Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Steelers offense could be juggernaut
The Steelers’ draft last weekend disappointed many fans who wanted the team to draft for need and take offensive and defensive linemen on the first day, thereby filling holes in on both sides of the ball. Instead, Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin took the best player available both times the Steelers’ name came up and, in doing so, created what could be one of the best offenses in the NFL next season.
The offensive line is definitely a weakness, but having Justin Hartwig at center should help protect Ben Roethlisberger where Sean Mahan was absolutely abysmal last year. Marvel Smith’s return at left tackle should improve the line play, as it will allow Trai Essex to move into a reserve role. Chris Kemoeatu will step in at left guard and hopefully begin to show some of that vast, angry potential that the Steelers have been talking about for two years while Kendall Simmons will play the right guard spot (with Mahan backing him up). The right tackle spot will be one of the most intense on the team, as Willie Colon and Max Starks will battle it out, with the loser being very unhappy with his situation and hopefully pushing the other one to success over the course of the season. All in all, the Steelers’ line doesn’t have any stars this year, but should be able to pull together into a patchwork group capable of protecting the stars long enough to let them make plays.
The pick of Mendenhall may have upset one of these stars, Willie Parker, who has tried as much as possible to play the good soldier since it happened. Yesterday, however, he said that he probably would have taken a tackle in the first round and was surprised that the Steelers didn’t. Newsflash, Willie, they were all off the board. An NFL-record eight were taken in the first round and at least one of them (Sam Baker) is seen as an extremely iffy pick by experts.
Instead, the Steelers took the next pick thing for Parker-a dynamic, talent running back to team up with Parker and extend his career. An argument can be made that Parker didn’t wear down too badly last year (he had strong weeks in 14 and 15 against strong Jacksonville and New England defenses that didn’t let Roethlisberger beat them), but in weeks nine through 13, Parker was not very good. His style (running into people) isn’t conducive to a long career and last season he had 321 carries. Adding Mendenhall, who is a strong runner and will probably see most of his action in short-distance situations this season, will lengthen Parker’s career and give the Steelers an option just in case he does get hurt.
The Sweed pick, which is already being used as another respect card by Hines Ward, is the one that could make the Steelers’ offense scary, though. Ward is still an intense, talented player who will be successful any time he steps on the field. Santonio Holmes is still one of the quickest, best young receivers in football. Nate Washington is still an excellent third option, except he’ll be fourth if Sweed can catch onto the offense.
A tall, very talented receiver, Sweed self-admittedly has issues with route running. All of the ability in the world is there, but he may or may not be able to put it all together, something that he’s going to have at least one season to do without any pressure before being expected to take on a bigger role. As the number four receiver, Sweed will come in during passing downs and red zone situations and stretch the field or give Roethlisberger that huge target in the end zone that he has been asking for.
With that going for him, in addition to the two very good tight ends (Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth), Roethlisberger has all the weapons he can possibly ask for. Now he just needs to win against what has been labeled (and I paraphrase the much maligned Peter King) the toughest schedule in the recent history of the NFL.
- I will feel neglectful if I don’t mention Mendenhall’s being robbed at gunpoint. It sounds as if he wasn’t up to anything bad and as if he handled the situation about as well as could be expected, but there is that saying that nothing good happens after midnight. Mendenhall and other Steelers should learn that saying by heart. It’s good that he and his “female companion” are okay.
1 Comment
May 8th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
great post….i hope you are right about the steelers’ offense. With all of these weapons the offense is more balanced than ever. Homerun threats in the backfield (even if Mewelde Moore is sharing a down).
The addition of sweed means santonio holmes will always be a homerun threat, while hines ward finds the soft spot in the d…….any which way the steelers will create matchup problems if Big Ben can audible effectively.
Leave a Reply