Spring cleaning

As a New Englander-turned-New Yorker, I’m going to play up recent Steeler developments the way the New York tabloids would, by going big with the story about an alleged pimp playing for the Steelers, with a tease to Ben Roethlisberger and Sopranos actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler being photographed together. Of course, there’s also this little matter about Alan Faneca, perhaps the best guard in the NFL, being unhappy about his contract and saying that 2007 will be his last season with the Steelers. And there was this draft thing last month. But I’ll get to that. First let’s get the juicy tidbits out of the way.

The Big Ben thing isn’t much more than the newspaper term I used in the opening paragraph: a tease. Roethlisberger said they were just doing a photo shoot together, and that Sigler, who plays Meadow Soprano on the HBO series, has a boyfriend. Too bad there are only three Sopranos episodes left. Roethlisberger would be great as a guest on the show. With the pinstriped suits he likes to wear, he’d be very convincing playing a mob guy. If Tony Siragusa can do it, so can Big Ben. By the way, considering how much he seems to enjoy the limelight, it’s odd that Roethlisberger is the first Super Bowl-winning quarterback since Brad Johnson NOT to host Saturday Night Live. There should be an investigation.

Now, please allow me a few paragraphs to pounce on the irresistible Richard Seigler story the way that Bart Scott of the Baltimore Ravens pounced on Roethlisberger during the Ravens’ 27-0 victory over the Steelers last season. Seigler, a linebacker who spent part of the 2005 season on the practice squad and played in the final two games last season, was arrested on May 10 and charged with pandering, pandering by furnishing transportation and living from the earnings of a prostitute, according to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Guess that practice-squad income wasn’t enough, maybe Seigler needed a second job to make ends meet. I don’t know if practice-squad players get Super Bowl rings. That bling-bling would make a nice accessory to the whole pimp get-up.

I have to raise an eyebrow to the timing of his arrest, which came hours after the Steelers released him. Did someone tip off the Steelers about the arrest, so they could release him and be spared the embarrassment of having a current player arrested for such charges? Now we know damn well no team in the NFL has a roster full of boy scouts. Every team has someone who’s been in at least little trouble. But I think it’s safe to say the Steelers are among the better behaved teams in the NFL. Two Steelers were arrested last year. Not bad compared to the nine times Cincinnati Bengals players were arrested last year.

Even if Seigler were arrested before the Steelers released him, I don’t think it would have sullied the team’s decent reputation on the character front. He was just a practice-squad player. I had never even heard of him before he was arrested. And I’m sure performance had at least something to do with his release, and perhaps the Steelers knew nothing about his impending arrest. Maybe it was just a happy coincidence.

OK enough, ahem, screwing around. Let’s talk football. The draft and minicamp have come and gone without a peep from me. I’ve been busy trying to get my fledgling site to look just right before I start, ahem, pimping it.

There are still some kinks to work out. Just like the players, this site needs some offseason conditioning. Hopefully by the time the regular season starts, the site will be looking cooler than an Iron City on a hot summer day. Without further ado, let me catch up on some offseason thoughts:

Changing of the guard?

If Alan Faneca doesn’t calm down, the Steelers should let him walk after the 2007 season. Faneca, a six-time Pro Bowl guard, isn’t happy that the Steelers are dragging their feet in negotiations for a contract extension. He ripped management during last week’s minicamp and has repeatedly asked to be traded.

The offensive line would have a big hole to fill without Faneca, but if the Steelers could only sign one of their free agents after the 2007 season (and it’s doubtful they can re-sign all of them), Faneca’s not the guy I would keep. The one player the Steelers need to re-sign after 2007 is Troy Polamalu, who can perform in any defensive role except maybe one-on-one pass coverage. And he’s 26. Faneca is 30 and probably as good as he’s going to get.

Faneca’s not exactly starving. He is due to make almost $4.4 million in 2007. That’s in the upper echelon of the pay scale for offensive linemen. But he’s seeing fellow offensive linemen like Eric Steinbach and Derrick Dockery sign deals that could be worth as much as $49 million. You can’t blame him for wanting to be paid what his peers are being paid, but it doesn’t make much sense to unload the Brinks truck for one offensive lineman.

An offensive lineman is only as good as the other four players on the line. It’s a team within a team. Winning teams don’t make offensive linemen their highest-paid players. The skill-position players are going to get the big money. That’s life in the NFL. Yes, the offensive linemen do the grunt work and don’t get the attention they deserve. But in all walks of life, the stars are going to make more than the behind-the-scenes guys, even though they might do half the work.

If Faneca stays with the Steelers, he’s likely to get a nice bump in pay. But if he wants to be the highest paid in the NFL at his position, Pittsburgh’s not the place for him.

What’s on draft?

I watched very little of the NFL draft. When you have a significant other, and you block out at least a dozen Sundays (not counting non-Sunday games) during the fall and winter, it’s really hard to sell the need to watch a guy in a suit announcing names from a podium on a Saturday afternoon in the spring.

Besides, I’ve already seen my All-Time Favorite Moment in NFL draft history. It happened in 2004, when Roethlisberger was on the phone with Bill Cowher moments before the Steelers selected him with the No. 11 overall pick. It was funny to see Roethlisberger so polite and deferential on the phone while Cowher was probably at the other end screaming and spitting up a storm. You could tell this was a pick to be excited about. I’m glad I was able to catch that little piece of history live on TV. Obviously, I’d like to see the Steelers win a few more Super Bowls in my lifetime, but as far as draft day goes, I seriously doubt I’ll ever be as entertained as I was that day. And I’m fine with that.

The Steelers addressed their biggest need in the draft by picking linebackers in the first two rounds. I’m a little concerned, however, that they both got hurt on the first day of minicamp like a couple of 40-something weekend warriors. I actually like the second-round pick, LaMarr Woodley of Michigan, better than the first-round pick, Lawrence Timmons of Florida State. Woodley’s bigger and has more upside. I’m a little leery about the fact that Timmons only started for one year on a Florida State team that was barely better than .500.

In the third round they picked tight end Matt Spaeth from Minnesota so they could run some three-tight end sets on offense. That might be a neat thing to try in the red zone, but other than that, what the hell are you going to do with three tight ends on offense? A questionable pick there. I feel better about their next pick, punter Daniel Sepulveda of Baylor. It might seem like a waste to draft if punter, but if you’re going to draft one, he’s the one to get. He won the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s top college punter. The importance of punting was pretty evident in Super Bowl XL, when Seahawks punter Tom Rouen had three chances to pin the Steelers deep in their own territory in the first half, but kicked it into the end zone for touchbacks each time. If he did a better job, we could still be pining for One for the Thumb.

Then the Steelers got more help for the front seven and the O-Line, which can’t hurt, by picking defensive end Ryan McBean from Oklahoma State in the fourth round and guard Cameron Stephenson from Rutgers in the fifth round. And I’ll be happy with anything they get from cornerback William Gay of Louisville (sixth round) and wide receiver Dallas Baker of Florida (seventh round).

On the run

It’s been widely heralded that the Steelers didn’t pick a running back in the draft. But they did pick up former 49er and Jet Kevan Barlow, who has a 1,000-yard season under his belt. Despite his breakout season in 2006, I’m still not 100 percent sold on Willie Parker. Yes, he ran for 1,494 yards last year, including two games of more than 200 yards rushing. But those two performances, 213 yards against New Orleans and 223 yards against Cleveland, came against teams ranked 23rd and 29th, respectively, in rushing yards allowed per game. Parker gained just 22 and 29 yards in the Steelers’ two losses to Baltimore. The Ravens, by the way, were the only team to beat the Steelers in the second half of the season, when they went 6-2. Granted, the Ravens pummeled them both times. But if the Steelers could have figured out a way to beat the Ravens, and more production from Parker would have helped, they might have made the playoffs. And they would have been a worthy playoff entry. The Kansas City Chiefs made the playoffs, for crying out loud. And the Steelers beat them 45-7. Ah, what might have been.

Parker alone can’t shoulder the load of the running game. Neither can Barlow. But running back tandems are all the rage in the NFL these days, and the Steelers could have something with Parker and Barlow as their 1-2 punch. They’re never going to recapture what they had with Jerome Bettis, a one-of-a-kind running back who kept the chains moving, provided emotional leadership and could pancake Brian Urlacher. You don’t necessarily need that one big bruiser. But you need more than Willie Parker.

Speaking of running, now I have to run. Thank you for choosing Steelahs.com. Come again.