Scunge.................dead on. Been saying that for years......and our lack of use of the RB's in the passing game got worse every year. I was looking at this last year...and I believe at one point more than half the teams had at least TWO backs on their team with more catches than any PS back. Same goes for the lack of involvement for the TE's. Makes the defense that much easier to defend..............and is one of the biggest reasons why Ben gets sacked so many times.....as he is focused on getting the ball to the WR's....while defenses drop more guys back into coverage due to little regard for a back coming out of the backfield or a 2nd TE in route.

I am optimistic about going into another year with the YMC crew........I am excited that they will get their first full camp and OTA's a s a group....Even if Wallace holds out....it should really be benificial to Brown and Sanders. These guys will be getting reps with Ben....as opposed to a 2nd team and 2nd and third string QB like their first year. And with Hines retired.....Cotch will also have the time to continue to develop with Ben.

Add Batch back into the mix and now Rainey.......................to bring our RB passing game into the 2000's...............hopefully by mid season we will be into 2010 form and by the playoffs we will be 2011/12 ready.

Continuing with the offense and hoping by mid season that we can work Saunders back in the mix.......................continuing to add flexibilty and depth to our offense. Do not discount Paulson on making the team. He is another guy that plays faster and smoother than his measurable. He will get down field faster than Heath.......makes that sideline out catch like a RB......very good hands.....and very good in traffic. Again.....lets wait and see what he does in camp.......but I am optimistic.

Now to top it all off...........all the above potential for our offense going into camp.....and we did not spend a pick on a skill player in the first 4 rounds.................

And....potentially our best OL in a decade?................yes potential, but when was the last time our line had (2) 1st's and (2) 2nd's as a possible early season line-up.

Anyway.........when does camp opening. Never went to camp....but thinking this may be my first.

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I'm still not going to get excited until I see it on the field.

New concepts can be exciting, but they have to be put into practice and made to work.

That's the bottom line.

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I know this, your ability to think concisely, your ability to make good judgments is much easier on Thursday night than during the heat of the game. -Bill Walsh

You forgot about Mendenhall. I love how everyone just assumes he's done. Can't wait to see what happens.

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"The Terrible Tahl is poised to strike!"

Yoi !.......think scunge is talkin "to start the season"...............

I think Mendy does start on Pup..............and will give us a tremendous boost come mid season or before............

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No, I didn't forget about Mendy and I should have specified that Pope will be Miller's backup for the first 4 games until Wes is back in my scenario.

Will Johnson is the guy that Tomlin/Colbert saw workout when they went to WVU to do their due diligence on players like Bruce Irvin and Keith Tandy. They quickly signed him when he did 30 reps of 225, ran a 4.49 at 6'2" 240 lbs and showed good hands and route running. His body type just seems to be that of a fullback, maybe an H-back. I just hope that he finally can give us a real, what I call a multi-dimensional FB like John L Williams. So, he is my dark horse pick to make the team as the FB. Perhaps that is short-lived when it comes time to activate Mendenhal. You have to think it will be one of the RBs that gets waived to make room for him. Either Will or Batch could be cut and then signed to the practice squad when it is time or Dwyer could be let go if he doesn't step up his game.

Again, what has me excited is that there seems to be a plan, a systematic assembling of talent. And there seems to be a plan to assemble talent in all shapes, sizes that complement each other.

Rainey gives us a Darren Sproles/Dave Megget type of player. Paulson is only 6'3" 245 and I don't think he really is going to get much bigger without sacrificing his speed and quickness. Forget the combine, at his Pro Day he ran in the 4.6s and he really has underrated athleticism. Will Johnson the FB prospect I talked about earlier. Toney Clemons is the tallest, biggest WR we have. 4 players that all offer different traits and will complement Wallace, Brown, Sanders, Cotch and Miller.

One of the problems that I had with Arians is that many of our players were too similar. Matt Spaeth was closer to Heath Miller in style than he was different. When we spent a 3rd rounder on Spaeth I expected somebody who was more athletic, somebody who could threaten the field vertically, somebody who would complement Miller but instead what we got was a bad clone of Miller.

It appears that rather quickly, Haley and the Steelers now have a very diverse group of RBs, TEs and WRs and as such the offense is going to have to change. Change because we now may finally have an OC who will design plays for the RB out of the backfield, for the TE, and for the H-B, not just as checkdowns but as viable plays. Having those positions suddenly be threats in the passing game will open things up even more for our WRs to make plays and vice versa. Great times ahead.

I'm excited about the new OC and the draft picks. Like the others, I will try to lower my expectations until week 1. If something strikes me as different during the preseason, then that's just gravy. I'm anxious to see improvements on both sides of the ball. Regular season can't get here fast enough.

How different/better the offense becomes ultimately falls on Ben. I think across the board most are assuming Haley > Arians. None of that matters if Ben doesn't evolve with the changes.

I've seen plenty of times where underneath routes are wide open yet Ben still takes a sack while looking downfield.

With his golf buddy gone hopefully those days are behind us.

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Mess with the bull, you get the horn....

I think one issue with Arians is he was too conservative. I know, fans say he upset the apple cart. But I saw just the opposite-- he did everything to not upset the image of apple cart. He forcibly created a "balanced offense" because that's what a bunch of critics (and maybe management) said he should do.

The second issue with Arians was out of his control, IMO. He had a miserable OL. I mean, you could have the biggest offensive mastermind ever and if Jon Scott is blocking backwards, the plan ain't happening.

Looks to me like Haley is going to have a very long leash. Tomlin is not one to micromanage anyway. Everyone around the org has respect for Haley, probably both from his father and his coaching career to this point, which has been really quite good.

So I think Hayle is just going to dream up some shit and put it in motion.

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"I would challenge you to a battle of wits but I see you are unarmed."

+1

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Crescat scientia; vita excolatur

We have high hopes but let's wait until a few weeks in to declare Haley > Arians.

BA did a good job getting us yards ("500 yards and a cloud of horseshit") but we couldn't score with the big boys. Let's face it, our redzone offense was feeble at best. No power running game (due to pussy OL + twinkletoes Mendenhall) combined with no WR over 6'0 combined with no creativity = 14 points a game.

I hope Haley above all = more points. We should be averaging at least 20+ a game.

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"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."