Well, the lockout finally ended, the players and coaches are going back to work, and there have been roughly 6,054 transactions in the last few days.
The big question on everyone's mind -- at least in this little corner of the Internet -- is: How do the Steelers look?
The answer to that question is that they look both good and bad and that we'll know more on August 4th, which is the deadline for all teams to get under the salary cap. In 2009, the cap was around $127 million, there was no cap in 2010, and the cap sits at about $120 million this season. Heading into the post-lockout era, the Steelers were about $10 million over the new cap.
Out of those 6,054 transactions, the Steelers re-signed Shaun Suisham, Ike Taylor, Willie Colon, and Jonathan Scott. The signings of Colon and Scott were particularly important, since they also cut Flozell Adams and Max Starks. They cut Randle-El, but I'm not sure that's really important. Without Scott and Colon, there was a .03 percent chance that I might be starting for the Steelers at left tackle this season. While this would be an awesome development for me, it probably wouldn't have worked out too well for the Steelers.
Rumors that I've seen on Twitter and elsewhere say that LaMarr Woodley is close to signing a long term contract and there are five guys on the team that will probably restructure their contracts so that no one else will need to be cut from the roster. In addition, it looks like Starks and Adams may come back eventually at a more palatable rate. All these things will help them field a full team.
Taylor's contract was the biggest news of this truncated offseason. He may not be a shutdown cornerback and he may have the worst hands in the league, but he's the best cover player on the team and was the best option available by far, if you assume they weren't going to sign Nnamdi Asomugha (they wouldn't, not in a million truncated free agent periods). I didn't think the Steelers would pony up the money to re-sign Ike and I'm extremely happy that he's back.
With no mini-camps, rookie camps, and OTAs this offseason, everyone they drafted in April doesn't stand much a chance of contributing in 2011. But, Tomlin hates rookies, so that's not a huge loss. Maurkice Pouncey is not walking through that door. Cameron Heyward will probably get some playing time after Aaron Smith goes on injured reserve and Curtis Brown and Cortez Allen will probably play on special teams and maybe, possibly, Baron Batch will get some third down reps as Verron Haynes Junior.
Currently, the starting five on the offensive line looks like this: Scott, Kemoeatu, Pouncey, Legursky/Foster, Colon. That's not good. I'd rather have Starks and Adams in there and I don't trust Scott, but that's mainly because he's an unknown quantity. The offensive line actually played pretty well last season and held themselves together despite a rash of injuries, so lightning might strike twice. If everyone stays healthy, they'll improve and grow together throughout the course of the season. At least we know who's starting at center.
That's where they look bad.
Where they look good is everywhere else. Mendenhall may be a fumble machine, but he has also performed well as the starter the past two seasons. Ben Roethlisberger is an alleged rapist and a newlywed, but he's also one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Mike Wallace and Hines Ward got the job done last season and Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown get the chance to build on what they accomplished late last season.
Everyone from last season's #1 scoring defense returns. Troy is healthy. James Harrison is angry. Hopefully, Woodley will be happy after signing a sweet deal. Clark, Taylor, McFadden, Keisel, Smith are all back and healthy. I haven't heard anything about Jerry Springer needing to rescue Casey Hampton from being trapped on his couch. Ziggy Hood had a great year last year and is currently starting ahead of Smith. If they're lucky, Farrior won't have a letdown in 2011 after a solid 2010 like he did in 2009 after a solid 2008. Lawrence Timmons is an outstanding player and should once again act as team assassin.
I have a feeling that we are going to see some absolutely sucktastic football in the month of September. Guys haven't had the offseason to get ready. Their timing will be off. There will be blown assignments on defense. There will be a lot of pre-snap penalties. Any team that has been in the same system, running the same plays for years, will have an advantage.
Here are the guys that have been in the defense since Dick LeBeau took over in 2004: Smith, Taylor, Hampton, Keisel, Farrior, Polamalu, Harrison. Of the remaining guys, Hood, Woodley, and Timmons have played their entire careers in the system. And Clark is the free safety. The Steelers will have a decided advantage over most of the rest of the league because of their familiarity with the system.
On offense, here are the guys that have been in the Arians system since he took over in 2007: Ward, Roethlisberger, Miller. Well... that list isn't as long. But, Mendenhall, Wallace, Sanders, and Brown have been in this system their entire careers. Everyone else is on the offensive line and we already talked about that.
Add in what, ostensibly, looks like an easy schedule against the AFC South and NFC West, and the Steelers are sitting pretty.
And... that's it.
Wait, what? Off the field and the what now?
Ward got busted for a DUI, Mendenhall Tweeted some unfortunate things, and Harrison had bad things to say about everything going back to the Big Bang. Many experts that make way more money than me have postulated that these distractions will erode the chemistry in the locker room and eventually tear the team apart.
For the most part, these experts view an NFL locker room as a delicate ecosystem where, if Mendenhall flaps his wings (get it? Flaps his wings? Birds have wings? Birds tweet?) then a tsunami is going to destroy the team. Well, that could be in different locker rooms. But, these guys have all been showering in front of each other for a long time. They know each other. They trust each other. They all work together and have managed to keep off field stuff off the field.
Think of it like any working relationship. Would your company fold if Bill in sales got a DUI? Do you care about what Connie in marketing does on Twitter? If Joe in operations said that everyone in HR was a bunch of idiots, would someone in HR refuse to give him a leave request form? No, everyone would work together and do their jobs, because it's their job to do their jobs.
Tomlin is too strong a leader and this locker room is too unified for some offseason indiscretions to tear it all down. I think that they will have moved on from everything that happened during the lockout by the time the season starts, if they haven't all moved on already.
So, overall, the Steelers look good. With a Woodley signing and some much-needed cap relief, they could be even better.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Barber and Buress
There have been rumblings that Tiki Barber is interested in the Pittsburgh Steelers. These rumblings have been fueled primarily by... Tiki Barber, to the point where, if you Google "tiki barber" the first suggestion you get is, "tiki barber steelers." He wants to play for a competitive team and the Steelers are a competitive team with a lot of veteran players. Well, Tiki, I'm sorry to say... no. Emphatically. No.
Take away the fact that he's 36 and left his wife to go bang an intern. We'll just take that right off the table (after mentioning it, because it's still important). The fact remains that he's a tailback and he's well over 30. Take away that and you are still faced with the fact that he retired following the 2006 season. You know who else retired following the 2006 season? Bill Cowher. Right? Seems like a long time ago. That's because it is.
You know who else retired in 2006? My Dad. Six months after he retired, we were supposed to meet at his house on a Saturday to move some stuff. He called me and left me a message at work that Saturday, saying that he needed to push the time back and asked if that would work for me. I had been working a 9-5 job for six years at that point. This is not to say that my Dad is a feeble-minded old man. He's not. This is just making the point that, when you're out of the game, you lose things. You lose your "edge" for lack of a better word. In games played at the NFL level, you cannot afford to lose that edge. Most teams know this and Barber will discover it. On top of all that, the Steelers would really only have interest in Tiki's brother Rhonde, since he plays cornerback and they need more of those. They should be all set at running back, especially if they retain Mewelde Moore.
For similar reasons, the Steelers should -- and probably will -- say no to Plaxico Burress. Take all the "out of the action" stuff for Barber and add, "because he was in prison." Remember when Jamal Lewis went to prison? There you go. For every Michael Vick example, there are a bunch of Jamal Lewis examples. Actually, Vick is the only guy that came back from prison and was worth something. That was also in his second season after he returned. The Steelers have enough talent at receiver -- and enough holes to fill elsewhere -- that they can afford to pass on Burress.
According to NFL.com, Burress is going to meet with the Steelers on Friday or Saturday. He has a history with the team and my guess is that Ben Roethlisberger rallied pretty hard for Coach Tomlin to meet with Burress. I thinking this is just a courtesy meeting, but there may be something there. I'm also thinking that the Giants will be able to offer Burress a better contract, since the Steelers were already over the salary cap before they signed Ike Taylor.
This team needs to get younger, not older. They usually sign their guys before signing free agents. For all these reasons, I don't think there's anything there.
Take away the fact that he's 36 and left his wife to go bang an intern. We'll just take that right off the table (after mentioning it, because it's still important). The fact remains that he's a tailback and he's well over 30. Take away that and you are still faced with the fact that he retired following the 2006 season. You know who else retired following the 2006 season? Bill Cowher. Right? Seems like a long time ago. That's because it is.
You know who else retired in 2006? My Dad. Six months after he retired, we were supposed to meet at his house on a Saturday to move some stuff. He called me and left me a message at work that Saturday, saying that he needed to push the time back and asked if that would work for me. I had been working a 9-5 job for six years at that point. This is not to say that my Dad is a feeble-minded old man. He's not. This is just making the point that, when you're out of the game, you lose things. You lose your "edge" for lack of a better word. In games played at the NFL level, you cannot afford to lose that edge. Most teams know this and Barber will discover it. On top of all that, the Steelers would really only have interest in Tiki's brother Rhonde, since he plays cornerback and they need more of those. They should be all set at running back, especially if they retain Mewelde Moore.
For similar reasons, the Steelers should -- and probably will -- say no to Plaxico Burress. Take all the "out of the action" stuff for Barber and add, "because he was in prison." Remember when Jamal Lewis went to prison? There you go. For every Michael Vick example, there are a bunch of Jamal Lewis examples. Actually, Vick is the only guy that came back from prison and was worth something. That was also in his second season after he returned. The Steelers have enough talent at receiver -- and enough holes to fill elsewhere -- that they can afford to pass on Burress.
According to NFL.com, Burress is going to meet with the Steelers on Friday or Saturday. He has a history with the team and my guess is that Ben Roethlisberger rallied pretty hard for Coach Tomlin to meet with Burress. I thinking this is just a courtesy meeting, but there may be something there. I'm also thinking that the Giants will be able to offer Burress a better contract, since the Steelers were already over the salary cap before they signed Ike Taylor.
This team needs to get younger, not older. They usually sign their guys before signing free agents. For all these reasons, I don't think there's anything there.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Power Vs Soul: the Pride is Ours
Well, if we had to end our season before the playoffs, this was the game to go out on. The Power cruised to a decisive 61-48 win, and controlled the whole game. We can now proudly say that we've beaten every team in our division at least once, and we vanquished the ghost of our season opener.
Figuring, I guess, that there was no reason not to, the Power started their new acquisition Bill Stull at QB, and he played well, if a bit conservatively. He was slightly better than 50% on his passes in mostly short distances, but still totaled 260 yards, 6 touchdowns and no interceptions. I'm not sure, really, how much it means as next season is a long ways away, and who knows if he'll even still be on the team. For right now, it was nice to watch us controlling the game, no matter who was behind center.
So where was big Mo this game? Was he riding the bench and taking it easy? Of course not. He was playing wide receiver of all damn things, and he had almost 40 yards and a touchdown. He looked like he was having a great time, and got to lower that shoulder and charge like he's been wanting to as quarterback all season. Again, it means nothing for next season, but it was good to see the guys having fun out there.
Mike Washington continued to scare me that he's not going to be here next season. Him going to the CFL is a strong possibility with his performance this season. This week, he put rival WR Donovan Morgan's 112 yards and a touchdown to shame with 155/4. All season, he has been an electrifying player, from the first game on. I'd be sorry to see him go, but if he has to, I'm happy for him.
The defense had a respectable night, holding the Soul on several key drives. They also snagged a pick and harried Vena. There wasn't a lot of flashiness, but there weren't a lot of stupid mistakes either. They could walk off the field with their heads held high.
Season in retrospect
It was a lot of ups and downs for the Power's inaugural season, and it passed far too quickly for me. We struggled a lot for identity, but it was a good start. They were able to end their season 50/50 and sat at the top of the division for a number of weeks. More so, a lot of characters were created for the fans to follow.
Joystick Washington, Nightrain/Power Tool DeWalt, Total Chaos Carter, Da Bully Butler and Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuue! National announcers picked up the nicknames, something that I rarely see in other teams. Why is this? Because the fans enjoyed themselves at the arena. Announcers make stuff like this up all the time, but if no one cares, it fades away. Not here.
Here, our fans responded to the Power. They might not have fully understood the game, might have found it a bit weird and certainly didn't show up every game - but when they did, there was a core group of characters that they felt they knew. Almost more watched for than wins and losses, people seemed to show up to see what these characters would do this week.
This is a good sign.
I think that we need to pull more in and get more asses-in-seats, but it's a start. It's still a tough sell in this town where this will always be thought of as fake football, but we can hope that changes. If no one gave a crap about the Power, those nicknames would have gone nowhere. It's the seed that can grow. Right now, people are coming for the spectacle, the fun and the cheap night out. Eventually, that might grow into pride for another home team.
The lockout ended today, and the NFL is going to do its best to pick up like nothing ever happened. Summer will pass into fall, and a lot of people are going to forget all about the Power. But, come next spring, in all likelihood they'll be back for a new season. Original fans will remember and come back, and hopefully they'll bring friends.
I've already got my season tickets reserved.
The Power season may be over, but there are still playoffs to go. I will keep covering the league through then, so stay tuned for more Arena Football action.
Figuring, I guess, that there was no reason not to, the Power started their new acquisition Bill Stull at QB, and he played well, if a bit conservatively. He was slightly better than 50% on his passes in mostly short distances, but still totaled 260 yards, 6 touchdowns and no interceptions. I'm not sure, really, how much it means as next season is a long ways away, and who knows if he'll even still be on the team. For right now, it was nice to watch us controlling the game, no matter who was behind center.
So where was big Mo this game? Was he riding the bench and taking it easy? Of course not. He was playing wide receiver of all damn things, and he had almost 40 yards and a touchdown. He looked like he was having a great time, and got to lower that shoulder and charge like he's been wanting to as quarterback all season. Again, it means nothing for next season, but it was good to see the guys having fun out there.
Mike Washington continued to scare me that he's not going to be here next season. Him going to the CFL is a strong possibility with his performance this season. This week, he put rival WR Donovan Morgan's 112 yards and a touchdown to shame with 155/4. All season, he has been an electrifying player, from the first game on. I'd be sorry to see him go, but if he has to, I'm happy for him.
The defense had a respectable night, holding the Soul on several key drives. They also snagged a pick and harried Vena. There wasn't a lot of flashiness, but there weren't a lot of stupid mistakes either. They could walk off the field with their heads held high.
Season in retrospect
It was a lot of ups and downs for the Power's inaugural season, and it passed far too quickly for me. We struggled a lot for identity, but it was a good start. They were able to end their season 50/50 and sat at the top of the division for a number of weeks. More so, a lot of characters were created for the fans to follow.
Joystick Washington, Nightrain/Power Tool DeWalt, Total Chaos Carter, Da Bully Butler and Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuue! National announcers picked up the nicknames, something that I rarely see in other teams. Why is this? Because the fans enjoyed themselves at the arena. Announcers make stuff like this up all the time, but if no one cares, it fades away. Not here.
Here, our fans responded to the Power. They might not have fully understood the game, might have found it a bit weird and certainly didn't show up every game - but when they did, there was a core group of characters that they felt they knew. Almost more watched for than wins and losses, people seemed to show up to see what these characters would do this week.
This is a good sign.
I think that we need to pull more in and get more asses-in-seats, but it's a start. It's still a tough sell in this town where this will always be thought of as fake football, but we can hope that changes. If no one gave a crap about the Power, those nicknames would have gone nowhere. It's the seed that can grow. Right now, people are coming for the spectacle, the fun and the cheap night out. Eventually, that might grow into pride for another home team.
The lockout ended today, and the NFL is going to do its best to pick up like nothing ever happened. Summer will pass into fall, and a lot of people are going to forget all about the Power. But, come next spring, in all likelihood they'll be back for a new season. Original fans will remember and come back, and hopefully they'll bring friends.
I've already got my season tickets reserved.
The Power season may be over, but there are still playoffs to go. I will keep covering the league through then, so stay tuned for more Arena Football action.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Power vs Soul: For pride
The last game of the season is upon us already. Seems like just yesterday that we were playing the Soul with our whole season ahead of us. It also seems like just yesterday that we lost to the Soul to start the season. Now it's time to play them again to close it.
At this point, we have beaten both other teams in our division at least once and have a better record overall than the Soul. By most accounts, the Power is the better team, but the Soul has pulled off some upsets before. Coach Ho has made it clear that they're still playing for their fans, even if their season is over. I'm not sure that the Power is up to the same standards at this point, especially on the road.
Last time they played, they made fools of the Gladiators, whom you might remember, rather handily beat us. Also, given that they've already beaten us once, I'm sure they'd love to beat us again and have a sweep to add to their record.
When they won against Cleveland, it happened because they were able to beat the Gladiators, literally, at their own game. They owned the field, destroyed Rocco and pressured him at every opportunity. If they bring it at the same level against us, then we should expect even more pressure than the Gladiators gave us last week.
Larry Brackins and Keith Stokes stepped up big time to fill the shoes vacated by the impressive Donovan Morgan, who departed for the UFL. Unfortunately, pretty much during the game last week, he announced his departure from the UFL to come back to the Soul. So...that's great for us.
The fact of the matter is, this game is on the road, and the Power have little to play for. However, winning would give the Power - if not a winning season - an even record. For psychological reasons, both for the team and for the fans, I think that this can't be discounted. Same thing goes for beating the one team left in the division we haven't beaten yet.
Tune in tonight at 7:05 on NiftyTV and catch the Power's last game until next season!
At this point, we have beaten both other teams in our division at least once and have a better record overall than the Soul. By most accounts, the Power is the better team, but the Soul has pulled off some upsets before. Coach Ho has made it clear that they're still playing for their fans, even if their season is over. I'm not sure that the Power is up to the same standards at this point, especially on the road.
Last time they played, they made fools of the Gladiators, whom you might remember, rather handily beat us. Also, given that they've already beaten us once, I'm sure they'd love to beat us again and have a sweep to add to their record.
When they won against Cleveland, it happened because they were able to beat the Gladiators, literally, at their own game. They owned the field, destroyed Rocco and pressured him at every opportunity. If they bring it at the same level against us, then we should expect even more pressure than the Gladiators gave us last week.
Larry Brackins and Keith Stokes stepped up big time to fill the shoes vacated by the impressive Donovan Morgan, who departed for the UFL. Unfortunately, pretty much during the game last week, he announced his departure from the UFL to come back to the Soul. So...that's great for us.
The fact of the matter is, this game is on the road, and the Power have little to play for. However, winning would give the Power - if not a winning season - an even record. For psychological reasons, both for the team and for the fans, I think that this can't be discounted. Same thing goes for beating the one team left in the division we haven't beaten yet.
Tune in tonight at 7:05 on NiftyTV and catch the Power's last game until next season!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Buccos on the Brink
It's July 21st and the Pittsburgh Pirates are still relevant. If NFL players and owners weren't still arguing over a new CBA, Steeler training camp would be opening soon, which has generally signaled the end of the Pirates season.
The Buccos are currently six games over .500 and only half a game back of the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers. People are starting to pay attention to the Pittsburgh Pirates. People are starting to write articles about them. Not just schmucks like me, but actual people that work for actual big websites and get paid and everything. On Monday night, when the Pirates visit the Atlanta Braves, the game is going to be broadcast on ESPN. That will mark only the third time since the turn of the century that the Pirates have appeared on the World Wide Leader.
The only trouble is that they're also currently shin deep in a 13 game set that could turn into a pool of awesome or a quagmire of suck. These 13 games pit the Pirates against teams with a combined winning percentage of .558. They've gotten this far with solid pitching and defense, timely hitting, and beating up on the crappy teams in the NL Central, posting a 24-14 record against teams in their division. Take out their 0-5 record against the Brewers out of that and the Buccos are 24-9 against teams in the Central that aren't from Wisconsin.
They've already escaped the "easiest" part of this stretch with two wins against the Reds. That series was a microcosm of the season thus far. The Pirates won the first two games 2-0 and 1-0 on solid pitching, excellent work by their middle relievers, and timely hitting. They lost the third game 3-1 because the offense fizzled out and Jeff Karstens allowed two unearned runs. They trusted in the defense and the defense let them down.
Over the course of the next ten games, we'll get a chance to see if the Pirates can play with the big boys. After three games at home against the Cardinals, they hit the road with a four game set in Atlanta and three games at Philadelphia. The Phillies currently hold the best record in the majors, though the Pirates did take two out of three from them earlier this year at PNC Park. The Braves aren't far behind the Phillies in the NL East and would be leading the NL Central by five games if the divisions got realigned tomorrow.
To this point, all the experts that are paying attention have stated that the Pirates have either overachieved or gotten lucky thus far. They claim that they're not full-on believers yet and that defense, pitching, and timely hitting is not sustainable. They think that a collapse is probable, if not imminent. Colin Cowherd mentioned on his radio show last week that the current 13 game string-of-death was the make-or-break point of the season for the Buccos, with a firm declaration that they would end up on the "break" side of that scenario.
But, the fact remains that they're three games in and they're 2-1. If they can at least split these next ten games -- with a preference towards winning the three division games against St. Louis -- then the experts will have to admit that they're just achieving, not overachieving.
I think that they're straight-up achieving right now. We're 96 games into the season -- almost 60 percent of the way there -- and, though the lug nuts have been loose at times, the wheels don't seem to be coming off. After the make-or-break segment of the schedule, the Pirates have it fairly easy. They will face teams with a collective winning percentage of .484 in the second half, which is one of the easier schedules in the major leagues. That .484 percentage includes these 13 games against .558 teams, so the balance of the remaining games is below that mark.
This is not to say that the Pirates are a perfect team and will easily win the division. The rotation could unravel. The defense could implode. The offense, strange as it may sound, could actually get worse. Some guys are coming back from the disabled list, but that will only help so much. Getting Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata and Chris Snyder back will only add blush and eyeliner to the pig, it won't make it pretty. Ultimately, the Pirates need to trade for a bat before the trade deadline, but the make-or-break segment will end around 10 p.m. Eastern time on July 31st, which is past the 3 p.m. deadline for trades.
The other issue is that, right now, the Pirates are playing with house money. If they don't win the division -- and, given the fact that Atlanta is five games up in the wild card race, the Buccos will need to win the division to make it to the playoffs -- then they were never expected to win the division and isn't it nice that they played hard and got close after all these years? If they do nothing and somehow win the division, then Nutting and Huntington will look like geniuses for not sacrificing the future to win now.
It's a dicey situation, so it will be interesting to see how the next ten days play out.
The Buccos are currently six games over .500 and only half a game back of the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers. People are starting to pay attention to the Pittsburgh Pirates. People are starting to write articles about them. Not just schmucks like me, but actual people that work for actual big websites and get paid and everything. On Monday night, when the Pirates visit the Atlanta Braves, the game is going to be broadcast on ESPN. That will mark only the third time since the turn of the century that the Pirates have appeared on the World Wide Leader.
The only trouble is that they're also currently shin deep in a 13 game set that could turn into a pool of awesome or a quagmire of suck. These 13 games pit the Pirates against teams with a combined winning percentage of .558. They've gotten this far with solid pitching and defense, timely hitting, and beating up on the crappy teams in the NL Central, posting a 24-14 record against teams in their division. Take out their 0-5 record against the Brewers out of that and the Buccos are 24-9 against teams in the Central that aren't from Wisconsin.
They've already escaped the "easiest" part of this stretch with two wins against the Reds. That series was a microcosm of the season thus far. The Pirates won the first two games 2-0 and 1-0 on solid pitching, excellent work by their middle relievers, and timely hitting. They lost the third game 3-1 because the offense fizzled out and Jeff Karstens allowed two unearned runs. They trusted in the defense and the defense let them down.
Over the course of the next ten games, we'll get a chance to see if the Pirates can play with the big boys. After three games at home against the Cardinals, they hit the road with a four game set in Atlanta and three games at Philadelphia. The Phillies currently hold the best record in the majors, though the Pirates did take two out of three from them earlier this year at PNC Park. The Braves aren't far behind the Phillies in the NL East and would be leading the NL Central by five games if the divisions got realigned tomorrow.
To this point, all the experts that are paying attention have stated that the Pirates have either overachieved or gotten lucky thus far. They claim that they're not full-on believers yet and that defense, pitching, and timely hitting is not sustainable. They think that a collapse is probable, if not imminent. Colin Cowherd mentioned on his radio show last week that the current 13 game string-of-death was the make-or-break point of the season for the Buccos, with a firm declaration that they would end up on the "break" side of that scenario.
But, the fact remains that they're three games in and they're 2-1. If they can at least split these next ten games -- with a preference towards winning the three division games against St. Louis -- then the experts will have to admit that they're just achieving, not overachieving.
I think that they're straight-up achieving right now. We're 96 games into the season -- almost 60 percent of the way there -- and, though the lug nuts have been loose at times, the wheels don't seem to be coming off. After the make-or-break segment of the schedule, the Pirates have it fairly easy. They will face teams with a collective winning percentage of .484 in the second half, which is one of the easier schedules in the major leagues. That .484 percentage includes these 13 games against .558 teams, so the balance of the remaining games is below that mark.
This is not to say that the Pirates are a perfect team and will easily win the division. The rotation could unravel. The defense could implode. The offense, strange as it may sound, could actually get worse. Some guys are coming back from the disabled list, but that will only help so much. Getting Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata and Chris Snyder back will only add blush and eyeliner to the pig, it won't make it pretty. Ultimately, the Pirates need to trade for a bat before the trade deadline, but the make-or-break segment will end around 10 p.m. Eastern time on July 31st, which is past the 3 p.m. deadline for trades.
The other issue is that, right now, the Pirates are playing with house money. If they don't win the division -- and, given the fact that Atlanta is five games up in the wild card race, the Buccos will need to win the division to make it to the playoffs -- then they were never expected to win the division and isn't it nice that they played hard and got close after all these years? If they do nothing and somehow win the division, then Nutting and Huntington will look like geniuses for not sacrificing the future to win now.
It's a dicey situation, so it will be interesting to see how the next ten days play out.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Cleveland vs Power Review
*sigh*
Well, that's it. Our season ended in Cleveland this week in a hard-fought game against our now-hated rivals, the Cleveland Gladiators. We entered with the question of what kind of quarterback Kurt Rocco really is, and now we know: A good one. Although we brought some pressure on him early, he was largely unflappable the whole game, where-as Morris proved to be very flappable indeed.
It can't be said that the Power played a bad game - they were just out played. We trailed almost the entire first half, and we down almost 20 points at one juncture - but the Power managed an impressive comeback in the third to briefly take the lead. Morris was firing on all cylinders, Willis, Campbell and DeWalt were on fire, and even Paul Edinger was nearly perfect on the night.
It all when wrong when Morris had two huge fumbles in the fourth. Granted, one of those was a lousy snap, but he still lost two of them that led to scores. It's a problem Morris has had all season: When he unexpectedly goes down, he's terrible at protecting the ball. After that, he panics, beats himself up and everything goes downhill from there. This, unfortunately tends to overshadow the fact that he's accurate, mobile and long-range. It certainly did in this game.
To the Power's credit, they never gave up - until the end, they were still playing hard and trying to pull this one around...but once they were down by three scores, it was all over but the crying.
Again, by the numbers, it was an incredibly close game. Should these two teams remain more or less intact next year (always a big "if") then this is going to shape up to be a great rivalry. Morris was 28 for 41, Rocco was 25 for 35, and neither of them threw a pick the whole game. Rocco threw for 297 yards and 8 touchdowns, where-as Morris had 318 for 7. Tipping the balance was Morris scrambling for 28 yards - more than all of the Gladiators together.
On the receiving side, our players were equally as matched. Where Goodman was deadly all game for Cleveland, we answered just as well with Willis. Future NFLer Troy Bergeron was simply an Irv Campbell in a Gladiator uniform. Redd and DeWalt rounded out the matchup. Once again, they mostly shut down Washington, but that doesn't mean he wasn't out there hustling.
On special teams, it looked again like they were going to fall to poor kicking. They missed two PATs and failed to convert on a 2pt attempt. Edinger was a brilliant 7-8 on the night. Both teams were near equal on kickoff averages (55.9 for PIT and 57.0 yds for CLE.)
The fact of the matter is, that age-old mantra: Turnovers. Lose. Ballgames.
Without those three fumbles in this game, we would most likely have won - but those fumbles happened, and we lost. What's more, we deserved to. The better team is going to the playoffs, but they aren't that much better. We need to retain that knowledge going into a long off season after next week.
Next up, Philly, in a game that is only about bragging rights, such as they are.
If the Playoffs were today
Well, they might as well be. Not a single game matters next week, and the brackets are set.
The National Conference will see Arizona matched up with - and likely beating - Spokane in one match, and Dallas traveling to Chicago for the other. Chicago secured home-field advantage this week in the preview game against Dallas. This is a huge advantage for them on several levels. Not only did they already beat this team and not only will they have home-field advantage, but they secured this with their backup QB. Michna should be back for the playoffs, and aside from some rust, this will be bad, bad news for Dallas.
In the American conference, those lousy, stupid, no good, sons of syphilitic camels, the Cleveland Gladiators will be meeting up with the Georgia Force. It's going to be a very close game, as the Force has struggled at times this season, and Cleveland has already beaten them once this season. On the other hand, the lockout looks like it will be over by playoff time, which means that they will not have Bergeron.
The Sharks will be playing the Predators at home in probably the most exciting game of the first round. Sure the Sharks were the biggest force in AFL most of the season, but they've dropped three in a row, and the Predators hate them with the burning passion of a thousand dying suns. Were as I would have said - and did say a few weeks ago - that they would win the Arena Bowl this year, the Sharks are starting to look rather mortal.
So, just because the Power doesn't have anything left to play for, doesn't mean that there's not still football to watch.
Well, that's it. Our season ended in Cleveland this week in a hard-fought game against our now-hated rivals, the Cleveland Gladiators. We entered with the question of what kind of quarterback Kurt Rocco really is, and now we know: A good one. Although we brought some pressure on him early, he was largely unflappable the whole game, where-as Morris proved to be very flappable indeed.
It can't be said that the Power played a bad game - they were just out played. We trailed almost the entire first half, and we down almost 20 points at one juncture - but the Power managed an impressive comeback in the third to briefly take the lead. Morris was firing on all cylinders, Willis, Campbell and DeWalt were on fire, and even Paul Edinger was nearly perfect on the night.
It all when wrong when Morris had two huge fumbles in the fourth. Granted, one of those was a lousy snap, but he still lost two of them that led to scores. It's a problem Morris has had all season: When he unexpectedly goes down, he's terrible at protecting the ball. After that, he panics, beats himself up and everything goes downhill from there. This, unfortunately tends to overshadow the fact that he's accurate, mobile and long-range. It certainly did in this game.
To the Power's credit, they never gave up - until the end, they were still playing hard and trying to pull this one around...but once they were down by three scores, it was all over but the crying.
Again, by the numbers, it was an incredibly close game. Should these two teams remain more or less intact next year (always a big "if") then this is going to shape up to be a great rivalry. Morris was 28 for 41, Rocco was 25 for 35, and neither of them threw a pick the whole game. Rocco threw for 297 yards and 8 touchdowns, where-as Morris had 318 for 7. Tipping the balance was Morris scrambling for 28 yards - more than all of the Gladiators together.
On the receiving side, our players were equally as matched. Where Goodman was deadly all game for Cleveland, we answered just as well with Willis. Future NFLer Troy Bergeron was simply an Irv Campbell in a Gladiator uniform. Redd and DeWalt rounded out the matchup. Once again, they mostly shut down Washington, but that doesn't mean he wasn't out there hustling.
On special teams, it looked again like they were going to fall to poor kicking. They missed two PATs and failed to convert on a 2pt attempt. Edinger was a brilliant 7-8 on the night. Both teams were near equal on kickoff averages (55.9 for PIT and 57.0 yds for CLE.)
The fact of the matter is, that age-old mantra: Turnovers. Lose. Ballgames.
Without those three fumbles in this game, we would most likely have won - but those fumbles happened, and we lost. What's more, we deserved to. The better team is going to the playoffs, but they aren't that much better. We need to retain that knowledge going into a long off season after next week.
Next up, Philly, in a game that is only about bragging rights, such as they are.
If the Playoffs were today
Well, they might as well be. Not a single game matters next week, and the brackets are set.
The National Conference will see Arizona matched up with - and likely beating - Spokane in one match, and Dallas traveling to Chicago for the other. Chicago secured home-field advantage this week in the preview game against Dallas. This is a huge advantage for them on several levels. Not only did they already beat this team and not only will they have home-field advantage, but they secured this with their backup QB. Michna should be back for the playoffs, and aside from some rust, this will be bad, bad news for Dallas.
In the American conference, those lousy, stupid, no good, sons of syphilitic camels, the Cleveland Gladiators will be meeting up with the Georgia Force. It's going to be a very close game, as the Force has struggled at times this season, and Cleveland has already beaten them once this season. On the other hand, the lockout looks like it will be over by playoff time, which means that they will not have Bergeron.
The Sharks will be playing the Predators at home in probably the most exciting game of the first round. Sure the Sharks were the biggest force in AFL most of the season, but they've dropped three in a row, and the Predators hate them with the burning passion of a thousand dying suns. Were as I would have said - and did say a few weeks ago - that they would win the Arena Bowl this year, the Sharks are starting to look rather mortal.
So, just because the Power doesn't have anything left to play for, doesn't mean that there's not still football to watch.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Two Will Enter, One Will Leave - Power vs Gladiators Preview
Here we go again - Once more, we meet up with the Gladiators in a game that will help decide the division. This time, once and for all.
Friday night, the Power travels to Cleveland for our second match-up with our division rivals, and everything is at stake. Fittingly, it's a featured Friday-night game on the NFL Network. Neither team has won an NFL-broadcast game yet, although, for the Power this our third try. Needless to say, I'm a bit concerned that this will get in their collective heads.
Writing columns for a second match-up is somewhat easier with the Power, because they haven't changed a lot since the last one. For better or worse, things are going to play out much the same as they did last time.
Cleveland has had a quarterback's carousel this season like many other teams, but Kurt Rocco has been their Bernard Morris and stuck around the most. Last time we played him, our defense was able to hold him down to just 32 points as well as force several turnovers on downs. Granted, they did nearly the same thing to us, but the point remains that they were one of the teams, and he was one of the quarterbacks, that we had an answer for.
Last week in Philly, he was beat senseless. Sacked seven times and held to but 2 touchdowns and 200 yards, it was a shameful performance. Now, there is an outside chance Ryan Vena is going to pull an O'Hara and sub in at backup quarterback at the last second, but I doubt it - Rocco is their QB, and this game has a lot more riding on it than Orlando did. Therefore, we're going to play a QB who is bruised and humiliated on national television having to face it again.
Honestly, we're going to find out a lot about Rocco this week, and what kind of man he is. IS he the type that won't accept defeat and will come out aiming to banish recent ghosts and win one for the gipper? Or is he the type that's going to come out Friday night so scared silly that it's going to happen again? It's tough to say, but we're going to find out.
His receiver corps are still tough, and ready for action - even if they were shut down last week. Bergeron, Redd and Monk are all dangerous, but the good news is that we've played them before and have film to review. As long as the defense does what they did last time, we should be able to contain them. Also, if the NFL lockout ends tomorrow, Bergeron is a Dallas Cowboy. At long last, we have a reason for wanting the lockout to end!
On our side of the ball, everything I just said about us is true for them. They controlled us last time just as much as we controlled them. Also, the Gladiators - last week not withstanding - have the best pass blocking offensive line in the league.
Last time, we commented that Cleveland was running the anit-DeWalt defense. There is no reason that should change. More frighteningly, they shut down Mike Washington. We have other options, but he has been our prime, go-to guy this season and that is scary. Thankfully, last time, Morris adjusted and went with Willis. Now, we've also got both Mathis and Hall. If anything, we're stronger at receiver than we were last time. This is going to be the deciding factor - if the Power steps up and embraces its options, we'll have this one.
Sadly, last time we were hampered on defense by - everybody together now - stupid procedural penalties. We're just going to have to accept that they're going to happen again and move past it. At this point in the season, nothing's going to change there, so instead, we'll have to make up for it on offense.
Lastly, the game came down to kickers last time, and we came out on the right side of it. Surprisingly, Edinger has been fairly good and consistent recently. If he can hold it together, then I have the sneaking sense that we can hope to not worry about him.
So there it is. Two very equal teams, both playing for their season on national television. The Power office set up a field trip to bus fans out to Cleveland, vuvuzelas in hand. If we're lucky, a lot of people signed up and Power nation will start to represent like Steeler nation. Go Power!
Friday night, the Power travels to Cleveland for our second match-up with our division rivals, and everything is at stake. Fittingly, it's a featured Friday-night game on the NFL Network. Neither team has won an NFL-broadcast game yet, although, for the Power this our third try. Needless to say, I'm a bit concerned that this will get in their collective heads.
Writing columns for a second match-up is somewhat easier with the Power, because they haven't changed a lot since the last one. For better or worse, things are going to play out much the same as they did last time.
Cleveland has had a quarterback's carousel this season like many other teams, but Kurt Rocco has been their Bernard Morris and stuck around the most. Last time we played him, our defense was able to hold him down to just 32 points as well as force several turnovers on downs. Granted, they did nearly the same thing to us, but the point remains that they were one of the teams, and he was one of the quarterbacks, that we had an answer for.
Last week in Philly, he was beat senseless. Sacked seven times and held to but 2 touchdowns and 200 yards, it was a shameful performance. Now, there is an outside chance Ryan Vena is going to pull an O'Hara and sub in at backup quarterback at the last second, but I doubt it - Rocco is their QB, and this game has a lot more riding on it than Orlando did. Therefore, we're going to play a QB who is bruised and humiliated on national television having to face it again.
Honestly, we're going to find out a lot about Rocco this week, and what kind of man he is. IS he the type that won't accept defeat and will come out aiming to banish recent ghosts and win one for the gipper? Or is he the type that's going to come out Friday night so scared silly that it's going to happen again? It's tough to say, but we're going to find out.
His receiver corps are still tough, and ready for action - even if they were shut down last week. Bergeron, Redd and Monk are all dangerous, but the good news is that we've played them before and have film to review. As long as the defense does what they did last time, we should be able to contain them. Also, if the NFL lockout ends tomorrow, Bergeron is a Dallas Cowboy. At long last, we have a reason for wanting the lockout to end!
On our side of the ball, everything I just said about us is true for them. They controlled us last time just as much as we controlled them. Also, the Gladiators - last week not withstanding - have the best pass blocking offensive line in the league.
Last time, we commented that Cleveland was running the anit-DeWalt defense. There is no reason that should change. More frighteningly, they shut down Mike Washington. We have other options, but he has been our prime, go-to guy this season and that is scary. Thankfully, last time, Morris adjusted and went with Willis. Now, we've also got both Mathis and Hall. If anything, we're stronger at receiver than we were last time. This is going to be the deciding factor - if the Power steps up and embraces its options, we'll have this one.
Sadly, last time we were hampered on defense by - everybody together now - stupid procedural penalties. We're just going to have to accept that they're going to happen again and move past it. At this point in the season, nothing's going to change there, so instead, we'll have to make up for it on offense.
Lastly, the game came down to kickers last time, and we came out on the right side of it. Surprisingly, Edinger has been fairly good and consistent recently. If he can hold it together, then I have the sneaking sense that we can hope to not worry about him.
So there it is. Two very equal teams, both playing for their season on national television. The Power office set up a field trip to bus fans out to Cleveland, vuvuzelas in hand. If we're lucky, a lot of people signed up and Power nation will start to represent like Steeler nation. Go Power!
Elsewhere in the league
- One of the few games with any meaning this week is Chicago vs Dallas in a first-round playoff preview. Both teams are in, and this game will probably tell us a lot about the first round.
- The Talons are still in the hunt, and meet the Preds on Saturday. I don't see that one going their way, but they have a lot on the line.
- The Shock tentatively have a spot right now, but they are meeting up against the desperate Sabercats this weekend, where anything can happen.
The Harrison Situation
Earlier today, news broke out that James Harrison did an interview with Men's Journal and had some not-so-nice things to say about Roger Goodell and his fellow teammates. He specifically called out Ben Roethlisberger for throwing two interceptions in the Super Bowl and for trying to act like Peyton Manning, when he's clearly not. He called Rashard Mendenhall a "fumble machine" and had some unkind words for the Patriots, particularly Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi, but those comments are fine.
Let's just accept the fact that running his mouth off was a dumb idea and move on to what this means for Harrison and the Steelers.
Will Goodell suspend Harrison?
Well, Harrison is hardly alone in thinking that Goodell is a tyrant and a petulant child that likes to suspend anyone when he gets a boo-boo face. Harrison is just the first person to say something as blunt as, "If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn't do it." He also called Goodell a "devil" and used some other choice adjectives to describe him.
But, the thing is, if everyone thinks Goodell is a dictator, the best course of action would not be to arbitrarily suspend Harrison for calling him out on it. That would just perpetuate the image and Goodell is smart enough and logical enough to avoid stooping to Harrison's level.
Also, I've heard rumors that the Steelers might suspend Harrison for at least one game. That's not a huge punishment, but it's at least something and should keep the NFL from levying any fines or suspensions.
Will the Steelers release James Harrison?
I don't think they will. I actually think that one of the reasons Harrison ran his mouth so much is that the coaches and owners aren't allowed to talk to him because of the Lockout. It could be that he thought that, by the time everyone reported back to camp, this whole thing would have blown over and Tomlin and the Rooneys would have more important matters to attend to than yelling at him for being stupid.
But, ultimately, he's too good at what he does and he's too important to the team to cut him. If Nick Eason said what Harrison said, they'd cut him in a heart beat. The Hines Ward situation is similar, but at least there are courts of law and actual, structured league policies to govern those kinds of things.
On top of that, as I've stated repeatedly, the Steelers don't run a squeaky clean organization. They run a winning organization and having Harrison on the team gives them a better chance of winning football games. We all just need to accept that and move on.
They didn't cut him when he possibly assaulted his girlfriend in 2008, they didn't cut him last season when he was heavily fined and lashed out against Goodell, and they didn't cut him when he threatened to retire during the 2010 season.
The Steelers have consistently taken a "wait and see" approach with Harrison and he has been consistently productive every time they've looked the other way. The alleged incident I linked to up there happened in March 2008 and Harrison won the Defensive Player of the Year award that season, so maybe he'll be awesome this year (if the Lockout ever ends).
But, this is different. He didn't just bad mouth Goodell and those dirty, stinking Patriots, he also bad mouthed his teammates. So, should they cut him?
Here's the thing: We don't know the context of the interview. Harrison's a competitive guy that just wants to play football. He hasn't had any OTAs or mini-camps to keep him busy and, for the past five months, there's been no 2011 season to focus on. He's just had that one game bouncing around in his head all offseason. Given that mindset -- and knowing Harrison -- the interviewer probably didn't have to prod him too hard to get him rolling on different issues.
I wasn't there, I don't have any idea, but my thinking is that Men's Journal had something in mind for the piece before they interviewed him and it would have been a natural tendency to push Harrison in that direction. Then he got rolling and said a lot of stupid things.
The other thing is that I just wrote, "knowing Harrison" a couple of paragraphs ago. He seems like a salty, abrasive dude, but I haven't met him, I've never spoken with him, and I don't know him. The guys that do know him -- and have spent their entire careers in the same locker room with him -- are Roethlisberger and Mendenhall and they're the ones that really matter.
Mendenhall and Roethlisberger have both stated publicly that they are fine with Harrison's comments and Roethlisberger mentioned that Harrison called him the morning that the article was published to the web and explained the situation. Mendenhall Tweeted that, "I dont have a problem with what [Harrison] said because I know him."
First of all, they're saying all of this because they're better teammates than Harrison. Second of all, they're trying to diffuse the situation. Finally, they understand that this situation will only stop being an issue (football-wise) once they all sit down together and talk it out in the locker room. Roethlisberger and Mendenhall know Harrison. The Rooneys know Harrison and they've been through a lot with him in the past three years and change.
The major issue at hand is whether or not Harrison and his comments will cause problems in the locker room and/or divide the locker room into offense vs. defense. If Harrison's comments end up doing this, then it makes sense to release him. It doesn't look as though this will be an issue, but, as I said, the Steelers will adopt a "wait and see" approach. If he causes issues, then they will cut him.
I've also never been in an NFL locker room. From what I can gather from TV, it's a bunch of massive, naked, sweaty men yelling at each other. Chances are that there have been worse things said in the Steelers locker room than what Harrison said in the interview. Case and point: Harrison's team nickname is Silverback, because he reminds his teammates of a gorilla. This is not intended to defend Harrison. He said some foolish, offensive, and inflammatory things and that was not wise. But, the things he said, once put in perspective of the fact that his teammates nicknamed a large, black man after a primate, seem less intense.
Ultimately, Roethlisberger, Mendenhall, and the Rooneys will realize that they are not in the business of being nice guys. They are in the business of winning football games. James Harrison improves their chances of winning more games. Once everyone accepts that, the sooner this issue will go away.
Let's just accept the fact that running his mouth off was a dumb idea and move on to what this means for Harrison and the Steelers.
Will Goodell suspend Harrison?
Well, Harrison is hardly alone in thinking that Goodell is a tyrant and a petulant child that likes to suspend anyone when he gets a boo-boo face. Harrison is just the first person to say something as blunt as, "If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn't do it." He also called Goodell a "devil" and used some other choice adjectives to describe him.
But, the thing is, if everyone thinks Goodell is a dictator, the best course of action would not be to arbitrarily suspend Harrison for calling him out on it. That would just perpetuate the image and Goodell is smart enough and logical enough to avoid stooping to Harrison's level.
Also, I've heard rumors that the Steelers might suspend Harrison for at least one game. That's not a huge punishment, but it's at least something and should keep the NFL from levying any fines or suspensions.
Will the Steelers release James Harrison?
I don't think they will. I actually think that one of the reasons Harrison ran his mouth so much is that the coaches and owners aren't allowed to talk to him because of the Lockout. It could be that he thought that, by the time everyone reported back to camp, this whole thing would have blown over and Tomlin and the Rooneys would have more important matters to attend to than yelling at him for being stupid.
But, ultimately, he's too good at what he does and he's too important to the team to cut him. If Nick Eason said what Harrison said, they'd cut him in a heart beat. The Hines Ward situation is similar, but at least there are courts of law and actual, structured league policies to govern those kinds of things.
On top of that, as I've stated repeatedly, the Steelers don't run a squeaky clean organization. They run a winning organization and having Harrison on the team gives them a better chance of winning football games. We all just need to accept that and move on.
They didn't cut him when he possibly assaulted his girlfriend in 2008, they didn't cut him last season when he was heavily fined and lashed out against Goodell, and they didn't cut him when he threatened to retire during the 2010 season.
The Steelers have consistently taken a "wait and see" approach with Harrison and he has been consistently productive every time they've looked the other way. The alleged incident I linked to up there happened in March 2008 and Harrison won the Defensive Player of the Year award that season, so maybe he'll be awesome this year (if the Lockout ever ends).
But, this is different. He didn't just bad mouth Goodell and those dirty, stinking Patriots, he also bad mouthed his teammates. So, should they cut him?
Here's the thing: We don't know the context of the interview. Harrison's a competitive guy that just wants to play football. He hasn't had any OTAs or mini-camps to keep him busy and, for the past five months, there's been no 2011 season to focus on. He's just had that one game bouncing around in his head all offseason. Given that mindset -- and knowing Harrison -- the interviewer probably didn't have to prod him too hard to get him rolling on different issues.
I wasn't there, I don't have any idea, but my thinking is that Men's Journal had something in mind for the piece before they interviewed him and it would have been a natural tendency to push Harrison in that direction. Then he got rolling and said a lot of stupid things.
The other thing is that I just wrote, "knowing Harrison" a couple of paragraphs ago. He seems like a salty, abrasive dude, but I haven't met him, I've never spoken with him, and I don't know him. The guys that do know him -- and have spent their entire careers in the same locker room with him -- are Roethlisberger and Mendenhall and they're the ones that really matter.
Mendenhall and Roethlisberger have both stated publicly that they are fine with Harrison's comments and Roethlisberger mentioned that Harrison called him the morning that the article was published to the web and explained the situation. Mendenhall Tweeted that, "I dont have a problem with what [Harrison] said because I know him."
First of all, they're saying all of this because they're better teammates than Harrison. Second of all, they're trying to diffuse the situation. Finally, they understand that this situation will only stop being an issue (football-wise) once they all sit down together and talk it out in the locker room. Roethlisberger and Mendenhall know Harrison. The Rooneys know Harrison and they've been through a lot with him in the past three years and change.
The major issue at hand is whether or not Harrison and his comments will cause problems in the locker room and/or divide the locker room into offense vs. defense. If Harrison's comments end up doing this, then it makes sense to release him. It doesn't look as though this will be an issue, but, as I said, the Steelers will adopt a "wait and see" approach. If he causes issues, then they will cut him.
I've also never been in an NFL locker room. From what I can gather from TV, it's a bunch of massive, naked, sweaty men yelling at each other. Chances are that there have been worse things said in the Steelers locker room than what Harrison said in the interview. Case and point: Harrison's team nickname is Silverback, because he reminds his teammates of a gorilla. This is not intended to defend Harrison. He said some foolish, offensive, and inflammatory things and that was not wise. But, the things he said, once put in perspective of the fact that his teammates nicknamed a large, black man after a primate, seem less intense.
Ultimately, Roethlisberger, Mendenhall, and the Rooneys will realize that they are not in the business of being nice guys. They are in the business of winning football games. James Harrison improves their chances of winning more games. Once everyone accepts that, the sooner this issue will go away.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Snakebit - Power/Rattlers review
Well, we got slaughtered, but that's not really a surprise. When I saw this game on the schedule at the beginning of the season, I pretty much assumed that this was going to be a loss for us - and that's before the Rattlers were a 15-2 (Nee, 14-2) team. Frankly, losing to the #1 team in their conference - arguably the best team in the league - is nothing to be ashamed of. Now, I get to see how many weeks in a row one blogger can say, "This loss isn't the end of the world, but we need to win out."
Frankly, we were out-classed from the word go, and turned the ball over in both of our first two possessions. This gave the Rattlers an early 14-0 lead, which is bad enough. From there, we were never able to stop them on a single drive all night. Our defense just could not penetrate their O line with any kind of regularity, and gave Devila way too much time to think. WR Jason Geathers was just everywhere and did far too much damage to us throughout - though, he was nice enough a few times to give up some yards by talking too much trash in front of the refs. Furthermore, Odie Armstrong - who appears to be some hybrid of ox and armored truck - rushed for 22 yards, requiring the entire defense to bring him down each time.
When we had the ball, their defense just tore through the Power like they weren't even there. We turned the ball over a total of four times during the game, which is bad in any game, but especially against an opponent like this. They also managed to keep Morris under 200 yards this week.
The biggest failure was the defense. Sure, Arizona's offense was incredible, but the Power D played like a bunch of rookies. They had seven pre-snap penalties/illegal defense in this game. Seven - and there were a few of the latter that I saw go uncalled. That works out to almost two a quarter that were called. That's kid stuff and is the main reason that the Power isn't going to make it far in the playoffs, even if they make it there.
The bright spot this week was our favorite wee-little receiver, Mike "the Joystick" Washington. Someone forgot to tell him that we were losing that game from the word "go." He caught three touchdowns during the game, and was phenomenal on special teams. He had 228 yards in returns alone, and even ran one back for a touchdown. He could have added another 48 yards to that total had one return not been called back. He is solid, and the rumors of him leaving for the UFL, CFL or other are starting to get pretty scary.
Lucky for us, Cleveland got even more badly dismantled on Friday night than we did. That brings it down to the last two games for both teams. If they win in Utah and we beat Philly in our final games, that means that the division goes to whoever wins next week. In some ways, this is totally awesome thing - and it will help cement our rivalry.
I said earlier that I don't see the Power going far in the playoffs. Well, I don't. I also don't expect Cleveland to go far if they make it. The fact of the matter is, we have a very weak division, and pretty much every other team that will be in the playoffs will be better. For us, that's okay - just making it to the playoffs our rookie year would be awesome.
And I'm still going to believe until and unless proven otherwise.
Elsewhere in the league
The National Conference is all but sewn up. The Rattlers have now clinched home-field advantage all the way up to, and most likely for, the Arena Bowl. With our loss, they officially beat everyone they played in the American conference.
The Rush and Vigilantes are both in, and the final wild-card is all that's left to be determined. Right now, it's looking to be the Shock, but the Blaze, Talons and even Sabercats all have a shot, and we have two weeks to figure it out.
In the American conference, things are a little more dicey. The Sharks are locked with homefield advantage, but that's it. The Force and Preds are duking it out for wildcard slots and, frankly, they're both going to get one. Then, there's our division.
If we win out, we have the division. If the Gladiators lose out, then we win the division. If we win against Cleveland and lose to Philly, I think we're still in, because we will have swept Cleveland. If we lose to Cleveland and win in Philly, Cleveland goes...Look, there's lots of permutations, and the easiest one is to win out. Let's just do that and leave the math to the league guys.
Frankly, we were out-classed from the word go, and turned the ball over in both of our first two possessions. This gave the Rattlers an early 14-0 lead, which is bad enough. From there, we were never able to stop them on a single drive all night. Our defense just could not penetrate their O line with any kind of regularity, and gave Devila way too much time to think. WR Jason Geathers was just everywhere and did far too much damage to us throughout - though, he was nice enough a few times to give up some yards by talking too much trash in front of the refs. Furthermore, Odie Armstrong - who appears to be some hybrid of ox and armored truck - rushed for 22 yards, requiring the entire defense to bring him down each time.
When we had the ball, their defense just tore through the Power like they weren't even there. We turned the ball over a total of four times during the game, which is bad in any game, but especially against an opponent like this. They also managed to keep Morris under 200 yards this week.
The biggest failure was the defense. Sure, Arizona's offense was incredible, but the Power D played like a bunch of rookies. They had seven pre-snap penalties/illegal defense in this game. Seven - and there were a few of the latter that I saw go uncalled. That works out to almost two a quarter that were called. That's kid stuff and is the main reason that the Power isn't going to make it far in the playoffs, even if they make it there.
The bright spot this week was our favorite wee-little receiver, Mike "the Joystick" Washington. Someone forgot to tell him that we were losing that game from the word "go." He caught three touchdowns during the game, and was phenomenal on special teams. He had 228 yards in returns alone, and even ran one back for a touchdown. He could have added another 48 yards to that total had one return not been called back. He is solid, and the rumors of him leaving for the UFL, CFL or other are starting to get pretty scary.
Lucky for us, Cleveland got even more badly dismantled on Friday night than we did. That brings it down to the last two games for both teams. If they win in Utah and we beat Philly in our final games, that means that the division goes to whoever wins next week. In some ways, this is totally awesome thing - and it will help cement our rivalry.
I said earlier that I don't see the Power going far in the playoffs. Well, I don't. I also don't expect Cleveland to go far if they make it. The fact of the matter is, we have a very weak division, and pretty much every other team that will be in the playoffs will be better. For us, that's okay - just making it to the playoffs our rookie year would be awesome.
And I'm still going to believe until and unless proven otherwise.
Elsewhere in the league
- The Gladiators were totally, and utterly destroyed by a team that has nothing to win or lose except pride. Philly made no bones about the fact that they were coming in to play spoiler, and they accomplished it. Even without Donovan Morgan, who defected to the UFL, they treated Cleveland like AZ treated us. The Gladiators came in with the league-best pass rush defense, but ended seeing how it felt to be on the receiving side. Philly sacked Rocco 7 times and even forced a safety. I do not really expect to see him next week against us. Take note, Power fans - if the Soul can do it to them, they can do it to us and tombstone our season.
- Sharks dropped a second game in a row, proving that they're taking the time to coast, or are running out of gas. This loss cemented Dallas's postseason spot.
- The Rush has now won three in a row and still winning without Russ Michna, making them dangerous when he comes back for the playoffs.
The National Conference is all but sewn up. The Rattlers have now clinched home-field advantage all the way up to, and most likely for, the Arena Bowl. With our loss, they officially beat everyone they played in the American conference.
The Rush and Vigilantes are both in, and the final wild-card is all that's left to be determined. Right now, it's looking to be the Shock, but the Blaze, Talons and even Sabercats all have a shot, and we have two weeks to figure it out.
In the American conference, things are a little more dicey. The Sharks are locked with homefield advantage, but that's it. The Force and Preds are duking it out for wildcard slots and, frankly, they're both going to get one. Then, there's our division.
If we win out, we have the division. If the Gladiators lose out, then we win the division. If we win against Cleveland and lose to Philly, I think we're still in, because we will have swept Cleveland. If we lose to Cleveland and win in Philly, Cleveland goes...Look, there's lots of permutations, and the easiest one is to win out. Let's just do that and leave the math to the league guys.
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Rattlers @Power Preview - Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
Well, here it is, already: The last home game of the regular season. Went by fast, didn't it?
Fittingly enough, our last game is also going to be possibly our toughest and most important one. I've hammered it to death, but we're in do-or-die formation at this point. Any loss will most likely tombstone our playoff chances - or at very, very least, make us totally dependent on Cleveland choking.
In many ways, I am at a loss as to what to write this week that I haven't written repeatedly before. Next to only (maybe) the Sharks, the Rattlers are the toughest team we've faced yet. In fact, most power rankings and coaching polls have them ranked higher than Jacksonville. This week, it's our A-Game or nothing. I can go on about the normal things, but it seem superfluous.
Obviously, we need Morris to start. The simple fact is, we win more with him than without him. This week, the Power signed Bill Stull as their #2 QB. Obviously, this means that the McCabe train has officially left the station, bringing our total number of people in that position over the season to 6. This has been our prime weakness right along, and something that better not happen next year. With all of those changes, Morris has been as close to a regular face that we've had, and we need that stability behind center.
Part of this stability is his connection with his receivers. DeWalt and Washington know his routes, know how he thinks and have the best connection with him. With Willis in the wings as a third option, it's all solid. As great as things worked with Campbell and Hall last week, I'm not sure that the Power should risk them against a team as solid as Arizona. Sure, keep them handy in case we need a change of direction at some point in the game.
Defense needs to bring their best, even more so than the offense. Our defense has been streaky at best all season, and that's my biggest concern. But then, it usually is. Again, I'm not telling you anything I haven't said before.
Nick Davila is a hell of a quarterback with a lot of yards and over a hundred TDs on the season. His receivers are Windsor, Harvey and Geathers are even better than Orlando's and aren't going to give us any leeway.
If there is any bright side, it's that their competitive games (taking away pushovers like the Talons and Mustangs) have been decided by less than two touchdowns. This is not a strategy that we have been unfamiliar with this season. They're going to absorb our scores, because they intend to score even more. If we can make a few third and fourth down stops, it might be what it takes to turn the tide.
I realize that this preview has been rather vague - but, again, it's because there's nothing new to say about a game like this. It's been an up-and-down season, and we know who we are now. If the Power plays their best, then they have a shot. I had had the hope that the Rattlers would play soft this week, being as how they've locked up their division at this point - however, they're still playing for seeding in the likelihood that they play the Sharks in the final game. Also, they know that they have a bye next week to absorb any bumps and bruises.
The simple fact is, come Sunday evening, we - as fans - need to show up in force at Consol and cheer them on. Give it one last hurrah at home before the playoffs and hope against hope that we're participating in them.
Elsewhere in the league
Fittingly enough, our last game is also going to be possibly our toughest and most important one. I've hammered it to death, but we're in do-or-die formation at this point. Any loss will most likely tombstone our playoff chances - or at very, very least, make us totally dependent on Cleveland choking.
In many ways, I am at a loss as to what to write this week that I haven't written repeatedly before. Next to only (maybe) the Sharks, the Rattlers are the toughest team we've faced yet. In fact, most power rankings and coaching polls have them ranked higher than Jacksonville. This week, it's our A-Game or nothing. I can go on about the normal things, but it seem superfluous.
Obviously, we need Morris to start. The simple fact is, we win more with him than without him. This week, the Power signed Bill Stull as their #2 QB. Obviously, this means that the McCabe train has officially left the station, bringing our total number of people in that position over the season to 6. This has been our prime weakness right along, and something that better not happen next year. With all of those changes, Morris has been as close to a regular face that we've had, and we need that stability behind center.
Part of this stability is his connection with his receivers. DeWalt and Washington know his routes, know how he thinks and have the best connection with him. With Willis in the wings as a third option, it's all solid. As great as things worked with Campbell and Hall last week, I'm not sure that the Power should risk them against a team as solid as Arizona. Sure, keep them handy in case we need a change of direction at some point in the game.
Defense needs to bring their best, even more so than the offense. Our defense has been streaky at best all season, and that's my biggest concern. But then, it usually is. Again, I'm not telling you anything I haven't said before.
Nick Davila is a hell of a quarterback with a lot of yards and over a hundred TDs on the season. His receivers are Windsor, Harvey and Geathers are even better than Orlando's and aren't going to give us any leeway.
If there is any bright side, it's that their competitive games (taking away pushovers like the Talons and Mustangs) have been decided by less than two touchdowns. This is not a strategy that we have been unfamiliar with this season. They're going to absorb our scores, because they intend to score even more. If we can make a few third and fourth down stops, it might be what it takes to turn the tide.
I realize that this preview has been rather vague - but, again, it's because there's nothing new to say about a game like this. It's been an up-and-down season, and we know who we are now. If the Power plays their best, then they have a shot. I had had the hope that the Rattlers would play soft this week, being as how they've locked up their division at this point - however, they're still playing for seeding in the likelihood that they play the Sharks in the final game. Also, they know that they have a bye next week to absorb any bumps and bruises.
The simple fact is, come Sunday evening, we - as fans - need to show up in force at Consol and cheer them on. Give it one last hurrah at home before the playoffs and hope against hope that we're participating in them.
Elsewhere in the league
- Frankly, maybe even more than our game, the most important one this week is the one on the NFL Network Friday night: Cleveland visiting Philly. If the Soul manages to beat the Gladiators, it will make our life sooooooo much easier. Can they pull it off? Yeah, I don't think so - but the Mustangs gave me some hope last week.
- You're not missing anything online Friday night, as the other game is between two of the three worst teams in the league: the Voodoo and the Mustangs.
- As Dallas is still worried about seeding and clinching a spot, their game against Jacksonville Saturday has the potential to be bloody.
- The Shock is still on the cusp, so their meeting with the Blaze at 9:00 on Saturday is very crucial to them. Right now, those two teams are tied, so the winner could walk away with a lot.
Remembering John Mackey
For those of you that didn't know, John Mackey died today.
Mackey is a Hall of Fame tight end that played for the Baltimore Colts. He was as much a part of those great teams of the 60s and early 70s as Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry. The Mackey Award, given to the nation's best tight end in college football, is named in honor of him.
But, since I was an NFL Films junkie as a kid -- before the NFL Network started carving all that classic footage up and packaging it into neat top 10 lists -- I remember him as the guy that caught a deflected pass from Johnny Unitas in Super Bowl V and took it 75 yards for a touchdown. I used to watch all the old Super Bowl highlights and that play really stuck with me.
The play in question can be viewed here if you start it up and go to about the 27 second mark. At the time, it wouldn't have been a legal forward pass had the defender not touched the ball. Back then, if an offensive player touched a forward pass and it went back up in the air, a defensive player needed to touch it before an offensive player was allowed to.
About ten years ago, I went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio with my friend Forty and my brother. Forty called me the day before we left and said, "Looks like there will be players there signing autographs. Herman Moore is going to be there and some guy named John Mackey."
I immediately shouted, "JOHN MACKEY?!?! I LOVE THAT GUY!" So, we went to Canton and looked at all the exhibits and ended the tour with the autograph session. At that point, Herman Moore was a pretty big deal -- also a really nice guy, he talked to us longer than Mackey and wished us well as we were standing outside the building and he was exiting -- but I was focused on Mackey.
Mackey was seated at a table and was flashing his Super Bowl ring around like a fat girl that just got engaged. I went up to him and had the following conversation...
Me: Mr. Mackey, I'm a big fan and I'd like to congratulate you on a great career. I guess you should sign this.
Mackey (not looking up): Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that.
Me: I have a question for you and I've wanted to ask you this for about 15 years.
Mackey (still not looking up): Sure, go right ahead.
Me: It's Super Bowl V and Unitas drills a pass into Lenny Moore's pads that bounces off him, bounces up in the air, and may or may not have been tipped by the defender. You haul in the pass and go 75 yards for the touchdown.
Mackey (now looking up): That was one of the proudest moments of my career. What's your question?
Me: Did the defender touch the ball?
Mackey (fixes himself and stares right into my eyes, his gaze burning a hole straight through to the bald spot on the back of my head): It's not my job to say who touched the ball and who didn't. It's my job to catch the ball and score touchdowns. It's the ref's job to say who touched the ball and who didn't. He said the guy touched it and I scored.
Me: I see. Thank-
Mackey: If you sit there trying to figure out who touched the ball and who didn't, someone's gonna knock your head off.
My assumption is that he signed something for me, because I grabbed it and scurried away.
That's my John Mackey story. He seemed like a great man, even if he was pretty old school and a little salty. After all, I was just some idiot that came along asking a dumb question about something that happened 30 years before that. It's possible that he was obligated by international law to be a little salty.
He will be missed.
Mackey is a Hall of Fame tight end that played for the Baltimore Colts. He was as much a part of those great teams of the 60s and early 70s as Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry. The Mackey Award, given to the nation's best tight end in college football, is named in honor of him.
But, since I was an NFL Films junkie as a kid -- before the NFL Network started carving all that classic footage up and packaging it into neat top 10 lists -- I remember him as the guy that caught a deflected pass from Johnny Unitas in Super Bowl V and took it 75 yards for a touchdown. I used to watch all the old Super Bowl highlights and that play really stuck with me.
The play in question can be viewed here if you start it up and go to about the 27 second mark. At the time, it wouldn't have been a legal forward pass had the defender not touched the ball. Back then, if an offensive player touched a forward pass and it went back up in the air, a defensive player needed to touch it before an offensive player was allowed to.
About ten years ago, I went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio with my friend Forty and my brother. Forty called me the day before we left and said, "Looks like there will be players there signing autographs. Herman Moore is going to be there and some guy named John Mackey."
I immediately shouted, "JOHN MACKEY?!?! I LOVE THAT GUY!" So, we went to Canton and looked at all the exhibits and ended the tour with the autograph session. At that point, Herman Moore was a pretty big deal -- also a really nice guy, he talked to us longer than Mackey and wished us well as we were standing outside the building and he was exiting -- but I was focused on Mackey.
Mackey was seated at a table and was flashing his Super Bowl ring around like a fat girl that just got engaged. I went up to him and had the following conversation...
Me: Mr. Mackey, I'm a big fan and I'd like to congratulate you on a great career. I guess you should sign this.
Mackey (not looking up): Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that.
Me: I have a question for you and I've wanted to ask you this for about 15 years.
Mackey (still not looking up): Sure, go right ahead.
Me: It's Super Bowl V and Unitas drills a pass into Lenny Moore's pads that bounces off him, bounces up in the air, and may or may not have been tipped by the defender. You haul in the pass and go 75 yards for the touchdown.
Mackey (now looking up): That was one of the proudest moments of my career. What's your question?
Me: Did the defender touch the ball?
Mackey (fixes himself and stares right into my eyes, his gaze burning a hole straight through to the bald spot on the back of my head): It's not my job to say who touched the ball and who didn't. It's my job to catch the ball and score touchdowns. It's the ref's job to say who touched the ball and who didn't. He said the guy touched it and I scored.
Me: I see. Thank-
Mackey: If you sit there trying to figure out who touched the ball and who didn't, someone's gonna knock your head off.
My assumption is that he signed something for me, because I grabbed it and scurried away.
That's my John Mackey story. He seemed like a great man, even if he was pretty old school and a little salty. After all, I was just some idiot that came along asking a dumb question about something that happened 30 years before that. It's possible that he was obligated by international law to be a little salty.
He will be missed.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Upon Further Review, the Pirates Do Not Suck
Right off the bat, let me just throw out this disclaimer: I am not claiming that the Pirates are a good team. I am simply stating that the Pirates no longer suck. As a matter of fact, when I originally thought about writing this post, they had just swept the Astros on the road. Now, the Astros suck, but the Pirates also used to suck. My thinking was that one of the marks of a non-sucky team was that they could sweep sucky teams on the road.
Then they got swept by the Indians on the road and I was starting to re-consider my position. Then I left the country and was expecting them to implode while I was gone. Then they took two out of three from the Phillies, Red Sox, and Blue Jays. Now, they're two games over .500 and they've almost reached the halfway point of the season.
For fans of good teams, this would probably be cause for panic. For fans of a team mired in a losing streak that's old enough to vote, it's cause for celebration. Or, at the very least, cause for guarded optimism.
How did this happen?
I was a little taken aback myself, so I investigated further. I've been to three games thus far this season and watched a handful of games on TV. I found a common thread in most of the victories and a common concern in all the losses.
Solid Pitching:
The Buccos have, for a number of years, always had a rotation stocked with veteran re-treads and young guys with potential. This season, their oldest pitcher is Kevin Correia, who's 30. Correia was a thrifty free agent signing in the offseason. Usually, those kinds of signings blow up in the Pirates' face, but this one has paid off thus far. Correia leads the National League in wins and has a respectable 3.79 ERA. Having watched a couple of starts, I keep thinking that he's doing this mostly with smoke, mirrors, and run support, but ten wins is significant, especially considering that Paul Maholm led the team in wins in 2010, with nine for the entire season.
Maholm has the stats, but not the wins, since he's not getting any kind of run support. He allowed only two runs against Toronto in seven innings on Wednesday, but still got stuck with the loss, as the Pirates managed only one run. Jeff Karstens has been the star of the staff in the first half of the season, with a 2.65 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched).
James McDonald -- no relation to former Orioles pitcher Ben McDonald -- is starting to improve on his control and has eight quality starts. Charlie Morton -- infamous for having great stuff but poor command and control -- has improved his command and is now putting the ball where he wants it to go. His stuff is good enough that, as long as the ball goes where it should, he will be very successful.
They're also 12th in Quality Starts (starts where a pitcher goes at least six innings and allows fewer than three earned runs), with 49. Last season, they had 71 Quality starts total, so that is another step in the right direction.
The middle relievers, per usual, have done well. The difference is that they're now being used to protect a lead -- or keep a game tied -- instead of being thrown in to stop the bleeding. Closer Joel Hanrahan hasn't blown a save opportunity yet and he's 25-for-25 in save situations.
The Pirates actually rank eighth in the league in ERA and are middle-of-the-pack in Quality Starts and WHIP. They're still not striking guys out or overpowering anyone, but strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're facist.
Timely Hitting:
The past few seasons, I could feel pretty safe getting up and grabbing something at the refreshment stand once the Pirates had two outs. It seemed as though they'd always choke away opportunities in critical situations, which is one of the factors that led to them losing 100 games a year for most of this decade.
This season, Neil Walker's batting average is 80 points higher with two outs and runners in scoring position. He's hitting .550 with the bases loaded for his career and already has a grand slam this season. Most of the guys on the team -- Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutcheon have both been clutch -- have better situational averages than season averages.
Clint Hurdle:
I've been critical of Hurdle in the past, particularly concerning his comments that 500 is just a number and that it doesn't matter. I agree with him in a Big Picture sense, but this is a team that has been mired in the longest run of futility in sports history. In the Little Picture, our little corner of the world and our aspiration to, just once, to see what it feels like, be average, 500 is more than just a number. In the context of actually just getting there, I disagree with Hurdle.
But, you can't argue with the results. He has kept the team focused on winning, on competing for the division title, and has brought some much-needed discipline to the clubhouse. I won't say that he's change the face of the franchise, but he has improved the attitudes of his players and the fans. I no longer feel like the Pirates are automatically lose any game that they play. I was actually convinced that they were going to sweep Boston after they took the first two games of the series. This gives the players something that they've needed for a long, long time. I'm not talking about hope, I'm talking about some form of confidence. Some expectation, however small, that the Pirates are going to win this one.
The difference between hoping you'll win -- or, really, hoping you won't lose -- and expecting to win is huge. That's what Hurdle has brought to the team, which should help them in the coming months, because it's going to get rough.
Looking Ahead:
As of this writing, they're only three games over .500, but that's good enough for third place in the NL Central. More importantly, they're only 1.5 games out of first place, which is something that hasn't happened for the Buccos this late in the season since 2002.
The good news is that the rest of the first half -- and a good chunk of the second half -- is divisional games, and the NL Central is a pretty crappy division. They have eight games left against the Astros and ten games left against the Cubs. Houston is the worst team in the league right now and the Pirates have, historically, done well against Chicago, even when they were good and the Buccos sucked.
The bad news is that they still have ten games left against the Cardinals and ten games against the Brewers. St. Louis hasn't been too tough of a match-up for the Pirates in recent years, but Milwaukee has been crushing them for the past six seasons or so. The Brewers have won every game versus the Pirates thus far this season. If they can at least split in each of those ten game sets, then they can stay alive.
The rest of the schedule is not great, but it's not terrible. They have three road games in the second half at Philly and a four-game road series at Atlanta. They also have to play the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Giants, but get five games against the Dodgers (who are taking on a lot of water recently).
Since they're in spitting distance of the division lead and since, for the first time in about a decade, they're not already 15-20 games under .500, they'll actually be buyers as we head towards the trade deadline at the end of July. They desperately need some help on offense (more on that in a minute), but they also don't have a lot of ammunition in terms of trade bait. Their farm system isn't barren, but it's also not fully stocked. Since they're currently at some point in some five year plan -- I've lost track, but I think they're towards the end of the fourth five year plan -- they can't afford to sell off too many prospects in an effort to win now.
They have five solid starters, but every one of those guys is more like a Toyota Camry and less like a Corvette. They'll give you six good innings, but they're not flashy and they don't strike guys out. Plus which, the quality of the starting pitching is what's currently keeping the team alive, so it wouldn't be a good idea to trade Maholm or Karstens for 60 cents on the dollar just to get another bat. Add to that the fact that this is the first time in a decade that July isn't a fire sale and they can afford to be selective and it doesn't make sense to trade a guy just to trade him.
One ace that they do have in the hole is Hanrahan. He's putting up great numbers -- the save can definitely be a dubious and misleading stat, but he's backing up his perfect save record with a 1.37 ERA and a .97 WHIP. Most good teams are already set at closer, but Hanrahan would make a great set-up guy and could draw some serious interest as the trade deadline draws closer. The Pirates have the luxury of not needing to dump Hanrahan and will be able to get top value for him. At that point, they won't have a closer, but the one thing the Buccos have always been able to do -- even throughout these last two decades of failure -- is take any idiot off the scrap heat and turn him into a serviceable closer. I'm not sure who that "scrap heap guy" is -- possibly Evan Meek or Chris Resop -- but I think he's out there if they can get top dollar for Hanrahan.
The next three weeks are critical. They have two games left in the Houston series, then three games at home against the Cubs. After the All-Star break, they play nine division games -- three on the road against the Astros, then a pair of three game series against the Cardinals and Reds at home -- then they head out to play a tough seven game stretch, the aforementioned three- and four-game series against the Phillies and Braves.
They usually implode right around the All-Star break, stringing together a losing streak that starts right before and continues directly after. It looks like a different scenario this season, which is why the next three weeks are so important.
Don't Start Planning the Parade Just Yet:
The pitching could very well come back down to Earth. Earlier this season, I was watching a game and they showed a stat that said the Pirates were in the top five in a few defensive categories. I took that to mean that they were playing some pretty solid defense, which would help to explain why their record had improved considerably over 2010. Well, when I actually looked at the defensive stats, they weren't great. The Pirates are currently ranked 26th in the league in errors and 25th in fielding percentage. The defensive stats where they ranked high -- and still do -- were Assists and Put-outs. This means that the pitchers are striking a lot of guys out and that the ball is getting put into play a high percentage of the time. When it goes into play, the results have not been good.
This is a team that came into the season with a ton of questions and a dearth of talent on offense. Lyle Overbay was listed as the clean-up hitter on the Opening Day roster. In case you're asking yourself, "Who's Lyle Overbay?" you're not alone. His career highs in OPS and home runs are .880 and 22, respectively. An OPS of .880 isn't bad, but 22 home runs are not going to get the job done in the fourth slot in the line-up. This season, he's been mired in a slump and has batted as low as sixth.
There isn't a guy on this roster that can hit 30 home runs. They're currently ranked 20th in batting average, 21st in OBP (on-base percentage), and 26th in slugging. They're still scoring runs and winning games, but most of that is due to the timely hitting I mentioned previously. The thing with timely hitting is that it's, well... timely. It's extremely difficult to get timely hitting throughout the course of an entire season. They've done well thus far, but the season is barely half over.
(Quick Moneyball lesson for those of you that haven't read the book and aren't going to see the movie. The best kind of pitcher is one that doesn't let the ball go into play. When the ball goes into play, bad things can happen. Not only can the defense commit errors, but more significantly bad things like singles, doubles, triples, and home runs can happen. You're looking for pitchers are are efficient at recording outs and batters that don't produce outs. Batters can avoid outs by getting hits, but they can also avoid them by drawing walks. The facts that Pirate pitchers are inefficient at recording outs and the batters don't draw walks are two troubling leading indicators.)
The silver lining here is that they've been able to win games and stay in the hunt with an offense that started out handicapped and was then crippled by injuries. They're currently working with their fourth-string third baseman and their third-string catcher (or maybe it's the other way around) and Jose Tabata was recently placed on the disabled list. Once Pedro Alvarez and some combination of Chris Snyder and Ryan Doumit return, then things will get better but I can't say that they'll be good. Even if they're able to trade for another bat, this is not an offense that is "one bat away" from being a quality line-up.
And Now for a Little Perspective:
The big news is that the Pirates have gone from being a sucky team to being a decent team. My original thought was that they had gone simply from suck to bad, but I think they have officially made the leap to decent. Now, that's not cause to throw a parade or anything, but it's a breath of fresh air for long-suffering fans like myself.
It's entirely possible that the bottom could fall out of the season and the Pirates could fall below .500 for the 19th straight year. It's possible that they trade Hanrahan, the bat they get for him fizzles out, and the "scrap heap guy" implodes.
Regardless of the outcome, I'm just happy that it's early July and baseball is still relevant in the city of Pittsburgh.
Consider:
If nothing else, they no longer suck.
Then they got swept by the Indians on the road and I was starting to re-consider my position. Then I left the country and was expecting them to implode while I was gone. Then they took two out of three from the Phillies, Red Sox, and Blue Jays. Now, they're two games over .500 and they've almost reached the halfway point of the season.
For fans of good teams, this would probably be cause for panic. For fans of a team mired in a losing streak that's old enough to vote, it's cause for celebration. Or, at the very least, cause for guarded optimism.
How did this happen?
I was a little taken aback myself, so I investigated further. I've been to three games thus far this season and watched a handful of games on TV. I found a common thread in most of the victories and a common concern in all the losses.
Solid Pitching:
The Buccos have, for a number of years, always had a rotation stocked with veteran re-treads and young guys with potential. This season, their oldest pitcher is Kevin Correia, who's 30. Correia was a thrifty free agent signing in the offseason. Usually, those kinds of signings blow up in the Pirates' face, but this one has paid off thus far. Correia leads the National League in wins and has a respectable 3.79 ERA. Having watched a couple of starts, I keep thinking that he's doing this mostly with smoke, mirrors, and run support, but ten wins is significant, especially considering that Paul Maholm led the team in wins in 2010, with nine for the entire season.
Maholm has the stats, but not the wins, since he's not getting any kind of run support. He allowed only two runs against Toronto in seven innings on Wednesday, but still got stuck with the loss, as the Pirates managed only one run. Jeff Karstens has been the star of the staff in the first half of the season, with a 2.65 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched).
James McDonald -- no relation to former Orioles pitcher Ben McDonald -- is starting to improve on his control and has eight quality starts. Charlie Morton -- infamous for having great stuff but poor command and control -- has improved his command and is now putting the ball where he wants it to go. His stuff is good enough that, as long as the ball goes where it should, he will be very successful.
They're also 12th in Quality Starts (starts where a pitcher goes at least six innings and allows fewer than three earned runs), with 49. Last season, they had 71 Quality starts total, so that is another step in the right direction.
The middle relievers, per usual, have done well. The difference is that they're now being used to protect a lead -- or keep a game tied -- instead of being thrown in to stop the bleeding. Closer Joel Hanrahan hasn't blown a save opportunity yet and he's 25-for-25 in save situations.
The Pirates actually rank eighth in the league in ERA and are middle-of-the-pack in Quality Starts and WHIP. They're still not striking guys out or overpowering anyone, but strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're facist.
Timely Hitting:
The past few seasons, I could feel pretty safe getting up and grabbing something at the refreshment stand once the Pirates had two outs. It seemed as though they'd always choke away opportunities in critical situations, which is one of the factors that led to them losing 100 games a year for most of this decade.
This season, Neil Walker's batting average is 80 points higher with two outs and runners in scoring position. He's hitting .550 with the bases loaded for his career and already has a grand slam this season. Most of the guys on the team -- Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutcheon have both been clutch -- have better situational averages than season averages.
Clint Hurdle:
I've been critical of Hurdle in the past, particularly concerning his comments that 500 is just a number and that it doesn't matter. I agree with him in a Big Picture sense, but this is a team that has been mired in the longest run of futility in sports history. In the Little Picture, our little corner of the world and our aspiration to, just once, to see what it feels like, be average, 500 is more than just a number. In the context of actually just getting there, I disagree with Hurdle.
But, you can't argue with the results. He has kept the team focused on winning, on competing for the division title, and has brought some much-needed discipline to the clubhouse. I won't say that he's change the face of the franchise, but he has improved the attitudes of his players and the fans. I no longer feel like the Pirates are automatically lose any game that they play. I was actually convinced that they were going to sweep Boston after they took the first two games of the series. This gives the players something that they've needed for a long, long time. I'm not talking about hope, I'm talking about some form of confidence. Some expectation, however small, that the Pirates are going to win this one.
The difference between hoping you'll win -- or, really, hoping you won't lose -- and expecting to win is huge. That's what Hurdle has brought to the team, which should help them in the coming months, because it's going to get rough.
Looking Ahead:
As of this writing, they're only three games over .500, but that's good enough for third place in the NL Central. More importantly, they're only 1.5 games out of first place, which is something that hasn't happened for the Buccos this late in the season since 2002.
The good news is that the rest of the first half -- and a good chunk of the second half -- is divisional games, and the NL Central is a pretty crappy division. They have eight games left against the Astros and ten games left against the Cubs. Houston is the worst team in the league right now and the Pirates have, historically, done well against Chicago, even when they were good and the Buccos sucked.
The bad news is that they still have ten games left against the Cardinals and ten games against the Brewers. St. Louis hasn't been too tough of a match-up for the Pirates in recent years, but Milwaukee has been crushing them for the past six seasons or so. The Brewers have won every game versus the Pirates thus far this season. If they can at least split in each of those ten game sets, then they can stay alive.
The rest of the schedule is not great, but it's not terrible. They have three road games in the second half at Philly and a four-game road series at Atlanta. They also have to play the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Giants, but get five games against the Dodgers (who are taking on a lot of water recently).
Since they're in spitting distance of the division lead and since, for the first time in about a decade, they're not already 15-20 games under .500, they'll actually be buyers as we head towards the trade deadline at the end of July. They desperately need some help on offense (more on that in a minute), but they also don't have a lot of ammunition in terms of trade bait. Their farm system isn't barren, but it's also not fully stocked. Since they're currently at some point in some five year plan -- I've lost track, but I think they're towards the end of the fourth five year plan -- they can't afford to sell off too many prospects in an effort to win now.
They have five solid starters, but every one of those guys is more like a Toyota Camry and less like a Corvette. They'll give you six good innings, but they're not flashy and they don't strike guys out. Plus which, the quality of the starting pitching is what's currently keeping the team alive, so it wouldn't be a good idea to trade Maholm or Karstens for 60 cents on the dollar just to get another bat. Add to that the fact that this is the first time in a decade that July isn't a fire sale and they can afford to be selective and it doesn't make sense to trade a guy just to trade him.
One ace that they do have in the hole is Hanrahan. He's putting up great numbers -- the save can definitely be a dubious and misleading stat, but he's backing up his perfect save record with a 1.37 ERA and a .97 WHIP. Most good teams are already set at closer, but Hanrahan would make a great set-up guy and could draw some serious interest as the trade deadline draws closer. The Pirates have the luxury of not needing to dump Hanrahan and will be able to get top value for him. At that point, they won't have a closer, but the one thing the Buccos have always been able to do -- even throughout these last two decades of failure -- is take any idiot off the scrap heat and turn him into a serviceable closer. I'm not sure who that "scrap heap guy" is -- possibly Evan Meek or Chris Resop -- but I think he's out there if they can get top dollar for Hanrahan.
The next three weeks are critical. They have two games left in the Houston series, then three games at home against the Cubs. After the All-Star break, they play nine division games -- three on the road against the Astros, then a pair of three game series against the Cardinals and Reds at home -- then they head out to play a tough seven game stretch, the aforementioned three- and four-game series against the Phillies and Braves.
They usually implode right around the All-Star break, stringing together a losing streak that starts right before and continues directly after. It looks like a different scenario this season, which is why the next three weeks are so important.
Don't Start Planning the Parade Just Yet:
The pitching could very well come back down to Earth. Earlier this season, I was watching a game and they showed a stat that said the Pirates were in the top five in a few defensive categories. I took that to mean that they were playing some pretty solid defense, which would help to explain why their record had improved considerably over 2010. Well, when I actually looked at the defensive stats, they weren't great. The Pirates are currently ranked 26th in the league in errors and 25th in fielding percentage. The defensive stats where they ranked high -- and still do -- were Assists and Put-outs. This means that the pitchers are striking a lot of guys out and that the ball is getting put into play a high percentage of the time. When it goes into play, the results have not been good.
This is a team that came into the season with a ton of questions and a dearth of talent on offense. Lyle Overbay was listed as the clean-up hitter on the Opening Day roster. In case you're asking yourself, "Who's Lyle Overbay?" you're not alone. His career highs in OPS and home runs are .880 and 22, respectively. An OPS of .880 isn't bad, but 22 home runs are not going to get the job done in the fourth slot in the line-up. This season, he's been mired in a slump and has batted as low as sixth.
There isn't a guy on this roster that can hit 30 home runs. They're currently ranked 20th in batting average, 21st in OBP (on-base percentage), and 26th in slugging. They're still scoring runs and winning games, but most of that is due to the timely hitting I mentioned previously. The thing with timely hitting is that it's, well... timely. It's extremely difficult to get timely hitting throughout the course of an entire season. They've done well thus far, but the season is barely half over.
(Quick Moneyball lesson for those of you that haven't read the book and aren't going to see the movie. The best kind of pitcher is one that doesn't let the ball go into play. When the ball goes into play, bad things can happen. Not only can the defense commit errors, but more significantly bad things like singles, doubles, triples, and home runs can happen. You're looking for pitchers are are efficient at recording outs and batters that don't produce outs. Batters can avoid outs by getting hits, but they can also avoid them by drawing walks. The facts that Pirate pitchers are inefficient at recording outs and the batters don't draw walks are two troubling leading indicators.)
The silver lining here is that they've been able to win games and stay in the hunt with an offense that started out handicapped and was then crippled by injuries. They're currently working with their fourth-string third baseman and their third-string catcher (or maybe it's the other way around) and Jose Tabata was recently placed on the disabled list. Once Pedro Alvarez and some combination of Chris Snyder and Ryan Doumit return, then things will get better but I can't say that they'll be good. Even if they're able to trade for another bat, this is not an offense that is "one bat away" from being a quality line-up.
And Now for a Little Perspective:
The big news is that the Pirates have gone from being a sucky team to being a decent team. My original thought was that they had gone simply from suck to bad, but I think they have officially made the leap to decent. Now, that's not cause to throw a parade or anything, but it's a breath of fresh air for long-suffering fans like myself.
It's entirely possible that the bottom could fall out of the season and the Pirates could fall below .500 for the 19th straight year. It's possible that they trade Hanrahan, the bat they get for him fizzles out, and the "scrap heap guy" implodes.
Regardless of the outcome, I'm just happy that it's early July and baseball is still relevant in the city of Pittsburgh.
Consider:
- I've had more random conversations with people about the Pirates in the past three weeks than I think I have in the past three seasons.
- The games I've been to this year were all well-attended victories.
- My aunt called to try and get tickets for the July 4th game against the Astros and was told that there were no tickets available. Sure, it was a holiday and sure she was trying to buy Lexus Club tickets, but the fact remains that someone wanted to buy tickets to see the Buccos and was turned away because the seats had already been sold. Again, this happens all the time in cities where they have good baseball teams and a strong local following, but I have not heard of this happening in the PNC Park Era.
- I spent ten minutes looking at the upcoming schedule, comparing that with league standings, and trying to figure out which games were most critical for the Pirates. I don't think I've done that since 1997.
- I used part of this post to discuss which players on the roster the Pirates might be able to leverage in order to improve their team and make a run at the division title. I'm pretty sure that blogs did not exist the last time I thought about that.
- I know a number of people that are limbering up in anticipation of jumping on the bandwagon after the break.
If nothing else, they no longer suck.
Monday, July 04, 2011
Power vs Predators review: Ain't got time to bleed
This weekend saw some surprising upsets, gutsy coaching calls, AFL firsts, playoff drama and crushing defeats. Of course, all that really matters to us is what happened in our own little corner of the Arena world, specifically our game against the Preds. Unfortunately, the Power was not able to pull it off, and our playoff chances are now in jeopardy.
This loss did not come because of poor play on Pittsburgh's part, but more because of a couple of flukes, the two teams playing exactly as I'd worried and some surprising moves on the part of Orlando coach, Pat O'Hara.
From the beginning, things got interesting when O'Hara decided to bench Nick Hill in favor of the untested Collin Drafts at quarterback. There are always calls in football (of any variety) that amount to "if it works, they're a genius, if it fails, they're morons." For example, when the Shock decided to start the game a few weeks ago with two onside kicks. That worked, and it was brilliant. When Dallas decided to go for two to beat us, rather than one to tie, that didn't work and I ridiculed them for it.
For the first half of the game, it looked like O'Hara's call was destine for the latter category. The first half ended at 40-27 Power, and our boys were running the game. It could have been called the Campbell and Hall Show, with special guest star, Josh Lay. Eschewing his normal preference for Mike Washington and Lonnell DeWalt, Morris connected with the above receivers most of the first half.
On the other side of the ball, Drafts just wasn't able to get anything going most of the first half, and when he was, Lay was right there to give him heartburn. Lay had two huge turnovers during this game, and broke up a lot of plays when needed. Also, Drafts wasn't having a lot of luck getting big plays out of his studs Toliver and Quiroga, though Josh Bush really got things moving - including a massive 54-yard return for a score in the first half.
It wasn't long into the game before the announcers were betting on Hill's return to the game - in fact, he could be seen on the warmup bike very quickly. Morris boldly stated at the half that they were "going to hear a pin drop in here!" and it certainly looked that way.
Until my prediction reared its ugly, ugly head.
I had warned that Orlando starts slow and Pittsburgh runs out of gas. That's basically what happened in this game, but Pittsburgh's running out of gas was more because of a disastrous third quarter than anything else.
After ending the half with a touchdown, the Preds got to start the second with the ball - and that's when everything went straight to hell. Fairly quickly, TT Toliver got back on the board with another touchdown. Then, the kickoff bounced off the iron, making it a live ball, which Chris Dubalt scooped up and ran in. Then, in what might be an AFL first, the very next kickoff did the same thing, which Dubalt also ran in.
After blowing the lead and giving up 28-straight points, the Power never got back into the swing of things. Morris struggled greatly in the little time he had on the field in the 3rd quarter and couldn't get a rhythm going. Eventually, he attempted to return to the tried-and-true with DeWalt, which did result in another two touchdowns, but it wasn't enough.
Again, the Power did not play a bad game. The first half was all them, and they were able to change it up a bit with different receivers. The defense was huge with Lay's turnovers, Stevenson's pass coverage and Drafts getting sacked twice. Hell, even Edinger went 6-8 in PATs on the night. Really, we only lost by a TD and a two-point conversion, so it wasn't a blow-out by any means. Had those two freak kickoffs not happened... Well, I can't say that those two drives would have ended with scores for us, but the final score probably would have been a lot more favorable to us.
A win's a win, and a loss is a loss, and in the end, it doesn't matter how well we played - the division lead, and possibly the playoffs were lost this week. There is still a chance to make it, but it will not be easy in any way.
Elsewhere in the league
- The most important game to us this week was Cleveland at Milwaukee. Had the Mustangs pulled it off, it would have been a gift to us, but it wasn't to be. Milwaukee played a hell of a game and almost pulled it off, actually. However, two lost fumbles and pick is no way to beat a team as tough as the Gladiators. Despite blocking and recovering a PAT attempt for 2pts, the Mustangs lost in the final seconds when Rocco was able to scramble one in for the win.
- In a mostly meaningless game, the Voodoo pulled off a strong win against Tampa Bay, marking only their 3rd 'W' this season.
- In possibly the biggest shocker of the year, San Jose followed their second-worst loss in AFL history by snapping their 7-game losing streak...against the 13-1 Sharks. Had I not been watching, I would not have believed it.
Hoo-boo. Where to start? Well, we lost the division title (for this week, at least) and with it, our preliminary spot in the playoffs. Where do we go from here? First off, Cleveland is only a game ahead of us, so winning out - which would include beating them - would leave us with tied records, and us with the head-to-head. In theory, we could drop one to the Rattlers next week if Cleveland was nice enough to lose to Utah - but I don't want to count on that. This scenario also relies on both teams finishing the division strong by beating Philly. Now, if Cleveland wants to lose to the Soul next week, I'm not going to argue.
Right now, Arizona, Chicago and Jacksonville have all clinched a spot in the playoffs at this point. Arizona has clinched their division, and Jacksonville has home-field advantage at this point. Here's where the San Jose game comes in. Now, Arizona has a tied record with Jacksonville, with an extra game played (and a bye still to come.) Should they both win out (AZ better not!) then they'd have fully tied records, with Arizona having the head-to-head. If they both make the Arena Bowl - and I expect them to - then it would be in Arizona.
So, that's where we stand, and what these final few weeks have in store. Cross your fingers for the Power, and stay tuned for more.
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