Uh Oh

Well, it looks like Ray Lewis has a better than 50/50 chance of landing in Pittsburgh next season. From the article:

"Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis has made it known that he wants out, and now it looks like the Ravens front office will oblige. Rumors have AFC North rival Pittsburgh showing interest in the 30-year-old perennial Pro Bowler. Lewis was upset with the Ravens organization for not reworking his contract, but sources say that he will take a pay cut if he has the opportunity to go to a winner. Kevin Colbert, Pittsburgh's director of player personnel, indicated that the Steelers were looking to project more of a 'Raiders image' and that would explain the addition of Lewis. It would also shed some light on the recent law enforcement run-ins of running back Duce Staley and offensive lineman Trai Essex. There are also reports that Lewis nicknamed head coach Brian Billick 'Marmaduke' because, well, it was funny."

OK, I made that up (I'm guessing the Marmaduke comment gave me away), but raise your hand if the thought of Ray Lewis coming to Pittsburgh made you crap your pants? This is what happens when I drive to visit the in-laws and have seven hours in a car to think up really ridiculous stuff. Sadly, this was the best I could come up with. Still, no matter how poorly written -- or inane -- I'm guessing it had the desired, "holy bejesus" effect. Nice.

... Eric left a link to this story in the Denver Post about "people are worried about Ben Roethlisberger's attitude". The author, Bill Williamson, claims that:

"Roethlisberger raised eyebrows when he turned down a chance to replace Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer in the Pro Bowl and went to the Grammy Awards instead."

Williamson also mentions that the early success could affect Roethlisberger's work ethic. Of course, he doesn't provide any examples of why this might be the case, but whatever, we'll just mark those up to pesky details. Well, I should clarify the previous sentence. Williamson does provide one: Ben missing the Pro Bowl. Great example, by the way.

So let me get this straight, the same quarterback who admittedly crapped the bed during the 2004 playoffs and spent the spring of 2005 in Pittsburgh getting more familiar with the offense, now, after one more year in the league, thinks he doesn't need to improve? Hmmm. Sounds fishy. Maybe Williamson knows something the rest of us don't, but when he starts citing "league insiders" and "many scouts" as sources, I imagine he just needed something to write about.

Interestingly, he didn't mention another QB who passed up on an opportunity to go to the Pro Bowl: Tom Brady. If anybody's got a reason to mail it in, it's this guy. I mean, he's got three Super Bowls, and according to most of the chuckleheads on ESPN, he's actually perfected the game. The word on the street is that Brady passed on Hawaii because of his sports hernia injury. Of course, he showed up playing golf at the Pebble Beach AT&T that same week, but hey, apparently golf's not a real sport, so maybe the sports hernia doesn't come into play. Honestly, I could give a crap that Brady didn't play in the Pro Bowl. Only bad things can come from participating in that game (ask Rod Smith), and if Brady would rather play golf, good for him.

And the same for Ben. If you're Williamson and your main reason for writing that dopey article is that Roethlisberger skipped the Pro Bowl to kick it at the Grammys, then, well, in the immortal words of Fred Smoot (pre-Love Boat incident), "you're skrugglin'". And before anybody says that Brady has a legitimate excuse because he was injured, yeah, so was Ben. (At least I don't think Roethlisberger was Michael Jacksoning it out with the one glove thing as some sort of weird fashion statement. Did he have it on during the Grammy presentation?)

OK, I've re-read the last few paragraphs and now I'm mad. I'm mad that I wasted the time to even respond to this silly stuff. Damn you Bill Williamson!

(By the way, there are reports coming out of Denver that Bill Williamson has raised eyebrows by writing particularly ridiculous stuff these past few weeks. Editors at the Post fear that Williamson's long, mediocre career has affected his work ethic, and the fact that he watched every 2005 Denver Broncos football game from the comfort of his own basement -- equipped with Kegerator -- instead of actually attending the games in person, only increased those concerns.)

... Len Pasquarelli writes that the Steelers consider Chris Hope a priority.

"Although there has been no formal contract proposal yet, the Pittsburgh Steelers have made verbal overtures aimed at retaining Chris Hope and will try to keep their starting free safety off the unrestricted market."

And this next little bit actually caught my eye:

here appears to be no viable replacement on the roster for Hope, who is often overshadowed by Pro Bowl strong safety Troy Polamalu but who is an integral part of the Steelers' defense.

[...]

His range is a primary reason that Pittsburgh can afford to use Polamalu in so many different ways and is a key to the cover-3 schemes the Steelers deploy so often in third-and-long situations.

Hmmm. Thanks to Jim Wexell's comments last week, every time I hear Hope's name, all I can now think about is Deshea Townsend being the cheap FS alternative if Hope bolts. And Pittsburgh can draft a safety early, and hopefully groom him to take over in 2007. But I'm getting way too far ahead of myself.

Well, not that far, because I plan on talking about the draft tomorrow. Seriously, how ridiculous are mock drafts? I'd guess only slightly less ridiculous than me checking about three or four different ones every few days for updates. It's pretty sad, actually. But hey, that's where we're at?

... Rowdy has this link to a USA Today story on Troy Polamalu. Interesting stuff about LeBeau mixing up the game plan late in the week, and Rowdy also had some draft thoughts:

With the draft coming up, I've been thinking about that 2003 draft. Polamalu was everyone's top safety, with Mike Doss a close second. If I remember right, a lot of mock drafts had him slipping -- because of injury concerns -- to the end of round 1. Then the Steelers traded lower picks to get him at #16. What was the injury concern? Concussions? Back problem? Maybe it wasn't injury concerns, but there was some knock on Polamalu that had him available on everyone's mock draft board for the Steelers. Then the Steelers had to go get him at #16, surprising a lot of people; was it because everyone knew the Steelers wanted him (and nobody else--remember the Dexter Jackson "snub")? And you know the rest of the league looks up to the Steelers when it's time to study the art of the draft. Did any other news about that trading up ever come out?

That was also the draft, right, where they "reached" on CB Ike Taylor?

If I recall correctly, I think there were concerns with Troy having a bunch of concussions heading into the draft. I remember some mention of that, and (knock on wood) Troy's been one of the healthiest guys on the team during his time in Pittsburgh. The only person I remember really hating the Ike Taylor pick, was Tons-o-Fun (dated April 30, 2003):

"Taylor was a tailback at Louisiana-Lafayette in 2001, making the team as a walk-on. Taylor's draft profile on NFL.com says he did not play in 2000 because he "concentrated on academics." Before that, he was a Prop 48. Before that, he was dumb. Probably still is.

Probably not dumb enough to pick himself in the fourth round, though. This pick makes no sense. On a scale of one to 10, Ourlads Scouting Service gave Taylor a one. They projected him to be drafted when hell froze over."

Once again, solid work.

***
I guess I should mention that the Tar Heels beat some team formerly known as Wake Forest on Sunday. One of the kinda funny-in-a-weird-way stories leading up to this game was this little bit on Reyshwan Terry from the News & Observer:

"But a lack of focus had been the most frustrating thing about the wing forward from Winston-Salem ever since he came to Carolina as the only scholarship player in former coach Matt Doherty's final recruiting class.

All too often, Terry would make a jaw-dropping bucket only to give the points back by losing his man on defense. When he was a freshman, teammates even dubbed him "Radio" -- after the loveable but mentally challenged character in the movie of the same name -- because he was slow to pick plays up in practice."

It's never really a good idea to make fun of the "mentally challenged", but I mention it here because "Radio" is the nickname some Baltimore Ravens fans gave Anthony Wright after his, uh, uneven performances last season. In fact, there are currently 948 posts in the the "Photoshop Suggestion Contest" (which, not surprisingly, is right after the " No way in hell Kyle Boller" thread), where industrious Ravens fans superimpose pictures of Cuba Gooding's mug on Wright's body. If www.morbidcuriosity.com was a real website, I'm guessing this is the type of stuff you'd find on it.

OK, more tomorrow.