Steelers sign Matt Spaeth

All they need to do is resign Daniel Sepulveda, Ryan McBeam, Cameron Stephenson, and Dallas Baker and they can have a 2007 class reunion.

That video clip is far from an example of a great block.  Ngata throttle him off the ball and at that point all Spaeth could do is rotate his hips and hope to shield him.  If Fumblehall would have danced anymore Ngata would have thrown Spaeth into him on that play.  <br /> <br /> <br /> Also, I thought all of the sacks that Suggs got in the AFCCG weren't Starks' fault but the TE who was there to help him?   Also, lets not forget him getting blown up in the SB that year.  <br />       

Steelers Depot lists Spaeth as making $715,000 this year.  Not a bad price.

Actually, that was as good a block as one could expect a TE to throw on an athletic freak of a 340-lb. lineman. If Mendenhall were to hesitate on that run, it would be his fault, not Spaeth's. But he didn't, and Spaeth doing all he could to slow Ngata helped the play result in a TD.

 

Have to disagree there demo.  Keep in mind they are on the 2 yard line in that clip.  <br /> <br /> For starters Spaeth is a 1/2 second late off the ball.  He takes two false steps and actually is at the 3 1/2 yard line before making contact with Ngata at this point his only shot is to rotate his hips and hope that shielding him is enough.  Like I any dancing my Mendenhall results in Spaeth is his lap on that play.  Far from the kind of goal line block that you want from a great blocker.  At most it was adequate but closer to good thing he wasn't at the point of attack.  On the goal line you need guys who are going to move bodies not dance and finese.   

Ngata throttle him off the ball and at that point all Spaeth could do is rotate his hips and hope to shield him.

Not fair truth. Look where Spaeth was at the snap - lined up on the outside shoulder of Ngata. Pretty athletic move just to get inside of him, couldn't sink his hips and drive and still managed to wall him off. I never said he drove him off the line - just a great block.

Here's another for you. Stays on the block and finishes:

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-fanta
sy/09000d5d81ddedb0/RB-Mendenhall-1
-yd-run-TD

Pancake (and good FB lead by D. Johnson):

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-
highlights/09000d5d81d09764/Mendenh
all-2-yard-TD

Everyone looks good in highlight clips

Okay no Spaeth but this is fun. Watch Ward, Miller and David Johnson:

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-cant-
miss-plays/09000d5d81a76d0a/Mendenh
all-scores-walk-off-TD

Here's a good one. One-on-one with Jarrett Johnson:

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-
highlights/09000d5d81db2792/Mendenh
all-scores-from-one-yard-out

Loadholt, Vasques, Livitre.... All class of 09 All coveted free agents that signed for bigger dollars than Mendnhall this off season. I want to know how Mano and Beachbum and the Sunshine and Daisey Society can defend Sir Kevin, with zero Steelers from the 08 draft on our current roster. We were desperate for o-line help. More fumbles from Colbert than The Browns game. Hood and Heyworth had better show up this fall, or they will be coupled with Limas, Buster, Hillis, Dixon, and Mundy! Kevin Colbert, without Cowher, is waistingthe defensive genius of Coach Dick. Colbert is a fraud! Honest, Mano and Beach can try to blind you with cereal box tops and prizes at the bottom Of a Cracker Jack box! They will stop at nothing to convince you that they have been right all along. Think for your selves, because Sunshine and Daisey's won't win anymore, even with Lebeau and The NFL's number 1 Defense.

I want to know how Mano and Beachbum and the Sunshine and Daisey Society can defend Sir Kevin, with zero Steelers from the 08 draft on our current roster.

Body of Work

Ever listen to Led Zeppelin's Coda album?

Loadholt, Vasques, Livitre.... All class of 09 All coveted free agents that signed for bigger dollars than Mendnhall this off season. I want to know how Mano and Beachbum and the Sunshine and Daisey Society can defend Sir Kevin, with zero Steelers from the 08 draft on our current roster. We were desperate for o-line help. More fumbles from Colbert than The Browns game. Hood and Heyworth had better show up this fall, or they will be coupled with Limas, Buster, Hillis, Dixon, and Mundy! Kevin Colbert, without Cowher, is waistingthe defensive genius of Coach Dick. Colbert is a fraud! Honest, Mano and Beach can try to blind you with cereal box tops and prizes at the bottom Of a Cracker Jack box! They will stop at nothing to convince you that they have been right all along. Think for your selves, because Sunshine and Daisey's won't win anymore, even with Lebeau and The NFL's number 1 Defense.

Welcome back, MLK!

Good to see you don't hold any grudges! 

You post, what, half a dozen times a year and all when you perceive some sort of victory over those of us that see things in a positive light?

It would be nice to hold a conversation with you about the issues you preach about, but you aren't willing to do that.  You make your flippant comments and then run and hide from the debate it inspires.

See you after the draft!

hes a good blocking TE. Enough said IMO. We dont need a pass catcher. We need a blocker until Miller comes back.

We dont need a pass catcher. We need a blocker until Miller comes back.
--------------

We need a guy that can do both - block and catch the football..  Heath was real involved and clutch in this Offense last season - so substituting a non-catching TE is going to hurt this offense - no question.

Here's the rub and I'm not playing the blame game.  When you do this:

Miller being replaced with Spaeth   (Miller an All Pro in my eyes)
Keenan Lewis replaced with Gay  (K.Lewis > Gay)
Harrison replaced with ?   (Not replacing a DPOY with someone on the roster)
Starks replace with Gilbert?  Adams?  I dont have faith that this is an ungrade
Wallace,Brown.Sanders,cotchery  replaced with Brown,Cotchery, Burress 

and so forth your note going to be as good - look at the injury situation last year with we run second and thrid stringers on the field.. for the most part - your not as good a football time.

you get the picture - looks like we are replacing above average players and or all pro's with mediocre talent.

can some of the players on this team development - sure - can Worilds become what they thought they drafted?  sure..  can either Adams or Gilbert turn into a very good LT?  sure..  but right now on paper we dont look as strong going into 2013 as we did going into 2012 - and is that is what a lot Steelers fans are irritated about...

We need sit and let it play out - see what the draft brings and see how some of the current work on the offseason - hopefully players like Dwyer, Whirlpool and others see this as opportunity and use it to their advantage and the teams.

enjoy,

bb

All fair Burgh but even with all those injuries if Ben just plays better we win at least 10 games - maybe more. If he doesn't get hurt we win the division and might me holding that Lombardi the Ravens have in their hands. Every year we see it, it's the team that gets hot at the right time, not the team that runs through the regular season schedule (NE, Atl).

Worilds isn't replacing James Harrison 2008, he's replacing the often injured, often out of the lineup version. I liked the way James was playing at the end of the season but it took 12 games to get there. Maybe we lose a little bit on the right side but we get more out of the left side. Last year I think we lost a little bit with Farrior's departure but Timmons really found his way and played well.

I don't consider Gay Keenan's replacement. I think that's Cortez and it was a conscious decision to move on without Keenan. Maybe they'll be proven wrong and Keenan will keep getting better but only time will tell. I know no one like's my stats but I already put up what kind of season Gay had in 2011 - at Rarebreed's request. He ranked 10th in CB efficiency among a who's who of NFL CBs. Stats can sometimes be misleading but he doesn't end up there by playing poorly.

Starks couldn't run-block for chit but was good in pass pro. So we're probably giving up something but we're gaining something at the same time. Personally, I still think it will be Mike Adams on the left side and we know he can kick azz in the run game.

but right now on paper we dont look as strong going into 2013 as we did going into 2012 - and is that is what a lot Steelers fans are irritated about...

Fair enough. I guess we'll just have to wait and see but the one thing I think everyone is forgetting is that this is happening around the league. It's not a Pittsburgh problem. The good teams around the league are up against the cap, losing players and having to replace them. It's a product of having a talented roster. The only teams that are really improving their team's "on paper" are the teams that had the most room to improve.

Thinking on the NFL's desire to make as many teams as proportionally commensurate ( there's a word for that ) the cap thing has conditionally done just that ... really good players are not being held on to because of their cost.  Does this fall in to the plan for all teams to be as equal as possible, as the only teams who can afford the big dollar player are the teams who have the money because they pay very few on their team in the first place.

This is the case, currently, correct ?

If so, then we can all kiss goodbye the teams of the decade.... and we're all relegated to sitting in the edge of our seats every year in hopes of something good happening every now and then in lieu of "building" franchises over the course of 5 to 10 years.  

I don't find that something to look forward to at all.  Hit and miss presumptions in the draft coupled with ever increasing pay grades for the elite and then saddled with only the potential elevation of the second tier players to fill out rosters is hapless.  We'll have names to cheer for, for about 4 years and then adios muchacho  and for the players, on to the next big contract while we get,
maybe,  a team with guy to cheer for who aren't going to be here to cheer for in the very near future ... 

I don't mean to rant, and i suppose this is all pattently obvious to you guys, but it disheartens me to not be able to figure I have any more than a few dozen games for a rookie favored player just to see them off to their next big money destination asap. 

Soon, I, as a fan,  will have no more loyalty to my home team (because the team isn't about loyalty ) any more than the players have to any respective organization.  It's going to get to "who cares" ... with as little emotion available and come down to paying players some percieved worth and a "just win" only money only mentality.

Never liked Al Davis and his motto even less (win at all cost with nothing being held sacred... but the win) .

There's more to it than that for me and I suspect many more of you, but I think our day of loving our team (comprised of the players we love that make up that team) are past being numbered and  already capping our quality of "GO Steelers"


MoS 

This is the case, currently, correct ?

Mos - don't have time for one of my usual 14 paragraph comments but I think this is just the product of the flat cap ('10-'13). The salary cap in 2009 was 129 million. In 2013 it's 123 million. Teams couldn't have prepared for that.

Mos - don't have time for one of my usual 14 paragraph comments but I think this is just the product of the flat cap ('10-'13). The salary cap in 2009 was 129 million. In 2013 it's 123 million. Teams couldn't have prepared for that. 

I agree.  One of the reasons the Steelers stayed competitive the past 6 years is because they spent according to the cap in place, with the expectation it would remain level or grow at a rate at least comparable to how it had been growing.  The owners won so overwhelmingly in the last CBA that many teams, including the Steelers and Ravens, are paying the price in the short term.

Chin up MoS!  The Steelers will still keep most of the players most important to their success - James Harrison is nearing the end of his career anyway, and from my perspective is the only real cap casualty at this point, with maybe Keenan Lewis as another.

Teams couldn't have prepared for that.

Some could of drafted a little smarter to fill what they new would a vacant positions because they couldnt pay them.

There are a lot of teams especially the Eagles who picked good players but didnt fit there system's. Brandon Gram would have been great in a Steelers uniform but the Eagles drafted him and tried to put him in a wide9 where he didnt fit at all. Granted he did get hurt but even the short time he was healthy he was lost.
I think the Steelers have the samething in Ziggy Hood and Timmons really, both would be great in a Tampa 2 system where Timmons fills the MLB roll. He does well with the Steelers I just think he would be better utilized in the cover 2 systems.

The Steelers worries are over, they signed Spaeth for $715,000!

CUP4PENS  

The Steelers worries are over, they signed Spaeth for $715,000!
----------------------

Can He long Snap? 

enjoy,

bb

UGH.....SPAETH AND GAY ARE BACK!   SUPERBOWL HERE WE COME!

UGH.....SPAETH AND GAY ARE BACK!   SUPERBOWL HERE WE COME!

Yes Ehawk we went to two Super Bowls in their 4 years on the team and I love the optimism but let's not put the cart before the horse!

Is there anyone in the draft past round 4 better than Matt Spaeth, me thinks  not.

He left on good terms, minus the drops and the public whizzing...... 

maybe another few years in the NFL made him a better player, to be honest he is probably at this athletic peak for production right now, 715K is cheap insurance for Heath Miller.

Some could of drafted a little smarter to fill what they new would a vacant positions because they couldnt pay them.

breed...what beach means is that no team could have prepared for it because nobody expected the cap to stay this static for three consecutive years.  The general consensus when the CBA was signed was that there would be at least minor increases to the cap every year until the new TV deal kicked in and then there would be a big leap.

That hasn't happened.  The cap has been stuck in neutral for three years after dropping pretty significantly in year one of the CBA.

There are a lot of teams especially the Eagles who picked good players but didnt fit there system's. Brandon Gram would have been great in a Steelers uniform but the Eagles drafted him and tried to put him in a wide9 where he didnt fit at all. Granted he did get hurt but even the short time he was healthy he was lost.
I think the Steelers have the samething in Ziggy Hood and Timmons really, both would be great in a Tampa 2 system where Timmons fills the MLB roll. He does well with the Steelers I just think he would be better utilized in the cover 2 systems.

You are not wrong here.  I think front office men look at talent and project that talent into their system.  They have no choice because college teams don't play some of the schemes that NFL teams play.  We could see before the draft that Brandon Graham was a LaMarr Woodley clone, so we thought he would fit well in our 3-4.  The Eagles front office obviously thought his talent could project to their defense as well, even if not as well as it would to the 3-4 OLB.

With Timmons, I think he would be a better fit as an OLB in the Tampa 2 4-3, but I don't think he's a poor 3-4 ILB either.  The kid was VERY young when the Steelers drafted him and needed time to mature and develop.  He has done that and turned into a pretty darned good ILB.  The Steelers like to find young talent in round one that might need some time to develop but has a high ceiling.  Timmons, Hood, Mendenhall, Heyward all fit that bill.  They have usually gotten it right, but obviously they didn't always get it right.

Although, I will still defend the Mendenhall pick.  His talent was worth the pick at that point in the first round.  Anyone can look back 5 years and make a comment on it, but at the time, it was a good pick.  Injuries and stupidity clouded his time here, but he's a better RB than many ever gave him credit for.

BB Thats what everyone needs but i think Spaeth can fill in until Miller is back. I also think Pope will resign for the minimum. As far as the draft goes i want Fauria from UCLA. Dudes a beast. Great catching TE with decent blocking skills that IMO can be had in the 4th round.