Preseason Nonsense: Defense Edition

It's ok, Mr. Suh. Ripping off the head of Browns QBs is okay by this guy.

So last time around I covered the offense, so for my final preseason collection of nonsense I'll break down the defense the Steelers will be fielding in 2010. There really wasn't any nail-biting drama of who would make the team other than a few special teams guys, so it's not like I was cheating by waiting until after cuts were made.


Defensive line: Pretty much the same guys as before, Hampton, Smith, and Keisel are your starting 3. Ziggy Hood will probably end up taking one of those spots before midseason since either Smith or Keisel have their annual season ending injury around week 6 or 7. It was a little alarming that none of the young guys pushed any of the old guard out, especially since Aaron Smith's injury last year was really the one that killed the defense last year. None of the guys filling his spot were able to amount any sort of pass rush, so opposing QBs could tee off on our Troy-less defensive backfield at will.

Linebacker: I'm fairly sure that the Steelers have some kind of mad scientist lab under Heinz Field where they create LBs. It's amazing how year after year they just keep plugging in guys and have them end up being Pro Bowlers or Defensive POY's. Harrison and Woodley cover the outside, Timmons holds the inside, and Larry Foote even came back after realizing his season in Detroit was some Bobby Ewing style nightmare that never happened. Amazingly, they kept 3 rookies on the roster, but I'm guessing they won't actually be dressing for most games.

Defensive Backs: All you need to know is that Keenan Lewis made the team despite having an epic meltdown in the third preseason game, picking up two personal fouls and nearly getting his ass kicked by Mike Tomlin on TV. Basically the team is counting on Troy coming back to solve all their problems, and to be fair he probably will. To be fair, they did manage to get Arizona to give back McFadden for a bag of footballs and Will Allen has been holding his own, so this won't be the Troy Show exclusively.

Specialists: For some reason, the team seems to be doing all it can to piss off Jeff Reed. Sure, he did cause a scene by beating up a paper towel dispenser, but who still remembers that after the Summer of RoethlisCock? He's claiming the team promised to work out a deal (they franchised him for this season) then ended up blue balling him while everyone else on the team got longer term offers. He's been the best kicker the team has ever had, even on the slop that Heinz Field turns to in December after there's been a million NFL/Pitt/High School games played on it. On the punting side, Dan Sepulveda managed to make it through camp without a knee exploding so what else can you ask from a punter?

Bottom line, this seems to be a much better unit than last season if for no other reason than players returning from injury. Beyond that, they went out and addressed the needs that hurt them, namely depth at D-line and defensive back.

You never know what will happen or if the injury bug will decimate your team, but the pieces are in place for the Steelers to be back on top.