Who..........

Everything I've read says that Chris Rainey is as advertised -- very quick, very fast, and very tiny. I saw just that one brief clip of him catching a pass at not quite full speed, but he looked more fluid and comfortable than the other backs doing the drill. Looked a little like he was floating. I think he'll be active week 1.

ILB is not the kind of position where guys typically rotate in and you might see a young rookie learning the system, like you might see on the DL, or a skill position on offense. Lately we've been doing it to keep Farrior fresh, but it's not a tactical thing. We did it in '08 with Timmons coming in for Foote, but he was in his second year and didn't have other competition (Sylvester). Before that, I can't remember us doing it since Mike Jones. As of right now, without injuries I don't see Spence getting any playing time on defense this year unless it's garbage time to close out games. It's possible that he'll land some kind of special role in the dime defense or something, but he would have to really be an exceptional rookie. You figure, Harrison and Woodley will always be on the field, so that's two LBs. Foote will wear the green dot, so he'll stay on no matter how many yards and points it costs us. That leaves Timmons, but why replace him with Spence, who would basically be playing the same kind of role of pass defense linebacker, minus the size and experience? Replacing Foote with Spence makes sense because then both your ILBs are the speedy type well suited to play the pass, but unless Timmons wears the green dot, I don't see it happening. They love Foote in that role for at least one more year.

But I'm really talking out of my ass until preseason starts and I see him in a game.

 

Thanks for the insight HUGE. Also TTF I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT TOMLIN SAID THAT "TIME TO DIE" THING!!! I wonder if he will tell Mike Adams that "he's smoking" if he does good? I honestly can NOT believe he said that! LOL! HE IS AWESOME! Are you sure that was his intent or is it just conincidental?

 

especially after reports of the underwhelming play of Timmons and Foote in 11 on 11 drills with Tomlin calling out Foote for poor play twice, challenging him to improve his play.

 

Keep your eyes on OLB Adrian Robinson from Temple and FB Will Johnson from West Virginia, both are undrafted free agents. I'm going on record and predicting that Robinson makes the final roster.

 

I freely admit I do not know the rule on this. It was my understanding that only one player on the field can have radio communication in their helmet at a time, with the green dot on the back showing who it is. I guess it's possible that Timmons could bring two helmets, one with and one without, but I wasn't even sure if that was allowed. And they'd have to switch his helmet between plays when they subbed Spence in. He'd effectively be switching positions as well, since he and Spence play the same position.

If it's allowed I guess it's possible, especially if they plan on keeping Spence in for whole drives, such as at the end of a half. But that said, they've had plenty of opportunities to do this in the past and have not, instead leaving the inferior pass defense skills of Farrior/Foote on the field and taking Timmons to the sideline. We did that even during our '10 playoff run. That really frustrated me, when in an obvious passing situation Anthony Madison was subbed in for Timmons, leaving Farrior on the field to cover TEs and RBs. We will definitely be harmed by that rule until Timmons takes the green dot for good, which will only happen when Foote leaves.

In any case, I'm very much looking forward to seeing Spence run around on special teams. That will happen for sure.

 

Entire OL and Rainey. Also can't wait to see how Haley calls the plays.

 

Also a possibility, but that sounds like a permanent switch. DL and Tomlin love Foote. I get he has more experience than anyone here, but Timmons has been here awhile too. 3 years starting and 2 before that.

Sadly, it's probably only a switch worth making this year if we have someone far and away better than Foote opposite Lawrence. Right now that's no one. And so Foote will have to be out there anyway for most snaps... But it would be nice to see the '08 model again. Timmons in every play, Foote in for the first two snaps, Spence in on 3rd down.

 

Timmons is better than Foote. But I have to admit that for whatever reason I just have never been that big of a Timmons fan. I've always been more of a Woodley fan myself. I know that Timmons has led us in tackles before but I just don't feel like he's really all that considering he was a first rounder. But I'm sure that's just me.

 

It's not just you. Lots of people feel that way. In one sense it's natural, but in another, better sense, it's retarded. Woodley may be the better player, and he was an absolute steal in the 2nd round, but it's insane to take that out on the guy drafted ahead of him. Grown men take the childish approach of "He's not even as good as the guy drafted after him!" But Woodley was arguably a top 5 player in that entire draft. That's like complaining about Antwaan Randel El (2nd) because Brett Keisel (7th) was better. You could say this is different because they're the same position... but they're not. And even if they were, would that make it better? If John Taylor was drafted in the 1st and Jerry Rice in the 2nd, would you be disappointed in Taylor? I believe it it happened in Pittsburgh, the answer would be yes. But they should be judged separately. When you do that, some are still disappointed because of the insane success we're used to. No misses since Colbert's arrival in 2000. It's unreal. Most teams miss like half the time. And he's doing it usually in the bottom half of the round! Timmons was higher at #15, which is why people expect him to be as good as Ben (#11) or Polamalu (#16) instead of in the mere Santonio Holmes range (a very successful pick). They see that #15 staring at them and think, "Wow, we got to pick so high, this guy better be the best freakin' player out there!" and then are disappointed when they get a talented, versitile starter bordering on Pro Bowl status that helped us win a Super Bowl and still has upside going into his 6th year. Yeah, I wish he was better too. I wish he was the best inside linebacker in the league. I wish he would have been good value even at #1 overall, like Ben and Polamalu would have been... Those are the standards he's held to, because that's what we've had in the past. It's a little nuts.

Looking at that first round, you could easily make the case that he was a top 10 player drafted in it. There are 5 guys that are definitely better (Calvin Johnson, Joe Thomas, Adrian Peterson, Patrick Willis, Darrelle Revis), and then a whole bunch of guys that are different positions and are good players but it's kind of hard to compare (Dwayne Bowe? Joe Staley?), and then there are like 18 guys that are busts or not even close to Timmons in my opinion. I don't know where we get off not being satisfied with the player he's turning into, but there are still plenty of fans out there (not accusing you of this) that will never be satisfied because he's not Willis and not Revis, and settling for 2nd best just isn't an option. Yeah, it would have been nice to trade up for Willis or Revis, but that's on the FO, not Timmons. I think if you look at him and look at where he was taken, he's doing just fine. And yes, I mean just fine for a mid-first rounder.

 

Yeah. It's weird for me. I think the reason I was always kinda skeptical of him was because he was not a true 3-4 player. He's a solid guy but it just seems like he's never had that big breakout season. I've always thought he was a good player I've just never been like "oh I HAVE to have his jersey". It's the same thing with Mendenhall and even Ike Taylor to some extent. It's weird how sometimes there are players that you just don't like for whatever reason. Don't get me wrong I'm glad we have Timmons I just would say that he's my least favorite LB that we've had in the last few years. As far as the front office and Colbert go I think the absolute biggest mistake that he's made bar none is Limas Sweed. Other than that he has been great for this franchise.

 

I'd say 2010 was a breakout year, but I get what you're saying. I think the problem is that no matter how well he plays, there's something about him that makes you think he could be playing better. He's a physical freak, so you get the sense he's not maximizing his potential. I see that too. Plus he doesn't have the personality people tend to like (similar to Mendenhall). Taylor's a different breed altogether, because he either plays like an all-pro or a bench warmer (not lately, but in '09 he was pretty horrendous, and he was up and down early in his career). I'm the type that thinks it was the coaches, not FO that messed up Sweed. I thought he was a good pick then and I still think he would have worked out if he'd been handled differently. Although maybe not, with the injury bug he caught. To me, Bruce Davis was far worse. Made no sense at the time and unlike Sweed who is hated for squandering tremendous opportunities that he created himself -- that none of our other receivers were capable of creating, mind you -- Davis showed no promise at all. He never did anything. He couldn't beat Tony Hills in practice. He couldn't get active. And Cliff Avril was on the board, and he had and half the message board wanting him. Plus you figure, if we take him, then we draft Sean Lee instead of Jason Worilds the following year, and have Farrior's replacement ready on time. Then again, maybe we wouldn't have been able to keep Avril for a second contract, like we wouldn't have been able to keep Revis.

 

i read that timmons had moved over and was calling the defense in camp. they must be working on it. sylvester has turned it up in this camp too. that was a question mark around draft time. good news all around.

 

That's great news, if true. I would love to see him with the dot in preseason and see what happens. The sooner the team feels comfortable giving it to him, the sooner we can see Spence, and more creative defensive packages in general.

 

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2012/07/20 ... ven-recap/

this is where i saw it. timmons moving to buck during this too.