Mike Wallace has become the Steelers' new Santonio Holmes

[flippy]

Re: Mike Wallace has become the Steelers' new Santonio Holmes

Hope he gets at least 1 TD catch in every playoff game.

[feltdizz]

Re: Mike Wallace has become the Steelers' new Santonio Holmes

I agree Flippy... I'll wait until the playoffs to crown Wallace.

[NorthCoast]

Re: Mike Wallace has become the Steelers' new Santonio Holmes

Mike Wallace: NFL's Best Big-Play Wide Receiver?

By Adam Gretz



When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded Santonio Holmes to the New York Jets this past offseason, the biggest question for the offense was who would replace him as the its big-play threat in the passing game. Holmes, for all of his problems off of the field (two suspensions: one by the team in 2008, one by the NFL in 2010, a now infamous and probably forgotten Twitter meltdown) was an impact player on it. A Super Bowl MVP and an explosive wide receiver capable of turning any pass into a touchdown.

The answer for his replacement was an easy one, coming in the form of second-year wide receiver Mike Wallace. Fresh off a rookie campaign that saw him finish with the highest yards-per-catch average in the NFL, he's emerged as not only the Steelers biggest impact player on offense, but also the best big play wide receiver in the NFL.

As a rookie in the Steelers offense in 2009, many of Wallace's catches came as the result of him using his freakish speed and simply out-running defensive backs down the field and hauling in bombs from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. That is very different from the type of player that Holmes was for the Steelers. Holmes excelled at turning the 10-yard pass into a 60-yard gain. He was at his best after he already had the football in his hands and was making people miss. Wallace simply managed to run past everybody and pick up all 60 yards at once.

Over the course of his sophomore season, Wallace's game has started to round into shape. He's no longer the guy that simply runs "9 routes" down the sidelines every play (though, he still does that) and gets behind the secondary. He's also starting to improve his route running and become more of a factor on the short and intermediate routes and turning short passes into big gains.

During the Steelers' Week 16 win against Carolina, for example, he took advantage of a Carolina blitz, hauled in a hot route, and sprinted through the entire Panthers secondary for a 43-yard touchdown.

Head coach Mike Tomlin, who has at times this season called Wallace a "one trick pony," referring to his ability to burn secondaries down field, was asked at his weekly press conference on Tuesday what improvements Wallace still needed to make to become a more complete receiver. Tomlin pointed to attention to detail in route running and reading coverages. When asked if the touchdown against Carolina was what he had in mind, Tomlin simply smiled and said he liked what he saw on that play. Tomlin is big on talking about how there's always room for improvement, even in victory, so it's not a surprise that he'd like to see even more from his still raw -- and extremely talented -- second-year receiver.

So far this season Wallace has scored on plays of 41, 46, 29, 53, 39, 33, 52 and 43, and has two additional plays of 50 yards or more. No player on the NFL has more catches of 20-or-more yards entering Week 17 (24), and only DeSean Jackson of the Eagles averages more yards per catch. He's currently sixth in the NFL in receiving yards, despite only being targeted on 95 passes (catching 57), which ranks 40th in the NFL. Basically: even though he's not targeted as often as some other receivers, when the ball is thrown in Wallace's direction, big plays tend to happen.

The advanced statistical metrics at Football Outsiders rank Wallace as the No. 1 receiver in the NFL in 2010 both in terms of total value and value per play. He's also managed to catch 61 percent of the balls thrown his direction, which is an impressive accomplishment when you consider how many of his passes are deep down field and lower percentage plays.

The FO metrics aren't perfect, nor are they the end-all, be-all, but they're no more flawed than simply looking at total receptions or total yards without any context. A receiver that plays on a dreadful team that is constantly playing from behind and forced to throw the football in an effort to play catch up is going to make a lot of catches (Santana Moss and his 84 catches for the Redskins come to mind as an example of this). But hauling in a bunch of passes when your team is fighting a lost cause down by 20 points in the fourth quarter isn't as valuable as making big plays to put your team in a position to win. The Steelers rarely play from behind and have run the ball over 440 times this season, which doesn't give a receiver like Wallace as many opportunities to rack up huge reception numbers. But that doesn't take away from his overall value to the offense.

For as good as Holmes was for the Steelers (and still is for the Jets), Pittsburgh hasn't missed him due to the meteoric rise of Wallace, as well as the late-season development of rookies Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown.

[url="http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/12/30/mike-wallace-nfls-best-big-play-wr/"]http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/12/30/mike ... g-play-wr/[/url]

The video in this link showed me all I need to know about Mike Wallace. Watch his actions after each of his touchdowns. More often than not, complete humility....nothing like show-dogging from Holmes. Wallace will be a Steeler for a very long time....

[phillyesq]

Re: Mike Wallace has become the Steelers' new Santonio Holmes

Wallace has elite speed, and he accelerates like nobody else that I can remember watching. He is already very good, and has the potential to continue improving. As mentioned by a few posters above, his humility is very refreshing, especially at a position that seems to breed prima donas.

With all that said, I still think Holmes, right now, is better than Wallace on 10-15 yard routes. To my untrained eye, he seems to have a bit more eshake and precision in his routes. It's looking more to me like Sanders is going to be the guy to fill the Holmes role more than Wallace.

This isn't a criticism of Wallace at all -- I think he's very good, with the potential to be great.

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Mike Wallace has become the Steelers' new Santonio Holmes

Steelers WR Wallace Has 2 Speeds: Fast & Faster

January 6, 2011 2:58 PM



Mike Wallace of the Pittsburgh Steelers celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers during the game on December 23, 2010 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (credit: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)


PITTSBURGH (AP) – When Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger steps into the pocket and looks downfield for Mike Wallace, he’s knows one thing for certain.

He’s not overthrowing one of the NFL’s fastest players, unless he somehow launches the ball 10 yards beyond the end zone.

“Can’t do it,” Roethlisberger said.

When the Steelers drafted Wallace in 2009, they knew they were getting a fast receiver. They had no idea the third-round draft pick from Mississippi might find himself being compared to receivers such as Hall of Famers John Stallworth and Lynn Swann so early in his career.

In two seasons, Wallace has 16 touchdown catches, including 10 in his first year as a starter this season. By comparison, Stallworth and Swann both had career highs of 11 touchdowns.

Wallace also averages 21 yards every time he catches a pass, and 12.7 yards whenever a pass is thrown his way — whether he catches it or not. His seven 100-yard games tied Stallworth for the most in a Steelers season. He also ranked second in the league with 17 catches of 25 yards or more.

No matter who the Steelers play in the NFL divisional playoffs next week, defending Wallace will be a priority for their opponent.

“Last year, I was just happy to catch the ball, just trying to make sure I didn’t drop the ball,” Wallace said. “This year, I wanted to score more, try to get up the field a lot faster when I catch the ball.”

Wallace was mostly the Steelers’ No. 3 receiver last season, playing often in extra-receiver sets. Yet, he averaged a league-high 19.4 yards per catch. This season, he was topped only by the Eagles’ DeSean Jackson at 22.5.

Wallace won’t say he’s the fastest wide receiver in the league. But he also can’t name anyone faster.

“If he had the amount of catches (the NFL leaders had), he’d have a ridiculous amount of yards,” Roethlisberger said. “But you know what? Maybe that gives him the motivation to improve and try to get up there.”

Wallace’s ongoing development has lessened the impact of former Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes’ offseason trade to the Jets. The Steelers have a better record (12-4) than they did last year (9-7), and part of that is the chemistry that Wallace and Roethlisberger have developed in an increasingly uptempo offense.

Roethlisberger constantly kids Wallace. He calls him Burn. Not because of his speed, but because of his first name, which is Burnell. At the same time, Roethlisberger is pushing Wallace to get better, to add this trick or this move or this skill to his resume.

“To be doing all the things he’s doing at a young age is amazing,” said wide receiver Hines Ward, who also works extensively with Wallace. “But people don’t always see the stuff he’s getting better on — the route running, the getting in and out of cuts. He can push a guy now and get separation. The more he develops, the better he’s going to make everybody because it’s going to be very hard to defend him. You’re going to have to worry about negating his big-play ability, and that’s going to open up plays for other guys.”

On Sunday, the Steelers planned to target Wallace in man-to-man coverage to start their game in Cleveland, regardless of field position. Roethlisberger delivered a perfectly placed pass to an open Wallace for a 56-yard touchdown, and the Steelers went on to win 41-9, secure the AFC North title and a first-round playoff bye.

The game before, Wallace had a 43-yard catch for Pittsburgh’s first touchdown in a 27-3 victory over Carolina. Five of Wallace’s touchdowns this season are for 40 yards or longer, and he and Roethlisberger already have connected eight times in two seasons on scoring pass plays of such length.

Wallace’s growing confidence is evident, too.

Asked about going against Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis last month, Wallace said, “I don’t care about nobody. He’s just another guy. He’s a really good player, but I’m a real good player myself.”

Wallace’s rapid improvement, and the addition of rookies Emmanuel Sanders (28 catches for 376 yards and 2 touchdowns) and Antonio Brown (16 catches, 167 yards), provide an element of speed the Steelers haven’t always had.

“We understand that this is the playoffs, and we expect things to happen pretty quickly there,” Wallace said. “I just want Ben to know I’ll be ready for him when he needs me. I’ll make the big plays, just like I did during the regular season. It doesn’t matter that I haven’t been in the playoffs before.”

[url="http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/01/06/steelers-wr-wallace-has-2-speeds-fast-faster/"]http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/01/06/stee ... st-faster/[/url]

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Mike Wallace has become the Steelers' new Santonio Holmes

Defending Wallace a priority for any opposing defense

January 07, 2011 01:21 AM

By: HERALD STANDARD STAFF
Herald Standard


PITTSBURGH (AP) - When Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger steps into the pocket and looks downfield for Mike Wallace, he's knows one thing for certain.

He's not overthrowing one of the NFL's fastest players, unless he somehow launches the ball 10 yards beyond the end zone.

"Can't do it," Roethlisberger said.

When the Steelers drafted Wallace in 2009, they knew they were getting a fast receiver. They had no idea the third-round draft pick from Mississippi might find himself being compared to receivers such as Hall of Famers John Stallworth and Lynn Swann so early in his career.

In two seasons, Wallace has 16 touchdown catches, including 10 in his first year as a starter this season. By comparison, Stallworth and Swann both had career highs of 11 touchdowns.

Wallace also averages 21 yards every time he catches a pass, and 12.7 yards whenever a pass is thrown his way - whether he catches it or not. His seven 100-yard games tied Stallworth for the most in a Steelers season. He also ranked second in the league with 17 catches of 25 yards or more.

No matter who the Steelers play in the NFL divisional playoffs next week, defending Wallace will be a priority for their opponent.

"Last year, I was just happy to catch the ball, just trying to make sure I didn't drop the ball," Wallace said. "This year, I wanted to score more, try to get up the field a lot faster when I catch the ball."

Wallace was mostly the Steelers' No. 3 receiver last season, playing often in extra-receiver sets. Yet, he averaged a league-high 19.4 yards per catch. This season, he was topped only by the Eagles' DeSean Jackson at 22.5.

Wallace won't say he's the fastest wide receiver in the league. But he also can't name anyone faster.

"If he had the amount of catches (the NFL leaders had), he'd have a ridiculous amount of yards," Roethlisberger said. "But you know what? Maybe that gives him the motivation to improve and try to get up there."

Wallace's ongoing development has lessened the impact of former Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes' offseason trade to the Jets. The Steelers have a better record (12-4) than they did last year (9-7), and part of that is the chemistry that Wallace and Roethlisberger have developed in an increasingly uptempo offense.

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Roethlisberger constantly kids Wallace. He calls him Burn. Not because of his speed, but because of his first name, which is Burnell. At the same time, Roethlisberger is pushing Wallace to get better, to add this trick or this move or this skill to his resume.

"To be doing all the things he's doing at a young age is amazing," said wide receiver Hines Ward, who also works extensively with Wallace. "But people don't always see the stuff he's getting better on - the route running, the getting in and out of cuts. He can push a guy now and get separation. The more he develops, the better he's going to make everybody because it's going to be very hard to defend him. You're going to have to worry about negating his big-play ability, and that's going to open up plays for other guys."

On Sunday, the Steelers planned to target Wallace in man-to-man coverage to start their game in Cleveland, regardless of field position. Roethlisberger delivered a perfectly placed pass to an open Wallace for a 56-yard touchdown, and the Steelers went on to win 41-9, secure the AFC North title and a first-round playoff bye.

The game before, Wallace had a 43-yard catch for Pittsburgh's first touchdown in a 27-3 victory over Carolina. Five of Wallace's touchdowns this season are for 40 yards or longer, and he and Roethlisberger already have connected eight times in two seasons on scoring pass plays of such length.

Wallace's growing confidence is evident, too.

Asked about going against Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis last month, Wallace said, "I don't care about nobody. He's just another guy. He's a really good player, but I'm a real good player myself."

Wallace's rapid improvement, and the addition of rookies Emmanuel Sanders (28 catches for 376 yards and 2 touchdowns) and Antonio Brown (16 catches, 167 yards), provide an element of speed the Steelers haven't always had.

"We understand that this is the playoffs, and we expect things to happen pretty quickly there," Wallace said. "I just want Ben to know I'll be ready for him when he needs me. I'll make the big plays, just like I did during the regular season. It doesn't matter that I haven't been in the playoffs before."

[url="http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1636/2011/january/07/defending-wallace-a-priority-for-any-opposing-defense.html"]http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_deta ... fense.html[/url]

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Mike Wallace has become the Steelers' new Santonio Holmes

Ravens-Steelers III: Is Mike Wallace ready?

JAN 11
By James Walker


PITTSBURGH -- Steelers second-year receiver Mike Wallace said he's heard it all about playoff football from teammate and future Hall of the Famer Hines Ward this week.



AP Photo/Amy Sancetta
Hines Ward wants to make sure Mike Wallace will be ready for the atmosphere and intensity of a playoff game.
"You know Hines is always ready to tell you a story," Wallace said with a smile.

At every chance during the bye, the 13-year veteran has been telling Wallace about the difference between the regular season and playoff football. Wallace, 24, is Pittsburgh's leading receiver and is playing at a Pro-Bowl level. But Wallace will make his postseason debut Saturday for the Steelers (12-4) against the Baltimore Ravens (13-4).

Ward is doing everything he can to make sure the dynamic Wallace is ready for the increase in intensity, especially in this brutal rivalry with the Ravens. Wallace, as he has for two seasons, is a willing student and says he's soaking in Ward's wisdom.

"You have to take the [important] things out of the story, because you gotta know going in there it's going to be a really long message," Wallace said in jest. "But he's sending me a really good message telling me about his experiences, even though it's going to be an hour or two."

Ward, who has two rings, knows better than anyone that a chance to win a Super Bowl doesn't come around often. The winner will advance to the AFC Championship Game, and Pittsburgh needs Wallace to play well in order to make a deep postseason run.

Wallace was one of the NFL's top breakout players this season with 60 receptions for 1,257 yards and 10 touchdowns.

"He needs to just continue going out there and being Mike Wallace, and when you get your opportunity, make a play for us," Ward explained. "The intensity will pick up, because there’s more at stake, and each play is magnified. We may not get another chance to make a play, so we need to capitalize on the opportunities. I look for Mike Wallace to have a good postseason and a good ballgame."

[url="http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/23087/ravens-steelers-iii-is-mike-wallace-ready"]http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_ ... lace-ready[/url]

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

Re: Mike Wallace has become the Steelers' new Santonio Holmes

Mike Wallace: NFL's Best Big-Play Wide Receiver?

By Adam Gretz



When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded Santonio Holmes to the New York Jets this past offseason, the biggest question for the offense was who would replace him as the its big-play threat in the passing game. Holmes, for all of his problems off of the field (two suspensions: one by the team in 2008, one by the NFL in 2010, a now infamous and probably forgotten Twitter meltdown) was an impact player on it. A Super Bowl MVP and an explosive wide receiver capable of turning any pass into a touchdown.

The answer for his replacement was an easy one, coming in the form of second-year wide receiver Mike Wallace. Fresh off a rookie campaign that saw him finish with the highest yards-per-catch average in the NFL, he's emerged as not only the Steelers biggest impact player on offense, but also the best big play wide receiver in the NFL.

As a rookie in the Steelers offense in 2009, many of Wallace's catches came as the result of him using his freakish speed and simply out-running defensive backs down the field and hauling in bombs from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. That is very different from the type of player that Holmes was for the Steelers. Holmes excelled at turning the 10-yard pass into a 60-yard gain. He was at his best after he already had the football in his hands and was making people miss. Wallace simply managed to run past everybody and pick up all 60 yards at once.

Over the course of his sophomore season, Wallace's game has started to round into shape. He's no longer the guy that simply runs "9 routes" down the sidelines every play (though, he still does that) and gets behind the secondary. He's also starting to improve his route running and become more of a factor on the short and intermediate routes and turning short passes into big gains.

During the Steelers' Week 16 win against Carolina, for example, he took advantage of a Carolina blitz, hauled in a hot route, and sprinted through the entire Panthers secondary for a 43-yard touchdown.

Head coach Mike Tomlin, who has at times this season called Wallace a "one trick pony," referring to his ability to burn secondaries down field, was asked at his weekly press conference on Tuesday what improvements Wallace still needed to make to become a more complete receiver. Tomlin pointed to attention to detail in route running and reading coverages. When asked if the touchdown against Carolina was what he had in mind, Tomlin simply smiled and said he liked what he saw on that play. Tomlin is big on talking about how there's always room for improvement, even in victory, so it's not a surprise that he'd like to see even more from his still raw -- and extremely talented -- second-year receiver.

So far this season Wallace has scored on plays of 41, 46, 29, 53, 39, 33, 52 and 43, and has two additional plays of 50 yards or more. No player on the NFL has more catches of 20-or-more yards entering Week 17 (24), and only DeSean Jackson of the Eagles averages more yards per catch. He's currently sixth in the NFL in receiving yards, despite only being targeted on 95 passes (catching 57), which ranks 40th in the NFL. Basically: even though he's not targeted as often as some other receivers, when the ball is thrown in Wallace's direction, big plays tend to happen.

The advanced statistical metrics at Football Outsiders rank Wallace as the No. 1 receiver in the NFL in 2010 both in terms of total value and value per play. He's also managed to catch 61 percent of the balls thrown his direction, which is an impressive accomplishment when you consider how many of his passes are deep down field and lower percentage plays.

The FO metrics aren't perfect, nor are they the end-all, be-all, but they're no more flawed than simply looking at total receptions or total yards without any context. A receiver that plays on a dreadful team that is constantly playing from behind and forced to throw the football in an effort to play catch up is going to make a lot of catches (Santana Moss and his 84 catches for the Redskins come to mind as an example of this). But hauling in a bunch of passes when your team is fighting a lost cause down by 20 points in the fourth quarter isn't as valuable as making big plays to put your team in a position to win. The Steelers rarely play from behind and have run the ball over 440 times this season, which doesn't give a receiver like Wallace as many opportunities to rack up huge reception numbers. But that doesn't take away from his overall value to the offense.

For as good as Holmes was for the Steelers (and still is for the Jets), Pittsburgh hasn't missed him due to the meteoric rise of Wallace, as well as the late-season development of rookies Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown.

[url="http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/12/30/mike-wallace-nfls-best-big-play-wr/"]http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/12/30/mike ... g-play-wr/[/url]

The video in this link showed me all I need to know about Mike Wallace. Watch his actions after each of his touchdowns. More often than not, complete humility....nothing like show-dogging from Holmes. Wallace will be a Steeler for a very long time....

Wow. I guess that is a statistical confirmation of what our eyes have been telling us. THough I have to say I'm a little surprised he comes out on top ... I still think I'd be a good GM though!!