FanHouse TimJennings

I should have known I couldn't stay away for long before having to weigh in on another batch of controversial calls. The power of the Zebra Report lives on. Dwight Freeney discussed things with Michael Silver of Yahoo! -- or, not really discussed, more like vented -- as the two walked towards the Colts' team bus following the game.

"Those were the worst [expletive] calls I've seen in a long time," he said. "To have a game of that magnitude taken out of your hands, it's just disgusting. It's not like they made one [expletive] bad call – it's three calls, in overtime. On one the ball's 50 feet over [Chambers'] head. And they have the nerve to call defensive holding? When they can't even call one friggin' offensive holding the whole game? What's going on? They need to start investigating some other [expletive]."

I would make a tell me how you really feel, Dwight comment here, but he has every right to be upset considering the Colts went 12-4 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. I'd be a bit incensed, too.

If you're one of those people who believe Ben Roethlisberger's recent play has been hampered by a bum shoulder, a bruised throwing hand, so on and so forth, this should come as happy news: the Steelers quarterback reports that he is not injured.

Pretty amazing news given that he hardly practiced last week, and, more to the point, his performance against the Colts on Sunday suggested that he was anything but healthy. To back up his words, Big Ben even threw a ball 50 yards in the air at Wednesday's practice, before explaining why the Steelers didn't go deep against a pretty mediocre Indy pass defense.

"The reason we were checking the ball down a lot is because it was a Cover-2 defense. They were dropping everybody deep. The underneath stuff was wide open," Roethlisberger said. "A lot of why we threw the ball and where we threw the ball was determined by them."

Yes, "wide open" save the two occasions when Roethlisberger threw passes directly to Keiwan Ratliff and Tim Jennings. To the larger point, though, if Big Ben's physically healthy, does that mean his recent struggles are strictly above-the-neck-related? That's a bigger problem, I'd think, because sore arms heal a lot quicker than sore brains.

Still, despite all the gnashing of teeth in Western Pennsylvania, the Steelers are 6-3. If Pittsburgh can pull out a victory against San Diego this Sunday, they'll have Cincinnati next Thursday, and then a 10-day layoff before heading to New England.

So, yeah, it could be a lot worse.

1st Round (30th) - Joseph Addai, RB, LSU

• Addai has some big shoes to fill. With Edgerrin James leaving for Arizona in the off-season, the backfield now consists of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai. Addai is a 5-11, 215 lbs running back who ran a 4.49 at the combine. He has been praised for his pass blocking ability and field vision. On the other hand, he has been criticized for his upright running style and lack of explosiveness through holes. My guess is he will be the starter by week 8.
  

2nd Round (62nd) - Tim Jennings, CB, Georgia

• Jennings was a 3 year starter at Georgia. During his last 2 years he was all-conference. Despite his size at 5-8, Jennings has been praised for his athleticism. His main criticism stands with his ability to read the defense. Jennings will most likely not make a push for the starting job in 2006, but look for him as a surprise in '07

3rd Round (94th) - Freddy Keiaho, OLB, San Diego State

• Keiaho had 113 tackles in 2005, leading his team at SDSU. He was named to the first team all-conference as a starter during his senior year. One problem with Freddy is his size for a NFL style linebacker. He is only 5-11, 227 lbs. However, he could make up for this with his speed and field vision He is currently listed at 3rd on the depth chart for LOLB.

5th Round (162nd) - Michael Toudouze, T, TCU

• Toudouze is a 6-5 1/2, 303 pound tackle who has been a starter since his sophomore year. He was awarded all-conference honors while at TCU.

6th Round (199th) - Charlie Johnson, OG, Oklahoma State

• Johnson received all-conference honors at Tight End before he moved to OG as a senior.

6th Round (207th) - Antoine Bethea, S, Howard

• During his senior season at Howard, Antoine received first team all-conference honors.

7th Round (238th) - T.J. Rushing, CB, Stanford

• See my blog here about Rushing