SL Discussion Thread For Week Of April 11

Posted on April 11, 2011 by adam

This is your thread to talk about … well, whatever you want.

– As the NFL lockout continues, Judge Nelton will reportedly order the two sides to resume mediation early this week. Hopefully this nonsense comes to an end at some point. [Adam Schefter on Twitter]

– In stunning news, an NFL quarterback (in this case, Ben Roethlisberger) wants to throw the football more. He also wants to see more no-huddle offense. I wouldn’t be opposed to that. [Post-Gazette]

– Dealing with the haters. [Nice Pick, Cowher]

– More great moments in unlicensed Pittsburgh sports merchandise from Pittsburgh Sports And Mini Ponies. [PSAMP]

– And for your random YouTube: Rod Woodson scored 17 touchdowns in his career (12 interception returns, two punt returns, two kickoff returns and one fumble return) and this is the first one, a 45-yard pick six against the Cincinnati Bengals during a 30-16 win during his rookie season in 1987.

Related posts:

  1. SL Discussion Thread for Week of April 4
  2. SL Discussion Thread for Week of Feb. 28
  3. SL Discussion Thread for Week of Feb. 21
  4. SL Discussion Thread For Week of March 28
  5. SL Discussion Thread for Week of March 21
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  • Steve

    Ben had better keep his mouth shut about wanting to throw the ball more. As someone who threw two ghastly picks and could’t move the ball downfield at crunch time in the biggest game of his career, he should be thinking about how he can make more of the throws he gets. If he keeps this up, he might get Welkered on the first series of the season.

    • Canadian Steeler

      Really? I mean….really?

  • Cols714

    Just watched the SB highlights again. Man was Mewelde Moor open on 3rd down on the last series. I mean wide open with room to run. I still don’t understand the last throw by Ben. He usually waits until the last second to throw it if no one is open, and Mike Wallace wasn’t open. I think they really missed Manny Sanders on that drive, that’s Ben’s go to 3rd down guy.

    Damn. Why’d I do that to myself?

    As for Steve below, go root for the Browns. The Steelers have ridden Ben’s arm to two Super Bowl victories. They did both of them by throwing the ball. Get over it already.

    • ROb D

      That whole last series was KeystoneKop territory.

      If it wasn’t a dagger to my heart,,it would be high comedy. Inept.

      Unfortunately, even professional teams prove themselves all too human, fallible and flawed at crucial moments. Watching the LA Lakers over the last six games has been instructive with regard to this. A team loaded with talent that can look like they forgot how to play BB for long stretches.

      http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Steve_Blass
      I have been fascinated with this kind of thing since Blass “forgot” how to pitch. One day you are one of the better pitchers in the game, the next day you can’t throw a strike to save your life.

  • Cols714

    Can someone please explain how Patrick Willis, Brian Urlacher and Jerod Mayo all ranked in the top 10 of the NFLs best LBers but Lawrence Timmons didn’t? There seems to be a huge blind spot for NFL media guys about Timmons. He’s basically Patrick Willis, he may be better than Willis. Yet Willis is #1 and Timmons is #15? Does not compute. And I think that Mayo is really overrated. Does he ever make any plays? Just because NE drafted a guy high does not make him a great player.

    Timmons does not get his due from NFL media guys. I think the players and the coaches know is he awesome but the media has not caught on yet.

    • Gretz

      That’s a good point about Mayo. He makes a lot of tackles, but he doesn’t really do anything to change games or field position. No sacks. No forced fumbles. No turnovers.

      • Randy Steele

        Here’s an idea: Top 10 Over-rated Players in the NFL. Mayo has to be on that list.

        • ROb D

          Mayo is a good LB’er. He’s definately overrated though. I don’t think he’d start on this Steelers squad. Does anyone else?

    • Anonymous

      “Best linebacker” is a vague question. Best career to date? Best most recent season? Best last five seasons? Most likely to have a best next season? Most likely to reach the Hall of Fame? Timmons is coming off one great season where he was better than any of the guys you mentioned. And I expect his next season to be great as well. But by any of the longer term definitions, he’s got a ways to go.

  • HoosierSteeler?s

    Suggested analysis: Look at the last set of downs for each series that do not end in a TD or a first down. What is the distribution of what went wrong in those plays? Stuffed runs, 3 incomplete passes, etc. Maybe do this as a function of where on the field this happened (own goal-line, 20-20, redzone, etc) since that should have very different distributions (redzone and when the O crosses midfield might be most interesting).

    It is often pointed out by Steeler bloggers that the O is inconsistent (and I agree). But an in-depth look at WHAT is leading to inconsistencies (ie stalled drives) would be very interesting.

    As a first step, does anyone know where/if data to answer this question is available?

    • http://www.steelerslounge.com/ ryan

      Great idea. I’ll look into this. I’d think the NFL.com play-by-play data is the place to start. That plus some of the games I have on the DVR plus memories will probably go a long way. Thanks for the suggestion.

  • ROb D

    It’s fairly simple. They only want to talk about Harrison cause they can put the BS angle that he’s “dirty” somewhere in the piece. That adds drama …lol..

    It took Woodley a long time to really get talked about..Timmons will get his time in the sun soon.

  • Anonymous

    Here’ something random. I re-watched the first Cincinnati game of 2010, and in the 3rd quarter Farrior gets a sack. Palmer does a hard count to identify the defense, and Farrior jumps for the line, giving away the blitz. Despite that he goes through untouched. After the sack you can here him yellin at the offense with a slightly confused tone of voice saying “I showed you,” which I interpret as him expressing surprise at the outcome given that Palmer had gotten him to betray his blitz ahead of time.

  • Mike L

    Since you posted about the Patriots may draft picks, would anyone like the idea of trading pick 31 to Miami for their 1st rd pick next year? The thought would be Pittsburgh can cover the holes they have this year but next year they will have more needs?

    • Cols714

      Nope
      I like that the Steelers usually use their draft picks.