Kaspers Korner

The Pittsburgh Steelers got a dose of bad newa as defensive end Aaron Smith is out until Jabuary with a shoulder injury.

So, the question will the Steelers defense. Be the same?

Smith is a huge part of their defense even though he doesn’t get a lot of recognition.

Most likely Steelers rookie defensive lineman Ziggy Hood.will replace Smith.

In the end Hood still isn’t smith, which means that there will be some drop off from the defense.

The Pittsburgh Steelers as expected took care of business by defeating the Detroit Lions.

Even though the score doesn’t reflect it the game was not close.

The Steelers sacked Lions quarterback Duante Culpepper seven times.

That is just pure dominance defensively.

The one area that many Steelers fans will be happy with is the running game as running back Rashard Mendenhall as he rushed for 77 yards on 15 carries.

In the end if the Steelers are for real their next step is proving that they can run against a top notch defense.

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Willie Parker gets hurt every year.

That is already the case in 2009 as Parker is already suffering from turf toe.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Parker missed practice Wednesday due to it.

As good as he is Parker is always missing games due to injury, which hurts the team as he is their best running back.

Fortunately for Parker 2008 first round pick running back Rashard Mendenhall has not lived up to his status.

In the end soon as the Steelers find someone else as good as Parker the Steelers will be saying good bye to him.

National Football Leauge Draft picks are vital to the success of a team.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin pondering the possibility of benching wide receiver Limas Sweed and running back Rashars Mendenhall the Steelers could be in trouble.

The steelers took the paur with their first and second round draft picks, which makes it stunning that the Steelers would do such a thing so quick.

The Steelers are known for their drafting and development.

If the two don’t work out that means the offense is in trouble.

Starting wide receiver Hines Ward is getting up there in age, which means they will have to replace him soon.

Also, starting running back Willie Parker has shown that as good as he is he cannot carry all the load by himself due to his constant injuries.

Already the Steelers are in trouble on offense as the offendive line has been neglected for a long time and is now putrid.

In the end if the Steelers don’t get the two going they are in trouble.

The National Football League has been more and more earning its nick name the No Fun League.

The evidence of this came this past week as strong safety Tyrone Carter was fined five thousand for a hit on Chicago Bears tight end Greg Olsen that broke up a pass.

After seeing the replay you can clearly come to a conclusion that the fine is a load of crap.

Carter hit Olsen just after he caught the ball.

I can see a fine if the pass falls incomplete and Carter labels him or it goes over Olsen’s head.

However, Olsen caught the football and Carter had every right to knock him silly as long as the hit was clean.

In the end the NFL is just get ridiculous with some of its safety rules.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been known for their running game.

With the running game disappearing in their regular season opener against the Tennessee Titans the Steelers are going to be in trouble.

The Steelers have one weakness and that is their offensive line, which became evident Thursday night as the Steelers ran for a total of 17 yards on 22 attempts.

That is down right stunning considering that two years ago the Steelers were one of the best rushing teams in the National Football League.

Without a running game teams will start to play cover two and drop seven guys into coverage while only four defenders rush the quarterback.

Even with two solid wide receivers on the Steelers in Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes it simply will not be enough to consistently win football games.

In the end if the Steelers do not find their running game they will find themselves in the basement of the AFC North.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are about to undertake the defense of their Superbowl title.  The thing is that they are going to have to do it with a major distraction on their hands.

According to ProFootballTalk.com, a civil lawsuit has been brought up against Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for rape.

The alleged incident happened at Harrah’s, which is a hotel in Las Vegas, Neveda.

In the civil suit Harrah’s employee Andrea McNulty alleges that Roethlisberger asked her to come to his hotel room to fix the television and then he allegedly thereafter forced her to have sex with him.

As of right now there is no criminal complaint that has been filed.
This is the last thing that the Steelers want to happen, especially to their starting quarterback.

That means when training camp starts there will be huge contingencies of media at Steelers practice.

In the end with the Steelers being in a tough division in the AFC North this is simply to much to overcome, unless it goes away quick.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Superbowl last year with a top notch defense that was ranked first overall last year.  With certain players being over 30 years old these players performance is the key to the team.

The Steelers are excellent at replacing players that they let go over 30 years old, which is why the defense has been good for such a long time.
However, they been singing a different tune as they have resigned several players over 30 years old.

Those players being defensive end Aaron Smith, linebackers James Farrior and James Harrison, along with cornerback Deshea Townsend.

All four have been key players, which makes them hard to replace unless there has been some behind them preparing for their departure.

The problem is that Smith, Townsend, and Farrior are all 33 years old or older, which means that anyone of them can hit the wall this year.  Only Harrison is 31 years old.

Also, only this year did they address the problem as they selected defensive lineman Evander Hood and cornerbacks Keenan Lewis and Joe Burnett in this past April’s NFL Draft, but neither of them are ready.

In the end the Steelers have to hope that none of their defensive players skills start receeding, or they are in trouble being in the AFC North.

Many people figure the New England Patriots are the team to beat with the return of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.  In reality the Pittsburgh Steelers are the team to beat.

Brady was the top quarterback in the National Football League before his injury in week one of the 2008 season.

Then in week one Brady went down with a injury that ultimately ended his season with a torn anteriot cruciiate ligament and medial collateral ligament.  Then to make things worst Brady suffered an infection in the knee.

It takes two years for a football player to return to form from when the player initially hurts the knee.  The thing is though Brady also tore his MCL, which is unprecedented.

Also, the Steelers this offseason did not lose anyone significant players from their roster in free agency.

The Patriots on the other hand have lost some key players in wide receiver Jabar Gaffney, backup quarterback Matt Cassel, strong safety Rodney Harrsion, and linebacker Mike Vrabel.
Even if the Steelers were to lose a player they easily replace him.  For example when they released linebacker Joey Porter he was still in his prime.  However, they still let him go and replaced him with James Harrison who has become an integral part of the team.

Also, the Steelers coaching staff is in tact, unlike the New England Patriots coaching staff, which was raided by their own former offensive coordinator turned Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels as well as others.

To not consider the Steelers the team to beat is foolish, because they simply have to much talent throughout the organization.

It has been many years since former Pittsburgh Steelers great John Stallworth help lead the Steelers to glory.  It was revealed Monday that Stallworth once again has come through to help out the Steelers

National Football League owners today approved Stallworth as a partner in the Steelers ownership that ultimately led to current owner Dan Rooney to keep control of the team.

For a couple of months ago it was looking like Dan Rooney would not be the controlling owner of the Steelers.  However, somehow Rooney put together a deal good enough to buy out his four other brothers.

Stallworth was able to buy a piece of the Steelers due to successful business endevours that he has taken on, since retiring.

It is simply a great story, because a lot of players squander their money, or become disabled.  That means they lose their fortune having to pay for their own medical bills, since they lose their health care from the league after three years of retirment.

Hopefully, Stallworth’s story will inspire some players to invest their money and not spend it on twelve fully loaded vehicles.