Kaspers Korner

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.

Charlie Batch QB unrestricted

Fernando Bryant CB unrestricted resigned with team one year
Willie Colon OT restricted signed tender
Trai Essex OT restricted resigned with team two years two million $500 thousand signing bonus
Keyaron Fox LB unrestricted

Andre Frazier LB unrestricted resigned with team two years $1.375 million $125 thousand signing bonus.
Arnold Harrison LB unrestricted resigned with team one year
Chris Kemoeatu G restricted resigned five year, $20 million, $4 Million singing bonus
Byron Leftwich QB unrestricted

Anthony Madison CB restricted signed tender one year $1.01 million
Bryant McFadden CB unrestricted signed with Cardinals two years $10 million five guaranteed.
Sean McHugh TE unrestricted resigned with team three year $2.57 million $390 thousand guaranteed.
Orpheus Roye DE unrestricted
Anthony Smith S unrestricted signed with Packers
Max Starks OT unrestricted franchised by team, signed one year $8.45 million tender

Nate Washington WR unrestricted signed with Titans six years $27 million $9 million guaranteed.
Jamel White RB unrestricted

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a big scare last week when quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hurt his Achilles tendon.

With Roethlisberger returning to practice this on Tuesday the Steelers would be fools to play him again this preseason.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Roethlisbeger’s sat out the last 10 minutes of practice Tuesday to ice his foot.

With Roethlisberger seen icing his foot the best thing to do is to keep him out of any games until his foot is completely healed as quarterbacks need to move around to avoid pass rushers.

A foot injury that still lingered would mean less mobility and exposure to more hits.

In the end even though the third game of the preseason is the dress rehearsal for the regular season Roethlisberger needs to sit.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were the dynasty of the 1970’s by winning four Superbowl Championships.  After being in purgatory for nearly two decades the Steelers dynasty is reborn.

The win against the Baltimore Ravens has landed them back in the Superbowl for the first time in three years.  They were also in the 2004 season’s AFC Title game where they eventually lost to the New England Patriots.

What makes the Steelers even more scarier than last time is their defense.  The Steel Curtain is back as their defense dominated all playoffs long.

The offense can be just as good being led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running back Willie Parker, and wide receiver Hines Ward.

They will be going up an unlikely opponent in the Arizona Cardinals, who play right into the the Steelers game plan defensively.

So, National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell just might as well start polishing the Lombardi trophy for the Steelers, because the Superbowl is not going to be a contest.