Article

Steelers Spin: And So It Begins

By Michael K. Reynolds

Posted on September 9, 2023 at 10:30 am

Have we had enough of analyzing all the coulda-beens of last season and what-will-it-be’s of this upcoming year?

Are we ready for some football?

It’s way past time for the cleats to hit the grass and for the pigskins to spiral for realsies now.

As Ugluk, the leader of the orcs in the Lord Of The Rings was once famously quoted as saying, “Looks like meat’s back on the menu, boys!”

This is true for all our Steelers ladies as well.

It’s showtime, baby, and it’s been a long time since Steelers Nation has surfed into a new season with such high waves of expectation.

For the first time in what seems like forever, the Pittsburgh Steelers are shedding their pretender status and are seriously looking like legitimate contenders in the National Football League’s foray for ultimate glory.

What’s perhaps most exciting is the amount of youthful exuberance they have on the roster. If this team is the real deal, they could enjoy many consecutive years of being premium grade again as most of their players are far from peaking.

And so it begins…

Another chapter in one of the great sagas of NFL lore. This is your Pittsburgh Steelers.

It’s go time. So let’s give it a Spin.

Preseason Broadcasts

This certainly has been one of the most exciting (and encouraging) preseasons in recent Steelers history.

Pittsburgh not only looked dominant in their matches, they appeared nearly flawless at times. Big kudos are due to the front office for assembling this roster and for the entire coaching staff for making them ready for prime time already.

Not only did they look much more talented than the teams they faced, they seemed to be vastly better coached.

The same high grades can’t be given to the NFL broadcasts. When the Steelers played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers those of us reliant on the NFL app had to listen to Chris Myers and Rondé Barber provide the play-by-play and commentary.

As a Pittsburgh fan, I found the announcing to be abysmal and at times, complete amateur hour.

Forget about offering keen insights on Pittsburgh rookie and free agent players, Myers didn’t even know their names. He kept saying, “Tackled by number 26 or pass caught by number 18”.

At first, I thought this cruddy announcing was unique to the Buccaneers. That was until I listened to the following Steelers preseason home game against the Buffalo Bills where Bob Pompeani and Charlie Batch were the announcers.

They certainly did a better job than Myers and Barber in trying to include some intelligent comments about the Bills, but they had to have been equally frustrating to Buffalo fans, if we’re being honest, and we always are honest here in the Spin.

Sometimes the NFL seems so incredibly cheap and short sighted for such a mega-billion-dollar corporation.

They know there are kazillions of fans watching these pregame matches who want to hear about their new players. Why don’t they just have a guest color commentator from the opposing team to join in the booth?

Just imagine someone like a Charlie Batch opining as a guest with Myers and Barber? How much more interesting (and palatable) would it have been?

If Batch was in the broadcasting booth with the Atlanta Falcons announcers, he could have called them out when they kept erroneously (and quite annoyingly) claiming the Steelers were crushing their home team was because Pittsburgh was playing their “Ones” against the Falcons “Twos And Threes”.

Batch could have also asked for a full television pan of the Falcons Mercedes-Benz Stadium so that all of the Steelers fans could be seen in their visiting Black and Gold. It’s funny how teams don’t share video of their stadium audiences when Pittsburgh is in town.

Mr. Rodgers

Hard Knocks is the show you love…unless it’s your team they are covering. For one, that means that your team is garbage, but secondly because it airs all your garbage.

Not to mention, it has to be a major distraction having all of those cameras and microphones everywhere.

Still, it’s such an enjoyable and refreshing peek into the inner workings of a National Football League team camp.

How great has it been to be able to witness Aaron Rodgers’ first time in a New York Jets uniform? He’s definitely proven to be highly entertaining.

However, it does make me feel fortunate that the Steelers treated Ben Roethlisberger so well in his latter years so that his fans never had to see him wearing an enemy jersey.

Can you imagine him playing his last season in say…a Denver Broncos jersey? It does make you feel bad for longtime Green Bay Packers fans. It must be awful.

The Kenny Difference

Speaking of our Hall of Fame worthy former quarterback Big Ben, it’s not too early to start making observations between him and second year (alright…I’ll say it…sensation) Kenny Pickett.

More reasonable analysts would say we need to wait a few years before any comparisons can be made, but reason has never been a firm requirement for the Spin.

Here’s a few things we can already conclude.

Big Ben had more raw talent. A stronger arm, a bigger body, and probably a much higher ceiling at the beginning of his career.
Kenny Pickett is much more committed to improving himself and the team. There were a few exceptions during his career, but let’s just say in the word “Offseason” Roethlisberger mostly only saw the letters spelling “Off”. Pickett looks like he made a quantum leap in knowledge and confidence in the past six months and if what we saw in preseason isn’t a mirage, this could be an incredible year.

Not Green With Envy

One of the most popular statements this year since the NFL draft is that Darnell Washington is the next coming of past Steelers tight end Eric Green.

However, after watching Washington play this summer at some length, the analogies just don’t hold true.

Those of us who remembered seeing Green play recalled him to be a true oddity. He literally had the body of an offensive tackle and he would score touchdowns by running up to the end zone, turning around and making it virtually impossible for linebackers to circle around him before the pass arrived.

Washington is a large man of impressive stature as well, but he is much different in style and athleticism. He is not a lumbering hulk. When he runs his patterns, he looks more like a wide receiver than an offensive tackle.

The comparisons should stop. Washington is no Eric Green. He could (and should) end up being much, much better.

Bold Prediction

Unlike popular folklore, it is not true that Coach Mike Tomlin has had an excellent season every year. Much is spoken about the fact that he’s never had a losing season, but there were a few of those years when that bar of “just above mediocrity” represented underperformance.

He had some teams that should have done much better. That’s a fact.

That being said, this is Tomlin’s year. He has completely rebuilt this Roethlisberger-less team the past couple of years, and it has all his best traits written all over it.

This team is highly talented, and easy to like all throughout the roster. No drama, just winning attitudes and hopefully, the team is ready to be a champion (or at least awfully close).

If this holds true…give Tomlin the prize he’s long earned.