So, just stumbling around looking for something fun to share with you guys on this Wednesday afternoon, I come across a story told by Mark Dufresne and his 1978 training camp experience. Who is Mark Dufresne? Good question, and probably one not even our most knowledgable historians will have an answer to. Dufresne was a rookie TE in 1978 for the Steelers, drafted out of the University of Nebraska. He would not break camp or ever play for the Steelers, but he did have a story about that year's training camp that highlights the type of player and competitor that Jack Lambert was.

The setting was a Sunday scrimmage near the end of the 1978 training camp. Dufresne, a tight end, was asked to release inside and block Lambert, sealing the edge and ideally opening up a running lane on the outside for the called sweep play:

Lambert didn't see me coming until the last instant. He tried to square up but couldn't, and I drilled him -- just floored him. The play went for a score, and he got up cussing and yelling with the wildest eyes I've ever seen! I was fairly certain that Mr. Lambert did not appreciate being decked, especially by a rookie like me.

Intentionally, Coach Noll commended Dufresne for his block at a decibal level that all the squad could hear, you know, just to humiliate and ignite Lambert a touch more. 

Before he could feel too good about himself, Coach Noll barked out orders to run the same play again!

I glanced over at Lambert, who was now clearly cranked up a couple of notches beyond ferocious. Had he any teeth, he would have been spitting through them. As we broke the huddle, Noll brushed by me with a thin-lipped grin and half-whispered in my ear-hole, 'Let's see what happens this time, rookie.'

I'm sure you can imagine what happened next. Bam. Dufresne gets steamrolled. However, to his credit, he bounced up and got in a scuffle with the legendary Lambert.

In the heat of the moment, I lost my head. As Lambert turned to walk away, I dug my way out from under Thornton (who was still draped across my legs, perhaps shaking out the cobwebs), angrily scrambled to my feet and took a swing at Lambert, catching him flush across the earhole.

In retrospect, that was not a very smart thing for a rookie tight end to do to an already angry Jack Lambert.  I thought he was mad before..but he wasn't. Now he was mad.  We exchanged some wild punches --and what can only be described as 'colorful' language -- before the coaches and some teammates pulled us apart. I was never so relieved in my life! I didn't sense that relief from him, however.

Dufresne concludes his story with a couple of lines about how he is still amazed to this day about how a skinny guy like Lambert could flat-out level opponents the way he did. In his words:

"That's the difference between simply great players and mythical legends..."

Other than just trying to provide you with a small slice of entertainment on your Wednesday afternoons, I bring this story up because I hope we see similar levels of competition and high-intensity this summer from the Steelers. We have a crowded roster, meaning some capable young men will be packing their bags without a job come August. Even if it means ruffling some feathers, I hope we receive news from Latrobe of similarly spirited altercations between players trying to make themselves and their teammates better.

Sorry for the downtime here on the site earlier this morning. Apparently there were some issues with our host, and we were at their mercy to get back up and running. Anyway, on to a few notes about yesterday's OTAs:

* Hines Ward returned to practice yesterday following offseason knee surgery. It's good to see Hines back in the mix, if for no other reason than his presence should be great for the new faces on the squad. Mike Tomlin, however, said they would be bringing back Hines slowly and cautiously:

"We're cautious about the number of reps. We rep counted him a little bit,'' Tomlin said.

* For all the talk and attention the offensive line has gotten from the fanbase this offseason, our prospects in 2008 may hinge more on the health of DE Aaron Smith, who is trying to return from biceps surgery this past year. Tomlin said Smith is not fully recovered, but he was seen working with the sled and doing other inidividual drills.

* Willie Parker has progressed far enough to be taking reps in OTAs. They same can't be said for Rashard Mendenhall, who's still trying to shake a nagging hamstring injury.

* Because of a rule I was not aware of, rookie Bruce Davis will not be allowed to participate in the rest of the team's OTAs. Rules prohibit rookies from participating in more than one minicamp while his school is still in session. The final quarter at UCLA doesn't wrap up until June 13th, while the Steelers final OTA is on the 12th. This rule will also keep rookie free agent Roy Lewis of Washington out of action from here on out.

* According to Dale Lolley, Nate Washington, who was not at the activities, may want to get back as soon as possible, as 2nd year WR Dallas Baker continues to impress this offseason. Baker, who apparently has been working well with Big Ben, caught everything in sight according to Lolley. 

*  Also missing were Troy Polamalu, which we discussed yesterday, Marvel Smith (personal reasons), Nate Washington, and Santonio Holmes. No word on why Nate and 'Tone were not there.

* Here's an interesting tidbit from Lolley about the offensive line yesterday, which again, did not include Marvel Smith:

With Smith out, the Steelers looked at a lot of different offensive line combinations, using centers Sean Mahan, Darnell Stapleton and Justin Hartwig at guard, and tackles Willie Colon and Trai Essex at guard as well.

Max Starks saw plenty of action at left tackle.

Colon at guard!?! Hooray. I hope he impressed.

* Remember when I asked if punters improve from their rookie year? Sure sounds like it from Lolley's notes. Sepulveda apparently was hitting the roof inside the Steelers' indoor practice facility with consistency. The roof is 100 feet high!

* And finally from Bouchette's notes,  Jason Capizzi returned to practice yesterday. Kendall Simmons, who had surgery on his shoulder on May 14th, was with the team, but not a full participator yesterday.

Carson Palmer received $38 million guaranteed after proving himself early in his career. Peyton Manning got nearly $35 million. Ben Roethlisberger received roughly $32 million in guaranteed money in his recent contract extension.

Those guys are worth the money, no?

Well, what about Matt Ryan!!??!!

How about $34.75 million in guaranteed money! The total contract is for $72 million, over 6 years, at least according to ESPN.com. 

There's some fantastic restaurants, lovely young ladies, and ample night-life in Atlanta. Now that you're filthy rich Matt, you may need to pick up a few table manners and not eat like you're at a feeding trough. Got it?

Matt freakin' Ryan. The highest paid QB in NFL history in terms of guaranteed money per year. That's revolting.

Troy Polamalu, who has missed significant time the past two years battling injuries, has been granted permission by Mike Tomlin and the Steelers organization to workout in Los Angeles rather than joining the team in Pittsburgh as it resumes offseason team activities tomorrow.

Polamalu is recovering from offseason knee surgery, and wouldn't be able to participate in any football related drills anyway.  Instead, he'll spend time rehabbing with trainer Marv Marinovich at his Sports Lab in Orange County, Calif. Tomlin is just fine with that:

It probably works for him because he's sold on it, and that's part of it," Tomlin said this week. "The reality is he's recovering from an injury, he's unable to participate in organized team activities, so it provides an opportunity for him to do what he feels good about.

So who is this Marinovich guy? Well, does the name Todd Marinovich ring a bell? As in the guy who is widely considered one of the biggest NFL Draft busts of all time? Marv is Todd's father.

While doing some research on him, I stumbled across this article about the family , written in 1990 in the New York Times. Amongst other things, the article highlights how Marinovich, a team-captain on the undefeated 1962 national championship winning USC team, began his career in sports medicine and training.

From the time he was a young athlete, Marv Marinovich had searched for answers to questions about how the body works.

''I can remember asking my dad: 'What can I do to improve my performance? What would be the plan?' ''

His career became an endless search. He studied the biomechanics of running, metabolism, and nutrition at a time when many football coaches clung to the belief that water breaks were harmful to an athlete's sense of purpose.

He researched philosophies of athletic development in Eastern Europe. He investigated the concepts of visualization and mental rehearsal.

Interesting stuff. Clearly Marinovich has had varying degrees of success with his understudies over the years. Many years ago, ESPN.com named him one 'Sports' Most Harmful Relatives' as a result of his tenure working with son Todd. On the other hand, his techniques have received critical acclaim across the globe.

Chet Furhman, the Steelers strength and conditioning coach during the Bill Cowher era, also signed off on Polamalu's regiment when he was employed by the organization:

We started off with him trying out what we did, but then went back to what he wanted to do," said Fuhrman. "I just felt if that's what he wanted and, in his mind, that's what's best for him, let him do what's best for him.

The premise behind Marinovich's program seems to be deemphasizing the importance of strenuous weight-lifting, and instead focusing on working muscle fibers less stressfully in rapid-fire conditions. According to Marinovich, Polamalu had been incorporating some of his techniques into his workout plans even before they started working together. Only Troy wasn't aware of it. Anyway, if we can take him for his word, the two should be working hard this next month and a half or so to get Polamalu back into form:

I've never been around an athlete like Troy in all my years. In all aspects, it's fun for me just to be around him.

So, best of luck Troy in sunny Southern California. May your work put in out there lead you back to the dominance us fans grew to love and expect just a few short years ago. And while we're at it, good work Mr. Tomlin in your decision to be flexible. I speak for all Steelers fans, I believe, when I say that I love our chances exponentially more if Polamalu stays healthy and performs in 2008 like he did in 2004 and 2005.

Many of you guys have mentioned your enjoyment of Jim Wexell's work, so what better way to get some pre-camp information and thoughts than to go directly to one of our favorite sources. Wexell has covered the Steelers for many, many years, and has two published books about the franchise: Tales From Behind the Steel Curtain and Pittsburgh Steelers: Men of Steel. Rumor has it that he's got another book coming out sometime soon, so we'll have to keep our eye out for that one.

Anyway, Jim was kind of enough to answer some questions as summer and training camp inches closer. Great, informative answers too.

1) We've read your columns on the Steelers draft, so we'll spare you the mundane, 'what did you think of our draft?' Instead, I'm curious which of our rookies do you think might have the biggest impact in 2008? If you think it's Mendenhall, do you think any of our later picks might surprise us fans?

Wexell: Just by the process of elimination it would have to be Mendenhall. I think we all know why. I think Limas Sweed will provide the team with a deep threat but little more his rookie year. I hope I'm wrong, but receivers take time. Bruce Davis will be like Sweed, a deep threat, but at his position that means a rotational third-down pass-rush threat. He'll do well on special teams, too. If you watch the Senior Bowl closely you'll see Davis beating his teammates down the field on most kicks.

As for some of the later picks who might surprise, I don't see Tony Hills or Dennis Dixon helping much. They play difficult positions and have health issues as well. I came away from a conversation impressed with Mike Humpal. He was a two-time state HS wrestling champ in Iowa; that's like winning in PA -- you have to respect that in that state. He was also a state runner-up in the high hurdles. I realize winning a sprint in Iowa isn't nearly as impressive as winning an Iowa wrestling crown, but that's an interesting mix of athleticism. He also has the mentality for special teams, so that's where I see the opening for him to succeed. Ryan Mundy has a couple of people ahead of him at FS, and I wouldn't rule Mike Lorello or Grant Mason out of that mix, either. The undrafted guys to watch, according to one scout, are LB Patrick Bailey and DL Martavius Prince.

2) Can you clarify to us how many players an organization is able to put on the Physically Unable to Perform list at any given time? As a follow-up, if Dennis Dixon and Tony Hills are not both able to be stashed away at the same time either because rules prohibit doing so or because they're not -quite- physically limited enough to be placed there, would it be too risky to have either on the practice squad where they might be snatched up by a competitor? My general concern is that we may waste roster spots on these two in 2008 while they either get stronger (Hills) or more healthy and acclamated to the pro-game (Dixon). Thoughts on that convoluted mess of a question?

Wexell: I didn't look up the rule, but it's never come into question. I seem to remember one year they had three on the PUP list heading into camp, but I don't believe there are even three candidates this year. The Steelers aren't really "stashers". They believe in getting guys on the field as soon as they can. Dixon and Hills could both be placed on the list, but the team wants them to practice, to learn, to grow. I believe they could get away with putting Dixon on the practice squad, but probably not Hills. Yet, if they do put Hills on the practice squad they could make sure he alerts them if any teams come calling. Then the Steelers could activate him if they wish. It won't be a problem.

3)We've gotten a kick out of reading the pundits predictions for the Browns in 2008. Clearly they're one of the more dangerous offenses in football, but being an insider with access to locker room and organizational dynamics, do you have any thoughts on how the Browns upcoming season now that they have expectations and a slew of new (highly-paid) faces on the team? If all goes according to plan, their free agent acquisitions could help propel them to a playoff berth, but from the looks of their schedule, I could see a scenario where they stumble out of the gates and hit the panic button at the quarterback position.

Wexell:  I respect the Browns. I really like what they've done with their D-line and I understand Shaun Rogers is a beast right now, so they've finally done something about their run defense. Their problem will be at QB (at times) and RB, where Jamal Lewis poses no threat. He's good for them right now -- like a 16-13 pitcher who gives you innings -- but that's the position they will look to improve next. They have little depth at RB. The biggest adjustment the Browns will have to make is dealing with the high expectations. The Steelers understand well how this works. It's easy to be the underdog, as the Browns were last year, but this year will be different. A lot will depend on the QB and HC, and I have little faith in either. I can't get the Derek Anderson of Oregon State out of my head, and I also believe the Steelers know how to defend him right now. Crennel will now be asked to coach from the position of a favorite, and that's a lot more difficult. Ask Bill Cowher.

4) We'd be remiss if we didn't get your insights on the offensive line situation. Care to share your prediction on who will start the 2008 season along the line, from left to right? As a quick follow-up, any insights on Jason Capizzi? I'd love to believe he's developing and on track to contribute in 2008 or 2009, but neither you nor other reporters has given me much reason to think that's realistic.

Wexell: From left to right, Marvel Smith, Chris Kemoeatu, Justin Hartwig, Kendall Simmons, Willie Colon. Nothing original there, I know, but the coaches don't think Max Starks should push Colon inside. That would be the line of my choice. I want Colon playing RG and Starks playing RT. I don't care as much about mobility at OG as I do the ability to block the monstrous DTs and NTs they see any more. As for Capizzi, he's been in a boot all spring, so there's nothing to say about him, other than the Steelers obviously liked what they saw last camp -- as we all did -- because they brought him back. The question about him, as anyone who's followed him from Pine-Richland and through Pitt, is his head. There've been so many rumors about his wild nature that you wondered whether the Steelers cut him for that reason. But since they brought him back, that question is gone. I talk to him often and he seems like a great kid to me. I think it's best to just let him surprise this camp, as opposed to last year when all of the reporters raced to call him the camp sleeper of the year.

5) We're on pins and needles waiting to see how the Max Starks situation plays out. Any chance that the organization works out a longer term deal with Starks and his agent before the season?

Wexell: Just as I asked the day he was tagged: How do the Steelers expect to work out a long-term deal with a guy making $7M in base salary? Max is a nice guy, but I don't think he's so nice as to give all of his leverage away to a team that doesn't see him as a starter. (I have heard a rumor that Mike Tomlin apologized to Max, said they made a mistake last year, and that he'll be a starter this year, but so far the OC and OL coach seem to have the same opinion of Max that they had last year.)

6) You're a busy man that writes for a number of publications. Do you find that you mold your opinions and your writing based on the medium you're writing for - be it the newspaper, online columns, or your fantastic articles for the Steelers Digest publication? We all read your stuff and know you call it like you see it, but as a media member, how much pressure, if any, is there to bite your tongue at times in order to preserve the rapport you've successfully built with the franchise and its players for so many years now?

Wexell: Biting my tongue hurts too much. And thank you for the word "fantastic", by the way. I appreciate it, and thanks for reading. But the column in Steelers Digest is the one the players read. I've learned -- and Tunch Ilkin and Craig Wolfley have been a big influence in this regard -- that you can criticize without being an asshat. I just refrain from calling names. Criticize like a coach would, and always have the guts to come back to the locker room the next day just in case a player wants to confront you. Sometimes the players think you're being a jerk for criticizing them and then having the gall to approach and ask another question, but I do that just in case the player wants to confront me on anything I've written. Not that I'm confrontational, but the player deserves the chance to talk things through.

**************************

Many thanks to Mr. Wexell for taking the time! Be sure to catch his columns in Steelers Digest, as well as his work for the Tribune-Democrat, SteelCityInsider.com, and many others.

Recently, cgolden said he was looking forward to my next NFL player analsyis, so that encouraged me to take a look the top WRs in NFL history, at least half of whom have played within the last 20 years. If you want to re-read the RB analyses, or if you didn't read them, you can click here and here. These will also familiarize you with the process that I followed to complete the following analysis.

This time, I decided to include every receiver that was in the top 10 of any major statistical category: career receiving yards, number of receptions, receiving TDs, receiving yards per game, and yards per reception. I also threw in Sterling Sharpe, who was ranked 11th in receiving yards per game. So, I ended up including 33 players in this analysis. If you have trouble reading the table, click on the image to enlarge it.

Click to enlarge

As with the RB analyses, I chose to analyze each player's impact on a per game basis. So, in addition to career receiving yards, I have receiving and rushing yard per game, yards per reception and attempt, TDs per game and fumbles per game. For this analysis, I also included the receptions per game. I did this because the number of catches a receiver has in a game or season is given more importance than the number of carries that a RB has. That is to say, if a receiver has a 100 catch season, it is hailed a great accomplishment, but you don't hear that so much if a RB has a 400 carry season. Instead, there is worry if the RB has taken to much punishment, a la the Curse of 370.

Just like before, I sorted the players according to each statistical category, and then I put them into a table to show each player's rank for each category. That table is shown below. Again, click on the image if you have trouble reading it.

Click to Enlarge

Again,as before, I took these rankings and calculated an aggregate ranking for each player. I did this by summing the rankings of each player and dividing by the number of categories (10 this time). The aggregate rankings are shown in the table below.

This analysis does not yield as clear results as the RB analysis did. On one hand you have Don Hutson at the top of the aggregate standings, and he is ranked first or second in 5 of the 10 categories.  However, he ranks outside of the top 10 in all of the other categories. Jerry Rice is in the top 7 for 8 of the 10 categories. Both have very similar numerical aggregate rankings, separated only by 0.5. So, what should we make of these two being so close?

I think there a couple things we can take from these numbers. First, Don Hutson and Jerry Rice were each the greatest WR of their time. Rice has some close competition in Randy Moss and Terrell Owens, but Rice played 20 years, and had he retired just two years earlier (click here for his career stats broken out by year), he would have had better statistics in all of these categories except perhaps yards per reception and fumbles per game. If he had retired 8 years earlier, he would likely have ranked significantly higher in every category except fumbles per game. Second, this analysis give Don Hutson a serious argument for the greatest receiver to every play. Consider that he played from 1935 to 1945. The rules changes to benefit the passing game happened in 1978. I was not able find documentation on this, but I believe that an incomplete pass was a penalty during Hutson's career. (I am basing that from memory of seeing an NFL Films segment on Hutson.) So, the forward pass was extremely rare in those days. And, yet, he ranks number one in TD receptions/game! I guess it's to be expected that he would rank very high in the rushing categories given the era in which he played.

Here are some other things that I found interesting in this analysis:

• I know Blitzburgh will give me a hard time about this one! :) But, I see that Torry Holt, who attended my alma mater (NC State), is ranked number 1 in receiving and total yards per game. He is also third in receptions per game, although he doesn't rank so well in the other categories.
• Randy Moss: if he had spent his entire career working as hard as Jerry Rice, I have little doubt that he would be the top ranked WR in the aggregate rankings. He would probably still be in Minnesota and the highest paid WR in NFL history as well.
• Terrell Owens: probably wasted at least one of his peak years by becoming a cancer for the Eagles. His chances of being the best were certainly hurt by that act of self-centeredness.
• Every player in the top ten in yards per reception, except for Flipper Anderson, played before 1978. Those are the bottom ten players in the first table. Most of them played before 1970. I guess that just shows how the game has changed, especially with the advent of the West Coast Offense.
• All of the players in this analysis had extremely low values for fumbles/game. That would be attributable to the relatively low number of times that receivers touch the ball.
• A couple names that stick out in the top ten Overall Average Rank are Lance Alworth and Warren Wells. Both played primarily in the 60s, and I believe they were in the old AFL. Alworth played for the Chargers and Wells played for the Raiders. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that a couple guys from the AFL are on this list, since the league was known for high scoring games with a lot of passing yards.

Overall, this analysis gave me some results that were less clear than the RB analyses. But, two players certainly seemed to show up at the top. While it's possible that Owens and Moss could catch or surpass Rice and Hutson in these numbers, I expect that, like all athletes, their skills will begin to deteriorate causing some of their numbers to decline in later years. Owens, especially, is already at an age that make it unlikely that he will perform at his current level for much longer.

So, what do you guys think? Any stat missing that should have been considered?

Time to take one step back here to the 1930s. As we all learned last year during the Steelers' 75th anniversary year, the organization got its start in 1933. Here's a video chronicling the team's first 7 years of existence.

Steelers in the 1940s  
Steelers in the 1950s

I haven't been able to follow the 2008 NBA Playoffs as closely as I would have liked, but I've watched and read enough to realize that home teams are absolutely dominating, particuarlly in the conference semifinal round. This reality had me thinking about how good the Steelers have been at Heinz Field since Big Ben took over the starting QB duties full-time in 2004. Let's take a look.

2004:

vs. Cincinnati (W. 28-17)
vs. Cleveland (W 34-23)
vs. New England (W 34-20)
vs. Philadelphia (W 27-3)
vs. Washington (W 16-7)
vs. New York Jets (W 17-6)
vs. Baltimore (W 20-7)

Overall 2004 Home Record: 7-0 (Ben didn't start Week 1 home victory vs. Oakland)
Overall 2004 Home Point Differential: 176-63

2005:

vs. Tennessee (W 34-7)
vs. New England (L 20-23)
vs. Jacksonville (L 17-23)
vs. Baltimore (W 20-19)
vs. Cleveland (W 34-21)
vs. Cincinnati (L 31-38)
vs. Chicago (W 21-9)
vs. Detroit (W 35-21)

Overall 2005 Home Record: 5-3
Overall 2005 Home Point Differential: 212-161

2006:

vs. Miami (W 28-17)
vs. Cincinnati (L 20-28)
vs. Kansas City (W 45-7)
vs. Denver (L 20-31)
vs. New Orleans (W 38-31)
vs. Tampa Bay (W 20-3)
vs. Cleveland (W 27-7)
vs. Baltimore (L 7-31)

Overall 2006 Home Record: 5-3
Overall 2006 Home Point Differential: 205-124

2007:

vs. Buffalo (W 26-3)
vs. San Francisco (W 36-17)
vs. Seattle (W 21-0)
vs. Baltimore (W 38-7)
vs. Cleveland (W 31-28)
vs. Cincinnati (W 24-10)
vs. Jacksonville (L 22-29)

Overall 2007 Home Record: 7-1
Overall 2007 Home Point Differential: 198-94

OVERALL 2004-2007 HOME RECORD: 24-7
OVERALL 2004-2007 HOME POINT DIFFERENTIAL: 791- 442

I don't have much time this afternoon to delve into any sort of analysis, but really, there's not that much that needs to be said. Even in 2005 when we won the Super Bowl, and in 2006 when Ben was hurt, we were still very, very good at home. And in 2004, we were dominant, while in 2007, despite all our flaws, we were nearly unbeatable.  I'd love to get a psychologist's take on why athletes perform so much better at home than on the road. It's somewhat easy to understand why the disparity in performance exists, but the degree to which it is pronounced never ceases to amaze me.

We continue our video history of the Steelers franchise with a shorter clip of the team in the 1950s:

I have a deadline rapidly approaching to finish a chapter in a book about the football program at the University of Texas. The book is edited by PB @ BON, the author of Burnt Orange Nation, the network's UT blog. I am not a diehard partisan of the football program, but PB was nice enough to ask me to write a historical chapter in last year's and this year's edition. My chapter is about Rooster Andrews, a former walk-on kicker on the football squad and two-year lettermen on the baseball team. He's one of those guys with a larger-than-life personality that knew everybody. He was actually roomates with Bobby Layne at UT, hence my procurement of that photo the other day (Rooster is the laughably short guy below Layne; he stood about 4'11").

Anyway, I need to focus on that for awhile here so I thought it might be fun to share who some of our other favorite athletes are, past and/or present. I'll start and remember, it's more fun for all of us if you participate:

MLB: Chris Sabo, Greg Maddox.

Laugh all you want about Sabo, I'm used to it. But did you know he had 40+ 2bs and 40+ SBs as a rookie in 1988, when he won Rookie of the Year? Or that he hit .563 with 2 HRs, 5 RBIs and an OPS (On Base % + Slugging %) of 1.600+ in the 1991 World Series sweep of the Oakland A's. Didn't think so. You couldn't get passed the Rec Specs could you?

NBA: Chris Paul, Larry Bird

Love Larry Legend. What a baller. As for Paul? Great kid, great competitor. I think the Hornets will win the West, and I've thought so for quite some time. Others: Goran Ivaniesevic (Tennis); Ulf Samuelson, Kevin Stevens, Theo Fleury (Hockey); Drew Brees, Vince Young, Marshawn Lynch, Carl Pickens, Brian Dawkings (NFL). Your turn.