stillers4me
12-12-2010, 06:46 AM
Sunday, December 12, 2010
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/201008/wardhed0901_500.jpg
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward on preseason predictions for the AFC North: "Everyone was picking the Bengals and Ravens."
For a city that averages approximately 60 cloudless days a year, dark skies on the horizon are nothing out of the ordinary. But it is when leaden clouds are hovering above the Steelers.
A storm was brewing long before they would even get to training camp in late July, and at its center was a four-game suspension handed to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for violating the National Football League's personal conduct policy. But also swirling among the debris was the release of their top receiver and former Super Bowl XLIII MVP, Santonio Holmes, and a season-ending injury to their best offensive lineman, Willie Colon.
It was not the ideal way to begin after a season in which the Steelers not only failed to defend their Super Bowl XLIII title, they missed the playoffs with a 9-7 record that was largely attributable to a five-game losing streak.
"Everyone was picking the Bengals and Ravens," said wide receiver Hines Ward. "Not having our quarterback, losing Santonio, losing Willie Colon and stuff like that, it didn't look good. I wouldn't have picked us, either."
That, though, was just the beginning........................
Read more @ http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10346/1109887-66.stm
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/201008/wardhed0901_500.jpg
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward on preseason predictions for the AFC North: "Everyone was picking the Bengals and Ravens."
For a city that averages approximately 60 cloudless days a year, dark skies on the horizon are nothing out of the ordinary. But it is when leaden clouds are hovering above the Steelers.
A storm was brewing long before they would even get to training camp in late July, and at its center was a four-game suspension handed to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for violating the National Football League's personal conduct policy. But also swirling among the debris was the release of their top receiver and former Super Bowl XLIII MVP, Santonio Holmes, and a season-ending injury to their best offensive lineman, Willie Colon.
It was not the ideal way to begin after a season in which the Steelers not only failed to defend their Super Bowl XLIII title, they missed the playoffs with a 9-7 record that was largely attributable to a five-game losing streak.
"Everyone was picking the Bengals and Ravens," said wide receiver Hines Ward. "Not having our quarterback, losing Santonio, losing Willie Colon and stuff like that, it didn't look good. I wouldn't have picked us, either."
That, though, was just the beginning........................
Read more @ http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10346/1109887-66.stm