Steelers tight end Heath Miller will have surgery on Thursday to repair a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee. But he will do so knowing that he was voted to the Pro Bowl.
Miller was one of just two Steelers selected to the Pro Bowl on Wednesday.
The other was center Maurkice Pouncey, who will be making his third trip.
It's a second Pro Bowl for Miller, who obviously won't be playing in the game as he recovers from surgery.
Miller sounded optimistic today that he'll make a full recovery, though he would not commit to a timetable.
@ I was kind of surprised that not one defensive player from the Steelers was selected.
Ryan Clark is a favorite of fans and had a solid season, but since Baltimore's Ed Reed is still playing and the league selects only one free safety, he really had no chance - though he could wind up going if/when Reed decides not to.
But I thought inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons was certainly deserving. Instead, New England's Jerod Mayo and Kansas City's Derrick Johnson were chosen.
Timmons has been the best player on what is statistically the league's best defense. He leads the Steelers in interceptions and tackles and is tied for second in sacks.
is Pouncey really that good? Seems like his rookie year was his best.
ReplyDeletegranted, i don't think he's bad. i just have a hard time believing he's the best center in the AFC.
IMO He seems very athletic but not as strong as the top tier Centers in the NFL.
ReplyDeleteIf it helps, according to Profootballfocus.com he's graded out as the 8th best Center for the AFC and the 14th best Center in the league so far. Mike Pouncey and Chris Meyers lead the way for AFC Centers.
The Pro Bowl’s Jokes
ReplyDelete4. The Wrong Pouncey
And so it was written. A Pouncey should enter the league and he would be one of the best centers around. Only the wrong Pouncey came into the league first and as such we’re now sick to death of hearing how Maurkice is not just better than Mike, but the best center in the league.
He’s not and it’s brutal to hear people blaspheming the OL Gods like such.
Maurkice is having, in our system, the best year of his career. He’s not a guy who makes a lot of mistakes but he’s been making some bigger contributions in the run game one on one. That said, he’s still only ranked 14th while Mike is ranked equal fifth with Chris Myers. I understand being cautious over Ryan Wendell and his pass blocking woes, and Nick Mangold hasn’t had his best year. But it really should have read Mike Pouncey when votes were tallied.
I agree Pouncey is overrated. That said, eff PFF.
ReplyDeleteAnd Timmons? Really? I know it's easy to be mesmerized by the 3 or 4 splash plays Timmons had this year on a D bereft of even a ripple. But he gave up even more splash plays than he created. And more game critical ones too. Most often by shamefully overpursuing and abandoning his backside fits on every single stretch play this season. Painful to watch.
And this #1 D is about as overrated as Pouncey's probowl considerations. Not bad, very good in stretches, but far from the best.
Wow...when is the last time the Steelers didn't have a defensive player named to the Pro Bowl? Seems strange, but kind of confirms what our eyes told us, despite what the stats said.
ReplyDeleteDaily Dose of Steelers Optimism:
ReplyDeleteGames in 2012 lost by one score: 6 (five by 3 and one by 6)
Games in 2009 lost by one score: 7 (five by 3 and two by 6/7)
Result of the following season, 2010: A trip to the Super Bowl.
Losing a bunch of close games is not a sign of a horribly bad team. The Steelers of 2012 are a talented team that for some reason or other didn't close out games, didn't execute and were not opportunistic.
Take the same ingredients and stir it up and redo the year and the outcome could be drastically different, up to 6 games different.
I think this team needs a heart check not a complete overhaul. And it looks like a perfect parallel to the heartbreaking 2009 in which, I'm sure everyone said...lets blow this whole thing up and start over.
http://www.stillers.com/Article/View/815e2944-0c13-4031-b4b6-894c8ed8bf91
ReplyDeleteThe WoodenDong Report (Game #15, vs. Cinci)
In the spirit of the famous GilDong Report, we now bring you the WoodenDong Report.
In light of many a fan (and GM Kevin Colbert as well) being bamboozled and ga-ga over LaMarr Woodley’s paper statistics the past 3 seasons, I've devoted considerable time to monitor the work of the exceptionally average LaMarr Woodley.
As longtime Stillers.com readers may recall, Big Jason had been famous enough with his coverage sacks, flop sacks, the QB-slipped-on-the-wet-turf sacks, the OT totally forgot his blocking assignment sacks, and so on, that the NFL designated a new statistic, called the "Dong Sack™", in honor of Jason Gildong. (Some fantasy football leagues have incorporated this into their point systems for well over a decade.)
Here in 2012, we'll again take time to expose The Dogger, LaMarr Woodley, for the fraud that he truly is.
LaMarr missed games 12 and 13 with a (sob !) sore ankle, and finally returned to action last week versus the Cowpokes. Now, this past weekend, he was presumably as healthy as a horse, and should have been ready to hunt bear, with the playoffs on the line. He should have been looking to feast on the Bengals, against right tackle Andre Smith, who had allowed seven sacks and 24 hurries coming into the game.
At 9:14 2Q, Green-Ellis ran up RT and LaMarr got a slop assist.
Late in the 2Q, Green Ellis ran up RT on 1st down, and gained a nice, healthy 4 yards, with Big LaMarr finally making the stop. Any time you allow 4 yards on the ground on first down, it’s losing football, plain and simple.
Believe it or not, this was it from Big LaMarr during a game in which he played 62 of the 64 plays run by the Cinci offense. 1 solo, 1 assist, and a large pile of vomit.
Late in the 2Q, The Big He-Man was easily blocked out on a 2d & 15 shovel pass, which gained 23 yards and a 1st down.
Being such a big he-man, LaMarr got eaten alive in SOLO blocking by a TIGHT END, be it Jermaine Gresham or Orson Charles. He went 1 on 1 again the RT, Smith, 20 times, and never even got a sniff of the QB.
Big hits? NONE. Heavy QB pressure? None. Blown up plays? NONE. A paw in the face of the QB to disrupt the QB? None. Meaningful impact? None. The $61M Man spent the entire game titty-jousting and pad-groping and playing pussy paw-paw with opposing blockers. He loafed and lollygagged.
During his recent hiatus, we found out that Big LaMarr is a pro bowler. No, dummy....he’s not going to the Pro Bowl. As shitty as their standards are, they wouldn’t take such a shitbag. No, Big LaMarr is a co-owner of the Pittsburgh Jackrabbits of a professional bowling league, which makes The Paper Tiger a pro bowler. "LaMarr is a proven winner -- his first question was how he could start winning," said PBA commissioner Tom Clark. Funny -- that’s the same question we’ve been asking of LaMarr....how he could start winning, instead of being the sack o’ shit loser that he has been for well over 3 years.
Of course, we here at Stillers.com know better. We’ve actually spent time watching and re-watching the game. Apparently, this is all ya get for $61M. Lesson learned -- ya can’t polish a turd, no matter how much money you might lavish him with. Just ask Jason GilDong, the original Donger himself.
Season to date totals for Big LaMarr, in 13 games:
Earned Sacks: 2
Dong Sacks™: 2
Strips, Jars, fumbles caused: 1
Flailing Whiffs: 3
First downs allowed: 11
TDs allowed: 1
Delete this trash ^^^ Ratbird fans
ReplyDeleteCouple things for you Dale,
ReplyDelete1. Its finally the time that issues of Ben outside the pocket have finally caughten up and need to be addressed.
If Ben can become a pocket passer going forward, this franchise can forget about 2012 and go back to winning ball games again.
2. that said, Haley gotta hit the door on his way out. keeping ben in the pocket means a whole new offense.
one that can also use Wallace as more of a decoy and downfield threat than a possession guy.
And one who doesn't need to get in Bens face. as much as create an offense he has to work with like Belicheks'
Dale, I read today about Steven Jackson possibly being done in St Louis, any chance the Steelers make a play for him in free agency? If Mendenhall isn't coming back, a proven veteran that's hungry to win in the backfield with guys like Redman Batch Dwyer and possibly a fairly high draft pick for the future can only be a good thing?
ReplyDeletei can't remember being less excited for a game than this one. At the very least, it would be nice to have the chance to ruin someone else's season like when we knocked the Bengals out of the playoffs in Santonio's rookie year.
ReplyDeleteI like PFF, but according to its stats, Jeff Saturday is the 7th best center in the NFL. Yet he got benched for a career backup last week. So clearly PFF is not the end-all be-all of player analysis.
ReplyDelete^^^ Dead wrong, PFF has Jeff Saturday ranked as the 30th best center in the league out of 37 players graded at Center. (Based on 25% snap count) He is 4th best in Pass Block but dead last in Run Block.
ReplyDelete