Troy Polamalu expects to start

Troy Polamalu practiced with the 1st team defense on Friday after missing practice on both Wednesday and Thursday. Polamalu is still rehabbing his torn MCL that he suffered against the Titans during week 1 of the NFL season.

Last week, Polamalu removed his knee brace during pregame warm-ups because he said it restricted his ability to change direction quickly. He also appeared to re-injure his knee after intercepting a pass from Joshua Cribbs in the wild cat formation. This week Polamalu said that he will wear the knee brace during the showdown against the undefeated Minnesota Vikings.

Mendenhall to start against Vikings

Rashard Mendenhall, the second year 1^st round pick from Illinois is set to start against the undefeated Minnesota Vikings.  This is the first time in Mendenhall’s career that he is set to start when both he and Parker are healthy.  According to head coach Mike Tomlin, Mendenhall has officially passed Willie Parker on the depth chart by indicating that Mendenahll has the “hot hand”.

This has been an incredible turn of events for Mendenhall.  Less than a month ago, Tomlin didn’t play Mendenhall one snap against the Cincinnati Bengals because he didn’t feel comfortable that Mendenhall knew his assignments and lacked game time preparation throughout the week.  Now, Mendenhall has impressed coaches, teammates, and fans alike with his running style that’s been averaging over 5 yards a carry.  Mendenhall has showed a great, and decisive burst through the hole, speed, hands (in the passing game), and the ability to break tackles.  He’s been one of the pleasant surprises this year along with Mike Wallace.

Mendenhall will have a difficult task this week against a very strong Vikings defensive front.  Many critics of Mendenhall say that his success is due to the weak run defenses of the San Diego Chargers, Detroit Lions, and Cleveland Browns.   This week, Mendenhall has the opportunity to silence those critics.

The Cheaters (i.e. Patriots) are a disgrace

Whats the deal with the bum (i.e. Tom Brady) and the rest of the Patriots offense running up the score on the Tennessee Titans in the 3rd quarter.  Most classy teams would run the ball to run out the clock and just call it a win.  Not the Cheatriots, I mean the Patriots, the least classy team in NFL history.

They think its classy to run up the score when the game is over in order to “pad” stats.  The Cheatriots (i.e. the Patriots) continue to throw the ball when their winning by over 40 points.  Whats the point?  Is this really necessary?  It’s necessary when your coach is  Bill Belichick, the biggest scum in the history of the NFL. Well, it shouldn’t be that surprising, the Patriots have never been accused of being classy since their “spygate” days under  Bill Belichick.

It’s well known about  Bill Belichick and their videotaping which resulted in 3 Super Bowl victories.  Both  Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and whoever else was involved should be banned from the National Football League (NFL) Hall of Fame the same way Pete Rose is banned from the Major League Baseball (MLB) Hall of Fame.

By the way, did anyone see the roughing the passer penalties called on Tom Brady.  It’s absolutely pathetic!  The player barely touched Brady and they throw a yellow flag on the play which resulted in another touchdown.  The NFL already has the “Tom Brady Rule”, what’s next?  If that happened to any other quarterback in the NFL, there would be no penalty.  If the NFL wants the Patriots to win another Lombardi Trophey that bad, why don’t they just give it to them right now and save the rest of the league the embarassment?  The game and calls even look rigged!  They have the Tom Brady rule, they allow the Patriots to videotape with minimum consequences.. what’s next Roger Goodell?

Steelers Inactives

The following Steelers are listed as inactive in today’s game against the Cleveland Browns.

QB Dennis Dixon

WR Limas Sweed – Very disappointing.  We all had high hopes for this guy but his future doesn’t look bright right now in Pittsburgh.

CB Keenan Lewis – Lewis was supposed to be Ike Taylor’s mirror image and had a great training camp.  He has not seen any playing time this year thus far.

FB Carey Davis – Who is the starting fullback?

LB Andre Frazier – Special teams ace… who is going to steup up in his replacement?

OG Kraig Urbik – We all thought he was going to steal the show in training camp and win the starting RG spot.  Instead, Trai Essex as impressed.

OT Tony Hills – Another disappointment but he may end up competing for Colon’s RT spot in the Steelers don’t resign him.

DE Sunny Harris – Just resigned after the injury to Aaron Smith.  This guy had a decent training camp and preseason and could end up having a roster spot in the future.  He has the size and youth that the Steelers desperately need at the defensive line.

Fantasy Focus: Steelers vs Browns

This week kicks off another entry of our fantasy football prediction blog.  Steelers face off against the 1-4 Cleveland

Browns today at 1pm at Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, PA.  The Steelers have the opportunity to win its 3^rd straight game against a struggling Cleveland Browns team.  Last week, the Browns somehow pulled out a 6-3 victory against the Buffalo Bills which was one of the most painful games I had to watch in a long time.  Starting Browns quarterback, Derek Anderson went a miserable 2-17 in passing, but somehow the Browns were victorious.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off a 28-20 win against the Detroit Lions.  The Steelers offense looked impressive again with Rashard Mendenhall averaging over 5 yards a carry and Ben Roethlisberger distributing the ball nicely to a wide range of his weapons including Santonio Holmes, Hines Ward, Heath Miller and rookie, Mike Wallace.

Purchase Pittsburgh Steelers Gear at the Planet Steelers Shop

Not so impressive was the Steelers defense.  Again, the defense allowed an inferior team to come back in the first quarter until a streak of sacks by LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison ended the game.  From the defensivie perspective, the good news is that all-pro safety, Troy Polamalu is returning to action for the first time since the season opener against the Tennessee Titans.  The bad news is standout defensive end, Aaron Smith, who is critical to the Steelers 3-4 is out for the rest of the season with a torn rotator cuff.

And now for our Predictions:

Pittsburgh Steelers

Ben Roethlisberger – Big Ben is off to one of his best starts in his already very successful career from a statistical perspective.  Roethlisberger is 1^st in the league in completion percentage and second in total yards only behind Peyton Manning. Roethlisberger is being considered a league Most Valuable Player (MVP) by most and I expect his numbers to only get better especially against a struggling Browns team.  Big Ben is a strong pickup this week amongst fantasy owners.

Heath Miller – Miller is on pace for his first Pro Bowl appearance and has been exceptional for the Steelers passing game so far this season.  Miller is second on the team with 29 receptions and 235 yards. He also leads the receiving corps with 3 TD’s.  Expect about 60 yards receiving and another touchdown for Heath Miller this week.

Hines Ward – Ward is the Steelers leading receiver thus far this season with 33 receptions and 440 yards receiving.  With Holmes wrist injury continuing to be a nagging problem, Ward will see more balls thrown his way.  However, it’s concerning to fantasy owners that Ward only has 1 touchdown so far this season.  With all things considering Ward is still a good play this week against the Browns.

Rashard Mendenhall – Mendenall has looked real impressive the past couple of weeks with Willie Parker being out due to a turf toe injury.  In two games, Mendenhall is averaging over 5 yards a carry and has 3 touchdowns.  Against the league’s worst running defense Mendenhall is expected to start and will see the majority of all carries with Fast Willie being the change of pace back as he recovers from his injury.

Ben Roethlisberger Jersey
Hines Ward Jersey
Rashard Mendenhall Jersey
Heath Miller Jersey
Santonio Holmes Jersey

Cleveland Browns

Joshua Cribbs – Unfortunately for the Browns, based on their play thus far this season, Cribbs is the only guy I would consider as a fantasy owner this week.  With Braylon Edwards being traded to the Jets, Cribbs should see some increased action as a 3^rd WR.  Aside from that, Cribbs is well known to be an extremely dangerous kick-off returner and has had prior success against the Steelers special teams unit.

Screw the Browns

Just in time for Steelers vs Browns week, below is the classic “Screw the Browns” video.

Sonny Harris Signed By Steelers

RaShon “Sonny” Harris has been resigned by the Pittsburgh Steelers today after standout DE Aaron Smith was placed on Injured Reserve (IR) after a season ending shoulder injury.  Smith has a torn rotator cuff injury which will require season ending surgery. 

Harris played well during the preseason but he didn’t clear waivers after not making the 53 man roster.  The Carolina Panthers signed Sonny Harris and to the disappointment of Steelers fans, lost a quality youngster at a position that’s lacking depth and youth.  The 6-4 300 pound Oregon defensive end needs a bit of work in the 3-4 but he’s a young project and a welcoming addition to this squad especially after losing Smith.  Harris could project to 3-4 defensive end and actually has the size to be a 3-4 nose tackle with the addition of a few pounds.  With Casey Hampton in the final year of his contract, who knows what could happen but it’s a bit too early to say the late round draft choice from Oregon has the potential to replace “Big Snack”, the Steelers Pro Bowl nose tackle whom has anchored this defense for many years.

Aaron Smith Out For Season

It has been reported that starting d-lineman Aaron Smith will be out for the season due to a shoulder injury sustained against the Detroit Lions.  Smith will undergo season ending shoulder surgery. 

Smith has been long considered one of the most underrated  defensive lineman in the league.  As a 3-4 DE, Smith’s primary responsbility to to take one two blockers which allows the inside linkbackers to run free and make the majority of the tackles.  Unlike a 4-3 DE, Smith rarely get’s the opportunity to sack the quarterback although he’s had 2 sacks thus far this season. 

He’s been a constant on the Steelers d-line that has seen several rankings as the leagues number 1 defense, and also has two Super Bowl rings.

It is expected that a combination of Nick Eason, Travis Kirschke, and rookie first round pick Ziggy Hood will attempt to replace Smith. 

What a devastating loss for an already struggling defense…

Steelers Edge Lions

The Pittsburgh Steelers edged out another close one Sunday with a 28-20 victory against the one-win Detrot Lions.  Once again, the Steelers jumped out to an early lead only to let Daunte Culpepper resurrect the team.  Culpepper lead his team down the field with less than 2 minutes to play executing a drive which easily could have been the game tieing score.  The Steelers defense had other plans which resulted in 3 straight sacks of Culpepper and ultimately ending the game with James Harrison leading the way.

Steelers fans have reason for concern.  The Steelers have not been able to close teams out.  They need to be able to put the “nail in the coffin”.  In years past, the Steelers were able to control the clock with running the football.  Well, those days seem to be long gone for this Steelers group.  Against the Lions, the Steelers had no trouble moving the football but actually scored to quickly in respect that the Lions controlled the clock the majority of the second half. 

Game Stats

Ben Roethlisberger –  23-30, 277 yds, 3 tds
Rashard Mendenhall – 15 car, 77 yds, 1 td
Hines Ward – 7 rec, 85 yds, 1 td
Heath Miller – 5 rec, 54 yds, 1 td
Mike Wallace – 2 rec, 52 tds, 1d

Fantasy Focus: Steelers vs Lions

This week kicks off another entry of our fantasy football prediction blog.  Steelers face off against the 1-3 Detroit Lions at Ford Field at 1pm today.  The Steelers will be visiting Ford Field for the first time since capturing their fifth Lombardi Trophy during Super Bowl XL.

Unlike previous versions of our fantasy focus articles, this one will only feature Pittsburgh Steelers players.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Ben Roethlisberger – The Detroit Lions have given up more points than any other team in the NFL to opposing quarterbacks in fantasy football.   Roethlisberger should be in for a big game today against a struggling Lion’s defense.  However, if the Steelers jump out to a big lead early, Roethlisberger could be pulled or you’ll see a heavy dosage of Rashard Mendenhall.  The Steelers won’t run up the score and pad stats.

Rashard Mendenhall – With Willie Parker out with a turf toe injury, second year pro Rashard Mendenhall could be in for another huge day against the 20th ranked Lion’s run defense.  Last week, Mendenhall had his breakout game against the Chargers totaling 165 yards and 2 touchdowns against the San Diego Chargers defense.  Mendenhall will receive the majority of the carries except on certain 3rd down situations where he’ll be relieved my Mewelde Moore.

Heath Miller – On pace for 96 receptions, Heath Miller is on pace for his best season of his career.  Miller is underrated in most NFL circles, but he’s in for his first pro bowl season of his career.  Miller has been getting open in the middle of the field and is an obvious mismatch for many teams.  With Santonio Holmes receiving double coverage, Miller is seeing more balls thrown his way.  Last week against the San Diego Chargers, Miller had 70 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns.

Santonio Holmes - He has been targeted by Roethlisberger more than any other player, Holmes is due for a big game.   Even though Holmes has been seeing double coverage as the Steelers #1 receiver, he’s got the speed to beat those double teams and make plays deep down field.  Outside of week 1, Holmes has been quiet thus far this year; expect him to have close to 100 yards and a TD today against a weak Lion’s secondary.