More Steelers Thoughts

In no particular order of importance...

1. I still like Isaac Redman a lot. I still think he makes the roster. I still think Shortbus is the odd man out, much as it breaks my heart to lose a good nickname like that.
2. I still can't bring myself to use the lame Old School-based nickname for Frank Summers. Looks like I won't need to worry about that for long.
3. Redman came off the field with an injury last night, though. They didn't need to bring out the cart or anything, so I hope he's okay.
4. Rashard Mendenhall runs hard and runs with authority. But, he often runs too high and he doesn't run violently enough to succeed being the type of back that he is now. He's not explosive enough. He has good vision, he makes yards after contact, but he doesn't attack the defender and that's what he needs to do to raise the level of his game.
5. So, basically, we need Willie Parker.
6. I have been unable to draft Parker on three fantasy teams and I feel very put out by that fact, so I think he'll have a big year.
7. Pass protection looks very, very good. Maybe we haven't played teams that come after the quarterback enough yet and that's why Ben has had such a nice pocket to throw from, but I am very much enjoying what I've seen so far.
8. Run blocking... not so much. We're not blowing holes open. We have backs that can shoot through those holes and do some damage, but we don't have anyone that can make something out of nothing. So, that needs some work.
9. Pre-snap penalties are driving me up a wall. Take how pissed I am about it, multiply that by a thousand and add the intensity of a dying star and that's how Tomlin feels about it. It'll get fixed.
10. Joe Burnett is awesome. Just remember that I said that. Repeatedly.
11. We need to give Stefan Logan a shot. Maybe he does as well in the regular season as he has in the preseason, maybe he doesn't. But, we need to take a chance. We haven't had a consistent return threat since Randel-El (I know Santonio has been great when he's been in there, but he has more important things to do) and we need one. With the craptastic punting and lackluster return game last season, we lost 10-15 yards of field position per possession change last season. We were repeatedly bailed out by our historically good defense, but we can't expect that to last forever.
12. Having said that, the first team defense looks awesome. Harrison is unblockable, Timmons is my most-regretted criticized first round pick since Roethlisberger, and Farrior appears to be immortal. Woodley has not shown much, but I expect that to change once offenses start scheming around how to stop Harrison. Troy is possibly our best player on defense and the rest of the secondary is solid. With the impending greatness of Burnett, I'm starting to feel better about our depth.
13. Mendenhall reminds me of Barry Foster, but faster. There's nothing wrong with that, necessarily, but I expect more out of a first round pick.
14. Add in the fact that Drop Foot and Bruce Davis are scrubs and you can pretty much write off the 2008 draft class as a bust, even if Limas Sweed somehow puts it together.
15. But, the 2009 class looks great and the 2007 class features Timmons, Vulva aka the Sepulverizer, and William Gay, so hopefully we'll be okay.
16. I hate to jinx it, but I think the Curse of 2006 is behind us. I expect big things in 2009, starting with a sound ba-thwumping of Tennessee.