It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days. FanHouse is here to help with an in-depth look at each division that should have you plenty prepared for training camp. We're calling it the Summer Scramble. Today we look at some burning questions in the AFC North and offer a ridiculously early prediction for how the division will finish.
The Steelers decision to franchise Max Starks may seem puzzling, but for a team that just won the Super Bowl, it's a pretty logical move.
By tagging Starks, Pittsburgh ensures that it doesn't head into free agency with a gaping hole. With Starks locked up, Pittsburgh could start the season with Starks, Kendall Simmons, Justin Hartwig, Darnell Stapleton and Willie Colon. It's not a good line; in fact, it's a pretty poor one, but it's not really any worse than the one that won the Super Bowl.
The Steelers have $19 million in cap room with only a talented cornerback and a slew of mediocre or injury-prone linemen heading to free agency. So everything's great, right?
The draft has become one of the biggest events of the year for NFL fans. Maybe because everybody's a winner on draft day, or maybe because hope springs eternal and all that. Whatever the reason, we're fully trying to horn in on the action. Hence our first FanHouse mock draft of the '09 offseason. And we'd like to stress "mock."
After a slow start, Super Bowl XLIII finished with an explosion of big plays, capped by Santonio Holmes' incredible sideline TD grab to give the Steelers the 27-23 win, as well as Pittsburgh's sixth Super Bowl championship. Relive the big game with our live blog recap.
No greater authority than Mike Tomlin has admitted that the Steelers offensive line is the biggest question as the Steelers get ready for their seventh Super Bowl. Pittsburgh has an outstanding defense, a veteran quarterback and a solid group of receivers, but when it comes to the offensive line, the question is whether it could be one of the worst units to ever win Super Bowl rings.
Tomlin isn't going that far, but when asked about how the line has progressed this year, he didn't give them the standard coach-speak boilerplate about working hard and showing improvement every week:
"As far as I'm concerned, that's still the question as we sit here today," Tomlin answered.
The Steelers kept it a secret until now, but Troy Polamalu apparently was nearly sidelined last Sunday thanks to a strained calf.
Polamalu pulled his calf during pre-game warmups. He spent nearly every minute until the start of the game getting treatment from Steelers' trainers that forced him to miss the pre-game introductions. Coach Mike Tomlin wasn't sure he'd be able to go until he saw him run onto the field.
Tomlin said that he expects Polamalu to be OK for Sunday's Ravens' game, although he will likely miss some practice time. The Ravens are not likely to feel sorry for the Steelers. While Polamalu and Justin Hartwig (minor knee injury) are the only two Steelers with significant injuries, the Ravens will have a long list of players on the injured list this week, thanks to a brutally physical game against the Titans.
If Polamalu wasn't able to play, Tyrone Carter would replace him. While Carter picked off two passed in the regular season finale against the Browns, he does very few of the things that Polamalu does, and would be especially unable to replace Polamalu's presence in the box on running plays.
This season, FanHouse writers take their cameras to NFL stadiums to document what happens when you stop being polite and start getting real. Or something. We've cleverly titled it "FanHouse in the Stands."
Let's consider this post dedicated to Steelers long-snapper Greg Warren, a seemingly anonymous guy -- until yesterday -- who needed his knee ripped to shreds on national TV for the country to know exactly who he is and exactly what he does. Well, now you know, and holy crap are guys like him invaluable. Get well soon, Greg. Seriously.
The Steelers managed to put the memory of the Eagles' debacle behind them with a win against the Ravens, but if you think the team's offensive line and blitz pick-up issues are behind them, you'd be mistaken.
Pittsburgh did handle Rex Ryan's innovative blitz packages better than it did the Eagles' come-from-anywhere blitz, but the Steelers still had trouble picking up blitzers, despite the fact that Baltimore rarely sent more than five pass rushers. The biggest difference between the first-half struggles and the second-half success was the emphasis on quicker passes and Ben Roethlisberger's ability to shrug off unblocked blitzers.
If you pay attention to history at all, you probably know how a blitzkreig works. The idea is that putting pressure on your opponent quicker than he can make decisions, you stay a step ahead and basically force him into paralysis of inaction because he can never make decisions quick enough.
Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson clearly knows what blitzkreig is. His Eagles defense stayed a step ahead of the Steelers offense all night. And in the process, he made every Steeler fan realize that the team's worst nightmare before the season began has just been in hibernation for two weeks.
After giving up nine sacks in a disastrous performance against the Eagles, the Steelers offensive line had no excuses, but this wasn't a case of players getting physically beaten as much as it was the Steelers being outsmarted by a defense. Philadelphia blitzed from every angle, but often Steelers offensive lineman were caught blocking air, as a linebacker or defensive back would take a step or two towards the line in a fake blitz before dropping into coverage. And while the Steelers offensive lineman was standing their confused, another blitzer would be running free into the backfield.
The Steelers decision to franchise Max Starks may seem puzzling, but for a team that just won the Super Bowl, it's a pretty logical move.
The Steelers have $19 million in cap room with only a talented cornerback and a slew of mediocre or injury-prone linemen heading to free agency. So everything's great, right?
No greater authority than Mike Tomlin has admitted that the Steelers offensive line is the biggest question as the Steelers get ready for their seventh Super Bowl. Pittsburgh has an outstanding defense, a veteran quarterback and a solid group of receivers, but when it comes to the offensive line, the question is whether it could be one of the worst units to ever win Super Bowl rings.
The Steelers kept it a secret until now, but Troy Polamalu apparently was nearly sidelined last Sunday thanks to a strained calf.
The Steelers managed to put the memory of the Eagles' debacle behind them with a win against the Ravens, but if you think the team's offensive line and blitz pick-up issues are behind them, you'd be mistaken.
If you pay attention to history at all, you probably know how a blitzkreig works. The idea is that putting pressure on your opponent quicker than he can make decisions, you stay a step ahead and basically force him into paralysis of inaction because he can never make decisions quick enough.
