Hey El! Long time, man! We haven't seen you since we saw you and your former teammates exchange hugs and tears when we got our Super Bowl rings. Well, two pre-season games, but who cares about those?

I've been meaning to say something to you for a while now. We miss you, man! I even bought your jersey for my brother's birthday present back in 2002. We sympathize; as fans, we know how difficult it is for skill position players to get an extension from the Steelers. It's business, whaddya do?

You should know we will always have a soft spot for you. As a member of the Post-Steel Curtain Generation, like yourself, your pass to a wide open Hines Ward still serves as the greatest play we've ever seen.

Neither you nor I were alive for the Immaculate Reception. We didn't see the 1970s Steelers rack up four titles. We have one, though, and you were a much bigger part of it than stats may indicate.

While Seahawks fans are still crying conspiracy as they prepare for a top 10 draft pick, we simply point out the fact that we, as fans, saw the play coming a mile away. It was your third pass attempt that season, and the second in the playoffs. You could complete one of those each game for the rest of your career and none of them would be as memorable as that one.

Hearing the call in my head now..."Steelers at the Seahawks 43, Miller in motion to Roethlisberger's left, here's the snap, hand-off to Parker, Parker flips it to Randle-El! He's gonna...he's gonna pass! He's got Ward down field, TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN STEELERS!"

It still sends chills down my spin. Incidentally, I took the brim of a Steelers construction helmet to the bridge of my nose in celebration and nearly got trampled on the ground after I hit the deck. Memory's kind of hazy, to be honest.  

What I do remember is, on that day, you became the first receiver in history to cement his legacy as a passer. Yeah, your legacy is going to be a bit unorthodox; the wide receiver with mad passing skills. The best point guard in the NFL. Truly, one of the nicest, likeable guys a team is ever going to have.

I'm not surprised things are clicking for the Redskins. While, no offense, your hands don't resemble it, you are locker room glue. Teams win with guys like you on them. Tennessee's Chris Hope is no different; notice how well Tennessee is doing?

Both of you guys bailed after that remarkable game. No one can blame you, I mean, the amount of money they're paying you...I'd even play for the Bengals for that amount.

Maybe we took you for granted. This is the second consecutive game the Steelers will face their former split end. While Ike Taylor shut down Plaxico Burress in Week 8, my first thought isn't that we don't have Plax, it's that our starting split end was deactivated because he got busted with marijuana a few days before the game.

Ability-wise, you may not be Santonio Holmes, but we're never going to see your name on a police report. Again, locker room glue. Instant energy. Leadership. We're not blind, we see how those things are instrumental in building a championship team.

I think it's fair to say it worked out both good and bad for both sides. Regardless of where you are, though, I still smile when I see you smack the ball in your hands and hop around a few times after each kick return you thought you could have broken for a score. I still get a surge of excitement if your first move after the snap is not straight ahead. It sort of sucks this week, because you're going to see over-aggressive run-supporter Anthony Smith as the deep safety at some point. And just like the play caught Marcus Trufant and Jordan Babineaux napping, you're going to try to get Smith to do the same.

Your new team and your old team match up very well with each other. I wouldn't be surprised to see it come down to one play. You're on the wrong side of it this time, and even if you are the difference-maker, we may say we hate you, but we'll never hate the guy who provided the greatest play of our generation.

Best of luck, El, we're looking forward to your appearance in 2015-16 for the 10 Year Anniversary.

I am pleased to welcome Neal Coolong to BTSC. Neal formerly authored the popular fan site Die Hard Steel. He also writes on occassion for SteelCityInsider.com, Jim Wexell's pay site. And his columns and blurbs can be found on RealFootball365.com.  With cgolden now busy with his already successful Cardinals site, Revenge of the Birds, it's nice to have another person helping out. And Neal's as accomplished and accessible a writer as you'll find out there, which I have no doubt you'll quickly see. As always, feel free to email me at behindthesteelcurtain@gmail.com with any questions, concerns, suggestions you may have, or if you simply want to write something on the main page yourself and first want to talk it over. More the merrier, but for now, BTSC is quite lucky to have Neal jump aboard as we navigate through this wild and crazy 2008 season. Please join me in welcoming him. -Blitz-

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I was at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Columbus, Ohio, watching the Steelers lose 21-14 to the Giants Sunday. I was surrounded by a few business travelers like myself, chomping on chicken wings, quietly rooting for our respective teams - Seattle, San Francisco, Buffalo, Houston, Cleveland, to name a few.

After a completion down the middle of the field to previously silenced Plaxico Burress, Dick Stockton said "...And safety Tyrone Carter on the coverage."

I leaned over to the Buffalo fan sitting next to me and said "I grew up mostly in Minnesota, watching Tyrone Carter play. I've seen every snap he's taken as a Steeler. I've never heard a positive play end with the broadcaster saying 'Ty Carter on the coverage.'"

He laughed. I sighed.

So what to do now that starter Ryan Clark has been listed as doubtful for Monday night's showdown with the 6-2 Washington Redskins (Clark's former team)? Go with Carter, who has clear limitations? Or is it time to give Anthony Smith another shot? This particular matchup may be a better fit for Carter than it is for our other replacement candidate, Anthony Smith.

The 5-foot-8 Carter has been a solid back-up free safety in his time in Pittsburgh, and is aggressive in his run support. His pass defense...well, you can't teach height, and giving up nine inches to Burress is a fairly significant disadvantage.

You can teach a defensive back to not bite on a double-move or gadget play, though, and it's a lesson Anthony Smith didn't bother to learn last season.

Washington's main threat through the air is 5-foot-9 Santana Moss. Their No. 2 guy, former Steeler Antwaan Randle-El, isn't any bigger than 5-foot-9. Moss is averaging 15 yards a catch this season with seven touchdowns. Steelers fans know full-well Randle-El's ability on gadget plays.

While Smith has more physical tools than Carter does, and both are generally seen as aggressive players, Carter's veteran savvy makes him a more viable option for the run-heavy-set-up-the-deep-ball Redskins. Smith is bigger, but Carter is less susceptible to the double-move, and Washington doesn't have a significant height advantage outside the numbers.

What they do have, though, is a deadly efficient quarterback. Jason Campbell is the only starter in the NFL not to have thrown an interception at this point, and his numbers are eerily similar to what Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard had going into their Week 14 game last season.

Garrard hit Dennis Northcutt on a 55-yard touchdown pass off a double-move in the second quarter of that game. Anthony Smith on the coverage...

It makes perfect sense for Washington - a team led on the ground by Clinton Portis and his 5.1 yards per carry - to set up the big play like Jacksonville did last year by running the ball, and waiting for their opportunity to use Moss's speed against Smith's tendency to play the run. The Steelers pass rush may not have yielded a sack against New York, but they provided plenty of pressure, and the Redskins' offensive line is not as good as the Giants.

The Steelers will miss Ryan Clark. But if he's not in there, Carter makes the most sense as the deep safety. The run defense can contain Portis without the safety five yards off the ball. What the Steelers can't contain, though, is Moss getting behind him deep.

So maybe my streak will be broken, and I'll hear "Carter on the coverage" and not see a jubilant Moss or Randle-El on the receiving end of a big pass play.

According to Dale Lolley's blog Punter Daniel Sepulveda is out for the season with a torn ACL. The Steelers picked up Paul Ernster of waivers to replace him. They didn't even have a second punter in camp to compete with him. Bummer.

This always tends to happen and as Coach Tomlin says it's probably a 'necessary evil.' As tough as competition is in the NFL, tempers are going to flare up and fights will break out and that was the case yesterday as two separate bouts broke out while the Steelers were at their indoor practice facility. The participants were Willie Colon and Lawrence Timmons in the first showdown and Trai Essex and Arnold Harrison in the second. Neither scuffle amount to much and were over nearly as soon as they started. After practice Coach T talked about the scuffles:

"Practice broke out into a fight," said head coach Mike Tomlin afterwards. "You know, the competition is good, but the level of intensity has to be there if we want to get better.

"You have to understand professional etiquette; that's what we talked about after practice. These kinds of things have to happen as we develop our football team because it gives us a venue to address them, and why we do what it is that we do and how we approach what it is that we do.

"You don't like to see it happen, but it's a necessary evil. I'm glad that it happened, we addressed it and move on."

• In some actual football related news, Larry Foote sat out yesterday with a sore neck and that of course means that Timmons took all the reps the first group. I've always been a Foote fan but I really hope that Timmons can beat him out this preseason.
  
• Jim Wexell has been giving some pretty detailed OTA reports and some of the news encouraging and some it 'head-scratching' to say the least. I keep trying to move past the OL, but I just couldn't help myself when he mentioned that with the return of Marvel Smith yesterday, the starting lineup was Smith, Chris K, Mahan, Stapleton and Colon (Simmons isn't practicing yet). For what it's worth it looks like the starting five is different almost every day, but for what it's worth, when Mahan is there he runs with the first group. I did find one practice that had Essex running at guard though so it looks like they're trying to throw as much as they can against the wall and we'll see what sticks.
  
• There's also random notes of various players who have looked good at one time or another. Dallas Baker is a name that is in every report for either making a great catch or beating William Gay deep. Travis Williams (undrafted corner from East Carolina) is a youngster that Wexell thinks is worth keeping an eye on. He's also excited about Moore's versatility (compares to Kevin Faulk) and says the 10 pounds that Russell put on seem to help him quite a bit. Don't worry though Wexell also mentions how 'studly' Mendenhall looks at everything he's done so far. In addition to Simmons and Foote sitting out Ryan McBean, Deshea Townsend, Traivs Kirschke, Najeh Davenport, Willie Parker and Santonio Holmes were all sidelined with various bumps and bruises. It too early for someone to seriously worry about their job but if I was Davenport I don't think I'd let some minor bump/bruise keep me from the field considering all the praise we're hearing on the younger backs.
• In an earlier practice from last week, Timmons talks about LeBeau's new wrinkle for the dime defense that includes Timmons and Farrior as the inside backers. During that same practice they worked on punt returns with the returners going in this order: Reid, Moore, Holmes, Marion, Bloom, and Travis Williams. Wexell also mentions Tony Hills getting beaten badly by Silverback, although that's a heck of an assignment for the rookie. Anthony Smith is working at strong safety behind Tyrone Carter while Grant Mason is taking the second string reps at free safety behind Clark.

Thoughts about OTA's so far? Anyone run across any other news?

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I ran across a video (that you can watch here) that left me pretty perplexed. The Las Vegas PD was simulating crashes involving multiple vehicles and also accidents involving a pedestrian earlier this week, but for some reason they but a Ben Roethlisberger jersey on the pedestrian. I don't know what was more off setting, the idea that putting a jersey on a crash test dummy or the reporters skating around the mention of it.

So I was bored this morning and was taking a look at the contract status the current roster and one thing kept jumping out at me: there are an awful lot of players who will be free agents. This past off season was a relatively easy one for the front office considering there weren't many free agents and outside of the Max Starks fiasco, there weren't many difficult decisions. February 2009 would be a completely different story though, here's a quick list of the free agents to be:

Wow, in case anyone is counting that list of players has combined to start 295 games and play in over 500 games for the Steelers. Now to be honest some of these guys will be restricted free agents and several of these names are possible cut victims during camp. Willie Colon, Willie Reid, Anthony Smith, Anthony Madison, Grant Mason, Arnold Harrison and Ryan McBean will all be restricted free agents and Carey Davis might be as well but I'm not sure because he's actually been in the league since 2004.

Obviously the biggest losses will come on the offensive line. While one or two of these guys may get new deals in Pittsburgh, they simply can't all be retained. If I'm taking guesses, the most likely would seem to be Chris Kemoeatu, who might get a new deal before the season even starts. After Chris K, I'd have to think either Starks or Marvel, but that'll likely depend on who the front office/coaching staff sees as the future at left tackle. Essex is just a guy so I'd imagine with Hills being added to the mix, this is probably his final season in the Burgh.

Washington, Reid, Davenport, and Batch are probably playing their final season here, if they make it through the season. Reid and Davenport seem to be on the chopping block already. Washington's future took a shot with the drafting of Limas Sweed. Carey Davis will probably get a new deal even if he isn't a RFA, if for no other reason than he'll likely be very cheap.

For the defensive guys, the two big questions are obvious: what to do with McFadden and Farrior? Is Farrior worth a new deal at 33 years old and will he be willing to give a 'hometown discount?' Can McFadden stay healthy long enough to finally prove he's the playmaker that some of us think he is? I honestly don't know the answers to these questions and even though I'd really like to see both of these guys back in 2009 and beyond, it'll likely depend on whether they want to be here or not.

So who do you see as they guys we absolutely have to keep? Is this something we should be concerned about or does this look like a purge of mostly marginal players?

As many of you know, cgolden, a frequent commentor and contributor here at BTSC, has branched out to work on his fantastic Arizona Cardinals site. When I saw this post he made over at  Revenge of the Birds,  I asked him to post it over here as well for several reasons. One, it's an interesting piece during the slower days of the offseason. Two, it highlights some of his great work. And three, I have a follow-up piece coming about Jerome Bettis' Hall Of Fame credentials. This post will be a nice framework for the discussion and a useful point of reference when we discuss Bettis.

If you're a Cardinals fan and stumbled on this site looking for AZ news, head on over to Revenge of the Birds for solid Cards' coverage 365 days a year. We're pleased to still have cgolden around some here, but Cards fans should be thrilled his primary focus is over there. Cheers.

-Blitzburgh-

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Ok, so we all know that if Edge were to retire today, he most certainly would never be elected to the Hall of Fame. The bigger question though is how close is he. I was surprised when I looked at the career stats for running backs and saw how high James was in most of the categories. Granted stats alone won't tell you the whole story but it's definitely a starting point.

With that being said, we'll look at where he is heading into the 2008, where he could be after the 2008 season, and where he could be after 2009 when he'll be a free agent. In order to set the table, I'll assume that James will stay healthy and be as productive as he's been during his two seasons in Arizona meaning he'll get 1,200 yards rushing, 200 yards receiving and 6 total touchdowns in 2008. Just for the sake of being conservative based on his age and the possibility of the Cardinals attempting to groom a replacement, lets assume that he gets only 1,000 yards rushing, 100 yards receiving and 4 total touchdowns. Those might be overly optimistic projections in the eyes of some but an improved and stable offensive line and appropriate play calling should make those numbers easily attainable.

First, ranking thirteenth on the all-time rushing list is impressive enough and if memory serves every back ahead of him on that list who is eligible is already in the Hall of Fame. If we add 1,200 yards to that total, Edge would jump to seventh on the list and if we project two seasons out, Edge would rank 5th with just over 1,380 yards rushing. He'd also be within arms reach of Curtis Martin at fourth who would be just under 300 yards ahead of him. Obviously the Chargers' LaDainian Tomlinson is going to pass Edge at some point in the future, but other than LT the next back who has any realistic shot of jumping into the top ten is Washington's Clinton Portis. He's currently has 7,715 yards at 26 years old. Still though, it's very conceivable that James could rank in the top 5 in terms of rushing yards before his career ends and that alone might be enough to get him in.

Edge is obviously helped out in this department the gaudy receiving stats that he put up in Indy, but he's still an above average back out of the backfield. If we project James to get about 1,400 yards from scrimmage during 2008, he would jump to 10th on the all-time list, and just inches (well actually 26 yards) from the former Cowboy, Tony Dorsett, in ninth. If we look past the 2009 season and project another 1,100 yards, Edge would then rank eighth all time, less than 100 yards behind former Jet and Patriot, Curtis Martin. He'd also be less than 300 yards behind former Raider and Chief Marcus Allen for 6th all-time.

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Turn your mind back three months in time. To the Super Bowl. Two minutes left in the game. Eli Manning drops back to pass, looks to his right, and fires. Think back to that moment, when you saw Asante Samuel - maybe the league's best cornerback - jump up near the sideline, hands raised to make an interception...

As you no doubt recall, he dropped it, the ball glancing right off his hands and out of bounds, allowing the Giants their improbable, thrilling, upset-clinching final scoring drive.

Now imagine that Samuel catches that ball. The Patriots get the ball, run out the clock, breathe a huge sigh of relief, and are crowned one of the best football teams of all-time. The talk about the Giants? Now: "They fought hard, kept it close, but in the end, couldn't stop the mighty Patriots, owners of the NFL's most fearsome offense ever seen."

Now turn back your mind one week to the NFL Draft, imagining still that the Patriots achieved perfection. And join me in the Steelers' post-draft chat wrap with ESPN.

Chris Berman: Let's start with your first round pick, left tackle Sam "Green Eggs and Ham" Baker of USC.

Kevin Colbert: Well, we actually thought for a moment that Rashard Mendenhall was going to fall to us at 23, which would have blown us away, but you know, everyone's looking for playmakers on offense right now. We always want to build depth on the line through the draft, and we're very pleased to grab Baker with our first choice.

ESPN: Second round, you guys grab defensive end Calais "I love" Campbell "soup" from Miami.

Kevin Colbert: We decided once again just to draft to our highest needs, and though that's not always panned out for us in recent years, all the guys we had rated highly were off the board. It's funny, you almost wish the Giants had won that Super Bowl which, you know, would have just shaken things up a bit with the draft. I'm not gonna lie to you, when it looked like they might beat New England, I was thinking to myself, 'There's gonna be a lot of value left on the board when we draft as everyone tries to mimic the Giants defense.' [laughs]

Chris Berman: [makes boom-boom-truck noise] I think you're right about that. Back to the studio and Mel Kiper, who's with Rick Smith, director of football operations for the Houston Texans.

Mel Kiper: Rick, you guys went ahead and grabbed Dennis Dixon in the third round of the draft. I love the pick - tell us a little bit about what your thought process was there.

Rick Smith: It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the league has changed a lot over the last several years. This used to be a run the ball, win-with-defense kind of league, but you look at the Patriots and what they did this year and the Colts and what they did in 2006. And the year before that, you know people forget, but the Steelers won three playoff games on the road when Ken Whisenhunt kicked that offense into another gear.

Defense is certainly important, but especially here in the AFC, you've got to have a great offense to compete right now. I think fans are a little slower to see this, of course, but the spread is working its way into the professional game. New England just killed everyone with the spread this year, and the Colts certainly incorporate some of those spread principles into what they do.

Of course in the college game, almost every great offensive team runs some version of the spread, and though some of those systems won't work in the pros, a lot of those principles are being applied successfully at this level.

So when we looked at Dennis Dixon, we thought he's just a perfect kind of player to help our offense along. He's kind of been mis-branded by some people as some sort of option quarterback - and he can run - but he's a much more complete quarterback than that. He of course had 583 yards rushing on just 105 attempts, including 9 touchdowns, but a lot of people want to downplay his passing, which we think is a mistake.

The kid hit on 68% of his passes as a senior, 8.4 yards per attempt, a 20-4 TD-INT ratio and 161.7 QB Rating. Those are video game numbers, Mel, and if he doesn't hurt that knee, he's holding a Heisman Trophy at the end of year. Probably a national championship trophy, as well.

At 6-4, he's got the height to play quarterback in this league, and our doctors are confident he's got a full recovery from knee surgery in front of him. He was maybe college football's most dynamic player last year and we can see him getting on the field for us in a variety of ways - not just at quarterback.

I've already fielded a few questions about Dixon asking if he's going to be like Kordell Stewart was for the Steelers not too long ago. In some ways, that's fair, in that we think he can be used in a variety of ways, but we want to be real clear here: Dennis Dixon is significantly different from Kordell. You know, Stewart was only 6-1, and though he was athletic, he didn't possess nearly the quickness or agility that Dennis has shown. Kordell's best single season passing the ball at Colorado resulted in a 146.1 QB Rating, which is good, but not great.

It's kind of a shame how Dixon's senior season ended, because a lot of fans not on the west coast didn't get a chance to see exactly how special a quarterback talent he is, but you know, maybe it worked out well for the Houston Texans. We grabbed him in round three and, you know, if he'd finished the year healthy, who knows? It's not unthinkable that he could have been a first or second round choice.

Mel Kiper: Thanks, Rick. I gotta agree with him, Chris. You look at Dennis Dixon and you're talking about a guy that made a great USC defense look absolutely silly. He went to the Big House and had the Wolverines down for the count by halftime. And I love what Rick had to say about the shift we're seeing in the NFL. As the Colts and Patriots set the bar in the league, everyone else is making adjustments to try and keep up. Great pick by the Houston Texans here.

Whether or not my imagined scenario is totally realistic, I do think the underlying point is a valid one. Two concluding thoughts here:

1) Before this draft, Pittsburgh's offensive skill position core was Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Willie Parker, Santonio Holmes, and Heath Miller. That's an outstanding top five to have, but it may partly mask from fans some considerable fraying around the edges. Nate Washington had a solid 2007 season, but isn't a game-changing player. The situation at tailback behind Willie Parker was frighteningly thin. Davenport was a terrific surprise source of help last year, but not someone we want to rely on. And we can't say for sure whether Parker has another 300-carry season in him in 2008.

And what about a back up to Roethlisberger? He stayed healthy all last year and put together a historic season, but what if he were to befall injury? How many of our eggs do we want to put in the Charlie Batch basket?

The point being: though there existed perhaps more obvious needs along both lines, the additions of Mendenhall, Sweed, and Dixon to our offensive depth shouldn't be underappreciated. Even if you don't share my enthusiasm for Dixon as a thrilling steal for the organization, it still should be viewed as a terrific fifth round draft choice as a potential back up for Big Ben.

2) It's always greatly tempting to draft strictly according to your most obvious needs, but for the best teams in the National Football League, the hierarchy of needs is not controlling. Though there's no "one/best way" that a team should draft, there are important principles that great teams use to drive their decisions:

* Do an elite job identifying the best talent and putting together your draft board accordingly.

* Be mindful of pressing needs, but seek players who you're sure can contribute.

* Trust your player development system to turn good talent into great players for your team. Use that trust to draft value without worrying excessively about plugging holes formulaicly.

* Identify inefficiencies in the market and exploit them. If the rest of the league is zigging (copycatting the Giants), then don't be afraid to zag (grabbing elite offensive talent that's slipped too far).

The bottom line is that context counts, and it's never enough just to look at the roster, make decisions about which positions are weakest, and draft accordingly. The New England Patriots are masters at this, drafting great players without obsessing over their needs. They know that when push comes to shove, they'll make things work with good coaching, execution, and some duct tape: Troy Brown at cornerback. Junior Seau at linebacker. Whatever.

And this year, unlike several of recent past, our Steelers drafted tremendous football players who didn't necessarily fit the fans' ideas concerning pressing needs. Pittsburgh's brass probably didn't plan the draft out the way it eventually wound up, but when the draft unfolded as it did, they took advantage.

That's good drafting, and the Pittsburgh Steelers should be - in my opinion - on any short list of teams which performed best on draft day.

You won't find many bigger Steelers fans than myself, which is why I helped Blitz launch this site and still contribute material from time to time. But most of my writing time is devoted to my Texas Longhorns site, where I've obsessively covered UT athletics the past four years. On Saturday, however, my football rooting interests impeccably merged when it was announced that the Steelers had selected Limas Sweed with the 53rd pick of the 2008 NFL Draft.

PB (right) with Limas Sweed in 2006.

In other words: I know this kid pretty damn well. What follows is some background on his career at Texas and how he projects as a professional, including strengths and areas to improve.

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