Under Munchak, Titans' attitude is strictly business

By David Climer
The Nashville Tennessean
http://www.tennessean.com/section/SPORTS
October 7, 2011

When Titans players walk into the auditorium for team meetings on Mondays, they pick up their playbooks from a table against a wall that bears these words:

Be a pro — Know what to do and do it

Mike Munchak can drop a lot of football terms and can school us on Xs and Os, but his philosophy as an NFL head coach pretty much boils down to those words.

“I want our identity tied into that,” he said. “We know what to do and we go do that on Sundays.”

With that in mind, I’d be very surprised if you see Terrible Towel 2.0 out of the Titans, regardless of what direction the game at Heinz Field might take.

“That’s not something I’m concerned about with this group,” Munchak said.

This would not be out of fear of the Curse of the Terrible Towel, although it must be noted that the Titans went 0-8 — a loss in the final game of the regular season, a playoff loss and a 0-6 start in ’09 — after the supposed desecration of the Pittsburgh’s version of the Shroud of Turin in that December ’08 game at LP Field.

Rather, it’s just not Munchak’s style. He was born and raised old-school. And if a guy from Scranton, Pa., can’t get his team to understand the Steelers’ place in football history, who can?

“We’re very respectful of what they’ve accomplished in a big way, the championships they’ve won,” he said.

Some see his approach as businesslike. Others see it as downright dull. Really, now, what did you expect?

Long before Peter King of Sports Illustrated christened him Coach of the Quarter after the Titans’ 3-1 start, Munchak’s football reputation was built upon the grunt work of the offensive line, first as a Hall of Fame player, then as a position coach.

Productive offensive line play is built around teamwork, communication and sacrificing yourself and any individual glory for the good of the cause.

In Munchak’s perfect world, that’s the identity this Titans team would assume. He uses the term “work in progress,” but you get the sense that Munchak is steering the team in that direction — and the players are following his lead.

Safety Michael Griffin notes there are “no big names on this defense,” but that hasn’t kept the Titans from leading the NFL with the fewest points allowed through four games.

Likewise, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is quick to credit other elements of the offense for his fast start.

Even Chris Johnson, who in the past too often talked about his own yardage totals, now toes the party line.

“I’m just still working and trying to get better,” Johnson said after his first 100-yard game of the season — and since receiving his huge payday — against the Browns.

Of course, that doesn’t mean this team lacks personality. Shaun Smith drew some chuckles from the media on Wednesday with his unprompted “guarantee” that Chris Johnson would rush for 100 yards against the Steelers.

Easy for him to say. Smith is a defensive tackle.

Funny, but I didn’t hear Michael Roos or Jake Scott — or Johnson, for that matter — guaranteeing triple digits.

David Climer’s columns appear on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Contact him at 615-259-8020 or dclimer@tennessean.com.

Photo: CLEVELAND, OH - OCTOBER 02: Head coach Mike Munchak of the Tennessee Titans looks at the scoreboard against the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium on October 2, 2011 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)

Highlights: Penguins 5, Flames 3

‘Mean’ Joe Greene remembers legend Al Davis

By Joe Greene, Special to Yahoo! Sports
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl
October 8, 2011

Defenders Mean Joe Greene (75) and Jack Lambert (58) swarm Mark Van Eeghen of the Oakland Raiders during the AFC Championship Game on Dec. 26, 1976, at Alameda County Stadium in Oakland. The Raiders won 24-7, ending the Steelers three-peat bid. (Neil Leifer/SI)

As I and the rest of my Pittsburgh Steelers teammates prepared that week in late December 1974, we knew one thing: The road to the Super Bowl in the AFC went through Oakland.

To achieve your dreams as a team, you had to slay the Oakland Raiders. They were the barometer of what it took to be a championship team. They were the embodiment of Al Davis’ hard-driving style, nurtured by his devotion to them and their reciprocation. They were together in the very essential meaning of the word “team,” joined in purpose the way you design an organization.

To beat them, you had to be that same kind of force as a group.

That is what I admire most about Mr. Davis and his leadership of the Raiders. He may have passed away Saturday, but his imprint on the NFL is forever. As much as the Steelers and the Raiders spent the better part of a decade battling for supremacy in one of the fiercest rivalries in the history of the game, I have a place of admiration and appreciation in my soul for Mr. Davis. You may not have liked him, you may not have agreed with him, but you damn sure needed him.

With Mr. Davis, you knew the most important thing was the game. Yes, he had his team and he wanted to win. Ultimately, however, he was doing what was in the best interests of the game, of the NFL. Sometimes you need that contrarian, that person who pushes you because he’s not afraid to say what he thinks.

Most important, Mr. Davis built the Raiders based on a standard of play that permeated the league, his so-called “Commitment to Excellence.” That excellence came as the NFL was growing from two competing leagues (the NFL and AFL) to a merged league. Over a 10-season stretch from 1967 to 1976, eight Super Bowl champions either were the Raiders or had to beat the Raiders in the playoffs. The Jets, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Baltimore Colts, Miami, the Steelers each of the first two times … we all had to deal with the Raiders. That started with Green Bay in the 1967 season’s Super Bowl and ended with Oakland beating Minnesota in the 1976 season’s Super Bowl. During that stretch, the Raiders made the Super Bowl twice and had eight appearances in the AFL/AFC championship game.

I learned that reality early. My first season with Pittsburgh was 1969. We were still in the old NFL. My second year, we moved to the AFC when the leagues merged. I went to the Pro Bowl that season, and there must have been nine Raiders and nine Chiefs. I got to know all those guys. We’d sit and drink and smoke cigarettes. None of that meant anything when we played.

The Raiders were just what the name and the symbol on the helmet indicated. They were marauders, tough, physical men. You had Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Jim Otto and Bob Brown on the offensive line. Dave Casper at tight end. They were killing people. They set the stage for what happened in the NFL. With the Raiders, what I want to emphasize is that when you played them, you didn’t just show up to play football. You showed up to kick their ass. Otherwise, you’d get your ass kicked.

That first AFC title game for us in the 1974 season is the game that propelled us. It started our run of four Super Bowl titles. We knew all week that the matchup of Ernie Holmes against Gene Upshaw was going to be pivotal. So Dwight White, L.C. Greenwood and I spent the whole week telling Ernie about how Gene was going to kick his ass. Ernie didn’t say a word all week. He just stewed. After we get on the field for the first drive, I was standing at the line and Ernie is next to me. Ernie started yelling, “Eugene! Eugene!” He called Gene by Eugene. After about the fourth time, Gene looked over from the Raiders huddle and yelled, “What?”

Ernie started screaming, “I’m going to kick your [expletive, expletive, expletive] ass.” L.C. and Dwight looked at each other and yelled, “Far out, let’s go.” That’s the kind of game it was; that’s how you had to play. It was competitive and it was tough. There was hatred at times because that game tested you mentally and physically. It was deep. It got to the core of what kind of competitor you were. But there was respect.

Al Davis and John Madden in 1977 (AP)

I know that people make a lot out of the lawsuits that went back and forth. When Oakland safety George Atkinson sued Steelers coach Chuck Noll and then Pittsburgh cornerback Mel Blount went at it with Chuck, it got ugly. But I never got involved in any of that. Those were side issues. It probably heightened some things, but it wasn’t the foundation of the rivalry. When Atkinson knocked Lynn Swann out of the 1975 AFC championship game with a concussion, that was ugly. I went out and carried Lynn off the field. It was vicious.

But that’s what you were in for with the Raiders because they played with a purpose. Again, they played together because Mr. Davis brought them together. I’ve talked to a lot of former Raiders players over the years, and not one of them has ever said anything negative about Mr. Davis. He cared for them. That’s the feeling you get. He was out there on the field with them. He understood the game because he was a former coach. He knew what they did and who they were.

That wasn’t any different than what Pittsburgh owner Dan Rooney did with the Steelers, working his way up from working in the locker room. Dan had a great understanding of the game and of the players. That’s why those two men were and are so important to the game. The game was the most important thing to them. Mr. Davis isn’t the most important person in the history of the NFL, but the NFL isn’t the same thing without men like him and Dan and so many others.

A lot of the time, especially now, you get the feeling that people in suits, the marketing people, have a lot of influence on the game now and they don’t necessarily care about what’s best for the players. With Mr. Davis, he understood that. He understood there was a point of diminishing returns with what you can ask of the players, such as when they started talking about the 18-game schedule.

Mr. Davis put the players and the game first. In turn, his players gave back to him. They played with purpose. The style of how they played might have been different from what we did with the Steelers, but the essence of what they were was the same. They were a team, everyone working together and being on the same page to accomplish something great.

I remember when I was on the coaching staff in Arizona and we all got fired, I was called for an interview with the Raiders. I had the pleasure of getting to sit down with Mr. Davis. Of course, I had met him many times before when I was playing. I’d see him at the Pro Bowl or wherever, he’d look at me and say: “We could have had you. The Steelers were thinking about trying to get rid of you. We talked about trading for you.” I’d just laugh because I knew he was just trying to stir things up.

When I went for the interview, he showed me the trophies and all the memorabilia. He talked about all the things he and the Raiders had accomplished. He didn’t do it to show me up and talk down about the Steelers. He had sincere pride about what they had done. He talked about helping make Willie Wood the first black man to start at quarterback in what’s now the Pacific-12 Conference. That was back in 1959, before the integration battles reached the violence of the 1960s.

Mr. Davis was the kind of man to do and say things like that, to take a stand. Some people look at him as a renegade or maybe even an agitator. That’s fine. Those are the type of men you need to keep people on their toes. They make you think about what you’re doing.

I looked at Mr. Davis as a sportsman. He was there to compete, to push himself and his team to be better. In that way, he pushed us all to be better. It was like in that first AFC championship game. It was 3-3 just before halftime when Terry Bradshaw threw a pass to the left corner of end zone for John Stallworth.

Stallworth reached out with one hand and caught it but was ruled out of bounds. It was potentially a big play for us that didn’t turn out. As I was walking off the field, I was looking down, focused on what we were doing, reminding myself, “That’s OK, that play doesn’t matter; we have enough still to beat them.”

Later, I saw Mr. Davis and he said: “We had you in that game at halftime; I know we had you. You were down; we just didn’t finish.”

I had the pleasure of saying, “No, you didn’t. More important, though, I want to thank you for pushing us that hard.”

Massive challenge for Starks

By Joe Starkey, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Sunday, October 9, 2011

Max Starks knew the calls would come.

That is why he woke up every morning at 6:15 and hiked Pinnacle Peak (1,300-foot elevation) in Scottsdale, Ariz., during his unplanned vacation from the NFL. It's why he did all those tire flips and truck pushes and stretched his workouts into the late afternoon.

Although, come to think of it, maybe he was prolonging the workouts to avoid the regimen waiting for him at home.

"My wife had me doing all kinds of chores around the house," Starks said Friday after Steelers practice on the South Side. "Never knew I could be a handyman until this little extended offseason. So if anybody needs any plumbing tips or house adjustments, I'm your guy."

Actually, somebody needs a left tackle. The Steelers have seen their offensive line spring leaks left and right through a disappointing and sometimes disastrous first quarter of the season.

Enter the 29-year-old Starks, a two-time Super Bowl winner who arrived at training camp with a fairly fat body and a really fat contract. He and his $5.14 million salary were immediately cut.

In hindsight -- and as former Pitt football coach Walt Harris once so eloquently put it, hindsight is always "50/50" -- the Steelers would have been better off releasing veteran defensive end Aaron Smith and his $4.5 million salary. They had better depth on the defensive line.

Obviously, someone overrated Jonathan Scott at left tackle. More obviously, everyone was horrified at the prospect of Trai Essex trying to secure Ben Roethlisberger's blind side for so much as one more snap.

So today, Starks -- Mr. Fix-It -- will attempt a harrowing feat: He is expected to start at left tackle against the Tennessee Titans despite having practiced just three times in the past 338 days.

Does he realize that if he plays well against talented defensive end Jason Jones, he will officially eradicate the notion that training camp means something?

"You mean I'd have Allen Iverson syndrome -- 'Practice. What do you mean, practice?' " Starks said, laughing. "No, (Baltimore Ravens left tackle) Bryant McKinnie already proved you can be signed off the streets and start an NFL game within a couple of days."

Point taken, though McKinnie had a couple of weeks to get ready for the season opener and had the advantage of playing against a diminished James Harrison.

Starks was glad the Steelers went back to pads for a couple of days this week, as coach Mike Tomlin sought to sharpen their physical edge.

"I kind of got used to the hitting," Starks said. "The speed picked up from Wednesday to Thursday, and I got used to a game-like feel. Body-wise, I feel great. The agility is there. It's just a few little technique things I had to work on because I haven't had the repetitions.

"Now it's time to take the training wheels off."

In the end, maybe the Steelers will have found themselves a bargain in the 6-foot-8 Starks, who also drew interest from the Detroit Lions, among others. He was halfway through a four-year, $26.3 million deal when he was cut. He signed for the bargain-basement rate of $810,000.

That's a long ways from the $6.85 million Starks made on that odd transition-tag deal in 2008. He was a backup to Marvel Smith at the time. People wondered how the team could justify sinking so much money into a reserve tackle.

Remember how that story turned out? Smith went down early in the year. Starks stepped in and helped the Steelers win the Super Bowl.

It's safe to say general manager Kevin Colbert, Tomlin and everybody else associated with the team would love to see that story repeat itself. But they have a much simpler goal today.

They just want the leak fixed.


Photo: August 28, 2010 - Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images North America

Getting Inside The Head Of Sidney Crosby

With his recovery from a concussion seemingly stalled, the NHL superstar sought help in alternative medicine and believes he got immediate results

By DAVID EPSTEIN, MICHAEL FARBER
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
October 3, 2011

They were the head shots heard round the world. The first was on New Year's Day, in the 2011 Winter Classic, when the right shoulder of Capitals center David Steckel caught Penguins center Sidney Crosby flush on the left side of his helmet, sending his head flopping like a speed bag off a boxer's knuckles. The NHL's most important player scraped himself off the ice, hunched over and coasted to the bench, staring at his skates.

The second came four days later, when 6'6", 220-pound Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman smothered Crosby into the glass from behind. The check seemed innocuous, but coupled with the earlier hit from Steckel, it left Crosby concussed, light sensitive and plagued by headaches and dizziness. Pittsburgh finished its season without Crosby, who had been leading the league in scoring. The next eight months would be the toughest of his superb career, sending him from darkened rooms and doctors' offices to an unlikely salvation at a community ice rink in suburban Atlanta, where, the 24-year-old Crosby says, a man on the fringe of neuroscience brought him to the cusp of recovery.

AT HOME in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Crosby continued to work out with his longtime trainer Andy O'Brien, still unable to focus sufficiently to read or watch television. Some days Crosby would feel well enough to skate, but as soon as he went hard, some of his symptoms returned.

Throughout his convalescence, Crosby has been treated by neuropsychologist Michael Collins at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a leader in the study of sports-related brain trauma. But in August, Crosby was still suffering from balance problems, which indicated lingering issues with his vestibular system, the sensors in the inner ear that are instrumental to spatial orientation. Like Crosby on the ice, UPMC is considered the gold standard, having published a 2010 study on vestibular therapy techniques in postconcussion patients. But with the season just six weeks away and his recovery proceeding sluggishly, Crosby—like NFL stars Peyton Manning and Terrell Owens, both of whom reportedly flew overseas recently for experimental stem-cell treatments—turned to an alternative.

O'Brien had received a recommendation to send Crosby to a chiropractor named Ted Carrick. The referral came from Mark Lindsay, Toronto's chiropractor to the stars, who has worked with athletes from Manning to Alex Rodriguez. After four days of trying to reach Carrick, "we were getting a little discouraged," says Crosby's agent, Pat Brisson. Then Carrick's secretary called back, saying that even though the wait to see Carrick was a year, minimum, he would take the case. "We really specialize in these vestibular concussions," Carrick says.

And so Crosby, during the last week of August, found himself sharing the rink with the Atlanta Junior Knights at the Marietta Ice Center under the supervision of Carrick. He is regarded in his small and scientifically controversial corner of the health-care universe as the father of chiropractic neurology, a discipline that seeks to improve brain function with anything from eye exercises to music therapy, but without medication or surgery. It's a field that's unfamiliar to many traditional doctors, including Randall Benson, a neurologist at Wayne State in Detroit who has studied several ex-NFL players. Says Benson, "It's very difficult to evaluate what kind of training, expertise or knowledge a chiropractic neurologist has since I have never heard of [the discipline]."

For the next week Carrick put Crosby through on-ice exercises and then whisked him away for tests in either a side room at the rink or in his lab at nearby Life University, a chiropractic college. Carrick strapped Crosby into a gyroscope chair similar to one that might be found at space camp. "I thought I was [going to vomit]," Crosby says. Other days, tests focused on his balance or on his visual tracking. Carrick told him that his eyes were "choppy," Crosby says, as they panned along with a target. "My eyes felt like a muscle that hadn't been used for months," says Crosby. No matter the problem, Carrick, says Crosby, "was always able to tell me what part of my brain was causing me to be off-balance. So whatever it was ... he'd have corrective methods to fix [it] by the next day."

On Sept. 7, Crosby reemerged at a press conference in Pittsburgh. Carrick sat to his right atop the dais and Collins to his left. In a staid manner Collins said, "We're making progress in Sid's case." But Carrick was more emphatic: "When we first saw Sid, different functions didn't work well at all. Now they do... . It's Christmas for Sid Crosby." Crosby practiced on Sept. 17, the first day of camp, without contact and without symptoms.

Crosby's press conference was not Carrick's first time on stage. He is an experienced lecturer. In 1998, at Parker University, a Dallas chiropractic college, Carrick worked on Lucinda Harman before 300 students. Two car accidents and a neurotoxic bite from a brown widow spider had left Harman, herself a Ph.D. in experimental psychology, wheelchair-bound and with headaches, during which she saw spots.

"[Carrick] asked if they were red and yellow," she says. "I said, 'No, they're green, blue and purple.' " Carrick informed the audience that this meant her brain was being drastically deprived of oxygen and that, without treatment, she had six months to live. Harman, now 59, says simply, "Miracle." But Randall Benson says that "there's nothing out in peer-reviewed literature supporting" an association between the color of spots a patient sees during a headache and the severity of the oxygen deprivation in the brain.

The world of chiropractic neurology is largely self-contained and exceedingly self-referential. But follow the threads of its literature or the bona fides of its practitioners far enough, and one thing becomes clear: Everything connects to Ted Carrick. He graduated from Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto in 1979. A year later he founded the Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies, which is now headquartered in Cape Canaveral, Fla. There are more than 300 active chiropractic neurologists in the U.S., many of whom have been trained by Carrick.

Through satellite locations, Carrick and the faculty at his institute lecture to more than 4,000 students in the U.S. and in 10 foreign countries. His is one of three institutes in North America with an accredited chiropractic neurology program; all three were designed by Carrick, according to Harman. (She is now executive director of the American Chiropractic Neurology Board, the field's certifying body, which she runs from her duplex in Texas, the only state she knows of where a board of chiropractic examiners has formally approved chiropractic neurology as a specialty group.) The body that accredits educational programs in chiropractic neurology is the Commission for Accreditation of Graduate Education in Neurology, whose chairman, Pennsylvania chiropractor Michael Swank, studied under Carrick and says he was appointed by Carrick.

Carrick, who has had a handful of studies that have appeared in scientific journals, has never published data on vestibular concussions. "We don't have enough time to publish studies," he says, "but we're doing a large one at Life [University] right now." In a 1997 paper that drew significant attention from other chiropractors, Carrick reported that brain function could be altered through spinal manipulation, as evidenced by a change in a person's visual blind spot. But according to several neurologists interviewed by SI, the blind spot that Carrick discussed is not a function of brain activity but rather the result of a hole in the eyeball through which the optic nerve exits and carries information to the brain. "The blind spot is a fixed anatomical feature," wrote Harriet Hall, a retired family physician and Air Force flight surgeon in a published rebuttal to Carrick's findings. Several letters to the journal praised Carrick's apparent breakthrough; others called his methodology wholly unscientific. One, signed by three chiropractors and an optometrist, criticized Carrick for using terminology not found "in any neurological text" and concluded, "Dr. Carrick has confused what he believes to occur with what he can actually demonstrate to occur."

So did Carrick help? Crosby thinks he did, even though at week's end he hadn't engaged in full-contact drills or played in a preseason game. "Patients' testimonials should basically be discounted" as far as matters of medical efficacy, says Ruth Macklin, professor of bioethics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. "The placebo effect can be 30 percent."

Carrick says he often sees patients who are desperate for a cure, "patients who have not been helped by other doctors and who have lost hope." According to Benson, such patients tend to be "very suggestible." After seeing Carrick at Crosby's press conference, Henry Feuer, the consulting neurosurgeon for the Colts and a veteran of 40 years on NCAA and NFL sidelines, read some of his studies. "I just can't get a grasp of what he's doing," Feuer says. "If I had another guy like Crosby, would I send him to Carrick? The answer is no. I just see anecdotes, and that's not what we're looking for. The real evidence-based stuff is where medicine is today."

Crosby, meanwhile, continues to practice, untroubled by headaches and dizziness. Nor is he troubled by his experience with unorthodox neuroscience. "I don't think this is a case of trying to do something wacky," Crosby says. "When someone came along and invented the airplane, people must have thought they were out of their mind. Who thinks he can fly? I'm sure people thought that person might have been stretching it a bit... . At the end of the day, as long as the person getting the care is comfortable, I think that's what's important."

Photo: Jason Bridge/US Presswire

Highlights: Penguins 4, Canucks 3 (SO)

Much to take from Steelers' woes

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Friday, October 7, 2011

James Harrison is so tough, he returned to the field minutes after his eye socket was broken by a helmet-to-helmet shot Sunday in Houston.

Take that, Chuck Norris.

Harrison is so tough that, shortly after surgery to repair the socket Tuesday, he sat up in his hospital bed to upload pictures of his bandaged eye to Twitter and Facebook.

"I look like a pirate!" he cracked, as if his face had hurt the scalpel more than vice versa.

But that's only part of what the Steelers will be without when their all-universe linebacker misses the next month to ... well, not recover but reload, I guess. They'll also be missing the man responsible for 100 percent of the team's defensive takeaways this season.

Yeah, that one.

It came Sept. 25, late in the 23-20 victory in Indianapolis. Harrison burst through the Colts' line and jarred the ball loose from quarterback Curtis Painter. Troy Polamalu scooped it up to score a touchdown.

And that's it for takeaways at the season's quarter point. Just that one out of 247 offensive plays for the opponent. There have been no other forced fumbles, no interceptions -- the Steelers are the only team with that distinction -- and there hasn't even been a random unforced error.

It's astounding, really, because this is a defense built far more on being a predator than preventing.

It's a defense that highlights Harrison, Polamalu, LaMarr Woodley, Lawrence Timmons and others with a pedigree for finding the football. The 11 regulars have, among them, 90 career interceptions and 72 forced fumbles.

It's a defense that only last year had 35 takeaways for a plus-17 turnover differential that ranked second in the NFL. Now, they're dead last at minus-10.

It's a defense that needs to get its act together, beginning Sunday against Tennessee.

One problem, though ...

"We've had too many one-on-one opportunities where we haven't been corralling the opponent to the ground, let alone stripping the ball," safety Ryan Clark told me a couple days ago on the South Side. "It's not like we're not thinking about taking the ball, but that's got to come first."

He's right, of course. If the Steelers aren't stopping the run (they aren't) and they aren't getting to the quarterback (still running up the roaming charges there), then they aren't forcing that quarterback into deep drops. Those drops are what give the pass rushers time for the big hits that pop the ball loose. And those rushes are what force the quarterback into bad throws.

As Clark put it, "You have to put the other team in position to make bad plays."

As opposed to doing that to your own offense. Consider that the Steelers have begun just two of their 44 offensive drives in enemy territory, and both came as the result of long Antonio Brown punt returns. Or that their six touchdowns required drives of 60, 53, 86, 73, 86 and 79 yards. Or that they've produced touchdowns on 13 percent of all drives, well below the league average of 19 percent.

The solution starts up front.

I hate to keep picking on the defensive line, as there's enough blame to spread across everyone on the 53-man roster except maybe wide receiver Mike Wallace, cornerback Ike Taylor and punter Daniel Sepulveda. But if the line doesn't close running gaps, doesn't free up the linebackers to rush, doesn't deflect passes -- not one ball has been tipped at the line all season -- this will continue indefinitely.

Aaron Smith has played miles below the exceptional standard he set, but he's not alone. The other veterans, Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel, haven't gotten it done, either. The younger guys, Ziggy Hood and Cameron Heyward, have been OK.

To get better, they'll have to take a page from the Pop Warner manual.

"We've got to make the tackle," Hood said. "That's all. Just be in our gaps and tackle. We know what to do. There's no special secret. If you don't secure your tackle, you don't have a chance at a takeaway."

And if you don't have takeaways, you don't have much of a chance.

Time for Steelers offense to back up talk

Friday, October 07, 2011

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

HOUSTON - OCTOBER 02: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger(notes) of the Pittsburgh Steelers calls out a play at the line of scrimmage in the fourth quarter at Reliant Stadium on October 2, 2011 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said Thursday what Steelers Nation has been thinking all week.

"We talked a lot of talk about the offense in training camp. It's time we start backing it up."

An offense that scored 7 points against the Baltimore Ravens, 16 against the Indianapolis Colts and 10 against the Houston Texans isn't what Arians had in mind when he delayed his retirement after the Super Bowl last season at the urging of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. "Even [in the 24-0 win] against Seattle, we left 14 points on the field," he said.

No one saw this coming.

Wasn't it just a month ago that some predicted the Steelers offense would be the most prolific in franchise history?

It has been anything but.

A lot of people are quick to blame Arians. It's funny, hardly anyone criticizes defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau even though his men are just as much at fault for the 2-2 start because they haven't stopped the run, haven't gotten sacks and haven't forced turnovers. But no one is afraid to blast away at Arians. Many truly believe they can call the plays better.

"That's fine, point all the fingers right here," Arians said. "Send all the cards and letters to me."

Arians' thinking is sound:

The more criticism for him, the less for Roethlisberger, the offensive line, running back Rashard Mendenhall ...

Of course, Arians doesn't have to actually read his, ah, fan mail to know what the would-be play-callers would do if they had his position. He addressed a few of the suggestions:

• Throw more slants and quick passes.

"We've thrown a bunch of 'em. Mike Wallace has gotten a ton of his yards after slants. We've missed on other plays that have hurt us because the young wide receivers have missed a few [hot reads]. Antonio [Brown] missed one the other day that Ray Charles could have seen. It was truly a young guy mistake."

• Use tight end Heath Miller more as a receiver.

"You'd love to have him own the middle of the field, but teams are very aware of him. He always gets a lot of attention."

• Use Miller less as a receiver and more as a blocker to protect Roethlisberger.

"We're probably 50-50 with Heath staying in and going out. In a perfect world, you'd love to have him never in and always out. But it's not a perfect world. We've keep him in to help a tackle and kept the back in to help the other tackle ...

"You talk about max protect. But if you keep everyone in to block and only send out two receivers, it's not going to help you. They'll get to the quarterback sooner or later because no one is going to be open."

• Have Roethlisberger roll out more to avoid pressure.

"The problem with sprinting out is you shut down half the field. You might win on first down once in a while doing that, but you're never going to win on third down because teams will roll their coverage. You're begging for interceptions."

• Instruct Roethlisberger to get rid of the ball quickly and not hold on to it trying to make a big play.

"You can't change who you are. I don't want Ben to change. He's the most successful young quarterback in the history of the game. Three Super Bowls in six years. No, I don't want him to change."

• Run the ball more with Ike Redman and less with Mendenhall.

"Red has done a good job with his opportunities. He hasn't failed us yet. But [Mendenhall] is the guy. It all starts with him. He's a feature back in this league ...

"One thing people don't realize is that, by the time Red comes into a game, we've figured some things out with the run game and he's taken advantage of it. The same thing with Mewelde [Moore]. People underestimate his value to us, but all he does is win games. He comes in with fresh legs and you can see that burst. Coach [Bear] Bryant taught me a long time ago that you always save fresh legs for the end. Mewelde gives us that. I'm really going to miss having him this week [because of an ankle injury]."

• Run the ball more, period.

"We've got to play better in the run game, I agree with that. That's why it was nice the way we ran the ball in the second half [against the Texans]. But then we broke down in our play-action protection. That was the most disappointing thing to me. We should have done a better job there and taken advantage of the way we were running the ball."

At this point, it's worth noting that there is nothing wrong with Arians' offensive philosophy. It was good enough to get the Steelers to the Super Bowl last season. It was good enough to help them win the Super Bowl after the 2008 season. But, clearly, the execution needs to be better.

"It all starts with the run game," Arians said. He expects the Steelers to be successful Sunday against the Tennessee Titans at Heinz Field with some combination of Mendenhall, who has a hamstring injury, Redman and Jonathan Dwyer.

The wide receivers have to be better. "They have to work a little harder and get open a little quicker," Arians said. "And if they double-cover one, the guy in single coverage had better win because the quarterback is going to be looking for him."

Obviously, the line has to do a better job protecting Roethlisberger. "I think you'll see a big difference with us being at home this week," Arians said. "People don't understand how difficult it is to pass-block on the road. When you have to use a silent count because of the crowd noise and you're even a fraction of a second off, you're beaten. It happened once to [tackle] Marcus Gilbert [against the Texans]. He had no chance on that play. I'm eager to see how those guys play this week. I'm eager to see what the offense can do."

Arians grinned when asked if he had any regrets about postponing that retirement. "Absolutely not. I love working with this group. It's a great group. It's a long season. We still can be the offense that we expect to be."

Just in case you're still thinking Arians maybe has lost confidence in his offense or his play-calling ...

Check this out.

"I won't be retiring until after the Super Bowl."

So the talk continues.

It really is time to back it up.

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan. More articles by this author

Fearless Penguins predictions

By Joe Starkey, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Thursday, October 6, 2011

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang(notes), left, center Steve Sullivan(notes), and forward Evgeni Malkin(notes), right, celebrate Letang's goal during the first period of a preseason NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Friday, Sept. 30, 2011, in Chicago. (AP)

The Penguins' six-month, 82-game odyssey begins Thursday night in Vancouver. As always, predicting their path is pure folly.

If following this club teaches you anything, it's that the sheer length of the season, combined with the mercurial nature of the franchise, prohibits anything approaching an accurate forecast.

Oh, you can make a pretty good estimate of their final point total. But you'll never imagine the way they get there. Choose a season, any season, and you'll see.

Ten years ago, the Penguins fired Ivan Hlinka four games in, to be replaced by the first human being who walked past Craig Patrick's office. It happened to be Rick Kehoe.

In Kehoe's first game, Toby Petersen scored a hat trick playing next to Mario Lemieux. The season soon fell apart, finishing in a 10-game winless streak.

I didn't predict that (though I did have Kris Beech pegged to go minus-25).

Five years ago, a team rife with promise was piddling along at .500 in January when it ran off a 15-game unbeaten streak. Ray Shero then altered the culture by adding an insane person — Gary Roberts — and the heavyweight champion of the league, Georges Laraque, who promptly decided he would rather attempt to play hockey than fight.

Didn't see that comin'.

Nor was I alone in butchering the palm reading last year. Who could have foretold the Penguins losing Sidney Crosby in January and Evgeni Malkin in February and still putting up 100 points?

Who, in October, could have imagined Alex Kovalev running the spring power play (into the ground)?

Nobody can say who will flourish and who'll flop, who'll stay healthy and who won't. By the time this Penguins odyssey ends, the Pirates will be sailing toward a 20th consecutive losing season.

Having said all that, let's get right to the predictions (with notable dates sprinkled in) ...

» Thursday night, in Vancouver: Penguins measure their newfangled power play against the league's best from last season. I asked Shero about the risk of using four forwards. "I'm open to anything — five forwards if you want," he joked. "Pull the goalie and use six. I don't know."

» Friday, in Vancouver: Royal Canadian Mounted Police move in to protect what's left of Vancouver after fans wreck the city following the Penguins' 4-2 win.

» Oct. 11, home opener vs. endangered Panthers: New Florida coach Kevin Dineen was a Hartford Whaler, so he'll adapt nicely to coaching the Kansas City Panthers next season.

» Oct. 13, first Capitals visit: Should be emotional, with both teams wearing commemorative Lokomotiv patches in honor of the KHL tragedy.

» Oct. 17, at Winnipeg: Nobody will be happier than Arron Asham, who grew up in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, rooting for the old Jets. "The only other things we had to root for were a minor league baseball team and the (CFL) Blue Bombers," Asham said.

» Oct. 25, first trip to Long Island: Probably not the right night to bring back Crosby. It's Dan Bylsma's 200th NHL game, at the site of his first.

» Oct. 27, Islanders visit: Twice in three days? The NHL must want mayhem.

» Oct. 29, at Toronto: Wouldn't it be something if Crosby returned against David Steckel's new team? More likely it'll be a home game.

» Nov. 29, at Rangers: And nobody misses Sean Avery.

» Dec. 5: Cup champ Bruins in town.

» Dec. 8, at Philadelphia: First in-person sighting of Max Talbot in orange. "He knew it wasn't going to work out here," Brooks Orpik said. "But Philly was probably the last place I thought he'd sign."

» Dec. 13, vs. Detroit: Cup Final preview, anyone?

» Dec. 20, vs. Chicago: Cup Final preview, anyone?

» Dec. 23, at Winnipeg: Twitter follower Eric Spada said it well: "Couldn't be happier that NHL moved team from town where nobody cares to town where everybody cares."

» Dec. 29: Jaromir Jagr in a Flyers jersey in Pittsburgh.

» Dec. 30: World ends.

» Jan. 1: World resumes.

» Jan. 29: The Penguins have four reps (Malkin, Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Kris Letang) at the All-Star Game in Ottawa.

» Feb. 14: Colby Armstrong-to-Pens rumors heat up.

» Feb. 27: Trade deadline. The Penguins pick up at least one radically underachieving winger.

» March 16: Ten-year anniversary of the Penguins claiming Jeff Toms off waivers.

» March 17: At annual GMs meetings in Florida, Brian Burke leads a movement to revoke Rule 48, reinstitute all head shots.

» March 22: Nothing speaks to the season being 20 games too long like a spring visit from the Predators. It is, however, Penguins Garden Gnome Night. (Really, it is.)

» April 2: Brendan Shanahan, upon handing out his 613th suspension, drops from exhaustion while filming the video explanation.

» April 5: "Frozen Four" begins in Tampa, Fla.

» April 6: World ends.

» April 7: World resumes. Penguins host — who else? — the Flyers to finish the regular season. Crosby nets a hat trick to win the scoring title with 108 points (in 68 games). Jagr makes his final 'Burgh appearance, ironically enough, on Fan Appreciation Night.

Which brings us back to the safest prediction of the year. Orpik made it, when he said of Jagr: "I'm sure he'll get booed pretty good when he gets here."

Pretty good won't begin to describe it.

Starks contrast: Lineman makes difference in locker room

By Mike Bires
Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
October 6, 2011

PITTSBURGH - Maximillian Weisner Starks IV strolled into the Steelers locker room Wednesday morning and his larger-than-life presence immediately made it a better place.

"Max has been one of our brothers for a long time," said guard Chris Kemoeatu. "I'm excited to have him back."

"I gave Max a big hug," added wide receiver Hines Ward. "I'm just glad to see him. He's always been that veteran guy you could depend on."

Once again, the Steelers are depending on Starks. They may have parted ways with him on July 29. But with an offensive line that's struggled miserably at the quarter point of the season, the Steelers welcomed back No. 78 with open arms.

At the start of training camp, coach Mike Tomlin and general manger Kevin Colbert had little use for the big man whose 2010 season ended after seven weeks due to a neck injury. With Starks weighing close to 400 pounds -- that's 55 pounds over his playing weight -- management cut him just as the team reported to St. Vincent College. They didn't want to pay $5.14 million to an out-of-shape left tackle.

But with injuries and poor performance on the O-line slowing the offense during a disappointing 2-2 start, Starks became a wanted man. That's why the Steelers signed him to a one-year contract.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who's been taking a beating, specifically asked his coaches to bring back Starks. Remember that during the first camp practice, Roethlisberger wore Starks' jersey instead of his own No. 7.

So, Colbert called Starks' agent on Tuesday while Starks was working out for the Detroit Lions.

When he came in for a physical Tuesday, Starks revealed a new-look physique that proved he's ready to play football for the first time in 11 months. After an extensive training program in Phoenix, the 6-foot-8 Starks says he's very close to his usual playing weight of 345 pounds.

"I thought he'd be 600 pounds," Ward said. "But he looks good. You can tell he's worked hard to get back into shape."

Wednesday in his first practice since Oct. 22, 2010, Starks said he split time with Jonathan Scott at left tackle.

"It felt great. I do remember how to do this," Starks said with a smile.

When asked if he's ready to play Sunday when the Steelers host the Tennessee Titans (3-1), Starks said, "It's a bit premature to think that far ahead. But I definitely feel I have the opportunity to at least dress."

In all likelihood, Scott and rookie Marcus Gilbert will start Sunday at the tackle spots for the Steelers. But even though the Steelers' official announcement of Starks' signing said he was brought back for depth, it's hard to imagine he won't be starting soon.

So now the Steelers once again have two members of their 2004 draft class on the roster. Roethlisberger was the first-round pick. Starks was taken in the third round.

Since then, Starks had played in 95 games with 68 starts.

He started every game of the 2005 Super Bowl season at right tackle. In 2007, he lost his starting job to Willie Colon, but a year later, became the first stringer at left tackle. He was there in 2008 when the Steelers won another Super Bowl.

That year, the Steelers put the transition tag on him and paid him $6.85 million, the average salary of the top 10 highest-paid tackles. A year later, they put the franchise tag on him and were prepared to pay him $8.45 million, the average salary of the top five tackles. But then the Steelers ripped up that contract and signed him to a four-year, $26.3 million deal with $10 million in guaranteed money.

When the Steelers cut Starks on July 29, he lost out on $5.14 million. But the one-year deal he signed Wednesday will pay him $810,000.

"It's a circle of life," he said. "I've gone through every possible situation during my career with the Steelers. I've definitely gone through the full gamut of the NFL experience.

"Yes, it was tough getting cut this year. It definitely blindsided me. You have that expectation level going into camp ... we're going to compete, we're going to have a good time and we're trying to build a good squad.

"But when I found out I had been released, I took it as a learning experience. I wasn't bitter, I didn't sit in the corner and cry ‘Woe is me.' I said, ‘What do I have to do to retool and get myself ready?'"

Starks did retool. He did get himself ready. Now he's back with the Steelers as they try to prove they're much better than their 2-2 record suggests.

Crosby's smile could light way

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Penguins' locker room was a bustling place Tuesday morning — players packing, bags getting tossed on carts, orders being barked. The team was bound for Vancouver, where its 44th NHL season will open Thursday, and everyone seemed to be in a rush.

And why not?

This is a shout-it-out-loud Stanley Cup contender, maybe the favorite out of the Eastern Conference.

It's easy to list all of the reasons for that, from Evgeni "This is a new me" Malkin to hope for a vastly improved power play to the sport's premier penalty-killers to a seven-deep defensive corps to a better-than-ever Marc-Andre Fleury backing it all up.

I'll settle just for this: The Kid is smiling again.

Sidney Crosby lingered on the ice 15 minutes beyond the hourlong practice yesterday at Consol Energy Center. He skated sprints, punctuated by violent stops and starts. He took several bonus shots on Fleury and Brent Johnson, playfully poking for rebounds. He flipped the puck on his blade like a flapjack -- as only he can -- near the center circle. He engaged in a game of long-shot.

By the time Crosby finally got around to unlacing those skates, after his formal session with the media, I mentioned to him that it looked like he was having fun out there.

"Yeah," he said, looking up. "I missed it."

We did too.

Not one among us can imagine what these past few months have meant to the Penguins' captain, from personal or professional standpoints. But it's clear even from the outside that it made for a massive fall.

Rewind to Crosby's previous visit to Vancouver. On Feb. 28, 2010, his overtime goal - that sneaky wrister through Ryan Miller's pads - instantly lifted Canada to Olympic gold over the United States. It happened in GM Place, the same building where the Penguins and Canucks will play tomorrow, and I expect to remember it forever as the most electric atmosphere of any sporting event I've covered.

Crosby was on top of the sporting world, thanks to the global stage of the Olympics. He transcended hockey. It seemed like he couldn't get any higher.

Later that same year, though, Crosby broke through to a new level with the Penguins. Nearly every shift was dominant, and his improved shooting and faceoffs made him a more complete player than ever. Mario Lemieux was moved to suggest Crosby was out-performing him at his peak.

Then, with those two head shots in January, all that was taken away. Crosby's glory, his dream existence, was replaced by months of incessant headaches, sitting in dark rooms to avoid light, stumbling as he walked because of dizziness and, cruelest of all, feeling better only to feel worse. He openly acknowledged uncertainty about playing again.

That's why the smile matters.

He still doesn't have all of the answers. He'll accompany the Penguins on this three-game trip through Canada, but he said yesterday he doesn't expect to be cleared for contact in that time, largely because he won't meet with members of his concussion team until returning to Pittsburgh. More won't be known, of course, until he can ditch that white helmet and take some hits.

And yet, you get the feeling Crosby already knows. He was skating around late last season, too, but he was comparatively quiet, withdrawn, uncertain, frustrated. All of that's been wiped away, and it's easy to tell.

"To be honest, I'm just happy to be out there and working hard," he said. "For a long time, I wasn't even able to do that."

It's been exactly nine months, as of today, since Crosby last played.

"I think you try to take away everything you can from each situation good or bad, and I tried to do that over the past few months. ... It maybe makes you appreciate everything all the more."

Try to picture the scene when the No. 87 is called out for the starting lineup, and the new building shakes to its Fifth Avenue foundations. Or when he scores that first goal. Or, best of all, when he takes a check and skates away cleanly.

I'm guessing he'll appreciate it way more than any of us.


Photo: AP

Agony of Defeat: Ben's beating, offensive line

Monday, October 03, 2011

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

HOUSTON - OCTOBER 02: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger(notes) #7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers is sacked by linebacker Mario Williams(notes) #90 of the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on October 2, 2011 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

HOUSTON -- Tackle Trai Essex said he heard the chilling scream. Despite the crowd noise that threatened to blow the lid off of Reliant Stadium, all of the Steelers linemen heard it. They knew instantly it was quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, on the turf again after taking yet another hit, rolling in agony, clutching his right knee.

"It's the worst feeling in the world," center Maurkice Pouncey said.

"It tears you up inside," Essex said.

It didn't exactly make Roethlisberger's day, either.

"But you know what they say ... What doesn't kill you ... " he said, forcing a grin through the pain.

At least Roethlisberger's sense of humor was intact.

It was hard to say that about his body after the Steelers' 17-10 loss Sunday to the Houston Texans, a game in which he took another ferocious beating behind an offensive line that was playing with three second-teamers and wasn't nearly good enough to protect him.

The Steelers didn't release the result of X-rays on Roethlisberger's left foot, but he clearly was hurting from a hit he took late in the game, probably on a play when he scrambled for 3 yards. He needed crutches to get to and from the shower. It hurt to watch him get dressed. He had to pull on the sides of his locker to lift himself out of his chair to put on his pants.

A franchise quarterback on crutches is never a good thing.

I mean, really.

"But you know me, if I can be out there, I'll be out there," Roethlisberger said when asked about playing against the Tennessee Titans Sunday at Heinz Field. "If I have to cast it up to play, I'll do it. I did that last year. I casted up my [right] foot and played the whole second half of the season."

Roethlisberger's scream came on the Steelers' final possession when Texans defensive end J.J. Watt buckled his right knee with a low hit that resulted in a 15-yard personal foul penalty. "It was exactly the same hit I took in the Seattle game," Roethlisberger said. "Unbelievable pain."

Somehow, Roethlisberger finished the game, limping up the field as he led the Steelers from their 1 to their 40 before throwing an interception on a long, desperation pass for wide receiver Antonio Brown on a play that started with 19 seconds left. "He's as tough as they come," Essex said of his quarterback.

Roethlisberger was sacked five times, six if you count one by linebacker Connor Barwin, who forced a Roethlisberger fumble on the Steelers' first possession only to have the play nullified by an illegal contact penalty on cornerback Johnathan Joseph. He was drilled from behind later in that series by safety Danieal Manning, who came in untouched on a blitz. It was surprising he got up after that hit.

"Their defense is very physical," Roethlisberger said. "They really got after me."

It can't keep going like this for Roethlisberger. He might be able to keep playing with his foot injury, but he won't last the season taking this kind of beating. He has been sacked 14 times in four games. He has been hit hard at least a dozen other times. Certainly, he could sue his linemen for lack of support.

Not that Roethlisberger will, of course. He learned a long time ago that supporting the big fellas in front of him is a big part of his job. He always talks them up and takes the blame for them even when it isn't deserved. He knows that's one of the reasons he's being paid $102 million.

"I've got to step up and make plays," Roethlisberger said. "I've got to make it easier on my guys. I could have done more to help us win. I didn't do that [Sunday]."

You ask me, Roethlisberger never had a chance. His line played with just two regular starters -- Pouncey and left guard Chris Kemoeatu. Essex substituted for Jonathan Scott (ankle) at left tackle and Ramon Foster was at right guard for Doug Legursky (shoulder). Rookie Marcus Gilbert has been starting at right tackle since Willie Colon (torn triceps) went down and out for the season in the opening game at Baltimore.

Coach Mike Tomlin has no clue who will play against the Titans.

"It depends on the health of the men," he said. "We'll rally and see who we have coming back."

A good guess is Legursky will be ready for the Titans. Scott seems like more of a long shot. At least none of the linemen were injured Sunday.

"We definitely have to do better," Pouncey said. "But we'll be fine. I believe in every one of these guys. It all comes down to execution."

Hold the jokes, please.

As much as you might be tempted, don't say that you're all for the offensive line's execution.

You know the harsh truth.

You saw the game.

You know there's nothing funny about the line and its problems.

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More articles by this author

Sorry Steelers at crossroads

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Monday, October 3, 2011

HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 02: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger(notes) #7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers is sacked by linebacker Mario Williams(notes) #90 of the Houston Texans on October 2, 2011 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.Texans won 17 to 10. (Photo by Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images)

HOUSTON — One cringe-worthy, panoramic scan of the Steelers' locker room at Reliant Stadium told the story late Sunday afternoon.

In one corner, nose tackle Casey Hampton was bristling when asked how the once-proud, now-porous defense could possibly — even mathematically — allow Houston's offense to go 115 yards on 19 plays for its first drive.

In another, $61 million linebacker LaMarr Woodley was explaining his whereabouts during the game. I missed the alibi.

In another, tight end Heath Miller was speaking the glaring truth of this ghastlier-than-the-score 17-10 loss to Houston: "It's fair to say every man in this room can improve."

And sitting all by himself, silent amid the carnage, was Ben Roethlisberger. But only after the quarterback was helped into the room by two team employees, his left ankle iced and bandaged.

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2011 Pittsburgh Steelers.

Or as linebacker James Harrison summarized in what might soon appear on T-shirts in the Strip: "We stink."

If only everyone associated with the team could see that, maybe something could be done about it. As it is, the Steelers remain stuck in a Texas-sized state of denial. Most players talked about "just getting back to tackling," to borrow Woodley's term, or about other aspects of execution. Coach Mike Tomlin was no exception, saying, "We understand that our issues are fundamental. We've got to do the basic football things a little better than we are now."

Just fundamentals?

A little better?

Are you buying this?

Count me squarely in Harrison's corner. Yeah, the Steelers deserved the benefit of the doubt after Baltimore. Anything's possible in an opener. And yeah, I saw traces of encouragement in how the Steelers took care of Seattle and Indianapolis, despite the caliber of competition.

Not this one.

This was a matchup against a legitimate if unspectacular opponent, and the Steelers earned a D-minus grade at best. This was a team that not only wasn't making plays but also looked like it was incapable of making them. This was a team that looked — all together now — old and slow, not to mention undisciplined, unmotivated and unprepared.

The Steelers could have shut everyone up, once and for all, about the age thing. Instead, they attached an exclamation point to it.

Funny thing, though: The season isn't lost. Not yet, anyway. The record is 2-2, with Tennessee, Jacksonville and Arizona on the horizon. All kinds of Browns and Bengals remain. But Tomlin and general manager Kevin Colbert need to work off Harrison's evaluation rather than pretend that all they need are a few tackling drills on the South Side.

That means making real changes, and I can think of three places to start:

1. Find offensive tackles.

Seriously, this is getting dangerous. Every snap Roethlisberger takes behind Trai Essex, Marcus Gilbert and any other tackle on this roster, he's another step closer to injured reserve. It doesn't have to be Max Starks or Flozell Adams. Hold open tryouts for exceptionally large men. Do something.

2. Reset the defensive line.

The embarrassing run defense is the easiest to address. For all that Aaron Smith has achieved for the franchise, he's not getting it done now. Benching him would be silly, but spelling him and Brett Keisel after Keisel returns would put fresh, young Ziggy Hood and Cam Heyward on the field. That could help Woodley and the pass rush, too.

This week, it was Arian Foster running for 155 yards. What will Chris Johnson do next week?

3. More Isaac Redman.

Redman's talent doesn't compare to Rashard Mendenhall's, but it was impossible not to notice that Redman's entry in the second half — six carries, 40 yards — sparked the offense. He hit the holes with authority. He dragged guys with him. He looked like he wanted to be out there, for crying out loud.

From there, the Steelers must pick up their chins. They're either going to embrace one last chance to succeed with this not-so-long-ago illustrious group, or they're going to throw it away. People need to step up, and not just the battered quarterback.

Safety Troy Polamalu was asked if the Steelers can recover.

"I would hope," he replied softly. "Only time will tell if we answer the bell or not."

Time isn't on their side.

Maybe 'over' is right word for Steelers

By Mark Madden
Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
October 3, 2011

HOUSTON - OCTOBER 02: Running back Arian Foster(notes) #23 of the Houston Texans rushes as he is pursued by Keenan Lewis(notes) #23 and Troy Polamalu(notes) #43 of the Pittsburgh Steelers at Reliant Stadium on October 2, 2011 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

Warren Sapp said it: "The Steelers are old, slow and it's over."

Yesterday, for the first time, we all started to think it.

It's awful early in the 2011 campaign to wave white flags. Problems can be fixed. Strategies can be adjusted.

But Sunday's 17-10 loss at Houston showed the Steelers at their worst. The Texans kept trying to lose, giving back two touchdowns via flag, committing nine penalties total, missing tackles and displaying their usual second-half stumbling.

But the Steelers would not oblige.

Troy Polamalu was brilliant. Ben Roethlisberger was courageous.

But mostly, the Steelers were comical. Their play was downright embarrassing.

Houston rushed for 180 yards, led by a gimpy Arian Foster with 155. The Steelers' once-legendary run defense now gets gashed almost weekly.

The defense let Houston drive 115 yards on its initial possession. That's right, 115 yards. Infractions forced the Texans to cover 20 yards twice. The march took 19 plays and chewed up 10:55.

The Texans' first drive was distressing. Since the first Steelers' dynasty dawned in the ‘70s, the defense has rarely looked feeble. But it sure got bullied at the get-go Sunday. Knocked back. Pushed around. The Steel Curtain looked like Saran Wrap.

Mike Wallace and Maurkice Pouncey took stupid, unnecessary penalties that reflect a lack of discipline often evident in the Mike Tomlin regime. Your best players can't dig the hole deeper.

The Steelers' offensive line was a mess. Management should be ashamed to put a unit like that on the field, and in front of the franchise's $100 million investment. Injuries duly noted, the O-line features several players that are borderline pros at best. Roethlisberger was sacked five times -- knocked down three times on the first series alone -- and drilled in the knee again.

Many clamor for Roethlisberger to get rid of the ball quicker. But that would be counterproductive to Roethlisberger's stunning ability to extend plays. Roethlisberger shouldn't abandon a strength. The Steelers should assemble a better line.

Certain Steelers have had great careers, and deserve respect for their accomplishments.

But ... old, slow and it's over.

Hines Ward had just one catch for 19 yards. He had a critical fourth-quarter drop. Ward is on pace for 52 receptions. He's averaging just 10.4 yards per. Ward simply can't get open anymore.

LaMarr Woodley is struggling. Many believe it's because Aaron Smith, the defensive end in front of Woodley, is toast. Smith exited yesterday's loss via injury, as he too often does.

James Farrior got blocked into oblivion on Foster's game-winning 42-yard touchdown run. He got beat for 30 yards on the preceding pass play. Farrior is fading. He's playing less, and worse.

Management shouldn't be blamed for taking a chance on these guys. But there was always the possibility this could happen.

There's always the possibility things could right themselves, too. Lost youth could be recaptured. Young players could emerge. The coaches could milk improvement. The Steelers' schedule is so weak, it's hard to imagine them not making the playoffs.

But for now, the Steelers' mystique is gone. Houston sucked the Steelers back into Sunday's game, but the Texans were never intimidated. They beat the Steelers despite a plethora of errors and superstar receiver Andre Johnson's early exit because of injury. It should have been 31-10, maybe worse, no better.

New England at Heinz Field, Oct. 30. Baltimore at Heinz Field, Nov. 6.

Still looking forward to those games, Yinzer Nation?

Evgeni Malkin finding his comfort zone

Sunday, October 02, 2011
By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

KANSAS CITY, MO - SEPTEMBER 27: Evgeni Malkin(notes) #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins warms up prior to the NHL preseason game against the Los Angeles Kings on September 27, 2011 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Early in Penguins training camp, when it became obvious that the razzle was back in Evgeni Malkin's dazzle, he was asked about his slick stickhandling.

"I work every day with my hands," he said. "I don't know how good [they are], but if you say 'good,' I'll believe it."

There was honesty in his answer, but also a subtle brand of humor that Malkin is learning to deliver in English.

The Russian center's confidence and comfort level have skyrocketed going into the 2011-12 season. He's healthy after February surgery to repair his right anterior cruciate knee ligament. He's strong after offseason workouts that exceeded what he had done before. He's happy after what seems to be a breakthrough in his communication skills.

That's why Malkin, 25, is widely projected to regain the dominance with which he played in 2008-09, when he won the NHL scoring title, the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP and helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup.

"I think he's coming out of his shell maybe a little bit," said Chris Kunitz, one of Malkin's wingers this preseason and his locker room neighbor at Consol Energy Center. "When you're injured, you're not part of the group. You're down a little bit. I think he's done a great job of coming back, being around the guys, interacting a little more than he was last year."

Malkin's teammates have been saying for years that he's fun to be around, and he no longer limits that interaction to familiar people and places.

It used to be that when he was asked to deliver Penguins season tickets -- an annual promotion-- Malkin would approach fans' doors timidly and offer, "Your teek-its." While delivering them this year, he practically invited himself into homes, initiated conversation, even enthusiastically greeted someone's cat.

At a question-and-answer session at a town hall meeting with season ticket holders Sunday at the arena, a panel of the team's star players was asked to name the funniest guy on the team. It was posed that, perhaps, it was Malkin.

"My humor is Russian humor," Malkin said into his microphone. "They don't understand, but they laugh."

That got a chuckle from the several thousand fans.

"See?" Malkin said.

Later, he shrugged at the memory of being too unsure to be that playful in public.

"It's my sixth year," he said. "I know everyone a little bit better. I talk to people. I talk to fans. It's easy for me.

"My Russian friends know that I'm a pretty funny guy, but sometimes I'm a little bit shy because my English isn't good. But now I understand more and I talk to people."

Malkin has started tweeting (@malkin71_) in both languages. In English, he has bantered with former teammate Ryan Whitney, posted pictures of Pitt cheerleaders, guffawed at the idea of tomatoes being fruit.

He suggested things might have gone more smoothly if he had sought more formal instruction in English rather than mostly picking it up from being around his teammates.

"It might be my fault, but now I try more to watch TV shows and learn," he said.

Fitting in isn't always simple for foreign-born athletes. Just ask veteran Pavel Datsyuk, a Russian who is on pace to eclipse 700 NHL games and 700 points this season.

"I'm still not comfortable," said Datsyuk, who plays on a Detroit team that has had a lot of Europeans and has been one of the elite clubs for years.

PITTSBURGH, PA - SEPTEMBER 21: Evgeni Malkin(notes) #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates against the Detroit Red Wings during a preseason game at Consol Energy Center on September 21, 2011 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

Malkin enters the team's final preseason game today at Detroit with three goals, six points and two "first star" appointments in four games. In the Penguins' 3-2 win against Detroit in their exhibition opener Sept. 21, Malkin and Datsyuk were noticeably the best players on the ice.

"He's really hungry," Datsyuk said. "He'll just get better every game."

Penguins defenseman Joe Morrow, an 18-year-old rookie, was thrilled to watch Malkin and Datsyuk up close.

"It's like you would pay $500 for a ticket to sit on the bench, but I got it for free and I got to be on the ice with them," he said. "It doesn't get much better than that."

At the other end of the spectrum is veteran winger Steve Sullivan, who signed with the Penguins in the offseason and has had a chance to play on Malkin's wing.

Sullivan called Malkin "extremely creative" and said: "It's a thrill to watch. I just make sure I don't get mesmerized out there by what's going on."

Datsyuk is such a wizard with the puck that "Datsyukian" has gained some traction as an adjective in the NHL community. Given the Russian connection, he might be the player most like an older version of Malkin in terms of pure skill. At 6 feet 3, 195 pounds, however, Malkin could become a more physically dominant version of Datsyuk, 33.

Malkin has pulled off some deft moves this preseason -- pilfering the puck from opponents, dishing blind passes and drop passes, performing a spin move or two -- but he also has held off defenders and driven to the net effectively.

That's the kind of repertoire that could force his inclusion in conversations about the top players on the planet.

After all, Malkin hasn't had just one good season among his five in the NHL. He has topped 30 goals three times, including 2006-07 when he had 85 points and won the Calder Trophy as the league's rookie of the year. Twice, he has had more than 100 points.

He fell out of that conversation when he finished with 28 goals, 77 points in 67 games in 2009-10, possibly hindered by shoulder problems. Then came last season, when his knee was smashed Feb. 4 in an awkward collision with hulking Buffalo defenseman Tyler Myers, ending his season at 43 games, with 15 goals, 37 points.

Malkin, who should be entering the prime of his career in terms of age, is right there with everyone who expects his return from surgery to be accompanied by a flourish.

"I had a great summer," he said. "I'm trying to step up my game and play 100 percent. My game is control the puck and control the game."

That has been on display in the preseason.

"He wants the puck," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. "He's all over the ice. He's aggressive. Every shift he's making something happen. Either he's creating something or getting a chance himself.

"That's when he's at his best, and it's fun to watch."

With Crosby's playing status unclear as he continues his comeback from a concussion, Malkin could assume the team's lead role.

Although the two were a formidable pair in the 2009 playoffs, Malkin has a reputation for playing better without Crosby in the lineup, dating to the weeks Crosby missed in 2008-09 because of a high ankle sprain.

Malkin can't argue with that perception.

"I'm not changing my game, but, I don't know, when Sid's out I think I score more goals, have more points," Malkin said. "I don't know why. It's hard to say.

"Maybe I change my [mindset]. Maybe I have more time on the ice, more time on the power play, more scoring chances. And, if I score one, maybe I continue and score two, three."

It's not that Malkin simply likes having the stage without Crosby. Likely, it is quite the opposite.

In his first extensive one-on-one interview in English, in December 2008, Malkin was asked to pick hockey's best player -- the prime candidates being himself, Crosby and Washington's Alex Ovechkin. "My favorite is Sid," he said.

Now that Malkin is capable of elaborating, he offered a declaration of admiration.

"I look at how Sid works," Malkin said. "I'm lucky to play with him. I see how he plays, and I try to follow him. He helps me all the time. I try to play better every year, like Sid does.

"He's my ... I don't know how to say it."

Inspiration? Mentor? Idol?

With the murky mass of language barrier and uneasiness now melting away, perhaps Malkin will be able to complete that sentence before long.

For much more on the Penguins, read the Pens Plus blog with Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson at www.post-gazette.com/plus. Shelly Anderson: shanderson@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1721 and Twitter @pgshelly.

Related:

Penguins 2011-2012 Preview: A look inside the team -
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11275/1178954-61.stm

Evgeni Malkin: 'My motivation now is very good'-
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_759827.html

A tale of two seasons for Bucs

By John Perrotto
Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
September 30, 2011

MILWAUKEE, WI - SEPTEMBER 27: Neil Walker(notes) #18 of the Pittsburgh Pirates high fives Ronny Cedeno(notes) #5 after scoring during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on September 27, 2011 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Scott Boehm/Getty Images)

Frank Coonelly said during spring training that it was time for the Pirates to "turn the corner" in 2011.

With the 2011 season now in the books, how does the Pirates club president feel about his team?

"I'll let you be the judge of that," Coonelly said.

OK, here's Judge John's verdict: Hung jury.

On one hand, the season can be considered a success because the Pirates improved by 15 victories over their 57-win debacle of 2010. Arizona and Milwaukee were the only other major-league clubs to raise their win totals by a larger margin and both won division titles.

On the other hand, the season can be considered a failure. The Pirates led the National League Central as late at July 26 then collapsed and finished 24 games behind the Brewers by losing 43 of their last 62 games.

So, the Pirates headed into the off-season as an unknown commodity. Are they ready to contend into September in 2012 or will it still be a few more years before the postseason is a realistic goal?

General manager Neal Huntington, armed with a three-year contract extension through 2014, is bullish on the Buccos.

"Our expectation is we're going to play better baseball for six months next year," Huntington said. "We focus on the process of improving. If we follow the process, the result will take care of itself. We showed a lot of good things for four months. The next step is doing it for six months.

"We had a lot of injuries but not once did you hear (manager) Clint Hurdle or our coaching staff ever talk how broken we were at times. Our team fought and it battled and it was a great learning experience for our young players.

"You look at the center of production in the batting order, the top of the rotation, the back of the bullpen on other teams and almost all have older players than we do in those spots. That presents a challenge but also an opportunity for us to improve."

There were reasons for optimism in 2011.

Center fielder Andrew McCutchen took another step toward becoming a superstar, second baseman Neil Walker built on his fine rookie season, Joel Hanrahan became a lockdown closer and enigmatic Charlie Morton showed signs he might still become an above-average starting pitcher.

Yet the final two months of the season also provide reason for pessimism in 2012. The Pirates of August and September were a long way from respectable.

That dichotomy from the April-July Pirates and the August-September Pirates is what is already setting up 2012 to be an intriguing season, though.