Special Teams

Its been over a month since I last posted and maybe that was a good thing. The last time I posted I was spouting about Grant Ressel from Missouri, and how he was the guy to look out for of the rookies. He was cut less than a week after my article went up. Stupid me.

I am back with more bold and probably somewhat over exaggerated mouthing. The focus is special teams and the kicker position in particular. I am still up in the air over the kicking game in Pittsburgh and really hoping that something gets done by the end of training camp.

The Steelers, after releasing Ressel, added another rookie kicker in Danny Hrapmann from Southern Miss. Of all the free agents and undrafted rookie kickers out there this one kind of threw me off guard. Danny was not a blaring talent in college. He finished 116 of 117 in extra point attempts but was 49 of 65 in field goal tries; a rather poor 75.4%.

With Todd Haley coming in to be the offensive coordinator, the team seems to be going in a direction to become more level. A steady and consistent running game means less passing, but the passes we do throw would result in bigger plays and really make Big Ben and his receivers look good. The defense seems to be re-focusing and getting ready to put this past fluke season behind them. With those sides of the ball looking new and fresh it makes me worry about special teams.

I think our return teams will be much better this year. I believe that Maze will most likely make the squad and coupled with Rainey I think we could see a huge difference in return yards this season. I am still worried about the kicker though. Suisham can't kick the longer field goals and in my opinion is a bandaid that needs pulled off. Hell, we would be saving him from the Todd Peterson/Kris Brown treatment the Steeler fans would put him through.

So who do we grab?

I don't care what some fans say, Jeff Reed. He is there and someone who would instantly upgrade the position. He had one bad season in Pittsburgh going 15 of 22. In his defense, the field sucked so his claims to the "field moving" are most likely true. And he did miss a 55 and 53 yarder in Pittsburgh. Take those three misses out at he is 15 of 19 which is so much better.

Camp is just over a month away and the Steelers will not make a move anytime soon; but if camp and preseason doesn't go well, then we could see a new face in Pittsburgh; or an old one.