Mike Wallace, Wherefore Art Thou (going)?

Mike Wallace going 95 in Arizona last year.

Like Steelers fans everywhere, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls continue to wring our hands and watch with concern, exasperation and frustration the developing story that is The Mike Wallace Contract Situation.

Like everybody else, including Mike Wallace and the Steelers, we wonder how it will play out.

We wonder whether the Steelers have a plan and if so, what it is.  Do they plan to let "the market" determine Wallace's contract?  Probably.  One lesson the Steelers have learned over the years: Do not bid against yourself; i.e., let other teams establish the market price for a player.

Not a one-trick pony, as many fans suggest.

Wallace would be a welcome addition to just about any other NFL team.  Any number of franchises might step forward and offer him a blockbuster of a contract that the Steelers would have the opportunity to match -- or, alternatively, receive a late first-round draft choice.  The merits of that position are being debated ad nauseum, and the Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette, makes a valid point:  An extra first-rounder would help the Steelers fill needs on the both sides of the line of scrimmage.  Maybe.  But, still ...


How did it get to this point?  

Neal Coolong over at Behind the Steel Curtain wrote a spot-on critique asking that very question and raising the possibility -- gasp! -- that the Steelers' braintrust in charge of such issues (Kevin Colbert, Mike Tomlin, Omar Khan, etc.) -- fumbled the ball on this one.

And, at the risk of incurring The Wrath of Khan ... we should point out that somebody needed to write a post like this and call out the Steelers for how they’ve handled (or mis-handled) the planning of their cap situation the past two or three years.  Neal's write-up is much more thoughtful, detailed and better written than anything JPPBs could have crafted, but the same damn thing occurred to us a few weeks ago when news leaked that St. Louis was making overtures to Omar Khan.  Not looking to blame anybody in particular here —  lots of people get involved in these decisions — but how is it that the Steelers are in this mess?

Mike Wallace is entering his prime years.

Why Willie Colon Instead of Mike Wallace?

Signing Willie Colon instead of Mike Wallace last off-season probably wasn't an either/or choice -- or maybe it was? -- but to Joey Porter's Pit Bulls, the Willie Colon contract extension last year was a head-scratcher at the time and looks like an absolutely terrible decision today, even in light of the “restructuring” announced last week.

The team committed a five-year, $25 million contract to Colon but let Mike Wallace twist in the wind?   What’s Willie Colon ever done? … hang out with Big Ben in Milledgeville?

It's a fair question to ask: Did the Steelers commit money to Willie Colon that could have gone to an extension for Mike Wallace?

In any case, here we are.  The Bengals — never a model of how to run a pro football franchise — are $60 million under the cap.  Yeah, they are perennially mismanaged and subject to ridicule, but here they are: SIXTY MILLION UNDER THE CAP!   You think the Bengals wouldn’t like to sign Mike Wallace?  Or the 49ers?  Or the Ravens?  Or, most worrisome, the Patriots?

The Patriots always seem to find a way to sign whomever they want.  They may well have won the Super Bowl if Tom Brady had been throwing deep to Mike Wallace instead of hobbled Rob Gronkowski.

Now the Steelers have tough decisions to make.  Chuck Noll used to say — after he learned his lesson in the late 70s and early 80s — that it’s better to let a player go a year early than to hang onto him a year late.

Who would you rather have? Wallace, or a first-rounder?

The Steelers are going to have to make those kinds of decisions during the next few weeks, as painful as they will be. Players we love, too: Casey Hampton? Aaron Smith? James Farrior? Charlie Batch? Larry Foote? Decisions will need to made on these players and others.

To Joey Porter's Pit Bulls, though, the Willie Colon contract is Exhibit A of a well-intentioned mistake that is having ripple effects that may result in the loss of Mike Wallace.

Hopefully, the Steelers will work out something with Wallace. But it should never have gotten to this point

Food for Thought:
Could this be the sort of deal be a model for what the Steelers are trying to devise for Mike Wallace?  Probably not -- the franchise tender for Mike Wallace would be much higher than for Jermichael Finley -- but it's an interesting solution to a similar problem.  And the Packers have proven very adept at dealing with the salary cap.

More Food (literally) for Thought:
Patty Tascarella's "The Fish Sandwich Chronicles" in The Pittsburgh Business Times

Sunset Gun:  "Every Day Needs a Little Otis Tenderness"

We Win! YinzBurgh BBQ for Everybody!!

In a bit of revisionist near-history, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls declares victory in the 4th annual Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog hosted by Sean's Ramblings ... never mind that the Post-Gazette's awesome Empty Netters blog annihilated trounced bested edged us by a vote of 132-51 in Round One, Part II, Kip Miller Division.  Close enough, and it's a fine day for all.

Thanks to all who voted for Joey Porter's Pit Bulls, and we can revel this Fat Tuesday in our 28 percent of the vote.  Everybody wins, and what better way to celebrate than with a visit to YinzBurgh BBQ for some seriously tasty, finger lickin' ribs, brisket, chicken, 'n fixins' such as black-eyed peas like you've never seen, greens and macaroni 'n cheese.  

Seriously, folks, this is good eating, and you know it's good 'cause it's where are all the cabbies and jitney drivers go for ribs 'n such.  
 

Check it aht.  YinzBurgh BBQ has the tenderest, most succulent, fall-off-the-bone ribs, plus Addictive Brisket, and pulled pork sandwiches, wings, barbecue chicken, sides, and even some weird stuff like smoked tofu and smoked paneer salad.  
 

Plus, and this is for real, YinzBurgh BBQ carries Natrona Bottling products, which is like the cult zenith of soda pop, especially their Red Ribbon Cherry Soda or Vanilla Cream or Pennsylvania Punch. 
 
Good stuff.  
 
Visit YinzBurgh BBQ, at 4903 Baum Blvd. between Morewood and S. Milvale Ave., across the street from the Get-Go and adjacent to KFC.  YinzBurgh BBQ is good food.  Call 'em at 412-621-YINZ (9469).

And put in your vote at UrbanSpoon.

Just asking ...

If the Steelers had not signed Willie Colon to his five-year, $25 million extension before last season, would they be at risk of losing Mike Wallace today?  Does Colon's contract affect what the Steelers can do with Wallace?

Just asking.

A Shameless Plea for Votes in the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament

Visit Sean's Ramblings and vote for Joey Porter's Pit Bulls!

Thanks to Sean at the always excellent Sean's Ramblings for alerting us that Joey Porter's Pit Bulls somehow got drafted as a candidate in the 4th annual Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament.  It is an honor, certainly, and very humbling. And very possibly humiliating.

With voting already underway today and continuing until 8 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday), we are here today to shamelessly shill for votes.  Not sure why, but that's what we're doing today.

As the humble No. 8 seed in the Kip Miller Division, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls are massive underdogs pitted (?) against the eminently worthy top-seeded Empty Netters blog.

So, there we are:  Your chance to vote is here -- you'll have to scroll down to the Kip Miller Division -- but we implore you to join the one other misguided soul who has already voted for Joey Porter's Pit Bulls ... so vote early and often!

Past Performance is No Guarantee of Future Results

A.J. Burnett in pinstripes

Which version of A.J. Burnett are the Pirates getting?
 
The pitcher whom the Yankees thought was good enough as recently as 2009 to give a five-year, $83 million contract?  Or the pitcher who, at best, was the eighth option in New York's projected five-man rotation entering this year's spring training? ... the pitcher who, over the past two seasons in New York, had a 5.20 ERA and lost 26 games for a team that finished 60 games over .500 in that span?
 
The Yankees couldn't wait to get rid of Burnett and paid $20 million of the $33 million remaining on his contract to do it.  Many Yankee fans also seem to be happy to see him leave the Bronx, judging by comments on various Yankee-related blogs ("Our long national nightmare is over!"),  or this one from BomberBanter.com:  "By now, you’re aware that A.J. Burnett has been traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates due to his extreme suckiness for marginal prospects and salary relief."
 
None of that deterred Neal Huntington, Pirates general manager, who likes to yak and blab about the team's "portfolio" of on-field talent, as if individual players are commodity items like natural gas, alumina futures and pork bellies.
 
Huntington should know, then, that the fine print at the bottom of 10K prospectuses (prospecti?) and other portfolio disclosure statements typically reads, "Past performance is no guarantee of future results."  Ya think?
 

Any idea what that tattoo means?  "Glad to be a Bucco"?

This caveat, which applies neatly to so many things in life, is apt for a 35-year-old pitcher who's lost his fastball and may be looking forward to a post-baseball life enhanced by his own "portfolio" of more than $100 million in career earnings.


It's fair to ask: Will Burnett go through the motions with the Pirates?  Or will he summon personal pride to perform to his best, even if that's not much at this point, just because he has something to prove? Does it matter?
 
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
 
Joey Porter's Pit Bulls expect Burnett will do his best -- but he appears to be past his prime. 

If the past two years indicate anything, his best days are behind him.  He surrenders a ton of walks, throws a lot of wild pitches and gives up a ton of gophers -- 31 home runs last year.  Thirty-one home runs!  Burnett's ERA is well north of 5.00.  Studious seam-heads like the guys at Pinstripe Alley, who really study the byzantine minutiae of baseball statistics, have been able to mine all kinds of other data that point to a general decline in Burnett's performance, from the velocity of his fastball to the number of wild pitches he throws to the location of the home runs he surrenders and where they are hit.  Here is Pinstripe Alley's Lord Duggan had to say ...

"These last two seasons, A.J. Burnett has been an unmitigated disaster.  Even if there were a way to line up the numbers to feel more hopeful about 377 innings of 5+ ERA, I wouldn't bother.  There's a problem here and there may not be a solution."

The solution for the Yankees, apparently, was to trade Burnett to the Pirates.

Our new leader at the top of the rotation.

Defenders of the trade will say Burnett's a top-of-the-rotation guy -- which tells all you need to know about the Pirates' rotation -- and that he will benefit from pitching in the National League Central (as opposed to the American League East), that he should be able to relax away from the glare of the New York media.  They say he will fare better in PNC Park, and that he's an innings-eater.

What good are innings pitched if they are bad innings?


Joey Porter's Pit Bulls don't trust the Yankees, and we trust the Pirates even less -- at least their "braintrust's" ability to make smart decisions involving on-field talent.

This trade doesn't look like any kind of a bargain.  People are saying things like, "Well, for $5 million $6.5 million a year for the next two years, it's worth it for the Pirates to take a shot at Burnett to see what he has left."

Last we looked, a $5 million $6.5 million salary is still a lot of money.  Worse, it seems Burnett is in fairly serious decline.  For some reason, his appeal at this point appears to be that he is an "innings-eater."   That's just great.  His ERA the past two years is something like 5.15 ... which means that for every nine innings he pitches, the Pirates had better score six runs. 

Sorry, but the Bucs just don't have that kind of bat production.  Couldn't they find a pitcher at the league minimum to give them a 5.15 ERA kind of pitching performance?  

Again, what good are a bunch of innings pitched if they are bad innings pitched?  

As noted on Big League Stew, at least Burnett's time in New York was "interesting," so it may be entertaining in Pittsburgh, as well.  Let's hope in a good way.

This deal reeks of Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington saying, "See? We told you we'd spend some money."

Past Performance is no indicator of future results -- except in the case of the Pirates' front office.  Oh, and since Neal Huntington loves to talk about his "portfolio," he should like the following graph showing the purported decline in Burnett's fastball over the past few years, at least according to Pinstripe Alley ... 

For what it's worth: A.J. Burnett's fastball velocity, according to Pinstripe Alley.

All It Takes Is a Little

Todd Haley and Antonio Brown, as Tweeted last week by Mr. Brown. "Eyes Up. Chest Up. Prayed Up."

Kudos to Antonio Brown for (apparently) seeking out new offensive coordinator Todd Haley on Friday, Feb. 17, if what Dale Lolley reports on NFL From the Sidelines is accurate.

Young Mr. Brown Tweeted a photo of himself and Haley at the Steelers' facility on the Sahsthside.  Apparently, Brown, who is having an interesting off-season, flew into town last week and -- gasp! -- actually sought out Haley with the express intent of, uh, y'know, meeting Haley or something.  Imagine that.

Maybe this small example of enthusiasm, leadership and "want-to" is an example of why Brown's teammates voted him (instead of you know who) as the team's MVP last season.  Keep in mind that Antonio "First Down" Brown is all of 23 years of age.  As Brown himself would say, "Chest up. Eyes up. Prayed up."

Geez, isn't reaching out to a significant newcomer like Haley something one might expect the franchise quarterback might do?  Or, even more so, vice-versa?? ... especially considering Haley and Roethlisberger were in the same building at the same time the week before last.  

Then again, maybe we're reading too much into this non-meeting thing, as suggested in this wickedly funny and exceptionally well-written piece by Sean Conboy at Pulling No Punches.

The Pittsburgh Pirates Are In On Peyton Manning

The beleaguered Pittsburgh Pirates, trying to avoid a pro-sports record 20th consecutive losing season, are interested in signing Peyton Manning, who is expected to be moved by the Indianapolis Colts this off-season.


"Peyton would fill seats at PNC Park, and if healthy, he's got a strong arm," said Neal Huntington, general manager of the Pirates. "He would have to pass our physical, but Manning would add a veteran presence for our young team, and we like the ancillary marketing possibilities. PNC Park would become 'Peyton's Place,' and we're excited about the potential for him to help us sell lots of Pirates jerseys."


Neither Manning nor his agent, Tom Condon, were available for comment.

It's the Feast of St. Valentine

St. Valentine knows what it's all about.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls aren't the sappy, sentimental type. And, somehow we find it hard to imagine Ben Roethlisberger and Todd Haley exchanging Valentine's Day cards, chocolates and roses. Well, let's hope the rest of us somehow find love and inspiration even if only in our own hearts or in the eyes of a loving, faithful pitbull doggy friend.

We could go on and on talking about great movies or appropriate music for Valentine's Day, but we kinda did that last year with a suggested set of music for the day -- or, really, for any day, so we'll just link back to that post here, if that's okay with you, dear reader(s).

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours, or yinz 'n your'n.

Rolling the Dice on Todd Haley

The tumbling dice are cast.

The Steelers' roll of the dice on hiring Todd Haley to be their offensive coordinator could pay off big or blow up spectacularly.  We shall see.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls reserve the right to reserve judgment. Or something. Like. That.

Of course, that didn't stop us from weighing in before the hire, when we wrote the following on Jan. 29 ...

 "Todd Haley? Joey Porter's Pit Bulls aren't crazy about the idea. Haley seems paranoid and unstable, and his reputation is that he doesn't play nice with others, including and maybe especially quarterbacks." 

So, there.  Now that Haley's The Man, however, let's give him the benefit of the doubt.  Give the man a chance.  He said some good things at the introductory news conference. The "best chance to succeed" and all that -- then again, what else would he have said?

It's been tough biting our tongue all week, but Joey Porter's Pit Bulls continue to resist the temptation to indulge in knee-jerk judgment of the decision to hire Todd Haley, and with it, a judgment of Todd Haley himself, the man ... who has yet to don a headset, call a play or even meet with his new team.  Or his quarterback.

Is that weird?  That Haley hasn't met with you-know-who?  Well, maybe a bit odd.

Oh, my. Big Ben doesn't know what to think.

We don't know Haley (what a surprise!), however, and we don't know what went into the Steelers' decision to hire him.  So it's tough to judge the decision to hire him.

... 'shouldn't stop us from jumping in with an opinion, but, after all ...

What do we fans know?  All we know is based on what we hear, see and feel.

Amazingly, we're not in the rooms where the decisions are made; or in the rooms where video is reviewed, and data checked and double-checked; or the other rooms where various job candidates are interviewed or vetted; or the executive offices where behind-the-scenes conversations are held, people-in-the-know consulted; and the deepest, heaviest thinking is done.

We simply don't know what went into the Steelers' decision to hire Todd Haley as the new offensive coordinator.  We'd love to know, but we don't, and it's doubtful we ever will.

If somehow Joey Porter's Pit Bulls had been involved in the decision-making process, would we have hired Haley?  Not having ever met the man, we can't say for sure.  We can say, however, that we would have talked to another candidate or two (besides Gentle Jim Caldwell, and he doesn't count).

Mike Sullivan takes his jiu-jitsu to Tampa Bay.

We'd previously advocated the Steelers at least talk to Mike Sullivan, the New York Giants quarterback coach who worked wonders with Eli Manning -- and now has been hired as the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Sullivan goes from working with Tom Coughlan, a two-time Super Bowl winner, and Eli Manning, a two-time Super Bowl MVP still in his prime, to working with Greg Schiano, an NFL-rookie head coach, and Josh Freeman, a young quarterback still trying to establish himself in the NFL.

We still wish the Steelers would have at least brought Sullivan in for an interview, but ... what do we know?  We're just fans.

For all we know, Haley will be great, and we sincerely hope so.  But we don't know. Nobody knows.

What could possibly go wrong?

What do we know about Haley?

All we know is what we see and hear, and that appears to be a majorly mixed bag of seriously mixed opinions.

We can opine based on what we hear, see and feel. We can speculate. We can read between the lines of every over-scrutinized statement he makes, every phrase, each off-the-cuff, throwaway line, and all the blathered rumors, whispered innuendos and detailed critiques. 

So let's get started.

"If you are sensitive," Haley said in his introductory news conference yesterday, "this is probably not the best place to be."   Okay.  We've been warned.

Let's pray this all works out.

Haley is reputed to be volatile and headstrong, and he almost certainly is.  When things go awry the first time, it should be interesting to observe the dynamic between Haley and Ben Roethlisberger.

Isn't it curious that, in his introductory news conference, Haley singled out Heath Miller, a great player admittedly, and an underutilized one at that, but still, a tight end, but .... but not a word about the franchise quarterback?

Could Ben be Tebowing? Hoping this all works out?

For his part, Ben Roethlisberger seemed to be speaking through clenched teeth -- (well, okay, we're projecting here, and willfully reading between the lines) -- when he told the Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette that ...

"I've gotten a lot of calls and texts and emails from people around the league, both good and bad about him.  Everybody has an opinion, as we all know, and they're letting me know what their interaction with him was -- good, bad and indifferent. I've heard a lot of things and I'm looking forward to meeting him and forming my own opinion."

Uh-huh.  Okay.  Yeaah, ri-i-ight.

Roethlisberger said he had been trying to reach Kurt Warner to talk about Haley, and wouldn't you love to listen in on that conversation?

Even more so, wouldn't you love to eavesdrop on the first substantive talk between Roethlisberger and Haley?

Some fans like the hiring.

For now, forsooth!, we shall withhold judgment on the Haley hiring.  Not that it wouldn't be fun to jump in with knee-jerk reactionary, off-the-cuff, talking-head punditry-type, know-it-all opinions.

It doesn't give pause to other tin-horn experts with microphones and newspaper columns.  Well, speaking up and engaging in vigorous discourse about this sort of thing is half the fun of being a fan.

We hope for the best.

Giants Prevail Over Pats

Rob Gronkowski, Wes Welker and Deion Branch lament the catch not caught.

Exciting finish.  Good for the Giants.  

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls are happy our prediction of a Patriots' win was off-target.

Now it's time for the Steelers to get to work.

It's About Time

Jack Butler

Congrats to new Hall of Famers Jack Butler, Dermontti Dawson, Curtis Martin, Chris Doleman -- all Pittsburgh guys either by birth or affiliation --and fellow Hall inductees Willie Roaf and Cortez Kennedy.

Jerome Bettis will make it next year.  He should have made it this year.  It's disappointing and hard to figure, but he and Chris Carter definitely should get voted in next year.  Chris Carter not making it is the most puzzling part of this year's vote, and he's got to be majorly disappointed.

Bellichick is cold.
But we knew that.  Still, cutting Tiquan Underwood on the eve of the Super Bowl ... man, that's cold.

Tom Clements Makes It Official

Not news, exactly, but the Packers yesterday confirmed what we noted on this humble blog on Jan. 26, which is that Tom Clements is staying in Green Bay as offensive coordinator.  Oh, well. That rules him out.

Also out of the picture, thankfully, are Jim Caldwell and Brad Childress, and we can surmise Todd Haley, too.  Fine.

At this point, on the eve of the Super Bowl, we can speculate the Steelers might be considering somebody from the coaching staff of either the New England Patriots or the New York Giants.

That would be okay with Joey Porter's Pit Bulls.  We'd prefer the Steelers steer clear of the usual suspects -- guys like Al Saunders and Jim Zorn -- and go with somebody like, say, Mike Sullivan, quarterbacks coach of the Giants, who has been instrumental in the development of Eli Manning.

Our prediction for the Super Bowl?  New England will win, going away. 

We hate to say it, and we hope that prediction is wrong, but that's our prediction -- which, hopefully, means the Giants will win.

The next offensive coordinator?

It was nice that of the Steelers to organize a news conference for Chris Hoke, one of our favorite players, an 11-year stalwart as a reliable backup at nose tackle and all-around good guy. Hokey will do fine in whatever he chooses to do -- he'd be great in the media.

It was a good thing, as it turns out, that the Steelers didn't organize a similar type of news conference for the Bruce Arians "retirement" send-off. The Indianapolis Colts and new coach Chuck Pagano hired Bruce Arians to pick up the pieces of the Peyton Manning mess. Since only the Steelers -- and not Arians -- announced his retirement, there was nothing to stop him from taking another job, just as we surmised on Tuesday -- "What happens if he takes a coaching job with another team?  He says he's already had five or six teams contact him about coaching this year. No longer an employee of the Steelers, he would be well within his rights to take a job with another team."


Well, now that's accomplished, and there's no real harm done (is there?), except for the egg on the face of Art Rooney II. 


The question now is, who will the Steelers hire to replace Arians?


The only candidate from within the organization seems to be quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner. Maybe it will be Fichtner, and maybe he will be great, but if Rooney wanted to make a change so badly, you'd think he wouldn't stay with the guy who has been working with Ben all along in the Arians-led offense. 


All of which raises the question: If it was Rooney's decision to fire Arians, whose decision will it be to hire his replacement? Rooney? Mike Tomlin? Decision by committee?

Whomever, if they are looking outside the organization, who, who, who?


The Browns hired Brad Chilly Childress to be their offensive coordinator, so he's out, thank goodness.  


Jim Caldwell?  No thanks. It was Tom Moore's and Peyton Manning's offense in Indianapolis, and Caldwell appeared totally ineffectual without either of them around. 


Todd Haley? Joey Porter's Pit Bulls aren't crazy about the idea. Haley seems paranoid and unstable, and his reputation is that he doesn't play nice with others, including and maybe especially quarterbacks.


Time, Time Time Is on Our Side
The Steelers can take their time making a decision.  


Just having the position open gives you leeway to talk to people and pick their brains -- maybe that's what the Packers are doing -- and the Senior Bowl this past week provided an open job fair for assistant coaches. The Steelers can wait till after the Super Bowl to announce a new coordinator, and the longer it goes, the more it smells like maybe they are looking at one of the coaches with one of the Super Bowl teams. 


We know it's not not going to come from the Patriots, since those guys are already spoken for (Bill O'Brien is going to Penn State, Josh McDaniels takes over the offense next year), which leaves ... the Giants. And we know it's not going to be Kevin Gilbride, the offensive coordinator, so that leaves ... the quarterbacks coach, Mike Sullivan, and that's a name that may be totally off base, but it could make sense on a number of levels.  Our favorite part of his bio:


"Sullivan is a graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne, Ranger and Air Assault schools. Sullivan recently earned his Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu."

For Joey Porter's Pit Bulls, that alone gets him an interview for the job.

Tom Clements Stays in Green Bay, But ... We Have Another Candidate for Offensive Coordinator and an Idea to Help the Offensive Line

Word from Green Bay has it that Tom Clements has accepted the Packers' offer to become their next offensive coordinator.

The wise choice -- for this guy.

This is no surprise.

Clements, a Pittsburgh (McKees Rocks) native, attorney and former star quarterback at Canevin High School and Notre Dame, would have been a great choice for the Steelers, but look at it from his perspective:  

• If you were Tom Clements and offered the job as Green Bay's offensive coordinator -- would you move from the Packers to the Steelers?
• Working with Aaron Rogers instead of Ben Roethlisbeger?
• Working in a system and with players you already know very well?
• Working with a coach you know already?  
• On a team that is absolutely loaded with talent and appears to be a contender for years to come, vs. Pittsburgh, which has an unsettled offensive line, a reportedly disgruntled quarterback and an aging defense full of question marks and holes to fill.

Clements would have been great for the Steelers, one would think -- if he had wanted the job. It's not like he would have gotten a promotion by moving to Pittsburgh. He must've figured he didn't need the aggravation. And, it's not like Clements would be leaving a lousy team, or a crummy quarterback.


Some of the folks in the mainstream media seem to think it's a foregone conclusion the Steelers' job will go to Randy Fichtner, the QB coach with whom Roethlisberger supposedly has a close relationship -- Big Ben reportedly took Arians, Fichtner and their wives to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. With Fichtner, presumably, the offense would receive the "tweaks" Art Rooney II suggested it needs.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls are not so sure about hiring from within. Fichtner may be great; or we might end up with another 21st-rated offense that scores as many touchdowns as the Denver Broncos, just as the Arians-led 2011 offense did. It makes sense to at least consider somebody from the outside.
 
Here's an idea: Let's at least interview the QB coach of the New York Giants. 

On the lookout for a new offensive coordinator

His name is Mike Sullivan and, outside of what is in his bio, we know absolutely nothing about him, but pundits, media types and other observers are marveling at the progress, maturation and development of Eli Manning this year. Presumably,the Giants' QB coach might have had something to do with that. 


Also, New York seems to have a pretty good run-pass balance with their thunder-lightning combo of running backs, plus the guy is clearly on a good staff, under Tom Coughlan, so Sullivan must have learned something working with Coughlin all these years (with the Jaguars before the Giants) and also under Jim Tressel at Youngstown State.  

Oh, and then there is this tidbit in Sullivan's bio, just for fun: 

"Sullivan is a graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne, Ranger and Air Assault schools. Sullivan recently earned his Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Professor Louis Vintaloro at Perfomance Jiu-Jitsu Academy."

By the way, remember how awful the Steelers' offense was with Kevin Gilbride as offensive coordinator, back around 1999-2000?  He's New York's offensive coordinator, and they seem to be doing pretty well. Go figure.  

A Helpful Suggestion for the Offensive Line

  
On another topic, the offensive line: It needs help. No secret there.

Here's a thought: Aggressively pursue Ben Grubbs, the 27-year-old Pro Bowl left guard for the Ravens. He is an unrestricted free agent and a proven commodity. 

With Grubbs (as opposed to a draft choice), at least you know what you're getting, plus it would hurt the Ravens. That way, too, you could spend the first-round choice on another position (left tackle, nose tackle, etc.) to fill another hole.

While we're at it, the Steelers might also take a look at Baltimore linebacker Jarret Johnson, another unrestricted free agent (to replace the Farrior/Foote combo), and cornerback Lardarius Webb, a restricted free agent.

Anyway, those are two things Joey Porter's Pit Bulls would explore: Sign Ben Grubbs to play guard, and at least bring in Mike Sullivan for an interview.

The Bruce Arians Plot Thickens, Again

It is becoming increasingly clear that Bruce Arians did not receive a gold watch and send-off banquet celebrating his "retirement" from the Steelers.

The 59-year-old Arians tells his hometown York Daily Record that he was forced out, and that he had no intention of retiring this year. He says team president Art Rooney II has offered no explanation why he wasn't offered a contract to return for his sixth year as offensive coordinator.

The Steelers' management team -- presumably at the executive-office level (i.e., Art Rooney II) -- handled this situation badly. The organization's uncharacteristically shabby treatment of Arians and how they portrayed his dismissal as his decision to "retire" looks disingenuous at best.  Nobody fielded any questions. The team only issued a very stiff formal "statement" in the name of Mike Tomlin, who for all we know may have been against the decision to relieve Arians of his duties.  We don't know that or much of anything else.  

What did they think ... that Arians was just going to evaporate and not say anything?

Now, what happens?  What happens if he takes a coaching job with another team?  He says he's already had five or six teams contact him about coaching this year. No longer an employee of the Steelers, he would be well within his rights to take a job with another team -- the Browns come to mind, and there are others, no doubt.

This is an unneeded black eye for the Steelers, and the whole thing could have been handled better. What's going on over there?

Schadenfreude, Ravens-style!

Baltimore fans must be very proud.

As much antipathy as Joey Porter's Pit Bulls feel toward the New England Boston Patriots, it would have been really disgusting to see the Baltimore Ravens go to the Super Bowl.

Think how nauseating it would have been for us to endure a full two weeks of nonstop, intense, microspective media coverage of rah-rah John Harbaugh, T-Sizzle, Weird Ed Reed, Ra-Ri, and the always touchy and reflexively defensive Joe "No Respect" Flacco.  It would have been too much.

At least New England owner Robert Kraft is a sympathetic figure, and you can respect how his team seemed to genuinely rally around the man during his grief after losing his wife.

For all that, we're rooting for Rooney Mara's New York Giants to win the Super Bowl.

Oh, and you know who would look good in a Steelers' uniform next season? Ben Grubs, that's who.  Grubbs, Baltimore's 27-year-old Pro Bowl left guard, is an unrestricted free agent. Sign him up!

While we're at it, the Steelers might also take a look at Baltimore linebacker Jarret Johnson, another unrestricted free agent, and cornerback Lardarius Webb, a restricted free agent.

The Plot Thickens

It turns out that maybe Bruce Arians was as surprised as the rest of us to learn of his retirement. The plot thickens, and it all sounds very Machiavellian.

It will be interesting to see whether Arians coaches in the NFL again ... like, this year?  What if he truly isn't ready to retire? ... like, this year? What if another team (Cleveland comes to mind) offers him a job?  We shall see.

Like many fans, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls have mixed feelings about how Arians orchestrated the Steelers offense.  Remember the pre-season, when the offense was dynamite? Granted, we all acknowledged it was just preseason, but we all looked forward to the regular season and said, "This team should be fun to watch."

We could've used more plays like this one.

At times, it was. Other times, it was incredibly frustrating. While Arians should be credited for developing talent and many, many excellent play-calls, something was missing -- points. The offense stalled at times maybe it shouldn't have. The playoff game in Denver is an example. Field goals on the first two drives. Field goals instead of touchdowns.  You know the rest of the story. For all Arians and the offense accomplished, they didn't score enough points.

For an excellent in-depth analysis of the Steelers offense under Arians -- and how his teams over the years ranked comparatively in points scored, yards-per-rush and sacks surrendered -- visit Steelers Depot, where blogger Jeremy Hritz details how offenses under direction of Arians were "consistently average."  Check it out here.

We can't help but wonder how the departure of Arians will affect personnel decisions on offense -- Hines Ward, offensive line, backup quarterback, etc. And how will Big Ben handle working with a new offensive coordinator?  For all we know, Big Ben is the offensive coordinator.

It's Official: Bruce Arians Retires

Exit: Bruce Arians

The Steelers have confirmed the retirement of Bruce Arians.

Speculation abounds as to who might replace Arians. The first name that comes to mind for many people is Tom Clements, who was the Steelers' quarterbacks coach on Bill Cowher's staff from 2001-03), pre-Roethlisberger, it is worth noting. 

Clements would be great, one would think -- if he wants the job. For all we know Clements may be content as quarterbacks coach of the Green Bay Packers.

For all we know, the 58-year-old Clements may be near retirement himself and not want the added pressure and visibility of being an offensive coordinator at this stage of his career.

And, it's not like Clements would be leaving a lousy team, or a crummy quarterback.  Plus, for all we know, Clements may be in line to become Green Bay's offensive coordinator should their current coordinator, Joe Philbin, take a head coaching job (possibly in Tampa).

Plus, for all we know, Aaron Rodgers may be considerably easier to work with than Ben Rothlisberger. We don't know.

People seem to assume Arians was "ousted" or forced to retire. Maybe; maybe not. Supposedly, he wanted to retire after the 2010 season, but Roethlisberger convinced him to return for 2011.  He hasn't said anything to the media yet, so we'll take the Steelers' announcement at face value.  He did some very good things for the Steelers, and his good work for this team should not be overlooked.  Good luck to him.

Odds and Ends

Alex Smith scored, but Joe Staley's block (No. 74, left, on the ground) pancaked the safety and sprung him.

What an interesting and entertaining weekend of football. Joe Porter's Pit Bulls are still frustrated by the Steelers and what could have been, so we'll overlook that for now and talk about what we saw this weekend.

Play-call of the Week:  Toss-up between San Francisco's game winning touchdown pass from Alex Smith to Vernon Davis or, perhaps even more astonishing ...

• San Francisco's quarterback sweep, down 24-23 to New Orleans, on 3rd-and-seven at the Saints' 28 yard line with 2:11 left in the fourth quarter. Already in field goal range, the 49ers had been facing 3rd-and-two but were penalized five yards to set them back to the 28 yard line. The Niners worked the sweep to perfection. Alex Smith never hesitated, the wide receiver in motion from that side executed a nasty crackback block on a Saints linebacker, and left tackle Joe Staley -- pulling at warp speed 10 yards ahead of Smith downfield, absolutely pancaked a New Orleans safety with a devastating block that sprung Smith the rest of the way.

• Who calls a quarterback sweep in that situation?  Or, these days, any situation? The safe call would have been a handoff up the middle to secure field-goal position.

• Only a few quarterbacks have the athleticism and speed to pull it off, and Alex Smith is not a name that leaps first to mind in that category (Cam Newton, Michael Vick).  Ben Roethlisberger moves well, especially laterally in the pocket, but he doesn't have the flat-out sprint ability that Smith showed on that play. Who knew?

Joe Staley and four-legged friend.

Block of the Week:  Pancake! Joe Staley's pulling block on that play -- His flat-out speed and "Faneca-like" finish on that play made us long for the days of such play on the offensive line for the Steelers. Max Starks did a mostly fantastic job this year for the Steelers, but his mobility is limited.

• Guys like Staley and Denver's Ryan Clady (who frustrated James Harrison the week before) don't grow on trees.  Both Staley and Clady were first-round draft choices -- and, you might recall, there was speculation that the Steelers were interested in him the year he was drafted (in April 2007).  Instead, the Steelers selected Lawrence Timmons with the 15th pick of the first round.  San Francisco took Staley with the 28th pick of the first round.  For what it's worth, Staley came out of Central Michigan -- same as Antonio Brown (three years later).

• It is time for the Steelers to improve the offensive line. Duh.

Vernon Davis holds onto the game-winner.

Just as gutsy a call as the quarterback sweep -- maybe more so -- was the game-winning touchdown pass from Smith to Vernon Davis.  Again, the safe call would have been a hand-off up the middle to solidify position for a game-tying field goal attempt  to force overtime and hope for the best.

Instead, the Niners went for the kill-shot.  A very risky pass into double-coverage in the middle of the field? Requiring a thread-the-needle throw that could just as easily have been intercepted?  Not many coaches make that call.  

Notable Game Plan of the Week: New England vs. Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos.  A small accomplishment, you say, but did the Steelers so-called "top-rated defense" contain Tebow?  No.  The Patriots got a pass rush on Tebow -- imagine that! -- and blitzed him mercilessly.  The other notable thing about New England's game plan was that (predictably) it was completely different from the first time those two teams played, when Denver gashed the Patriots for 228 yards rushing (or something like that).

At this point, all we can do is watch.

• On Saturday, the Patriots had their big boys clog the middle while their back seven on defense spread their defensive formation wide -- much like Bill Parcells did when the Patriots stymied Kordell Stewart when New England defeated the Steelers in the playoffs way back when (1999?).  If there is one thing we've learned about Bill Belichick and the Patriots, it is that they will always change up their game plans for a second meeting between two teams.

• Considering two of the flashiest and highest-scoring teams -- Green Bay and New Orleans -- now have been bounced from the playoffs, you could make the case that the Giants and 49ers also had great defensive game plans. They did.  They also have pretty good personnel. as do the Patriots, by the way. Oh, yeah, and the Ravens.