Ed: Hampton a Real Hot Dog

Thursday, 29 November 2012 06:42

Written by Ed Bouchette

Good morning,
    The  notion that the Steelers cannot win without Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback or that only he could have led them to victories over Baltimore and Cleveland is misguided.
       As I wrote earlier, Roethlisberger should have been getting recognition as a MVP candidate of the league for his performance this season. He kept them afloat when they were 2-3, kept them from being 0-5.
         Yet somehow, the Steelers still managed to lose to Oakland and Tennessee with him at quarterback, and when he left the home game in Kansas City early in the third quarter, the Steelers and dreadful Chiefs were tied 10-10.
       Without Roethlisberger, the Steelers would have beaten Baltimore without a fumble and a dropped pass. The Steelers would have beaten Cleveland without him had there been, oh, three lost fumbles instead of five. Byron Leftwich and Charlie Batch did not come close to playing at the level of Roethlisberger at any time, but the point is, they did lose to some bad teams with him and they should have won a couple of games without him. And it was Leftwich who led the Steelers to the field goal drive that put them ahead 13-10 before KC tied it and sent it to overtime.
Onto some stuff:

 --- It’s my experience that a coach would not waste an entire practice moving a player of the stature of Maurkice Pouncey to another position unless he thought there was a good chance he would have to play there on Sunday.
    --- Casey Hampton will tell you the Steelers-Ravens rivalry is as bitter as they get and told me before their first meeting that he believes the Ravens hate the Steelers but it’s not the other way around.
 Nevertheless, Hampton has a big Ravens fans.
“There’s one fan every year, I don’t know his name, but we go at it every year,’’ Hampton said. “He brings me a hot dog out and everything, so he takes care of me. That’s my guy.”
 Does he actually eat it?
“All the time. The first couple times I saw nothing was wrong with it, so I’m good.”
Does it come with relish, mustard?
    “Just plain. Before the game, I don’t really want to upset my stomach too much so I just eat it plain. Usually I put catsup and mustard on it.”
---  Someone asked why the Steelers would start rookie Kelvin Beachum at right tackle instead of maybe moving Willie Colon back there where his career started or Ramon Foster, who played there in college. My answer was that the Steelers preferred to not make two changes to fix one, that it was more important to keep the stability at the other positions.
     So what might they do for Sunday? Just change four of their five positions, including moving their Pro Bowl center to left guard. Told ya.
--- Onto your questions:
--- YOU: Ed, since when do the Steelers print depth charts, and (gasp) share them with the media? I don't recall hearing of that before. I was stunned to see Coach T. provided this to the masses. when it's all you can do to get a straight, let alone believable, answer to a question. What's next, daily tweets from the coach?
ME: The league requires each team to provide a depth chart and they do so on a weekly basis. You can go to any team’s web site and read it. Now, Mike Tomlin’s depth charts haven’t always reflected reality. For example, he still had Ben Roethlisberger as the starting quarterback heading to Cleveland and he has Mike Adams as the No. 1 right tackle this week. Also, for years he would list Ike Taylor as the starting left cornerback when he was long the starting right cornerback. This is the one time that I can remember that he really used the depth chart to both send a message and to make news.
--- YOU: It seems the number of rib injuries has gone up across the league. Do you think that is due to the head injury awareness and changing the “strike zone” for hitting a ball carrier?
ME: It could be. I’ve seen no study on it, but they do catalogue injuries throughout the year and someone will have those stats by the end of it.
--- YOU: I do want to say this about your response on someone asking if Tomlin gets too much credit for two SB appearances when the D and Ben deserve the credit. You then brought up Noll, Walsh and Lombardi.. There is a difference. Tomlin adopted a well performing team even though it was 8-8 in Cowher's last year. The three coaches you mentioned came in to teams that have been horrible and completely changed them around. Jimmy Johnson deserves credit for that too. I'm not saying Tomlin is bad but sorry, I can't put him in the same sentence as the three you mentioned. Maybe someday but not now.
ME: Bill Cowher came into a similar situation as Tomlin, taking over a talented team that had underperformed the previous year.
--- YOU: I’m just curious as to what you see, being a lot more front and center than I, as what is so different. From my vantage point, it’s more than just an organization, it’s like a brand that has been built and those who associate with it understand the opportunity he/she has been given. Is that accurate?
ME: The Steelers organization has been run a certain way for as long as I’ve covered them, and long before that with some tweaks along the way. They generally do not panic or pander to what their fans want, as do other teams. They don’t dump a lot of money on outside free agents, preferring to pay their own, although they always are open to a bargain or someone who fits them. They generally do not overpay for players, they treat them well but not extravagantly, the owner – first Art Rooney, then Dan and now Art II – is always around, always available to them. It’s a culture that has developed based on respect from the top down. They also do things in a simple, logical manner rather than with the flash you might see elsewhere. They are not the only organization that follows a similar path, and the New York Giants is as close as they come. It may be why those two franchises have won so many Lombardi trophies.
   --- YOU: I was looking at the 2008 draft class and see that only Mendy and Mundy are the only ones left and they are UFAs at seasons end. The word is out they have a great chance of not being here next year. If that happens, could this be the biggest bust draft year as a whole and is my info accurate?
ME: No, there have been many more and bigger draft busts. Mendenhall was not a bust, not with seasons of 1,108 yards rushing in 2009 and 1,273 in 2010. He had a down year in 2011 but managed 928 yards. But after him -–and he'll possibly not be here in 2013 – that was one bad draft with Limas Sweed second, Bruce Davis third, Tony Hills fourth. The only other two who hung around were Mundy and Dennis Dixon. It was by far their worst in this century.