Anthony Smith returned to practice for the first time since the opening day of training camp and immediately showed what had been missing while he was out – the knucklehead factor.
Smith, who blasted Willie Reid twice on the opening day of camp in non-contact drills - hammered Hines Ward to the ground in a seven-on-seven non-contact drill Wednesday.
The coaches were not at all happy, with one yelling, "Are you out of your God damn mind." It wasn't a question so much as a statement.
Smith was looked at as the team's free safety of the future as recently as last year's training camp, but it's becoming apparent that he just doesn't have the mentality to play the position.
Nailing the team's all-time receptions leader in a non-contact drill is no way to keep your roster spot.
© Surprisingly enough, everybody practiced today, save PUP listers Troy Polamalu and Casey Hampton. Mike Tomlin did say today that he expects Polamalu and Hampton to return as early as next week.
© I really like what I've seen of running back Mewelde Moore as a receiver. He catches the ball fluidly in space and never slows down. The Steelers haven't had a receiving option like him out of the backfield in some time.
© Check back here tomorrow for my picks on youngsters to watch in Friday's game.
17 comments:
I am thoroughly done with the Anthony Smith experiment. The kid has no perspective, whatsoever. He was too aggressive as a FS, lost his ability to play that position. After the launching of the football after a pick in OTAs, to drilling Willie Reid, to making comments that coaches cant tell him what to do once he gets on the field, to hitting Hines Ward. Its over for this turd. He may be a pro football player right now, but he knows nothing of what it is to be a professional. We are trying to build team unity, and this kid, whose been a loser his whole life, at syracuse win a goddam thing, comes in and is cheapshotting our wrs.
Smith should go... keep Mundy and Carter. I am curious, did any of the players get after Smith for his hit on Ward, verbal or otherwise?
Remember when Hines absolutely destroyed Ed Reed last year? I'm looking forward to Smith receiving the same treatment the next time they practice. Someone needs to send a message, and I think Smith just messed with the wrong guy.
dale...
2 questions: Does Anthony have a realistic chance of being beat out by Ty Carter and/or Ryan Mundy for a roster spot in only his third season? And, secondly, what a couple of potentially big-time busts our 2006 draft produced....Speaking of which, is Eddie Drummond making Willie Reid look bad at all in practice???
Thanks Kindly.
-Sasquatch
I had lots of home for Anthony Smith, too, but I think he is definitely more suited for SS than FS.
If I were in his shoes, I'd be watching my back, because you know Hines is going to look to unload on him-- I'd bet it would be more legal but more devastating than what STeve Smith did to Lucas...
I got three words for you: cut Anthony Smith!!
Why didn't our scouts know that he was an idiot? He must have acted this way in college.
Actually when we drafted him everyone raved about him being a team player who was smart and always gave 100% despite playing for a lousy team.
They'll probably keep five safeties, so Smith likely isn't going anywhere. But he should get getting "it" in his third season. He hasn't yet.
We'll see about the Eddie Drummond/Willie Reid thing Friday. They really don't do a lot return-wise in practice. You see some flashes, that's all. There's no hitting.
The Bengals WRs are terrified of Smith, so he's at least useful for that.
Dale, have any plans been discussed in terms of moving Troy to FS (when Clarks contact is up) and moving Smith to SS. I think it helps both guys. Smith can continue to be the aggressor and Troy could lay back a bit. That would help him injury wise and hide his poor tackling technique a bit.
You don't take one of the best Strong Safeties in the league and ask him to switch to FS just to accommodate some punk who can't control himself.
Agree with everyone saying that IF Smith has a spot, it's a SS. I've been saying that since last year at this time - the guy is in no way disciplined enough for FS nor does he understand the game well enough to know where to be on the fly. Let him roam around & hit people while an intelligent player like Ryan Clark plays the angles & gets where he's supposed to be to cover.
I do hope Hines lights him up in practice though. Or better yet - Willie Reid. There's at least some honor in getting nailed by Ward. Getting laid out by Reid would be one step above getting laid out by Paul Ernster.
As for moving Troy to FS, he's twice the playmaker that Anthony Smith is as a SS. If you reign him in at FS you'll lose a lot of impact. We need another true FS behind Clark (maybe DeShea if he slows down more) who knows the defense, knows the game, and can adjust to what's happening in front of him.
I'm a pretty big Anthony Smith fan. We assume that nothing was said between him and Ward or Reid for that matter. No he shouldn't lay the wood to our W.R.'s but in a strange way I like it. He'll get his. Just my thoughts
As some previous posters stated, you don't take a big-time strong safety and move him out of the box and make him a free safety. His value as a strong safety is his coverage speed and ability play in the box. The free safety in this defense is a center-fielder in many cases.
I agree that Smith would be a better strong safety than free in terms of hitting ability, but he's not very good in coverage. I wouldn't want him running step-for-step with a tight end.
As for the hit on Ward, that's my point. In a game, the next play, Ward may catch him on a crack back and take his head off. In practice, that's not going to happen. Ward isn't going to do that to a teammate.
They need to cut Smith and sign John Lynch n'at.
"They need to cut Smith and sign John Lynch n'at"
Wow, would that be a horrible move. Lynch is WELL past his prime.
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