Tomorrow: Steelers vs. Bufflo Bills
Saturday, September 15, 2007
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
After Penn State finishes with its opponent from Buffalo today, some of the Nittany Lions' players will be at Heinz Field tomorrow to watch another team from Buffalo. This time, though, they might be rooting for the team from Buffalo, if only because of Paul Posluszny.
Posluszny, an Aliquippa native, always has been something of a hometown favorite in Western Pennsylvania. He played at Hopewell High School and led the Vikings to WPIAL and PIAA Class AAA championships in 2002, then became a decorated three-year starter at Penn State and was called the best linebacker to play there by none other than Jack Ham.
That all changes when Posluszny, a rookie middle linebacker with the Buffalo Bills (0-1), tries to stop the team he grew up watching when the Steelers (1-0) open their home season at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Heinz Field.
The Bills moved up in the second round to draft Posluszny with the 34th overall pick, 12 spots ahead of where the Steelers drafted outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley. And they are glad they did.
"We are really happy that we have him," Bills coach Dick Jauron said.
Posluszny is one of two rookie starters with the Bills -- running back Marshawn Lynch, their No. 1 pick, is the other -- being counted on to pump some life into a franchise that has not made the playoffs since 1999.
In his National Football League debut, a 15-14 loss to the Denver Broncos last week, Posluszny had nine tackles, eight of them solo. More important, he never seemed to get stuck in a wash of blockers and was in proper position to make tackles -- a key for a middle linebacker.
"He looked very comfortable out there," Steelers center Sean Mahan said. "And he's got to be a smart guy to make all the calls for their defense."
"The bottom line is getting to the football, and he gets to the football a lot better than I did," former Bills linebacker Shane Conlan, who also played at Penn State, said in an interview with the Niagara (N.Y.) Gazette.
"He's everything as advertised," said Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, who coached Posluszny for four seasons with the Nittany Lions. "He's one of the great human beings who have played at Penn State, on and off the field."
Posluszny was the first Penn State player to record 100 tackles three consecutive seasons, won the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker as a junior and was one of only two players in college football history to twice win the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation's best defensive player. On top of all that, he was named to the dean's list five times and graduated in less than four years with a degree in finance.
"He has it all -- speed, football intelligence, competitiveness," Bradley said. "He's everything you're looking for in a football player. He's one of those guys who keeps getting better and better."
As an example, Bradley referred to Posluszny's senior season at Penn State when he was switched from outside linebacker to middle linebacker in the Lions' defense. Despite not being able to practice at that position in the spring because he was coming off major knee surgery, Posluszny developed into a player who convinced NFL scouts and coaches he could play inside.
And that's where he is in the Bills' 4-3 defense, playing middle linebacker and providing hope for a defense that lost three key players in the offseason -- linebackers London Fletcher and Takeo Spikes, and cornerback Nate Clements.
"We don't feel like that is the only place he can play, but we definitely projected him in the middle for us," Jauron said. "He is an aware player. He is a guy that prepares really well and will work at it constantly. He thinks about it. I think he learns on every snap. I don't think he is a guy that makes the same mistakes over and over."
Posluszny isn't the only Bills rookie who is expected to contribute immediately.
Lynch was drafted 12th overall to replace running back Willis McGahee, who signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Baltimore Ravens. Like Posluszny, he started his first NFL game last week and finished with 90 yards on 19 carries against the Broncos, scoring on a 23-yard run.
Lynch also caught two passes for 9 yards, a sign the Bills want him to become an all-purpose back in the mold of one of their former heroes, Thurman Thomas.
"Hopefully, it says that we picked the right guy, and we think we did," Jauron said of his top two draft choices.
"Clearly we liked them enough to pick them at [No.] 1 and 2. They are good, and I think both of them are going to get better and better. They are pretty good now, but they have a long way to go to become real professionals in this league, in terms of understanding and reacting at the speed that they are capable of."
Tomorrow
Who: Steelers (1-0) vs. Buffalo Bills (0-1).
When: 1 p.m., Heinz Field.
TV: KDKA.
First published on September 15, 2007 at 12:01 am
Gerry Dulac can be reached at gdulac@post-gazette.com
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