Tyrone Carter = AFC Defensive Player of the Week

With New Years and all, this got lost in the shuffle. Tyrone Carter was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in the Steelers' Week 17 win over the Gowns. He nabbed his first two interceptions of the year, returning the second one for a touchdown. Pretty solid for the guy called off the bench to replace the hurt Ryan Clark.

When Clark went down with the injury against Tennessee, did you envision Carter getting MSPainted this week? Don't lie.

Now, Aaron Smith was tough, but I still think I found the one picture on the Internet of Smith with a female fan. In a kitchen.

LaMarr Woodley I can kinda understand, since he's still only in his second year. But not one picture on the World Wide Web? Weak. (That link has the greatest MSPaint of all time)

So I had to think about giving Carter the MSPaint treatment this week. I know he's been a backup for the majority of his 9 years in the league, but you'd at least think his Super Bowl XL ring could provide at least ONE picture with a member of the opposite sex. You'd be wrong.

So for a PSaMP first, Carter gets the business with a dude on either side of him.

Congrats on the first-time honor Tyrone (and dudes).

Aaron Smith = AFC Defensive Player of the Week

He might not be going to the Pro Bowl, but Aaron Smith was just voted AFC Defensive Player of the Week.

On a side note, do you understand how hard it is to find a picture of Smith with a female fan or two? Dude is married, quiet, has kids, isn't in the spotlight, plays an unsexy position and pretty much limits his on-field celebrations to a Keisel high-five. Needless to say, the chicks aren't gonna swarm to him like they would any of the other Steelers who recently got the weekly award.

Now that he's finally getting some pub, maybe Aaron will get recognized, and will replace some faux-injured player who will most likely pull out of the game in Honolulu.

Remember, this is the guy who tore his biceps last season, which caused our pass rush to nearly die.

Congrats, Aaron!

Dr. Obvious Rules. So Does Aaron Smith

Earlier today, I asked for anything to post. I didn't specify that it had to be Pittsburgh-related, but here's the best of the submissions.

Reader Dr. Obvious emailed the following:


My Minnesota area office computer has this as it's background:
http://drobviousso.deviantart.com/art/Aaron-Smith-96253813

I made it after going to the Pittsburgh/Minneapolis [sic] preseason game.


Who needs anti-virus software when Aaron Smith is on the job? You have a Trojan and 3 viruses, but Aaron Smith has effectively sacked them into bits.

Monday Morning Chrysler New Yorker

I kinda remember saying something along the lines of "9-5 would suck." Well...as it turns out...this sucks. Jags win.

I'm trying to figure out what sucked more...losing big in New England or losing a damn near winnable game at home. The sting hurts either way.

Tale of the tape: Awful play by both the D and O lines. Underlying theme: Troy Polamalu needs to stay healthy.

Two games left, and we still haven't punched out ticket to the playoffs. We're currently tied atop the North with the (ugh) Browns. However, out two wins against those idiots gives us the tiebreaker.

Only road games remain. In St. Louis and in Baltimore. Seeing as how we've already peaked, I'm not guaranteeing a win in either. We've been pure slop for the past 5-6 games. All I want is the playoffs, though. Only good things happened last time we were the 6 seed, so I'm not worried about placement. We aren't the Indianapolis Steelers or the New England Steelers, so the best we can do is play in the Wild Card round. We just need to take care of business and get in. The second season wipes the slate clean. Hell, look at Indy's Jekyll and Hyde defense from last season.

So yeah, there is a lot to bitch about in the Jacksonville loss. However, I'm trying to stay positive. After this, its all business focusing on St. Louis. Get the job done...make the playoffs...let both the defense and offense redeem themselves.

Bennifer. Played the first half like he had poop in his pants. That was pathetic. However, when the game was about to get out of hand, he responded by creating 2 solid scoring drives to tie the game. After the tie, its up to the D to stop the Jags and set up the win...or at the very least...force overtime. Ben put the team in position to erase a 15 point deficit in the 4th quarter. The D responded by bending over. Ben gets 3.75 out of 5 motorcycle helmets. He almost deserved a 4 for turning the game around late.

Willie. Stud. He was stuffed early and often by the Stroud-less Jags, but still managed to surpass 100 yards. That Roethlisberger-almost-sack-turned-into-pass-but-was-ruled-a-Parker-rush was ridiculous. Willie needs to stay on track to help the team make the postseason. He was a solid bright spot in the loss. 4 of 5 motorcycle helmets.

O-Line. Awful. 2 of 5 motorcycle helmets.

D-Line. Awful. 2 of 5 motorcycle helmets.

Troy Polamalu. Even with Aaron Smith gone for the year, the D can rebound with Troy back in the lineup. There's no one on the team who can close on a guy faster than Troy. Without him, there's no way we even tie the game. He helped make it close. I wanted to give him a 5, but he missed a couple of tackles late. 4 of 5 motorcycle helmets.

We can't let Steven Jackson run wild on us the way Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew did. Neutralize him...make the playoffs. Simple.

Some Hints To My Pick

So I'm not allowed to reveal my pick for Awful Announcing's Complete Sports Blogger's NFL Mock Draft Version 1.0. I can, however, reveal that my pick has been made. Here are some of the reasons for my pick.

With the 14th pick in the 2nd round, and 46th overall pick, the Pittsburgh
Steelers and PSaMP select not to fill the glaring needs at DE, Linebacker, DB,
or the cool-name category, but instead...will pass up a need to take the best
available player in the draft.

Furthermore, my pick:

...also survived playing...in the state of Colorado. The last three players
the Steelers drafted from the state of Colorado, Clark Haggans, Aaron Smith and
Joey Porter, have all been solid contributors. I would’ve included the last 5
players from the state, but #4 was some dude named Ryan Olson (?) and #5 was
Kordell Stewart.

So that's probably all the information I can give you. Check out AA's round 2 of the Complete Sport's Blogger's NFL Mock Draft Version 1.0. The picks should be up before the end of the work week. I'll re-print my full pick once the 2nd round finds its way to AA.

And before any feelings are hurt, I just want to say that my pick in no way reflects who the Steelers should actually take with the 46th overall pick. It was made in good fun. You may disagree mightily.