Tree of Life

28 Nov

Pittsburgh Power Add Defensive Star by Dominic Errico

published in category: College Sports on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 – 12:17 pm

Arena football may be known for all the offense scored in it, but having some dominant defensive talent can go a long way towards separating a team from pretender and contender status. The Power have been very focused on the defensive side of the ball but until today, they were still looking for a strong presence in the middle of their defense.

The Pittsburgh Power announced today that they have been assigned 1st team All-Arena jack linebacker Alvin Ray Jackson. Jackson was a monster in the middle of the New Orleans VooDoo defense last year with 14 interceptions, which tied him with for the league lead in that category. In two seasons in the AFL, he has amassed 22 interceptions overall.

"Alvin Ray makes any defense he plays in better," remarked Power Head Coach Derek Stingley. "My defense is his defense; it's the defense where Alvin Ray cut his teeth in. He knows all the checks, he understands all the situations like down and distance, field awareness, time and personnel."

Stingley also commented on the impact Jackson will have in the turnover department. "He's a playmaker, his instincts are almost always spot on." This was something the Power really struggled with last year but the signing of Jackson, along with defensive backs Sergio Gilliam (six interceptions) and Chris LeFlore (nine interceptions), gives the Power defense a few ballhawks who will cause some serious havoc for opposing offenses in 2013. Jackson and LeFlore both ranked in the top ten in the AFL last year in interceptions.

The Power still have 13 open roster spots for the 2013 training camp roster and are hopeful that standout wide receiver and kick returner P.J. "Superman" Berry will also return to the team once he comes off the league's injured reserve list. By rule he is not eligible to sign with any team until then.

For the latest Power news keep checking in here at the blog. Follow me on Twitter @SteelCityVoice as well.

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Posted in College Sports

 

28 Nov

The 2009 NFL Draft, How it Looks Now by Chris Cappella

published in category: Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 – 9:21 am

They say it takes four full seasons to determine how an NFL draft class has shaped out, so to be fair, calling the 2009 class one of the worst classes in recent history after three years and twelve weeks could be criticized as rushed.

But that doesn't make it untrue.

The 2009 class will be most remembered for the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns swapping first round picks (number five for 17). New York took Mark Sanchez, which has been a huge mess despite reaching the AFC Championship game twice the past four years. If they had to do it all over again, I'm not sure the Jets staff would pull the trigger on the trade.

Matthew Stafford was taken first overall. The gunslinger out of Georgia was supposed to be Detroit's savior after failing miserably with the likes of Joey Harrington, Dante Culpepper, and Dan Orlvosky. In my opinion, how could you not label Stafford a bust up to this point? Injuries have piled up, no playoff games have been won (only one has been played), and this season has been another disappointment. Last season was great for him, yes, but one every four seasons is no good for the number one pick.

It doesn't get better from here, either.

Offensive tackle Jason Smith was taken number two overall by St. Louis and was traded this past offseason for Wayne Hunter. Tyson Jackson was taken number three overall by Kansas City and has three career sacks. Aaron Curry (#4 overall) was cut by Seattle last season. Darrius Heyward-Bey (#7), tackle Eugene Monroe (#8), Aaron Maybin (#11), Knwonshon Moreno (#12) and Peria Jerry (#19) are just a few more that have failed miserably.

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Posted in Pittsburgh Steelers

 

28 Nov

My pick is Johnny Football for Heisman winner by Jon Pennline

published in category: College Sports on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 – 9:18 am

Admittedly, I am not the biggest college football fan in the world. On Saturdays, I'll watch a game that features two big schools but I wouldn't mind spending time doing other things. I root for LSU (woot) and my favorite team is UVA (woot?), but I neither live nor die based on how they play each and every week.

When it comes to college football discussions, I typically leave the arguments for people with more knowledge of the subject. However, after hearing all the talk about Manti Te'o for Heisman over Johnny Manziel, it's impossible for me to stay silent.

Skip Bayless wrote a piece yesterday touting Te'o as the next Heisman Trophy winner, citing his leadership and captaincy of Notre Dame's defense, a unit Bayless feels was the best in football. He criticizes the media for creating hype around a two-loss quarterback while there's a perfectly good linebacker playing on a perfect team.

And he's not the only one.

Pundits and college football fans alike believe Te'o is a Heisman Trophy winner because of Notre Dame's success. After all, many believed the Fighting Irish would be good but few thought they would be playing for a national title. The problem is, that's a team accomplishment, not an individual one. The Heisman Trophy goes to the best college football player, not the captain of the best college football team. Obviously the team's record and performance should factor in, but it should not be THE reason why a player wins that honor.

No matter how much hyperbole people put into Te'o's season (like Skip Bayless saying Te'o sacked Landry Jones into "oblivion" when Te'o only had one sack against Oklahoma) it shouldn't take away from the fact that he was not the essential MVP of Division 1 football.

That honor should belong to Johnny "Football" Manziel, the Texas A&M redshirt freshman quarterback who broke Cam Newton's single-season yard record. Manziel finished with 3419 yards passing, 1181 yards rushing, and 43 total touchdowns. He outscored Louisiana Tech, the highest scoring team in college football, 59-57 to give them their first loss of the season. At Manziel's hand, the Aggies destroyed SMU, SC State, Auburn, Arkansas, #15 Mississippi St., Sam Houston St., and Missouri.

And, oh yeah, he led them to victory over #1 ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa, a venue where the Crimson Tide have only lost three times in the last four years.

While the Aggies did lose two games, both were against top ten teams, LSU and Florida. Technically, the Fighting Irish went 4-0 against ranked opponents while the Aggies went 3-2. But, the Aggies play in the SEC which is basically minor-league football. They don't have the benefit of playing Navy, Pitt (no offense), Wake Forest and Miami (FL) like Notre Dame does. And, when they do play cupcake teams, Manziel and the Aggies don't need three overtimes to win, especially at home.

Under Manziel, the Aggies scored the 4th most points in college football. According to Bayless and others, the Fighting Irish gave up the 2nd fewest points in football because of Te'o.

But how much is that true? We know Manziel is 24th in passing touchdowns and 6th in rushing touchdowns. That directly contributes to the amount of points Texas A&M has scored this season. Manti Te'o is second in the NCAA in interceptions and that's about it. The supposed tackling machine isn't even in the top 50 in tackles. Obviously, he has been the linchpin in one of the stingiest defenses this season, but his numbers don't show that he has been the biggest reason for his team's success.

In fact, as far as sacks go, Te'o is ranked sixth on his own team. Maybe it isn't part of Notre Dame's defense to have him rush the quarterback, but if Te'o was truly a Heisman winning, all around player, he would have a little more production in that area.

If you want a fair comparison, just look at the last defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy. Charles Woodson not only picked off passes, he ran back punts and played wide receiver. Te'o is a hell of a linebacker, but his leadership qualities are more pronounced than his actual play on the field.

My vote -which doesn't count- goes to "Johnny Football." It's very boring to pick a quarterback since so many of them have won the Heisman over the years but, at the same time, it is the most important position in the sport. Te'o is the leader of an excellent defense, one that will play for a national title. But Manziel broke records and won 10 game and he did this in the toughest conference in football, in his first year as a college football player.

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Posted in College Sports

 

26 Nov

Go Mendenhall and take Wallace with you by Jon Pennline

published in category: Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, November 26th, 2012 – 8:36 am

Goodbye Rashard Mendenhall and while you're at it, take Mike Wallace with you.

The Steelers need a real running back whose not afraid to get hit and wont shoot his mouth off every few weeks on Twitter. Your four injury plagued years have helped minimally while you continue to fumble your way back onto the bench.

Heading into yesterday's game, your offense had a plan to pound the football with you leading the charge. Against one of the league's worst rushing defenses, you were supposed to lead the way and make life easy on your 100 year old quarterback. Instead, you fumbled the ball twice, losing one of those fumbles which led directly to Cleveland's first score of the game. Your team had a lead and momentum until you carelessly lost the ball, similar to what Mike Wallace did in Baltimore the week before.

Speaking of Mike Wallace, pack your bags as well.

Want to know the difference between you and some of the players you want to be in the same pay grade with? They fight for the ball and they make the difficult plays. Sure, Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, and Larry Fitzgerald are physically bigger, but they also hustle to the ball and fight for every target. Oh, and they rarely ever fumble, especially in crucial games. You've had quite a few drops this season but none more painful than the one yesterday that led to an interception.

On top of that, your attitude towards getting a new contract, combined with your poor performance this season ensures that you will either A) make significantly less money than you wanted with the Steelers, or, B) make significantly less money than you wanted with someone else. No one is going to pay $100 million for a receiver that only runs in a straight line, can't adjust to the ball, and wont fight for every play. Not even the Washington Redskins.

But at least you have options. Rashard Mendenhall, on the other hand, is going to be handled as an undrafted free agent. The size and talent are there but the toughness is questionable and the health is unreliable. Gone are the days of you being used as a feature back when you were drafted in the first round out of Illinois, Rashard. Enjoy being a poor man's Ron Dayne or Derrick Ward on a team that needs an extra running back.

The Steelers had holes to fill coming into this season. Thanks to you two, it looks like there will be two more positions added to the list. Wallace, you're nothing but a one-trick pony as Mike Tomlin stated months ago. You may want big time money and you may consider yourself part of the "Young Money Family" but both of those players have passed you up and you're going to be hard pressed to find a team with enough cap space to meet your demands.

As for Mendenhall, I have two words for you: Tim Worley.

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Posted in Pittsburgh Steelers

 

25 Nov

Ryan Clark and Casey Hampton speak after loss to Browns:

published in category: Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, November 25th, 2012 – 6:18 pm

Two veteran leaders of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense spoke at length after the team's 20-14 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Here are those conversations from Cleveland Browns stadium with S Ryan Clark and NT Casey Hampton:

Casey Hampton

How tough is this one?
"S***, we lost man. I feel bad, I feel terrible. Despite all the turnovers and everything we had a chance to win at the end. That's all you can ask for, we just didn't get it done. That's about it. It's tough, man. As bad as we played, we still had an opportunity to win at the end. We just couldn't pull it out. It's tough."

How were the battles with Browns RB Trent Richardson?
"He ran the ball OK, man, he wasn't nothing major. Nothing we haven't really seen or nothing we really had a problem with. Just a bad day over, man, s*** was just going bad the whole day."

How is team morale?
"We're going to be all right man, we're mentally tough. Everybody in this locker room man, we're going to be together. We're going to fight, we're going to fight for each other. It's team. It's a team, and we're real close. Nothing can faze us, and I can't see this fazing us either."

Are you close to getting some players healthy?
"If guys get healthy, if they don't get healthy, we've got to find a way to win. Ain't no question about that. You can't count on guys who you don't know if they're going to be there or not. We have a good enough football team to win those type of games. We've got to do it. We've got to take care of the ball, and we've got to force more turnovers on defense. Just like they did, however many turnovers they got, we've got to do a better job of getting turnovers ourselves. It goes both ways."

How do you turn it around?
"Just have to keep grinding man. We've got to do what we've been doing, man, we aren't that type of team to try and do something different. Just get better."

Ryan Clark

Can your team win without Ben Roethlisberger?
"Yeah, I think we can. I mean, you play with a quarterback with no ribs last week, and this week you turn it over constantly. And it's wasn't Charlie [Batch] continually turning it over, it was everywhere. You have to step up around him. Defensively, you have to make more plays to get them the ball in good position. By Cleveland keeping the ball where they wanted, we didn't force Brandon [Weeden] to have to make any plays. We didn't force him to have to go downfield to give us the opportunity to make plays on him. I thought he was smart with the ball. They continued to give it to Trent. And we didn't get it out enough for our offense."

On the game starting well, taking a 7-0 lead:
"It started off with a bang, it started good. Lawrence [Timmons] has been playing extremely well and he's been making those impact plays. It was awesome, Keisel gets the tip which he does all the time and Lawrence capitalized on it. We felt good going in, that we could stop their offense. And that we could do good things against them. And overall, I felt like we did. We were on the field a lot, but we needed one more play. We needed something else to help out our offense and we didn't."

How does 8 turnovers by your offense affect your defense?
"You just run back out there. You just smile at a couple of Cleveland fans as they scream obscenities and you run back on the field. Give them a few winks. But you go back out there with the mentality that you're going to stop them."

On Trent Richardson's decisive TD run:
"I missed a big tackle down there on Trent's touchdown. I thought he was going to go outside and he cut it back in. That's why defense has to fit together. Maybe if we force a field goal the offense can have a different mindset in the way that they drive the ball, not having to get a touchdown. Maybe coach Haley can call different plays to get the ball down the field. It all works together. And when everybody isn't doing their part, this is what you get. You lose to teams that shouldn't beat you."

How big is the Baltimore game next week?
"They're all big. We just need to win. If we were playing Clairton high, trying to break their 60 game win streak, we need a win. We need to play well, and it's not going to be easy. It's a very tough place to play against a very good team."

What does this loss mean?
"You lose one game in Pittsburgh and the sky is falling. It's just part of the culture. It's part of winning six Super Bowls. It's part of going 12-4 three out of the last four years. We're a spoiled bunch, and overall we've become entitled. But you can't be entitled, just walk into places and expect because you're the Pittsburgh Steelers you're going to win. You need to execute. And we haven't been executing. Do we need to win next week? Without a doubt. We would have needed to win next week had we won this game. But around here, we need to make more plays. Defensively, we need to find a way to find our offense out and we didn't do that today."

You're not a team that is known for team meetings…
"Still won't be. It's not going to be a players-only meeting. We are not going to get together and sing "Kumbaya." We're going to try to figure this out. We're going to go to work the same way we go to work when we win the game. Find ways to get that one play. I kept saying that all game, 'one more play, defense, one more play.' And we didn't produce that. No matter what happened offensively, had we produced one more play we have a better chance to win."

What will it mean to get Roethlisberger back?
"We don't know when he's back, though. Ben's a special player. If you look at the AFC Super Bowl representatives the last three years, there's three names: Brady, Manning, and Roethlisberger. So whenever you're included in that group you're a special guy. We know that. We need to find a way to win games without him. It's going to be tough. There's a reason he's a franchise guy, but we can't lean on that. We can't put the pressure on him to come back early or to come back when he's not healthy. We need to win games so he feels comfortable rehabbing and getting to a point where he can come in and be the Ben that we need."

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Posted in Pittsburgh Steelers

 

21 Nov

RMU Hoops wins two NIT Games

published in category: Uncategorized on Wednesday, November 21st, 2012 – 4:07 pm

Robert Morris University hosted the 2012 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) last night at the Charles L. Sewall Center in Moon Twp. The RMU men's basketball team participated in the event at a 7:30 p.m. tip-off and they played the Cleveland State Vikings who are 4-2 on the season and Robert Morris is 3-3 on the season. The Colonials came out strong with a 71-62 victory over the Vikings in the last game of the NIT for RMU.

Robert Morris had the lead at every media timeout of the first half. Mike McFadden supplied 15 points on the night and four rebounds.
McFadden, center, was not the only one who had a successful night. Velton Jones had 15 points, six assists, and one rebound on the night. Sophomore forward, Lucky Jones made seven out of eight free throws and had 13 points, two assists, and eight rebounds.

Robert Morris did not shoot very well at the three-point line last night. Their shooting percentage was 30.8% (4-for-13) from the long range meanwhile the Vikings had a better percentage that was 42.1% (8-for-19). Even though the Colonials did not do too well from the long range, their field goal percentage was 48.9% (22-for-45) and their free-throw percentage was 85.2% (23-for-27). The Vikings shooting percentage was 46.0% (23-for-50) and their free-throw percentage was 72.7% (8-for-11) on the night.

The Robert Morris Colonials will play against Savannah State in Savannah, GA on Monday, November 26th and it will be a 7 p.m. tip-off. They will be at the Sewall Center on Saturday, December 1 for a 7 p.m. tip.

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Posted in Uncategorized

 

20 Nov

Win Pitt Basketball Tickets Today!

published in category: College Sports, Sports Talk Radio on Tuesday, November 20th, 2012 – 8:41 am

E-mail Sportstalk@tribweb.com with PITT in the subject headline and your name and and address in the body of the e-mail to win 2 Pitt basketball tickets and a parking pass for the game against Howard November 27th at the Pete.

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Posted in College Sports, Sports Talk Radio

 

20 Nov

Time for Tomlin to Say More than Clichés by Jon Pennline

published in category: Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday, November 20th, 2012 – 8:37 am

In the aftermath following the Steelers 13-10 loss to the Ravens Sunday night, one thing stands out for this franchise going forward.

The head coach needs to do more than provide dull quotes and tireless rhetoric.

Since his arrival to Pittsburgh in 2007, Mike Tomlin has been extremely good at handling the locker room and entertaining a room full of reporters. The former being crucial for a head coach in any professional sport, especially, football where egos are larger than the multi-million dollar houses.

As for the latter, Tomlin has been a walking book of clichés. Some of his best include "that's the nature of the business" and "next man up." His best quote from this past week when discussing how the team will deal with injuries, "excuses are tools for the incompetent." If that's true coach, then what's your excuse?

What excuse can you provide for allowing Byron Leftwich to stay in the game with what appeared to be two cracked ribs and a shoulder injury? According to Alan Robinson of the Trib, Tomlin shrugged off the injury simply stating, "He sustained some hits but that's football."

What?

Leftwich broke two ribs and injured his throwing shoulder. Considering the arm throws the ball and the midsection requires torque to produce velocity on a throw, you could argue those are somewhat important areas to injure. All facetiousness aside, the fact that Leftwich was remained in the game despite suffering the injury on the third offensive series is mind blowing. If Tomlin -along with everyone else on the sideline- didn't see Leftwich grimacing and wincing after every play, all they had to do was look at the ball. The "zip" on Byron's passes were missing with the most glaring example occurring late in the game on a 3rd and long. Leftwich bounced a ten yard pass to Wallace.

Where is the authoritative figure? Where is the head coach who is supposed to be skilled at making quick decisions?

He waited and then did nothing.

Here's another poor decision: The Steelers are driving down the field and find themselves in the red zone with a chance to retake the lead. With the game still in the third quarter, the Steelers burn two crucial timeouts in a matter of minutes. In the end, they had to settle for a field goal while the timeouts came back to haunt them when they had the ball with a minute remaining in the game and couldn't move into field goal range. A good coach, a competent coach, organizes his team and makes sure those timeouts aren't wasted. Even if they have to burn one early, there's no excuse to call another one two plays later, especially at home.

Mike Tomlin might not like giving excuses, but he is surely showing signs of incompetence. He's drafted four Pro Bowl players in six combined drafts. Even if he's not involved in the drafting process, he is involved in developing those players, many of whom have been cut.

Last season, instead of firing his offensive coordinator like most coaches, he forced Bruce Arians to back out of Pittsburgh with a faux retirement which further complicated the situation. Then, he fired his special teams coach after the Steelers had one of their better performances on special teams the year before.

Jacoby Jones says thank you, by the way.

The Pittsburgh Steelers missed Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, and Troy Polamalu this past Sunday and still, they had multiple chances to win. The Ravens have an old, banged-up defense and an offense that was stuck in mud; however, due to a lack of focus, leadership, and organization by the Steelers and their brain trust, the Ravens went home with another win. You would like to think it was an off-game, but this has been a trend for several seasons. Even wins against inferior teams like the Eagles and Chiefs prove to be a constant struggle.

It is time for Mike Tomlin to stop preaching on Tuesdays and start applying his coaching on Sundays. The Steelers are still in the playoff hunt despite their injuries, but they need better coaching to stay in contention.

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Posted in Pittsburgh Steelers

 



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