Ed Bouchette: A Look at Who's Playing Well, Who's Not

Haggans, Foote, Harrison are awesome; Jackson is an embarrassment
Monday, August 22, 2005
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It's often difficult to determine who performs well and who does not during preseason games, when starters sometimes play but a few series and the game-day rosters are 80, not 45.

Ben Roethlisberger, for example; is he passing poorly or, as Hines Ward and Ken Whisenhunt proclaim, is it merely the timing that's off?

There is one area of this team, though, that leaves little doubt as to its caliber of play -- the linebackers. Even with Joey Porter out, there's no denying the talent these guys have.
Clark Haggans is playing as if he's Greg Lloyd in his prime. He's been all over the field making plays, getting to the quarterback, forcing him into errors and looking every bit like an All-Pro. He says one of the reasons for his improved play is that his hand is healthy now. Remember, he broke his hand lifting weights one week before the 2004 training camp opened. Now, he says, he can even play the piano with it. The way he's going, it looks as if he can lift a piano with it.

James Farrior is a carbon copy of . . . James Farrior, 2004, when he made his first Pro Bowl and was voted the team's MVP. The guy next to him is playing like Kendrell Bell in his prime, only without the pizzazz -- Larry Foote. He keeps showing up at the right place at the right time and making the tackle. I've got a nickname for him -- Sure Foote.

Then there's James Harrison. Undrafted, unwanted, about to put his Kent State degree to good use when the Steelers called him up to fill in last summer for the injured Haggans. He's playing like Joey Porter. When Porter returns to the lineup, they still need to find a way to get Harrison on the field on occasion.

Guess what all these guys have in common? None was drafted in the first two rounds by the Steelers. The Jets drafted Farrior in the first round, but did not know how to use him. It wasn't until he came to the Steelers and they put him inside in their 3-4 defense that he became a star.
And that brings us to Alonzo Jackson. Put him on your cut list right now. He may be gone in the first cut. Embarrassing, one scout told me Saturday night. Can't play. He was drafted in the second round. Bill Cowher, I'm told, wanted to draft him in the first round before the Steelers traded up in that round in 2003 and took Troy Polamalu instead. Whew!

One problem is no other outside linebacker is doing much to press the issue. Dedrick Roper has been a disappointment this summer only because he hasn't made it easy on Cowher to dump Jackson. My feeling is, if that's the case, keep an extra defensive end and go with one less linebacker. Better that than to keep a bad player for one more year so you don't look bad for taking him in the second round.

Cut your losses, and don't look back. It's happened before on the second round with guys such as Scott Shields and Jeremy Staat. It's just that Jackson is the first failure by the Cowher/Kevin Colbert team in the top two rounds. The more he sticks around, though, the more he reminds everyone they goofed on this one. Big time.