Loose Slag from The Still Mill

- Before many a fan starts to froth over each draftee as a 2005 starter and even a future Hall o� Famer, grab hold of oneself and snap back to reality.� Of the 8 picks, at least 3 will be cut, if not 4 or 5.� And of those that make the squad, they�ll all quickly � barring injury � be subjected to Billy Cowher�s �he doesn�t quite yet have a feel� fretting and sputtering.� Remember, were it not for Batch�s weird knee injury in August and Maddox�s season-ending arm injury in week 2 on a relatively innocent play, Ben Roethlisberger would have rotted the entire season on the bench, ably assisted by Lord Billy�s �he doesn�t quite have a feel for our schemes and the NFL game�.�

- You have to wonder what kind of performance bonuses Heath Miller�s agent will work into his contract.� Extra cash if Miller catches at least 10 passes?� Big money if he somehow snares 20 passes?� As an agent, you�d like to incorporate reachable goals into the bonus clause, but in the Stiller offense, anything over 14 catches by a TE is seen as an avalanche of productivity. �Miller�s agent must be cringing at the thought of haggling with Rooney to work in such meager numbers into the performance bonuses.�

- Just a tidbit to remember from this past playoffs -- not 1 pass the entire Jets game was thrown to a FB or a TE.� Not one.� And the only pass thrown to the TE in the AFCC was a glacially-slow out pattern to the TE that could have been read by Ray Charles standing 80 yards away.�

- Before fans start frothing over the prospect of using 4th round WR Freddie Gibson in the red zone, keep this in mind:� Plex Burress played FIVE seasons for the Stillers and was thrown no more than 7 lob passes to the end zone in those FIVE seasons combined.�

- 5th rounder Rian Wallace was correctly referred to by Steel Phantom as another Larry Foote.� Speaking of Foote, it�s always remarkable how a mediocre Steeler player gets starting PT -- in this case, entirely due to injury of the real starter -- and then somehow becomes ENTRENCHED in Steeler fans� minds as a �starter�.�� Fans are already proclaiming that Wallace will have to earn his spot as an OLB, along with LB James Harrison.� Here�s the real deal:� if the Stillers want to upgrade their defense, James Harrison should be given every opportunity to win the ILB job along side Farrior.� Foote is a �catcher� at ILB; he catches RBs and allows gobs of yardage after contact, and rarely ever makes the bone-jarring stick on a RB that Kirkland and Holmes were famous for.� Sure, Harrison could compete with Haggans at OLB, but Haggans is, by far, the better NFL starter over Foote.� The most optimal Stiller starting LB corps for 2005 would be:� Hag, James, James, and Joey.�

- Speaking of the NFL draft, this draft was the first since 1951 that a Penn Bate player was not drafted.� This is yet another stark indication of just how sorry, how laughable, and how lowly the Penn Bate program has become.� �We are�.Penn Bate!�� We are�.a pile o� manure!��

- Regarding 6th round OG Chris Kemoeatu, I myself am not concerned whatsoever about his �character� and �disposition� in relation to his getting tossed from a couple of games last season.� Football, like hockey, is a nasty, full-contact sport.� Frankly, I want nasty, mean-spirited players on my team.� Leave the polite fellows, like Mark Breuner and Jay Bell, to work for the State Department or for Mary Kay Cosmetics.� It�s up to Billy Cowher -- supposedly the God of NFL Coaching -- to reign in Kemo�s intensity and ferocity and channel it for positive uses.�

- Speaking of Kemoeatu, will he be given the nickname �Kemo��and if so, how will fans differentiate when they hear �Kemo� and �Kimo� bandied about on radio commentary?�

- Chad Brown back in the Black n� Gold�?� Awesome, if it happens at a non-hideous cap hit.� And take note of this fact: after the �96 season, the Stillers had to make a choice between retaining Bettis, or Chad Brown.� I fully supported the retention of Brown over Bettis, based on Brown�s impact playmaking on defense combined with the fact that the Stiller ground offense was churning out good productivity, regardless of whether Foster, Bam, Pegramm, or even Leroy Thomson was toting the pig.� With Brown�s departure and Lloyd�s injuries, the Stiller defense was entirely soft and flaccid, and they never did reach the big show in the Big Jerome Bettis era.� Obviously, retaining Brown over Bettis would have given the Stillers the better shot at the title.�

- Any day now, we�re hear the annual bromide from the Steelers staff, �This year we�re gonna have a renewed emphasis of the TE in the passing game.�� We�ve been hearing this babble since 1996.�

- Of course, any day now, we�ll also hear the annual bromide from the Steelers staff, �Jerome Bettis is in the best shape of his life, and he�s working out with Kersee at the track, and he�s never been faster or in better shape at this point of the offseason.��

- Pope Benedict XVI has now fully assumed his duties as the Pope.� One has to wonder if, or when, Pope Benedict will give Billy Cowher the papal infallibility that Cowher was supposedly given by Pope John Paull II. �For those of you unfamiliar with the Catholic dogma of papal infallibility, this term means that when one that has papal infallibility makes a solemn pronouncement, he is guarded by the Holy Spirit against teaching error, or put more succinctly, his pronouncement is simply free from error.� Billy Cowher, as we all know, was long ago given papal infallibility, which is why the entire Pittsburgh media, along with the sub segment of Steeler fans that aren�t all that bright, immediately proclaim that anything Cowhard does is simply free from error.� I reckon we should all look forward to the big day when Pope Benedict re-bestows papal infallibility upon Lord Billy Cowher.�

- Kudos to my esteemed colleagues, Haven and Phantom, for their superb post-draft analyses.� As usual, you won�t find anything, anywhere, close to the depth and breadth of their astute coverage.�

�(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 4 Stiller playoff losses�.)