Bouchette Once Again Drops the Ball

Once again, Bouchette Drops the Ball

In Sunday�s PG, Ted Douchette, the self-proclaimed Steeler expert, ridiculed the Steeler front office and coaching staff.

First, he ripped the trade for kick returner Allen Rossum.  The sub-headline stated, �Despite Tomlin's reasoning, acquisition of Allen Rossum still doesn't make sense�.  

Douchette�s thesis is that Tomlin already had Tonio Holmes, and therefore there was no need to trade a meager 7th rounder for a proven returner like Rossum.   Douchette then moans, �Because they acquired Rossum, they released second-year center Marvin Philip, leaving them with no backup center with NFL experience at the position.�

Notice to Douchette -- Marvin Phillips wouldn�t have played a single down this season unless the O-line was shredded by multiple injuries.   It�s well know that if Mahan goes down, then Simmons will slide over to center and Chris Kemo will start at RG.   As it is, scrubs like Marvin Phillips -- just like Matt Cushing for years upon years -- are merely a phone call away.  Not many teams are scrambling to sign the likes of Marvin Phillips. 

Here�s what Douchette, the imbecilic dimbulb that he is, failed to take into consideration.  Unlike Billy Cowher, who actually enjoyed being painted into a corner and left with little or no options, Mike Tomlin had seen enough bumbling, fumbling, and dancing from his kick return game (in particular Willie Reid, who was deactivated versus Clev.), that he wanted a steady, solid, proven commodity to handle both the KO and PR chores.   Rossum did just that versus Cleveland, cleaning fielding every punt and doing no dancing or backwards tomfoolery.  Rossum even had a very nice 23-yard KO return after the lone Clev. TD and had a nifty 10-yard punt return in the 1Q.  Now, as it stands, Tomlin doesn�t need to fret or worry about what was a problem.  The problem is fixed and Tomlin and the team can move on to more important preparation tasks. 

Could Holmes help out with kick returns?   Sure, but unlike last year, when he was primarily a non-starter, Holmes is entrenched in the starting lineup and will be on the field for every meaningful offensive snap.   Tomlin doesn�t see a need to overwork Holmes, particularly in the hot, humid weather in September, which includes a game out in the Phoenix desert.  For the chickenfeed price of a 7th rounder, Tomlin and Colbert have addressed the problem and more than adequately filled it.  Case closed. 

Not finished with his imbecilic babbling, Douchette went on to write, �This comes, of course, after the Steelers used two draft picks on a rookie punter when they had one on their roster capable of handling the job.�   Of course, all Supulveda did was have a superb rookie debut, pinning the Browns on their own 2-yard line in the 1H and then in the 2H brilliantly hitting a �wedge shot� that hit at the 5 and dropped dead.   Unlike Billy Cowhard, Tomlin means it when he stresses the importance of special teams.  Rather than settling for abject mediocrity the way Cowhard did, Tomlin spotted a problem and was determined to fix it.   Based on his debut in Clev, Sepulveda fixes the problem with aplomb.  And, fact is, the Stillers had more draft picks than a veteran-laden team could have reasonably retained.  Thus, armed with more draft picks than they reasonably could have used, the Stillers traded a couple meager 2nd-day picks and vastly improved what had been a severe weakness.  Pissing and moaning about the draft-day trade for Sepulveda -- which Douchette has been doing for months now -- is not only a sheer waste of time and newspaper space, but it also shows the outright dearth of intelligence and foresight that the man possesses. 

This incompetence and babble by the majority of the Pittsburgh media is what drove us to start Stillers.com in the first place.  It�s readily apparently, now more than ever, that Stillers.com is still needed to provide Stiller fans with sensible, intelligent analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers.