Quarterback pay leads to talent drain for Steelers, Ravens

[stillers4me]

When Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh shouted, "It's Steelers week," to his players early last week, the declaration probably didn't carry as much meaning as it might have in the past. The same could be said if Mike Tomlin declared it "Ravens week" to any of his players.

Used to be, the mere mention of a Steelers-Ravens meeting was enough to get the juices flowing and tempers roiling. It would conjure memories of Joey Porter going to the Ravens team bus after the game and challenging Ray Lewis to get off; cornerback James Trapp stomping on Plaxico Burress' facemask; Hines Ward decleating Ed Reed with a block so vicious that the All-Pro safety called him "a dirty player." Even the coaches, Bill Cowher and Brian Billick, didn't like each other.

But all those players are gone, and so is the nastiness, so is the dislike. When the teams get together at 4:25 today at Heinz Field, a large portion of each roster doesn't even know what a Steelers-Ravens game really means, let alone feels like...............


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/...#ixzz2iGy6uZSA

[smokin3000gt]

It's more than just the new players. The league has gone soft. Players are playing gun shy (with good reason) worried about getting fined for a legal hit, and playing with any kind of intensity is now against the rules.

[steelreserve]

While the overall point of the article is right on (a lot of quarterbacks are ridiculously overpaid) in this case that's not the problem, at least not yet. Flacco's crippling salary doesn't kick in until next year or the year after, and Ben's is actually a relative bargain by current standards - $12M a year when the going rate is more like $20M. Of course, we restructured it so many times that we fucked it up anyway, and the hit next year and the year after is scary to think about ... but the overall amount is not it; we basically got him for 8 years at what most guys are getting for 5 or 6. OUR problem is that we have two linebackers with $10M a year contracts, plus a cornerback and a tight end whose cap hits have been made into $10M through restructuring. Then there's Troy, who is paid similarly but is actually worth it. So right there is about half our salary cap tied up in six guys. THAT'S what doesn't work.