Tuesday, 04 December 2012 13:24

Written by Ed Bouchette

Ed Bouchette: Good afternoon, let's begin

Dude_From_Cali: Ed: is Kelvin Beacham (sp) a flash in the pan or he got game (per Denzel)?

Ed Bouchette: He started 52 games at left tackle over four seasons for SMU. The Steelers were converting him to a guard but there really wasn't a spot for him. He may not have a starting spot for awhile, though, once everyone is healthy. I would hardly call him a flash in the pan.

yep: What's the word on the Stanford Routt workout today?

Ed Bouchette: He does not work out here until tomorrow, and I would not expect to hear how it went.

TPT: IR for Ike?

Ed Bouchette: Doesn't sound like it. He's out at least 2 weeks. What if he's ready to go by week 3 or 4?

Guest: Will Beachum get to start again?

Ed Bouchette: I would think he earned a second start with Mike Adams still out. The only other thing they could do would be to start David DeCastro at RG and move Ramon Foster to RT but why would you make those switches this week after how they played as a unit in Baltimore?

steeler fan: What do you make of this latest Handshake Gate? Is John Harbaugh a jerk or just a horse's a**?

Ed Bouchette: I don't know him and based on that clip, would not call him that.

The Blob: You think that this maybe Batch's last year? The way he played against the Ravens. Looks like he may have another one left.

Ed Bouchette: He says he wants to keep playing and after Sunday, how could anyone doubt him?

Guest: I don't think Plaxico got on the field Sunday. Is that correct?

Ed Bouchette: He did. One or two plays.

Sheff: Should the Steelers play Ben this week? WIll they play Ben this week?

Ed Bouchette: My guess is yes and yes

Tucson Ken: What was Troy's impact on Sundays game?

Ed Bouchette: I did not notice, so it was not impactful

dave: Any changes to the depth chart this week? Is Wallace still a co-starter?

Ed Bouchette: Same as last week across the board, including Mike Adams as starting RT even though he declared him out

hello: What's this about Ryan Clark entering the Ravens locker room following the game in Pittsburgh? TRAITOR!!!

Ed Bouchette: Gee, where have you been? He told me he went in to get Ed Reed because he is somehow related to him by marriage and someone was waiting for him. As you can see, I didn't write all that down.

TPT: Mendy to 3rd string? Is it a production thing or something else?

Ed Bouchette: I think that's obvious. As Troy Edwards might say, "What he done?"

Sheff: How is Woodley's injury progressing?

Ed Bouchette: MT listed him as questionable today for this week.

hi: What are your impressions of Flacco? It seems to be that he is above average, but kind of a bum.

Ed Bouchette: Those are competing terms. Inconsistent, I would call him. Sometimes he looks great, others he's overthrowing wide receivers 15 yards away from him.

mikeflores16: I have been extremely impressed by the effort 92 has given all year.. You can tell he is not himself, but his outstanding effort may have saved the season. Any chance that he is still on the roster next year?

Ed Bouchette: There's always a chance that, at 35, he'll be back.

Steeler_in_VZ: Hello Mr. Bouchette. As a Steeler fan I went from seeing a bright future to a dark one, back and forth. As far as you know which is the real situation of the front line? Are more changes on its way this year?

Ed Bouchette: Based on health, yes.

TPT: Any comment from Tomlin on dissing Harbaugh?

Ed Bouchette: He said he was in a hurry to get to the locker room to congratulate his players. He's not going to come out and give you the real reasons.

Joey D: Who will be the Nickle Back on Sunday?

Ed Bouchette: Curtis Brown

Guest: Did you feel the roughing call on Kruger was a good one or ticky tacky?

Ed Bouchette: It was a classic late hit.

Sheff: Why can't the Steelers find creative ways to get Rainey the ball in open field (not screens)

Ed Bouchette: They tried, it did not work. It's good to see they did not try on Sunday.

dave: At the end of last week's press conference, MT said Rainey was "looking for compassion" when he got hurt. Do you think he was trying to send a message or just making a joke?

Ed Bouchette: Sounds as though he was almost comparing Rainey on the ground to Limas Sweed staying down when he dropped a pass (and cost them a timeout).

Guest: I heard a new Tom Cruise movie was filmed in P-burgh. Based on your performance with Mark Wahlberg a few years ago, are you in it?

Ed Bouchette: Tom asked, but we could not work out our schedules.

Guest: Jason LaConfora's report about players being upset about Ben not playing was discredited. It seemed to have irritated Pittsburgh sports writers from what I gathered from their comments on Twitter. Did LaConfora ever retract that? Why did he say it in the first place? Did anyone confront him about it?

Ed Bouchette: Gerry Dulac talked to a good source who told him Ben was not cleared to play. LaCanfora is a good reporter. I'm sure he got that from someone, perhaps someone with an axe to grind with Ben? I have no idea. I don't try to guess other reporters sources, just go by my own.

70cougar: Any insight as to how Antonio Brown's injury is coming along? Is the injury one of the high ankle sprains that can linger or does he have a chance at being 100% at some point soon?

Ed Bouchette: He played last week, even returned punts. They will go easy on him in practice this week so as to continue to let it heal.

Kordells Revenge: The emotion after the game mean that Chuck Batch was going to retire after this year all along?

Ed Bouchette: I don't think that had anything to do with what will happen after this season, just what happened on Sunday and Charlie's long history with the Steelers.

dave: Have you heard anything about the game vs Cincy getting flexed to Sunday night? The current matchup that night is SD vs NYJ.

Ed Bouchette: I was told by someone that it cannot be flexed for one reason or another. That's not official because I have not spent much time looking into it. I will tell you, they will play on Dec. 23.

Jason: If you had to guess, who will win more games the rest of this season - Steelers or Ravens?

Ed Bouchette: That's an easy one since the Ravens already have 9 wins, two more than the Steelers.

Mike: Why don't the Steelers ever use Mike Wallace as a returner given the speed he has?

Ed Bouchette: They may have tried him early-on, in camp his rookie season, I can't recall. It's like a pitcher with a good fastball. Doesn't necessarily make him a good pitcher. Maybe Mike just doesn't have that return sense.

Sheff: Pit v Cincy: Biggest match up since the Wild Card game where Palmer went down?

Ed Bouchette: There was a big one at Heinz Field in '09 on Nov. 15. Both teams were 6-2. Bengals won 18-12, the first of five straight losses for the Steelers.

JamesinNYC: OK so you draft a QB in middle round, do you keep Batch, Leftwitch, or Hoyer(SP) as the 3rd QB?

Ed Bouchette: First off, what's the great interest in Hoyer? He was on the streets available to all until a few weeks ago.

Lamberts Two Teeth: Will Jarome Bettis be elected to the Hall of fame this year?

Ed Bouchette: He has a good chance, I think.

TPT: what scares you about the remaining schedule? The fact that all games are winnable?

Ed Bouchette: Nothing scares me about the remaining schedule, except that I have another chat on it next Tuesday.

Sheff: Why can some teams like the Pats and Skins run bubble screen with great effectiveness but the Steelers can never count on that play to gain yards?

Ed Bouchette: I haven't done that study yet. I think it's on the schedule for Thursday morning.

Sheff: Perhaps the loss of Taylor is a blessing disguise. He is getting up there in years. This will allow the Steelers to see how the young draftees in the secondary can fare and gain valuable experience.

Ed Bouchette: Well, if that's what you want, why not sit down some of the other old guys too, so you can judge over the remaining games how good the young guys are behind them: Max Starks, Brett Keisel, Casey Hampton, Ryan Clark, Troy Polamalu. Heck, Heath Miller is 30, let's see what David Paulson can do at tight end!

TPT: You should do chats once a day...twice after losses...

Ed Bouchette: I'd snap.

Dan: ESPN reported that Batch is retiring at the end of the yr and I never heard that from anybody that knows the steelers? Is this true?

Ed Bouchette: He said after the game that he wants to keep playing next year.

Kordells Revenge: Ed, clearly they need to move on from Woodley, please validate what I am seeing but no one is talking about - he has a $10mil per year cap number!

Ed Bouchette: This ain't the Pirates. They can afford it. They just redid his contract last year.

Ed Bouchette: Thanks for another chat. See you next Tuesday.