant more playing time. Troy is the most dynamic player on the field and nobody influences offenses more than he, but if skill is the topic under discussion he moved from elite to more elite, but Woodley went from good enough to almost elite.

I agree that Gay and Timmons improved greatly and we’ll be arguing about who is the most improved among them next year, but not to the level of Woodley.

And he’s not even the best linebacker we have, let along best defensive player.

We are so stacked

We are so lucky.

Larry Foote’s going back to the Detroit Pershing Doughboys. Good luck to you sir.

Can’t seem to remember.