How Deflating

LeGarrette Blount, in the locker after walking off the
field before the end of the Steelers-Titans game.

LeGarrette Blount. Deflated footballs.

Of course.

Of course the quitter shitheel Blount was the hero of the day for New England, after he trampled the Colts for three touchdowns and 148 yards on 30 carries. It's tough to see a guy like that succeed after he was such a shitstain in Pittsburgh, but give BilB Bellicheat Bellichick credit for one thing: He knows how to game-plan.

Everybody knows the Colts are weak against the run, so Bellichick gave Blount 30 carries.  No brainer, right? Yeah, except we see time and again that offensive coordinators stray from game plans and so rarely commit to the run in today's NFL.

Speaking of committing to the run, the Seahawks deserve credit for staging a Conference Championship comeback win for the ages. How did they do it? They ran the ball. Even when they were down by 16 points at halftime.

Commitment to the run.  It's kind of refreshing to see.

"The time is always right to do what is right."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is a laugh

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls have heard Bill Bellichick called a of things before, but "100 percent honest" isn't one of them.

But that's how LeGarrette Blount, of all people, described Coach Hoodie this weekend. Blount's statement implies, of course, that Mike Tomlin, Todd Haley, Kevin Colbert and the Steelers organization are less than 100 percent honest.

Whatever. Consider the source.

The Knucklehead Express

Why did the Steelers sign LeGarrette Blount in the first place? They knew he was a knucklehead, and he's proved them right.  The Steelers finally had to "blink open the blind eye," to borrow a phrase coined by Frank DeFord. Now Blount is on The Knucklehead Express outta town.

Twitter photo courtesy of Mark Kaboly, Tribune-Review:
"Blount dressed and ready to go
while rest of team still in their pads." 

The Steelers wasted time and money investing in the two-year, $3.85 million contract they awarded Blount. He had a history in Tampa Bay, and in Oregon, and there were even questions about him in New England, which allowed him to walk after last season.

Now, just 11 weeks into the 2014 season, the Steelers have seen enough. Blount wore out his welcome quickly, even among his teammates, according to the Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette.

When you see the success of undrafted free agent running backs like Jonas Gray (four touchdowns and 201 yards rushing for the Patriots on Sunday; cover of Sports Illustrated) and Isaiah Crowell (starting for the Browns; 358 yards rushing and five TDs this season) -- and considering the presence of Le'Veon Bell -- why was it necessary to sign Blount as a free agent?

The Steelers' decisions regarding free-agent talent acquisition this past off-season merits second-guessing, if not downright criticism. Blount, Cam Thomas, Mike Mitchell, Lance Moore -- all have disappointed for one reason or another.  The Steelers knew Blount was a knucklehead. They knew Cam Thomas had lost his starting job in San Diego. Mike Mitchell had one year of modest success on a good defense in Carolina, and he's been less than good, to say the least, in Pittsburgh. And Moore has always been an overachiever who played with a great quarterback in New Orleans and may be past his expiration date. He's barely seen the field for the Steelers.

The Steelers had to release Blount. They should never have signed him.

Is this how they normally prepare for team business?

Clang!

The smoke has mostly cleared from the aftermath of last week's police interaction with Le'Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount, Le'Doobie Brothers.

Coach Mike Tomlin has disclosed that the team will deal with the incident internally, whatever that means, and the discussion on Tuesday will be about the first round of roster cuts, so the fallout from the Bell/Blount incident will continue to dissipate for a while.

Questions remain, however, and one question is this: Is this the way these guys typically prepare for games? It's a legitimate question.

For that matter, how often do they (and other Steelers) go to team functions, practice or games immediately after getting high?  How about other players? How about some of the coaches? Clearly, Bell and Blount felt comfortable gathering in close quarters (a plane) and interacting with coaches and teammates. Apparently they were unconcerned that would anybody would notice.

Mike Tomlin always likes to talk about the importance of having "a singular focus, obviously."

Well, "obviously," the singular focus of Bell and Blount is getting high. It seems to be their priority over and above what they get paid for as professional football players. We are what we do.

Links: 

Last Word on Sports: Are Blount and Bell to be Trusted?

Dejan Kovacevic: "The Standard is the the Standard."

Eagles.com:  The Eagles are loaded at running back

Cheech Blount & Le'Veon Chong: Up in Smoke

Chronic: "Hey how am I driving, man?"

Blunt [looks around]: "I think we're parked." 

Tomfoolery, hijinks, chicanery and shenanigans with the 420 in the 412 with LeGarrette "Blunt" and Le'Veon "Chronic" Bell!

Just imagine how that conversation in the car went?

Chronic: "Ya wanna get high, man?"

Blunt: "Does Howdy-Doody have wooden balls?"

  
This isn't a distraction, is it? What could possibly go wrong?  
  After all, just a week ago, the Tribune-Review quoted Mike Tomlin as saying:

“They're both going to get their share (of carries). But in terms of the details and anything more detailed than that, no, we'll deal with that on a game-by-game basis based on the plan, based on health of the men and a lot of other variables,” Tomlin said last Thursday. “We have a great deal of confidence in both guys. Both guys are going to be central reasons why we're successful. That's the plan, and I think they're open to that.”

Well, they were open to something. 

What's with the hand signals?

Now, in the aftermath of this latest imbroglio, lots of talk will ensue about some of the alleged incidents allegedly involving Blount before he arrived in Pittsburgh, but that's all in the past, right? What's past is past, and what's done is done. A fresh start and all that. All is good. Right?

Just wondering: Where was Alameda Ta'amu, anyway? Maybe the Steelers can sign Ricky Williams?

Another signing for the special teams, and DHB comes in for a visit (from DVD to DHB)

Presumably, the Steelers' addition of former Houston Texans' cornerback Brice McCain is for the Curtis Brown role, which was special teams gunner and deep depth at corner. That's a fungible role that was filled at the end of last season by 5'9" Antwon Blake, who is still on the roster.

The Texans' defense was dreadful last year, and McCain was a part of that. For what it's worth, Pro Football Focus ranked McCain as 110th of the 110 corners it rated in 2013.  McCain is listed as 5"9, 185, which means he's probably 5'7", 173.

McCain is fast, but so was DeMarcus Van Dyke, another gunner/corner the Steelers tried for a while. Mike Tomlin always called him by his initials, DVD, but he was basically just a really fast, overdrafted guy from Oakland who couldn't play.

Darius Heyward-Bey scoring a touchdown for Oakland
vs. the Steelers in 2012, with Ryan Mundy
being dragged into the end zone. 

Speaking of really fast three-name guys from Oakland who can't play, wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey ("DHB") visits Pittsburgh on Wednesday.  Eh.

Heyward-Bey was notoriously and spectacularly overdrafted by Al Davis as the seventh overall pick in the 2009 draft, a pick that was roundly criticized by just about anybody outside of Oakland, and DHB lived down to the low expectations.

Heyward-Bey's career has been marked by drops, sporadic flashes and, at the end of last year's stint in Indianapolis, a lack of playing time -- except on special teams, where he played admirably well as ... you guessed it ... as a gunner on the Colts' punt-coverage units.

For all we know, the Steelers may want to see if he can help on special teams, too. They need a kick returner, although DHB has never had much success at it.

One guy who has had some success at returning kickoffs is new running back LeGarrette Blount. Here's what Bob Labriola of Steelers Digest wrote:

"... a description of Blount’s running style can be found in his kickoff return statistics. Doing it for the first time in the NFL during the 2013 season with the Patriots, Blount averaged 29.1 yards per return with a long of 83 yards. He is a big guy who is quick to speed, and while he cannot be described as nifty, Blount has enough of a speed-power combination to make him dangerous to a defense."

No kidding. Have you ever tried to tackle a big, fast guy like that, a determined battering ram already up to full-momentum speed, head down, with a 15-20 yard head start? It isn't pleasant. Nope, such collisions tend to be violent, but then again, collisions on kickoff returns (and most other plays) tend to come from all sorts of angles and with multiple players converging on the ball carrier. They're rarely, head-on, one-to-one collisions.

It wouldn't hurt to see if a really fast guy like Heyward-Bey can avoid those collisions altogether.

Frankly, we have no idea what the Steelers have in mind for DHB, just like we don't understand so many of the Steelers' personnel decisions. Maybe they just want DHB to replace DVD.

Weighing in ...

Lance Moore

Once again this year, Steeler Nation has watched NFL free agency come and go (mostly now) with bated breath only to be frustrated by lack of cap space and a series of mostly underwhelming additions and unsurprising subtractions.

Safety Mike Mitchell is the only roster addition we can say with confidence is an upgrade. Mitchell succeeds the inimitable but aging Ryan Clark, who became suddenly slow during a 2013 season in which the defense surrendered a gazillion plays of 20 yards or more.

Jessica Burciaga, who is supposedly
Lance Moore's girlfriend

At wide receiver, Lance Moore replaces Emmanuel Sanders -- not Jericho Cotchery, as most people seem to conclude from the timing of Moore's signing coinciding with Cotchery's lamentable departure. We're not sorry to see Sanders gone; we are sad to see Jericho no longer in Black 'n Gold.

Hampered by injuries last year, Lance Moore had only 37 catches for the Saints, but he tallied an average of 63 catches a year for the previous three seasons. The Steelers hope he regains that form to replace Sanders, who had 67 catches last year for the Steelers (740 yards; 11.0 ypc). Sanders also had more than few drops, and too many of those at crucial times. Sanders came up small in the biggest moments; clutch, not so much. The Steelers should have let Sanders go to New England last off-season, and we said so at the time.

As for the Moore-Sanders comparison: Similar body type; similar physical attributes; similar speed -- the main difference is Moore is three-and-a-half years older than Sanders, and on the north side of 30. Plus, reportedly, he has a stunning girlfriend (and maybe Sanders does, too, for all we know).

If Moore doesn't return to form, and even if he does, the Steelers are looking for 2013 third-rounder Markus Wheaton to step up his game in a big way. We have high hopes for Wheaton, who was injured much of last year and made next to no impact. If neither Moore nor Wheaton pan out this year, the Steelers will be in trouble. There is nobody else, unless 2013 fringe rookies Derek Moye or Justin Brown develop, or somebody out of the blue. Or a draft choice.

As for the other moves, they're underwhelming and appear to be for depth, which is not a bad thing, just not very exciting. Glaring holes remain on defense, especially on the defensive line and at cornerback. There's room for improvement at inside linebacker, too. (C.J. Moseley, anyone?)

Next Up at Running Back: "The Winnebago"?
Running back remains a big concern, and maybe LeGarrette Blount will sign; maybe not. Nicknamed "The Winnebago," Blount's size makes Steeler fans hope for the arrival of the next Jerome Bettis ("The Bus"). More realistically, Blount may be closer to Najeh Davenport ("The Dump Truck"). Like Davenport, Blount has some history he'd no doubt prefer people would forget.

The Draft
Wide receiver and cornerback remain the top two target areas for the draft. We're guessing corner, if either of the top two (Justin Gilbert or Darqueze Dennard) are available.  Wide receiver, otherwise, probably, unless an absolutely can't-miss offensive tackle or impact defensive lineman is available. The needs are many, and they are great.

If North Carolina tight end Eric Ebron is available, we'd consider him in the first round. We don't think the Steelers will, but Joey Porter's Pit Bulls would. The Steelers have four tight ends on the roster and probably figure they're set for the time being. Heath Miller's still very good, but a player like Ebron could be a difference-maker, especially in the Red Zone. At 6'4, 250, Ebron would be a monster slot receiver.

In any case, the Steelers need immediate help at corner, wide receiver, the defensive front seven and running back.  Probably in that order.

The O-Line Coach Conundrum

It's been nearly two weeks since the Steelers fired offensive line coach Jack Bicknell, Jr., and they still haven't named a successor. Offensive assistant Shaun Starrett has already interviewed for the position, according to the Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac, who also has reported that Sarrett basically assumed many of Bicknell's duties even before the season ended.

Bicknell said he was stunned by the move, but "obviously" Mike Tomlin had his reasons. Speculation abounds, and we may never know Tomlin's reasons, but it appears the Steelers are waiting for the playoffs to play out before announcing Bicknell's replacement.

Why was Bicknell let go? Considering the degree to which the patchwork offensive line improved during the season, one would have thought Bicknell's job might have been safe. The running game never really got any serious traction, however, even considering the last two games, when Le'Veon Bell put up decent numbers.

Still, as Dulac noted, the team's overall numbers for rushing yardage and sacks allowed in 2013 were not good:

"The Steelers regressed statistically in Bicknell's one season as the team's offensive line coach. They finished 27th in the league in rushing and averaged 3.5 yards per carry. Only the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars averaged fewer yards per carry. Last season, the Steelers were ranked 26th in rushing and averaged 3.7 yards per carry. The Steelers also allowed 43 sacks this season, six more than last season (2012), when Sean Kugler coached the offensive linemen." 

It may be that the Steelers want to interview one of the coaches from one of the playoff teams still playing. For all the sentiment that the importance of the running game in the NFL has diminished, the 49ers, Seahawks and Patriots rely heavily on the run. On Sunday, New England racked up 234 yards rushing, as the Patriots' ran roughshod over the Indianpolis Colts, with LeGarrette Blount running for four touchdowns.

No matter who the Steelers name as their next offensive line coach, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls have to wonder if the Steelers will ditch the zone blocking scheme that never took hold last season -- and which Bicknell was supposedly hired to implement. For the players they have, the zone blocking scheme just may not work.