Pittsburgh Steelers Season Preview: Offense

Fast Willie Parker has worked his way through injuries the last few seasons. He seems poised to have a good season this year, and should be aided by the fact that the Steelers have Rashard Mendenhall to compliment him in the backfield. Rather than expending Parker and giving him 30 touches per game, the Steelers can now split the carries 60-40, enabling Parker to better utilize his speed. As we saw in the playoffs last year, Parker is a beast when he is fresh, and he has the ability to tear teams apart when Arians doesn’t “run him till the wheels come off.” Parker’s ability to stay injury-free and remain fresh will be important to the Steelers rushing game this season.

Entering his second season, Rashard Mendenhall has a lot to prove. The Steelers invested a first-round pick in him, and he will be given an increased role in the offense. We love the potential that Mendenhall has, and he obviously has made great strides in holding on to the ball. Mendenhall will be successful this season when he hits the hole hard and doesn’t hesitate in the backfield. His success in the preseason came when he was decisive and ran hard, rather than searching for a crease.

Moore was able to come in last season and run well in the feature-back role when Parker and Mendenhall were injured. Hopefully, it won’t come to that this year and Moore will be able to play in his strongest role: 3rd down back. Moore is an excellent receiver and is very good in blitz-pickup. Despite being the worst screening team in the league, the Steelers will still throw a few, and we can only hope they are to Moore, as he has the best hands of the running-back unit. Moore was second on the team in rushing touchdowns last year and will see the field in most 3rd down situations (particularly since Arians insists on passing on 3rd and 2).

“The Tank” won the job of starting fullback from Carey Davis in the preseason. There has been some dismay about Isaac Redman not making the team. However, if the decision was between Summers and Davis, we fully support the choice of Summers as a fullback. Redman was a tailback, and lined up at fullback only a handful of times. Summers, on the other hand, had some very strong performances at the fullback position and showed some great blocking ability. He’s not Dan Kreider (yet), but the kid is only a rookie and has some great potential to be a La’Ron McClain-type back.

Steelers Rushing Records within reach:

• Parker can move to 5th in rushing touchdowns this season, passing Dick Hoak, John Henry Johnson, and Barry Foster, if he scores 3 times this season.
• If Parker scores 9 times he passes Terry Bradshaw for 4th. If Parker scores 12 times, he passes Kordell Stewart for 3rd.

Hines is the career leader in every major receiving category for the Steelers. He has eclipsed the marks of greats Swann and Stallworth, and have been a staple of the Steelers passing game for the better part of the last decade. He plays his position like no other, and has forced the NFL to make rule changes because of his toughness. Hines is the epitome of a Pittsburgh Steeler. He loves playing the game and is tough and gritty. He has the best hands on the team and is the key to the passing game. He defined the role of a “possession receiver” in the NFL, but he also has the skills to make plays on the ball down the field. With 220 yards this season, Hines will become the 32nd player in NFL history to surpass 10,000 receiving yards.

In addition to reeling in the game-winning catch in Super Bowl XLIII, Santonio was responsible for a plethora of big plays last season. If you made a list of the most important plays in the Steelers 2008 season, Santonio would have at least half of them. He scored a touchdown against Baltimore when our offense was stymied to get us back in the game (a game we eventually won in overtime). He had a big punt return against Dallas that set up the game-tying score. He pulled in a touchdown in Baltimore to clinch the division title. There was the punt return for a touchdown against San Diego in the playoffs to tie the game, and of course the opening score against Baltimore in the AFC Championship game. The Super Bowl? All he did was snag the majority of catches on the game-winning drive and garner Super Bowl MVP honors. The Steelers will become the first team in NFL history to have 2 Super Bowl MVPs start at wide receiver. Santonio will be the big-playmaker in the offense once again.

Last season, Sweed was a highly-touted draft pick that earned the groans of fans for dropping numerous easy passes. However, Sweed also made some good catches across the middle last season and showed flashes of potential. In the preseason, Sweed has caught everything thrown his way, including a series of leaping catches. He has the size out-jump defensive backs, and the speed to stretch the field. He has shown his toughness going over the middle this preseason, and is poised to step into the #3 receiver role.

The Steelers rarely make big free agent signings. However, the free agents they do sign are usually solid role-players that can contribute to the team. The most notable of these last year was Keyaron Fox, who solidified the Special Teams unit and is now the #3 inside linebacker. This past offseason, the Steelers brought in Shaun McDonald from Detroit. McDonald led the Lions two years ago in receiving with nearly 1000 yards and 6 TDs. McDonald is a possession receiver with great hands and very good route-running skills. He has been solidly consistent in the preseason and hasn’t dropped anything that was thrown his way. He will be a good addition to the receiving unit and has the ability to step into Hines Ward’s role of possession receiver should Hines get injured.

Mike Wallace was one of the most exciting stories of training camp. His hype started at the NFL Draft when Coach called Wallace “visibly fast.” We weren’t sure what to expect, but then training camp hit. Not only is Wallace fast, but he’s also not afraid to go over the middle and make tough catches in traffic. Wallace is going to be a downfield weapon, and he has experience returning kicks and punts. With Stefan Logan’s breakout camp, Wallace won’t be the #1 KR or PR on the team, but his speed is a weapon, and you’d better believe we’re going to use it.

Steelers Receiving Records within reach:

Hines already has them all.

Heath is quickly becoming the best tight end in Steelers history. There was a point during the middle of last season where the only way the Steelers could move the ball was to get it to Heath or Hines. Heath is solid, consistent, has great hands, and is a fantastic all-around tight end. He can block like a fullback and catch like a wide receiver. Heath is without a doubt a top-5 tight end in the league.

Spaeth was able to step in last year when Heath was hurt and provide a good replacement. Spaeth has great hands, but he’s built like a tree and has a bit of trouble catching balls down by his knees (hey, anyone who’s 6’7″ probably does). His size is a weapon, but sadly he was forgotten about in the offense after Heath came back. It would be great to see the Steelers utilize him more in the passing game, particularly since we’re going to be using a lot of 2-tight end sets.

Johnson was a 7th-round pick out of Arkansas State and will step into the “H-back” role that Sean McHugh played so well last year. With McHugh on the IR, Johnson will be utilized more as a blocker than a receiver. However, the Steelers did set teams up last year using the H-back set and then throw out of it. Johnson is a capable receiver, but it was his blocking that caught our eye in the preseason.

With the departure of Marvel Smith, Max Starks moves into the starting role at left tackle. Starks was the starting right tackle during the Super Bowl XL run and played left tackle most of last year during the run to XLIII. Starks is a better fit at left tackle because he is left-handed and will be able to work defenders with his strong hand, rather than his off-hand. He has grown into a very solid player and should be an anchor in the passing game. He’ll be challenged often this year, but he responded well to challenges from Demarcus Ware and others last year.

If you’re a fan of neck-beards, well…Kemoeatu has the best in the league. Hands down. Kemoeatu stepped into the guard spot vacated by Alan Faneca and the Steelers shelled out a big contract this off-season to keep him here. He played decent last season and he’s been blowing people up in the preseason. Now he has to prove he was worth the bucks.

Remember how bad things were when Sean Mahan was our center? Hartwig is strong in all the ways Mahan was not. He can handle the big D-tackles in the AFC, he is strong in both run-blocking and pass-protecting. He is also growing as a leader of the offensive line. He would host gatherings last season at his house for linemen to come review extra game tape and develop chemistry. Hartwig is the type of leader you need at center, and he is entering the last year of his contract.

After spending a few seasons as a back-up tackle, Essex has worked on his game and developed his skills as a guard. With Darnell Stapelton going on IR, Essex steps into the starting right guard position. It’s a great story of perseverence and tenacity, and we are pulling for Trai to succeed this year.

Colon has received a lot of heat on this blog. In particular, we coined the phrase “Colonoscopy” for any time he takes a penalty (of which he had at least 1 a game last year-particularly false starts). This preseason, Colon looks much, much better than he did last season, and he has been absolutely destroying defenders. We’re looking forward to a better season out of Colon, and the hopeful retirement of the “Colonoscopy” joke.

Legursky beat out A.Q. Shipley for the back-up center spot. He is versatile and can play guard as well. He will likely be the top backup along the O-line and he looked good this preseason with both the first team and second team.

Hills was drafted last year out of Texas. He has continually improved his form and the most important thing for him this year is to recover after bad plays. The knock on Hills was that he would get down after a bad play, which would lead to a bad series. He showed in the preseason the ability to bounce back and have a great play after a down play, and we’re looking for him to continue his growth as an NFL player this season.

The Steelers spent a 3rd round pick on the monster out of Wisconsin. We have big hopes for Urbik in the future, but it’s likely he won’t see the field this year unless it’s a blowout or someone gets injured. He has a huge upside and can play either guard or tackle, and we look for big things from him in years to come.

Foster was an undrafted free agent out of Tennessee and made the team because of his versatility. He can play guard or tackle and looked very good at both positions.

Reed is one of the best clutch kickers in the NFL. He is almost automatic inside of 40 yards and has been the most consistent kicker (83%) in Steelers history. That’s a pretty amazing stat considering the fact that Reed kicks in the most difficult stadium for kickers in the league.

Logan was the darling of training camp, electrifying people with his abilities as a kick returner. The former CFL-star capped off his performance with an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown against Carolina. Logan will be the starting kick and punt returner and is the first real threat we’ve had at the position since Antwaan Randle El.