I've been reading all the posts round here and thinking more and more about the d-line for next year.  It's no news to anyone that we're incredibly shallow at that position currently.  Aaron goes down and our rushing defense goes from best in the league to near the bottom.  And no real improvement was added in the offseason.  So it left me pondering what the FO and Tomlin are doing here?  So in hypothetical I tried to think of what might be going through the Steelers minds and came up with one plan that made sense to me...

Incorporation of a lot of 4-3 alignments.  Especially if we pick up McFarland once he clears medical.  This would give us the following d-tackles (I think) Hampton, Hoke, Smith, McFarland.  For ends: Keisel, Woodley, Davis, and I think Smith could swing both positions. 

With linebackers the way I see it most naturally would be to put Timmons at MLB because of his athleticism he'd be best for covering that middle zone of the cover 2.  Farrior swings to Strong side OLB and Harrison takes the WOLB. 

Personally I love the way the 3-4 works, but I also like making an offense prepare for both, and I could see this year as an opportunity to really confuse offenses. 

What do you guys think?  Again, it doesn't seem like Tomlin cares about the exact alignment so much as the philosophy.  What do you guys think?  Just some random football thoughts as we enter in to the long dark of spring and summer.

Rather than make the players go through all the toils and tribulations inherent in the regular season I figured I'd just try to take a good look at each matchup and determine the winner.  Let me know what ya'll think on the games...

(1) vs. Texans WIN
While I believe the Texans are a team that are slowly rising, I don't think they'll be able to put it all together this early in the season.

(2) @ Browns (8:15) WIN
Along with most of you, I'm not sold on the resurrected Cleveland Browns.  They certainly look more solid, but I think Ben can still pick them apart in the secondary, and I think our defense can confuse the hell out of DA, to force some mistakes on him.  The spotlight is really on the Brownies this year and I'm betting against them showing up big in their first big contest.

(3) @ Eagles LOSE
Don't like to put this down as a loss, but am worried about getting the Eagles early in the season.  When McNabb and Westbrook are both healthy that's a dangerous offense.  And Jim Johnson's defense is always hard to handle, and I'm not confident our line will be rock solid.  Were this game at home, I think I'd give the edge to the Steelers, but in Philly I'm going loss.

(4) vs. Ravens (8:30) WIN
The picture of a team on the decline.  Many key positions are filled by players past their prime.  I think the Ravens come out hard to make up for their embarrasment at Heinz last year, but get down a little early resulting in an all out collapse as Ray Ray brings the defense to one side of the sideline and refuses to associate with the Offense till they do their part.

(5) @ Jags (8:15) LOSE
Del Rio's got our number, and he's got the players to execute it.  

(6) BYE
Guess I'll just drink ridiculous amounts on Saturday and sleep away the day on Sunday.

(7) @ Bengals WIN
Steelers in Ohio = Win.

(8) Giants 4:15 WIN
I'm just another guy predicting a serious hangover for the Giants this year. They've got a tough schedule and like the Steelers of 06 won the Superbowl, not by being the best team, but by being the hottest team at the time. I see them going the way of the 06 Steelers.

(9) @ Redskins 8:30 LOSE
Based on lasted year's away performances(not including Ohio). I think this game will be a mirror of the Jets game last year. A game we should totally win, but just keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

(10) Colts 4:15 WIN
Only cause it's at Heinz and by the 10th game we'll be seeing the same old wear and tear on the grass. With a slowed down offense and defense we can slog it out with them and trade punches.  Coming off the stinging loss to the most racistly named team in football, I expect our boys to be at their best.

(11) Chargers 4:15 LOSE
I just don't like our OLine against that defense. I see Ben taking a pounding.

(12) Bengals 8:15 (Thursday) LOSE
More of a result of the short week then anything. As I said, I think the Chargers are going to be punching us in the face a lot, and getting back to it on Thursday's gonna be tough, I think we'll have a let down.

(13) @ Pats 4:15 LOSE*
But Silverback suplexes Evil Bill, making all right in the world.

(14) Cowboys 4:15 WIN
Sorry Terry, but I don't buy the Cowboys taking one from the Steelers on our home turf.  The playoff's are taking shape and the Steelers are getting to a must win point and I think that desperation shows through.  I think the Steelers go old school Cowher on the 'Boys and run, run, run, run and then playaction and Roy Williams (aka most over-rated safety ever) bites harder than Anthony Smith playing the Pats* and Pro Bowler Santonio Holmes scores an easy touchdown clenching the win.

(15) @ Ravens WIN
The Ravens have been struggling mightily (in my head) and have turned to rookie quarterback --INSERT DRAFTED QB HERE-- and he's taking poundings as Ogden is done for good and much of the rest of the team is taking the week off.

(16) @ Titans LOSE
Big tough defenses scare me.  Tampa 2's like the colts, not so much.  But with Haynesworth & Co breathing down Ben's neck I don't see much good coming of it.

(17) Browns WIN
See the above defense for the Cinci win.  If this is indeed the game for the division I just have more faith in the pedigree of the Steelers to inch into the playoffs.  

That's what I got.  Resulting in a 9-7 season and a playoff birth based on winning the division.  I tried not to be too much of a Homer, although I admit that it will sway me.  What do you guys think?

Since off-season seems to be the time for it, I had a thought...  What if the Steelers could go take any active player off any roster and sign him?  Is there one player that would put us in the Super Bowl for sure?  What position do we look for?  

First thoughts are the best players in the game today offensively, Peyton Manning, Brady, Tomlinson, but I don't see any of those three being SO much better than our starting QB and RB that I'd use this fantasy pick on them.  I dunno, any thoughts?

In Goodell's conversation with Arlen Specter it came out that Darth Sidious, I mean Bill Belichick has been video taping defensive signals since 2000!  And Goodell knew this!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/02/13/specter.goodell.ap/index.html

7 years of cheating does not result in a suspension?  What?  I always thought the penalty was too light on Belicheat, but thought the league only had evidence from 6 games.  But no, they'd been breaking the rules since 2000 and Belichick gets no suspension?  His excuse was that he thought it was legal.  Plenty of players have used this excuse when they get over the counter supplements that end up having a banned substance, and it doesn't change them getting suspended at least 4 games.  

Not liking Goodell much right now.

Worked up the gumption to watch the game on nfl replay last night.  I've got bad news. They still lost and all remains meaningless.  

I'm confident most of the good points have been made about the game but I wanted beat that dead horse for just one more post:

1.  All in all that was a horrendously officiated game. On both sides too.  But there were quite a few times that Silverback was being held on the edge pretty clearly and no flags. Hines got punched in the head out of bounds on his first long catch. Holmes may or may not of caught that ball but I'll be damned if I can see evidence to overturn it.  And I think we can all agree that Mahan didn't hold a soul on the first two point conversion attempt. For those keeping score at home, two points is what we lost by.  
2.  Heath Miller.  STUD.  But...  Some areas for improvement still.  I tried to focus on him this time through the game on offensive snaps.  He has a hard time fighting jams when a lineback would meet him at the line Heath tended to get driven off his route pretty easily.  This could be a product of him knowing the pass wasn't coming to him but I'd like to see him shed those jams a bit quicker and fire off the line everytime into patterns.  As I said last time Heath does a good job maintaining a block but he doesn't fire off the ball all that well and is usually blocking right on the line of scrimmage and never pushes his man back off the ball.  Otherwise ya'll have seen him getting open enough and he's got sure hands and gets YAC everytime.  Love him.
3.  James Farrior.  Slightly less studly.  Potsey played better this game than he did some others.  He shot the run gaps well forcing the RBs to change their attack.  My problem is that when he shot the gaps he'd only partially hit the back and seldom could get a solo tackle.  His gap responsibility was good so the backs didn't get too much, but something that really good inside backers do is hit the gaps and bring the back down in the backfield,  not just redirect him. Oh potsey...  In coverage you were killed on the Jones-Drew TD.  Just burned.  Now that's a tough match up but I'd like to see Potsey play the angle better to ensure a tackle after the catch.  He did get the one interception that was nice.  but there were a few other times when he was burnt in coverage by the backs.  Greg Jones even burnt him once but had the ball bounce off his face mask.  

Alright then...  I'm officially letting it go now...  Seriously, I'm going to let it go. I won't watch the film again later today even though I saved it on my DVR.  Crud...

(re-read before posting, forgive the length)
Considering how the media loves the patriots stories they've been on the only game on a lot this season so I've watched most of the debacles until they got ridiculous and sometimes throughout that grabbing my head wondering how a team can be so cocky and careless with it's star players by leaving them in and driving up the score.  

That being said I think the last two weeks gives us good blueprints to follow this week. Some amateur thoughts on a game plan:

Offense-
Their linebackers are old.  Especially without Colvin. They're good at gap responsibility and the d-line ahead of them gets good push.  Thus I really want to see some edge plays with FWP.  None of this following Mahan crap cause we all know it won't work.  Put it just off-tackle and preach to Willie all week to look for cut backs.  If the line can get him to the second level he should have some room to create.  Most of McGahee's opportunities came off tackle following Ogden with the tight end on the right forcing the Patriots to put their eighth man over there to account for the tight end.  This often left Seau one on one with McGahee and he was losing that battle all night.  I really wish we had Krieder as I think he could really help on these types of plays kicking out the edge.

Passing... The Eagles showed how this is done. Crossing patterns and digs.  Asante Samuel guards the deeps and outside roots like nobody.  Plus they seem to play outside technique almost exclusively allowing for a few feet to the inside.  I think Hines should be able to make a lot of great catches over the middle.  Plus let's make use of Heath. He's much taller than Harrison who will likely mark him a lot and if he can get an inside edge Ben just needs to put it in front and let Heath use his fantastic hands to bring it in.  I'd also really like to see more screens.  That's not just against the Patriots but in general.  I don't really understand why we don't do this to alleviate blitz pressure and get FWP the ball in space with room to run with Faneca clearing the way ahead of him.

Defense-
Smart blitzing.  This goes without saying as we have the Wizard, Mr. Lebeau calling the defense, but watching the past two Pats games getting some hits on Brady early and then faking and pulling 8 men back seemed really effective.  And I hate to say it but let's let Welker beat us not Moss.  Welker moves chains like its nobody's business but at least that takes longer and gives us more shots at turnovers and slows down the game.  So let's put Ike man on Moss and have him get a jam off the line. Put safety coverage over top and man up across the rest of the line.  

Hit hit hit and hit some more.  Saw someone else mention this in the Ravens diary that the wide outs for the Pats started slowing their roots after the Ravens dealt some big hits.  This has been one of the big complaints on Moss throughout his career (which I've seen much of being a Bears fan for the NFC).  Hit him as much as you can and make him pay for every catch and watch the alligator arms shrink.

Here's to hoping that we can wipe that smirk of Brady and Belicheck's faces and clinch our division all in one week.