Honestly, was anyone really so shocked at the Steeler cuts? I know I wasn't. Okobi will probably be an Arizona Cardinal in time for their game against the Steelers.
That being said, I need to come up with a name to fully capture the predictable oncoming phenomenon of Whisenhunt and Grimm, Inc., signing a bevy of ex-Steelers.
The Steelers' RB depth chart is amazing. Willie Parker - undrafted free agent; Dump Davenport - waiver-wire pickup; Dan Kreider - undrafted free agent; Carey Davis - undrafted free agent; Gary Russell - undrafted free agent. I'm starting to think the Steelers don't value the RB position in the draft too much.
The Trib pointed out that the Steelers are the
only AFC North team to win a playoff game since the division was formed in 2002. No, not even the World Champion (or so they would have you think) Bengals or the big, bad, overrated Ravens have won a playoff game. And certainly not the Browns. They're about a year away from getting bumped down to the MAC.
It looks like a few local guys ended up making practice squads after falling victim to The Turk this weekend. Tyler Palko, the odd man out in N'awlins, signed to the Saints' practice squad on Sunday. And the Bears brought back former Nittany Lion OL Tyler Reed. As far as I can tell, though, things haven't panned out as nicely for Brandon Miree (late of the Packers), Lousaka Polite (Cowboys), Luke Getsy (49ers), Rob Pettiti (Saints), and Josh Lay (Saints).
John Kuhn sure got scooped up quickly by the Packers. He was replacing another former Steeler who's injured, Noah Herron.
My favorite part of Michigan-Appalachian State: watching Lou Holtz on ESPN making it sound like it wasn't an upset, and Mark May's head subsequently exploding.
Georgia Tech beat Notre Dame 33-3 on Saturday. Good thing Charlie Weis didn't announce his starting quarterback until gametime, saving him from the media scrutiny. It could have been 33-0. That guy is a genius! Extend him another 10 years!
Mark Madden had an excellent commentary on why he hates college football last week. The basic premise was that the good teams just don't play each other enough. I know, "Look at Michigan!" But that was a once-in-a-lifetime win. That's why such a big deal is being made. Look at some of the other scores from this week: Penn State 59, FIU 0...Hawaii 63, N. Colorado 6...Rutgers 38, Buffalo 3...Louisville 73, Murray State 10...LSU 45, MSU 0...Boise St 56, Weber St 7...OSU 38, Youngstown St 3...Florida 49, W Kentucky 3...WVU 62, W Michigan 24...Oklahoma 79, N Texas 10...Alabama 52, W Carolina 6...Indiana 55, Indiana St 7...I mean, is this really entertaining? And to think that this counts in the regular season! That would be like the Steelers playing a couple games each year against Arena League teams.
After season-ending injuries to WR Derek Kinder and OL Chris Jacobson, you would think Dave Wannstedt was cursed. And that was before his starting QB, Bill Stull, apparently went out for the season due to an injury suffered on Saturday night.
My sentimental choice for tough-luck footballer of the weekend was my cousin, Joe Rockovich, a starting WR/DB for the Franklin Regional Panthers who was pressed into QB duty in the second half of Friday night's game against Plum. He fumbled diving towards the end zone with 1:30 to go and the Panthers ended up losing by a final of 6-3. Keep your head up.
Speaking of WPIAL football, there's talk in the Mondesi Fantasy Football message boards about starting a fantasy WPIAL league. Yes, I can now say that I've officially heard everything.
Nice work by
Panthers in the Pros with the info that Carl Krauser and Levon Kendall
played each other in the recent FIBA tournament that the US has been dominating. May I ask how Krauser qualified to play for the Virgin Islands? I thought he was from the Bronx? Shouldn't he be playing for Fat Joe's team in some Rucker Park league by now?
Obligatory Pirates mention: they got swept by the Brewhas this weekend, and Steve Pearce got a hit on Saturday.
Profootballtalk.com has been all over the news that the Patriots may cut or trade Randy Moss. That's an intriguing story on a number of levels. I love how the media treats guys like Moss and Terrell Owens; they constantly refer to them as "cancers", yet the minute a team like the Patriots acquired Moss, they became the unquestioned favorites to win the AFC,
because they just got Randy Moss! I heard John Clayton talk about how the Pats face three playoff teams in their first six games, when they'll be without Richard Seymour for all six and without HGH Harrison for four. Ironically, Clayton also added that "he had the Patriots as his Super Bowl pick". Which goes to show you that even the smartest of analysts can fall victim to media hype.
To close, PFT also had a great photoshop of Big Ben on their site today. Ben and Brady...a tale of two QBs:
