Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Wednesday.
The Kickoff
Ben Roethlisberger is not a fan of Aaron Rodgers playing in the preseason. It may not be for the reason you think. My first thought was that Big Ben probably doesn’t want to see Rodgers get hurt but that wasn’t the direction he went. Instead, his take was more about getting Will Howard and Drew Allar more reps. He argued that Rodgers is in his final season and you have to know what you have for next year. I see his reasoning. But as Dan Patrick said on his show this morning, would Ben have stepped aside so younger QBs got some snaps in the preseason? That’s a fair question. My opinion is this; Give Rodgers some snaps and keep the rust off ahead of the opener. If he were to get hurt? How much different would the season really be? Six or seven wins with Mason Rudolph or 10 wins and first round loss? Let it play out.
Speaking of QBs…
It is impossible to deny the work that Drew Allar has put in. Watch his mechanics from his final season at Penn State versus now in Camp. The footwork is different, more efficient I would say. The arm angle is also more efficient with less wasted motion. The physical aspect of Allar’s game has never been a question for me. It’s the mental side, the processing that has made me scratch my head. And honestly, that also looks better in Camp and yeah… it’s just Camp but I’ll take it.
Brand New Show Thursday Night
Episode 484 of the SCB Steelers Podcast presented by DEK Roofing Inc will air Thursday night at 10pmET. We will discuss Camp of course with the highs and the lows plus we will start discussing some early roster moves. All that and much more.
Mad Max
It was another good day for first round draft pick Max Iheanachor. Anytime you stymie T.J. Watt you’re doing something right. I’m not going to go too far in praising him but you have to feel really good about what he’s doing so far. There is no question he will be one of the points of focus for me in the first preseason game.
WPIAL
For those of you who follow Western Pennsylvania high school football, Ian is back again with his tremendous coverage! He will have full previews for all of the conferences plus “game of the week” articles, updated standings, playoff scenarios and more. If you are interested in having your business sponsor our WPIAL content please let us know!
WOW
Zay Flowers, the Baltimore Ravens’ wideout has agreed to a four-year $140 million extension with over $100 million guaranteed. This puts him in lock-step with Justin Jefferson. He still trails Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ja’Marr Chase and Drake London. I think Flowers is a really good receiver but I don’t see him in this tier of guys. As we’ve said for some time though, the market is what it is.
Random Reads
Rookie Riley Nowakowski is finally getting a chance to show what he can since the team started putting the pads on. The offense had been largely in 11-personnel but has displayed more 21-personnel since the pads came on… Carson Beck vs Kenny Pickett in your Hall of Fame Game tomorrow night… The Falcons, who open the season against the Steelers, lost EDGE rusher Jalon Walker to a torn ACL… LIV golf appears to be headed for bankruptcy which is weird because the Saudis have hundreds of billions of dollars… Matt Bowyer, the bookie involved with Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, has quite an interesting story regarding that situation… DeShon Elliott is active and practicing everyday but he hasn’t been involved in any 11 v 11 action yet… Primaries in my home state are over with so I guess I get a brief reprieve from these awful ads for awhile.
A Final Note
As I posted on social media yesterday, I have no idea if publishing 5,000 articles for this website is a big deal or not, but to me it is. When I started this site, it was an outlet for me and in many ways it still is. I never take for granted the opportunities this has provided me and more importantly, I never take for granted the people who take the time to read what I write. Thank you!
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