NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Rashard Mendenhall taking in the whole Steeler thing

Image details: Pittsburgh Steelers Rookie Training Camp served by picapp.com

Ok, Steeler fans, weren’t you supposed to take an offensive lineman?

Even RB Willie Parker was surprised the Steelers waited until the fourth-round to draft an offensive lineman.

“Everybody said what I need is an offensive lineman,” said Parker. “That wasn’t my call to pick an offensive lineman. It would have been good to get one, but we didn’t.”

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Isn’t your offensive line a mess?

Most mock drafts in cyberspace assumed the Steelers were focusing on adding an offensive lineman. But a furious run that saw six tackles come flying off the board in the first 21 selections was over by the time it was Pittsburgh’s turn to pick. “There was a panic attack on offensive linemen,” Arians says. “It just worked out that Rashard flew right into our laps.”

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Don’t you have to protect Big Ben Roethlisberger?

And what about a running attack?

That final question got answered on draft day. Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians had this to say.

“I compare Rashard to Edgerrin James,” Arians says. “Except that Rashard is 10 pounds heavier and a tick faster than Edge was with the Colts.”

Arians served as the Indianapolis Colts’ quarterbacks coach from 1998 to 2002. James joined the team in 1999 as a first-round selection out of Miami.

One of James’ most underappreciated skills with the Colts (and now with the Arizona Cardinals) is his ability to pick up blitzes. One of the most worrisome duties that keep rookie running backs from seeing significant playing time early is pass protection.

That’s where Arians thinks the Steelers’ new Edge-like rusher is the exception to that rookie rule.

“The pass blocking is good with Rashard, and he’s got great hands,” Arians says. “You’re not afraid of letting him cover Ben’s back side in pass protection.”

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NFL Football Hines Ward factoid -

• Hines Ward was scheduled to make his second trip of the year to South Korea, where he was welcomed as a hero following his Super Bowl MVP in 2006. Since then, he’s made the trip twice a year to work on his foundation to aid bi-racial people in that country. Ward was born in South Korea, son of a Korean native mother and black U. S. serviceman father.

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Now if only that offensive line can hold!

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As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

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NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Towards the end of the game, the announcers showed Pittsburgh’s stadium and all of its bright yellow seats with no fans in them and remarked “All you can see is a sea of mustard in a house built by ketchup”.

That of course is in reference to the Heinz ownership of the club.

Steelers won 38 - 7.

But more indicative was the fact that the Steelers were so far in front on this rainy night and the Ravens looked so helpless that all of the Steeler fans went home.

The announcers kept making references to possible Baltimore offensive records for least this and least that. Read more

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Matt can not pass on his revenge

The Seattle Seahawks want revenge from two years ago.

Seattle lost that Super Bowl to Pittsburgh and can’t seem to get the taste of that defeat out of their mouth.

Matt Hasselbeck says it will not just be another game.

He wants this one bad.

This is revenge!

Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck told us this week, “To some of us, this really means a great deal. To myself, Shaun Alexander, to Walter Jones, Mack Strong, Lofa Tatupu, guys like that, this game really means a lot. On the other hand, there are a bunch of new guys on this team, like Julian Peterson, Deon Grant, Brian Russell, Deion Branch, Nate Burleson, Marcus Pollard, they weren’t even here. That game hurt. It took us a while to get over that game. We are still not over that game. But it is a different year. They have a new coaching staff. And that’s a tough team and tough place to play. We don’t forget what happened but we have to be focused on the 2007 Steelers. Hopefully we can learn from what Arizona did to help us get a win.” source

A lot of time has past and this Read more

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Megatron

Roy Williams loves to talk.

Roy calls Calvin Johnson, the rookie number 2 pick in the draft, Megatron.

That is the Megatron from the movies.

Calvin has enormous hands and that is why he is called Megatron.

Megatron in the NFL is faring much better than Megatron at the Movies.

Megan Fox in Transformers

NFL Movie Time Review Transformers, starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox (and she is one), Josh Duhamel (someone for your girlfriend to look at), Tyrese Gibson, and Jon Voight.
Hugo Weaving does the Megatron voice. He was the chief elf from Lord of the Rings.
Megatron is actually the evil Transformer and his counterpart is Optimus Prime for the good guys. The film is non-stop action, awesome vehicles, and tons of fun. Your intrepid author gives is as many stars as it will take to get you to see it. By the way, it was on an IMAX screen, incredible! (Go to your local IMAX now. Squibster has spoken.)

So how is the NFL Megatron doing? Read more