Guard Chris Kemoeatu returned to practice on a limited basis today and said he expects to play Sunday against Oakland.
Defensive end Brett Keisel also returned on a limited basis, while outside linebacker Lawrence Timmons was also limited.
The fact that they are practicing on at least a limited basis suggests they, too, should be ready to play Sunday.
Hines Ward went through an entire practice and said he feels no ill-effects from the helmet-to-helmet hit he took from New England's James Sanders on Sunday.
There's still no word on whether Sanders has or will be fined by the league for the blow, something Ward admitted he was curious about.
Safety Troy Polamalu did not practice Wednesday as he rests his sore Achilles' tendon.
© Some Steelers expressed some displeasure with placekicker Jeff Reed's release Tuesday. Read more about it in Thursday's Observer-Reporter.
37 comments:
Has Troy's achilles affected his play? He hasn't made the highlight reel for the past couple games.
Also, Collinsworth mentioned that his role has changed and he's not freelancing as much. is this the reason i haven't noticed him as much lately?
Dale,
Is the article up yet? I went to Observer-Reporter and read the article about Reed being cut, but nothing about player's displeasure.
Who was displeased and why?
Thanks
Story is in Thursday's O-R. It was filed today. Let's just say a certain veteran expressed some displeasure.
I'm guessing that this certain veteran was displeased because he realized he might be the next one out the door if he doesn't step up his play.
My bad Dale. I've been thinking all day today it's Thursday. I even turned the TV on NFL Network and then figured out oh yeah it's Wed.
I'll read it tomorrow.
But if I had to guess I would say Sep is the culprit. He told Wex that Reed had reason to complain about the field. But then it could be Spaeth his urinating in public buddy. lol
I think Ward is the most obvious guess.
If Kemoetu expects to play, does Tomlin expect to coach? Or should we just assume the answer to that.
Sep has sucked for the past month or so. when was the last time he pinned anyone inside their own 10 yard line, let alone their own 5 ?
i really started noticing how poor his kicks have been during the Saints game.
Sanders won't be fined if the league can get away with it. Hines is not one of their favorites.
I believe Sanders is DPOW. The ex-head of officiating said the Ward was propelled into the defender. So I doubt he'll be fined. I don't agree with the fines and flags. However, if you're going to come out and tell Harrison you're responsible for what part of your body hits the receiver in the head and fine him and others, then you sure look hypocritical when you let this one go. This makes at least twice now Ward was hit helmet to helmet and once for Wallace.
Ben and Hines both talking to the media how they have to be leaders kind of annoys me. Ben is the QB, this should not have to be said to him by anyone and he doesn't need to tell the media about it. He should have already been doing it. Ward, I believe has been on this team longer than any current player, once again this should have already been fact.
As much as I love Ward, do your job and keep your mouth shut.
any truth to the rumor Reed tried to hang himself? Hope this is not true
"any truth to the rumor Reed tried to hang himself? Hope this is not true"
you sir, are an idiot
Whoops! I got an email that read this: "Did you guys hear that Jeff Reed tried to commit suicide? He tried to hang himself but when he kicked the stool out from underneath himself he missed."
I now see that was a joke about him missing the kick... I read that too early this morning. My bad
Dale, with the reaction of the players to Reed's release, how do you think this will serve the team? On one hand you have guys like Farrior saying it has the team "ticked off" and hopefully that fires them up. On the other, (and I try to say this without my bias towards Tomlin) do you feel like there may be some growing ill will towards Tomlin about this?
As much as I dislike Tomlin, I never really thought he could "lose the team" or any other cliche you want pick. But do you think this one will linger a bit in the locker room? Or will it all go away if Suisham goes 10/10 the next few games?
Patrick,
Your Tomlin hatred is completely asinine. Tomlin is better at addressing problems and far less stubborn than Cowher. Do you think Kordell Stewart would be on this team for seven years? Criticize him. Fine. I do it too. But potshots just make you look stupid.
look I read an article and asked a legitimate objective question about it. I'm not taking a potshot, I'm asking what Dale senses the feeling is towards Tomlin about this in the locker room. If the answer is "little to none" ill will, then great, thats all I want to know.
But the fact you think Tomlin is "better" at addressing problems than anybody is laughable considering the past game.
veteran guys always get ticked when a veteran player is bounced b/c it means they could get bounced too. it's a reminder of the reality this is a business before it is a game.
i don't expect it will affect the team's attitude much. i read somewhere they were in pads wednesday and ryan clark said everyone on the team realized they needed it and there was no complaining.
i expect them to come out and win the next 2 games and head into baltimore with some confidence.
I was referring to your "will tomlin expect to coach?" comment. I didn't see your slightly more measured comment until after I posted. I'm not sure if you remember but Cowher got his ass handed to him by the Patriots a few times, including twice in AFC championship games. And specifically to the last game, I forgot that Tomlin coached Ward to get hurt, and when he coached half of his offensive line to be hurt, or when he coached the defense to be susceptible to a precision passing game as every defense is.
kyle,
you were on a role until that last statement. it doesn't take much precision passing to hit wide open receivers (like 5 yard wide open) when the DB's are playing 10 yards off the ball. not to mention the complete lack of a pass rush.
not to mention field goals were a problem and the problem got addressed. Whether Suisham works out remains to be seen but something was done.
marc,
As Dale mentioned before, the first TD that Gay gave up he was in good coverage. Brady threw the ball up and the Tight End made a play. The pass rush was non-existent. That's true. Hood and Eason are fine against the run but they can't push the pocket and Woodley has been underperforming all year. How to address that other than by blitzing more and leaving deep throws open, I don't know.
I really don't feel like going back and forth over and over again. If you think injuries are the reason to get beat that bad and completely blown off the ball play after play, then fine. In my opinion, of course injuries don't help, but the same things that lost the Steelers that game have been happening all season.
and yes the one comment was a tongue in check potshot. But the other one I'm just curious what Dale thought about their reactions.
"As Dale mentioned before, the first TD that Gay gave up he was in good coverage. Brady threw the ball up and the Tight End made a play."
so what? Gay didn't make a play and he never does.
Gay is on the same level as Mahan bad. Anyone defending Gay should just live in their little fantasy world and not pretend to know anything about football
I've already said I wasn't referring to your second comment, just the potshot. And yes, some of the problems have been happening all year. They aren't things that can be helped. You can't draft an entire offensive line full of probowlers in a year or two. You don't usually make huge changes to a defense that is perennially in the top 5.
The bottom line is this: Special Teams were a problem, several things were done to fix them; the offensive line has been a problem, they tried to draft a center last year but Mack and Wood got overdrafted; Tomlin has slowly been replacing a roster of champion veterans with young athletes and the team is still at worst competitive. If you want them to be dominant and go undefeated and lose the superbowl like your friends in New England, have at. I'll take a decent team that wins rings.
"Gay is on the same level as Mahan bad. Anyone defending Gay should just live in their little fantasy world and not pretend to know anything about football"
I'm not defending Gay. He was a decent nickel and backup. He's fine in a zone. Teams isolate him now and get him in man to man where he's useless. But this isn't Madden '11. If Lewis or Butler were showing enough in practice do you think LeBeau would just be stubborn about tossing them in? Plus I would expect at least one of them to get some chances Sunday as Madison was on the field.
why does blitzing leave deep throws open?
it seemed to me the steelers game plan was to blitz less against the pats and drop more into coverage. well, we see what everyone already knows. if you give brady time, he picks you apart. add to that horrible coverage and it's a blowout.
i do think the coaching staff is stubborn when it comes to putting in younger guys. seems to be working well for the pats and colts.
just wondering if dale is hearing that any of the younger guys are practicing with the first team this week, or will it be the same ole same ole ?
First, I don't care who the team is mad at as long as they decide to fight through it together.
Second, the principle in football is much like the one in basketball when facing a double team. When you are blitzed the weakness is now from the side the blitz comes from. Same thing in Basketball. The opening on the court is on the side the double team came from.
Third, when it comes to Gay's role on the team it isn't necessarily a question of does Gay suck or not. That is too simple. Yes, Gay has been getting beat. What we don't know is that the guys on the sidelines might be even worse. We don't see practice tapes. He might suck, but he is the least "sucky" of the group we have.
Fourth, Dale I would love to see your perspective on the following stat. In 6 possessions in the first half, the Steelers spent 22 of 36 plays in the shotgun. I know some of that was an affected by the lack of time in the half, which forces you to hurry up, but to me it doesn't seem to be just about the fact that we are passing, it is that we are in a no-run option of the shotgun. We didn't run 1 time out of the shotgun, and we only threw 3 times when not in the shotgun.
Lastly, to me the fact that we could only muster a FG by going to the hurry up wreaks of a horrible gameplan. Everything we had "planned" to do was thrown out. It didn't work. In our first 2 possessions we ran 9 plays for -8 yards. Additionally, both possessions did almost exactly the same thing:
Run, Shotgun, Shotgun for the first possession.
Run, Run, Shotgun, Shotgun, Pass, Shotgun, Shotgun.
Really? Did we think we could throw with them, or was this just an abandoning of the gameplan. If they abandoned it, why so early?
Forgot to ask one thing....do our coaches run a "script" during the first couple of possessions?
Well, New England's pass defense is its weakness, so yes, they did want to throw with them. Ben just missed Wallace on one of the first two series when NE sent seven after him. If he hits that pass, it's a touchdown. There was nobody behind Wallace on the slant.
As for what the vets feel about Tomlin, they like him. But that really doesn't matter. They respect him, which is more important.
I'm guessing there is no chance that Kemo comes back in as a RG (snowsballs chance) or that Foster switches over to RG (smaller snowball)?
Not a steelers move at all, but Essex is not even impressing his mom anymore.
Do the steelers see Chris Scott as someone who could be a starting right tackle, or is there a better chance that Willie Colon is resigned and Scott gets a shot at right guard?
Vaflyer makes the best point of any in that our offense is so predictable for opposing defenses. we over use the shotgun, but my guess is they do that to try and give #7 a better look at the defense.
however, it defeats the purpose of having a balanced game plan. if you pass 90% of the time out of the shotgun and run 70% of the time from under center, well, what do you think opposing defenses are going to do?
but, as many fans point out, arians is a very smart OC and knows much more about football than we do. therefore, he has already considered what we are talking about. therefore, since he has already considered it he must have decided it is not relevant, because he keeps doing it.
I think we should start by running Mendenhall right for one yard.
Dale, I see Troy didn't practice again today. How bad is that? Any opinions on why there have been no big plays from him lately?
Troy plans on playing. He's been playing more centerfield of late than in the past.
I think they're doing it to limit the possibility of an injury or to protect an injury - the Achilles - but nobody's talking.
I guess your answer about our gameplan truly shows how different Steelers football is compared to what is used to be. A team runs for 200 yards against them the week before...what do we do...Pass. That is not Steeler football. That is Colts football, or Pats football, but in Pittsburgh we used to like to run the ball down your throat. It was our identity. Mr. Ed B's article in the PG is junk. Him basically asking why we tried to run the ball so much in the first half, and after opening it up Ben was successful. BUNK!! 10 plays in the first 2 possessions...3 runs and 6 plays out of the shotgun. That wasn't an attempt to run the ball, that was an attempt to appease an owner to keep a job. You either commit to the run, or you don't. We don't.
that was a horrible article by ed b. that i just read. he's looking at the 4th quarter yards and points the passing game put up and yells, 'we should be passing more!'
oh, wait, you mean the pats were blowing us out and it was garbage time? wait, you mean we passed significantly more than we ran in the first half and only scored 3 points? what a terrible article.
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