5 Steelers Poised For a Breakout Season

Hope he's right about Cortez!...

 

Great article. I didn't realize that Heyward ranked ahead of both Hood AND Kiesel on 3-4 DE rankings and Cortez Allen ranked ahead of both Lewis AND Taylor. I feel pretty good about some of our youngsters heading into 2013.

 

I wouldn't put any stock into those rankings... They're just from some random Bleacher Report article... Anyone that ranks Heyward ahead of Kiesel clearly isn't paying attention. The Diesel was by far our best defensive lineman last season.

I hope he's right because if Ziggy and Heyward both bust we're going to need a DL draft similar to our OL draft last year. I still have hope for Heyward, but he should be showing something this season.

 

As soon as I seen the headline I thought that Cortez HAS to be on there. I'm REALLY looking forward to watching him this year. The guy who has me 2nd most excited is MCClendon.

 

cortez has to stay healthy too. he's been dinged up at times the last two years. thats without playing that much. he has to take a step this year to that fulltime #2 spot then get signed and step up to that #1 spot the following year. i'd be suprised if brown makes it out of camp this year.

as for heyward, i thought he had played very well last year. i have no problem with our D-line this year. i hope arnfelt makes a good showing. he could be fun to watch.as will the rest of the young guys.

 

i understand these rankings aren't the "end all, be all", but at least it lets us know that, based on some objective measures of performance, they're doing pretty well. I do agree with the part of the BR rankings that talks about Allen having better ball skills than Lewis and really his ball skills are better than Taylor's as well. He can actually catch the ball which is kind of refreshing.

 

Wouldn't you have to think the sample size would skew the data? I mean if Heyward played only some many plays and had impressive numbers while Hood and Kiesel played almost every game their averages would be lower than Heyward's based on his smaller sample.

 

Link to the start of the article instead of the end:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1638184-5-pittsburgh-steelers-poised-for-a-breakout-campaign-in-2013

But I agree with most of it (though Pouncey is odd to be there)...I didnt read the article just looked who was on it.

 

I'm psyched about Heyward. I hope he sees serious time next season.

Its funny Pouncey is on the list. Those ankle injuries are knocking him down a peg or two in my eyes. Hopefully he has an injury free season from here on out.

 

It actually took me to the Sanders page.

 

Now go stand in the corner! haha

 

It took me to the Sanders page as well. Still a good Article. Thanks for posting it.

I want to address the supoosed suprise listing of Pouncey. I Completely agree with the Article and even mentioned these things way back when Legs was starting next to him on the right side. Everyone was blaming Legs for sacks and on a couple plays it was Pouncey's fault.

Don't get me wrong, as everyone knows I like Legs as a Center and believe him to be Starter quality but he stinks at OG. Also Legs is Not as good as a Center as Pouncey. I was stoked and thought we solved our OL issue last yr when we shifted Pouncey to LG and Legs to Center. It failed because like Legs, Pouncey is a better center than OG. This is due to his blocking,run blocking to be specific.

Pouncey has been ranked by Matt Miller as the 16th best Center out of 35 NFL centers. His Brother Mike, alex mack, nick mangold are among those ranked higher. I think why we as Fans believe Pouncey to be better than he is, is due to the him starting as a rookie and being named to probowls then couple this with our tradition of having HOF centers in Webster and Dawson, does this mean Pouncey carries on our storied tradition? Hopefully so!

I truly believe Pounceys ankle injurys have held him back. I believe If pouncey is healthy he can be amongst the best, even HOF potential and its that realized potential that puts him in this article. Others are on this list for breakout season so they may become full time starters or hit FA for that huge contract but Pouncey is on this list because this could be his season where he proclaims--- " I'm the next Great HOF Steeler Center"!!!!!!

Cajun-

 

Me too. I was like "Tommy Boy you are SUCH an idiot!!!" LOL. I really did only get to see the Sanders page though. I was thinking in my mind that it would be MCClendon, Allen, Sanders(obviously), Worilds, and maybe Heyward. Who did it actually say since I can't look at it? I've gathered Allen and Pouncey and Heyward and Sanders. Who is the last one?

 

Kiesel has really lost a step though. There were multiple times last season when he was in the backfield and couldn't close the deal so maybe that's why they ranked it that way.

 

Just go to the Sanders page and work your way backward. That's what I did. I think gp may have linked the first page too.

 

I think you've got a point. I'm looking forward to seeing what these guys can do over an entire season.

 

Agree. He will be big for us next season, I have a feeling.

 

BACKWARDS!!! DUH!!!! I didn't think about that! HA!