-B- Not only is Sidney Crosby back on the shelf, but LB LaMarr Woodley is out for tomorrow's game against the Browns. Woodley reinjured his hamstring during his return last week. Hopefully one more week off will do the trick. Emmanuel Sanders, Jonathan Dwyer, Chris Carter and Arnaz Battle have been ruled out as well. 

-B- Brett Keisel on Chris Hoke: 

"It's going to be different. Today, I looked over, and usually him and Aaron sit together in our defensive line meeting room. It was just strange not seeing him there."

-B- We work with the awesome guys at TiqIQ to get some pretty awesome data when it comes to Steelers tickets. Their site is great to find out the best time to buy seats, visualize sections and, in general, score some pretty good deals. 

It turns out that Thursday night games offer some of the best bang for the buck. Prices for the Steelers/Browns tilt have dropped significantly recently, per this graph they passed along:

 

They are also partnered with the NFL and have a sick NFL TicketExchange inventory that is all E-Tickets. Lots of great opportunitues for people in Pittsburgh who want to catch the game on a whim. Get on it!

 

Sad news from the Steelers today: longtime defensive lineman Chris Hoke, 35, is going to have season-ending neck surgery and is likely to retire after this season. That makes him the second defensive lineman to have season and likely career-ending surgery this year after Aaron Smith bowed out several weeks ago. 

Heading into this season, the Steelers were an aging team. The defense was the oldest the league had seen this century and after a season opening 35-7 stomping at the hands of the Ravens, everybody officially proclaimed the Steelers "old and slow." I'm typically one of the more optimistic Steeler fans and even I was very worried. I wrote this when previewing the Titans game: "The Steelers have shown me nothing thus far that would make me believe they could beat a half-decent NFL team."

But along the way, a funny thing is happened to the old and slow Steelers: they turned into the young and fast Steelers. The injuries and old age that everybody was so worried about early in the year have become almost a blessing in disguise. The team has been forced to play a lot of young players and they have responded very well. Injuries to once-key players like Smith and Bryant McFadden haven't hurt the team at all. 

The youth movement for the Steelers has arrived. Last Sunday's win against the Bengals gives us plenty of examples:

- Rookie Cam Heyward makes a huge special teams play, blocking what would have been a tap-in field goal by Mike Nugent. 
- 2nd year back Isaac Redman went into full Beast Mode on a 27-yard run.
- 2nd year WR Antonio Brown returned a punt for a TD that basically ended the game
- Lawrence Timmons, still only 25 years old, lead the team in tackles.
- Rookie Curtis Brown had two special teams tackles, a category he leads the team in.
- Undrafted rookie Weslye Saunders continues to make great blocks in the running game and had another downfield catch for 14 yards.

I could go on and on, but you get the point. The changing of the guard is happening this season for the Steelers. I thought that the current Steelers core -- the players who carried this franchise to three Super Bowls and two titles -- would define this team for a least a couple more seasons. But what has happened is the players that the Steelers have drafted the past several seasons are just too good and have to play now. 

The Steelers would be a decent team with Hines Ward and McFadden still starting, but Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, William Gay and Keenan Lewis have played so well that they need to get a lot of snaps. Even when Aaron Smith was still starting at the beginning of the year, the defensive line was performing much better with Ziggy Hood and Cam Heyward playing defensive end. 

People often marvel at how competitive the Steelers are every season. I think 2011 is a great example of how the franchise is able to retool instead of rebuild. They are committed to building through the draft and pull in lots of talented players despite drafting late in rounds each spring. Pittsburgh has gotten excellent value out of late round picks and undrafted free agents. Antonio Brown was a 6th round pick. Steve McLendon, Redman and Saunders went undrafted. Gay was a 5th rounder. 

All of these players were acquired cheaply and all are stepping up in 2011 and filling big roles on a Super Bowl contender. They've transformed the Steelers from an aging team destined to fade away from prominence into a very athletic and exciting bunch primed for success now and in the future. There's no better example in how to run an NFL team than the roster Pittsburgh has put together this season. 

When Ben Roethlisberger is laughing on the sidelines, Troy Polamalu is on the bench with his feet up, and Charlie Batch is kneeling on the ball*, you know things are good. This is the time of the year when real contenders come through and the flashy flukey teams start to fall apart. Yesterday, the Steelers welcomed the Bengals into Heinz Field and showed them what championship football looks like. The Bengals are not for real. The Steelers are.

*Yes, I know Troy Polamalu is on the field for the Victory Formation. Just get in here and read the recap, will you?

After a poor offensive effort against the Kansas City Chiefs last week, the Steelers felt like they had something to prove against a Bengals defense that hadn't allowed a TD in Pittsburgh since 2009.

The Steelers didn't mess around this time. They put up 4 touchdowns in the 2nd quarter and the game was over at halftime. Rashard Mendenhall led the way with two rushing touchdowns and a brilliant 60-yard punt return by Antonio Brown made in 28-7 before the half was over.

Brown's punt return wasn't the only big special teams play, however. After the Steelers offense went three-and-out on the game's opening drive, the Bengals marched right down the field and looked ready to take the lead with a short field goal on 4th down. But 2011 first round pick Cam Heyward got a hand on Mike Nugent's  33-yard attempt. It was a huge play that helped set the tone for a dominating performance on all sides of the ball.

The "splash plays" that have been absent from the Steelers defense were back too. James Harrison had three sacks, giving him 8 for the season in the 8 games that he's played. The last of those sacks came with enough veracity to knock Andy Dalton out of the game with a hip injury.  Ike Taylor intercepted the Bengals backup QB Bruce Gradkowski.

The only bad thing to come out of today's game was LaMarr Woodley tweaking his hamstring. Woodley was making his first appearance in the last three weeks, but was only able to play a couple of series on defense before watching the rest of the action from the sidelines.

Mike Tomlin was able to rest a few other starters late in this one. Roethlisberger watched the last 10 minutes from the sideline. Jonathan Dwyer was in late, spelling Mendenhall and Isaac Redman.

The Steelers have a short week as they face off against the Browns for the first time this season Thursday night at Heinz Field.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s DJ Gallo introduced a new statistic called Total GunslingR, designed to measure the gunslinging ability of a quarterback. This immediately brought two questions to mind. First, Gallo claims that Brett Favre is the classic gunslinger (which I would agree with), but is Favre really among the leaders in this statistic? Second, who the active career leaders, the true “heirs to Favre”? The article uses one week of data to conclude that Vince Young, Matthew Stafford, and Mark Sanchez are the next gunslingers. I seek to find out if that is true. no comments

-B- Ed Bouchette penned a great piece today on the mysterious nature of Troy Polamalu's latest injury -- did he or did he not sustain a concussion? Mike Tomlin hasn't said yes or no. Neither has Polamalu or anybody employed by the team. 

Polamalu has a LONG history of concussions, going back to when he was in high school. He has 7 documented concussions since the early 2000s. That's scary.

The Steelers have referred to Polamalu's injury as "concussion-like symptoms," a phrase they've used a lot in the past, including earlier this year with Hines Ward. The Steelers have gotten caught in the past hiding concussions. In November of 2010, Hines Ward got knocked out cold in a game against New England and it was clear to anybody watching the game that he sustained a concussion. The Steelers said he was "questionable" to return with a "neck injury." Had they called his injury a concussion, he wouldn't have been eligible to return in the game. (It was found out over the next few days that Ward did suffer a concussion on the play.)

I understand and greatly respect the Steelers for the tough-guy mentality they employ on the football field, but the mysterious and reckless way they have dealt with some of these head injuries is mind boggling. It's hard to take them seriously.

If Polamalu or Ward or James Harrison has a concussion, I don't want them to come back into the game. They shouldn't even be entertaining the thought. Yet it looks like the Steelers training staff has at least thought about caving in to the players wishes. They way they've handled Polamalu's most recent head injury certainly raises some eyebrows.

-B- I read a lot of people critisizing Troy Polamalu for his head-first tackling style. While it isn't the surest or safest way to tackle somebody, it's how the vast majority of NFL players do it. The reason Polamalu gets hurt so often has more to do with his stature and playing style than his tackling form. If you want to rip him for not wrapping up guys with his arms, you have beef with most NFL defenders. 

-B- As an aside, I don't want the NFL to go down the road the NHL has taken when it comes to disclousure of injuries. In hockey, "day-to-day" with an upper body injury can mean a player is out with a concussion for 6 months. Or that he has a torn ACL. It's frustrating as a fan and as a journalist trying to report and cover the game.

-B- Antonio Brown has continued to outplay all other Steelers' receivers, including Mike Wallace. Much has been written about Brown's great season on here and in many other places. I looked back on what we wrote after Brown was drafted a couple of years ago to fully realize how much he has exceeded expectations by:

Antonio Brown will pad the practice squad and be released, I assume. Though I have little to no confidence in the Antonio Brown pick, he was a late pick and at that point in the draft, you just take whatever player has the most potential.

I don't think any of his expecting much more from Brown than maybe some help in the return game. He's a tremendously hard worker and has transformed himself from an undersized late-round pick into one of the best receivers in the NFL. It's been very fun to watch.

-B- Steelers QB coach Randy Fichtner, who has been an assistant with the team since 2007, is a leading candidate for the head coaching position at Memphis. He was a former assistant there and lots of people at the school are openly lobbying for him to be hired. 

-B- The Steelers teamed up with American Eagle to take a bunch of at-risk youth Christmas shopping. Always good to read this kind of stuff.  

Pretty disappointing ending to an otherwise fun weekend of football. The Steelers dominated the Chiefs everywhere but the scoreboard. It should have been a victory by double digits, but the Steelers played down to an inferior opponent (again) and scraped by with a 13-9 win. As Mike Tomlin says though, style points don't matter. A win is a win. But if you're unsettled by Sunday night's performance, you are not alone.

The Steelers offense was awful. Maurkice Pouncey left the game with an illness. Troy Polamalu left the game with an injury. Lots of things went wrong in Kansas City tonight, but the Steelers managed to come away with a win against a Kansas City team lead by former Pitt QB Tyler Palko. Palko was putrid throughout the game and the Steelers do not win this game with a better QB manning the KC offense. 

Palko threw 3 interceptions, including one to Keenan Lewis at the end of a game when the Chiefs had a chance to win the game with a TD. To be fair, Dwayne Bowe didn't make a real attempt to catch the ball, but it probably shouldn't have been thrown in the first place.

With Palko tossing interceptions and Thomas Jones and Dexter McCluster ineffective, this one should have been a walk in the park. But the Steelers offense was uncharicteristaclly off for the entire 60 minutes. Mike Wallace had several drops, including what would have been a TD in the 2nd quarter. The offensive line failed to give Big Ben time throughout most of this one and Roethlisberger was knocked around nearly every series. 

The Steelers biggest failuers happend on 3rd down and in the redzone, though. Mewelde Moore fumbled a ball near the goal line on the Steelers first posession and they settled for a 21 yard field goal later after the defense forced a Palko fumble. Pittsburgh finished the 3 - 11 on 3rd downs.

The Steelers host the Bengals next week in a huge divisional matchup. They'll definitely have to play better and that starts with (hopefully) getting Polamalu, LaMarr Woodley and Pouncey healthy again.  

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are 5 things Steelers fans should be thankful for heading into this week's game against the Chiefs:

5. Kansas City is 30th in the league in total DVOA.

The Chiefs have performed 26.6% worse than an average team this year, worse than a couple of 2-8 teams (MIN and CAR)

4. The bye week and all its advantages

The relatively short injury report is one sign of the help that the bye week gives teams. The fact that Mike Tomlin's teams have won three straight after bye weeks is another.

3. Advanced NFL Stats really likes the Steelers.

In this week's team rankings, the Steelers are ranked 5th in both offense and defense. In the article, Brian Burke says:

Assuming the Texans offense will struggle, Pittsburgh appears to be the most well-rounded team in all of football, with a top-5 offense and a top-5 defense. They have a deep threat in Mike Wallace, a power running game, a QB who can extend plays, and an aggressive defense with a knack for getting to the quarterback. Some of the other pieces are questionable, but the Steelers would be my pick to get out of the AFC, at this point. How about you?

I'm still skeptical of their run defense and consistency in pass rushing, but hey, this is about being thankful, and praise is appreciated.

2. The Chiefs are 21st in rushing defense DVOA and 28th in passing DVOA against running backs.

If you like watching Rashard Mendenhall (or have him on your fantasy team) you will like this game. The Chiefs are well below average at defending RBs, so expect a big day.

1. The QB tandem of Tyler Palko and Kyle Orton will not be enough to beat the Steelers defense.

The Chiefs have been a mess at QB all year. Matt Cassel started the season wallowing in mediocrity (6.37 yards per attempt (YPA), 10 TDs, 9 Int) before succumbing to injury. Palko took over and this isn't Toledo's defense he'll be facing. Palko's NFL stats so far (0 TDs, 3 INTs in 50 attempts) have been uninspiring at best, and while Orton's career stats (6.53 YPA, 79 TDs, 50 INTs) place him ahead of Palko (and probably Cassel), he hasn't yet had enough time to learn the offense.

Food, friends and family are the greatest parts of Thanksgiving, but football is probably number four for most sports fans. 

While a great slate of NFL games on Thanksgiving is the highlight of the football weekend, my favorite part has always been the WPIAL football championships played at Heinz Field annually the day after Thanksgiving, November 25 this year.

Whether it is watching trick plays, future NFL stars, crazy comebacks or the general unpredictability of a high school football game,  the WPIAL championships are super entertaining each fall. The games are televised locally in Pittsburgh on Root Sports. 

Here are 4 specific players for NFL fans to keep a close eye on this year when the WPIAL takes over Heinz Field:


Trenton Coles | WR | Clairton

WRs are pretty tricky to scout in high school. Kansas City Lots of prep offenses don't throw the ball often or maybe their QB isn't very good. Size and speed are two of the biggest tools colleges look for when judging wideouts. Just look at Kansas City WR and Aliquippa grad Jonathan Baldwin, who never put up huge numbers in high school. Coles reminds me a little bit of Baldwin. He's huge (6' 3") and very, very fast (4.4 40-yard dash). I watched him win 2 gold medals in the PIAA championship track meet last year. He's headed to Pitt next year. 

Ian Park | OG | Upper St Clair

He's already 6' 4" and 300 pounds as a high schooler. Park is a great natural run blocker and very strong. If he gets faster and a little stronger, his size and tenacity give him a shot to excel at Northwestern, where he has a verbal commitment. 

Pat Kugler | OT | North Allegheny 

Kugler is the son of the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line coach Sean Kugler. He's brother is a TE at Purdue. He's got great bloodlines and is 6' 4", 270 pounds as just a high school junior. Scout lists him as a 4-star recruit already. North Allegheny runs right behind him on the left side of the offensive line often and he had a key block on a 4th and goal that the Tigers converted last week to come back and defeat Gateway. Kugler has a ton of college offers from Pitt, Penn State, Miami, Florida State, Stanford, Michigan State and others. He's the definition of a blue chipper. 

Deaysean Rippy | LB/S | Sto-Rox

Not only does he have one of the coolest names ever, he's also one of the top prep linebackers in the entire country. Pittsburgh has been a breeding ground of great linebackers in recent years and Rippy looks ready to continue the trend. He's 6' 2" and has played both inside and outside linebacker. Scout says a lot of schools see him as a safety at the next level because he is only 200 pounds. He's physical enough to blow players up at the line of scrimmage and fast enough to run with WRs down the field. Rippy hasn't made a college choice yet either, but has offers from schools like Miami, Pitt, Maryland, Arizona State, USC, Oregon and Iowa.