Should Wallace be deactivated for Sunday?

Apparently the knee injury Wallace sustained on Sunday is pretty significant, keeping him out of practice today and limited the rest of the week. Should the Steelers consider deactivating Wallace for Sunday and dressing Mendenhall instead? Wallace's saving grace is his blazing speed, but he struggles in most other areas, so a 4.5 Wallace is not nearly as valuable a commodity as a 4.25 Wallace. Do we want a hobbled Wallace or would it be better to have a healthy Mendy dressed out on Sunday?

 

I thought it was an ankle that kept Wallace out for one play and how does Mendy make up for a wide receiver?

 

Nope, it's a knee.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mike-wallace-knee-expected-play-185700702.html

My point is that a slow Wallace is of no benefit at all to the Steelers. At least with Mendy he's healthy and may be able to spell Dwyer late in the game and make a splash play with his explosiveness. I think with AB, Sanders, Cotchery and Plax we'll be fine in the WR department.

A Wallace who can't run fast is useless, kinda like:

[video=youtube;Gr6GbKciNCY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr6GbKciNCY[/video]

 

i say lets see how the rest of the week goes before we deactivate him

 

If Wallace is not healthy I'm sure they will scratch him. I bet they will use Plax in his place. But the one thing about the Chargers is they like to jump a lot of routes. If Plax is gonna play he better not run his lazy routes again like he did in the Clowns game because Quentin Jammer will jump routes and he's taken some to the house this year. The main thing I'm hoping for this game is that our D is finally able to generate some sacks and turnovers. I think we can be ok without Wallace but I think if he's hurt they'll make him sit. It's obvious they aren't gonna sit him for poor performance so I think it'll take injury to do that.

 

I think you're right to be cautious about Plax, BFT. So far he perhaps hasn't been targetted enough to form a full picture of what he's contributing. But his routes are a concern. I sure wish Cotchery was healthy right now instead!

 

Pretty simple. If he's able to go...he plays. If he's not then he sits.

 

Ah, but is it really that simple? What does Wallace bring to the table besides freakish speed? Let's say this knee injury slows him down a couple of tenths, is he really enough of a threat in other areas to dress him? Hines was a 4.6 receiver who brought A LOAD of other benefits, i.e. his ability to make the tough catch in traffic, his leadership, his route running ability, his ability to find the soft spot in the zone, his football IQ, his blocking ability. Wallace brings none of that to the table.

I realize that he's going to dress and will play unless he's physically not able to do so, but the argument that I'm trying to make is that without his speed, he's of virtually no use to the Steelers.

 

careful. there are few people around here that might take this as hate post against Wallace.

 

LOL! No Wallace hate here, love. (did I really just call you that?)

I think the question is a valid one. Does Wallace bring anything to the table that makes him of any innate value to the Steelers besides his pure, unadulterated speed?

 

i thought he slightly jammed his knee and was only going to be limited at the beginning of the week. as for plax taking over, i don't think that's going to happen either. cotchery practiced fully and should play before plax. plax has not played with ben much and to think they will be on the same page by sunday is a long shot. we are in some trouble though around here and not much is being made of it.

AB is not yet 100%. sanders shoulder is not 100%. cotchery's ribs i'm sure are still tender. will johnson is coming off a concussion. wallace less then 100%. makeshift o-line. QB less than 100%. starting CB out. starting OLB out. the other starting OLB not 100%. we are beat up, and this is in noway a gimme game. we need all hands on deck that can get on deck.

 

Yep

 

Really though - It's not Wallace's Knee's that I'm worried about although he did actually use them for a TD catch this year.

 

Maybe it is, but should it be? Do you think a 4.5 - 4.6 Wallace is legitimate weapon? I don't know how much his knee injury will slow him down, but it held him out of practice yesterday and he will be limited the rest of the week. I'm not naive enough to believe the Steelers will deactivate him for this game, but a slow Wallace is as good as a no Wallace.

 

You have to remember that Brown is probably still not 100%, nor is Cotch and Sanders. And Plax is still learning the offense and hasn't seen much playing time this season. Our options are too limited to be holding guys out at WR.....IMO

 

the way hes playing right now. the only thing he brings to the table is his speed.

he does have the ability to be a much more complete wr, but i think his contract has become a distraction for him and he looks to be fighting to catch the ball. hes not making it look easy. even on the short passes he looks to be struggling to catch it and that is taking away from his ability to run after the catch. thats why his YAC is not very impressive.

im not hating on him. ive already said too much.

 

we are a better team with him then without him. my bigger worry is sanders. he's been the go to guy lately.

 

if his pony has to stay in the barn so should he ...., he is a 1 trick pony , if he is not able to unleash that pony he should not be on the field .... plenty of 4.5-4.6 guys that cant catch walking the streets so Wallace at 4.5-4.6 is useless to us ....

if he can play at full speed , let him in situations where you want to uncover an underneath pattern , he may be useful in that sort of situation ... he is not a full time starter at this point in time , not the way he has been playing ..couple that with a bad set of wheels and well ...... you get the point I am sure

 

If Wallace sits, part of me wishes Plax would get some playing time... I would hate to see him just get cut in a week or 2.

 

If you replaced him with Mendy, made Mendy wear #17, we would never know Wallace wasnt playing. Neither can hold on the ball and both like to dance around and pretend they are trying.

 

since Plax was signed, they havent been in the redzone too often. we all know with Ben they will get in the redzone plenty. their problem was scoring td's instead of settling for field goals. i think we will see a lot more of Plax and Ben will find him. Ben loves to look for Miller down there. now he will have 2 options.

 

I think, a reason Plax hasn't been targeted also is simply the difference between Charlie and Ben. While Charlie can certainly scan the field, I just think Ben will get more opportunities.

 

Does that elf in rudolph remind any of you of conan o'brien