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Flying Circus

Steeler Nation Sound-Off: Proposition 7 – Increase Air Force Spending

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Your old pal Chris here. A couple weeks back, I ran a special Guest Blogger column by longtime reader Hennessy. His post generated the most comments in Total Steelers history clearly indicating yinz guys like him better than you like me. Since I’m still stunned and angry over the Baltimore game and, left to my own devices, I’d write five posts ranting about the various travesties that happened on Sunday, I figured it might be nice to bring in a relief pitcher to change things up a bit. Take it away, Hennessy…

The Pittsburgh Steelers have drafted five quarterbacks since 2000, all of them in the fifth round, except, of course, Ben Roethlisberger. The brightest star in that group was Ex-Tennessee Volunteer Tee Martin, mostly because he had a pretty cool name which sounded particularly good in Pittsburghese. As we learned (the hard way) last Sunday, not to mention with the parade of human traffic cones who man the offensive line every season, we’ve clearly had greater areas of need in recent drafts. But this season and the success of Young Money have me hoping there is a plan to develop a game-ready mentor to Ben in the coming years.

I never thought I would find myself in this position, but Bruce Arians has made me a fan of the pass-first offense. That’s not to say I don’t shudder every time I hear someone saying we are getting away from “Steeler Football” (because we are, and yinzers don’t take well to change with the Stillers). There might not be anything more fun to watch than the pounding football of old, but the way Ben snaps, scrambles and throws has been pretty entertaining. And whadda ya know, he’s winning a lot of damn football games doing it.
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Arians’ Flying Circus Almost Left Town

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After the Pittsburgh Steelers heartbreaking loss to the Green Bay Packers in last year’s Super Bowl, an eerie pall was cast over the City of Champions.  When you follow the most successful franchise in NFL history, losing is not something to which you’re accustomed.  Let alone losing on the grandest stage of them all.  It leads to depression which in turns leads to crazy thoughts.

“Maybe they weren’t that good after all.”  “Maybe we should let LaMarr Woodley, Ike Taylor and Hines Ward go so we can get Nnamdi Asomugha!”  “Maybe I’ll start watching the Pirates.  How bad can they be?”

Offensive coordinator [intlink id=”31″ type=”category”]Bruce Arians[/intlink] had a crazy thought of his own.  Retirement.
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PlaxWatch: Burress Breaks Bread With Tomlin

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The Pittsburgh Steelers wooing of free agent ex-con Plaxico Burress kicked in to high gear earlier today.  Evidently, he’s a really cheap date.  First, Burress joined Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert, and Art Rooney for breakfast at the Saint Vincent College cafeteria.  I bet they don’t even serve Mimosas.

A short time later, he joined Ben Roethlisberger, James Farrior and Hines Ward at the cool kids table for the team’s afternoon lunch.  No doubt Big Ben repeated his oft-stated desire to have a big target for the passing game while Limas Sweed rocked back and forth weeping softly in the corner.
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Big Ben Is Gonna Die

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Post-lockout madness has struck the Pittsburgh Steelers with the majority of the action centering around the team’s much-maligned offensive line.

The Steelers entered the day approximately $10 million over the salary cap.  To get within range, they released Antwaan Randle-El and Max Starks.   ARE is no surprise what with the emergence of rookies Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders.  Starks, however, has been the team’s starting left tackle and Franchise player over the past couple seasons.  He did suffer a herniated disc in his neck necessitating season-ending surgery last year so perhaps he has not sufficiently recovered.  Or maybe the Steelers feel they can re-sign him at a lower price with the injury discouraging other teams from showing interest.
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