Skip to content

LaMarr Woodley

James Harrison is baaaaaaacckkk

  • by

james-harrison-conf-cincy

The Pittsburgh Steelers are hot right now. Their offense is on absolute fire but the oft-criticized defense has also come around in recent weeks. They’re not shutting people out like in days gone by although I’m not sure in today’s NFL such a thing is even possible. With all the current rules where basically scowling at a receiver results in a flag, I’m not sure it’s even possible to have a shut down unit anymore.

Good teams still play good D, it’s just a different kind of defense. They don’t give up the big plays, make the other guys work for the scores they do get, and above all generate splash plays by sacking the QB and forcing turnovers. Those are all areas the Steelers struggled mightily in for going on a two season now. They’re also areas the team has steadily improved in over the past few weeks. Perhaps not coincidentally, that improvement has coincided with the resurgence of one player in particular.

James Harrison.Read More »James Harrison is baaaaaaacckkk

Ex-Steelers Someone Else’s Problem Now

  • by

NFL: FEB 06 Super Bowl XLV - Steelers v Packers

If at first you don’t succeed…

Pittsburgh West once again lived up to their nickname by signing running back Jonathan Dwyer on Wednesday. Dwyer won’t start for the Arizona Cardinals – Andre Ellington took hold of the job last season after the signing of uber-bust Rashard Mendenhall predictably blew up in Bruce Arians‘ face. Mendenhall recently announced his retirement at 26 years of age which shocked those in the media not familiar with what a colossal nutcase that soft baby really is. Hopefully, Mendy can find some joy traveling the world like Caine in Kung-Fu or whatever the hell he plans to do with all that money he stole from the Rooneys.

Dwyer was the first ex member of the Pittsburgh Steelers to sign elsewhere but he would not be the last. Over the past 24 hours, two more longtime Steelers found employment with new teams. Recently cut LaMarr Woodley didn’t remain on the market long, signing  a two year deal with the Oakland Raiders. He won’t win many games out there although he’s almost guaranteed of beating the Steelers should the they play in the near future. Defensive end Ziggy Hood also found work with one of the league’s bottom-feeders, joining the Jacksonville Jaguars.Read More »Ex-Steelers Someone Else’s Problem Now

Ike Takes Huge Pay Cut, Woodley Just Plain Cut

  • by

lolcat623e67dde8ebbb0808e8b7123b414f3f00e96957

And here we thought the heavy lifting was over…

When the 2014 NFL season officially begins this afternoon, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be well under the league mandated $133 million salary cap. In fact, they may even have enough money to go out and sign a couple free agents when free agency kicks off later today. The moves they made to get to this point, however, are quite noteworthy. One in a good way and one in the bad.

First, to the surprise of virtually nobody, All-Pro linebacker LaMarr Woodley was given his walking papers. When Jason Worilds signed his transition tag before the ink was dry, I theorized that he and the Steelers may have the basic framework of a long-term deal in place and were just waiting until the team got it’s salary cap ducks in a row. Regardless, despite Kevin Colbert‘s nonsensical smoke-blowing about keeping both linebackers, there was no way the Black and Gold were going to pay two OLB big money with first round pick Jarvis Jones also needing playing time. Woodley was odd-man out from the word go.Read More »Ike Takes Huge Pay Cut, Woodley Just Plain Cut

Steelers Play Tag With Worilds

  • by

Jason-Worlids

Finally, some action…

The Pittsburgh Steelers made their first big move of the off-season, placing the transition tag on free agent linebacker Jason Worilds. I’m sure many of you are asking, “What the hell is a transition tag?” Well, it’s basically the Franchise tag’s wacky distant cousin. Where the Franchise tag comes in two flavors – exclusive and non-exclusive – and all but guarantees the player stays with his original team, the transition tag is more of a high stakes game of chicken.

Franchise tags either prevent the player from negotiating with other teams (exclusive) or come with two first round picks compensation if he signs elsewhere (non-exclusive). The transition tag comes with no such protection. Worilds is free to negotiate with other teams with the only catch being the Steelers have the right to match any offer. The transition tag will save them a couple million against the cap – transition players are paid the average of the top ten players at their position vs top five for Franchise players. In Worild’s case, he’ll get $9 million as a transitioned linebacker vs $11 million he’d get as a Franchise.Read More »Steelers Play Tag With Worilds

Woodley Out For Season

  • by

Lamarr Woodley South Park

The Pittsburgh Steelers placed linebacker LaMarr Woodley on injured reserve yesterday, thus ending his 2013 season. I know what you’re thinking, “Woodley played this season?” I can barely remember myself.

In my recap of Sunday night’s game, I mentioned Woodley falling farther faster than nearly any player I can remember. He was an absolute beast his first three seasons, amassing 35 sacks playing opposite James Harrison. Since signing a six year $61 million extension in 2011, however, he’s been a shadow of his former self. Surely a lot of it has to do with the decline and eventual departure of Deebo, who was one of the best linebackers of the current era. But a lot also has to do with the whispers of Woodley being a lazy unmotivated fatass whose near constant stream of injuries are directly related to his poor work ethic.Read More »Woodley Out For Season

Woodley Set To Return…But Should He?

  • by

yahoo_JasonWorilds

The Pittsburgh Steelers have managed to claw their way back into the AFC playoff discussion. As I mentioned in yesterday’s game recap, a large part of their resurgence is due to recent line-up changes. A few of those changes were coach Mike Tomlin demoting guys due to poor performance but most of them came about because of  injuries. In nearly every instance where a starter has gone down, his replacement has come in and been an improvement.

Baseball has what is called a Lou Gehrig situation. Basically, Gehrig was a bench warmer until one fateful day when the starter was ill and couldn’t play. Gehrig took his place and performed so well he’d play every game thereafter for the next fourteen years. It’s a tremendous achievement but also a cautionary tale about how quickly and unexpectedly a player can find themselves replaced.Read More »Woodley Set To Return…But Should He?