Mike Wallace is The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Best No. 3 Option at WR

After a slow 1-2 start and an even slower start for the Steelers’ offense, many are beginning to question Pittsburgh’s ability to make an actual run at defending their title in 2009.

Some blame Big Ben. Others want to blame the defense. And yet, others want to blame the coaches. In my opinion, there is really only one reason that the Steelers are 1-2 right now instead of 2-1.

Limas Sweed.

Now I know it seems a bit harsh to put all of the blame on one player for a loss, but I feel that his drop in the end zone last week at Cincinnati kept us from winning the game.

The pass from Ben was absolutely perfect and the defenders were a good three to four yards away from Sweed, giving him plenty of room to catch the ball.

But as he hit the ground, or rather fell to the ground, the ball flew out of Sweed’s grasp and out of the back of the end zone. That score would have given us the win, a record of 2-1 going into Week Four, and much less panic in the Pittsburgh fan base.

How many chances are we going to give Limas?

It’s generally not a good thing when people remember your drops more than you actually catching the football. He’s only recorded 7 catches for 69 yards and 0 scores in 13 career games.

Hell, Mike Wallace bested that last week at Cincinnati.

In that game he caught 7 passes for 102 yards. And despite Wallace having not yet scored his first career TD, he has made a rather large impact on the team so far.

He has 12 catches on the season for 147 yards, but there are two big plays in particular that have really stood out for me.

Of course there is the one just last week for a 51 yard completion from Big Ben where he flat out blew by the guy covering him and caught it down the sideline. A little bit more awareness from him could have lead to a touchdown on that play.

The other one was in Week One. In overtime he caught the big pass from Roethlisberger that gave the Steelers good enough field position for Jeff Reed to kick (and make) a relatively easy field goal.

Coming up when it matters most is key and Limas Sweed has not done that at all.

He’s also the fastest guy on the team. An obvious deep threat that will most likely be used more with Ben’s increasing pass attempts per game.

If the Steelers are going to turn things around, they are going to have to get Mike Wallace involved as much as they can, and use Limas Sweed, preferably, as little as they can.

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Steelers Sub-Par Running Game Will Open The Door For TE Heath Miller

The Pittsburgh Steelers run game has been dormant for a little over a year and the team has had to rely on its defense and Ben Roethlisberger’s arm to continue to win ball games.

And this year looks like it is going to be no different.

The Steelers runningbacks rushed for a grand total of 33 yards on 22 attempts in last Thursday’s overtime win against the Titans. That is definitely not going to cut it if Pittsburgh is going to make a serious title defense.

The team is going to have to rely on Big Ben’s passing ability for the time being until the running game works itself out.

And one of the big keys for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense is going to have to be big TE Heath Miller.

He had several good years from 2005 to 2007 with ’07 being his best season to date.

During that season alone he caught nine TD passes and had over 550 yards and 40+ catches.

And over that three-year period, Miller had 120 receptions for a total of 1418 yards and 18 TDs.

Last season was a down year in the touchdown department for Miller—he had just three—but when your QB only throws 17 TDs, you can’t expect major numbers from one of his receivers, let alone a tight end.

He still caught a career high 48 passes for 514 yards, but with his potential, he should exceed that.

A big problem with the way the Steelers’ offense operated last year was that Miller was not utilized as he much as he could’ve been. Especially down in the red zone, TEs thrive, but Heath wasn’t used there very often.

Even though the team won it’s sixth Lombardi Trophy, the offense definitely could have produced more and made it a bit easier for the defense.

Miller is going to have to be one of the major cogs in the machine that is the Steelers’ offense in order for it to be effective. And with two very young, still unproven receivers at the third and fourth spots on the depth chart, Miller’s role should be big.

If Steelers’ offensive coordinator Bruce Arians and Roethlisberger look his way as often as they need to this season, I expect Miller to reach 50, and possibly 60 receptions for well over 650, or 700 yards and around six to eight TDs.

A pretty big year for a guy like him in an offense like Pittsburgh’s.

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Michael Vick to the Vikings Would Create an Intriguing Situation for Minnesota

Nobody really has any idea at this point where Michael Vick is going to end up this season.

Some people have said the Pittsburgh Steelers or even the New England Patriots are the top contenders for him.

Others don’t even think he’ll play in the NFL and that he’ll go tear up the UFL for six to seven weeks as sort of a tryout.

There are also a number of questions surrounding his return, most notably his ability to play after almost two years away from the sport. His off-field issues are also something teams pursuing Vick need to be concerned about, not just dogfighting, but also his marijuana problem.

But put all of that aside for a moment and think about something for a second.

Vick would make a rather interesting combination with the Minnesota Vikings—especially now, since they didn’t get Brett Favre to re-unretire (I guess that word makes sense when talking about Favre).

Just think about the Vikings offense with Vick: Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin, and Michael Vick—three very electrifying players, all on the same offense.

Tarvaris Jackson isn’t going to make Minnesota into a playoff contender any time soon, and neither is Sage Rosenfels. Favre could’ve, but we will never know.

Just imagine how powerful of an offense Minnesota could have with Vick as its quarterback.

Harvin has already played in an offense that used the option and utilized him in both the rushing and passing game, which obviously would translate well to a team with a wildcat formation, which Minnesota could have since they drafted Harvin.

Peterson has already established himself as the most dominant rusher in the NFL today after only two seasons in the league. He averages over 100 yards a game for his career. He’s just a beast—enough said.

Now take Vick, possibly the best scrambling quarterback in NFL history, a former 1,000-yard rusher, and another player that would fit great in a wildcat formation. Put him into the same offense as both Harvin and Peterson, and you have yourself one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL.

With all three of those guys on the field at the same time, and a wildcat or wildcat-like formation put into the offense, the Vikings could become a serious contender.

Defenses would have to game plan around all three of those guys, and you wouldn’t know who was going to get the ball or what they were going to do with it. It would cause so much confusion for the opposition and would strike fear into some of the best defenses around the league.

I know what Vick did was unforgivable, but he has served his time and should be allowed to get back to his career.

The Vikes don’t have a good QB, and they need one to go along with that solid defense and running game if they want to contend. Vick seems like he could be a good fit there.

I’m not saying he necessarily should become a Viking, but simply that it would make a very intriguing situation in Minnesota and could possibly, if it all went well, turn them into a serious contender in the NFC.

Why Would Michael Vick be a “Great Fit” for the Pittsburgh Steelers?!?

This morning, I was watching SportsCenter and they were discussing Michael Vick’s conditional reinstatement into the NFL.

Chris Mortensen was brought on to talk about how it affected the league. Then they got into talking about possible teams for Vick and Mortensen said possibly the most mind-blowing and unexpected thing he could have ever said at that particular moment.

“I can make a great case for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They have a two-time Super Bowl Champion QB in Ben Roethlisberger, he could be a backup for him.”

Oh yeah, and there is more. Mort goes on to say, “They have an interesting backup situation and Mike Tomlin knows Michael Vick.”

Consider your mind officially blown.

What?!? Why?!?

I don’t really know how somebody can make even a below average case for the Steelers to get Vick, let alone a great one.

I would think that the Steelers are at the very bottom of the list of teams that could use Vick along with likes of the Atlanta Falcons or the Indianapolis Colts. And there are several glaring reasons why.

As Mort said, “two-time Super Bowl Champion QB Ben Roethlisberger”…enough said…and we already have two acceptable backups currently in Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch.

Also, we aren’t too fond of criminals. Remember we got rid of both Plaxico Burress and Joey Porter a few years ago. Oh, and we don’t like Ray Lewis too much either.

We are owned by the Rooney family who doesn’t take kindly to off-field issues (see above).

Our previous QB who could throw and run didn’t work out so well. I think another “Slash” would only be detrimental to the team.

And the team doesn’t need another distraction along with this crazy woman from Tahoe, making these absurd and bogus rape accusations against our quarterback.

Pittsburgh is about as good a fit for Vick as it would be for Brett Favre. And the fans of Pittsburgh would want him about as much as they would want a root canal.

Mort’s comment is about as astonishing as last year when Cris Carter said that Jeff George, yes, Jeff George, was a better quarterback than Ben Roethlisberger.

I don’t know where Vick will end up, nor do I care, but I can safely say that he will not end up in western Pennsylvania.

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