Sunday Steeler 6-Pack

This is the seventh, or eight (I forget) installment of a the Sunday Steeler 6-Pack.  We got another win last week against the evil Ravens.  That put us in a great position if we actually can keep it up.  I'm hopeful but won't be surprised if we can't.  Either way, it is always nice to get a win against our division teams.

This week....the Raiders.  We haven't won in Oakland since 1995.  Let's hope we can change that.

Each Sunday of the NFL season, I will feature 6 random cards from my Pittsburgh Steelers' PC.  There is no rhyme or reason for any of them, just 6 random cards I pull out of one of my many boxes or binders of black and gold (and there are MANY) and maybe a comment or two.

Here we go...

 1948 Bowman Chuck Cherundolo #50

By far my oldest Steeler card, this 1948 Bowman is a beaut.  The best part is cost me less than a couple bucks.  I'll buy that all day.  Check out that leather helmet.  I wonder if Polamalu would still hit guys as hard if he had to play with a leather helmet?  I'm guess...yeah, probably.

 1996 Playoff Contenders Genuine Leather Jerome Bettis #36

This card is made of leather.  At least it sure feels like it is.  I guess that is the point.  The card is real thick and even has the leather smell.  I'm not real sure I understand the little quiver lines around the bus but still it's a nice card.  We could sure use the bus these days.

 2010 Epix Jason Worilds Rookie Auto #'d/499

 2010 Certified Immortals Jack Lambert #182  #'d/999

Oh so shiny.  So unbelievably shiny.

 2013 Bowman White Jarvis Jones #120

This is the white parallel.  At least I think.  I don't remember what the normal cards look like.  I know there are black parallels, blue, green, red, orange, purple, mauve, chartreuse, pink, fruit-stripe, emerald green, light blue, steel, grass green, off white, ecru, eggshell, off-black, and clear.

 2013 Topps 1959 Mini Ben Roethlisberger #99

Sunday Steeler 6-Pack

This is the sixth installment of a the Sunday Steeler 6-Pack.  We finally got our first win last week...only after I posted two of these Six Packs.  Maybe that was the reason??  Or the fact that we played the Jets.  Actually the Jets are a lot like the Steelers.  You never know which team you are going to get week to week.

Each Sunday of the NFL season, I will feature 6 random cards from my Pittsburgh Steelers' PC.  There is no rhyme or reason for any of them, just 6 random cards I pull out of one of my many boxes or binders of black and gold (and there are MANY) and maybe a comment or two.

Here We Go!

1991 Pinnacle Dermontti Dawson

I don't know why all my Dermontti Dawson card scans look all funky like this.  Weird.

2009 Bowman Red Parallel Lamarr Woodley

I have posted on here the white version and regular version too before.  Maybe even this one.  I don't know.

1971 Topps Dave Smith

You can see this is a little banged up.  I think I have a better version of it but that wasn't the scan I had.  Smith led the team in Touchdowns in 1971 with five.  It would have been 6 had it not been for the other incident he is known for against the Chefs on Monday Night Football.  After catching a pass from Bradshaw, sprinting 50 yards to paydirt, and celebrating by pumping the ball over his head as he approached the goal line, the ball slipped from his hands, rolling through the endzone and out the back for a touchback.  I'm sure many of you have seen it on the all-time blooper highlight reels.  I know I have.

1955 Bowman Ted Marchibroda

While probably best known for his coaching stints with the Redskins (I can still call them that, right?), Colts, Bears, Lions, Eagles, Bills, Colts again, and Ravens, he was actually a player.  He was drafted in 1953 by the Steelers, played one season, then joined the Army.  After returning, he played parts of another two seasons in Pittsburgh, including starting 11 games in 1956 (he was 4-7 with 12 TD passes) before heading to the Cardinals for a year.

2008 Topps Stadium Club

I picked this card, not for Ben, but for the two guys blocking for him.  There we have Marvel Smith and Alan Faneca.  These guys were two of the most important players on the Steelers offensive line and they are a big reason why we won two Super Bowl rings.  Unfortunately, age and free agency kicked in.  Faneca went to the Jets for an unheard of salary.  Smith had back problems that kept him from being resigned and after signing with the 49ers in 2009, he retired.

2006 Upper Deck Super Bowl XL Casey Hampton

This is from the commemorative set issued by Upper Deck, seemingly after every Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, etc.

Random Thoughts - Catching up with the world

I have been out of touch with the world for more than a week but it seems like much longer.  Have you ever had one of those moments in time where everything else just stops and you become completely emersed in whatever it is that you are doing?  That was me for the past week and a half or more.  So spending this past weekend trying to catch up on things was no easy task.  There has been a lot going on in my narrow-minded world of sports/collecting.  I figured I would take a moment to gather these thoughts.

-----The Steelers didn't name their starting quarterback for week 1 prior to their pre-season game last Thursday.  It was assumed that Byron Leftwich would get the nod over Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch.  That is, until after the game.  Leftwich apparently tore/strained/severed/obliterated his MCL and is going to be out at least 4 weeks.  Question answered...Dixon is going to get the job in Big Ben's absence.  I am kind of excited by this fact since everything I have seen from Double D thus far in both the limited time he played last year and in this pre-season leaves no doubt he can handle the job (despite the 2 picks vs. Denver).  It conjurs up memories of Kordell Stewart (only the "good" Kordell, not the "bad" one he turned into). 

-----Also in Steeler's related news, Big Ben's suspension was reduced to 4 games by Roger Goodell after a meeting with him and the Steelers' Brass on Friday.  What does this mean?  Nothing really.  Everyone but Terry Bradshaw assumed it would result this way and I think the Black & Gold were preparing for this scenario.  As long as Double D (and C-Batch if Dixon blows it) can hold his own for 4 games, everything with the offense should work itself out. 

So in lue of additional time on the bench, Ben was stripped of a share of the Team Captaincy.  That's a slight exaggeration since the job is voted on by teammates but it sure is a indication of his popularity right now in the locker room.  Instead, Hines Ward (no surprise), Heath Miller, James Farrior, and Keyaron Fox (well deserved yet big surprise) get to wear the "C"...if this was hockey.  But it isn't so they will be on the 50 yard line for coin tosses.

-----The Penguins signed forward Mike Comrie to a one-year league minimum $500,000 contract last week.  Is it just me, or is this a bargain-basement blow out score?  I realize Comrie has been relegated to the under 20 goal scoring club for the last few years but that was due to inactivity and "injury".  If anyone can recall this far back, in 2006-07 "Mr. Duff" scored 45 points in 65 games.  Since then, he has been surrounded by, for lack of a better word, sub-par talent in both Edmonton (where he actually played with Billy G) and NY.  Regardless, I think this is a good move by Ray Shero because it gets the Pens a net-crasher that they lost in Guerin.  It also solidifies an even strength power regardless of the line they put him on.  Plus, I can only imagine how many "crowd" shots we are going to see featuring Hillary Duff and her entourage at the Consol Energy Center.

-----The Pirates signed Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie, two of the team's top picks in the draft.  This was followed up by the signing of a huge 16 year old prospect from Mexico, Luis Heredia.  Of course, once these players begin to develop and get into some Major League action, it wouldn't surprise me to see them shipped off somewhere for some small-pox infested blankets.  Now that the Nutting Family's spending habits have been revealed for all the world to see, there is no reason to think that they are going to change the habit now. 

Spending on the team is not a priority and until it becomes evident that they are being (mis)managed as a MLB "farm" team, the league won't step in, nor should they because to them, it's a business.  Good businesses make money, bad ones don't.  It's unfortunate for the players on a team that has 0% committment to put a product on the field that can compete and win.  They built a new stadium that holds 38,496 people for regular baseball game, which I believe is still the 2nd smallest in the Major Leagues.  Even still, the average attendance is 20,115 or 52% according to estimated numbers on ESPN's MLB site.  That is basically half the attendance of the top 10 teams in the league. 

Is there anything those top 10 have in common?  Only 68 Division Series appearances, 24 Championship Series appearances, 17 World Series appearances, and 10 World Series victories since the Pirates began their downward spiral.  In the end when the 20,000 faithfulls get up and leave, we will see how frugality of Pecos Bob's decisions have destroyed this team.

And that's all I have to say about that....for now.

Downsizing

When you miss the playoffs the year after winning the Super Bowl, you know there is something wrong. I am not usually the one to quickly jump all over the coach for poor direction and management. Most of the time, I see the problems inherent in the poor execution of the players themselves. The Steelers this year changed my view point on all of that and now we are finally seeing the results.

In the latest in a series of firings, special teams coordinator, Bob Ligeshesky, was sacked. This years ST had the worst performance that I have ever seen by a coverage unit. They allowed four kick returns for TDs in five games and finished the regular season 24th in punt coverage and 30th in kick coverage. They allowed 9.8 yards per return on punts and 24.3 on kick offs. That is horridly awful and deserves to be buried in the forgotten season grave yard. I wonder what Bobby April is doing right now?

Offensive line coach, Larry Zierlein, was already fired earlier this week. This was a given, considering Big Ben spends more time on his back than Tawny Kitaen in a Whitesnake video. He is one of the most sacked quarterbacks in the league because of the Swiss Curtain offensive line. Not to mention, the one time running back bastion of a Steeler's backfield has declined over the last two years because the line can't block or cut a hole for running room.

On top of that, Ken Anderson, Steelers QB coach decided to retire after 40 years in the NFL. Some fans may remember Ken as the QB for the Bengals from 71-86. He held the single season completion rate record until Brees broke it this year. Roethlisberger has flourished under Coach Anderson over the past three years, setting the Steelers single season TD record in 2007 and throwing for over 4,000 yards this year.

I'm sure the firings aren't done yet. If only Arians would part ways. But alas, he is back for another year of Air Arians football. Good luck to us. For those non-Steeler fans, check out this open letter to Brucey by maryrose over at Behind the Steel Curtain. I think it sums up a great deal of frustrations Steeler Nation has with Mr. Arians.

Preseason makes me happy and angry

The NFL preseason always makes me happy because it is the only time of year that you get to see some of the talent that the Steelers will relegate to the practice squad or simply cut. It is also the one time of year that pisses me off to no end because all the games are meaningless unless you are trying to make the team and the threat of injury to key players is 10x greater than in the regular season because of the inexperience of the players on the field.

Once again, the Steelers have injuries that could carry over into the regular season. Big Ben is down with a "foot" injury. You can only speculate as to what happened after Max Starks stepped on him in practice. Some reports say foot, others say ankle, I even saw one that said his knee. The Achilles reports scare me a bit but the fact that he was standing the entire time on the sidelines during the Washington game made me think otherwise. Either way, it is still a little bothersome to know that our main QB is down for awhile.

Speaking of QBs, Dennis Dixon also went down with a shoulder injury and will miss the rest of the preseason. He didn't have much of a chance to replace Charlie as the #2 but he was the solid #3 and he has a rocket for an arm. I was hoping to see some "trickery" with him in the offense but I guess that will have to wait for the season.

Mendenhall averaged over 5 yards/carry so that was encouraging. Stefan Logan was a missle on special teams, racking up yards that I haven't seen since Woodson ran back kicks. He is also like 5' 6" and disappears once he hits the sidelines. Most impressive, at least for me, was the play of Ziggy. He had 2 sacks, 3 solo tackles, and an assist. At this rate, he will be a beast on defense once he develops.

I have some card trades brewing and will be getting some Steeler goodness soon so that I can start posting my collection. It should be interesting.