Yardbarker: Willie Reid

TIME TO RETIRE YOUR SEAN MAHAN JERSEY

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:09:21 -0500

It's a sad day for the thousands of Yinzers who invested in a Sean Mahan Steelers jersey to wear on Sundays, because they just became outdated. Mahan, who came over from Tampa Bay via free agency last season, was just traded back to the Bucs for an undisclosed 2009 draft pick. Somehow, I doubt it's a first-rounder.

And thus ends the Steeler career of Mahan, which goes down as their 2007 Horrible Offensive Line Signing, a 5-year deal worth $17 million (with a $4 million signing bonus). In case you're wondering, the 2008 award has already been bestowed upon the nearly $7 million guaranteed contract to backup tackle Max Starks.

In other news concering disappointing Steelers, WR Willie Reid was signed to the Philadelphia Eagles' practice squad. Yawn.

Steelers trade Mahan to Bucs [Trib]

Eagles announce practice squad

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:56:14 -0500

The Eagles announced their eight man practice squad today. It includes 5 players who they just recently cut: CB Kyle Arrington FB Jed Collins DT Mike Marquardt WR Shaheer McBride OT Chris Patrick WR Willie Reid LB Andy Studebaker CB Trae Williams Not too many surprises amongst the returning players. Studebaker and Arrington were obvious choices of players who were good enough to make the team but lost out in the numbers game. Keeping Collins is insurance in case Tony Hunt doesn't work out at fullback. McBride had a good preseason, but I am surprised that Michael Gasperson wasn't also kept on the practice squad. I don't know much about the new guys. Reid is the only one with actual game experience as he has 4 career receptions with the Steelers. He is also interesting because he was an excellent punt returner in college. Williams was a 5th round pick in the 2008 draft who was just cut by the Jaguars. Patrick has spent time on the Packers practice squad.

The Dream Ends In Pittsburgh

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:32:52 -0500

Saturday was a sad day in Steel Town. The beauty of football is that every Fall you're entitled to dream about what future glories might lie ahead for your favorite team. Of course, those of us in Pittsburgh are entitled to dream a little longer and a little harder than say the unfortunate souls l

Philadelphia Eagles - New WR Options!

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:16:41 -0500

After team's were forced to cut their rosters to 53 men on Saturday, August 30th, a few nice new wide receiver options have opened up for the injury plagued Philadelphia Eagles. While the team will tell you they're not in the market, it is widely assumed they will be adding another target for quarterback Donovan McNabb before the start of the season. Le me know what you think of the following options…

STEELERS WIN, MENDENHALL FUMBLES

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:01:54 -0500

STEELERS 19
PANTHERS 16

"And Skippy shall lead them". That was the theme again last night as the Steelers stole a 19-16 victory from the clutches of the Carolina Panthers in front of 50,485 at Heinz Field.

The first-team offense played just two series and nobody on the unit tore anything, so that makes two victories on the night. Their first-quarter scoring drive was set up on a long pass play from Ben Roethlisberger to Nate Washington. Of course, Washington didn't catch it, it was a 37-yard pass interference call on Carolina's Richard Marshall. But a penalty is a part of the game and as good a reason as any to throw the deep ball, which set up a Carey Davis touchdown moments later.

Among the running backs, Willie Parker had a nice 26-yard run and should be declared ready for the opener. Rashard Mendenhall apparently learned little from Hines Ward's social experiment and coughed up the ball for the third time in two weeks. I know that's a little thing in the grand scheme of things, but some rookies can have fragile psyches, so that may be something to keep an eye on. In relief of Mendenhall, Gary Russell ripped off a 23-yarder but ran for only 20 yards on his other 13 carries. As a team, the Steelers outran Carolina, 178-62.

The Steeler D held the mostly punchless Carolina offense to three field goals from the ageless John Kasay and a touchdown from Brett Basanez to Chris Hannon with 1:54 left in the game. With the score sitting at 16-15, Carolina coach John Fox elected to go for the tie in lieu of a two-point conversion, which bothered both players and fans (especially the guy that was clearly audible yelling at Fox on the KDKA/FSN/WPCW/Whatever Other Station Aired the Game Last Night Because of the Democratic National Convention broadcast).

Luckily, rookie QB Dennis "Don't Call Me Kordell" Dixon marched the Steelers downfield in short order and set up The Internet's Favorite Kicker for his second game-winner in as many weeks.

And with the Skipper's fourth field goal of the evening, we bid adieu to another season of preseason "action". It's been fun, but not as fun as the regular season will be. Polish your black-and-gold goggles, warm up your Terrible Towel, and fire up the tailgating. We've got an appointment with the Texans next weekend.

News and notes:

--Jerome Bettis was on the sideline, in town for an appearance at the new Tanger Outlet Mall in Washington, PA and his ESPN 1250 Radio debut today at 5:30.

--It's official: Arnold Harrison will miss the entire season after tearing his ACL for a second time. Personally, it's a crushing blow for the 25-year-old linebacker, who looked to have the team made.

--From the "Not Really a Bold Prediction" Department: Maybe it's just me, but I'm not counting on WR Limas Sweed to have a Randy Moss-circa '98 rookie season.

--Can we get a radar gun on Byron Leftwich? Please?

--As far as battles go, Willie Reid returned 2 kicks for 49 yards, Mr. Drummond 2 for 57 yards (and a punt for 5 yards, plus 2 catches for 10 yards), and Dallas Baker had 2 catches for 35 yards. The PG's Gerry Dulac says it's down to Baker and Reid.

--Anthony Smith had another bone-jarring hit last night, and thankfully it wasn't on Hines Ward or any of his other teammates.

--Keyaron Fox led the Steelers with 9 tackles and will add solid depth to the linebacking corps this season.

--Mewelde Moore had a nice 26-yard reception out of the backfield and looks like he'll be a solid contributor when called upon.

--Mitch Berger: 2 punts for 88 yards, long 48. Paul Ernster: 2 punts for 55 yards, long 33. You know what that means...POLL TIME!

Online Surveys & Market Research

SLOPPY!

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:42:41 -0500

TORONTO BILLS 24

STEELERS 21

Buffalo's George Wilson takes down Kordell Stew...I mean Santonio Holmes

Yeah, yeah, I know it's the preseason...but boy, that was a sloppy game last night. The opening drive starts with an intercepted Ben Roethlisberger pass, then the Bills subsequently shove the ball directly down the Steelers' throats on not one, but TWO consecutive drives, one of 67 yards and the other 90 yards. Ugh. Never before would I think Trent Edwards-to-Robert Royal would be such an unstoppable combination, but on Thursday night it was just that.

Yes, the first team defense looked downright awful, with very few positives to take from the experience other than being the first visiting team to play at Toronto's Rogers Centre. I hope they enjoyed the trip, because they played like they were out all night the evening before. And while I'm on the defense, can someone please teach them HOW TO TACKLE?

Unfortunately, even more frustrating than the defense was the back-breaking 95-yard kickoff return TD from Buffalo's Leodis Mckelvin, who in the process became the first player named Leodis to ever run back a kick for a touchdown against the Steelers (I think). Yep, it was the old Steeler-killer known as special teams rearing its ugly head, and the Buffalo lead, which the Steelers had cut to three points, was immediately back up to 10.

The first-team offense had its ups and downs, fortunately ending on an "up" with a 40-yard Roethlisberger-to-San Antonio touchdown in the second quarter to cut Buffalo's lead in half. Hines Ward had a nice, 3-catches-for-48 yards evening, ending with what looked like a 10-pound ice pack on his ankle. Unfortunately, sideline reporter/meteorologist Jeff Verszyla, dressed in his finest argyle sweater (in the middle of August, no less), failed to ask Ward about the ankle during a subsequent interview. Fortunately, we do know that Hines is psyched for another season of The Hines Ward Show on KDKA!

Byron Leftwich entered the game in quarter two, with his fascinating delivery/wind-up and tendency to throw frozen ropes even if a guy is only five yards in front of him. He went 5-11 for 41 yards as he got his feet wet in game action, fumbling once but being bailed out as the Buffalo defender was out of bounds when recovering the loose ball. But he does have the unique ability to throw a pass that Nate Washington can catch, which isn't as easy as it sounds. That in itself is worth a roster spot.

Dennis Dixon had quite the intriguing game, with a 47-yard touchdown scamper in the third quarter and a total of 79 yards passing on six completions. As my brother noted during the game, if you said during last year's college football campaign that the Steelers would get Dixon, Rashard Mendenhall, AND Limas Sweed in this year's draft, I'm sure no one would've believed you. As I've learned many times, never underestimate the power of Kevin Colbert.

Speaking of Mendenhall, the Man Being Force-Fed By Fans and Media As a Power Back ran for 30 yards on 11 carries, with a long of nine and one touchdown. He did not return any kicks, as those duties were split among Willie Reid and Mewelde Moore.

So there you have it: some sloppy plays, some nice plays, and a 24-21 loss to show for it. It was a performance not worthy of victory and that's exactly how it played out. Next on the schedule is a meeting with the Favre-less Minnesota Vikings on Saturday the 23rd at 8 PM in Minnesota. Hope the defense makes the flight.

Game Notes:

--This was quite the interesting game from a ticket buying-and-selling point of view. From ESPN:

"The announced attendance of 48,434 was about 5,000 short of capacity, and considered a disappointment for series organizers, who are paying the Bills an average $9.75 million per game to show the NFL that Toronto can be home to a permanent franchise. Steep ticket prices, ranging from $75 to $575, didn't help. Hours before the game, fans were purchasing tickets with a $575 face value for as little as $90."

People aren't going to pay $575 in a poor economy to watch Dennis Dixon and JP Losman go head-to-head for a bulk of the game? Color me surprised.

--Anthony Smith tackled four Bills and zero of his teammates not expecting to be tackled. We should have no worries about Smith though, because Edmund Nelson re-assured us that Smith "is a football player."

--Nelson's best line of the night was when he described a play as a "nekkid bootleg".

--Your leading Steeler receiver, yardage-wise: Dallas Baker, with 57 yards on three grabs.

--Lawrence Timmons was one positive from a lax defensive performance, wreaking some havoc to the tune of 8 tackles and a sack. Too bad he got the 2003 Troy Polamalu Honorary Rookie Bust label placed on his head last year by impatient fans and media.

--Last night's results from the Great Pittsburgh Punt-Off: Paul Ernster 1 for 45, Mitch Berger 4-190 (47.5).

--Last night's results from the Great Pittsburgh Punt Return-Off: Mr. Drummond 7 yards, Travis Williams 7 yards, Willie Reid 6 yards, and M. Moore (I'm assuming it's Mewelde Moore and not Mandy Moore) 2 yards. That's an inspired showing.

--Speaking of Polamalu, I'm a big fan and maybe I'm crazy, but....is he becoming a little high-maintenance at this point? Just a little?

--While watching his press conferences, I've becomed intrigued with Mike Tomlin's cadence. Has anyone else noticed this? He talks in brief pauses, each sentence sounding more important than the last. I constantly feel like I'm not watching football, I'm watching a movie about football.

--After the game, I caught myself again watching the Dallas Cowboys' 2008 training camp documentary, Hard Knocks, on HBO. Let me tell you, they're not suffering from any confidence problems in that organization.

--Now back to the PBC Blog for the Pedro Alvarez watch all day.

Please add your comments on the game or email mondesishouse@gmail.com with your two cents.

A DAY OF PITTSBURGH SPORTS TALK RADIO

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:12:42 -0500

Prior to this and a short post on Monday, the last article I wrote of any length was "The Legacy Of...Marian Hossa", written in advance of my absence and greeted by a lukewarm reception at best (too soon!)

So with that on my mind, I stared down a Tuesday chock-full of "real job" appointments around the city of Pittsburgh and realized that once again, I would be posting zip, zero, nada during the workday. Two days, no content. This week was off to a great start! I'm sure the readers were thrilled.

Confined to my car, which currently has a Sirius satellite unit that's on the PUP list, I had no choice but to tune in to approximately eight hours (on and off) of Pittsburgh sports talk radio throughout the day. While I usually listen to some of the afternoon talkers in some capacity, my normal PM media consumption is usually a hearty mix of Howard 100 and Howard 101 (to avoid a total sports overload). With the set of circumstances dealt to me on Tuesday, I figured it would be a good opportunity to really catch up on what I missed last week as well as a chance to listen to the ever-hyped new lineup at 1250 ESPN, with the thinking that I might get some semblance of a column out of the experience.

For the morning session, I tuned in to the all-new Stan and Guy (and Chris Mack) show on 1250. And while this show debuted just last week, I was immediately informed that Guy was on vacation. I'm certainly not one to tell people when to take their vacations, but that probably could have been planned a little bit better.

So I caught bits and pieces of the Stan and Guy minus Guy show, which had ample time devoted to Savran's very candid dislike of the Olympics and a lengthy discussion between Savran and Mack on the first-year performance of Pirates Manager John Russell, which was pretty positive. It was noted that Russell has worked very well in conjunction with Neal Huntington, who followed through on his threat of accountability in 2008 with the demotions of Tom Gorzelanny and Ronny Paulino and the release of Matt Morris.

Personally, I would agree with them on the Russell/Huntington dynamic. I like the moves they've made so far, and although it's waaaay too early to make any calls, I like the direction where they are going. They're at least giving me some tiny, faint glimmer of hope, which is more than I could say about any of their predecessors.

I'm not a huge Olympic fan per se, but I have caught myself tuning in to random events. I saw and enjoyed most of the Opening Ceremonies, I've been following the US hoops squad, and I was lucky enough to catch the miracle comeback from Michael Phelps and Co. on Sunday night. I might watch a few sports I would never watch otherwise, but that's probably due to the fact that I'm a fan of events. For example, I'm not a soccer fan at all and I know very few of the players, but I do watch some World Cup games when they come around. So in short, I would probably disagree with Stan's take on the Olympics.

I then caught some of the Tirico and Van Pelt national ESPN show between the hours of 1-3, and I nearly got in an accident due to falling asleep at the wheel. It was that bad. I once referred to Tirico this way: "describing his style as vanilla would be an insult to vanilla, for it actually has some flavor."

Tirico went on and on about how he wanted to give up on his "beloved" Detroit Tigers, 58-61 and 8.5 out of first in the NL Central, choosing instead to switch allegiances to the Chicago Cubs. Two years removed from a World Series appearance and already jumping ship. You're a real fan, Mike.

front·run·ner n.

One that is in a leading position in a race or other competition: A competitor who performs best when in the lead; Mike Tirico

Later in the show, I was treated to extreme overanalysis of the Chad Johnson comments from Monday night, where he came off as little more than an egomaniacal rambling idiot talking about his antics for the 2008 season. I don't know when TV executives got together and agreed that Chad Johnson could constantly have a camera and microphone at his disposal, but at this point in time, I couldn't be more bored. Maybe his words might carry some, just some weight if he's ever won anything, but that's just not the case. By the way, I just broke my italics icon.

HOF resume: 0 career playoff wins (just like future HOFer Tony Romo!)

So it was on to 3 PM, where I switched off from 1250's new Paulsen and Crow and 970's Joe Bendel. And what were they both talking about for extended periods? Anthony Smith's unnecessary body blow on Hines Ward last week, discussed at length in a recent Gene Collier column, then brought up once again by Coach Tomlin at today's press conference.

And while both shows probably discussed the incident a little too long for my liking, I thought it was pretty cut-and-dry: Smith was in the wrong, and it's just the latest in a career that's quickly becoming overshadowed by various incidents, such as a similar hit on Willie Reid in last year's camp, a 2006 showboating display against Carolina that enraged Dick LeBeau, and the infamous guarantee of victory against the then-undefeated New England Patriots in 2007.

Put it next to your ear...you can hear the ocean!

You just don't take shots at your own guys, especially at someone like Hines Ward, who you know will take it personally. Sure, Smith may be an intense guy, but there's a fine line between intense and alienating your own teammates. And it puts Tomlin in a delicate spot, as he clearly wants to defend his players in the media but not endorse Smith's actions.

So after a day of talk radio, I can summarize the current pulse of Pittsburgh sports: Anthony Smith, Anthony Smith, Anthony Smith, and John Russell. Did I miss anything?

The Steelers Might have the Worst Luck

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 08:03:49 -0500

The Steelyard posted an injury report for Pittsburgh this week. This one stood out immediately. "Apparently, Kendall Simmons suffered a frostbite-like burn after applying a cold pack to his foot while watching Monday Night Football." Unbelievable. The Steelers won't be full strength for the Chiefs this weekend. Having a lineman hurt himself watching football doesn't. Follow the link to see who else won't be playing on Sunday.

Changes ahead for the Steelers?

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 12:50:40 -0500

Following this weekend's bye, Steelers could make some changes. It might be as small as a punt returner or as big as starting receivers. Although the Steelers have been here before, they can't wait too long to turn things around, especially with the way the Bengals and Ravens are playing.