Author Archives: Steve Alan

About Steve Alan

Steve, known by most as TTF, is owner of TheSteelersFans and administrator of the best Steelers message board on the net. Big fan of strong coffee and hardcore Steelers fan from womb to tomb.

Steelers In London On Discovery Channel Tomorrow

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Tomorrow night at 10 pm Est., the Discovery special “NFL In Season: Steelers Vs. Vikings” debuts. The one hour special is advertised as a behind the scenes look at both teams as they travel to London, and prepare for the game at Wembley Stadium. The show will give behind the scenes looks at team meetings, practices, and inside the locker room. Here are a few clips from the show. Enjoy.

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Markus Wheaton Had Surgery On Broken Pinky

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Markus Wheaton had surgery on his broken pinky finger Tuesday, according to Coach Tomlin. The rookie wide receiver broke the pinky during the loss to the Vikings last Sunday. In regards to the surgery, Mike Tomlin said it “looks to be good”. Tomlin said that they’ll have to wait for the stitches to come out before they can determine his availability. “Of course, it will be a number of days before that’s able to transpire”.

Whether or not Wheaton will be able to participate in the Jets game on the 13th is up in the air. The team utilized him dramatically more last week than in the prior three weeks. He saw 45.6% of the snaps against the Vikings, versus 7.5%, 8.6%, and 12% of the snaps from the first three games.

Levi Brown’s Contract Was Reworked Pre-Trade

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The biggest concern about trading for Levi Brown was the considerable salary cap hit and likely “can kicking” to make room for his salary this year. Those concerns can be put to rest. Bob Labriola reports that Brown’s contract was reworked with the Cardinals before the trade. His contract will be for the veteran minimum, and will only count $840,000  $715,000 towards the 2013 Steelers salary cap, prorated across the next 13 weeks. A trade that drew negative criticism by the media this morning, should be drawing praise tonight.

Updated- By my calculations, the prorated portion of Brown’s salary is $546,765. Due to displacement, the Steelers available salary cap should only go down by $189,412, because of Green’s release yesterday.

Looking At Levi Brown’s Salary Cap Implications

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For those who might be wondering what the salary cap implications of the Levi Brown trade look like, here is a breakdown of  the 2013 numbers.

As of last night, the Steelers have $1,858,498 in available cap room. By acquiring Brown, the team will take on $3.63 Mil for this year’s salary cap. There is no signing bonus money liability involved for the Steelers, so if he doesn’t work out after this season, the team can part ways without further financial obligation.

According to Adam Schefter, the deal is for a late round pick, which, if true, is better than what initial reports were speculating. Possible options to make room for Brown’s salary cap hit include restructuring Troy or Ike Taylor’s contracts, or extending Ryan Clark. It will be interesting to see what moves the team makes to clear the cap space for this transaction. I’ll post the details as soon as they’re available.

 

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Report: Steelers To Trade With Cardinals For Levi Brown

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Multiple news outlets are reporting that the Steelers are finalizing a trade deal with the Arizona Cardinals for LT Levi Brown. The terms of the trade have not been disclosed yet, but the deal is said to be final pending a physical and is expected to be announced later today. Levi Brown is the Cardinals starting left tackle. He’s 6’6″, 324 lbs., and was selected by the Cardinals with the 5th overall pick in the 2007 draft. Brown was the starting right tackle protecting Kurt Warner in Super Bowl XLIII. Brown is a tackle who I’d characterize as having an up and down career. He has had a somewhat rough preseason and start with the Cardinals this year after missing OTAs, but this tells you what the Steelers think of Max Starks, and perhaps Mike Adams lately for that matter.

Max Starks Released

Max Starks Released By Rams

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The Rams have released former Steelers tackle Max Starks today. I would speculate that 80% of Steeler Nation is wondering if the team will give Max a call due to the team’s poor depth of talent, and recent struggles of the offensive line. Before his brief time with the Rams, Starks spent training camp with the San Diego Chargers and played with them throughout preseason, before losing the starting battle to King Dunlap. Starks struggled at times during his brief stint with the Chargers and Rams, though, he wasn’t exactly a top tier tackle during his last season with the Steelers, either. While I find the possibility of Max being signed by the Steelers to be pretty slim, you have to wonder if he wouldn’t bring more value to the roster than someone like Guy Whimper.

Max’s vet minimum salary is $840,000. If signed, he would count somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000, depending on when he were signed.

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Report: Ben Roethlisberger Has Subluxation Of Index Finger

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According to multiple media outlets, Ben Roethlisberger suffered a subluxation of his right index finger during the loss to the Minnesota Vikings. A subluxation is a partial dislocation of the finger joint.

The injury came early in the fourth quarter during a touchdown pass to Jerricho Cotchery. During the play, Vikings DE Everson Griffen got a hand up to bat the ball, and made contact with Roethlisberger’s hand after the ball was thrown. Ben told reporters today that the injury wasn’t serious. He went on to say that he will practice today if Coach Tomlin allows it, but that seems highly unlikely.

Here is a gif of the play where his finger was injured.

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Report: Ramon Foster’s MRI Shows Minor Sprain

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Ramon Foster had a MRI to determine the extent of the pectoral injury he received during the loss to the Vikings at Wembley Stadium. According to the Tribune-Review, the MRI revealed that Foster only suffered a minor pectoral muscles strain. Initial fears were that Foster tore his pectoral muscle, so this is great news. I know Steelers fans everywhere are breathing a collective sigh of relief. No? You should be considering how snake-bitten this team has been on the injury front this year. With the depth of O-line talent being what it is, any positive injury news should be welcomed with open arms.

Steelers Offense And Defense Snap Counts Vs Vikings

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Here are the snap counts for the Steelers offense and defense versus the Vikings. Heath Miller was in for almost every offensive snap. Will Johnson only saw 10 snaps, two of which where he was a receiver. David Johnson saw 24 snaps, 11 of those plays he was the run blocker (and did pretty well).

Steelers Offense Snap Counts

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Steelers Defense Snap Counts

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