Time For People To Bitch About Steelers Pro Bowl Snubs

Pro Bowl results came out yesterday, and the Steelers will be represented by 3 players. Jameses Harrison and Farrior will accompany Troy Polamalu to Hawaii to wear Steelers helmets with vomit-inducing jerseys in early February.

Ed Bouchette, Steelers writer for the Post Gazette, seemed a little pissed that the team only has 3 representatives. I mean, this IS the league's best defense, right? And the team in the hunt for the top seed in the tough AFC?

Here's Bouchette:


The team with the second-best record in the AFC and with the league's best defense placed just three players for the Pro Bowl. Free safety Troy Polamalu and linebacker James Harrison will start, and linebacker James Farrior is a reserve.

If that does not rile up the 11-3 AFC North Division champs, there's more. The New York Jets placed a league-high seven players on the AFC team, the Tennessee Titans have six and the Baltimore Ravens, who lost to the Steelers twice, have five.


To which I say...who cares how many representatives are on other teams? Who cares that the Steelers only have 3 guys going to Hawaii (likely more once every big name player pulls out with an undisclosed injury)?

Doesn't this speak more to the Steelers being a team rather than a collection of individuals? Our team isn't just a handful of stars with no depth. Go down the Steelers depth chart, and a high percentage of those guys have made plays this year.

And they've had to, because of injury! Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel have missed games. Aaron Smith is having arguably his best year, but he's a no-name. Ben's thrown his share of interceptions, and Willie's been trying to contribute whenever he can get on the field.

Look, I understand that good teams have good players, and those good players should be rewarded. Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing every Steeler starting at every position on the AFC Pro Bowl squad. Seriously, Pittsburgh versus the best the NFC has to offer, only we get to wear our regular Steelers unis rather than those awful get-ups they're supposed to wear. But it ain't gonna happen.

I'll take our 11-3 record, AFC North division title and the shot at home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Pro Bowl snubs SHOULD NOT motivate this team.

Because the Pro Bowl IS MEANINGLESS. So chill out for a sec, Ed.

Jerome Bettis Has An Odd Affection For Kordell Stewart

Wow, I could've used any picture of Jerome for this post. He could be running over someone, scoring a touchdown...anything. Jeopardy takes the cake, though.

Back to the point. Bettis is pulling out all the stops in his new autobiography, entitled, The Bus. My Life in and out of a Helmet. The co-author is ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski, so I've already lost an incredible amount of respect for the book.

Bettis lets readers in on the aspects of his time in Pittsburgh that haven't been told to this point. Here's some key points, as brought to light by Ed Bouchette:

- He faked a knee injury in training camp of 2000, because Kevin Gilbride loved Richard Huntley, and the Steelers couldn't release Bettis once he got hurt. Well played, seeing as how the Steelers were forced to keep Bettis, and he responded by putting up 1,341 rushing yards.

- Bettis says Cowher and the organization didn't want to pay Kordell the big bucks after he made the Pro Bowl in 2001. "You bench your Pro Bowl quarterback for a guy who had been out of football for years (Maddox), who hadn't started an NFL game in 10 seasons?" Bettis wonders in his book. "That just doesn't happen by accident." Sorry Jerome, but I think I side with Cowher/the organization on that one.

- Maddox and the passing game were the chief reason the Steelers failed in the 2002 playoffs. Pittsburgh football under Cowher was built on the run. No surprise there.

- Bettis didn't like the team cutting Tim "The Bus Driver" Lester in 1999. I disagreed with this move as well. Every good running back needs a fullback that they're comfortable with. As good as LaDainian Tomlinson is today, he owes much of his success to Lorenzo Neal.

- Bettis had an emergency appendectomy in 1999. The best part was the team telling Bettis to keep it quiet, so he was forced to sign in under the alias, Tex Goldstein. For those of you wondering, this is Tex Goldstein.

- According to Bettis, Amos Zereoue wasn't a hard worker. According to PSaMP Amos Zereoue would trip over his own feet when out in the open field. Not really juicy, Jerome.

- Bettis didn't like being booed in 2004, when he replaced Duce Staley in a goal line situation. I'm sure that was all cleared up during his final home game, against the Lions, where JB scored 3 touchdowns (I was at that game, he could've had 5 or 6) and fans lost their minds to every "Thanks, Jerome" montage that was shown on the big screen (there was about 100 of these).

- Finally, for the little racist in all of us, Jerome was ashamed that his alma mater, Notre Dame, fired Tyrone Willingham after only 3 years. For the record, Willingham was 21-15 at Notre Dame, and endured 5, 30+ point blowout losses in Ty's 3-year tenure. Those numbers aren't all that successful, especially when people put Notre Dame on such a pedestal and there is such a commitment to winning. I'm no Notre Dame fan (I actually despise them), but 21-15 isn't really Notre-Dame-esque.

So Jerome succeeded in giving us a little dirt on or favorite football team, but nothing too risque. Us fans are always fed the bullshit line that "First and foremost, football is a business." I can't stand when players say that. Actually, first and foremost, football is a game. Players are so non-committal to the fans of a certain city if they can cash in with a bigger payday somewhere else. We are supposed to just grin and bear the fact that this happens in a business. In a way, I'm not going to get all heated at the Steelers for wanting to release Bettis several years before he retired. Looking back now, its easy to say that Bettis is right, because he has his ring to back him up. However, at the time, Richard Huntley/Amos Zereoue seemed like viable alternatives to the aging Bettis.

I love Bettis and all he's done for the city and organization. I just won't criticize my hometown team for wanting to release the now-surefire HOFer. If football really is a business first, then Jerome should have expected a release as he got up there in age. I'm just glad that he wanted to stay in Pittsburgh, and he did whatever it took to stay.

And if you were wondering, the answer to the Jeopardy question is Terry Bradshaw.

Dick LeBeau, Cockblocked Again

Apparently, this sign of defensive solidarity was not enough to get Dick LeBeau onto the Senior ballot for the Hall of Fame. LeBeau's name was left off the list of 17 greats. Those 17 will be whittled down to 2 players who will forever be enshrined in Canton.

I was excited to see the team unite around LeBeau by wearing his Lions jersey to the Hall of Fame game against the Saints, and hoped it would have been enough to get the attention of the seniors committee. LeBeau's time as a defensive back are only rivaled by his career as an assistant coach who ushered in the era of the zone blitz.

Unfortunately, the committee felt that at least 17 guys were better than LeBeau. Those numbers aren't too positive for LeBeau, as 15 of those will be denied this year, but will most likely be back in the coming years. It seems like Dick has been waiting forever, and there is no end to that wait in sight.

Ed Bouchette also bring sup LC Greenwood as a name that should be HOF-worthy. Greenwood made it onto the seniors committee 17 this year, as last year was LC's final year of modern eligibility. Hopefully, LC makes it into Canton soon, thus opening a potential spot on the seniors committee for LeBeau.

It really is a travesty that guys like Greenwood and LeBeau aren't already in those hallowed halls. Art Monk as well (see, I'm not always a major homer). The Steelers get a lot of flak for having so many enshrinees. However, if a team is as dominant as the Steelers, they deserve all the HOFers they can generate.

All the support goes to Greenwood, and PSaMP has high hopes for Dick LeBeau next year.

Fast Bill Won't Play On Sunday

The Steelers play their first preseason game on Sunday. Willie Parker will not.

Soreness in his left knee will sideline Fast Bill for the NFL's Hall of Fame Game against New Orleans.

Ed Bouchette is claiming he jinxed the stud running back. I say shut up before anything else goes wrong, Ed.

Parker's knee injury is not said to be serious, but there is no reason to push the LT-wannabe to a more serious ailment.

With Willie officially out, Iron Mike can take a better look at the guys vying to be Willie's primary backup. Dump Truck Davenport will likely get a decent amount of reps with the first squad, as will new addition Kevan Barlow. Aside from these two, Verron Haynes will have to show how his surgically-repaired knee holds up.

I'm not too worried about Parker's knee. To this point in his career, he has stayed away from major injuries, and holding him out of the Hall of Fame game will only improve his chances of a quick recovery.

Willie's "I want to be better than LT" speech shows his passion for the game, and not playing the first preseason game will probably eat at him. However, sacrificing a a meager preseason game for the ability to rehab a minor injury should be a worthy deal. There's no reason to risk blowing out a sore knee in the Hall of Fame game.

Little Late There, Ed

Don't get it twisted. I like Ed Bouchette.

Bouche says Troy Polamalu is close to signing a deal to keep him in the 'Burgh.

At least we didn't know this like a week ago or anything.

Either way, its stellar news.

Larry Zierlein Regrets Sending Porn, Pittsburgh Loves Big, White Tight Ends

This is the largest picture of Larry Zierlein on the 'Net. Or at least the largest one I could find.

No matter the size of his mug, Larry Zierlein wants everybody to know that he is, in fact, sorry for sending porn to NFL front offices and Commissioner Roger Goodell. The story comes from Ed Bouchette of the Post-Gazette.

"It was 100 percent unintentional," Zierlein said yesterday, speaking publicly for the first time about his embarrassing mistake. "I don't even know how to mass e-mail, I don't know these machines very good -- just a 100 percent unintentional thing. I hit the wrong button."

Zierlein says he will only use computers for football-related processes from now on. The 61-year-old seems humbled and embarrassed by the entire incident, so PSaMP isn't going to stay on his case about the whole deal.

Some more news about your Pittsburgh Steelers, on this muggy Friday:

Anybody need a big, white tight end? Chuck Finder of the Trib loves the fact that the Steelers are stockpiling players of the sort.

From left, the Steelers employ Jerame (Jeramy, not Jer-aim) Tuman, Heath Miller, Jonathan Dekker, Cody Boyd and Matt Spaeth. Finder calls Miller "perhaps underused" last season. I say, "No duh" (That's probably the worst comeback ever. Why was that ever popular?". Miller had 34 catches last season, including 5 touchdowns. Cleveland and Baltimore, picking up on the tight end trend (tight tr-end?), got insane numbers out of their TEs last season.

This was an AFC North where Cleveland got 127 receptions from its tight ends, including 89 from Kellen Winslow Jr., and where Baltimore got 95, including 73 from Todd Heap. This was an AFC where Indianapolis totaled 85 receptions from three tight ends and New England 81.

Underused seems a little understated now, Chuck. I think I speak for most of Pittsburgh when I say that Heath Miller can put up Todd Heap-type numbers, and the Steelers still put too much time into Tuman. I understand that new Offensive Coodinator Bruce Arians wants to employ 2 or 3 tight end sets, and even if that happens, the ball still needs to go to Miller. Aside from Hines Ward, Miller has arguably the best hands on the team. Plus, he is difficult to tackle, and always seems to do that cool little spin-dive for extra yards once he is tackled. Simply put, Heath comes to play, and he deserves a bigger role in the offense.