Because the Steelers play on Thursday this week in Cleveland, head coach Mike Tomlin had his weekly press conference Monday.
As expected, cornerback William Gay could be out of action against the Browns after suffering a concussion from a hit by teammate Ryan Mundy in Sunday's 27-24 loss to Oakland.
Rookie Joe Burnett would start in Gay's place, with fellow rookie Keenan Lewis also likely to get at least some playing time, probably in the nickel in place of Deshea Townsend.
Burnett would slide inside to Townsend's spot, while Burnett would play on the outside.
Tomlin also said wide receiver Hines Ward may miss the game after suffering a hamstring injury while making a catch on the next-to-last play of the game.
Rookie Mike Wallace and second-year pro Limas Sweed would share time at Ward's spot, with veteran Shaun McDonald likely to be re-signed - though Tomlin didn't name him specifically.
Tomlin said veteran quarterback Charlie Batch could return to practice this week, meaning Tyler Palko would no longer be needed and Palko would likely be released to make room for McDonald.
Tomlin said other changes could be made as the team tries to get out of the four-game tailspin it is currently in. And, he said those changes could come in all three phases of the game.
40 comments:
Good for Tomlin. Let's see what we have with the 2 young guys. If they have it great, if they don't we need to sign a FA and draft a CB. Maybe he takes Farrior off the field on 3rd downs since he can't cover anyone anymore and put Fox in there.
they won't take farrior off on 3rd downs, even though his pass coverage has declined significantly.
i may be wrong, but they appear to be relying more on man-to-man this year and less zone when blitzing. someone let me know if i'm wrong.
Deshea Townsend will start in Gay's place.
It would also be nice to see Farrior taken off the field on 3rd down.
I think Tomlin said Burnett starting for Gay
with the way Sweed catches the ball, I'm suprised he's not starting at CB
(joke people, joke)
Patrick,
I'm glad you provide the "joke" disclaimer because most of us can't tell whether you are joking or attempting to make an intelligent point. (Actually, I don't think there is any difference between the two in your case.)
Sincerely,
The other people reading this blog
Please show me all your amazing posts on here. Or at least refute something I wrote specifically before posting something like that.
Please.
If I wrote anonomously like you, you would have no idea what my posts are or aren't. Hmm, I wonder why some people do that. (Maybe, just maybe because you have NOTHING good to say, besides acting like a little internet dork. Way to go dude)
You two should just go ahead, get it over with, and become best friends.
--Pat
Pat And Pat are funny
Ed Reed is out tonight. Nice.
Ed Reed out. That's awesome
About a week ago I referenced Einstein's definition of insanity/stupidity: doing them same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Well, Tomlin finally woke up and acknowledged that their strategy, in all 3 phases of the game, must change.
Week after week the Steelers came out with the same gameplan. Early in the year we could get by because of the talent on the team, but it eventually began to catch up with us.
I'm all for making changes. Not wholesale, throw-in-the-towel changes, but ones that result in replacing players who have underachieved; William Gay, Ryan Clark, etc.
And changes that keep BA from sabotaging the talent on offense; utilizing Mendy as a 3-down back, keeping Spaeth off the field, not throwing on 1st down from an empty set in the red zone, etc, etc, etc.
Change is in the air, and I, for one, am excited.
I like your thinking Mike. I don't agree on Ryan Clark though, he could play better but I don't think anyone on this team is going to replace him.
I would actually like to see Keyaron Fox as an every down backer with Farrior alongside him on opening downs and Timmons in for passing situations. Explosive guys like Timmons often play better when used more sparingly and Fox is much more instinctive against the run. I'm a James Farrior fan but he has lost a step in coverage.
The recent losses have overshadowed what should be a real positive note for us: Woodley is having an outstanding season. He's dropping into coverage a lot and not looking out of place at all for a big guy. I'm really impressed with him. If he can learn to knock the ball loose like Silverback does there may be a DPOY award in his future. I was watching Clark Haggans get washed out in run support the other night and a ton of memories came flooding back. Haggans was a decent enough guy and competent backer but far below the level of play Lamarr Woodley brings to the D.
Dale,
Has anyone thought to try Limas Sweed at cornerback? He has the speed to cover but lacks the hands to be a receiver.
OMG--Now there are two Patricks, but one is named Chad.....
I love Pancakes!
How pathetic, Patrick created an alter ego named Chad so someone actually agrees with him
Let's get back to football talk.
I also expect to see Ziggy Hood start at DE and possibly more of Keyaron Fox in the base with Timmons replacing him in the nickel.
All posts on this board are written by Dale Lolley under various pseudonyms.
so is the incredible phenom timmons not the run stopper they need or does he need the rest so he is more effective on passing downs?
or is fox just flat out better?
Any insight into why the DBs are not getting the calls from Farrior as alleged a couple of times?
If you take Farrior in and out that stuff will become so much worse. Plus if the other team goes no huddle, you can't switch these guys out and I think you'd want Potsy in there at such a time.
If this team loses one more game we're an extreme longshot to make the playoffs in which case getting some of these rookies in there makes much more sense to me.
Dale,
I'm rubber and their glue, blah, blah, blah. Don't worry about them.
Can they convert Timmons to safety while Polamalu is out? He's really good at pass coverage right? I think that would allow Fox to be on the field at the same time. Nice!
Also, any word on the long kicking kicka?
Patrick
you have too much time on your hands with your imitating. I mean think about that - Part of your day is imitating someone on a blog? What are you Comic Book guy?
You don't see many backs in the league carry the entire load anymore and Tomlin isn't going to run Mendenhall into the ground like he did Parker. - "We're going to run him till the wheels come off" was that genuis statement in 2007. And come off the wheels did for Parker.
So in the rare circumstance that BA calls 35 runs and Mendenhall doesn't have 33 of them, I think that is the thinking from their past experiences.
You can disagree with it all you want, whether its the right move or not I'm not arguing. But I think that is why you see him spelled.
With the schedules of the rest of the teams competing for the last playoff seed, and Balt's loss last night, the Steelers winning out and making the playoffs is still possible (remarkably). Me, being the idiot I am, according to the people with too much time on their hands, thought Oak was going to be easy, so who knows if they'll win these last 4.
even if they win out i don't think they'll make the playoffs. they'll most likely be fighting for the last spot and it will most likely come down to a tie breaker.
they currently have the worst AFC conference record of the teams fighting for a spot. if they win out it will b 7-5. their only chance is if they end up tied with denver or san diego. those 2 teams would have to absolutely implode.
i just don't see it happening. besides, i don't think they'll win out anyway.
I'm pretty sure if they win out, they also need the Jags to lose 2 (Miami, Indy, NE, Clev) and Jets to lose 1 (TB, Atl, Indy, Cincy)
Agreed, I'm not sure the Steelers win out, but if they do, its not out of the question.
Dale can you shed some light on Batch's injury? What happened to cause the injury? And how did he have surgery and is now back ready to play so quickly?
i'm sorry, you're right. they would have beaten miami and the ravens leaving it up to the jags and jets.
i played baseball in college and when we were going thru a slump our coach would yell at us, "i'm not thinking about winning this game, i just want you guys to win this inning!!" with some superlatives thrown in of course.
one snap at a time fellas.
Would anyone else like to see what the results would be if they went with the exact same offensive gameplan they did in Baltimore but with Ben throwing the ball?
@noel,
it would be nice, but it won't happen.
arians has a microchip in his brain with a robotic voice:
"WE MUST PASS MORE THAN WE RUN"
It's driving me nuts. If they played that more ball-control oriented game, not sucking the air out of the ball just balancing the attack, the D would be more rested and would play better too I think. They ran well that game without Kemoeatu and with the Ravens geared up for the run most downs.
You're right, it won't happen.
I'm really starting to hate Bruce Arians and that's saying a lot because I've tended to have a lot of faith in Steeler coaches and co-ordinators.
i hate Arians more than i hate Patrick...that's how bad he is
Dale,
I enjoyed reading your Daily Buzz over at SCI. With that being said, do you think we will actually see more of Mendenhall on 3rd downs or just another pipe dream? 34 catches and blocks better than our other backs, in my opinion.
Skinley
Dale,
I don't understand the complaints about the pass-run ratio. We have Big Ben! Hines Ward! Sherlock Holmes! Heath Miller! Does everyone forget the last gunslinging, awesome QB we had: Terry Bradshaw! The reason Cowher's teams relied on the pass so much was because he never had a decent QB. Seriously. O'Donnell, Brister, Miller, Tomczak, Maddox, Stewart all sucked. You have to use your weapons. So, why wouldn't we pass the ball with the weapons WE HAVE NOW?
Anyways, with the kickoff and punt teams giving every opponent a free touchdown, and the defense giving away 10+ points in the fourth quarter of nearly every game since and including the Super Bowl against the great Ken Whisenhunt's team, we really need the offense to score more points, which means PASSING THE BALL. Bruce Arians is one cool cat!
Patrick
P.S. Any similarity between any other poster and me is pure coincidence.
P.P.S. Fire Tomlin!
P.P.P.S. LeBeau must retire!
P.P.P.P.S. Make BA the Head Coach!
PATRICK Are you kidding me!!! You must be out of you mind you idiot. Mike Tomlin doesn't need to be fired. Bruce Arians is the one who needs to be fired. He runs every first down and if it's a good one they'll keep running. For more info read my post on http://steelercountry.blogspot.com/
It's called Falling Apart.
thats clearly not me, look at the blogger symbol next to me, and the lack of it next to him if you need proof.
You guys are losers with these lame imitations. And those falling for it.....
Kiddy city here once again Dale
It must take a severe case of narcissism to think that you are the only person named Patrick, Patrick.
Patrick
I'm named Patrick.
Dale, given what we know--the wild cards of new people starting and some old people in new positions (Timmons for Polamalu, for example, and the new kicker), what do you think the Steelers' final record will be?
Patrick
PATRICK Are you kidding me!!! You must be out of you mind you idiot. Mike Tomlin doesn't need to be fired. Bruce Arians is the one who needs to be fired. He runs every first down and if it's a good one they'll keep running. For more info read my post on http://steelercountry.blogspot.com/
It's called Falling Apart.
Batch's injury was similar to the one suffered by Tony Pike. They insert a plate to stabilize the injury.
He hurt it on the incomplete pass to Mendenhall in the flat. He was knocked down as he threw and tried to brace himself with his left arm.
Dale - can they put a metal plate in Reed's leg to help him kick farther?
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