Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

[Oviedo]

Thank the Lord that camp will soon be here and we can get back to topics of substance versus rumor, inuendo, accusations and ridiculous gossip.

There are some interesting things going to happen at camp that will have my interest. Here are mine:

1. The "Battle of the Backfield." I want to see the battle between FWP and Rashard on who is the go to guy. I also want to see if we really got a "tank" or just an "armored car." Can we please show Cary Davis the door?

2. The "Young Guns versus the Old Hands" in the defensive backfield. Can Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis show enough to push Deshea Townsend and Tyrone Carter off the roster. What will be the impact of Ryan Mindy and Roy Lewis too. Really interesting to see the final composition of this unit.

3. "Can the Special Teams be Special?" Can Joe Burnett and Mike Wallace really make our return game a threat. I'm betting Burnett can on punts.

4. "Will Sweed be Sweet?" Can Limas take a big step up as a viable #3. If not him what about McDonald and Wallace?

5. Is Urbik Unique?" Can Craig Urbik challenge for a starting position from Day 1. I hope so because Stapleton was a weaklink last year.

That's my top 5 what about you?

[MeetJoeGreene]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

I really liked yours, so I will try not to repeat:

Is Timmons Tremendous? - Will he improve the LB course by replacing an unspectacular yet steady Larry Foote.

Will our Offense be Offensive -- Can Arians be more imaginative in his play calling.

Will Dixon be dos? - Can Dennis surpass batch and claim the number 2 spot.

Can Sepulvada soar? - will he fulfill the promise of a 4th round punter pick and start BOOMING punts/

[Oviedo]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

Just saw this Wexell piece. More food for thought.

By Jim Wexell
SteelCityInsider.com
Posted Jul 28, 2009


Steel City Insider's Jim Wexell previews just some of the many camp battles, story lines, and overall hot, sweaty drama Steelers fans can expect out of Latrobe this summer.

The guy in the middle of that massive mob of reporters, microphones and cameras situated in front of Rooney Hall on Friday? That’ll be Charlie Batch. He’ll be answering all the questions the media has for Ben Roethlisberger, who’ll more than likely slip in the back door as he does on most reporting days.
Of course, Roethlisberger will have good reason this year. He’ll be under the microscope when the Steelers report to St. Vincent College for training camp because he’s being sued for sexual assault. The media will fixate on his performance and how it relates to the team.

Similarly ominous clouds appeared after the last championship season, but the 2006 Steelers had other problems. Bill Cowher was on his way out and was less than motivating. That shouldn’t be a problem for Mike Tomlin, who’s only beginning what appears to be a long coaching career. He’s the guy on whom I’ll fixate, mainly because he’ll draw the lines on the Media vs. Roethlisberger scrums, and he’ll most likely do so with panache and flashy rhetoric.

Of course, there’ll be more to watch. These are a few of the topics I’ll monitor:

· The Scale – Casey Hampton doesn’t like to be told what and how much to eat, but he’s entering the final year of his contract and the Steelers won’t begin negotiating unless the soon-to-be 32-year-old nose tackle shows up in good shape. The team hopes Roethlisberger shows up in reasonable shape as well. He looked pudgy this past golf season, and that’s not a positive development for a player whose mobility has become the centerpiece of his offense.

· Center of Attention – Justin Hartwig suffered a hairline fracture in one of his toes this offseason. He may not miss much time, but it might open the door for a look at the future. Hartwig’s contract expires after this season. Will the Steelers extend him? Will they move Darnell Stapleton to his more natural center position? Or does Doug Legursky or A.Q. Shipley step into the breach? Legursky is much bigger than the rookie Shipley and has a camp under his belt. He’d likely receive the practice time as Hartwig mends.

· Curse of Carlton – Forget all the gibberish you’ve read about Kendall Simmons, or even Rich Tylski and Brenden Stai for that matter. The Steelers haven’t had good play at right guard since Carlton Haselrig’s Pro Bowl season of 1992. Stapleton was mauled by Darnell Dockett in the last Super Bowl, and because Eric Wood was drafted by Buffalo a few spots ahead of them, the Steelers didn’t pick a potential replacement until the third round. Rookie Kraig Urbik will have to first beat out Trai Essex to get a shot at Stapleton.

· Potential vs. Reliability – That’ll be on the marquee for the competition between Limas Sweed and Shaun McDonald as the No. 3 wide receiver. Sweed flashed his size and speed this spring, but he also dropped too many balls. McDonald caught 79 passes for 943 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2007 for the Detroit Lions, but last season his numbers dipped to 35-332-1. He blamed it on the loss of coordinator Mike Martz, so we’ll see if he can revert to previous form.

· Rookie Returns – Santonio Holmes busted out of his regular-season mediocrity in the playoffs with a punt return average of 14.7. But, alas, Holmes has been deemed too important for the offense to continue in that role, and the Steelers hope to turn the duties over to fifth-round draft pick Joe Burnett, an all-conference first-team return man all four years of his college career. The kick returner should be third-round pick Mike Wallace, the 4.3 speedster who reminds the team of Quincy Morgan, only faster.

· New Starters – DB coach Ray Horton said William Gay graded out better than any other cornerback last season. Gay will likely step into Bryant McFadden’s shoes, unless Deshea Townsend got drunk at the Fountain of Youth this offseason. The starter at inside linebacker in place of Larry Foote will be Lawrence Timmons. The former first-round pick bulked up to 245 while retaining his explosiveness this spring. Timmons, in fact, looked like a future All-Pro with the extra muscle.

· Mending Mendenhall – Punter Dan Sepulveda and long-snapper Greg Warren also return from devastating injuries, but all eyes will be on last year’s first-round pick, Rashard Mendenhall. The running back also added clean weight in the spring and had the look of a powerful feature back. It’ll be needed if the Steelers are to improve their dreadful short-yardage game this season.

[SteelCzar76]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

I'm most intrigued to see what exactly Ship, Summers, and Burnett are made of as they are the only selections that we made that made any sense to me whatsoever this year IMO. Not saying that the others were'nt selected in terms of need,....but moreso the fact that they were all "WTF did this cat do at the collegiate level that impressed you so much ?" players.

I'm also looking forward to finding out whether or not Timmons will actually perform as well as an inside backer in the pros as Coach Tomlin and some of the Nation believe that he will. (Though there is no evidence whatsoever going back to pop warner to support as much.)

I will gladly eat Crow if he can,...and we will be a better team for it,.....but i don't expect as much.

Other than these things,.....i'm just looking forward to a solid camp with no injuries.

[SidSmythe]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

MY TOP FIVE

#1: Is Santonio Holmes going to turn into a top flight WR????? Holmes was fantastic in the playoffs but his regular season numbers were slightly above average. I'm looking for Holmes to be the 80 catch WR and Ward to catch less in our offense.

#2: Who's going to step up on the O-Line and become dominant??? I think Starks and Hartwig are steady, but the rest of the line is inconsistent. I'd love to see Willie Colon become a nasty run blocker and a better pass blocker w/out the mental lapses.

#3: Is Keisel going to become dominant in his contract season??? Players often step up for the last year of their contract. Keisel seems to be a guy that's a second late on a lot of plays and doesn't produce the big numbers. If he plays up to his potential, just think of how much more dominant this front 7 could be.

#4: Timmons Impact!!! I've always been a FOOTE backer b/c he was consistent and steady. But Timmons overall ability can take this defense to the next step.

#5: Can the Steelers become dominant??? Last year the Steelers were pretty dominant but they misfired on so many levels. They didn't have any dominating games against top flight opponents. They essentially gave up on the Kick Return game and didn't even try, they had a patch work punter all season and their O-Line was average leading to an average running game, Ben had an off year when you measure it against the previous year but they managed to win the superbowl. It was almost as if the Steelers defense was so good, that the league handicapped them by making them put Russell & Davis back as kick returners.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

I'm curious to see how Tomlin and Zeirlein handle the Hartwig injury. If the injury were to linger, the most likely scenario would be to have Stapleton start at center with either Essex or Urbik (both 3rd round picks) at RG, as opposed to keeping Stapleton at RG and having Shipley and Legursky (a 7th round pick and an UDFA) battle it out at center.

I'd imagine that they will start out practicing with Stapleton at center, giving him plenty of reps there in case Hartwig's injury does not respond well to treatment, while knowing that they could easily move him back to RG, since he has nearly a full season's worth of experience there (if you count the playoff games), when Hartwig is good to go. If that happens, it mean that Essex and Urbik will get more reps at guard, and Urbik could possibly make a push to start as a rookie if he impresses in his opportunities there. Hartwig's injury might be more damaging to Stapleton than to Hartwig himself, if that makes sense.

[JUST-PLAIN-NASTY]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

I'm curious to see how Tomlin and Zeirlein handle the Hartwig injury. If the injury were to linger, the most likely scenario would be to have Stapleton start at center with either Essex or Urbik (both 3rd round picks) at RG, as opposed to keeping Stapleton at RG and having Shipley and Legursky (a 7th round pick and an UDFA) battle it out at center.

I'd imagine that they will start out practicing with Stapleton at center, giving him plenty of reps there in case Hartwig's injury does not respond well to treatment, while knowing that they could easily move him back to RG, since he has nearly a full season's worth of experience there (if you count the playoff games), when Hartwig is good to go. If that happens, it mean that Essex and Urbik will get more reps at guard, and Urbik could possibly make a push to start as a rookie if he impresses in his opportunities there. Hartwig's injury might be more damaging to Stapleton than to Hartwig himself, if that makes sense.

Hartwig's injury really creates a problem as well as an opportunity. In all fairness to Stapleton to remain the starting RG, he should start there and Legursky should start a C. They need to see what Legursky has. That won't happen with Ben at QB so I think this should happen. Stapleton starts a C and Essex plays RG. Essex, just for now, is the top interior back-up and Stapleton is the #2 center. When Batch comes in, Legursky needs to come in a C and Stapleton move back to RG. Starting OL in position minus C. They need the work together. Now...The whole problem for Stapleton is that the bench gets further away for Urbik the more he sees the field with the first team. Urbik is the type of player that will become entrenched at a postion if he sees the field with the first team. The only thing keeping him out of starting consideration is developing chemistry with the current starting 4 that would surround him. Unless Stapleton added a good 10-15 pounds the battle at RG will be over quickly. When I mentioned the "just for now" about Essex about being the top interior backup....That will be Urbik before the preseason is done. I would not be surprised to see Starks, Kemo, Stapleton,Urbik,& Colon by game 3 if Hartwig is still recovering. Urbik has the physical tools to be a very solid OG...His intelligence and football smarts will get him on the field quickly if he starts seeing time with the starters.

[Oviedo]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

I'm curious to see how Tomlin and Zeirlein handle the Hartwig injury. If the injury were to linger, the most likely scenario would be to have Stapleton start at center with either Essex or Urbik (both 3rd round picks) at RG, as opposed to keeping Stapleton at RG and having Shipley and Legursky (a 7th round pick and an UDFA) battle it out at center.

I'd imagine that they will start out practicing with Stapleton at center, giving him plenty of reps there in case Hartwig's injury does not respond well to treatment, while knowing that they could easily move him back to RG, since he has nearly a full season's worth of experience there (if you count the playoff games), when Hartwig is good to go. If that happens, it mean that Essex and Urbik will get more reps at guard, and Urbik could possibly make a push to start as a rookie if he impresses in his opportunities there. Hartwig's injury might be more damaging to Stapleton than to Hartwig himself, if that makes sense.

Hartwig's injury really creates a problem as well as an opportunity. In all fairness to Stapleton to remain the starting RG, he should start there and Legursky should start a C. They need to see what Legursky has. That won't happen with Ben at QB so I think this should happen. Stapleton starts a C and Essex plays RG. Essex, just for now, is the top interior back-up and Stapleton is the #2 center. When Batch comes in, Legursky needs to come in a C and Stapleton move back to RG. Starting OL in position minus C. They need the work together. Now...The whole problem for Stapleton is that the bench gets further away for Urbik the more he sees the field with the first team. Urbik is the type of player that will become entrenched at a postion if he sees the field with the first team. The only thing keeping him out of starting consideration is developing chemistry with the current starting 4 that would surround him. Unless Stapleton added a good 10-15 pounds the battle at RG will be over quickly. When I mentioned the "just for now" about Essex about being the top interior backup....That will be Urbik before the preseason is done. I would not be surprised to see Starks, Kemo, Stapleton,Urbik,& Colon by game 3 if Hartwig is still recovering. Urbik has the physical tools to be a very solid OG...His intelligence and football smarts will get him on the field quickly if he starts seeing time with the starters.

I agree. If Urbik gets a couple of consecutive games he is there for the next 5 years. Stapleton was a weaklink last year (yes he was out of position) and he could be this team's equivalent of Chukky Okobi if Hartwig proves to be solid.

[papillon]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

My five...

Ziggy Hood - The Steelers really need him to be what they believe he can be and very soon. The defensive line isn't getting younger and the Steelers need to begin the grooming process for some replacements.

Mike Tomlin - He appears to have a steady hand when dealing with the Steelers. He really hasn't had much adversity to speak of, some injuries his first year and last year at inopportune times, but he handled it well. Keeping the team on edge and without complacency, so that, they aren't complacent out of the gate. The first game of the year is going to be a big game for this team, IMO. How they handle a potential let down against a very good opponent after winning the Super Bowl.

Linebackers - We know who the starters are going to be; the Steelers will need some depth here and hopefully training camp will prove to be the determining factor of who can step in if there are any injuries to the big four.

Justin Hartwig - I believe he was still the weakest link along the offensive line. He looked good to Steeler fans, simply, because of the Mahan era. :P I would like to see Stephenson, Shipley or Legursky win this spot and relegate Hartwig to backup status. This will in all likelihood be his last year as a Steeler regardless. This is the time to begin the transformation of the offensive line; the Steelers have a good enough team to overcome rookie type mistakes. Hell, they survived Mahan.

Ben Roethlisberger - Obviously, we probably won't be able to see the affect that the lawsuit is having on Ben during training camp. It will be interesting to see how he plays in the pre-season games and his demeanor on the sideline.

Lawrence Timmons - He's got the job, now he needs to perform like a top draft pick. He's been given the luxury to learn; it's time for him to apply what he's learned and make the defense better. I think he'll be involved in the first scuffle between players.

Pappy

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

Justin Hartwig - I believe he was still the weakest link along the offensive line. He looked good to Steeler fans, simply, because of the Mahan era. :P I would like to see Stephenson, Shipley or Legursky win this spot and relegate Hartwig to backup status. This will in all likelihood be his last year as a Steeler regardless. This is the time to begin the transformation of the offensive line; the Steelers have a good enough team to overcome rookie type mistakes. Hell, they survived Mahan.

I would like to see Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson as our center as well. Oh wait...I suppose to meant to say "Stapleton" and not "Stephenson" there. Anyway, you aren't going to see much at all from Hartwig during camp because of his injury, but I still think that he is our best option at center for this season. Since his contract is up after this year, I doubt that he is re-signed. At that point, I think you could see a Stapleton/Shipley/Legursky battle for the starting center job prior to 2010 season.

[papillon]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

Justin Hartwig - I believe he was still the weakest link along the offensive line. He looked good to Steeler fans, simply, because of the Mahan era. :P I would like to see Stephenson, Shipley or Legursky win this spot and relegate Hartwig to backup status. This will in all likelihood be his last year as a Steeler regardless. This is the time to begin the transformation of the offensive line; the Steelers have a good enough team to overcome rookie type mistakes. Hell, they survived Mahan.

I would like to see Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson as our center as well. Oh wait...I suppose to meant to say "Stapleton" and not "Stephenson" there. Anyway, you aren't going to see much at all from Hartwig during camp because of his injury, but I still think that he is our best option at center for this season. Since his contract is up after this year, I doubt that he is re-signed. At that point, I think you could see a Stapleton/Shipley/Legursky battle for the starting center job prior to 2010 season.

I'd rather see one of them perform good enough to move Hartwig to backup this year. The team is strong and would be able to absorb some mistakes at center. They did last for crying out loud; holding in the F'ing endzone is the most obvious. I really don't see any of the other options that could be a long term solution being worse than Hartwig.

JPN may disagree with me, but, he certainly knows more about o-line play than I do. Hartwig was only marginally better than Mahan. It's not like he was getting great push in the middle to move the pile in the running game. Give a rook or "Stephenson" a chance to take the job.

Pappy

[Oviedo]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

Justin Hartwig - I believe he was still the weakest link along the offensive line. He looked good to Steeler fans, simply, because of the Mahan era. :P I would like to see Stephenson, Shipley or Legursky win this spot and relegate Hartwig to backup status. This will in all likelihood be his last year as a Steeler regardless. This is the time to begin the transformation of the offensive line; the Steelers have a good enough team to overcome rookie type mistakes. Hell, they survived Mahan.

I would like to see Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson as our center as well. Oh wait...I suppose to meant to say "Stapleton" and not "Stephenson" there. Anyway, you aren't going to see much at all from Hartwig during camp because of his injury, but I still think that he is our best option at center for this season. Since his contract is up after this year, I doubt that he is re-signed. At that point, I think you could see a Stapleton/Shipley/Legursky battle for the starting center job prior to 2010 season.

I agree. If physically capable Hartwig is the best near term option. If hartwig struggled last year I would attribute part of that to first year in our system and mediocre to downright awful play to his left and right on passing down. Guard was our weakspot last year not Center.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

Justin Hartwig - I believe he was still the weakest link along the offensive line. He looked good to Steeler fans, simply, because of the Mahan era. :P I would like to see Stephenson, Shipley or Legursky win this spot and relegate Hartwig to backup status. This will in all likelihood be his last year as a Steeler regardless. This is the time to begin the transformation of the offensive line; the Steelers have a good enough team to overcome rookie type mistakes. Hell, they survived Mahan.

I would like to see Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson as our center as well. Oh wait...I suppose to meant to say "Stapleton" and not "Stephenson" there. Anyway, you aren't going to see much at all from Hartwig during camp because of his injury, but I still think that he is our best option at center for this season. Since his contract is up after this year, I doubt that he is re-signed. At that point, I think you could see a Stapleton/Shipley/Legursky battle for the starting center job prior to 2010 season.

I'd rather see one of them perform good enough to move Hartwig to backup this year. The team is strong and would be able to absorb some mistakes at center. They did last for crying out loud; holding in the F'ing endzone is the most obvious. I really don't see any of the other options that could be a long term solution being worse than Hartwig.

JPN may disagree with me, but, he certainly knows more about o-line play than I do. Hartwig was only marginally better than Mahan. It's not like he was getting great push in the middle to move the pile in the running game. Give a rook or "Stephenson" a chance to take the job.

Pappy

Hartwig got trucked on that Super Bowl safety play (it wasn't pretty), but he didn't hold anyone, so it never should have been called a safety. The official saw the Cards' DT fall on top of Hartwig and assumed that he was pulled down instead of just tripping onto him.

[papillon]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

Justin Hartwig - I believe he was still the weakest link along the offensive line. He looked good to Steeler fans, simply, because of the Mahan era. :P I would like to see Stephenson, Shipley or Legursky win this spot and relegate Hartwig to backup status. This will in all likelihood be his last year as a Steeler regardless. This is the time to begin the transformation of the offensive line; the Steelers have a good enough team to overcome rookie type mistakes. Hell, they survived Mahan.

I would like to see Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson as our center as well. Oh wait...I suppose to meant to say "Stapleton" and not "Stephenson" there. Anyway, you aren't going to see much at all from Hartwig during camp because of his injury, but I still think that he is our best option at center for this season. Since his contract is up after this year, I doubt that he is re-signed. At that point, I think you could see a Stapleton/Shipley/Legursky battle for the starting center job prior to 2010 season.

I'd rather see one of them perform good enough to move Hartwig to backup this year. The team is strong and would be able to absorb some mistakes at center. They did last for crying out loud; holding in the F'ing endzone is the most obvious. I really don't see any of the other options that could be a long term solution being worse than Hartwig.

JPN may disagree with me, but, he certainly knows more about o-line play than I do. Hartwig was only marginally better than Mahan. It's not like he was getting great push in the middle to move the pile in the running game. Give a rook or "Stephenson" a chance to take the job.

Pappy

Hartwig got trucked on that Super Bowl safety play (it wasn't pretty), but he didn't hold anyone, so it never should have been called a safety. The official saw the Cards' DT fall on top of Hartwig and assumed that he was pulled down instead of just tripping onto him.

I think that play gets called holding almost every time, regardless of whether he was trucked or held. He did kind of get his arm tangled up in the front end of that Mack truck that ran his @ss over.

If, as Oviedo says, guard was our weakest link, then it will remain our weakest link for awhile, since, Kemo was extended (well, at least one side of the center will remain weak). Personally, I thought Kemo did fine last year; none of the linemen were that good in the run game as evidenced by the Steelers #23 ranking.

We can always hope that Urbik is better than everyone expects and moves into the starting lineup by mid-season. I still beleive Hartwig was the weak link...but, I readily admit not knowing enough about o-line play to really give any analysis of his play. It just seemed that he was either pushed back in the passing game or stalemated in the running game more often than not.

Pappy

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Camp is almost here--what will be most interesting

Justin Hartwig - I believe he was still the weakest link along the offensive line. He looked good to Steeler fans, simply, because of the Mahan era. :P I would like to see Stephenson, Shipley or Legursky win this spot and relegate Hartwig to backup status. This will in all likelihood be his last year as a Steeler regardless. This is the time to begin the transformation of the offensive line; the Steelers have a good enough team to overcome rookie type mistakes. Hell, they survived Mahan.

I would like to see Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson as our center as well. Oh wait...I suppose to meant to say "Stapleton" and not "Stephenson" there. Anyway, you aren't going to see much at all from Hartwig during camp because of his injury, but I still think that he is our best option at center for this season. Since his contract is up after this year, I doubt that he is re-signed. At that point, I think you could see a Stapleton/Shipley/Legursky battle for the starting center job prior to 2010 season.

I'd rather see one of them perform good enough to move Hartwig to backup this year. The team is strong and would be able to absorb some mistakes at center. They did last for crying out loud; holding in the F'ing endzone is the most obvious. I really don't see any of the other options that could be a long term solution being worse than Hartwig.

JPN may disagree with me, but, he certainly knows more about o-line play than I do. Hartwig was only marginally better than Mahan. It's not like he was getting great push in the middle to move the pile in the running game. Give a rook or "Stephenson" a chance to take the job.

Pappy

Hartwig got trucked on that Super Bowl safety play (it wasn't pretty), but he didn't hold anyone, so it never should have been called a safety. The official saw the Cards' DT fall on top of Hartwig and assumed that he was pulled down instead of just tripping onto him.

I think that play gets called holding almost every time, regardless of whether he was trucked or held. He did kind of get his arm tangled up in the front end of that Mack truck that ran his @ss over.

If, as Oviedo says, guard was our weakest link, then it will remain our weakest link for awhile, since, Kemo was extended (well, at least one side of the center will remain weak). Personally, I thought Kemo did fine last year; none of the linemen were that good in the run game as evidenced by the Steelers #23 ranking.

We can always hope that Urbik is better than everyone expects and moves into the starting lineup by mid-season. I still beleive Hartwig was the weak link...but, I readily admit not knowing enough about o-line play to really give any analysis of his play. It just seemed that he was either pushed back in the passing game or stalemated in the running game more often than not.

Pappy

Kemo has the tools physically...no question about that. He was inconsistent because of mental errors. He has a reputation for being thick as a brick, but the quantity of mental errors should decrease in his second season as a starter with the same tackle to his left and the same center to his right (assuming that Hartwig is healthy enough to play when 9-10-09 comes around).