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Cripple Loving Colbert Braces for Season Opener

August 28, 2012 by Still Mill

Cripple Loving Colbert Braces for Season Opener

 

We don�t quite know how the final roster will shake out after this Thursday�s preseason finale, but one thing is certain -- Kevin Colbert will ensure the 53-man roster is littered with a wide array of crippled players, many of whom won�t be able to play in the opener and likely won�t be able to play for weeks to come.

 

This mess took on steam just a few days ago, when Colbert decided to bring both Mendenhall and Hampton off the PUP list.�� Never mind that this season, for the first time ever, a team could place a player on PUP if he was injured coming into preseason, and then stash him for at least 6 weeks before activating him.�� No one bothered to inform Colbert about this new rule, so he rushed hell-asunder to activate these 2 gimps.��

 

Let�s review these 2 players.�� Mendenhall tore an ACL on New Year�s Eve.��� Anyone who vividly recalls Rod Woodson will remember the fact that he took nearly 2 years to get back to the elite level he was at.��� Two years.�� Yes, he came back and played a few token plays in the Super Bowl, but the �96 season was a disaster, as he was a shell of his former self.��� Mendy hasn�t had any full contact at camp and hasn�t done a single activity at full speed.AT BEST, he might be ready in early Dec.���� So, why clog a roster spot right now??��

 

Hampton is a lardass who tore an ACL on Jan. 7th.���� Although not needing to cut like a RB, he still must be able to plant and fight off centers and guards.�� The opener is on the road, in Denver, at altitude and much more oppressive heat and humidity than that balmy January playoff game.�� Exactly what does the staff think FatBoy will contribute out in Denver ?��� Or any other city the 1st 6 weeks ??�� McClendon has been solid at NT, and this is a waste of a roster spot during those first 6 weeks.

 

Harrison and Worilds, neither of whom have played a snap with pads on since spring, were both activated off the PUP today.�� Why both ?��� Worilds in particular seems to be as eager to get healthy as Yancey Thigpen.��� As for Harrison, Colbert and the entire team botched his injured knee.�� He had all sorts of knee pain in mini camp.Nothing was done.More pain in June.Still nothing.��� �Let�s wait till mid August for surgery� was the �plan�, as utterly asinine as it was.��

 

Then there�s rookie OG David DeCastro, who tore up a bit of a knee this past weekend.�� It�s not as bad as expected, so Colbert, in his infinite wisdom, has decided for now to keep DeCastro on the active roster all season long, rather than using PUP.�� DeCastro might be enormously gimpy upon his return in Nov/Dec ....and at that point, he�ll have exactly zero snaps of real NFL experience under his belt.��� And Colbert wants to waste yet another roster spot on that....??

 

So here�s a macro look at the 53-man roster going into opening day, of which only 45 can dress on game day.�� You keep 3 QBs,but only 2 are active on game day.��� Ryan Clark will not dress, due to his sickle cell.�� Wes Saunders is suspended the first 4 games.Mendy will not dress.�� Worilds will not dress, and only a miracle will enable Harrison to dress.DeCastro will not dress.�� I can�t fathom Hampton will dress, as the last thing the defense will need is a portly, out of shape NT playing in hot weather at altitude.��� That�s at least 5 for-sure players who will not dress, and perhaps 7.��� And this game is at altitude, in the heat of September, where you will need every lineman, LB, and DB you can get your hands on to sub in & out of the game....but because of pissing away a host of active roster spots oncripples, there simply won�t be much depth.�� Do the math.�� A really myopic, stone-stupid bit of player management.��

 

 

(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close�.)

 

 

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