Mike Tomlin will get to flex his coaching muscles this week. With Trai Essex the only thing standing between Ben Roethlisberger and another jaw transplant, it's going to take some Steve Spurrier-style coachin' 'em up to make this thing work. And I'm not even talking about that no-tackling defense.Alright, it's not that bad (it is, but let's focus on the positive): there is some speculation that Faneca could move to left tackle and Keomeatu could start at left guard. I don't know if that's necessarily and upgrade, though; Faneca's a guard. For all the "woe is us-ing" we were doing when envisioning what Big Ben's mangled body might look like with Max Starks protecting his blindside when Marvel first went down, Starks was still a better option than Faneca. Or, at least, Starks > Faneca and Kemoeatu.
Whatever happens, the Steelers have very little margin for error. Actually, they had very little margin for error with a relatively healthy roster; now they have no margin for error. Which means, I suppose, Willie Reid will assume the Duce Staley memorial game-day sweats. I'm interested -- in a train wreck sorta way -- to see Jeremy Bloom play but that's a curiosity better left to the preseason, I think.
I believe ESLM mentioned this in the previous thread and I agree: I have no idea what to expect Saturday. The Steelers could win by 21, lose by 21, win on a last-second Skippy special, or Big Ben could get sacked for a game-deciding safety as time expired. Anything short of an alien spaceship landing in the middle of Heinz Field and Myron Cope emerging from within wouldn't shock me, frankly.
Good news, though: Ambassador Gretz is on the job.
Oh, by the way, I've moved the HSS Draft Project post down the page. It created way too much confusion, and I'll revisit it in a few weeks. I have about 15 bowl games on the DVR, and I plan to go through them at some point before the last weekend in April. Actually, I hope to do it before the combine. More on that later, though.
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