Steelers preview- so late, so cocky

Editor's note: Preview was written a day before the first game was played and with no knowledge that the Lers would dominate a texans team he was a bit worried about, or that Brady would get injured (mildly pleased) his antics for the New England Cheaters override any good will he gets for being a michigan wolverine. but then 李岩 got his 喝酒 on before he remembered to post it.

I'm excited for the Steelers season as I am every year, unfortunately they don't show the games in China, except for the Super Bowl and sometimes AFC NFC championships in sports bars. But I will survive, and the lers wil thrive with me in China (When the steelers play when I'm out of the country the steelers are 23-8 (.741) including that magical 15-0* when I was studying abroad in italy, but the horrible season coming off the SUPER BOWL playing for a retiring coach with a QB who should have taken the season off to recover from almost dying. I will take a .741 win percentage this season, though it shows how stats can be manipulated. So really I'm just .500 in the country I;m now in, not so good. (that's the dream of the Pirates, we expect a bit more out of the Lers. Maybe that stat is saying that I should go back to Italy.)

Steelers O.
It could be a big year again for big Ben, he has some serious weapons around him. I have dreams where they line up in two tight end-two running back formations. Some in which they even throw the ball out of it.
If nothing else they got two of the best names of the draft. Limus Sweed and Rashard Mendenhall, if they play half as well as I enjoy saying their name we could make a serious run.
There is a lot of talent to be excited about. Nate Washington is even thinking about catching some balls this year instead of dropping most of them
I'm not as worried as most about the o-line. think they will handle themselves well, but I think we will use a bit more no huddle, shorter drops, to get the ball out of ben's hands sooner. making it easier to protect him.

A lot of people are talking about Santonio having a break out year, and I think he will have a big one, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Heath Miller get a lot of balls. He seems like he is underrated around the league, though I'm probably wrong and he is a favorite target of Big Ben. The boy sure can run and catch and he never seems to get stopped in his tracks, but pick up yards after contact. he was given a lot of consideration for Adam's All Madden Player of the Year, until he broke essentially every criteria for it.

Steelers D
Welcome back Aaron Smith, it seemed the football world finally noticed how crucial you are to the steelers ability to stop the run. We are getting a bit older up front, but just having a healthy Smith, and keeping Polamalu healthy the D should continue to be one of the leagues best. Of course having Dick Lebeau calling the plays doesn't hurt either, nor does Lamarr Woodley getting to start.

It scares me that we've yet to find someone that can outplay Deshea Townsend at cornerback. I'm not saying Deshea is bad, but I would think one of these young guys we have drafted in the last four years would be able to supplant him by now, so he can go on to become a secondary coach for the Steelers. Wouldn't be surprised to hear that Darren Perry pays off Tomlin to start Townsend so Townsend doesn't retire and take Perry's job.

Like a little more depth at Safety too. But if Polamalu can stay healthy it won't matter (and this might be the year I finally can name a student after him)

Big Ben vs. Carson Palmer

I saw this from ESPN the websites preview of the Steelers and one thing seemed extremely out of place.

QB Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger had 3,154 yards passing and 32 touchdowns in '07. He is close to joining the NFL's elite quarterbacks and could solidify his spot next to Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer with an even bigger year in 2008.

Carson Palmer hasn't even won a playoff game and he is in the same sentence as Manning and Brady, while another Super Bowl winner Big Ben, who led the Steelers to the Superbowl, is still trying to reach that upper tier

Excuse me a moment while I get on my soap box... When did Carson Palmer become a better quarterback than Ben Rothlisberger, I am not saying that Carson Palmer is bad, he is one of the better quarterbacks in the league**, has the heisman and the USC pedigree, and the is the proto-typical pocket passer, but that does not a better NFL quarterback make. If I am not mistaken winning counts in this league. and one of the quarterbacks BEN is a winner and the other Palmer is not, We can blame all of the loses on Carson, but they are both the leaders of their team Ben leads his team to victory and Carson sulks, complains, and qets quoted in SI articles about how he hates the steelers.
Carson seems to get credit for completing 1 pass in a playoff game (the only year he has been above .500). It was a nice throw, but their was no guarantee that the Bengals would have won that game, games are not won and lost on the first throw of a game. Its as if he won the Superbowl. But the person who actually won the Superbowl that year Ben, gets forgotten. granted he had a poor year the next year after playing poorly in the actual superbowl taking some luster of his performance, People say he is a product of a system. But he has never really had a great line, makes plays out of nothing (people laud Steve Young for his ability to scramble, but this quarterback skill is always conveniently left out of comparisons between Ben and Palmer), and when the system was changed when we switched coaches he had his best year, perhaps suggesting the system was holding him back. I've read message boards that he doesn't have the numbers and can only throw short passes and hand the ball off, but when you look at the numbers he is usually ahead of Palmer in categories like yards per pass. Most of his quarterback numbers are up there with the best in the league, shouldn't Carson be having incredible stats like Ben cause all anyone hears is how great his receivers are.
(there is some other bit about the leadership Palmer has, if he had leadership why are there so many problems every year on his team)

How about Palmer has another winning season and then we can start thinking of putting him in the company of Peyton, Brady, and Ben. Probably asking him to win a playoff game or god-forbid a superbowl is too much to ask.

I called you out Carson. Go on TV and talk shit on me, blow my blog up.

NFL Toughest Schedule.
THis to me is a joke, something for the pundits to spend an afternoon argueing about. The league changes so much from year to year that how a team played the year before has almost no relevance to how they will play the next year. At the end of the year the steelers will not have played the hardest schedule in the league, it will be another team. What scares me is that this year the Steelers seem to play all the good quarterbacks in the league, a good quarterback usually can keep a team hovering above mediocrity. I have to say I'm a bit worried about that. We play against a lot of QBs that can win a game for their team (McNabb, Garrard, Rivers, Palmer, Brady, Romo, Manning), not a lot of rookies or journeymen at the helm of the teams we are playing this year (sans Ravens) , but even that can change as people start to get injured.
Sometimes their is so much information available that we need to muzzle it until actual games start being played.

Adam's All Madden Player of the Year.
Started while watching who was dominating while Mac was playing madden, or who i liked on the steelers and we decided to impove his skill to make dominate and it has been a extremely accurate barometer of how a person will play or their improvemnet. Past recipients include Aaron Smith, Larry Foote, Clark Haggans and Lamarr Woodley.
IN order to be chosen it has to be a players rookie campaign, or his first year taking on a major role on the team, (starter, key sub), he can't be a proven big name (leaving out the likes of Big Bens , Polamalus, and Hamptons) and although there is no official rule there might as well be one that it has to be a defensive player (The Big Nasty D gets me more fired up than the O, but that might be the Pittsburgher in me, but they make Styx songs rowdy) It has also been pointed out to me that most of my selections are linebackers and 50% have been Michigan linebackers (I like to hedge my bets and pick comodities that are proven) and Lamarr Woodley is an animal.
THis year I am not braking tradition, except for the pick being a little too obvious (but no one seems to care about this when they hop on the Jets bandwagon for most improved team) Lawrence Timmons, yes he was the first round pick last year but he didn't get a lot of run, and didn't seem to make the impact that Lamarr did in his limited action, but what impressed me was that he always seemed to be around the play and come up with the ball on fumbles (a skill that can't be taught) I;m looking for big things from him this year, and think his improved play will make up for the age of some of the guys upfront.

Predicition:
I can see the Lers going anywhere from 10-6 to 12-4. I know they are going to play some shitty games, every team does, sometimes you win them and sometimes you don't. But I think we will win more than we lose. I do think the division will be tougher than people think and not because of the Browns (Derek Anderson does not scare me, nor do I see Winslow and Edwards playing all 16 together again, (though Brady Quinn feels like the real deal. I can definately see the Bengals being competitive with their coach on the firing block and they still supposedly have an offense of course that assumes Carson Palmer has leadership abilities like everyone says. Also sometimes a little shake-up is all a team like the Ravens needs though they seem to be a year or two away and if Ed Reed, like Polamalu, is hurt they are a lot less formiddable. But I think The Lers will win the division again. and that the Brownies are soft. As for the playoffs, no point in projecting it now, its all about getting to the dance, because if you are there you have a shot.

* the Jets-Steelers playoff game in which the Jets missed two field goals in the final 2 minutes, and the lers won in OT was the first game I had seen all season, I was so excited to finally watch this team that had dominated the regular season, only to watch them play so shitty and luckily squeak out a win. I watched it in Boulder and according to eye-witness reports apparently grabbed the head of one of the girls that came over to watch the game at Mac's house and started shaking her head violently saying "I can't believe it" . I don't think her or her friend ever talked to Mac again. But Definately a magical moment in the my steelers upbringing.

** I sometimes am surprised with how many quarterbacks their are at the College level, that their aren't enough that around that only about 15 teams have legit quarterbacks. and even of this group only about 5 with whom you are confident going into every game.