A Bombshell from the Steelers

The Steelers held their formal press conference yesterday to make official the signing of Russell Wilson as a free agent and to make official the Russell Wilson Era, as described in this piece four days ago.  That wasn't the bombshell, however.  That exploded a few hours later with this news:

No one new that the beginning of the Wilson Era would mean the end of the Kenny Pickett Era.  It has been hinted in the media that Pickett's reaction to the Wilson signing was not at all positive.  Not unexpected, of course, but it apparently went even beyond competitive issues, and it makes one believe that keeping Pickett would not have been a good thing for the chemistry in the locker room.  So, the team made this move and sent the Number One draft choice of just two years ago to the Eagles for a couple of draft picks.  

Coupled wth the release earlier in the off season of Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph's signing as a free agent with the Titans this week, the Steelers now have one QB on the roster.  It seems critical now that the team draft a QB in this year's draft, someone who could be groomed as the 36 year old Wilson's heir apparant and probably sign a mid-level experienced QB (Ryan Tannehill?) to back up Wilson.  They will also no doubt bring in a Duck Hodges-type as an extra arm for training camp.   Speculation also hangs over the whole thing that the Bears may still be shopping Justin Fields, and might he be the Steelers long range answer for the QB spot?

In other Steelers news, former Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen was signed as free agent, and he too was introduced at that Steelers presser yesterday.   The Steelers have yet to adequately fill the spot left open due to Ryan Shazier's injury of a few years back, and this signing can only be a positive for the team.

The team also made a trade with Miami, and received defensive back DeShon Elliott in exchange for WR Dionte Johnson.  One report stated that the team wanted to shed themselves of Johnson so that his diva tendencies would not rub off on George Pickens.  Sort of Branch Rickey's old "addition by subtraction" adage.

I have written extensively of Pickett over the years, dating back to  his Pitt years.  How great a story it would have been had it worked out the way that everyone hoped.  I wish him well in Philly where he will be behind Jalen Hurts on the Eagles depth chart, and Hurts, we know, is no Mitch Trubisky, so we can't expect to see Pickett play a lot in Philly.

Oh, and here is a picture from today holding my birthday present from two years ago.  It was gift that Linda was excited to give me, and I was a most enthusiastic recipient.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust....

Say Hello to the Russell Wilson Era

The shocking news broke yesterday - it will become official tomorrow - that the Steelers will be signing free agent Russell Wilson to "compete" for the quarterback job with incumbent Kenny Pickett is 2024.

I say "shocking" because if you are a long time fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers you know that a move like this has definitely NOT been the Steelers Way in the past.  Wilson's credentials are well known: a multiple All-Pro in Seattle, where he twice took the Seahawks to the Super Bowl, winning it once.  His last two years in Denver have been rocky, some of the blame for which can be placed on Denver's coaches, but despite being benched last year, he produced 26 TD passes and only 8 interceptions, and his stats in the Red Zone have been great (you can look them up).  I can also remember a game at Heinz Field a few years ago where the Seahawks beat the Steelers solely on the skills of Russell Wilson.  Because of contractual complexities, almost all of Wilson's salary will be paid by the Broncos, so the financial risk to the Steelers is minimal, so maybe this isn't so shocking after all.

What I was not aware of is that Wilson has the reputation of being a diva and not a "good guy to have in the locker room."  Mike Tomlin, it should be noted, got more out of guys like Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell than any other NFL coach ever did, so I'm thinking that Russell Wilson won't be too much for him to handle.

The Steelers and Tomlin have stressed that there will be a "competition" for the #1 QB job with Pickett being the incumbent, but you have to believe that Wilson will be the first among equals when they all report to St. Vincent's in July.

As for Pickett, I wrote THIS PIECE about him back in November, wherein I stated that I felt that there was rush to judgement among fans, columnists, talk radio gas bags, and ESPN talking heads that said Pickett was done, that he would never be a great, or even a very good, NFL quarterback, and that I thought it was way too soon to assign him to the "scrapheap of mediocrity."   Apparently, the Steelers brain trust have also had some doubts, hence the move to sign Wilson.  As someone who followed Pickett in his years at Pitt, I really want him to make it and make it with the Steelers.   2024, though, is shaping up to be a make it or break it year for Pickett as a Steeler.

Russell is 35 years old, so who knows how much he has left in the tank.   The Steelers obviously feel that he is worth the risk.  Can he help produce  10-12 wins and a run in the Playoffs next year?  We can sure hope.  

By the way, Wilson announced his intentions on his social media platforms by showing Steelers highlights with "Renegade" playing over top of them.  If nothing else, he is savvy to his new audience.

One wag on Facebook posted that if it doesn't work with the Steelers, Wilson, once a highly touted baseball prospect, could take his talents to the Pirates, where he probably wouldn't be any worse than the 5th or 6th best player on the team.   I'd laugh if that wasn't so close to being true.

Finally, some shots of two Wisconsin Badgers who will now be teammates.

Thoughts on Kenny Pickett

Kenny Pickett's career with the Steelers, which is so far halfway through his second season with the team and in the League, has been, at best a mixed bag.  His ability to mount fourth quarter comebacks - he's had six of them in his one and one-half seasons, has been remarkable.  The corollary to that, of course, is that his less than stellar performances in the first three quarters of games have put the Steelers in the position to need comebacks in the fourth quarter.  His passing statistics are, to put a kind face on it, unimpressive.  We are still waiting for that 3 TD/0 INT/300 yards performance in a blow out Steelers win from him.  National commentators have said that "he's not that good", and local sportswriters have been harsh in their criticisms, and talk radio hot take artists want to run him out of town.  Some are even suggesting that the Steelers play Mason Rudolph in his stead.

Criticism of him is fair, but then there are opinions such as this one from a Facebook post from a friend of mine, a fellow whose sports opinions I respect, that he posted in a thread after Thursday's win over the Titans:

As far as Pickett I think he is a middle-of-the-road starter and his replacement is in the draft in the next 2 years. He will make them bowl-eligible the next 2 seasons but not really much more than that. Doubt the playoffs are in his future. 

Here was my response to the gent:

So, you've already assigned Pickett to the scrapheap of mediocrity halfway into his second season? Just wondering if you were saying the same things about Terry Bradshaw midway through the 1971 season, because at that point, he was a hell of a lot worse than Pickett has been thus far.

I don't think that I need to add anything further.  I will also say that I am not suggesting that Pickett will go on to duplicate the career of Terry Bradshaw, but I am suggesting that some people need to tap the brakes a bit before they run Pickett out of town on a rail.

I can remember a time when quarterbacks took two to three years to develop.  Stand next to the coach during games, hold a clipboard, do your work in practice, and wait until you are fully seasoned to get your chance to play.   That philosophy doesn't apply anymore, largely due to economics, salary cap, and the value of contracts to highly drafted rookie QBs.  That doesn't make it any less true that a kid doesn't walk into the NFL and light it up as a QB in his rookie year.  Ben Roethlisberger did, CJ Stroud  appears to be doing it this season, but those guys are exceptions.    Aaron Rodgers sat on the bench behind Brett Favre for three or four seasons, and those of us in Pittsburgh who have been around long enough can remember the struggles of Bradshaw in his first several seasons.  Even in his fifth season, 1974, when the Steelers would win their first Super Bowl, Bradshaw was benched at the beginning of that season in favor of Joe Gilliam.

I admit that the fact that I watched Pickett play at Pitt for his college career and that I really WANT him to succeed as a Steeler is probably coloring my view here, but it is way, way, WAY too soon to, as I said above, "assign him to the scrapheap of mediocrity."  He at least deserves the rest of this season and probably all of next season before we can draw a definitive conclusion on him.  He may indeed become the next Terry or Big Ben, but we know from experience that guys like that come along once every forty years or so.  Or, he might become the next Neil O'Donnell, who, I remind you, took the Steelers to a Super Bowl once.  

Too soon to call him a failure is all that I am saying.

Steelers at 5-3 (Not Sure How), and Other Football Thoughts

The Steelers defeated the Tennessee Titans last night 20-16 and bumped their record to 5-3, good for second place in the AFC North pending the games to be played this weekend.  The victory followed the team's tried and true 2023 formula:  a tenacious defense led by outside linebackers TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith, a key turnover at the end the game that sealed the deal, and yet another  fourth quarter  comeback led by QB Kenny Pickett.  This one was a 92 yard drive that culminated in a touchdown pass to Dionte Johnson.  It was Johnson's first touchdown since week 17 of the 2021 season.

The Steelers also did something a little different in this game from what we have become accustomed to - they scored a TD in the first quarter.  This was a  ten yard run by Najee Harris at the end of a length of the field drive to open the game.  Harris and Jaylen Warren also combined for 166 rushing yards, easily the best Steelers rushing performance of the season.  Both of them outgained Derrick Henry, as a matter of fact.

Despite all of that, the Steelers offense still leaves much to be desired.  Fourth quarter comebacks are fun and exciting, but how sustainable a formula is that?  Would it be too much to ask for something like a 38-14 win at some point?

A small bone to pick with the Amazon Prime telecast last night.  It became apparent from the pregame chatter with the Amazon Talking Heads and with the Al Michaels/Kirk Herbstreit announcing duo, that the main storyline of the game would be Titans rookie QB Will Levis, who had made his debut the week before and threw four TD passes.  Perhaps it's just Steelers Fan paranoia in me, but everything was framed around what Levis did.  Even when getting sacked by Watt or Highsmith, it was, "let's see how Levis can come back from this" kind of stuff.  Oh, well, that's showbiz, I suppose.

As for Levis, he appears to be pretty good.  He certainly outplayed Pickett for most of the game.  Until the fourth quarter that is, but had Kwon Alexander not intercepted that last pass, the ball appeared to be headed right into the hands of a Titans receiver for what would have been the game winning touchdown for Tennessee.  As I say, he appears to be pretty good, but he's played two games so far, so slow down on ordering that Gold jacket for him.

For the "OVER" betters....

The over/under on Steelers wins for the season was set at 8.5.  So, at the halfway point of the season, how is it looking for us OVER betters?  The Steelers have five wins with nine games remaining.  Can they go at least 4-5 to enable us to cash our tickets?

The five out of division games are home games with the Packers, Cardinals, and Patriots, and road games with the Colts and Seahawks.  Looking at things on this November 3, the Steelers should be favored or, at the least, short odds underdogs in at least four of those five games.

They have four AFC North games @Browns, @Ravens, and home and away with the Bengals.

They will not win all five out of division games, but I also don't think that they will lose all four AFCN games, as many predict.  I think that they could split the North games, and win three of the five other games, so a ten win season is not out of the question.  However, we have watched this team all season, so don't bet the house on any of these predicted scenarios, but I am liking my OVER 8.5 wager at this point.

My wager on Kenny Pickett to throw OVER 17.5 TD passes?  That appears to be money down the drain at this point.

For the weekend....

There are three really attractive match-ups for this coming Sunday in the NFL.

• Chiefs -1.5 over Dolphins in Germany
• Eagles -3 over Cowboys in Philly
• Bengals -1.5 over Bills in Cincy on Sunday night

Myself, I think that I would go with the favorite in each of those games.

Football and Futbol

THE STEELERS

The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Buffalo Bills 27-15 last night, and now stand at 2-0 in the NFL Practice Games season.  We all know that that and $7.95 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbuck's, but, still, winning is better that losing, and the Steelers have shown us several things about which their fans can get excited.

Foremost has been the performance of second year quarterback Kenny Pickett.

Pickett has only played three offensive series in these two games. Each of those series has resulted touchdowns for the Steelers.  He has completed nine of eleven passes for two touchdowns, and the one he threw last night, a 25 yard bullet that threaded a needle to Pat Freiermuth on the goal line was a thing of beauty.

Muuuuuuuuth!!

These are only practice games, to be sure, but last night's win over Buffalo gave us a lot to dwell on.  Among them....

• Jaylon Warren's 63 yard run from scrimmage for a TD.  Talk about great execution!
• The Steelers first unit defense stuffing Josh Allen and the Bills first unit offense in the first quarter.
• Performances by WR's George Pickens and Calvin Austin.
• The play of rookie OLB Nate Herbig.  That kid looks like he's going to be one terrific player.

Joey Jr.'s first INT

• Rookie Joey Porter Jr making his first interception and then giving the football to his Dad in the stands.  It can be seen HERE, but what isn't seen in this video is the fact that Joey Sr had a Terrible Towel stuffed in his back pocket.  Somewhere, Myron Cope was smiling.

One more practice game next thursday night in Atlanta followed by a 17 day layoff until the 49'ers come to Acrisure Stadium to open the season.  Things change when you start playing games that count, but it is hard not to be excited by what we have seen so far from the '23 Steelers.

THE WOMEN'S WORLD CUP

The Women's World Cup ended today with a 1-0 victory by Spain over England.  I claim no expertise in futbol, but I believe that I am safe in saying that the better team on the pitch today was Spain.  They dominated the game, had a tenacious defense that swarmed all over the English players when they got near the Spanish goal, and are worthy Champs.  

The most exciting play of the game, however, came when English goalkeeper Mary Earps (later named the outstanding Keeper of the entire tournament) stopped a penalty kick for Spain midway through the second half.   Earps punctuated her save with a heartfelt scream that had those of us who read her lips blushing.  Had the kick been successful, it would have effectively sealed the win for Spain.  As it was, the game remained in doubt and Spain was forced to hold off England's furious efforts to score for the remainder of the came and through over thirteen minutes of stoppage time.

If ever a 1-0 ninety-plus minute soccer game can be described as "exciting", this game certainly was.  Perhaps I am coming to understand the Beautiful Game, after all.

Much of the excitement of the World Cup for American viewers, of course,  disappeared when the defending champs and tournament favorite USA was eliminated after their first game in the knockout round.  The team managed to score all of four goals in five games, three of them coming in one game against a clearly non-competitve Viet Nam.  A tremendously disappointing performance for the squad.  I admit that I pretty much lost interest in the rest of the tourney until the Final Four games matches were played.

Earlier in the week, USWNT Manager Vlatko Andonovski announced that he was resigning his position with the team.  Resigning, yeah right.

Lionel Messi

Since his debut last month, Lionel Messi has been running roughshod through Major League Soccer.  Prior to his arrival, Miami had the worst record in all of MLS.  Since then, they have not lost a game, and Messi has been scoring goals, seemingly, at will.

This performance is surely a testimony to Messi's greatness.  No one doubts that, but does it also tell us that the MLS is a distinctly inferior brand of futbol as it is played throughout the rest of the world?  

What A Football Weekend!

Well, you couldn't have closed out 2022 and begin 2023 in any better fashion, football-wise, that what we were treated to this past weekend.

Let's start with the College Football Playoff Semi-finals.

I can recall that in past years, like last year, these semi-final games have tended to be one sided and just not all that good.  Not so this year.

First game, TCU 51 - Michigan 45.  Explosive offenses.  Tremendous quarterback play, and a game that went to the final minutes.  Plus, Jim Harbaugh gets beat.  At the end of the game, my thought was, "Top that game, Georgia and Ohio State."

Well, they did.  Georgia 42 - Ohio State 41.  Explosive offenses.  Tremendous quarterback play, and a game that went down to the final three seconds before it was decided.

Currently, Georgia is a 13.5 point favorite in the CFP Championship game.  The Over/Under is set at 62.5 (bet the OVER).  Regardless of the point spread, if you have no dog in the fight, how could you not be rooting for TCU against the SEC behemoth Georgia?   Should be a whale of a game, and I can't wait to see it.

Then came Week 17 of the NFL.  I confess to missing all of the afternoon games yesterday for various and sundry reasons.  I know that it featured an amazing Tom Brady Performance, an amazing Aaron Rodgers Performance, a crushing victory for Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars, and an OT win by the 49ers.  Would have loved to have seen them all, but I didn't, but I did see yet another classic in the epic drama that is Mike Tomlin's Steelers vs. John Harbaugh's Ravens.  This one won by the Steelers 16-13.

It was won with :54 remaining when Kenny Pickett passed...

...to Najee Harris in the end zone....

...for the game winner.  It was a tremendous throw as Pickett had to scramble to his left to avoid being sacked, and an even more tremendous catch by Harris.  It also marked the second week in a row where Pickett led the team on length-of-the-field drives in the closing minutes of the game to win it for the Steelers.

The Steelers playoff hopes, amazingly (remember that they were 2-6 at one point), are still alive.  They need to beat the Browns at home next week, but are dependent on two other games going their way, so it's a long shot at this point.  This season, it should be remembered, was not going to be about W's and L's or deep playoff runs.  It was to be about the replacement of an 18 year vet Hall of Fame quarterback and the development of first round pick Kenny Pickett into the QB of the Future.  That story has yet to be written, of course, but it seems to be trending, as Neal Huntington used to put it, upward.

One last comment on last night's game.  However, you may feel about Chris Collinsworth as an announcer  - I happen to like him, but I know that many consider him a football version of Tim McCarver - he does know football, and a couple of comments he made last night were noteworthy to me.  One, he made a number of favorable comments about LB Robert Spillane, two, he said that Pickett's TD pass to Harris was worthy of anything Patrick Mahomes does, and three, he compared Pat Freiermuth to Travis Kelce.  That is some pretty serious company.

Already looking forward to next week.

Steelers 24 - Colts 17 and the Updated Grandstander Power Rankings

 

Benny Snell Scores the go-ahead (and winning) TD

That the Steelers bumped their record to 4-7 by beating the crummy Indy Colts last night came as no surprise, but raise your hand if you had two of the stars of the game for Rooney U being Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland.  Didn't think so.

The biggest take-away for Steelers fans on this one, as it has been and will be for the remainder of the season, was the learning and development of Kenny Pickett as the team's quarterback of the future.  Pickett's stats were not flashy, and there were a couple of possessions where the Steelers settled for field goals instead of touchdowns, but the Pickett led offense did build up a 16-3 lead at halftime, a lead that was squandered thanks in large part to the special teams horrid coverage on kickoff and punt returns.  Then, Pickett achieved a significant career milestone:  he engineered his first fourth quarter comeback of his pro career, a 75 yard, 11 play drive, which included three third down conversions and culminated in a Snell TD and a gorgeous Pickett-to-George Pickens two point conversion.  More significantly, this was the third game in a row in which Pickett did not throw an interception.

The growth continues.

Oh, and a tip of the cap to Colts Head Coach Jeff Saturday for some bewildering clock (mis)management  in the final minutes of the game.  With possession and a chance to tie the game and all three time outs remaining, the Colts took none of them until it was way too late to do them any good.  Time expired and Saturday ended up with two time outs still in his pocket.  I can only imagine how he will be roasted on Indy sports talk radio all week.

Time now for what you have all been waiting....

Circumstances prevented me from watching any football on Sunday afternoon (yes, we DO have a social life!), but I did watch the Sunday night game and the Eagles 40-33 dismantling (score not indicative of Philly's dominance) of the Packers.  That is one damn good football team and Jalen Hurts has to be the lead candidate for MVP right now.

Through Week 12:

1. Eagles (10-1)
2. Chiefs (9-2)
3. Cowboys (8-3)
4. Vikings (9-2)

Knocking on the door: 49ers 7-4, Bills 8-3, Commanders 7-5, Dolphins 8-3, Ravens 7-4, and Titans 7-4.

Random Thoughts.....and an Absent Friend, Jerry Lee Lewis

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box.....

Quick hit football thoughts:

• Another rough day at the office yesterday for Steelers rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett.  His stat line through five games: 67.9% complete rate, 2 TD's, 5 INT's.  How much of this is Pickett's fault, how much is the O-line's fault, how much is it the game plan's (ahem, we're looking at you, Matt Canada) fault?
• (Speaking of rookie QB's stat lines, how 'bout this one: 14 games, 38.1% completion rate, 6 TD, 24 INT.  Steelers fans will instantly recognize the 1970 season of Terry Bradshaw.  That turned out alright.)
• Steelers entering their bye week, so they have two weeks to try and figure something, anything, out.
• Myron Cope always took the position on his talk show that he "never fires coaches", and he knew more about that kind of stuff than I do, so I won't either, but, man, it sure seems apparent that something  just ain't right with the Steelers offensive way of doing things. (We're looking at you, Matt Canada)  By just about any metric that you care to use, this year's Steelers are the worst offensive team in the NFL.  It becomes more apparent when you watch other NFL games and see those teams throwing downfield to fast and talented receivers.  You know, like how Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown undressed the Steelers yesterday.  I watched Kenny Pickett for five years at Pitt, and I KNOW that he can throw the ball downfield.  Why won't the Steelers let him do that to guys like Chase Claypool, Dionte Johnson, and rookie George Pickens, who may be better that both of the first two guys?
• Speaking of things the Steelers don't do that other teams do, how about running backs who can rip off gains of 7, 8, 10, or more yards several times a game?  Watching Green Bay play Buffalo last night and seeing their RB's in action made me want to cry.
• No one was more enthusiastic about the drafting of Najee Harris last year, but be honest now, who has been better (and this is damning with faint praise, I realize) at the position thus far, Harris or Jaylen Warren?  It can't ALL be the fault of the linemen, can it?

As to non-Steelers thoughts....

• How much fun is it watching the Buffalo Bills?   Josh Allen surely is the leading contender for MVP after eight weeks of the season, unless....
• ....the leading contender is Jalen Hurts of the Eagles.  The Eagles are undefeated, and Hurts and Company sure laid an ass-kicking on the Steelers yesterday, which, to use the phrase a second time, may be damning with faint praise.
• And how about the performances of Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers so far?  Plenty of season left to be proven wrong, of course, but it seems that these two have all of a sudden "gotten old" and are approaching the end.

All of these thoughts lead to the return of.....

I know you've all been waiting for them, so here we go, through Week Eight.

1. Eagles 
2. Bills
3. Chiefs
4. Cowboys

In my heart, I think the Bills are better, but that may be only because I've seen them more that Philly, but an undefeated team can't be anything less than #1.

Now, on to Baseball.

The third game of the World Series will be played tonight, and if you are surprised that The Grandstander has not written one word about the MLB Post-Season, well, I can tell you that I too am astonished by this fact.  In actuality, I watched some, but very little of the first three rounds of the Playoffs.  (As an aside, I will say that I do like the Three, Five, Seven, and Seven format that MLB has instituted for the first time this season.)   I can attribute this to a couple of factors.  One, the fact that Baseball has begun a descent into the lower tiers of importance in American professional sports; there are reasons for that too numerous to go into right now.  Two,  the level of excellence that both college football and the NFL has been providing this season has overshadowed MLB.  Three, too much other stuff going on in my own life right now.  Four, the Pirates have succeeded in lessening, if not killing, my enthusiasm for Major League Baseball.

Still the World Series is the WORLD SERIES, so attention must be paid.  I watched the first game of the Series with rapt interest.  The Astros staked Justin Verlander to a 5-0 lead which the Phillies overcame and fashioned a 6-5 win in ten innings.  It was an interesting and most entertaining game and a lot of fun to watch, despite it lasting over three and a half hours.  It was a game that reminded you of why you like baseball in the first place.

I skipped Game Two, won by the Astros, in favor of the Pitt football game, wherein Pitt "Pitted" and lost convincingly.  Bad decision on my part.

Tonight the Series moves to Philly, where a no doubt raucous scene will unfold.  The Phillies were the sixth seeded team in the NL and are actually an easy team to root for.  They hit the ball, score a lot of runs, and have good starting pitching, and a bullpen that can be, ahem, adventurous.  Hard to believe that Boy Wunderkind Bryce Harper turned thirty years old this past season.  Perhaps through reasons not entirely his fault, Harper has always been kind of unlikable.  A guy you like only when he plays for YOUR team, but for me at least, and maybe this will last only through this Playoff Year, he seems to have moved beyond that, and I find myself rooting for him and the Phillies.  The Astros are a better team, or they were over this past 162 game season, but we are now down to a best of five series with Philly having the home field advantage, so who knows?  I am looking forward to the remainder of this Series.

Finally, and Absent Friend....

Jerry Lee Lewis

1935-2022

The last of the true pioneers of Rock 'n Roll, Jerry Lee Lewis, died last week at the age of 87.  The first two paragraphs of Lewis' obituary on the pop culture website Vulture describes Lewis far better that I can:

Jerry Lee Lewis was known as the Killer, and it wasn’t a casual sobriquet — a schoolmate called him that after he tried to strangle a teacher. He once shot his bass player in the chest; just about all of his seven wives, including one who was a child, said he beat them; and there’s a lingering suspicion that he murdered wife No. 5. He was the very model of a high-functioning sociopath and somehow defied hard living, drug and alcohol abuse, and serious health problems to make it well into his ninth decade.

The pianist, singer, and showman, who was one of the three or four people who decisively ushered in the rock-and-roll era — and utterly personified an unbridled and dangerous part of the music — died today, his family announced. He was 87 and, after the death of Little Richard in 2020, the last man standing from the dawn of rock and roll.

On his podcast today, Tony Kornheiser said that while Lewis wasn't Elvis, he may very well have been on the next step below him.

A few years ago, I saw the musical "The Million Dollar Quartet" which tells the story of a time when four legends, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Lewis, all recoded together at Sun Studio in Memphis on the same day.  The show's curtain call had each actor perform one song as the performer they portrayed.  I said at the time that during that curtain call, and in fact throughout the entire show, the actor that played Lewis stole the show.  Maybe it wasn't just the actor, but perhaps the energy of Lewis himself that stole that show.

If you've never seen him, here's a clip of The Killer in action on the Ed Sullivan Show back in 1969.

RIP Jerry Lee Lewis.

Football in The Burgh At The (Approximate) Quarter Pole

Pitt has played five games, the Steelers four, so it's time to take a look at the State of the Union of Pittsburgh Football.

First, the Steelers.

After a sloppy, but encouraging overtime win over the defending AFC Champion Bengals in the season opener, the Steelers have lost three games in a row, are 1-3 and in last place in the AFC North.  In truth, it has become apparent that this 2022 edition of Rooney U is just not a very good team, made even more so since that have played the last three games without their best player, linebacker T.J. Watt.  You can find all sorts of places to point fingers....the offensive line is poor, OC Matt Canada is a dunderhead, Mike Tomlin is a bigger dunderhead, Mitch Trubisky is who we thought he was.  I could go on.

However, in yesterday's terrible loss to the Jets, a ray of light appeared in the person of the first round draft pick.

Yep,  at halftime, with his team down 10-6 and needing a spark, Tomlin gave the car keys to Pitt's Kenny Pickett.  Pickett did indeed provide that spark, completing passes, several of them to rookie George Pickens, whom had appeared to be invisible when Canada was calling the plays for Trubisky, laughing when he got knocked on his ass by a Jets lineman (after completing a pass downfield), and scoring two rushing TD's himself.   On the downside, he threw three interceptions, including one that came on a poorly thrown pass, a pass that never should have been thrown, which the Jets used to begin their game winning touchdown drive. That was a bad interception to be sure, but this loss fell squarely on a defense that couldn't get off the field in the fourth quarter while allowing the Jets, another bad team, to drive the field twice for touchdowns that produced a 24-20 come from behind win for them.

It is apparent to me, among many, that the Steelers aren't going anywhere this season, post-season-wise, so it becomes obvious that if Pickett is going to be your quarterback of the future, as you would hope your first round draft pick will be, you let him play the rest of the season.  We've all read in recent weeks how Peyton Manning and Troy Aikman spent their rookie seasons at the helm of double digit loss teams, and if I recall correctly (too lazy to look it up) the Steelers won and five and six games in Terry Bradshaw's first two seasons.   If Pickett is the guy that we all think that he is, he will take his lumps, learn from them, and grow into the Franchise QB that the Steelers think he will become.

As for the coaches,  I'm a fan of Mike Tomlin, and if he experiences his first losing season in 16 years as the HC, then so be it.  It happens, and he's earned the right to shake it off and get better next year,  As for Matt Canada, I'm not a coach so I can't say whether he's a good or a bad coach.  He's forgotten more about football than I'll ever know.  That said, some of the offensive play calling sent into Mitch Trubisky has been bewildering, to say the least.

The 1-3 Steeles now head into a brutal stretch of scheduling: @Bills, Bucs, @Dolphins, and @Eagles.  Most people are conceding that the Steelers will be 1-7 after that stretch.  However, I'm willing to bet that they will win at least one of those games.  It may only be one game, but I predict that they will not go 0-4 in that stretch.

Then there is the Pitt Panthers.

After an exhilarating win over West Virginia in the season opener, Pitt won two of the next three and took a 3-1 record into Saturday's first conference game of the season.  They were at home against a Georgia Tech team that was in shambles, having fired their coach just five days earlier.  Pitt was a 21.5 point favorite.   And they redefined the derisive term "Pitting" by losing that game 26-21.  Despite losing their quarterback to the pros and their best wideout to the transfer portal, Pitt had hoped to present a rigorous defense of last season's ACC Championship.   They still may, but at this point, that appears to be a long shot.

Oh, and the Robert Morris Colonials are 0-4.

Tough season in western PA, football-wise.

Steelers 16 - Jaguars 15

 

Thoughts, comments, and take-aways from last night's Steelers win, which, we all need to be reminded, was a practice game.

• Mitch Trubisky started and played three series.  The Steelers didn't score while he was in there.  The most encouraging thing about his performance was his ability to get out of the pocket and move away from pressure.   That is going to be a really, really important attribute to have given how the team's offensive line performed.
• Kenny Picket played two series, went 6-for-7, and produced a TD drive in the last minute of the half that gave the Steelers a 7-6 lead at intermission.  He looked poised and calm and like a veteran NFL QB.  Again, let us all remember that this was a practice game.
• Mason Rudolph played the entire second half, went 17-21, and led a late fourth quarter drive himself that produced the winning touchdown for the Steelers.  He was also called for intentional grounding in his own end zone that resulted in a safety for Jacksonville, and undoubtedly THIS is what the talk show crowd will focus on all week.
• That said, if the Steelers are showcasing Rudolph in advance of a possible trade, last night did not hurt that cause.
• Dionte Johnson played and looked like his brief hold-in had no adverse affect on him.
• TJ Watt played, had one sack, and looks ready to defend his DPOY title.
• Najee Harris didn't play, and the running game was not as impressive as it was in the prior week against Seattle.
• The Steelers offensive line, as noted above, appears to be a cause for concern.  The Jags applied great pressure on the Pittsburgh QB's and the running backs were held pretty much in check.
• Jacksonville seemed to have success, at least when their "varsity" was playing, running up the middle against the Steelers.  Whether this is because Cam Heyward wasn't playing or because the Steelers inside linebackers aren't any good, I will leave for others to discuss.  That said, I didn't see Devin Bush make any plays of note.
• Jacksonville QB Trevor Lawrence.  He's pretty good.  For his sake, I hope that the Jags organization can build a team to take advantage of his obvious skills.  He'll be fun to watch if they do.
• Finally, they say that it is foolish to bet on NFL exhibition games.  All I can say is that last week I bet the Steelers on the point spread and last night the Steelers on the money line.  Won both bets!

As I said at the beginning, we all need to remember that these are exhibition games.  Many of the guys playing will be selling mutual funds or coaching high school football a year from now, so who really, outside of the coaches, knows what these games portend.  Still, it's better to see your team win them than lose them.

This Post Is A Hodgepodge of Somethingness

Nope, I couldn't resist capitalizing on what was the buzz talk in Pittsburgh sports this week, BoSox announcer Dennis Eckersley's pronouncement that the Pirates lineup is a "hodgepodge of nothingness."  What I found out to be most entertainting about the whole affair was the reaction from Pirates officials over the whole thing.   The next afternoon I hear Bucco Chief Propaganda Minister Greg Brown with the afternoon guys on The Fan.  The tap dance Brownie was doing around it would have made Gene Kelly turn green with envy.  Then on Friday afternoon GM Ben Cherrington had a meeting with the local press to explain the progress that he has made with the overall organization since he and his team have been here.  That may be true from an organizational standpoint, but we sure haven't seen any results on the big league level as yet.  GMBC then went on to say that he wasn't going to comment on what Eckersley had to say, but if that were the case, then why hold a press briefing on some random Friday afternoon in August?

Anyway, on to other things.....

Here's the thing about baseball.  You know that your favorite team - the Pirates in my case - stink.  No need to go over all the reasons for that is there?  You know that they are going to lose 100 games  this season.  However, that doesn't mean that if you choose to go to one ball game on a nice summer's evening that the Pirates won't play well and win that particular game.  And even if they are playing a team that is only marginally better than they are, the Cincy Reds in this case, it doesn't mean that you won't see a well played and entertaining game.

And that is exactly what happened last night at PNC Park.  Very good starting pitching from Graham Ashcroft and Bryse Wilson, a couple of nifty defensive plays, and a couple of home runs which put the Reds in front 3-0 through five innings.  A run in the sixth and two in the seventh for the Pirates tied the game.  The Reds went ahead  4-3 in the eighth and the Pirates walked it off with two runs in the bottom of the ninth when Michael Chavis' bases loaded single scored the winning run.

Fun, exciting, a Pirates win, and it was all over in two hours and forty-eight minutes.   It can be done.

I haven't written about the Steelers 32-25 win over Seattle in last week's first exhibition game because, well, I just didn't get around to it.   Unless you've been living under a rock in Pittsburgh, or just really don't care about the Steelers, you know by now that the highlight of the game was the performance of the three quarterbacks.  Mitch Trubisky leading a 90 yard opening drive for a touchdown.  Mason Rudolph dropping a dime to rookie wideout George Pickens in the corner of the end zone.  And, of course, the second half, two TD pass performance of Kenny Pickett, including one that won the game with :03 left on the clock.

This all led to an interesting narrative on the talk shows and in the press.  For the first half of the week it was "Why are the Steelers continuing the charade with Mason Rudolph?  For his sake and the sake of the team, trade him now for whatever kind of low round draft pick you can get and turn things over to Pickett as the back-up to Trubisky."  By Thursday, however, the narrative changed, and the theme then became "Are the Steelers and the fans being unfair to Mason Rudolph?  Doesn't he deserve better?"

This is why I can only take sports talk radio in small doses.

Anyway, in a few more hours, the Steelers take on the Jax Jags in their second exhibition game of the season.  Trubisky will start, but by all accounts, Pickett will get the bulk of the QB playing time, including time with the first teamers, or "the varsity", as Mike Tomlin puts it.

For the first time in almost twenty years, the quarterback situation is making Steelers practice games interesting things to watch.

I am about 90 pages, or a little less than twenty percent, into this latest book by David Maraniss, "Path Lit By Lightning", a biography of Jim Thorpe.  Like Mariness' biographies of Vince Lombardi, Roberto Clemente, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, this book is meticulously researched and well written.  You learn a lot and are entertained while doing so.  I will most certainly be writing more about this book once I finish reading it.

The Steelers and the 2022 Draft

No, I will not even try to tell you how the Steelers "did in the draft."  (A) I have no idea about any of these players, and (B) none of them have taken a single snap  against NFL competition, and it is then and only then, and probably not until 2024 or -25, that we will find out how the 2022 Draft aided the Steelers.

We all know that Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett was the Number 1 pick.  That's great and very exciting, and it you missed my thoughts on that selection at the time, here it is.

We don't really know what kind of pro QB Pickett is going to be, but based on what we have seen of him in five years at Pitt, there is plenty of reasons to be optimistic, and if he becomes a very good QB, or, dare I say it, a "franchise quarterback", for Rooney U for the next 10-12 years, then the 2022 Draft will be deemed an A+ Draft for the Steelers, regardless of what those other six draftees do.

About those other six guys.  The Steelers drafted.....

• Two wide receivers, George Pickens and Calvin Austin.  A definite need.  If they can play.
• A defensive end, DeMarvin Leal.  Cam Heyward is now 33 years old, and who knows what's up with Stephan Tuitt, so, yes, there is a need at this position.  If he can play.
• A combo tight end/fullback, Conner Heyward.  Could this brother combo spell the dissolution of another Steelers brothers set, TJ and Derek Watt?  If he can play.
• A linebacker, Mark Robinson.  Devin Bush, we hardly knew ye.  If he can play.
• Another quarterback, Chris Oladukun.  A very curious choice in light of the selection of Pickett in the first round.  Why would they select a second quarterback in the same draft?  No one is asking that question more, I guess, than Mason Rudolph.  Surely, the Steelers would not spend a draft choice, or "draft capital" as is the current buzz word,  just to acquire a training camp arm, so they must think that he can contribute.  If he can play.

Notice a common theme above?  We have to see if these guys are capable of playing and contributing on Sundays.  That process begins soon with the mini-camps and then back at St. Vincent's in July.

One commodity that the Steelers didn't draft was an offensive lineman, the position that most people felt was the teams greatest need.  Now they did address that with some free agent signings prior to the draft, and maybe they'll find a gem among the undrafted free agents that they signed after the draft.  Still, protecting Pickett and Mitch Trubisky, and opening holes for Najee Harris, still seems to be the second biggest question mark - after who will be the quarterback - as they head into training camp.

Finally, did you all see the full page ad that Kenny Pickett posted in last Sunday's sports section?   He certainly has been saying and doing all of the right things since he became a Steeler, which, come to think about it, was exactly the way he handled himself during his years at Pitt.  Here it is in case you missed it.

It's Pickett!! Kenny Stays Home.

I had decided that I would watch the insane circus that is the NFL Draft last night until I saw (a) who the Steelers would select, and (2) who would draft Pitt's Kenny Pickett.  The possibility existed that the Steelers might draft a quarterback.  Would it be Pickett or would it be Liberty University's Malik Willis?  As the draft progressed, it became more and more apparent that at least one, and possibly both, of them would be available to Rooney U when the 20th pick rolled around.

Lo and behold, when Franco Harris announced the pick, and it was certainly obvious that HE was happy with the selection, we all knew:  the Pitt kid would be staying in Pittsburgh,  Kenny Pickett would be a Pittsburgh Steeler!  The error made in 1983, when the Steelers did not draft Pitt's Dan Marino, would not be repeated thirty-nine years later.  It is a "feel good" pick to be sure.  (And speaking of feeling good, do you think Franco might have been just a wee bit over served in the Green Room before he came out on stage with Roger Goodell?)

As with any draft choice, we won't know for sure whether or not the Steelers made a mistake with this pick until at least the start of the 2022 season, and probably not for another two or three seasons.  People were nit-picking and finding flaws with Pickett ("hands too small";  please, give us a break with crap like that) in the months leading up to the Draft.  Does he have what it takes to be a Franchise Quarterback, the heir apparent to Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger, or will he be just be another Mark Malone or Cliff Stoudt?  Plus, the Steelers have greater needs, and now what happens to Mitch Trubisky?  I haven't listened to any talk radio today, but I can only imagine that for every comment praising the Pickett selection, there will two others ripping it.

Of course, there is plenty of time to discuss the football aspect of this selection.  For what it's worth, I see a real competition in training camp between Trubisky and Pickett.  Trubisky may start the season, but if Pickett shows anything, anything at all, of what made him great at Pitt and a Heisman finalist, he could and maybe should become the number one guy midway through the season.  The guy I do feel bad for is Mason Rudolph.  He has to be feeling like Vaughn Meader on November 22, 1963.  I am guessing that he will be the one left standing when the music stops.  He probably makes too much money to be the Number Three QB, and the Steelers will trade him and sign an older vet to hold the clipboards and be available to suit up if Trubisky or Pickett get hurt.

My hope is that the folks of Steelers Nation don't put too much pressure on Pickett to be GREAT RIGHT NOW.   For all his claim to always being a "Pittsburgh guy", I think that deep down there is a part of Dan Marino that was glad he wasn't drafted by the Steelers where he would have been held to ridiculously high standards by the crowds and would have been torched for the slightest shortcomings.  I only hope that that does not happen to Pickett.

Now Rounds Two through Six will take place over today and tomorrow.  We will see how the Steelers address all of those other needs - O and D linemen, a corner, a wide receiver.  All of them, though, will be in the shadow of this year's Number One pick, Kenny Pickett of the University of Pittsburgh.

Welcome back home, Kenny!

Leaving Las Vegas!

Getting the news from Mike Tomlin

Thoughts from Pat Narduzzi