Mike Tomlin made no bones about it today at his Tuesday press conference, putting running back Rashard Mendenhall and wide receiver Limas Sweed on notice.
Tomlin said he is definitely giving consideration to benching Sweed in favor of veteran Shaun McDonald, while he wants to see a better week of practice out of Mendenhall after benching him last week against Cincinnati due to a lack of preparation.
© Rookie tight end David Johnson has a high ankle sprain and could be out several weeks. Fullback Frank Summers, meanwhile, has issues with his back and the team sent him out to a specialist to have it looked it.
That prompted a call to everyone's previous favorite whipping boy, Carey Davis, with Summers being placed on IR.
© Safety Troy Polamalu is progressing well, though Tomlin would not give a timetable as to when the All-Pro would be back in the lineup.
just when I thought I was out....they pulled me back in.
ReplyDeleteDale,
ReplyDeleteWhat's going on with Mendenhall? Is he just giving half an effort during the week? Did he snap at Mr T? Please shine some light on this.
This is slowly becoming a mess
ReplyDeleteSD is pretty much must win. And thats on the vets and Tomlin to get everyone in line. Step up fellas. Its time to rock n roll.
Best I've been able to find is that he didn't practice particularly well, then muffed the pre-game written test that they are given each week on his assignments enough that Tomlin decided to make an example of him.
ReplyDeleteThey said early in the week that they wanted to see how he handled some success, so he may not have even messed it up much, but Tomlin decided to sit him.
Any news on Willie's turf toe?
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ReplyDeleteWell, if nothing else Summers has made Carey Davis look good. I'm almost surprised they didn't bring back Najeh Davenport.
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts on why he wasn't performing like a tank for the two games did play?
ReplyDeleteI just hope they give Summers another chance next year. Sure, he didn't play particularly well (although I think not as badly as everyone says) in his two games, but he's a rookie at a new position. Carey Davis stunk it up for two years, and was not a rookie.
ReplyDeleteNow we're going to have to go through all this crap again next August... Great.
If FWP is playing his last year in Pittsburgh..and Mendenhall continues his sputtering development..we have a looming problem at RB next year. I am not sold on Mendy and Mwelde seems to be a good role player but not a feature back.
ReplyDeleteYikes..what was once looked on as a strength could be an area of concern pretty fast.
I think I'll worry more about this year instead..as distasteful as it is to do that at the moment. Starting to look like 2006 ..but its early. Actually after next week we are a 1/4 of the way through the schedule!
Hmmm... maybe there was a reason these "highly ranked" players "fell into the Steelers lap" eh?
ReplyDeleteI like when the Steelers stick with their normal routine of picking character over numbers.
It's still early though and I like the tone Tomlin is taking with the youngsters. It took a while for Plax to "get it"... then he "got it", then he shot himself in the ass so maybe that wasn't a great example.
I don't know if Holmes is 'handling success' that well either. Is Holmes toking before games? Is Reed hitting the sauce too hard?
I don't know... four missed FG's and 2 perfect TD passes dropped in the first three weeks makes it seem like some of the players want to bypass the hard work and attention to detail of the regular season to get to the excitement of the post. Hopefully they will wake up to the fact that there is no postseason in the NFL if you don't do all of the little things right in the regular season.
dale,
ReplyDeletecan a team throw a guy onto IR for any injury or do they have to show it is significant?
In fairness to Sweed, the kid is a high character hard working young man. I'm beginning to quesiton his ability to deal with pressure, but let's not lump him in with Mendy just because they were in the same draft class.
ReplyDeleteMendy seems to be young, immature and lacking in a strong work ethic. I read somewhere that it's partly due to a lack of a strong role model. Apparently FWP isn't the mentor that Jerome Bettis was to him. I've heard that Carey Davis (with all of his warts) was a leader so his return might be a good thing on a couple of different levels.
Remember last year after Mendenhall got hurt he was rarely seen on the sidelines supporting the team?
ReplyDeletePut that together with his behavior this year seems to indicate that he is unprofessional and just not committed to working hard.
I was never on the Redman bandwagon . . . but sometimes an undrafted guy plays with a sense of desire and urgency. Would he put forth more effort and give less attitude than Mendenhall?
ReplyDeleteBouchette reports Summers was placed on IR. Not sure if that happened before or after they re-signed Davis.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, Davis and Mendenhall had an overlapping year at U of I, so maybe the mentoring aspect was also partly a consideration.
The Mendenhall not being around last year was not a big deal. Tomlin doesn't necessarily want guys on IR hanging around because they can't help the cause.
ReplyDeleteDifferent coaches have different rules about that.
Mendenhall checked in regularly with Tomlin and did everything his rehab required.
As for Reed's four missed field goals, a miss on Sunday from 52 yards is hardly a reason to throw him under the bus. Shayne Graham missed one from the same distance Sunday.
Missing a FG from 52 yards is like when a Qb converts 3rd and 20, its great if it happens but you really don't expect it and you don't blame the player when it fails.
ReplyDeletei'd agree with you if it weren't for the fact Reed barely made his first field goal last week. something is definitely off for him right now.
ReplyDeletemaybe the fact that Reed is a drunken slob is 1 of the reasons of his poor performance thus far
ReplyDeletemight also be another reason we didn't extend his contract for big money like most fans wanted to do
Fact: Reed will win us 3 other games this year and won't lose us anymore.
ReplyDeleteI initially thought his miss was closer for some reason. He doesn't seem to be the same this year, for sure.
But he can't be blamed for the Cincy loss (even though I initially pointed a finger at him, I take it back now).
But it also might be true that maybe this should be his last year here. His kickoffs do leave something to be desired as well.
I don't know the roster-maneuvering rules, but so here's a question about Frank Summers: I was kind of surprised they put him on IR instead of the waived-injured list. It seems like they all of a sudden realized a fullback he ain't. Is it possible they want to keep him on the payroll to "groom" him as a running back -- not a fullback -- to provide depth next year. Seemed like he went on IR very suddenly.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Noll was coaching, he regularly stashed players on IR, especially OLs. I haven't seen the Steelers do that much since (becaue IIRC the roster rules changed), but this year I think they are. I don't think either Stapleton's or McHugh's knee injuries will be season long, but the Steelers didn't want to lose them or keep them on the active roster at the expense of a healthy player. They were injured, so on IR they went. I think the same thing with Summers.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that we get a couple "L's" and the daggers start to fly. I would hate to be in a fox hole with some of the people around here. Reed's a drunkin idiot after two games and was Mr. Automatice for the last six years. I promise he has won more games for us than 99.9% of the kickers would have. Maybe we have the 06 hangover and expect the worst. But I'm pretty sure this is still the best organization in sports. From the Owner to the waterboy, and we are still Steeler NATION! Start standing behind your team and not in front of them pointing fingers. The couch coach is getting old along with the O-line not getting their respect.
ReplyDeleteGO STEELERS!
Zeke
hey zeke,
ReplyDeleteif you think the o-line played well last year and played well the first 2 games this year then maybe you should go back and watch some of the games.
I believe waived/injured is a training camp thing. Once the season starts, the only option is to put a guy on IR or release him outright.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense. Thanks.
ReplyDelete