Not a whole lot of earth-shattering news to come out of the Tomlin PC today.
Roethlisberger will be limited in practice early in the week with a sore shoulder. Not a big deal.
Townsend has a bruised heel and Marvel Smith a sore groin. They'll be limited early in the week as well but should play.
© Tomlin made it quite clear they are very concerned with Josh Cribbs. Cribbs, though, did not play last week and is questionable to play again this week with an ankle injury.
With Donte Stallworth also questionable with a hamstring, the Browns could be very limited at wide receiver.
© Not surprisingly, he was unconcerned with what else is going on around the AFC.
© Tomlin had a lot of praise for the special teams units, particularly Anthony Madison and William Gay.
I saw that they released Rucker and signed Nance to the PS... I guess they weren't to high on Rucker after all.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think Nance is a better talent and has the built in chemistry with Ben, if the need arises.
I thought Rucker had more upside, but Nance certainly has more polish.
ReplyDeleteThis gives them a guy with more experience if something happens to one of their top three. There's not a lot of experience after that - actually none.
Nance has at least been to a couple of different camps and has working experience with Roethlisberger.
I kinda liked Rucker's potential but the odds either would ever contributes a lot is so little I won't sweat the move. Hope Nance works out.
ReplyDeleteOur special teams coverage units may be a strength this year. A lot of new names and I think it was time for a sp teams overhall.
Unrelated question for Dale:
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or did the Steelers switch primarily to a zone blocking scheme? Why hasn't there been more talk about this? I'm not complaining - Parker and Marvel in particular looked great in the scheme and Mendenhall is more suited for it - but isn't this the sort of thing you hear Zerlein or Arians talking about in OTA's and training camp along with the "pony backfield" and being "a 3 TE guy"? I haven't heard a peep out of the coaches about it. I feel this is the biggest Steelers news no one is talking about. Am I going insane?
They are doing more zone blocking. But Tomlin made the coaches off limits after mini-camp. And then you had to jump through hoops at training camp to talk to them as well. Tomlin had to OK every interview with his assistants.
ReplyDeleteHe's got some Belichick in him in that regard.
I saw a piece of the interview on nfl network and I love the respect Coach T is giving Cleveland. Yes we've slayed them 9 straight times, but they were still predicted to be a threat this year. Hopefully the players share Tomlin's sentiments. If they do I have no doubt we will show them they are not yet ready to bang w/ the big dogs ; as we showed Houston.
ReplyDeleteDon't give too much credit to Tomlin for the respect he's giving the Browns. Dale can tell you that during the weekly press conference Tomlin talks about every upcoming opponent as if they have the offense of the '99 Rams and the defense of the '86 Bears. And Cowher did the same thing before him.
ReplyDeleteNot saying he doesn't respect the Browns, just that he talks that way about every opponent.
Dale, any reason why the Steelers don't put the Captain "C"s on the players jerseys like the other teams do? I know it could crowd the front of the uni, but I thought the NFL wanted to make a point of that starting last season by identifying captains.
Dale,
ReplyDeleteAny chance that A. Smith will be traded by the deadline? The reason I say this is that Tomlin is big on position flexibility and A. Smith has proved that he can only play strong safety in this defense. Both Grant Mason and Roy Lewis on the practice squad can play both free and strong safety. I also think they will resign Ryan Mundy to the practice squad as soon as he is elible as well, & he can play both too, although he has concentrated mostly on free safety before he was hurt.
I just wonder if there is more going on behind the scenes than just a special teams decision. If you are a backup safety on this team and you can only play strong safety when the SS in front of you is an all-pro & you also have better special teams players in front of you, the next place to me would seem to be the door for a potential draft pick.
Also, were you as shocked as I was that Nick Eason showed up as much as he did that first game. I was at the game, and no. 93 was all over that field, even on kickoffs as well. Thoughts?
But according to Browns fans, they DO have the offense of the '99 Rams and the defense of the '86 Bears!
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think Smith will be traded. Don't read too much into him not being active last week. That was just a numbers thing. And since when can't he play free safety? He's better, perhaps, at strong, but he can play free
ReplyDeleteAs for Eason, he actually had a decent preseason. Much of it was against backups, but he played well.
As for captain designations, this isn't hockey. I'm not a big fan of that, though it really doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteDale,
ReplyDeleteany need to be concerned about Rothelisberger's shoulder? Is there any chance this is a thing that could nag him as the season goes on?
It seems like its really not a big deal, but it is week 2. Even though the Browns game is huge, I'd rather not have something lingering all season on our franchise QB