Steelers-Broncos Review: Defense shines without starters Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The Steelers pounded the Broncos 28-10, and the winning margin would have been wider if not for a couple stupid turnovers when the Steelers were rolling.

Ryan Clark, Lawrence Timmons, Travis Kirschke, and Aaron Smith (IR) were out for the Steelers but the defense didn't miss a beat. Last time we lost DE Aaron Smith to IR in 2007, the defense crumbled. I've been impressed this year, and that's without Ziggy Hood getting much playing time. Nick Eason sured up the DL. The average age of our defensive line is 32, and features guys that have had unremarkable careers. Tomlin, LeBeau and John Mitchell have done incredible jobs there.

The linebackers have come on strong the past couple weeks. I would like to have Timmons healthy but Keyaron Fox is proving he deserves a starting spot too. It's a great problem to have. Harrison was steady as always and LaMarr Woodley is finally waking up from his first half slumber. I'm not sure what Woodley's problem has been. Maybe he had some life-problems that disrupted his play emotionally. He was much better last night. The tackling by everyone on defense was almost textbook perfect.

And of course Tyrone Carter played great in Ryan Clark's absense. We'll be hearing lots from the media this week about what a great "replacement" Clark was, but the national media doesn't realize that Tyrone Carter spends a lot of time on the field even when Clark and Polamalu are both healthy. He's a steady veteran, and Clark's position is obviously more replaceable than Troy's. Good thing since Clark is a free agent after the season. But expect Ryan Mundy, not Carter, to take over starting duties in 2010.

Roethlisberger and Ward continued their dominance, Rashard Mendenhall has (thankfully) proved me wrong, Santonio had a great game and Mike Wallace would garner rookie of the year consideration if Percy Harvin wasn't tearing it up in Minnesota. But the story of the offense has been the offensive line. These guys are so improved from last year. They are now a strength and a component of the team that can be relied on. Max Starks deserves to start in the pro bowl at left tackle.

The special teams have regressed to 2007 quality, but overall the Steelers are playing great football right now and look better than the 2008 Steelers who dominated on defense but were often impotent on offense. A lot of that has to do with Mendenhall, who still has room to improve but has effectively ended Willie Parker's career.

No time to rest, though, as the Steelers face the division-leading Cincinnati Bengals in five days. I have confidence that the Steelers are the better team but they need to play their best football to make sure they don't give Palmer and his troops a chance at the end like last time around. It's the most important game of the season by far.

Hats off to Brandon Marshall, who cannot be contained. The rest of the Broncos did not impress. The defense looked good in the first half and fell apart. Worst of all, in post-game quotes the Broncos sound like they're merely conceding that the Steelers are a great team and are not pointing the finger at themselves and the ways they need to improve to be true contenders. It looks to me like the true AFC contenders are the big three (NE, IND, PIT) plus the Steelers' little brothers in the AFC North (CIN, BAL).

Agents to NFL Players: Avoid Browns Thursday, September 17, 2009

Mike Florio reports that agents are now telling their players not to sign with the Browns as free agents.

One agent went as far as to say that they'd put their players on another team's practice squad before putting them on the Browns roster.

This isn't surprising. A forced 10-hour bus ride for rookies, a jerk of a head coach, lots of losing, living in Cleveland, and a suspicious number of staph infections would cause me to steer players away from the Browns, too.

What's interesting is that this has leaked out. You don't often get these kinds of tidbits. I've always assumed NFL players will always follow the money. In fact it could be that a couple disgruntled agents contacted Florio about this, but most don't care.

All I can say is, it's good to be a Steeler fan, where players (James Harrison, Max Starks, Chris Kemoeatu) take less than market value to remain a Steeler. Mangini really needs the win this week in Denver.

2009 AFC West Predictions Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Moving on, here's my AFC West predictions. All AFC West teams play the AFC North and NFC East this year. This one could be ugly.

1. Chargers - Their roster is overrated and their coach is bad, but they have a great QB and there is nobody else to win this division. Nevertheless, I'm sure they'll slip once and go only 5-1 in the division, 11-5 overall.
2. Raiders - Why not? 6-10 could mean a second place finish. And they do have more talent then most realize. If only coaches weren't punching each other out.
3. Chiefs - They're still at the bottom of the "rebuilding" slope.
4. Broncos - This one's ugly.