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stillers4me
10-26-2010, 07:20 PM
October 26th, 2010


The Steelers’ decision to keep injured defensive end Aaron Smith on their 53-man roster will force them to make a tough call later this week.

With signing another defensive lineman a necessity -- and all signs point to the Steelers promoting tackle Steve McLendon from their practice squad for the third time this season -- a difficult cut will have to be made.

The Steelers could release one of their cornerbacks but they used a third-round draft pick on Keenan Lewis in 2009, and they think rookie Crezdon Butler has the potential to start one day.

Making Anthony Madison the odd man out is risky as he is one of their best special teams players, and no one needs reminded of how the Steelers’ kick coverage units cost them dearly last season.

That same argument can be applied to Arnaz Battle........................

http://blog.triblive.com/view-from-the-press-box/2010/10/26/tough-decision-looming-for-steelers/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

SteelerSal
10-26-2010, 07:25 PM
I would rather see battle released.

oneforthetoe
10-26-2010, 07:34 PM
I'm voting for Battle.

steeldevil
10-26-2010, 07:39 PM
Hills, I seriously doubt anyone would pick him up...

zulater
10-26-2010, 07:47 PM
I'd vote Tony Hills off the island as well.

oneforthetoe
10-26-2010, 07:54 PM
I'd vote Tony Hills off the island as well.

He may have immunity. Hills might get a pass because he can apparently play left tackle in a pinch.

Devilsdancefloor
10-26-2010, 08:00 PM
id vote for hills or madison. i would also vote for smith to be put on IR and cut one of the ones i mentioned to bring woods up as well

zulater
10-26-2010, 08:29 PM
id vote for hills or madison. i would also vote for smith to be put on IR and cut one of the ones i mentioned to bring woods up as well

You don't put Smith on the IR if there's any chance, even a slim one, that he could make it back and play at a reasonaby high level in the playoffs. Right now it seems as if Tomlin is holding out some hope for his return, so you can't IR him until the docs or Smith himself says it's a no go.

cold-hard-steel
10-26-2010, 08:33 PM
I guess it would be a tough call,but i think at this point Madison would be the dude that might have to pay the price. Smiths injury does not appear to be season ending. Thats coming from Tomlins mouth.I agree with the article about Madison being the odd man out.

HollywoodSteel
10-26-2010, 08:47 PM
Could we put Butler on the PS squad without him getting snatched? I'm not sure if that really solves our problem since we need to clear a spot on the squad that actually dresses for the game. At least I don't think Butler's been dressing for games. Does he play on special teams?

cold-hard-steel
10-26-2010, 08:48 PM
I can tell you all right now,boys and girls,ladies and gents,Tomlin ,and the organization has a reason for not making that move. There is someone on the watch list to step in. Everyone seems to think it's Hood. There ain't a lot of Aaron Smiths walking around,so who is the man to fill?

Devilsdancefloor
10-26-2010, 09:07 PM
You don't put Smith on the IR if there's any chance, even a slim one, that he could make it back and play at a reasonaby high level in the playoffs. Right now it seems as if Tomlin is holding out some hope for his return, so you can't IR him until the docs or Smith himself says it's a no go.

problem is the NFL is a win now league and the days not putting guys on IR like the steelers did when woodson hurt his knee is long gone. Most say if the tricep needs surgery it take 4 to 6 months recovery. Say it it was just a minor tear more than likely half the months to recover. So if he has a speedy recovery 2 months, but how affective would he be? that means he would be back for the last 2 games of the year and then hopefully the play off runs, but realistically even if we went to the super bowl i doubt he would be back. But our biggest problem with not putting him on IR is the fact that we have 4 warm bodies on a aging Dline at the moment. The rotation of the lineman will be farther and farther apart and they will wear down in the 4th quarter. id love to see him back but i can not see it happening especially since we need Dline help

oneforthetoe
10-26-2010, 09:10 PM
I solved our problem.

WE write the big guy in the sky.

http://www.steelersuk.com/steelers/art-rooney-with-sbs-200.jpg

And get him to talk to the bigger guy in the sky
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/God.jpg

And ask him to send this guy back down for a few snaps.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f3fTVkavMVg/SQI2TJj9b0I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/PFKqujOTLxo/s400/ernieHolmes.jpg
Of course the bigger guy would also have to have a talk with this guy
http://kaufmannsports.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/t2_goodell_gy.jpg


And let him know that if he fines our guy (you know like for trying to decapitate another player) he will spend an eternity with this guy.

http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2006/01jan/devil.jpg

HollywoodSteel
10-26-2010, 09:22 PM
Here is kind of a weird question that I posted on another board, but am still unclear on the answer.

Could you dress an extra defensive end and designate him as your "emergency quarterback" instead of Batch (essentially allowing you to dress a 46th man who is not really a quarterback) and only use him in the 4th quarter to rotate in when your other guys are tired?

Here are the rules I found on the "emergency quarterback."

"Active Players
From its 53-man total roster, an NFL team may designate a maximum of 45 players as "active" for each game. With one exception, known as the "third quarterback" rule, active players are the only ones allowed to dress in uniform for games and play in them. A team can activate fewer than 45 players, but according to the labor contract, it must have at least 42 active at all times.

Emergency Quarterback
Each team is allowed to designate one inactive player as its "third quarterback" or "emergency quarterback." That player, usually the team's third-string QB, can dress in uniform for the game and is eligible to play--but if he comes into the game at any time in the first three quarters, then neither of the team's first two quarterbacks may return to the game. If he comes into the game in the fourth quarter, then the team's other quarterbacks are free to return.

Some confusion surrounds this rule. The designation "third quarterback" leads some to think these conditions must apply anytime a team puts in a third player at quarterback. But if the team wants to carry three quarterbacks on the active roster, then any of the three can come into the game at any point. The same holds true if the team wants to carry four or five active quarterbacks. Teams simply prefer to keep only two QBs active, because spots on the active roster are so valuable.

Another misconception is that the third QB can play only if the two active quarterbacks are injured. That's not the case; it's the coach's decision whether to bring in the third quarterback."

Clearly in my scenario you couldn't use your DE for this purpose in the first 3 quarters because it would disqualify your other 2 quarterbacks from playing. But there doesn't appear to be anything in the rules that states that you can only use your "emergency quarterback" at the position of quarterback. If it that were the case, then it would be illegal to line him up as a receiver and have your RB take a direct snap in a wildcat type formation. So if there is no rule specifically preventing it, theoretically you could play him at DE, even if it goes against the spirit of the rule.

Or am I way off base here?

cold-hard-steel
10-26-2010, 09:27 PM
problem is the NFL is a win now league and the days not putting guys on IR like the steelers did when woodson hurt his knee is long gone. Most say if the tricep needs surgery it take 4 to 6 months recovery. Say it it was just a minor tear more than likely half the months to recover. So if he has a speedy recovery 2 months, but how affective would he be? that means he would be back for the last 2 games of the year and then hopefully the play off runs, but realistically even if we went to the super bowl i doubt he would be back. But our biggest problem with not putting him on IR is the fact that we have 4 warm bodies on a aging Dline at the moment. The rotation of the lineman will be farther and farther apart and they will wear down in the 4th quarter. id love to see him back but i can not see it happening especially since we need Dline help

Dude,if you know all of this,don't you think the front office does too? I see your point of view,but what if the injury is not as severe as we were lead to believe? All teams are tested for thier depth in position players.If you know the d-line is getting old,would not you expect the front office,and or coaches know that too? Believe me when i say,they have players in mind to cover this.If they did not ,then they should have put him on IR. Because they did not , i find that quite intrigueing.

MULLDOG24
10-26-2010, 09:48 PM
Yeah I think that the front office has a plan and or some player in mind to cover while Smith recovers but until then we will just have to agonize over the outcome.

El-Gonzo Jackson
10-26-2010, 09:53 PM
Madison gets cut and Butler needs to step up and cover kicks.

Devilsdancefloor
10-26-2010, 10:01 PM
Dude,if you know all of this,don't you think the front office does too? I see your point of view,but what if the injury is not as severe as we were lead to believe? All teams are tested for thier depth in position players.If you know the d-line is getting old,would not you expect the front office,and or coaches know that too? Believe me when i say,they have players in mind to cover this.If they did not ,then they should have put him on IR. Because they did not , i find that quite intrigueing.

i have no doubt that ziggy will step up BUT 4 guys are not gonna get it done. you are asking 1 guy to give the other 3 a breather i can happen but they will be dead ass tired by the 4th quarter unless the O holds the ball for 40 minutes the 1st 3 quarters. they need more than 1 guy to do that is all i am saying.

HollywoodSteel
10-26-2010, 10:23 PM
At least we don't have to play any more road games in hot places in our black uniforms. Thank God New Orleans plays in a dome.

zulater
10-26-2010, 10:26 PM
At least we don't have to play any more road games in hot places in our black uniforms. Thank God New Orleans plays in a dome.

Wow, first time we get to sport the white jersey this year and it's damn near November.

cold-hard-steel
10-26-2010, 10:38 PM
I just know Dick and a little about how his mind works. It is not just the way his mind works,but i think the way he knows his players.He will have to alter his plan,but i am sure he has something in mind that we have not seen yet.Thats a good thing. No team has seen it yet either. I find it hard to believe they would not have ir'd Smith if it was that bad. That tells me something is simmering on the back burner. What exactly it is i'm not quite sure. Could be the Hood , who knows.

steelreserve
10-26-2010, 10:46 PM
Hills can go. We don't NEED 10 linemen, and last time I checked, Essex can play either tackle position, Scott plays tackle and they apparently trust him more than Hills, and Foster at least has experience playing tackle. They apparently don't trust Hills in the game anyway, so if injuries put us in a position where we actually need him, we'll probably just sign some random journeyman before the next game instead. There's the dead weight.

Also, the hell with Battle. Receivers like that are a dime a dozen, so the same argument applies as with Hills.

HollywoodSteel
10-26-2010, 11:13 PM
One thing we all knew was coming with this... a go to Tomlinism:

"You know the philosophy that we buy into, as far as the standard being the standard, and what we mean by that is those who step in have to play winning football,"

JayC
10-26-2010, 11:44 PM
i dont really care about hills, he's been bad everytime i've seen him

7willBheaven
10-26-2010, 11:59 PM
For the person who said we have 10 linemen on the roster actually we only have 9 that COUNT towards it...a decision what to do with C. Scott has to come by the end of week 9.

Why not cut Batch...you can always bring him back later...no offense to him or anything I like Charlie, but right now he's not playing at all. But if he's not an option I say Madison...i think he's been almost invisible this year on ST...Sylvestor is an animal on ST - so is Fox and it seems other guys are doing pretty good there too, Brown has been in on a number of tackles among others. I remember before when Madison was always in on or around tackles...I dont remember many times this year that was the case. Plus this will give Lewis or Butler a chance to dress.

steelpride12
10-27-2010, 12:06 AM
Hills can go for numerous reasons on my list. First we have 10 lineman and that is too many and our depth is deep enough without him. Second I just feel he has no potential at least with the Steelers and keeping him around more than this season would be a waste of time and roster space. Second Battle could be needed if a WR would go down to injury down the road and a veteran like him know's the ropes of football.

oneforthetoe
10-27-2010, 12:38 AM
For the person who said we have 10 linemen on the roster actually we only have 9 that COUNT towards it...a decision what to do with C. Scott has to come by the end of week 9.

Why not cut Batch...you can always bring him back later...no offense to him or anything I like Charlie, but right now he's not playing at all. But if he's not an option I say Madison...i think he's been almost invisible this year on ST...Sylvestor is an animal on ST - so is Fox and it seems other guys are doing pretty good there too, Brown has been in on a number of tackles among others. I remember before when Madison was always in on or around tackles...I dont remember many times this year that was the case. Plus this will give Lewis or Butler a chance to dress.

I don't believe the Steelers will not go with two QBs for the whole season. Very few teams are willing to take that risk over an entire season. Much better chance, IMO, of needing Batch because we lose two Qb's in a single game than there is of needing your worst O'linemen, WR or CB. Moreove,r because your 3rd QB is the emergency QB it gives you in essence an extra active player on game day.

Either Madison Battle or hills would be fine with me.

cold-hard-steel
10-27-2010, 12:44 AM
There is an array of moves we could make. We gots to trust the front office,and our hired hands to make the right choice.

NCSteeler
10-27-2010, 02:21 AM
Titans worked out free agent defensive tackles Jay Alford, Dre Moore, and Deljuan Robinson.
Starter Tony Brown missed last week's game with a knee injury, so the Titans are looking for insurance. Alford is also scheduled to work out for the Steelers on Wednesday.

http://blogs.tennessean.com/titans/2010/10/26/titans-work-out-three-defensive-tackles/

Galax Steeler
10-27-2010, 03:27 AM
I say get rid of Battle the only time we see him is on special teams he contributes none on offense.

HometownGal
10-27-2010, 05:45 AM
Out of all of those mentioned, I'd feel most comfortable releasing Hills. Madison is too valuable on ST's.

I suppose we could cut Batch as I don't get why we are keeping 4 QB's on the active roster now that Ben is back. :noidea:

LLT
10-27-2010, 06:07 AM
As I mentioned in another thread...I think we would be safe to put Butler on the PS. If not... just release Tony Hills altogether.

oneforthetoe
10-27-2010, 04:11 PM
Out of all of those mentioned, I'd feel most comfortable releasing Hills. Madison is too valuable on ST's.

I suppose we could cut Batch as I don't get why we are keeping 4 QB's on the active roster now that Ben is back. :noidea:

Correct me if I am wrong, but we only have three with Dixon on IR?

SteelerFanInStl
10-27-2010, 07:03 PM
Correct me if I am wrong, but we only have three with Dixon on IR?

You are correct.