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.

2014 NFL Salary Cap Now Expected To Increase To $130 Million

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The 2014 NFL Salary Cap is expected to increase to roughly $130 Mil according to ESPN reporter Adam Schefter. This is a much larger increase than the $126.3 estimate that was being reported in December. This would be a 5.69% increase from last year’s salary cap of $123 Mil.

If this is indeed true, the Steelers would only need to trim down roughly $9 Mil in cap space to be in compliance by the March 11th deadline. $6.25 Mil of that is easily cleared by the release of OT Levi Brown. So, getting under the cap, while not terribly difficult for the team to do before, is obviously much easier now.

Think about the list of Steelers free agents. Now think about the impact that an extra $3.7 Mil has on that list.

Preparing For The Combine- Some Scouting Terminology

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Now that NFL teams are converging on Indianapolis for the NFL Combine, I thought it would be a good idea to write up a glossary of sorts, explaining common phrases you might hear during the course of the next week. I’ll start off with offensive line oriented terms, as that’s what I know best.

Waist Bender– Being a ‘waist bender’ is a negative. It refers to an offensive linemen’s stance (usually a tackle) during pass protection. You want to see an OT having good knee bend, and keeping good center of balance. An OT who tends to bend at the waist is likely to be easily pushed off his block.

Kick Slide– Technique used by tackles to block the edge. Having a slow or clumsy kick slide is bad. Having a quick and steady one is good.

Good Anchor– Basically like it sounds. Refers to the ability to be a good anchor and not get pushed off a block.

Heavy hands– Usually refers to an offensive linemen’s hands. Having heavy hands means the lineman has a strong initial punch, which slows down the defender.

Road Grader– Refers to an offensive lineman who has a very large body, who is also usually a powerful blocker.

Gets Separation– Seems obvious, but it’s a phrase pertaining to the receiver’s ability to get space between himself and the defender.

Avoids The Trash– Usually refers to a defender’s ability to avoid other blocked players so he can make a play.

Pile Inspector– A player who doesn’t like to get involved in a scrum, or commit his body to the pile.

Body Catcher– A receiver who doesn’t attack the ball with his hands, but rather uses his body to make the catch.

Playing Speed vs 40 Time– Often a player will be said to have a faster playing speed than 40 time, or vice versa.

Plays Sideline to Sideline– Indicates that a player is agile enough to make plays all over the field ie- from one sideline to the other.

Fluid Hips Or Quick In The Hips– Refers to the ability for a player to turn his hips quickly and change direction.

I’d be surprised if you didn’t hear a few of these terms at least a couple times throughout the weekend. If I forgot one feel free to leave a comment.

 

[Video] Footage Of Ray Rice Dragging Unconscious Fiance After Fight

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You may have heard that Ray Rice was recently arrested for a domestic violence incident over the weekend. He and his fiance were both arrested after allegedly fighting with each other in an Atlantic City casino. TMZ has attained footage of Rice dragging his unconscious fiance out of an elevator after the incident.

Rice’s lawyer issued a statement about the video. “The video that has been put up by TMZ shows the very end of what transpired.” After Rice was arrested, his lawyer called the incident ‘a very minor altercation.” I don’t know about you, but most people aren’t usually being dragged around unconscious after being in a ‘minor altercation’.

The NFL is reviewing the case under their personal conduct policy. Here is the video released by TMZ.

Ravens Lose Coin Toss, Final NFL Draft Order Set

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The official 2014 NFL draft order in now set thanks to a good ‘ole fashioned coin toss.  The Cowboys win the tiebreaker giving them the 16th pick, and the Ravens will pick at 17.

Cowboys Vice President Stephen Jones and Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome met at the NFL competition meeting this morning. Since both teams finished with the same record, and both team’s opponents had the same win percentages, the coin flip tiebreaker was necessary to determine the draft order.

Here is the official 2014 draft order:

1 Houston Texans
2 St. Louis Rams (via Redskins)
3 Jacksonville Jaguars
4 Cleveland Browns
5 Oakland Raiders
6 Atlanta Falcons
7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
8 Minnesota Vikings
9 Buffalo Bills
10 Detroit Lions
11 Tennessee Titans
12 New York Giants
13 St. Louis Rams
14 Chicago Bears
15 Pittsburgh Steelers
16 Dallas Cowboys
17 Baltimore Ravens
18 New York Jets
19 Miami Dolphins
20 Arizona Cardinals
21 Green Bay Packers
22 Philadelphia Eagles
23 Kansas City Chiefs
24 Cincinnati Bengals
25 San Diego Chargers
26 Cleveland Browns (via Colts)
27 New Orleans Saints
28 Carolina Panthers
29 New England Patriots
30 San Francisco 49ers
31 Denver Broncos
32 Seattle Seahawks

[Audio] Big Ben Wouldn’t Return Antonio Brown’s Calls For A Week

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During part of Antonio Brown’s ESPN rounds yesterday, he made an appearance on Dan Le Batard’s Highly Questionable. He discussed being a toe away from the playoffs, his angriest moments of the season, his kids, and other topics.

The interview was very light-hearted, but when asked when he was the angriest at a coach or teammate, AB said, “Probably the last game of the season.”

“I was in tune with breaking Hines Ward’s record for 2 more catches, so I think my attitude with getting the ball was a little bit more, my frustration with getting the ball when I was open, was a little more different than the other games when I was able to control that mentality, and able to work poise under pressure.”

When asked if he thought that was selfish, he said, “I feel I was selfish. I’ve got a great QB. He loves me- we got a great relationship.

“When they see that attitude, and that selfishness, it draws guys away from you. Ben didn’t answer my phone calls for about a week. I was calling my quarterback, calling Ben from Hawaii…but, my attitude was so bad from that last game that he didn’t want to deal with me.”

Brown joked about sending Ben some fist emojis to get him to respond.  After about a week, the QB got back with him, according to Brown.  “[Ben said] I don’t want to talk to you when you’re like that. You know, you’re not infectious and contagious, when you’re attitude is like that, I don’t want my son to root for you.” Brown said that’s what got to him the most, and made him realize he needed to work on that for next season.

You can listen to the interview below.

Antonio Brown Wasn’t A Fan Of The Pro Bowl Draft

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Did you like this year’s pro bowl? Many people viewed it as an improvement over the flag football games we’ve come to associate with the pro bowl.  Antonio Brown was making rounds on ESPN today, and told Sports Center his thoughts on the new format.Via Profootballtalk, Brown said of the new format, “It was a little bit off.” Particularly, like most of the viewers at home, Brown didn’t like the new draft format.

“First off, you get there with a lot of great players, they make you wait two and a half hours under a tent for the draft at the Pro Bowl,” Brown said. AB went on to add that he would like to “see some tweaks, especially upon the draft. You don’t want guys waiting two and a half hours to get picked when we’re all Pro Bowl players.”

Brown’s definitely got a point. On top of that, the NFL network promoted that “draft” ad nauseam, and the drafts themselves were just cheesy. One thing’s for certain, Joe Fan isn’t likely wanting to see more of this-

photo credit- Deadspin.com

Ryan Clark Thinks Delmas Would Be A Good Fit With The Steelers

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I reported earlier that the Steelers were hosting Safety Louis Delmas today. Soon to be free agent Ryan Clark said via his Twitter account that he has been texting with Delmas, and thinks he’d be a good fit for Dick LeBeau’s defense.

It’s tempting to read too much into Clark’s comments. Does Clark know he’s not returning in 2014? Either way, he’s showing what a class act he can be. Not many people will go out of their way to send well wishes to their potential replacement.

Sine Delmas was released by the Lions last week, he is free to sign with whatever club he chooses. He doesn’t have to wait until free agency begins.

Report: S Louis Delmas Visiting Steelers Today

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NFL’s Ian Rapoport reports that the Steelers are hosting Safety Louis Delmas for a visit today. Delmas was recently cut by the Lions, who needed to free up cap space. His salary was set to jump from $1.7 Mil last year, to $6 Mil this year. Delmas was the Lions second round pick in 2009. He’s played a mix of strong and free safety with the Lions.

It’s possible the Steelers are legitimately looking for someone to replace Ryan Clark, who is expected to be gone by many people. Or, it’s possible that they are hosting Delmas as a means to add pressure to Polamalu and Clark’s camps, before potential contract negotiations heat up.

Delmas saw 1,058 defensive snaps with Detroit last year. He had an up and down year, but registered 3 interceptions, 3 sacks, 50 tackles, and 19 stops.

Tunch: Munchak Will Make Steelers Linemen ‘Nastier’

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There’s been a lot of talk recently about what recently hired offensive line coach Mike Munchak will be able to do for the Steelers young linemen. Former Steelers offensive tackle Tunch Ilkin recently spoke with Bob Labriola about how he thinks the new coach can elevate the play of the young offensive line.

Ilkin describes Munchak as “an old friend”, who he’s known for 30 years. The two were linemen for division rivals, and never lined up against each other, but met at the Pro Bowl in 1988. Tunch said they traded helmets there, and he’s kept Munchak’s on his shelf ever since.

He describes the former Oilers guard’s style of play as “physical, and nasty”. “He would get after it, wouldn’t back down, just one of those tough guys you would love to have on your side.”, said Ilkin. According to Tunch, the Titans offensive line that Munchak coached was “a nasty bunch”.

…those offensive lines could run the outside-zone and they also could come off the line and straight-block. They could do both, and if you can do both you really have something.

Tunch thinks the Steelers offensive line is “going to get after it”, and Munchak is going to make them nastier.  “The guys are going to be even a little bit nastier than they’ve been in the past, because that’s the way Mike is.”

Ilkin broke down how he thinks some of the Steelers linemen will benefit from their new coach. “He’ll make Marcus [Gilbert] more consistent, because if I was Marcus I’d want to improve upon my consistency,” said Ilkin. “That’s the area where Mike will help Marcus really grow: being more consistent and taking his craft to the next level.”

On Mike Adams, he thinks Munchak will teach him how to be a pro. Ilkin said, “He’ll teach Adams how to prepare. He’ll teach Mike Adams how to get more out of himself than maybe even Mike Adams would think was there.”

The other two who he thinks will benefit from Mike Munchak’s coaching are David DeCastro and Kelvin Beachum. Tunch thinks he’ll be able to teach them both nuances of the game that they haven’t acquired yet due to their youth.

In the next article, we’ll take a quick look at how Munchak’s lines have preformed compared to the Steelers’ lines. Later down the road, we’ll look at some x’s and o’s of Munchak’s offensive lines.

David DeCastro Makes NFL.com’s ‘Under 25 Team’

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NFL.com has published a list of their “All Under 25” team. The list is made up of the top 26 rising stars who are under 25. Essentially, it’s a fantasy team who’s members are all under 25. It’s nice to see DeCastro get recognition for his performance this year.

Here’s what the NFL writer had to say about the addition of DeCastro:

“DeCastro, who beat out Cincy’s Kevin Zeitler for this spot, allowed a grand total of 1.25 sacks in 15 starts and was flagged just twice. Pittsburgh ran the ball to his side more effectively, too.”

DeCastro, despite having a bad start to the season, really was a shining star on the line for the Steelers in 2013. ProFootballFocus had the right guard graded as the 5th best starting right guard. (Ramon Foster ranked 6th on the list of starting left guards).

The Steelers selected the Stanford standout with the 24th pick of the 2012 draft.  That August, he suffered injuries to his ACL and MCL in a preseason game against the Bills. He returned to the active roster at the end of November, starting in 2 of the last 3 games.

While he did have a very good season, there were some lows, and there is room for improvement. Mike Munchak will no doubt be able to get the most out of his talents.