From Anthony: I’ll give you another reason why Pittsburgh will keep Davis and Russell, as well as Krieder, Parker, and Davenport.
We are all looking at the wide outs as where they would get rid of someone to keep an extra back.
When really they might only keep 2 QBs and that being Ben, and Charlie.
Putting St.Pierre on the practice squad or keeping the boy from Maryland on the practice squad and cutting ties to St. Pierre.
A fantastic point. That’s what they did last season, however. St. Pierre can be kept on the roster as an “Emergency QB,” meaning he won’t count on the 53-man roster. This is likely to happen again. Altough Willie Reid hasn’t been overly impressive on punt returns, it seems he has the confidence of the coaches, which means, he, Hines Ward, Cedrick Wilson and Santonio Holmes have roster spots. A battle will begin between Walter Young (Jim Wexell has mentioned he has a quiet nickname of “Mr. August” among management, but had a nice 41-yard TD catch Saturday), Nate Washington (physically gifted, suffered from self-described concentration lapses against New Orleans, leading to two dropped passes) and rookie Eric Fowler (hasn’t seen much time with the A squad) for the fifth, possibly the sixth, spot.
Let’s keep in mind, the Steelers have drafted pass-catching TEs in two of the last three drafts (Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth), so that provides them with some flexibility in terms of receiving depth. A TE can be inserted in every first-team package 4-receiver set they’ve run in the pre-season.
In the past, the spot generated by the decision to keep two QBs was determined based on special teams. Former ace Sean Morey was the sixth receiver last year, but he’s now in Arizona. Long-time gunner Chidi Iwuoma getting up in years, the decision to keep a sixth receiver will depend on whether or not one of those three can play special teams at a high level. Fowler will be cut, and retained on the practice squad if he clears waivers. So is keeping Washington or Young more important than keeping Russell?
If Russell shows he can block for third down purposes, and he makes a tackle/play or two on special teams (he’s been given some blocking opportunities on kickoff returns in the Steelers’ two pre-season games), he may just take the spot from Haynes, giving Pittsburgh three undrafted RBs on their roster (Parker, Davis and Russell).
Yes, this is gearing the whole picture around Russell, and the assumption Tomlin is trying to find him a spot, but I think the situation merits that. Russell has so much potential as a player, and has looked fantastic in the chances he’s had, it’s really difficult to not continuously look for ways to keep him secured on the team."
Management regarding Young as, Mr. August is not a good thing.
All eyes – or at least mine – were on Pittsburgh Steelers rookie linebacker Lawrence Timmons this morning as he worked for the second day in his second comeback from a groin injury.
Timmons, the team’s first-round draft pick, got a crash course in special teams play this morning in a practice that dealt specifically with that portion of the game.
Special teams coach Bob Ligashesky was in Timmons’ ear throughout the morning session, helping the rookie line up in the right spots and telling him exactly what’s expected of him.
Timmons did get to test his groin – which was initially injured on the opening day of mini-camp in May – while working on some kickoff drills, sprinting downfield before turning to set up to block. He looked like he got through that OK and also did some extra running after the practice.
Timmons’ return was good news for at least one Steelers’ veteran. Linebacker James Farrior, who had been forced to sit through the morning special teams practices even though it was unlikely he would play any this season, got to leave early this morning for the first time of this camp. It does not appear now that Farrior will be used on special teams unless there is an emergency, though he did see some time on that unit in 2006.
Those not in pads this morning included defensive lineman Derrick Jones, offensive tackle Marvel Smith, defensive tackle Chris Hoke, tight end Jerame Tuman and guard Darnell Stapleton.
Of note this morning was that I spent the night in Washington and was driving out to camp this morning listening to John Steigerwald’s daily radio show. He had Steelers’ scout Bill Nunn on the radio and Nunn was speaking about his days as sports editor for the Pittsburgh Courier, which used to put together an All-America squad every year for the traditionally black colleges.
In 1967, the fullback on Nunn’s squad was one Edward Tomlin, father of Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin.
Just as Nunn and Steigerwald were discussing this, Mike Tomlin happened to be walking by the radio tent at Saint Vincent College. Steigerwald called Tomlin over and Tomlin actually went on the air live - and unplanned – to talk about it.
It was just another unplanned moment in Tomlin’s camp and gives you a little insight into what Tomlin is really like.
I asked Steigerwald afterward if he would have done that with Bill Cowher, even in 1992, Cowher’s first year.
He said categorically that he would not have. But Tomlin just has a way that makes people feel so much more at ease than Cowher did. Let’s hope he doesn’t lose that.
PITTSBURGH - One thing you can say about Mike Tomlin that you couldn't about Bill Cowher is that he delegates duties well and sticks with it.
Tomlin is allowing his coordinators a little more free reign to work this season.
In the case of defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, that's an especially good idea.
When it comes to designing defenses, LeBeau is the Albus Dumbledore of the NFL. He's seen it all, done it all, and been through it all when it comes to the NFL. He's done it so well and for so long, it almost seems that LeBeau invented the game. And in many ways, he has.
It was from LeBeau's imagination that the zone blitz defensive scheme sprang. Like Bill Walsh's West Coast offense, nearly every NFL team has incorporated all or parts of the zone blitz into their defensive scheme.
This season, we may see even more from LeBeau than ever before because Tomlin isn't about to second-guess or reign in the old master.
People around the league have asked the question: How have the Steelers bettered themselves heading into this season, particularly on defense?
On paper, it would seem the Steelers haven't done much to replace linebacker Joey Porter. But in a preseason in which he didn't game plan to specifically stop an opposing offense, LeBeau's prowess for calling the right defense at the right time is apparent.
In two games, the Steelers' first-team defense - and that's the only one you should care about if you're watching a preseason game - allowed just one first down and 29 total yards.
New Orleans' quarterback Drew Brees was 1-for-6 for six yards working against the Pittsburgh starters last week, and Green Bay's Brett Favre was 2 of 7 for seven yards.
Two pretty good quarterbacks have been made to look pretty pedestrian by the Steelers. That is what LeBeau is capable of doing if allowed free reign.
And that will be the difference with this Steelers' defense.
Cowher wasn't always willing to give his assistants those kind of opportunities, especially on defense. And that's fine.
As a former coordinator, Cowher knew a little bit about defense. But he doesn't know as much about it as LeBeau.
That's not a knock against Cowher. LeBeau is just that good.
Tomlin seems more willing to take a step back and allow LeBeau to call his game in an unfettered way.
And if the first two preseason games are any indication of what Steelers fans can expect from this defense, they should feel pretty good about the way this season is going to turn out.
'I'm mad Tuesday' a big hit
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
By BOB LABRIOLA steelers.com
LATROBE, Pa. – Using Coach Mike Tomlin's own words, he didn't want the Steelers to ooze to the end of training camp. James Harrison did his part on Tuesday afternoon to see that it doesn't happen.
Following a morning special team practice that Tomlin described as "razor-sharp," the Steelers took the field in the afternoon for a workout that had a nice tempo, was hard-hitting and loaded with the kind of chatter that keeps the competitive juices flowing.
During another round of backs-on-backers, Harrison was matched up against Verron Haynes three different times. Twice Harrison bull-rushed Haynes and ran him over with collisions that echoed off the hills surrounding the practice fields. On the third, Harrison spun away to tag the imaginary quarterback.
While the popping of the pads makes for great viewing for the assembled fans, bull-rushing is technically a violation of the unwritten rules of backs-on-backers.
The linebacker gets to build up speed with a 5-yard sprint at the running back, and if this very situation would occur in a game one of the best weapons in the running back's arsenal would be to chop the on-rushing linebacker at the knees. But since this is training camp and everybody is on the same team, chopping at the knees is forbidden, and so the gentleman's agreement corollary to this is that then so is bull-rushing not allowed.
Harrison wasn't particularly interested in abiding by any so-called unwritten rules, and after practice he explained why to a group of reporters.
Harrison admitted that he bull-rushed Haynes, and then when asked if that wasn't against the rules, Harrison's answer was no. Why not? "Because it's 'I'm mad Tuesday,'" said Harrison.
Tomlin was asked for a more detailed explanation.
"Tell-'em-why-you're-mad-Tuesday, I think is what they called today," said Tomlin, who was pleased with how practice went, no matter what it was being labeled. "We had a great day today. We had a special teams practice this morning that I thought was razor sharp. We came out and competed and had a high energy practice this afternoon."
But why name the day?
"Who knows. It's Tuesday, it's the dog days of summer, whatever gets them through," said Tomlin. "I don't mind the chatter as long as they're working while they're talking. It's like elevator music to me – I hear it but I don't."
What he had to hear were the pads popping, and while it's difficult to quantify and there are no statistics to support the contention, this camp is ending in a much more spirited manner than the 2006 version under Bill Cowher.
"I'm thoroughly enjoying this," said Tomlin about training camp as a whole. "I might be in the minority with respect to that, but it's been productive. The guys are competing, we're getting better. It's a process, and guys are respecting the process. They're showing mental toughness, they're focusing on the details. That's what has made it good for me."
And there is a lot of what Tomlin has called "ebb and flow," by which he means there are times when the offense does things to the defense, and just as many times when the defense does things to the offense.
An example is the past two days of the one-on-one pass-rushing drills. On Monday, LaMarr Woodley beat Willie Colon twice, before Colon horse-collared Woodley to the ground on the third repetition. Arnold Harrison got the better of Max Starks, who was lining up at left tackle, a couple of times before Starks clubbed Harrison to the ground on the third one.
On Tuesday, the offensive linemen controlled the drill throughout. Alan Faneca, Starks, Colon and Marvin Philip were just a few of the offensive players who handled their assignments well enough to "win" the drill.
But as everybody is learning here, tomorrow is another day. Maybe it'll be "Why we're mad Wednesday."
INJURY REPORT: Marvel Smith (back), Chukky Okobi (back), Chris Hoke (knee) and Derrick Jones (calf) did not practice. Jerame Tuman (back) returned. During the session Anthony Smith sustained a "minor injury that was abdominal related. Hopefully it won't be anything major and that's the indication we have right now," said Tomlin.
_____________
Wow. All that without movie day.
__________________
Cowher was driving very conservatively, and it was easy to predict how he was planning on getting to the stadium.
It seemed as if he was driving not to crash and relying on his tires to pound their way down the asphalt about 3 yards at a time.
Today was movie day at training camp, but nothing like in previous years. Coach Mike Tomlin gave the players the morning off -- there was a 90-minute practice scheduled -- and he set up times with a theatre to see a movie.
The players had an option. They could go to the movie, sleep in, or do whatever else they wanted.
"I think most guys stayed in their room and slept,'' defensive end Brett Keisel said.
They had a few choices of movies, including The Bourne Ultimatum, Rush Hour 3 and The Simpsons Movie.
"I don't think anyone went to see the Simpsons," Keisel said. "I kind of wanted to, but I decided to go for the action."
He saw the latest Bourne movie.
"It might be the best one. It's packed with action and all kinds of crazy events happen -- back stabbings, things like that."
Just another day in the life of the NFL.
_____________
__________________
Cowher was driving very conservatively, and it was easy to predict how he was planning on getting to the stadium.
It seemed as if he was driving not to crash and relying on his tires to pound their way down the asphalt about 3 yards at a time.
I was gonna say Russel would end up in Cinncy, but since it is in last years record order? he would end up with some bottom feeder instead.
__________________
Cowher was driving very conservatively, and it was easy to predict how he was planning on getting to the stadium.
It seemed as if he was driving not to crash and relying on his tires to pound their way down the asphalt about 3 yards at a time.
The Official Pittsburgh Steelers Thread
RBs =WP , Najeh Davenport,Gary Russell,Carey Davis and Kreider . No way Russel goes on practice squad cause he would be a gonner for sure . 
Linear Mode
