Wally is our new BA

[Chadman]

Wallace is being judged not necessarily for his play on the field, but for our percieved 'value' of him.

He is not dropping any more passes than any other WR on this team (save for Miller, of course), yet he is roundly critisised for every drop while Sanders & Brown are not recieving anywhere near the same level. We hear that Wallace is underperforming, yet he outstrips every other WR as far as production this season. He doesn't 'put in any effort', yet his production outperforms his peers.

Last week- 2 TD's & 100+ yards & he 'did his job', no 'he had a good game'.... but Brown doesn't top 100+ yards & we don't say "Brown underperformed". Seems fair & reasonable judgement by those on the board, doesn't it?

At the risk of obtaining Oviedo's ire & turning into a "Wallace lover"- he is our best WR. What's his value? Hs value is whatever it takes to retain him. They'll be poorer if they lose him- which they will, it would seem.

Wallace is on track for his 3rd 1000+ yard season. Brown is not even on track for his 2nd. Brown & Sanders are putting the ball on the deck with regularity these last few weeks- not Wallace.

Let's be fair- Mendenhall was a healthy inactive after he fumbled twice as punishment. It must be Brown's turn to sit as a healthy inactive this week, right?

[RuthlessBurgher]

I disagree that wallace would be welcomed back with open arms at this point. The bitterness has been amplified to the point, its better for both sides to part ways.

In the minds of fans, perhaps. But is there unresolveable bitterness between Wallace and Tomlin? Wallace and Colbert? Wallace and Rooney? Wallace and Haley? Wallace and Ben?

As our brother from Toronto pointed out, Hines' holdout was completely forgiven and forgotten my most fans, who came to truly love the guy (well, except for Crash, but that's another story), and Hines' holdout was a much more egregious offense (since he refused to show up in spite of having a contract that he signed, while Wallace had no such signed contract in place).

Speaking of Mike Wallace, I just found out for the first time that Michael is actually his middle name. His actually given name is Burnell Wallace III.



Now tell me...if your name was Burnell Michael Wallace III, and you had his elite level speed, would you use the same name as the old man from 60 Minutes, or would you call yourself Burn Wallace?

In order to truly turn over a leaf with fans, dude needs to come back with a fresh start...a name change (only he would be changing his name back to his actual real name, not some stupid made up crap like Ochocinco or Metta World Peace or Bison Dele or whatever). The stipulation for bringing him back would be to sign on the dotted line as Burn Wallace, not Mike Wallace. Steeler fans hate Mike Wallace. Steeler fans can still grow to love all that Burn Wallace can bring.

Of course, since RG3 has blown up, he could always forget the Bugatti thing and just call himself BMW3 instead. After all, the 3-Series of Beemers is compact and fast. Perfect marketing campaign.

[Chadman]

Every now & then we get an insight into the inner workings of Ruthless' mind.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Wallace is being judged not necessarily for his play on the field, but for our percieved 'value' of him.

He is not dropping any more passes than any other WR on this team (save for Miller, of course), yet he is roundly critisised for every drop while Sanders & Brown are not recieving anywhere near the same level. We hear that Wallace is underperforming, yet he outstrips every other WR as far as production this season. He doesn't 'put in any effort', yet his production outperforms his peers.

Last week- 2 TD's & 100+ yards & he 'did his job', no 'he had a good game'.... but Brown doesn't top 100+ yards & we don't say "Brown underperformed". Seems fair & reasonable judgement by those on the board, doesn't it?

At the risk of obtaining Oviedo's ire & turning into a "Wallace lover"- he is our best WR. What's his value? Hs value is whatever it takes to retain him. They'll be poorer if they lose him- which they will, it would seem.

Wallace is on track for his 3rd 1000+ yard season. Brown is not even on track for his 2nd. Brown & Sanders are putting the ball on the deck with regularity these last few weeks- not Wallace.

Let's be fair- Mendenhall was a healthy inactive after he fumbled twice as punishment. It must be Brown's turn to sit as a healthy inactive this week, right?

You are correct, Chadman, Wallace is still our best WR.

Wallace has 63 catches for 823 yards and 8 TD's and he is despised by fans.
Meanwhile, Heath Miller has 68 catches for 771 yards and 8 TD's and he's beloved.

For how dysfunctional our offense has looked this of late, I would hate to see how much worse it would get if subtracted Wallace's production (not to mention his tendency to draw extra coverage his way which opens up opportunities for others), and we were left with just Brown and Sanders as starters (particularly with their propensity for coughing the ball up lately).

Consider the combined production of Brown and Sanders this year...100 catches for 1253 yards and 4 TD's...in 25 combined games played. Wallace's best season by himself...in 16 games...was 60 catches for 1257 yards and 10 TD's. Even with Brown finally catching TD's in back-to-back games in the last 2 weeks, Wallace still, in a down year for him statistically, in an offense which does not suit his talents to a 'T', and without any OTA's, minicamps, or training camps, he still has twice as many TD catches this season as Brown and Sanders combined.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Every now & then we get an insight into the inner workings of Ruthless' mind.

It's a little weird in here sometimes, but nowhere close to the funhouse that is the inner workings of flippy's mind.

[Sugar]

You are correct, Chadman, Wallace is still our best WR.

Wallace has 63 catches for 823 yards and 8 TD's and he is despised by fans.
Meanwhile, Heath Miller has 68 catches for 771 yards and 8 TD's and he's beloved.

For how dysfunctional our offense has looked this of late, I would hate to see how much worse it would get if subtracted Wallace's production (not to mention his tendency to draw extra coverage his way which opens up opportunities for others), and we were left with just Brown and Sanders as starters (particularly with their propensity for coughing the ball up lately).

Consider the combined production of Brown and Sanders this year...100 catches for 1253 yards and 4 TD's...in 25 combined games played. Wallace's best season by himself...in 16 games...was 60 catches for 1257 yards and 10 TD's. Even with Brown finally catching TD's in back-to-back games in the last 2 weeks, Wallace still, in a down year for him statistically, in an offense which does not suit his talents to a 'T', and without any OTA's, minicamps, or training camps, he still has twice as many TD catches this season as Brown and Sanders combined.

Thanks for making this point. Wallace is a quality player and I'm hopeful to keep him. I don't know what "breaking the bank" means for him, but he should be paid like the Steelers best WR because he is.

[Chadman]

It's a little weird in here sometimes, but nowhere close to the funhouse that is the inner workings of flippy's mind.

To be fair, Flippy is nuttier than a Snickers.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Wallace is a 2A and Brown a 2B....we have no #1.

[Sugar]

Wallace is a 2A and Brown a 2B....we have no #1.

What do you mean by a #1? He's the Steelers best WR, so wouldn't that make him #1?

[Mister Pittsburgh]

What do you mean by a #1? He's the Steelers best WR, so wouldn't that make him #1?

Makes him OUR #1 but he couldn't hold most other teams #1's jocks. There is a bakers dozen better WR in the NFL I would take over him but he wants to hold out for their level money....

[Chadman]

Wallace is a 2A and Brown a 2B....we have no #1.

You are right- Wallace isn't a 'complete' WR. He has flaws. But he's easily the most damaging WR on this team, and certainly one of the most dangerous in the NFL. He's not an Andre Johnson, he's not that type of player. And he's not Hines Ward either- not that sort of player either.

This team will be worse off without him- unless they are forced to replace him through the draft. He's not irreplaceable. But on a team that is currently going through a shift from old-to-new, the fewer 'forced' changes, the better. If they have Wallace, Brown & Sanders- they don't 'need' to get a high round WR. They can focus on a new NT, or OLB, or SS/FS... or LG, LT...

But if they lose Wallace- they'll need to replace Wallace.

So what's his 'worth' to the Steelers, if losing him means having to replace him & putting another position's priority back a year?

[Eddie Spaghetti]

if there are a bakers dozen WRs better than mike wallace, I don't want to know how many there are thats better than AB.

you know, the guy who is actually getting paid big money this season.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Makes him OUR #1 but he couldn't hold most other teams #1's jocks. There is a bakers dozen better WR in the NFL I would take over him but he wants to hold out for their level money....

Here's your baker's dozen (the top 13 wideouts with the most receiving yards this season):

1 Calvin Johnson DET WR 106 1,667 15.7 119.1 53 5 32 4 79 74.5 2
2 Brandon Marshall CHI WR 107 1,398 13.1 99.9 56 10 17 2 70 65.4 2
3 Andre Johnson HOU WR 93 1,360 14.6 97.1 60T 4 20 5 68 73.1 0
4 Reggie Wayne IND WR 97 1,234 12.7 88.1 30T 4 21 0 65 67.0 1
5 Vincent Jackson TB WR 62 1,226 19.8 87.6 95 8 22 5 54 87.1 0
6 Demaryius Thomas DEN WR 78 1,210 15.5 86.4 71T 8 23 5 50 64.1 3
7 A.J. Green CIN WR 85 1,208 14.2 86.3 73T 11 14 7 56 65.9 1
8 Wes Welker NE WR 100 1,172 11.7 83.7 59 4 10 2 60 60.0 2
9 Roddy White ATL WR 79 1,156 14.6 82.6 59 5 16 3 64 81.0 1
10 Dez Bryant DAL WR 79 1,087 13.8 77.6 85T 10 14 3 44 55.7 2
11 Julio Jones ATL WR 69 1,071 15.5 76.5 80T 9 16 5 49 71.0 0
12 Steve Smith CAR WR 66 1,056 16.0 75.4 66 3 14 3 47 71.2 0
13 Victor Cruz NYG WR 79 1,019 12.9 72.8 80T 9 11 3 49 62.0 0

Calvin is from another planet, and there some up-and-comers there who have talent oozing from their pores like A.J. Green and Julio Jones...complete package types (which Wallace will never be...guys like that just seem to be a whole other species sometimes). There are a few on that list I wouldn't put ahead of Wallace right now strictly because of age (Reggie Wayne and Steve Smith, for instance, are still performing right now, but they're on the back nine and headed for Hines Wardville in a few seasons...also, Andre Johnson is a beast and Wes Welker is a pass-catching machine, but how many more elite-level years do they have in the tank?...that's up for debate). Interesting conversation, though.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

One question I have is are most of our players mentally handicapped or do our position coaches suck? Have Brown, Wallace, Sanders, Mendenhall gotten better at anything over the past 3 years? Mendenhall still carries the rock a foot from his body. Our WR still run terrible routes and haven't seemed to have improved with catching with their hands or holding onto the ball. I almost spit a drink out when I saw Wallace catch that ball with his hands even though his body control sucks and he was out of bounds and it looks like Brown needs sneezed on to fumble....

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Here's your baker's dozen (the top 13 wideouts with the most receiving yards this season):

1 Calvin Johnson DET WR 106 1,667 15.7 119.1 53 5 32 4 79 74.5 2
2 Brandon Marshall CHI WR 107 1,398 13.1 99.9 56 10 17 2 70 65.4 2
3 Andre Johnson HOU WR 93 1,360 14.6 97.1 60T 4 20 5 68 73.1 0
4 Reggie Wayne IND WR 97 1,234 12.7 88.1 30T 4 21 0 65 67.0 1
5 Vincent Jackson TB WR 62 1,226 19.8 87.6 95 8 22 5 54 87.1 0
6 Demaryius Thomas DEN WR 78 1,210 15.5 86.4 71T 8 23 5 50 64.1 3
7 A.J. Green CIN WR 85 1,208 14.2 86.3 73T 11 14 7 56 65.9 1
8 Wes Welker NE WR 100 1,172 11.7 83.7 59 4 10 2 60 60.0 2
9 Roddy White ATL WR 79 1,156 14.6 82.6 59 5 16 3 64 81.0 1
10 Dez Bryant DAL WR 79 1,087 13.8 77.6 85T 10 14 3 44 55.7 2
11 Julio Jones ATL WR 69 1,071 15.5 76.5 80T 9 16 5 49 71.0 0
12 Steve Smith CAR WR 66 1,056 16.0 75.4 66 3 14 3 47 71.2 0
13 Victor Cruz NYG WR 79 1,019 12.9 72.8 80T 9 11 3 49 62.0 0

Calvin is from another planet, and there some up-and-comers there who have talent oozing from their pores like A.J. Green and Julio Jones...complete package types (which Wallace will never be...guys like that just seem to be a whole other species sometimes). There are a few on that list I wouldn't put ahead of Wallace right now strictly because of age (Reggie Wayne and Steve Smith, for instance, are still performing right now, but they're on the back nine and headed for Hines Wardville in a few seasons...also, Andre Johnson is a beast and Wes Welker is a pass-catching machine, but how many more elite-level years do they have in the tank?...that's up for debate). Interesting conversation, though.

There are others on terrible teams with piss poor QB's as well.