Listening to the Dan Patrick Show this morning on my drive into Pittsburgh - I was flipping through the stations and caught it - and actually heard him ask if Reggie Bush giving back his Heisman Trophy made me feel any differently about Bush.
Ah, no.
Bush pretty much blamed everyone - including the media - for giving back the Heisman Trophy.
Note to Reggie: The media didn't illegally accept any money from anyone.
© The Steelers are 1-8 playing football in the state of Tennessee. I knew they hadn't had a lot of success down there, but I didn't realize that the record was that bad.
© I was watching a show on the NFL Network late Tuesday night in which they break down parts of games from the previous week.
The analysts were raving about the play of Lawrence Timmons. Welcome to the party on that one, fellas.
Timmons will make his first Pro Bowl appearance this season. The kid is that good and gives the Steelers yet another playmaker on defense.
© Rashard Mendenhall's 50-yard TD run in overtime Sunday was the third-longest game-winning overtime run in NFL history.
29 comments:
You're assuming Timmons stays healthy all year. In my opinion, thats a big assumption.
Timmons has no significant injury history...there is no reason to assume he will be injured.
Troy P. on the other hand, well cross your fingers folks. He could go either way.
Timmons has had nagging injuries, not major ones. He might play through them, but it definitely affected him last year.
I hope he stays healthy. I could just see him getting another ankle sprain or hamstring and have it linger around the remainder of the season.
dale,
has timmons bulked up this year? he seems bigger to me.
did anyone notice how low mendy was carrying the ball on his TD run?
if sepulveda punts like that all year, he'll also be an all pro.
I asked Lawrence about that at training camp. He said he only put on three or four pounds. But from what I can see, he's moved the weight around. He's got man strength now as opposed to the just weight-lifting strength he had before. People forget, he was 20 years old as a rookie. He wasn't a finished product in that regard.
I see no reason to say the guy is injury prone.
I did notice how loose Mendenhall had the ball when he broke into the secondary against Atlanta.
Dale,
The NFL network does a great job breaking down games with Sterling Sharpe, Brian Baldinger and Mike Mayock. Timmons just needs to do it week in and week out. Looks like the light has went on and he understands everything that is happening on the field now. That cross inside LB blitz is going to be something when Timmons and Sly Sylvester are starting together. That's two quick, explosive LB's coming at the QB.
On another topic, I know the original plan before B. Leftwich got hurt was to rotate in Dennis Dixon with a pkg. How about bringing in Charlie Batch a couple of series, spread the field and let him play a little pitch and catch? I think that would give the D something else to think about and if they stayed in their zones, Batch could pick them apart.
I'm not worried about the argument of such a thing would erode the confidence of Dixon. Tomlin is about winning GAMES right now. That is more of a priority than DD's confidence. I think it could work and help the team actually put TD's on the board instead of a bunch of field goals. Thoughts?
I don't see Tomlin using Batch in any packages as you mention above. I just don't see it. Leftwich might start by the Tampa game, and might even dress this week as the #3.
When it comes to Timmons looking bigger and putting on weight, Dale you should ask him how much he added to his deadlifts, bench, and squats this summer. I bet he put on some serious weight to his lifts.
The problem with Timmons is players often don't make the Pro Bowl until the year after they first deserve to go. Also, with Troy, Woodley, and Harrison shoo-ins if they maintain their level of play, how many Steelers defenders will people vote for?
I don't think Batch will get a package, but Dale, do you know if any of the plays they had planned for Dixon's spot package if Leftwich played were used? Besides the play action reverses they were running (which didn't seem exactly Dixon specific) I didn't notice any play calls that were unique to his talents.
If Dixon shows improvement by next week I don't think Leftwich will regain his position as the #2 behind Ben. It's actually not a bad problem to have. If we had lost to Atlanta then maybe its a different discussion.
Am I the only one without blinders on here?
Dixon was terrible in the Falcons game. Not big runs, one pick, no td's, staring down wr's, 3 near interceptions, throwing balls into the dirt. We don't have time for him to learn, we need a QB now and that is why Batch should start or Leftwitch if healthy. The TEAM won the game, Dixon as an individual contributed next to nothing, unless you count not throwing multiple picks as a major contribution. Should the other 51 guys on the roster have to lose games because Dixon's feeling might be hurt if he was benched?
Dixon sucks
start Leftwich asap
No, you're not the only one with blinders on. With a decent QB, the Steelers blow Atlanta out. Dixon is a poor man's Kordell Stewart.
Everyone needs to stop making it seem like Dixon is the worst QB in the world and Lefty and Batch are 100 QB rating saviors. Batch has a limp noodle for an arm because he is 35 years old and never had a good arm or that much talent to begin with. Look at what he did in his PRIME with the Lions. Plus he is more fragile than Bob Sanders. Leftwich is a dissappointment of a 1st round pick who had done terrible with many starting Qb opportunities in Jacksonville, Atlanta and Tampa. He has the longest delivery in the history of football and is pretty much immobile in the pocket like Batch. These guys barely throw More TDs than they INTs in their careers and people wonder why they start Dixon. They start Dixon because he is just as good with more potential and big play ability. Dixon's QB rating in two games started 71.07(dosn't include his rushing yards or rushing TD from last year). Batch career rating 77.9, and Lefty career rating 79.6. Wow, what a difference.
Wow look at those stats on Batch and Lefty!! Better get those playmakers in the starting line up quick.
"Dixon's QB rating in two games started 71.07(dosn't include his rushing yards or rushing TD from last year). Batch career rating 77.9, and Lefty career rating 79.6. Wow, what a difference."
you just proved yourself wrong idiot
Dixon did not play well, but you get the feeling he has the potential to play a lot better. We'll see.
But so far, you're right. Not impressive. The problem is if you start Batch without Leftwich being healthy, then you can almost garuntee that eventually Dixon is coming in anyway. Why would you think Batch will stay healthy?
Better option is to have Batch as a backup to fill in for a short period of time if needed, rather than risk Batch being hurt and then only having Dixon.
I can bet you that Leftwich or Batch would have managed more than 9pts had they started last week. Who cares if Dixon has stronger arm than Batch, he can't hit a receiver anyways! Accuracy trumps arm strength any day. Dixon did NOTHING against an AVERAGE Falcons D. Against an above average defense like the Titans he won't stand a chance.
I can bet you that Leftwich or Batch would have managed more than 9pts had they started last week. Who cares if Dixon has stronger arm than Batch, he can't hit a receiver anyways! Accuracy trumps arm strength any day. Dixon did NOTHING against an AVERAGE Falcons D. Against an above average defense like the Titans he won't stand a chance.
I can bet you that Leftwich or Batch would have managed more than 9pts had they started last week. Who cares if Dixon has stronger arm than Batch, he can't hit a receiver anyways! Accuracy trumps arm strength any day. Dixon did NOTHING against an AVERAGE Falcons D. Against an above average defense like the Titans he won't stand a chance.
Not to mention that the Steeler coaches totally mismanage Dixon. He took off and ran the ball in the preseason and Arians was angry at him, RUNNING THE BALL IS HIS BEST TALENT! After Arians yells at him he gets into a game and never runs the ball and tries to be a pocket passer. Let the guy be who he is or just don't play him. If we wanted a stationary pocket passer Batch is the guy.
Most other teams are looking for someone to replace their current QB. At this point, there is no way Dixon will displace BB, but that is okay. Let Dixon work on his pocket-passing skills when he is doing mop-up duty in games where the Steelers have a huge lead. For the next three games, use the abilities Dixon has now, rather than what they would like him to have next year. He should get better with more game experience, but not if they are trying to change his game too much.
Arians yelled at him because he had a wide open wide receiver standing 15 yards downfield when he took off. Couldn't see it on TV, but you could at the stadium.
Dixon doesn't go through his progressions well, which is pretty much a problem with all young QBs.
If Leftwich were completely healthy, he'd be starting this week. He's not, so he won't.
And I can't tell you guys (and gals) about any special running plays they may or may not have. That's a practice no-no.
Dale, I hate to do this, but is this a direct result of the Wildcat experience 2 seasons ago?
we should run the wildcat with Antonio Brown imo
you're a moron. I'm referring to when Dale mentioned the formation being used in practice. But he reported it I think 2 weeks after it happened.
No. It's not in response to that. That's always been the general rule. We don't talk about specific plays they're working on in practice during the week leading up to a game because it may be something they're working on specifically for that opponent. That's why the whole wildcat thing was overblown by some.
Since I wasn't viewing practice that week, I had no idea if they were going to use it or not. But they had done it off and on throughout the season. Heck, they used it games during the preseason. There was no secret there.
The Steelers never said anything about it to me.
Everyone thought Dixon had a bad game last week (and I agree) but its funny, his passer rating for last week was about 81. Which is better than Batch and Leftwich's career ratings. Kind of shows you what kind of back ups we are really dealing with here. Kinda makes you appreciate Big Ben's abilities even more also. Everyone says Dixon was inaccurate (given his multiple low throws, I somewhat agree) but his completion % last week was 69%, pretty good and his completion % in college was absurdly high but that must be taken with grain of salt because college is a different animal. Its funny how stats sometimes can change your perspective a bit on a player or a game you just watched.
His completion percentage was so high because he rarely threw the ball downfield.
I don't care what his QB rating was. They put nine points on the board in regulation, with a big part of that being his pick in the red zone and several misfires on third down that forced punts.
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