FanHouse Willie Reid

Charlie Batch's season is officially over, as reported by Gerry Dulac at the Post-Gazette. The Steelers today made the much anticipated move of placing the veteran on Injured Reserve, and making Byron Leftwich the No. 2 quarterback behind Ben Roethlisberger. This could very well be the end of Batch's career in Pittsburgh.

Batch broke his collarbone in the teams first preseason game while attempting to salvage a busted play in the backfield.

Also, from the same Post-Gazette article, the Steelers will be releasing former third-round pick Willie Reid, as well as veteran return-man Eddie Drummond. Both players were competing for return duties on this years squad.

Reid, the teams second third-round pick during the 2006 draft, never panned out after having his rookie year completely wiped out by injuries.

With Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes set as the Steelers starters and Nate Washington and Limas Sweed set as the team's No. 3 and No. 4 receivers, one of the toughest battles during training camp will be for the fifth and likely final wide receiver spot.

A lot of times jobs are said to be wide open, but in reality, there's a clear favorite who has to lose the job. In this case, it's hard to say who's the favorite. The case for Reid is that he's (supposed to be) a quality returner. And his speed and shiftiness makes him potentially useful as a slot receiver who can work underneath and turn little screens into decent gains.

On the downside, Reid has looked overwhelmed by the pro game. A great college punt returner, he's struggled with injuries and fumbles as a pro.

Baker has the size (6-foot-3, 206 pounds) to be a red zone target, and he has a history of getting better as he gets acclimated to a new level of competition. He made significant improvement during his time at Florida, peaking as a senior.

Mike Tomlin apparently wasn't thrilled with Willie Reid's disastrous stint as the Steelers fill-in kick returner last week.

Just a day after Reid fumbled away the opening kickoff and almost fumbled away another, the Steelers signed wide receiver/punt returner Jeremy Bloom to their practice squad. If Allen Rossum is healthy enough to play this week against the Jaguars after sitting out last week's game with a sore hamstring, Bloom will likely stay on the practice squad for the remainder of this year, but it also makes it likely he'll be competing for the Steelers' returner job next year.

The Steelers brought Bloom in to interview before the 2006 draft and were predicted to draft the former Colorado star by several mock drafts. They opted to draft Reid in the third round instead, while Bloom fell to the Eagles in the fifth round.

The Pittsburgh Steelers didn't act as if finishing fourth in the AFC bothered them in the least. That could turn out to be a curious decision after their B team failed to beat the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. The game leaves them hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars, the same team that smacked them in the mouth at Heinz Field a few weeks ago.

Things went wrong for Pittsburgh right from the get go. Willie Reid, subbing for injured returner Allan Rossum, coughed up the opening kickoff and set up a Musa Smith touchdown run. With Charlie Batch offering the defense little worry, the Ravens keyed on Najeh Davenport and slowed the offense down to a crawl for most of the first half. Batch was intercepted once and his biggest play came courtesy of a pass interference on Corey Ivy. The Ravens led 20-7 at the half and appeared to be in charge of the game.

They appeared to be pulling a Billick, as its come to be known this season, by losing that control late. Batch found Santonio Holmes and Cedrick Wilson for touchdowns to cut the margin to six but when David Pittman picked him off for the second time late in the fourth, a return date with the Jags was in place.

Willie Reid has spent the season as the Steelers backup returner, which didn't mean much more than he got to catch punts in practice. But since the Steelers don't have much to play for today, he finally got a chance to show the Steelers what they were missing when they traded for Allen Rossum.

Willie, we expected a whole lot more than this.

After two kicks he's headed toward the unemployment line. Reid fumbled the first one which turned into a Ravens touchdown eventually, then fumbled the second one, only to be saved by a challenge. Reid also had a fumble during the preseason, so there is a legitimate worry that this is becoming a habit.

For a third-round pick, Reid hasn't given the Steelers a whole lot of bang for the buck in his two seasons, but it's looking more and more like he's a better bet to make the 2008 roster as a receiver than as a returner, which is exactly the opposite of his scouting report coming out of Florida State.

With the AFC North wrapped up and absolutely nothing to play for, it makes sense that the Steelers would rest some of their starters.

Four of them, to be exact. In today's preseason J.V. matchup with the Ravens, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be the third quarterback (behind Charlie Batch and Brian St. Pierre), and the following players won't waste the effort putting on pads: wide receiver Hines Ward, safety Troy Polamalu, and returner Allen Rossum. Tackle Marvel Smith had back surgery earlier in the week, and running back Willie Parker was placed on injured reserve earlier this week with a broken leg.

While a win or loss doesn't affect Pittsburgh's postseason positioning, it will be a good opportunity for many of the young players on the roster. Rookie undrafted free agent running back Gary Russell could see a lot of action; Parker showed he was a big-play back during Week 17 of his rookie season: he went for over 100 yards against the Bills in a meaningless-for-the-Steelers game (although Buffalo was playing for a wild-card spot).

Returner/wide receiver Willie Reid will also get a second chance. Reid was taken in the third round of the 2006 draft to replace Antwaan Randle El. He was injured for most of his rookie season, and he performed so poorly in '07 that the Steelers traded for Rossum just before the start of the season.

One thought, though: if I'm Mike Tomlin, I'm letting Brian St. Pierre start this game. Charlie Batch is too valuable to lose to injury in a game that doesn't matter. God forbid, if Roethlisberger goes down during the playoffs, the Steelers will be in a bad way. But maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Tucked into the bottom of his weekly Steelers' notebook, Ed Bouchette said that Willie Reid has been getting extra time returning punts in practice. According to Bouchette, Reid is unlikely to be active today, but it could be a sign that Mike Tomlin is considering turning to the second-year wide receiver.

It's not hard to understand why Tomlin is getting tired of Allen Rossum's returns. Rossum has been able to hold onto the ball, which makes him an upgrade over last year's hold-your-breath return teams. But while Rossum has been reliable, he's also been about as boring as a return man could be. His 6.6 yards per punt return is second worst in the league, and his kick return average of 23.3 is below average. Take away his one 98-yard touchdown early in the season and the news gets even more depressing--20.8 yards per kick on his other returns.

The Steelers are in the playoff hunt, so it's not time to starting planning for next year. But if Reid can give the Steelers a little spark in the return game this year it would be a help, and as a side benefit it would also give Pittsburgh an idea if they have their returner for next year already--the Steelers spent a third-round pick on Reid two years ago, it's about time they figure out what they got.

As Allen Rossum turns punt return after punt return into negligible gains, Willie Reid continues to stand on the sideline in sweats.

But thanks to Santonio Holmes injury, the Steelers will take the wraps off of the second-year wide receiver tonight. He won't get to return punts or kicks, but he will likely see plenty of time as a fourth wide receiver. And if his short stint on the active roster earlier this season is any indication, he'll likely get a chance to show his impressive acceleration with a couple of passes thrown his way.

The last time Reid played against the Cardinals and Seahawks, the Steelers made a point of getting him the ball, but it always seems to be on little wide receiver screens or a short route over the middle.

So don't expect to see Reid get a chance to try to beat a cornerback deep, but do expect to see him get the ball on a hot-read from a blitz, or a screen on third and eight, or maybe even a reverse. Reid has a little bit of Antwan Randle-El's start-and-stop ability. He goes from stopped to full speed pretty quickly, and he knows what to do with the ball in his hands. When he's actually on the active roster, the Steelers seem to work more to get the ball to him (three catches in two games) than they do normal No. 4 receiver Cedric Wilson (eight catches in 10 games).

It's not likely that Reid will be the difference maker for the Steelers tonight, but he is good enough to be worth keeping an eye on, and good enough to make you wonder if he deserves a little more playing time, or maybe a punt return or two.

Allen Rossum has done a lot to solidify the Steelers return game--he catches every punt and kick sent his way, which is more than last year's returners could promise.

What he doesn't do i make teams worry about long punt returns. Of returners who've caught 10 or more punts, Rossum ranks dead last with a 6.3 yard per punt average, and that's including his 49-yarder in the final minute of the Steelers blowout win over the Ravens. On all other punts, Rossum has averaged just over four yards per return. On a Steelers special teams unit that is much improved, Rossum's poor punt returns stick out.

After watching Ricardo Colclough and Santonio Holmes struggle to simply hang onto the ball last year, it seems almost greedy to ask for more from a returner who does catch the ball. But after watching Willie Reid turn some short passes into solid gains, it's tempting to see what he could do as the punt returner.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls has an interesting tidbit on former head coach Billy Cowher and his sometimes hit-or-miss draft strategies.

Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola made an interesting point on the radio last evening: Remember Willie Reid? Yeah, another draft-day reach, in April 2006, and another of Cowher's pet projects. Labriola said that there were strong opinions in the Steelers' draft room about taking one particular wide receiver over another.

Labriola brought this up because the "other" wide receiver in that discussion will be playing for Baltimore on Monday night. That would be Demetrious Williams, whom the Ravens drafted in the fourth round (111 overall) of the same 2006 draft that saw the Steelers take Reid in the third round (95th overall).

JPPB goes on to point out that Williams has been a nice little find for the Ravens, a team that has long struggled to cultivate any offensive weapons outside of Jamal Lewis. Through seven games, Williams has 19 catches for 285 yards -- a 15.0 yards-per-catch average, while Reid has three grabs for 48 yards.