That's What They Said: Gettin' Down To Business

Some more topics of discussion, some on field, some off field, but all football. If you hear or read an interesting quote, let me know. NYSteelersFan4@gmail.com This is going to be a regular thing, so send them my way, or just say what's up, or tell me how much I suck in general. Which ever you prefer. 

Some of these have been debated already on BTSC, but these are different points of view in some cases, so they're worth the mention. Others are just interesting things I've read, and thought that with camp approaching, knowing how people in the know view this part of the season is just interesting. Discuss, enjoy.

AFC North:

I am very thankful to Art and Mr. Rooney for the opportunity to continue my career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Our organization will be faced with many challenges in the coming season and beyond. I look forward to working with the Rooneys and Coach Tomlin as we pursue our only acceptable goal – a Super Bowl title.

Steelers Director of Football Operations Kevin Colbert after it was announced he had signed a five year contract extension, keeping him building the Black and Gold for years to come. A few things occurred to me while reading this. First, Colbert looks slightly like Pete Rose, second look at his pre-Steelers resume. From 1984-1989 he was a scout for the Dolphins. During that time their record went from 12-4 to 8-8 with a 6-10 in between. There he was part of drafting 63 players, who appeared in 10 Pro-Bowls with just 5 players making up those 10 appearances (source). After that he was Scouting Director for the Detroit Lions from 1990-1999. The Lions were up and down throughout his time there, and that was with the best runningback to ever play the game (in my opinion) Barry Sanders. During that time Colbert helped draft exactly 79 players, who combined for only 13 Pro-Bowls, all those appearances coming from just 8 players (source). I'm not normally one to question things the front office does, and personnel decisions like this are exactly why. A guy with a mixed bag of success and failure comes to Pittsburgh, and helps build a perennial contender after less than stellar results elsewhere.

Everybody has to put their focus on the task at hand and not be held back by anything that happened in the offseason... We just have to focus on the task at hand, which is to get better every day at training camp, use the practices and the preseason games to prepare us for Atlanta.

Kevin Colbert on what he thinks needs to happen at training camp for the Steelers to prepare themselves for the 2010 season.

The Bengals have always been a top choice for him. He would have signed early in free agency had we had the opportunity. He had a great visit, Chad (Johnson) is one of his best friends. Ochcinco is one of Terrell's buddies. They've always wanted to play together, now they get their chance.

Agent Drew Rosenhaus, on his client, TO signing with the Bengals, and joining fellow larger than life personality, and fellow Rosenhaus client, Chad Johnson. The "how are they going to act when they have to share the touches" crowd may have a speculative point, but they are friends, and winning has a way of shutting people up (although each have been critical of winning teams they have been part of in the past). T-O-chocinco, as some media types have taken to calling it, will be an interesting show to watch, if nothing else. By the way, TO missed his flight to camp today, so not the greatest start to his Bengaldom, but just a delay, and not much more.

After Harrison's tremendous finish to last season though, and the years that he's had to endure on the bench, I think it's only fair to have him be the starter.

Dawgs by Nature's Chris Pokorny on who he believes should be the starter at halfback for the Browns this year. You can read about the HB battle, as well as the other top positional battles the Browns will be watching closely this year here. Know your opponents!

In 7-on-7 drills, QB Joe Flacco hits a leaping Marcus Smith in coverage in the back of the end zone for a real nice TD completion. On the very next play he throws low to David Reedwho makes a diving TD catch in the end zone in front of safety Haruki Nakamura, who later makes an interception off of a tipped ball.

Camp is already under way for the Ravens. This year's sexy pick will be working both rookies and veterans under the watchful eye of coaches, scouts, front office personnel, and Bruce Raffel of Baltimore Beatdown. His look ins to Ravens Camp have been interesting so far, and can be found here, here, and here, as well as the previous link. Again, know your opponents.

Around the League:

We wanted to create something that was not just an operating structure, we also wanted a place where people were proud to come to every day.

NY Jets owner "Woody" Johnson in an interview with Inc. Magazine where he talks about the enormous 120,000 square foot Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, the building that merged their two former offices (athletic and business sides) that opened in 2008. It is a really impressive looking place, and the article goes on to talk about the change of attitude throughout the organization in the past few years, and shows a different side of the game, one fans rarely see. This is an organization on the up, and why not? When the team wins, and the average tuition reimbursement of $15,000 per employee (per Inc.), everyone has a reason to smile.

So, don’t worry if your team missed out on that prized free-agent or if that Number 1 draft choice misses some training camp time. Just hope your favorite team is learning the importance of teamwork and getting the idea of putting the team first. If that happens, you can be optimistic because that is how championships are won.

Former Steelers defensive coordinator Tony Dungy on his blog Dungy's Diaries talking about the things that build championship contenders. Do you think this mentality came in part from his time in Pittsburgh under Coach Noll?This quote summarizes most of what is Steelers organization is all about, and what won him a championship in Indianapolis.

But the biggest issue is really stressing the brain, and bring us up to speed in terms of how we want to play things, and what we’re trying to do communication-wise in certain situations offensively, and I think really expose our whole team to getting a lot of walk-through reps, learning reps. So that was a big benefit... . Physically No. 1, mentally No. 2, and then I think once we got into that phase last year, which will be Monday this year, we really were ready to go and got going.

Oakland Raiders Coach Tom Cable, on what his apporach to training camp is, and what he wants to get out of it from the players. This comes shortly before it was announced that they had reached terms with ILB Rolando McClain, the first top ten pick to strike a deal with his new club. I for one have liked all the Raiders moves this offseason, and for as much grief as we give Al Davis, he seems to have made some good decisions this year, between a solid draft and a productive offseason, the Raiders are getting it together, perhaps.

Entrepreneurship is just creativity. Nothing is too crazy of an idea if you have the vision and desire and work ethic to put it together.

 Superbowl Champion QB Drew Brees, in Entrepreneur magazine, discussing his off field business ventures. Another look at an athlete outside the "Jock Box", and an interesting read for any budding businessmen out there.  

CAMP IS JUST 24 HOURS AWAY... and practices start Saturday. Can you feel it? Football baby!