2009 Recap – Pittsburgh Steelers

Passing Offense

• ·         536 attempts   (ranked 18^th)
• ·         65.5% completion % (ranked 7^th )
• ·         4,148 pass yards  (ranked 9^th )
• ·         259 yards per game
• ·         8.4 Yards per attempt (ranked 2^nd )
• ·         28 TDs (ranked t-7^th ) and 14 INTs (tied 19^th )
• ·         50 Sacks (2^nd)
• ·         98.1 QB rating (ranked 5^th)

Rushing Offense

• ·         428 attempts (ranked 18^th)
• ·         1,793 rush yards (ranked 19th)
• ·         112 yards per game
• ·         4.2 yards per carry (ranked 16^th )
• ·         10 TDs (ranked 20^th )

2009 Recap – The Steelers - had another impressive go of it throwing the ball on light attempts relative to the rest of the league.  Ben Roethlisberger, while a foul human, is among the most accurate QBs in the game – and that is with that porous oline who can’t seem to get it right in pass protection.  50 sacks?  If it were anyone besides Ben-Ro, we’d be disgusted, but there is something comforting about him getting driven into the dirt on Sundays.  Go allegedly sexually assault another female, douche!  Hines Ward, despite getting up there in age, continues to be a WR2 for fantasy squads, but nothing more.  The ball was distributed evenly in ’09 as Pittsburgh had four pass catchers over 700 yards and 4 over 5 TDs (Santonio Holmes, Ward, Heath Miller and rookie Mike Wallace).

On the ground, the Steelers continue to struggle to get into the end zone, however they did show marked improvement from 2008 by averaging .5 YPA higher in 2009.  I suppose a lot of that can be attributed to Mendenhall carrying the ball more over the cadre of 2^nd rate guys they had going in ’08.  Nonetheless, the Steelers didn’t end up coming out and pounding the ball like many thought they would at this time last year – and oddly, it had a lot to do w/ how porous their defense became once the lost their all-pro safety Troy Polamalu.   

2010 Offensive Philosophy

Coach Mike Tomlin is back for his 4^th season as head coach of the Steelers, and he retains the services of Bruce Arians as OC for a 4^th season as well.  Arians has never been known as a pass-first OC until this current stint with the Steelers (if the last 3 seasons are any indication).  What I like about Coach Tomlin as an NFL coach is that he will do a lot of what the Steelers are set up to do well.  If that means pass the ball, then so be it, if they are running effectively, then it’s a hand-off and a cloud of dust.  This is also what makes forecasting Steelers a bit tricky.  Every part of me wants to love Mendenhall in 2010, but the fact that the Steelers just lost Willie Colon for the year, has me running the other way.  It’s gonna have Ben and whoever subs for him these first 6 games running the other way, too.  I am going to be avoiding all Steelers this season – except maybe Ward, as he always seems to show up and contribute.   

QB

Ben Roethlisberger  –     How can this guy just not disgust you?  When you read enough about him, you really just want to vomit.  He’s foul.  I mean the best thing out of this guy’s mouth is “Do you know who I am”.  The worst?  I don’t know, if he’s not making fun of pregnant girls, he’s allegedly sexually assaulting non-pregnant girls.  The guy can ball, though.  He has been in full image-repair mode, chalking up all of his idiocy to being young and immature.  The only thing I’ll say in his defense is that he accomplished so much at such a young age and in so little time (ROY honors in 2004, two superbowls, etc etc) that it would probably be easy for most guys to lose touch of reality.   This does not excuse his treatment of people in general or the alleged sexual misconduct, but perhaps makes it at least fathomable… or not.  

Verdict:   So I just basically spewed on about nothing relative to a fantasy projection.  Ben will miss the first 4 games, and should come at a bargain in 2010.   But do you really want him?  The no Willie Colon factor is gonna hurt Ben more than anyone on that team – except maybe Mendenhall.  I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up Ben at a discount as a backup QB – but only after guys like Kolb and even Henne are off the board.  There just isn’t much of an upside w/ this douche bag.    

RB

Rashard Mendenhall - 

Had Willie Colon not gone down for the season, I would be ranking Mendy higher than this. They replaced him with 5x Pro Bowler Flozell Adams, who is clearly in the twilight of his career. I'm not thrilled with Mendy only posting three 100 yard games in 2009 - something that could possibly change as Pittsburgh sent Fast Willie Parker packing, but again, the Colon loss is huge. 50-60 more carries is a near guarantee w/ health, but I don't think he can average another 4.6 YPC w/o Colon. Also, Mendy seemed to sort of wear down in the 2nd half of the season - check it: First 7 games he had 100 rushes for 573 yards for a 5.73 YPC average and 4 TDs. In the last 8 games he had 142 rushes for 535 yards for a 3.76 YPC average with 3 TDs. He had 42 more carries in the second half of the season but had 38 less yards. The Steelers rushed in 10 TDs in '09, 16 in '08, and only 9 in '07.

Jonathan Dwyer - Rashard Mendenhall owners, listen up - this guy is your handcuff, and not Me-welder Moore. Dwyer was a 6th round draft pick out of Georgia Tech for the Steelers. He fell on most boards due to some injuries he suffered in the college ranks. He's a bruiser type one-dimensional back standing at 6'0 and 225 or so lbs. Mendenhall struggled in 3rd and short in 2009, and Bruce Arians (OC) said the goal-line duties are "up for grabs" earlier this summer. If Dwyer wins that role, you'd have to bump Mendy down to high RB2 status.

WR

Mike Wallace - ***Beast Alert*** He'll be on my squad this season. I'm keeping my chatter low on him, and just treating the FFA fans who actually read my site and don't just hang out on facebook. I've been talking up Hakeem Nicks till I'm blue in the face (cuz I know he's gonna roll), but secretly, I think Mike Wallace has the potential to just go off. So he's faster than Holmes was, has better hands than him, too, and he averaged 19.4 YPCatch to lead the NFL in 2009... As a rookie! Boyyoyoyoyoyoying. As an fyi - my two other major WR sleepers - Nicks and Massaquoi - both finished in the top 7 in YPC among WRs. Time to get way revved up about this guy. As big of a dickhead as Ben Roethlisberger is, he can make a WR super valuable in fantasy football. Lock this guy down. I'm seeing him go as the 30th WR off of boards. Don't wait around that long - or you will lose him. Especially if your draft is held after the pre-season.

Hines Ward - Ward finished 2009 (his 10th in the NFL) with his 4th best fantasy statistical output of his career. The dude is 34 and still killin' it. He is the modicum of consistency for NFL WRs, and is a bone-crusher to boot - ever see a downfield block highlight reel on Ward? Good times - check out his profile on the site, there's some good stuff. At any rate, w/ Douchelisberg on the pines for the first 4 games, and another year on those bones, Ward's stock inevitably takes a bit of a hit on draft day, but not much. As long as he laces up, you can assume that he is gonna come out on Sundays and deliver consistent play. He would make the ideal WR3 in any format. He just doesn't have even a lick of upside, which is why I'll be taking risks on some sleeper or bounce back candidates before I'd settle on a guy like Ward. It was tough even writing that, because he's one of my favorite players in the NFL.

TE

Heath Miller - You get no upside when you draft Heath Miller, and when you are drafting your backup TE, you should be taking chances on guys like John Carlson or even rookie Jermaine Gresham) You do get some stability with the pick, though. He finished 9th in 2009 among TEs, 15th in 2008 (but he missed two games) and 7th in 2007. Statistically, he is the 2nd look for Roethlisberger in the red zone (after Hines Ward), and the Steelers are always able to move the ball well these days. You just don't get the potential for a lights out type output (ala Vernon Davis, Jermichael Finley, Kellen Winslow, Brent Celek, etc). Hence this ranking. He's a boring pick, and let's face it, 5 pt per game TEs can be had pretty much at any point of a draft. The dude w/ the first pick of your draft that was taking LT in his dominant years wasn't winning your league unless he was landing value in round 4-20.

Click here for our 2009 Analysis on the Pittsburgh Steelers - published July 2009