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View Full Version : "Breaking Out" and "Dishing Out"...



NKySteeler
07-23-2008, 06:47 PM
Alright, some of you know that I really enjoy reading Wexell (..and he writes a "mean" book as well...), so here is his latest..... :wink:
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Breaking out, dishing out
...just my opinion
by JIM WEXELL

From the notebook of a sportswriter who’s expecting what’s becoming unexpected for the Steelers this season:

• In other words, I expect them to win the division championship.

• Cleveland is the top competition, of course, but let’s see how the Browns handle the position of frontrunner this year. It won’t be nearly as easy as being the underdogs they
were last year.

• I want to make a point about experts who overrate strength of schedule, and how the strength of the league changes from year to year, but I look at the Steelers’ schedule and just can’t do it. It’s a brutal, brutal schedule.

• Aside from the strength of the opponents, there are the difficult spots in the schedule, such as going to Philadelphia in between division games against Cleveland and Baltimore.
There’s also the Washington Monday nighter for the Steelers, who will be coming off the Giants game and looking at the Colts game the following week.

• There are schedule pluses. The Steelers game in Jacksonville is a night game in October. The Steelers have playoff revenge going for them and are off the following week. The Steelers will play the Colts a week after the Colts host the Patriots on a Sunday night. And the Steelers will have 10 days to prepare for the Patriots.

• Super Bowl losers are supposed to stink the following year, but I think the Patriots will be more difficult to beat than the Giants, who were the Super Bowl winners.

• LaMarr Woodley is the premier “breakout” candidate this year. The others? I think it’s Nate Washington’s time. I know, I know, he’s been everyone’s darling for so long people
are actually tired of him, but if you look back at last year’s games you’d see Ben Roethlisberger just missing Washington on several big plays. I think Nate’s experience provides him with additional “luck” this year.

• I’m also looking for big things from Chris Kemoeatu. I’ve never understood what this massive man has done so wrong to be kept out of the lineup, but now he’ll get his chance. I think he’ll deliver big time.

• The rest of the line, of course, will draw most of the interest from fans and reporters this camp. The right side of the line in particular is up for grabs because of the presence
of Max Starks.

• Press conference of the future: Mike Tomlin lambastes us in the media who criticized the decision to pay Starks all that money after he steps in to play tackle at a critical
juncture.

• I’d still move Willie Colon to guard to get Starks in there, but apparently that’s just me.

• One of the second-tier breakout guys should be massive OT Jason Capizzi. My Understanding is that his understanding has improved greatly. Understand?

• My other breakout candidate is Mewelde Moore. He reminded me of Kevin Faulk this spring. He’s thicker than I expected, but has the moves of a scatback. He can also catch the ball.

• This assessment was met with much snickering by Vikings fans who wondered why Moore couldn’t get much time on the field. Apparently, their appreciation of Adrian
Peterson and Chester Taylor doesn’t match mine.

• After pleading to keep Plaxico Burress, and then pleading to draft his big college receiver, Martin Nance, Roethlisberger finally convinced the front office to bring in some big receivers. The offense looked like Redwood National Forest this spring.

• Roethlisberger won’t have any trouble becoming the leader that his salary warrants, but I’m a bit worried about that $100 million contract jinx. Of the previous six who received such a contract, the only QB who then went to a Super Bowl was Donovan McNabb. And he vomited in his own huddle down the stretch.

• Speaking of vomiting in the huddle, how about the Big Shot Hall of Fame Selection Board and its most recent Hall of Fame class? Andre Tippett wasn’t better than Greg Lloyd, let alone the great Dermontti Dawson. And Tippett may have been the best of that class. Fred Dean? Really.

• There are 17 players who have been named to six consecutive AP All-Pro first teams, when the AP only named one team (not NFL and AFL teams). Fifteen of those players are in the Hall of Fame and a 16th, Larry Allen, is not eligible yet. The 17th is the great Dermontti Dawson.

• Otto Graham, Mel Hein, Jack Lambert, Mike Webster, Dwight Stephenson and the great Dermontti Dawson are the only players in NFL history named consensus All-Pro five years in a row at a one-man position. Five of those are in the Hall. The great Dermontti Dawson can’t even reach the semifinals of the voting. Anybody out there paying attention?

• This is for the good of the Steelers and their Nation: Hines Ward, you’re slowing down.

• Speaking of the Hall, God had a great class in a two-week stretch this summer when he brought in Dwight White, Tim Russert and Pittsburgh high school coaching legend Norm
Frey. Dwight, I believe, was unduly unappreciated both during and after his career.

• Keep in mind that a period of struggle nearly always portends an ascension to the next level of life. That’s directed more in the Steelers’ organization than at a tough schedule.