FanHouse LawrenceTimmons

UPDATE (Tuesday, Aug. 4): Jarvis Moss returned to practice after taking three days off to contemplate his football future.

In 2007, a few months after Mike Tomlin was named the Steelers head coach, the team selected linebacker Lawrence Timmons with the 15th overall pick. The move underwhelmed fans partly because Pittsburgh is perennially in need of offensive linemen, but mostly because Timmons had shown up to his pro day workout out of shape.

But if the Steelers hadn't drafted Timmons, the Broncos would have. In fact, Denver tried to trade up, Pittsburgh balked, and now Timmons is on the verge of becoming Pittsburgh's next great linebacker. And Jarvis Moss, the defensive end from Florida that the Broncos eventually selected 17th overall, is mulling retirement.

It's the latest example that the NFL draft is a crapshoot.

As expected, the Steelers finally got around to releasing linebacker Larry Foote today. The team's 2002 fifth-round pick hadn't missed a start since 2004, but with the emergence of Lawrence Timmons, Foote became expendable. In fact, last season, Foote was a two-down player, coming off the field in passing situations. And that, along with Timmons' progress and Foote's $2.9 million salary for next season, was enough for the Steelers to make a change.

Foote never made the Pro Bowl during his seven-year career, but he was an integral part of the defense, particularly after Dick LeBeau returned as coordinator in 2004. He was one of the team's most consistent players, and that, along with his age (28), means he won't be out of a job for long.

According to Pro Football Talk, citing a league source, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be cutting inside linebacker Larry Foote in a move that will reportedly save them nearly $3 million against the salary cap. Foote has been a regular starter since the 2003 season after being selected by Pittsburgh in the fourth round of the 2002 draft, and has been the definition of "solid." There's nothing flashy about his game, but he always manages to get the job done.

His exit will open the door for 2007 first-round draft pick Lawrence Timmons to start next to James Farrior, in a switch that will manage to make the best defense in the NFL more athletic and explosive.

Like usual, the Steelers will likely be sitting out the heavy bidding when free agency starts. But on the day before free agency, when many teams are dumping veterans left and right to create cap room, the Steelers have no one on the roster who deserves to be cut.

If you want further evidence that the Steelers front office generally knows what its doing, take a look at this rough estimate of the Steelers salaries. There is only one player on the roster whose contract is much bigger than his on-field production. And while Kendall Simmons ($4.67 million) is overpaid, with just one other experienced guard on the roster, Simmons is going nowhere.

You know about Hines Ward and Kurt Warner, but this week we'll also try to spotlight some non-household names who could play crucial parts in Super Bowl XLIII.

Who: Lawrence Timmons.

What Does He Do: Steelers backup inside/outside linebacker.

2008 Stats: 65 tackles, 5 sacks, 1 interception.

Want to get a cheat sheet for the Super Bowl, here are a couple of plays to watch for on Sunday.

Blocking Steelers outside linebackers James Harrison or LaMarr Woodley is a tough job for any offensive tackle, but thanks to a new blitz that Dick LeBeau has dreamed up, sometimes a tackle has to worry about both of them at the same time.

LeBeau is a defensive genius who is always drawing up new looks in an attempt to spread confusion among offensive linemen. And nothing is more confusing than trying to figure out the Steelers outside linebacker overload as the play clock runs down.

Every time you rewatch the Steelers-Ravens games from earlier this year, it's hard to not get even more excited about Act III.

You have the league's two best defenses facing off, and two offenses that will be trying to prove that they aren't over their head. You'll watch James Harrison try to terrorize Joe Flacco again, while Ed Reed will try to once again turn a game around with an interception.

And after charting every Ravens' offensive play from both games, it's clear that Baltimore is facing an uphill battle. For all the talk about Flacco's amazing success as a rookie, the Ravens finished 28th in the NFL in passing yardage this season, and while most teams have two or three significant receiving threats, Baltimore had only one receiver with more than 700 yards receiving.

But in rewatching the first two Steelers-Ravens games, there are some things Baltimore can take advantage of.

In the weeks and months leading up to the 2007 draft, Steelers fans basically wanted Anybody But Lawrence Timmons. Fresh off an 8-8 performance, and holding the 15th-overall selection, Pittsburgh was too far removed from the "franchise players" that populated the top of the board, but not far enough down to justify taking a guy to fill a specific need (like, say, tackle, guard, or center).

Pre-draft reports had Timmons showing up to his pro day out of shape, and, at 20, he was too inexperienced to contribute immediately in the NFL. Well, the Steelers drafted him anyway, even though fans were clamoring for names like Jarvis Moss, Jon Beason and Anthony Spencer.

Beason has been a legit NFL linebacker from Day 1, and Timmons has had a solid sophomore season. But due to injuries, bad luck and ineffectiveness, Moss and Spencer are still finding their way. Which explains this bit of time machinery via the Dallas Morning News' Tim McMahon:

Some folks who thought DeMarcus Ware deserved the Defensive Player of the Year award pointed out that Pittsburgh's James Harrison had a much better bookend than Ware does in Dallas.

Well, LaMarr Woodley, a key cog in the NFL's top defense, could have been a Cowboy. Instead, Dallas traded back up into the first round to take Anthony Spencer, who went 20 picks ahead of Woodley.

I'm a big fan of Patriots tight end Ben Watson, mainly for his Don Beebe-like "no play is over until I say it is" type of mentality. A week ago, on what was essentially a meaningless play in the Patriots' 33-10 loss to Pittsburgh, he ran Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons down from behind on an interception return and tackled him one yard short of the goal line. It was a play that was remarkably similar to his effort in a playoff game a couple of years ago in Denver, when he ran 100 yards to chase down Champ Bailey and blast him at the goal line.

None of these plays have anything to do with my point here, but it's not everyday that I have a reason to write about Ben Watson, so I just figured he deserved some praise. He can play for my team any day of the week.

Anyway, during the Patriots' come-from-behind win in Seattle yesterday, Watson hauled in two-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Matt Cassel, cutting an 11-point first half deficit to just four. To celebrate this occasion, Watson took the football, placed it under his jersey, and proceeded to rub his stomach -- as if he were expecting a child -- as a salute to his pregnant wife, as reported by Shalise Manza Young of the Providence Journal.

Yeah, the NFL is not going to approve of this.

While it would be very easy to talk about Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel getting a healthy dose of reality, I think that would be somewhat unfair to everyone's favorite free-agent-to-be quarterback. Sure, he had a really bad day in the Patriots 33-10 loss to Pittsburgh, but in his defense, the weather conditions were less than ideal, and he received absolutely no help from anybody on his offense.

A week after playing the disrespect card because Miami single-covered him, Randy Moss was a relative non-factor in the game. Forget single coverage, if the Steelers would have left him out there by himself, or, even worse, lined me up across from him, it wouldn't have made a difference.

Moss finished with only four catches, and dropped what would have been two guaranteed touchdowns. The first one came on a deep pass over the middle, and the second one occurred late in the first half when Moss was alone in the back of the end zone. For reasons that escape me, Moss jumped into the air to attempt to catch a pass that would have hit him right in the numbers, only to have it slip through his arms and fall to the ground. Right after that, Stephen Gostkowski shanked a 27-yard field goal, and the Steelers dominated the remainder of the game.