Loose Slag from The Still Mill (Sep. 1st, 2003)

 

- JOEY PORTER shot inside Denver bar: According to ESPN: "DENVER -- Steelers linebacker Joey Porter is listed in serious condition in a Denver hospital with non-life threatening injuries Sunday after being shot at a sports bar.� According to Mike Sullivan, Porter's agent, Porter was shot in the buttocks. Doctors are still evaluating whether or not to perform surgery to remove the bullet. Sullivan said the injury is not career-threatening.� One person was killed in the shooting, which occurred in the early-morning hours. It appears that Porter was an innocent bystander, a police spokesman told ESPN. The incident took place at 1:47 a.m. at Denver's Best Sports Bar and Grille."�

 

����������� First, Godspeed to Joey and his family for a recovery, both physically as well as the mental trauma of being shot.� Obviously, this is a major blow to the Stillers defense.� When one looks at all the attributes of a LB -- QB pressure, pass coverage, run stuffing, speed, agility, quickness, toughness, tenacity, hustle -- Joey Porter is the best all-around LB on the Stiller defense, just ahead of Ken Bell.� An already-questionable Stiller defense has lost its best pure-pass rusher and pass coverage linebacker for an undetermined amount of time.� Not good.�

 

- Who replaces Porter?�� Haggans will replace him in the base and the nickel.� This would actually be the best time to stop the nonsense of using Bell as a rush-end in the dime, and merely allow Haggans &/or Zo Jackson to perform those dime chores.� Tim Lewis isn't a terribly bright bulb, and now he's in a conundrum in terms of replacing the incredibly versatile Porter, who, as noted, is the team's best pure-rusher and best pure coverage-backer.�

 

- More personnel news:� Stillers cut Fu, Brown, Poteat, Ivy, Upchurch, and Wall, with Keisel going on season-ending IR (shoulder surgery).� The Stillers also acquired WR-kick returner Fred Milons from the Iggles on Saturday.� As much as I'm stunned & shocked over the Porter shooting, I'm also a bit stunned & shocked over these personnel moves.� Ok, Poteat, Ivy, and Walls were ripe for the axe.� Poteat had an outside shot, but once Milons was acquired on Saturday, Hank was able to pack his bags long before The Turk visited him.

�

��� �- �I was in favor of cutting Fu, due to his cap hit and more so his China Doll tendencies that rendered him an invalid every 3 or 4 weeks.� I lose patience with players like Yancey Thigpen that have their mail and their pizza delivered to the hot tub.�

 

���� - Dante Brown is a disappointing cut.� By the time the ink dries on this report, he'll be scarfed up by Detroit, Dallas, or any one of about 9 other teams desperate for RB depth.� Brown would have provided nice depth for the future -- especially if Bettis is cut next off-season -- and this season he could have added a nice blend of size and speed to the special teams coverage unit, which has perennially been slow and feeble under the Billy Cowher regime.� Let's see -- a 6'-3", 218-pound man who runs fast�.a great addition to the coverage teams, right?� Wrong, according to Billy Cowher.� He prefers the slowfooted likes of Kreider, Kreiwaldt, and Foote.�

 

���� - Upchurch seemed to possess everything that Chris "I'm a Joke" Hoke and Kendrick "I've never justified my drafting" Clancy don't -- namely, desire, toughness, nastiness, and a proclivity to play D-line in the NFL.� Keeping Joke and Clancy over Upchurch makes no sense on the field nor on the salary cap.�

 

- The one unbelievable factor in all of this, is that the Stillers -- a team that treats the TE with as much disdain as an Israeli treats a Palestinian -- actually kept 4 (four) TEs on the final 53-man roster.� Matt Cushing is essentially the 4th TE, and he is also the 3rd FB if Kreider and Haynes are injured.� As I have written at least a half-dozen times on this site, I like Cushing.� I like his toughness and his ability to get the max out of his relatively limited-talent.� However, Cushing has proven one thing on at least 3 or 4 occasions -- nobody in the NFL is willing to sign him off the waiver wire, and he is always available to be re-signed when Bruener goes down with his annual injury.� If you're talking about keeping Brown or Cushing, the best choice is to keep Brown, because you know that Cushing will always be available (read: unemployed) if injuries set in.� I am astonished that Cowher and his staff committed such a myopic act of stupidity.

 

- Then again, I shouldn't be so astonished.� This is, after all, the same brain trust that cut Hank Fraley -- THE HIT of camp that summer -- in lieu of keeping Tom Myslinksi, and also cut Dan Kreider in lieu of keeping Jon "Feet of Stone" Wittman.�

 

- An earlier cut of Calvin Collins means the team will go with just 9 O-linemen.� Under ordinary circumstances, this might be adequate.� However, let's see: center Jeff Hartings has gimpy knees and seems to be held together by tape and gauze.� RG K. Simmons has recently been diagnosed with diabetes.� He's responded well thus far in camp, but he's yet to play in a meaningful game for 60 snaps under the hot sun of an outdoor, daytime game in 80-90 degree weather.� These two situations screamed for the team to keep 10 linemen, especially one who could back up at both G and C, which Collins could do.� Let's hope that Chubby Adobe is up to the task�

 

- Based on what he did -- and what Oliver Ross did not -- Todd Fordham should be the starting RT.

 

- Colbert actually traded for a player (Milons) with no tie to the Lions.� Go figure, eh?� Colbert interested in a player not on the Lions�?� Unreal.��

 

- As of this writing, I have no idea if the Stillers can get an exemption to place Porter on PUP (if the injury isn't season-ending).� This obviously wasn't a football-related injury, nor was it the result of, say, fooling around on a dirt bike, jet ski, etc, in his spare time.� Ideally, if the GSW isn't season-ending, Porter could be placed on PUP so that the team can add another player for depth and special-team work�but I doubt the NFL will be so understanding and accommodating.� ��

 

- I was talking to a buddy this weekend, and realized that it's been a while since I mentioned this:� It's not "sacks" that matter; it's in-your-face pressure, hurry, disruption, and smacks on the QB that matter.� A correlation to this is that there is no more meaningless stat in all of the 4 major pro sports, than the sack stat.�

 

- As my esteemed colleague Phantom alluded to, Harrison should be the #1 backup at ILB.� He's more active, with better instincts and better skills, than Foote or Kreiwaldt.� Regardless of the Porter injury, Harrison will never see time at OLB with Haggans and Jackson in the mix; that, combined with a total lack of frame length and quickness to play OLB in the 3-4, spells doom for him on the outside.� But he's been impressive enough to warrant PT on the inside if Bell or Farrior gets nicked up.�

 

- In a rare, never-before seen fit of intelligence and common sense, Ed Bouchette of the PG had this to say the other day:� "I also would make a third move, but this would run into some political problems on the ballclub. Put Clark Haggans at left end in the dime defense instead of Jason Gildon. That's a tough one because Gildon was the team's defensive co-captain last season and he's been one of the best pass rushers in Steelers history. He led or tied for the team lead in sacks in each of the past five seasons. He has 71 sacks and needs only three to surpass L.C. Greenwood's team record of 73.5. �But Gildon is 31 years old and his nine sacks last season were the fewest in his past three years. Haggans, playing only in the dime, had 6 1/2 sacks last season. Gildon never comes off the field and could use a break at his age. At the very least, they should work Haggans into the dime defense on occasion at left end, where he looked good last Thursday against Dallas when Gildon did not play. �When a defense slips from fourth to 20th against the pass in one year, it's time for bigger changes than what the Steelers have been doing so far this summer."��

 

������������� This is truly the very first time a Pgh. media member has EVER said anything even remotely negative about Jason GilDong.� For once, Bouchette is right on the mark.� GilDong doesn't need to play each and every snap of every single game.�� Furthermore, Haggans is, in fact, the better, tougher, more ferocious LB.� Zo Jackson has shown better quickness, speed, and pass-rush instincts than the Gilded Dong.� And Bouchette hits the mark when he says, "When a defense slips from fourth to 20th against the pass in one year, it's time for bigger changes than what the Steelers have been doing so far this summer."� Correct-a-mundo.� Letting Flowers go was merely 25% of the problem.� Burnt Alex and GilDong remain 50% of the overall problem, with the final 25% of the problem lying in the softie, overly-predictable pass coverage employed by Tiny Tim Lewis.�

 

- Speaking of GilDong, allow me to cite, here on Sep. 1st, the new, built-in excuse for Jason GilDong that will soon be bandied about by every media member and GilDong lover all season long:� "Oh, Jason isn't as dominating this year because, with Porter's injury, the other teams are GANGING UP on him with 2, 3, even 4 men blocking him on each and every play."

 

- After playing bitter-rival Cleveland in game 5, I was worried about a letdown the following week when the Stillers fly to Denver.� The Doncos obviously had nothing to do with this mayhem of the Porter shooting, but nevertheless I suspect this Stiller team will have a severe mean-on when they arrive in Colorado�.

 

(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- the only nationally read coverage on the Pittsburgh Stillers that has accurately predicted the how's and the why's of the past 3 Stiller playoff losses�.)