PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons brings down Eagles running back Correll Buckhalter during the first quarter Friday, Aug. 8, at Heinz Field.
Christopher Horner/Tribune-Review
From this vantage point, one play stood out from Friday night's Steelers-Eagles exhibition game -- and it wasn't Ryan "Steely" McBean's fumble recovery late in the third quarter.
It was linebacker Lawrence Timmons closing like a locomotive on Eagles running back Correll Buckhalter late in the first quarter.
When Buckhalter caught the ball in the right flat, at the Steelers' 13, Timmons wasn't even in the picture. A millisecond later, he was in Buckhalter's back pocket.
Charles Barkley doesn't get to buffet tables that fast. A play with first-down possibilities had netted three yards.
"Timmons is an incredible athlete," said Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel, who also took note of the play. "He's really been blessed with speed and athleticism, and he's just putting it all together right now. We expect a lot of things out of him this year."
The only guy on this team with that kind of closing burst is strong safety Troy Polamalu -- a player whose history might be instructive in predicting whether Timmons asserts himself as a playmaker this season.
Remember Polamalu's rookie year?
Me neither.
Nobody does. He was invisible. He didn't start a single game and had approximately zero big plays, causing concerned citizens across western Pennsylvania to wonder why in the world the Steelers had traded up in the first round -- a franchise first -- to take him.
Well, they found out in year two.
Polamalu became a star. He is proof that game-changing talent does not always surface in year one. Joey Porter and Hines Ward are other examples from recent Steelers history. They were almost exclusively special-teams players in their rookie years before busting out as sophomores -- Ward with seven touchdown catches, Porter with 10.5 sacks.
Timmons, too, was a special-teamer as a rookie, after the Steelers took him 15th overall out of Florida State. He hardly saw the field on defense, partially because of a lingering groin injury and partially because he wasn't yet comfortable in the defense and was playing behind James Harrison, Clark Haggans and fellow rookie LaMarr Woodley on the outside.
All of which led some to wonder why in the world the Steelers had used their first-round pick on a linebacker who had started just one season at Florida State before declaring for the draft after his junior year.
They won't be wondering for long.
Timmons, now stationed on the inside, might not be ready to unseat Larry Foote, who can still pick his way through the trees to stuff inside runs.
He will, however, be hounding quarterbacks and receivers alike from the sub-packages.
Woodley also seems ready for a breakout second year, but we got a glimpse of his skills last season, when he had as many sacks (four) as Haggans in a fraction of the playing time.
The hit on Buckhalter wasn't Timmons' only eye-opening play Friday. Two snaps later, he tracked wide receiver Jason Avant to the back of the end zone on an incomplete pass.
"I had fun out there," said Timmons, who isn't going to remind anyone of Porter in the quote department. "Just trying to take it day by day."
Coach Mike Tomlin loves what he has seen, day by day, since minicamp, when a stronger Timmons took to his position switch. Tomlin affectionately calls him a "run-and-hit guy."
Timmons was the Steelers' eighth first-round pick under director of football operations Kevin Colbert. The first seven were Plaxico Burress, Casey Hampton, Kendall Simmons, Polamalu, Ben Roethlisberger, Heath Miller and Santonio Holmes.
All became solid players. All but Simmons are among the best in the league at their positions (Holmes is getting there, anyway).
Timmons has a chance to reach that level, too.
Beginning this year.
Joe Starkey is a sports writer for the Tribune-Review. He can be reached at jstarkey@tribweb.com.
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