Futbol and Football In The Burgh

 First, the Positive...

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Win United Soccer League Championship

A fun conversation starter among Pittsburgh sports fans is to ask "Which Pittsburgh sports teams will be the next one to win a championship in its sport?"   Had we asked 100 Pittsburghers that question back in January, I am willing to bet the number of people who said "The Riverhounds" would have numbered in the low single digits, if, indeed, anyone would have given that answer.

Lo and behold, however, on Saturday evening, the Riverhounds held FC Tulsa to a 0-0 draw in regulation and overtime, and then defeated Tulsa 5-3 in penalty kicks to claim their first USL championship in their twenty-six year history.

All hail the Champions, Pittsburgh's first professional team champions since the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2017, the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2008, and the Pirates won the World Series in 1979 (that was eight Presidential Administrations ago, but who's counting?).

Unlike a celebration for a Stanley Cup or a Lombardi Trophy, the City isn't going to shut down and hold a parade for what is essentially a minor league soccer team in North America, but the Riverhounds accomplishment certainly deserves to be celebrated.

I admit to being a shameless bandwagon jumper here, but I did start watching the Riverhounds games on TV beginning with their final regular season game when the Hounds secured their USL Playoffs seeding status and their three Playoff games, culminating in Saturday's Championship victory.  I found myself getting caught up in the hunt for the title and enjoyed seeing the atmosphere created by the sellout crowds at Highmark Stadium.  And how could you not be excited in watching those games and seeing the Rivrhounds shut out each of their four opponents?   That's right. In over 500 minutes of game time, no opponent scored a single goal against Pittsburgh. Of course, and not to nitpick, in that same length of time, Pittsburgh managed to score only ONE goal, and three of those games had to be decided by penalty kicks, but hey, that's soccer for you.

Easily the most impressive performer of these games has been Hounds goalkeeper Eric Dick.

During the course of my following of the team, I learned that Dick was the USL's Most Outstanding Keeper of the 2024 season, and he was deservedly named the MVP of these just completed playoffs.  His performance on Saturday night was spectacular.

Again, CONGRATULATIONS to Pittsburgh's newest Sports Champions.

Now, the bad news....

Steelers lose to Bears, 31-28, and Fall to 6-5

It is hard to put a bow on the Steelers loss to the Bears yesterday. Once upon a time in this season, the Steelers were 4-1 and the Ravens were 1-5.  Both teams now sit at 6-5 and as of today, the Ravens hold the tie-breaks, and the Steelers would be out of the Playoffs.  All of that could change over the next six weeks, but let's be real here.  The Steelers just aren't a very good team.  They are mediocre at best, and they may stumble their way to a 9-7 record and find a spot in the playoffs, but they will certainly not be able to advance far, if at all, when playing a higher seeded Playoff team.

I'll not go over the details of the Bears game yesterday.  If your are interested enough to be reading this post, you know what happened.  Here are a couple of thoughts of mine, however.

• The coaching staff obviously has no faith in Mason Rudolph, who was playing in place of an injured Aaron Rodgers, to throw the ball downfield or over the middle.  The offensive game plan consisted of lots and lots of swing passes that gained less than ten yards.   And this was against a Bears defense that was riddled with injuries.  What's next for OC Arthur Smith?  Bringing back the single wing?
• The talk of the town all week was the devastation that tight end Darnell Washington visited upon the Cincy Bengals last week, but where was he yesterday? By my recollection, and I could be wrong, he was targeted only two times yesterday.  Why was that?
• Speaking of tight ends, Pat Freiermuth was targeted only three times yesterday.  He caught all three passes, one of them a touchdown.  So, why only three targets?

With Rodgers turning 42 next week, and Rudolph showing all the signs of being just a competent back-up, it is obvious that Steelers need to find themselves a quarterback. How badly did that training camp injury to rookie Will Howard upset their plans?  Howard never saw any game action in the pre-season, so, understandably, the coaches are not going to use him in any game action unless disaster befalls both Rodgers and Rudolph.  How far has that lack of game action for Howard set back the team as they search for a long term replacement for Ben Roethlisberger?  Howard looked awfully good last year as he led Ohio State to the CFP Championship. He looked better than Drake Maye ever did at North Carolina, and in his second NFL Season with the Patriots, he, Maye, is a serious candidate for the MVP Award this year.  Having never seen Howard play, though, will this affect what the team does in terms of drafting a QB out of college in the upcoming NFL draft?

The Steelers next six games are as follows:

• Bills
• @ Ravens
• Dolphins
• @ Lions
• @ Browns
• Ravens

As it looks today, I would guess that the Steelers would be favored in three of those games, and that could change depending on Rodgers' availability.  So, I'd say that at best, we are looking at a 9-7 season.

Mediocre.

One More Futbol Note (Non-Pittsburgh)

Yesterday afternoon, we eschewed watching the Eagles-Cryboys game and instead watched the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference semi-final playoff game between Inter Miami and Cincinnati FC.  This, of course, was prompted by our seeing Miami and its great player, Lionel Messi, last month in Nashville.  (See HERE)  Neither Miami nor Messi let us down.  They defeated Cincinnati 4-0 and Messi had a goal and two assists.  The goal was amazing, but the passes that he made in assisting on the other two goals may have been even more remarkable.

Miami will play  at least one, and possibly two more games in these MLS playoffs.  Don't miss the chance to see him play.  I am no soccer expert .and you don't have to be one either to know that when you watch Messi play, you are seeing soccer's version of Willie Mays, Jim Brown, Michael Jordan, or Wayne Gretzky.

Lionel Messi

You gotta love the pink shirts!

 

Week 16 GPR - Quoth The Ravens, "We're Number One!"

Going into last night's possible Super Bowl preview game, I was prepared to leave San Francisco in the Number One spot even if the Ravens managed to squeak out a narrow victory over the Niners.  However, the total decisiveness of Baltimore's 33-19 victory last night, left me with no choice other than to move them into the top spot after NFL Week 16.

That game also shifted the calculus in a big way for the League MVP Award away from Brock Purdy and towards Lamar Jackson.

1. Ravens 11-4 (Last Week: 2)
2. 49'ers 11-4 (1)
3. Lions 11-4 (3)
4. Dolphins 11-4 (5)
5. Eagles 11-4 (4)
6. Bills 9-6 (7)
7. Browns 10-5 (9)
8. Chiefs 9-6 (6)
9. Cowboys 10-5 (8)
10. Rams 8-7 (Unranked)

As you can see, the Dolphins, Bills, and Browns moved up in the standings, while the Eagles, Chiefs, and Cowboys each dropped.  The Bengals dropped out of the Top Ten and the Rams moved into it as they now become "the team you don't want to have to play in the first round of the Playoffs."

Speaking of the Bengals, how about that can of Whoop-ass opened upon them by the Steelers on Christmas Eve.  The Steelers are barely breathing when it comes to the possibility of making the Playoffs, but they are in fact still breathing because the Bengals reverted into being the Cincy Bungles, something that it seems you can always count on.

So in what has been a disappointing season, let's shine a little light on Sunday's hero, third string quarterback Mason Rudolph, who turned in the best performance by a Steelers QB this season.

And, of course, we also got to enjoy yet another visit from our old friend, The Crying Bengals Lady.

Steelers now 4-1 in the AFC North with the Baltimore game in Week 18 remaining.  Baltimore may well be the best team in the AFC, if not the entire NFL, at the moment, but anything can happen when the Steelers and Ravens match up.  We may not see a Steelers playoff game this year, but there would be some level of satisfaction in a 5-1 division record if it happens.
  

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.

The Quarterback Reveal

To refresh your memories, yesterday in this space I asked you to put yourself in the place of an NFL General manager and said that....

...you have your choice between two young quarterbacks at the relative same stage in their career development.

	Quarterback A	Quarterback B
Games Played	15	13
Games Started	9	8
Record as Starter	5-4	3-5
Attempts	326	218
Completions	201	83
%	61.7%	38.1%
Yards passing	2,089	1,410
TDs	15	6
Interceeptions	10	24
QBR	82.7	30.4

Okay, which one will you take?

Now it is time to identify these two young hotshot QBs, and I am sure that many of you, especially you Steelers fans out there, have no doubt guessed who they are.

Quarterback A is current Steelers back up Mason Rudolph.

Quarterback B is Hall of Famer and four time Super Bowl champion, two time Super Bowl MVP Terry Bradshaw, seen below at an age when he was putting up those horrible numbers back in 1970.

So why, you may ask, did I do this comparison.  Let me say right off the bat it is not to suggest that Rudolph is or ever will be better than Terry Bradshaw.  That would be ridiculous.  No, what prompted this was a remark by 93.7 The Fan's morning  hot take artist Colin Dunlap earlier in the week.  In one of the endless discussions about the future of Ben Roethlisberger, Dunlap stated "well we KNOW (emphasis mine) that Mason Rudolph sucks...."  Dunlap was basing this statement on how "terrible" (his word) Rudolph has been in the opportunities that he has had over the last two seasons with the Steelers.

Well, I thought to myself, I remember Bradshaw's early seasons with the Steelers, so I wonder what Dunlap, who was born in 1976, would have had to say about Terry Bradshaw in the formative years of his career?  I am glad that talk radio, as it exists today, was not around back in 1970 because surely the Colin Dunlaps at the time would have been boiling tar and plucking feathers to ride Bradshaw out of town on a rail.  In fact, there were people who felt that way.  People who thought that Bradshaw was a country bumpkin oaf who would never amount to anything and that Terry Hanratty from Butler High School and Notre Dame was the guy to whom the Steelers should go at quarterback.  I remember it vividly.  Colin Dunlap does not because he wan't born yet.

All that prompted me to dig into the records and come up with the comparison you see above.

It has always been my thought, for whatever that might be worth, that Mason Rudolph can be a good, maybe even a very good, NFL quarterback.  No, I am not suggesting that he will be Ben or Terry, very few quarterbacks will ever achieve what they have, but I am saying that it is too early to pronounce final judgement on him, and WAY too early to say that "we know he sucks."

One thing that I can pronounce judgement upon is that I will take the opinions of Art Rooney, Kevin Colbert, and Mike Tomlin and their counterparts across the NFL over the Hot Takes of sports radio talk jocks every day of the week.

Jets 16 - Steelers 10

Random thoughts on the Steelers woeful loss yesterday to the Woeful Jets......

• That loss effectively ended the Steelers hopes of making the playoffs in 2019.  Yeah, I know that they can still get there, but too many things have to happen for them to nail down that last wild card spot, beginning with them beating the Ravens next week, and do you really think that THAT is going to happen?
• Given the state of the Steelers offense, I'm almost - almost! - glad that they won't be in the Playoffs.  That wasn't going to lead to a pretty ending.

• The Devlin "Duck" Hodges story was a fun one to follow as he was somehow leading the Steelers to victories, but, as I knew was going to happen, the League caught up with the Duck beginning with the Bills last week and continuing with the Jets yesterday.  When you watched Hodges play, you just knew that he just wasn't that good, and now the chickens, or in this case, the ducks, have come home to roost.
• Still, Hodges has some stories to tell for the rest of his life.  There are not a whole lot of people in the universe who have played quarterback and won games in the National Football League, so good for him.
• If you spent a lot of money, or even a little bit of money, on the goofy duck hats and duck suits to sit in the stands at Heinz Field so you can get in television, how silly do you feel today?

• One thing that that game proved to me yesterday was that it is way too early to give up on Mason Rudolph becoming a good NFL quarterback, and possibly even an eventual replacement for Ben Roethlisberger. That pass to Diontae Johnson for a touchdown yesterday was a thing of beauty, and one that Hodges on his best day could not have made.
• I have written many times of James Conner in this Blog.  He is a talented football player, and his story is an inspirational one.  He will always be one of my favorite Pittsburgh athletes, but he has shown that he is unable to stay on the field because of his propensity to injury.  Durability as a skill every bit as much as speed or the ability to catch a pass, and Conner just doesn't have it.  One wonders if all of the chemo and radiation treatments that he had endure five years ago have contributed to his being so susceptible to injury.
• As a result, one of the Steelers top needs in the off season will be drafting or signing a reliable and good running back.
• I wonder what the NFL record is for completed passes that resulted in gains of five yards or less.  Surely, these '19 Steelers have to be challenging for that record.
• After that awful 1-4 start, the Steelers proceeded to win seven of their next eight games  and that made it exciting for a while before reality struck these past two weeks.  In retrospect, however, the Steelers season really ended for all practical purposes at this moment in Week 2 against Seattle when Big Ben went into the locker room in the second quarter with the elbow injury that would end his season.

Because tonight's MNF game between the Packers and Vikings is a game of consequence, the release of the Grandstander Power Rankings will be delayed until tomorrow.

Browns 21 - Steelers 7

Not quite 48 hours have passed since the that El Stinko of a Steelers loss to the Browns on Thursday night.  The game itself and its results have been overshadowed by they ugly scene between Myles Garrett and Mason Rudolph that you see above that took place with :08 remaining in the game.  Is there really any further need to elaborate on it and the suspensions that followed in its wake?  The entire affair was best summarized by my pal Dan who said that if the preceding Monday Night game between Seattle and San Francisco embodied all that there is to love about the NFL, the scene at the end of the game on Cleveland on Thursday embodied all that there is to dislike about the NFL.

As to the game itself, it exposed the weaknesses and difficulties facing your 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers, namely....

• Playing with a (essentially) rookie quarterback in Mason Rudolph, who definitely had his worst game as a Steeler. Do you give up on him?  Absolutely not, but becoming a star, or even a very good QB in the NFL is a process, and, except in rare instances, it doesn't happen overnight.
• No running game.  James Conner, after missing two games, reinjured his shoulder and was gone in the first quarter.  Other injuries at the position have reduced the Steelers to playing someone named Tony Brooks-James, who was out of the League three weeks ago.
• Injuries to wide receivers.  Both JuJu Smith-Shuster and Dionte Johnson left the game with concussions, and Rudolph was left having to throw to James Holton and Tevon Jones, another guy who was out of work just two weeks ago.

It was a real mess on Thursday, but are the Steelers done for the season?  Well, unless they can overcome the three bullet point listed above, I suppose so, BUT they are still 5-5 and face the Bengals and the Browns  in the next two weeks.  If they can take care of business in those games and sit at 7-5, who the hell knows where it might lead?  And by the way, I can't wait for that rematch with the Browns, who, despite wins over the Ravens and Steelers this year, are still a bad team.

However, they have to get healthy and they have to be able to run the ball, otherwise, well, you can see where this will all end up.

Sports Happenings on Pittsburgh's North Shore

What a few days it has been on the Pittsburgh sports scene, and where do I even begin?  

Let's start with last night's Steelers 27-14 win over the awful Miami Dolphins.

When I got home from the Caring Place last night and turned on the TV, it was early in the second quarter, the Steelers were down 0-14, and Mason Rudolph was standing in his own end zone to take the snap from center.  Things looked grim indeed.  Well, you know what happened next.  The Steelers drove the field and kicked a FG to make it 3-14, and then proceeded to score 24 more unanswered points to win the game 27-14.  Obviously, my presence in front to the tube cheering them on made all the difference.  I will try not to miss any more action in future games.

Mason Rudolph in action last night

Rudolph, playing for the first time since October 10, looked horrible at the start, then he shook off the rust, and performed admirably, I thought, in leading the team over the last two and one half quarters of the game.  He was helped by a strong game from James Conner, and great play from WRs Diontae Johnson and JuJu Smith-Shuster.  Rudolph is still very much a developing work-in-progress, but I see some good things there and am encouraged by how he has performed thus far.

Now the Dolphins, as I said, are truly awful, so a win over them must be kept in context, and at 3-4, the Steelers season thus far has been nothing to brag about, but I take joy in at least these two facts:

1. The Steelers are one game AHEAD of the 2-5 Cleve Brownies in the standings.  You know, the Browns who were everybody's trendy pre-season pick to storm their way to the Super Bowl.
2. Browns cinch-for-the-HOF QB Baker Mayfield has thrown six TD passes thus far this season.  Mason Rudolph has thrown seven.

The season is only half over, and the Steelers and Browns have yet to play each other, so things can certainly change, but for now, at least, those two facts are just delightful.

        ********

The bigger sports news this week, though, has been made by the Pirates. Last week, team president Frank Coonelly and the team agreed to part company. Yesterday, GM Neal Huntington was fired, and Bob Nutting introduced Travis Williams, an executive with the NHL Islanders for the last eight years, and more importantly, a native Pittsburgh who had served for many years as Chief Operating Officer for the Penguins, as the new President of the team.  Nutting, himself, actually met and spoke with the press on the occasion for the first time since Spring Training.

Travis Williams

In the end, Nutting did what Pirates fans had been screaming for - he cleaned house.  Since the end of the season, the manager, general manager, and team president have all been given their walking papers.  The so called "best management team in baseball" is no more.  Nutting also talked the talk and said what many fans have been saying....why haven't we drafted and developed players like other teams have, and why are our players suddenly performing so much better when they go to other teams?  He also tap-danced around questions about payroll and spending money, so we will wait and see if these changes will, in the end, really mean anything.  As one sports writer has said, he did what needed to be done insofar as cleaning house, so he deserves the benefit of the doubt and a fresh start - for now.

Travis Williams certainly brings a good resume as a sports executive to the job. He's not a baseball guy, but the team president doesn't really have to know who should be called upon to get Cody Bellinger or Christian Yelich out with the game on the line in the bottom of the ninth.  That's for the GM and the manager and the "baseball people" to figure out.  Williams first order of business will be a huge one: hiring the next GM to steer the ship in the days and years ahead.

One quote from Williams presser yesterday struck me.  Before taking the job, he asked Nutting if he was willing to do "whatever it took" to do things right and win and contend consistently, and Nutting assured him that he would.  Seems that I heard the same quotes from Coonelly and Huntington when they were hired in 2007 and from Hurdle when he was hired in 2011.

Like I said, we'll see.

A word about Frank Coonelly.

Full disclosure: Back in 2009, when I was working for Highmark, I met Frank Coonelly, and we became friends. He is a charming and engaging guy. He never forgets a name or a face once he meets you.  Marilyn and I would run into him at the ballpark, at spring training in Bradenton one year, or even just around town, like at a PNC Bank ATM machine, or the Ace Hardware in Wexford (true stories!), and he always  would take time to chat and engage with you.  Every year in November, I would have lunch with him, and I considered him a personal friend.  Often times at those lunches, the state of the Pirates was the least of what we talked about.  I never wrote about what we discussed during those lunches, and I was always reluctant to be critical of him in all of the many posts I've written about the Pirates over the years.  Hey, I never claimed to be Woodward and Bernstein when I write this blog!

So, as I mentioned to a pal on Facebook when the news of Frank's departure became known last week, I take no joy in this.  I look at it as a friend of mine losing his job, and I feel bad about that.  Not that we need hold a benefit for him.  He will bounce back from this, and I know that he will land in a good spot for him and his family.

Maybe Frank's departure and Williams' hiring will work well for the Pirates.  As a fan, I hope that it absolutely does mean good things for the team, but I am sorry that a friend of mine, Frank Coonelly, will no longer be a part of the process.  I wish him well, whatever he does.

********

And while we are talking about sports on the North Shore, how about the Pitt Panthers spitting the bit last Saturday against a not-great Miami team?  After winning five straight games and sitting at 5-2, there was talk that it was certainly possible for Pitt to win their remaining five games, finish at 10-2, maybe getting to the ACC Championship game, and getting a really nice Bowl game for their efforts.  

Then they fail to put the ball in the end zone and lose 16-12 to Miami.  They are now 5-3 with four games left.  They could win all four of them.  A case can be made for that.  It is also possible that they could go 1-3 in those games.  I doubt that they'll lose all four of them, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if that happened either.

As Dan said when we left Heinz Field on Saturday, "I've followed Pitt all my life.  I'm used to this." 

Steelers 27 - Bengals 3

The Grandstander is about to take a brief hiatus and will be off the grid for a couple of weeks, but before I take this leave of absence, a couple of comments, mainly about the Steelers 27-3 trouncing of the Cincinnati Bengals last night.

1. After the bad taste in the mouths of the Steelers and their fans, nothing, and I mean nothing, can serve to cure all ills than having the Bengals pop up on your schedule.   Death, taxes, and unbelievably bad performances by the Cincy Bengals - the three certainties in life.
2. We still can't be sure of what kind of team the Steelers are in 2019, but we know for sure that the Bengals stink to high heaven.  It got to the point where I almost - almost! - felt sorry from Andy Dalton last night.
3. Marvin Lewis, Pacman Jones, and Vontaze Burfict (and are you surprised to see how HE made the news this weekend?) may be gone, but the Bungles still managed to commit two personal fouls in one of the late drives that  the Steelers were having late in the game.  
4. The Steelers designed a very conservative offensive attack last night, short passes to running backs and frequent use of a wildcat formation.  It was very effective against the Bengals, but I'd like to see the coaching staff have a little more confidence in Mason Rudolph and his ability to throw down field.  However, I concede that Mike Tomlin and his staff are far smarter than I am in such matters.

Now to the Pirates.  Jason Mackey had an interesting story in the Post-Gazette this morning about why the Pirates job just may not be one that will attract the best and brightest of either new or old managerial talent.  If you missed it, here it is:

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2019/09/30/Pirates-manager-search-Neal-Huntington-Clint-Hurdle-firing-new-guy/stories/201909300128

It's kind of depressing to read, actually.  It leads me to believe that the job will end up going to either Jeff Bannister or Tom Prince, two life long Pirate "organization men" who are already on the payroll, will come cheap, and will probably agree to cut Neal Huntington's lawn and wash Bob Nutting's car if they could get the job.  (Come to think of it, GMNH is probably already washing Nutting's car, which is probably how he was able to keep his job.)  

In a story published online later this afternoon, Mackey had another story where he interviewed an ex-Pirate who expressed an interest in the job: former catcher Jason Kendall.  

Kendall was a good and sometimes excellent  player for the Bucs in the nine year era that spanned Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park.  He was also reported to be a clubhouse malcontent and a bully to younger players on the team, and he was known to greet newcomers to the team in the clubhouse by saying "Welcome to Hell."  Yeah, hiring him would present a PR "challenge" to the team, but it would be in keeping with the Pirates ability to continue to screw up a one car funeral.

Still, my money is on one of the two current in house guys, Bannister or Prince.  As always, watch, but don't bet.

Okay, that will do it for the immediate future.  I shall catch up with you all once again in another ten or twelve days or so.  Perhaps my next missive to you will involve a revitalized Pittsburgh Steelers team and a new manager for the Pirates. Or maybe an Absent Friend.  It's been awhile since we've honored one of those.

Later.....

What A Week On The North Shore

Real Life Stuff has kept me away from the keyboard this past week, but before another sports weekend commences, I feel compelled to comment upon the Pittsburgh Sports Week that has just concluded.

The Steelers took a 0-1 record into their home opener against Seattle where they proceeded to serve themselves up as a tasty meal, dessert included, for the Seahawks' Russell Wilson.  More significant to the season than this 28-26 loss, however, was this scene:

Late in the second quarter, Ben Roethlisberger took himself into the Steelers clubhouse to have an injured elbow looked at.  The next day we learned that this was far more than one of the usual run of the mill dings that football players suffer through the course of the season.  The injury would require surgery that will end the season for Big Ben.  

And so the Mason Rudolph Era begins for the Steelers.

Rudolph was drafted in the third round in 2018 as the heir apparent for Roethlisberger.  I'm sure that no one expected or wanted this Era to begin this soon, but here we are.  He acquitted himself fairly well in relief last week (2 TDs and one INT that wasn't his fault), but now he becomes the Steelers starting quarterback.  He set records at Oklahoma State, went toe-to-toe with Baker Mayfield while there, and for two seasons in a row, we in Pittsburgh watched him thoroughly dismantle the Pitt Panthers.  Granted, the Big XII and Pitt aren't the NFL, but the pedigree seems to be there, as do the physical tools.  We'll see what happens.

Rather than bemoaning the loss of their best player and their 0-2 record, the Steelers refused to throw in the towel on the season, and, in fact, doubled down by making a significant trade:  2020's first round draft choice to Miami for second year safety Minkuh Fitzpatrick.  The Steelers addressed what they felt to be a significant need in an effort to get better on defense.  Good for them, and as is the case with their new starting QB, we shall see where it takes them.

We shall also see what this portends for the future of Ben Roethlisberger.  He will be 38 years old when the 2020 season rolls around.  If Rudolph lights it up for the remainder of the year, will Ben automatically be given back his starter's roll?  Will the Steelers even want to do that?  Will future HOF'er Big Ben want to put himself in the position of competing for a job with Rudolph next year?  All the sorts of questions that will guarantee that the popular Pittsburgh soap opera "As The Steelers Turn" will continue into next season.

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Meanwhile, at the other end of General Robinson Street, the Pirates came home from a series in Chicago where they surrendered 47 runs in three games while losing three straight to the Cubs.  It was an historical humiliation.  Things only got worse on Tuesday with the news of Felipe Vazquez' arrest on the horrific charges of sexual misconduct with a thirteen year old girl.  I'm not going to comment on that, because, honestly, what can you say?

No one on the Pirates or in Pirates management can be faulted for the acts Vazquez has been alleged of committing, but it is just one more awful happening to a season that has been marred by awful play on the field and awful blunders on the part of team management.  As Chuck Noll might have put it, the Pirates' problems are many, and they are great, and I seriously doubt that this team and its current management are capable of even addressing these problems, let alone fixing them.

Since Vazquez' arrest, the Pirates have lost four more straight games.  Yet another seven game losing streak.  I don't know what the record is for seven game losing streaks for a team in a season, but this years' Buccos are surely in the hunt for setting it.

Next weekend the team will be honoring Steve Blass, who will be announcing his final games in the Bucs' broadcasting booth.  However you may feel about Blass as an announcer - and, yes, we have all heard his many stories many, many, and perhaps too many times - he has served the Pirates honorably and well as player, World Series star, broadcaster, and good will ambassador for sixty years.  He sure as hell did not deserve a final season like this one.

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Coming up this weekend:

• The Pirates begin the last eight games of a season that cannot possibly end soon enough
• The Pitt Panthers, and, yeah, I didn't even address that 17-10 loss to Penn State and HCPN's questionable in game decisions - take on Central Florida at Heinz Field.  It might not be pretty for the home team.
• The Steelers and their second year QB travel the San Francisco to take on the surprisingly 2-0 49er's.  Again, it might not be pretty for Rooney U.

So, How Did The Steelers "Do In The Draft"?

Okay, I know that you all have been waiting for this, so here is my post-draft analysis on how the Steelers fared in the just completed 2018 Draft:

No one  - not Mike Tomlin, not Kevin Colbert, not any ex-jock talking head at ESPN, no talk-jock on 93.7 The Fan, and certainly not me - will be able to answer that question until, say, midway through the 2020 season. So enough with the analysis.

However, here are some thoughts....

• Despite how all the Mel Kipers and Peter Kings of the world said that the Steelers absolutely, positively HAD to draft an inside linebacker to replace Ryan Shazier, the Steelers ended up drafting two safeties, a wide receiver, a tight end, an offensive tackle, a defensive tackle, and a quarterback (more on him in a moment).  No linebacker, which is why the "experts" are telling us how the Steelers "blew it".  Don't know about you, but I'm putting my money on Tomlin and Colbert before I put it on Mel Kiper Jr.
• This will the Draft class forever identified, for better or worse, as the "Terrell Edmunds Draft".

• You certainly like Edmunds', a safety, credentials. And his size and speed.  Let's hope he can deliver the goods for the Steelers.
• The Steelers also took another safety, Marcus Allen of Penn State, in a later round.  Does this mean a lack of faith in third year safety Sean Davis?  Or will either Edmunds or Allen become more of a quasi-linebacker in the Steelers defense?
• Any draft class is always made all the more intriguing when a quarterback is selected, which the Steelers did when they picked Mason Rudolph of Oklahoma State in the third round.

• If you follow Pitt football, you certainly know about Rudolph, who positively torched Pitt in each of the last two seasons, both lopsided wins for the Cowboys.  Hey, I am no expert when it comes to evaluating pro football talent, but I know what I saw in those two games Rudolph played against Pitt, and he was devastating.  Does this translate into a successful NFL career? Who knows, but I like the pick.  It seems that in Rudolph, the Steelers are looking at the guy to groom to be Ben Roethlisberger's replacement two or three years down the pike.
• One round earlier, the Steelers also selected Rudolph's battery mate at OK State, WR James Washington, who also tortured Pitt in the last two seasons.  Washington looks to be first in line to replace Martavis Bryant, the talented but knuckle-headed receiver whom they traded to Oakland on Thursday.
• When the draft was completed, the Steelers announced the signing of a bunch of undrafted free agents.  Only one of these names was familiar to me, and it was an intriguing one: Quadree Henderson, WR, University of Pittsburgh.  He will no doubt be deep on the depth chart when the Steelers convene in Latrobe in July, but Henderson gave the Panthers many, many electrifying moments as both a receiver and, primarily, as a kick returner over the past three seasons.  How he might fair as a return man for the Steelers might give you a reason to watch the exhibition games come August.

So, let's hope that this draft yields more Antonio Browns and David DeCastros than it does Jarvis Joneses and Huey Richardsons.  No one will know until they get  them out on the practice fields.

Oh, and how can we leave this topic without highlighting the Feel Good Moment of the Draft for Steelers fans - Ryan Shazier walking on stage to announce the Steelers first selection.