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+5

Make your 2024 season predictions below. Same rules as previous seasons. Entries must be submitted by midnight before the season opening game.

Please include (1) W/L predictions for each Steelers game, (2) season records for each team in the division, and (3) tie breakers. If you fail to submit the tie breakers, you lose the tie.

Here is your prediction template. Good luck.

01 – @ATL
02 – @DEN
03 – LAC
04 – @IND
05 – DAL
06 – @LVR
07 – NYJ
08 – NYG
09 – Bye
10 – @WAS
11 – BAL
12 – @CLE
13 – @CIN
14 – CLE
15 – @PHL
16 – @BAL
17 – KC
18 – CIN

Standings (wins):
Steelers –
Bengals –
Browns –
Ravens –

Tie Breakers:

• Who has the most starts: Russell Wilson or Justin Fields?
• Who has the second most number of receiving yards on the season?
• # touchdowns thrown.

Edit 9/2/24: We’ll add a tweak to the scoring this year. To give extra weight to the Steelers wins predictions, we’ll add a bonus point for the person who comes closest on that metric. The way our scoring works (lowest score wins), this means a point will be subtracted from the overall score.

+2

Friday Night Lights opened with a different feel for us…rain was not expected. The Steelers arrived late, but got right to the autograph session before practice. Muuuth darted straight for me, like he might have remembered me from last year’s camp. However, he was all business and signed for me, then off to the next. That was when I spotted Justin Fields just a few fans to my left. He came down the line and we had a chance to chat with him. I mentioned Christina worked at the High School where Jeremy Ruckert attended. Fields face lit up with a big smile, “That’s my boy!” I asked if I can get a photo with Christina so she can show Jeremey when he is back in town. He obviously obliged.

As he moved to the next group, I said, By the way, you won me my fantasy league. He just chuckled. I can only imagine he thought, well, I won’t be able to win one for you this year from the bench. Shortly thereafter Russell Wilson came by to sign, he was all business too, he didn’t have much to say. I did have a chance to talk with Mason McCormick. He sounds and looks like everything a Steeler guard should be, I hope he plays like it. JPJ came by again this year, I let others take the photos and chat with him this time. He did sign for me. Then came the guy that if he were in street clothes I would never have guessed he was a football player. I could look down upon Jaylen Warren. He was all smiles and the fans loved him. I told him to go have a monster year. He said, I’ll do my best!

From where we are, the backs on backers are too far away to see…but they are drawing the most attention and the most cheers. We miss this every year since the VIP section is on the other side of the field. I did get to see Troy Fautanu and Logan Lee go at it one on one. They both seemed to have an edge to their game. I was surprised a fight did not break out there. They’d both continue after the whistle. Hard to tell if Fautanu got the upper hand since I did not know if Lee was supposed to get by him or lock up in combat. Lee seems to be getting a ton of reps with Lowry out.

I would be surprised if he doesn’t at least make the practice squad. Also Lee worked a lot in the three man DL drills with Cam. My guess is you don’t put someone who is just a camp body in that group.

Fields gets most of the reps with Wilson and his quad watching. The play calls all seem like short or behind the line passes. Very few are downfield. Are they working on Field’s short game? I hope so…these plays will drive us crazy. Fields will have one of these passes batted down my Watt.

I mentioned a worse fate will happen the next day. JPJ and Donte Jackson are glued together. They are often followed by their baby brother, Beanie. The three amigos seem to be in step with one another. And this proves true with the depth chart coming out, and Beanie is right there with them. Beanie looks small, then again JPJ has length. Of course, Mike Hilton looked small. I am not sure Beanie has the pop Hilton had on hits…but we have time to see if he does.

This year I soaked up more of the FNL atmosphere (than getting soaked in the rain) so I did not move around much to check out 7 shots and other activity.

Saturday at St. Vincent began with a “Please return to your cars, a lightning strike has been reported in the area” announcement. What was interesting is the players still remained on the practice field. I did see they removed their helmets, it was mentioned somewhere that they could be conductors. The lightning stayed away, as did the rain, so we were soon let into the VIP section along the sidelines.

The team was not in full pads after FNL. They did some 11 on 11 drills early. Twice Jaylen Warren broke through the line, each time running all the way to the endzone.

Fields hits a beautiful sideline over the shoulder pass to Van Jefferson. The catch was equally as good. Tomlin breaks the team down to one on one drills which I have never seen at camp before. Dump off pass to a RB/WR and a D man has to attack and 2 hand touch him low before he gets around him. Some great one on one matchups with CAIII vs Cam Sutton. Tomlin made them run it 3 times in a row. I think CAIII won 2 of the 3. Watching CAIII, they need to get the ball in his hands in space. It is Beanie’s time to cover CAIII, he fails badly getting beat both times. He looks like he overpursues his angles.

Payton Wilson looks sharp in this drill. He gets matched up against Pickens which was not the mismatch you’d think (I guess in anticipation of our ILB covering the other team’s best receiver). He went full out at Pickens along the sidelines and just kept coming with his momentum. In his pursuit Wilson almost runs me over.

Also, Fields would sometimes just take off with the ball too. Payton Wilson also had to go against Fields. Again, it is not an easy drill for the D man.

Did I mention Mason McCormick looks like a Steeler prototype guard? Fautanu is not bad either…

Najee works on his own. He is not involved in any of the team drills.

The man of the day? Punter Cameron Johnston. Applause for a punter? Yep! Not only that, there were plenty of ooooh’s and ahhhh’s as he boomed several high and deep punts.

Overall, there were not many throws downfield. It is obviously tough to judge the running game. But it looked like a lot of short passes, swing passes…a very methodical approach. I guess if they can keep the time of position even, the D won’t wear down and they can lean on them. It is hard to judge Justin Fields, because what makes him dangerous doesn’t translate in practice. I did not see a lot of throws to the TE’s, or throws over the middle. They used CAIII a ton, but will he disappear come game day?

+1

Another magnificent draft by the guru team of Khan and Weidl is in the books, but as happy as we are with the results of the real draft, there were some fantastic mocks submitted by our own ballers. In fact, all of the submissions were pretty great and mostly credible, even those that came in dead last. Here are the results:

Total Points:

1. drock – 8
2. EstimatedProphet (mock 2) – 5
3. copanut (mock 2) – 4
4. EstimatedProphet (mock 1) – 2
5. Tie (in order of submission):

• • MWalsh26 (mock 1) – 1
  • MWalsh26 (mock 2) – 1
  • copanut (mock 1) – 1
  • Earl – 1
  • TomPaulBillyBob – 1
  • Eleven – 1

Yes, drock nearly lapped the field by guessing the correct position for four different rounds, including the first three picks, and correctly guessing the selections of Frazier and Watts. Kindly, drock spared us further humiliation by not bothering to submit UDFA selections.

A couple of honorable mentions:

• Though Mack did not submit an official mock, he gets an honorary point for applying mental pressure to the Steelers to take a center worthy of playing for the Steelers. Besides, anyone puttering around in a Steelers golf cart deserves an honorary point.
• I’m granting a -1 point to JamesH for failing to submit a mock despite having worn out the simulator servers with endless simulations.

DISCLAIMER: I always manage to make at least one error in tabulation, so look over your mocks and compare to my evaluation to make sure I got it right. If you find a mistake in my tabulation, let me know. Although it’s pretty unlikely that I made enough mistakes for drock to lose the title, it could be that one of us cellar-dwellers might arise from the muck to claim sole possession of 5th place.

+2

April 25th. Draft Day. The magical day of perennial hope is fast approaching. It’s a day we long for each year, usually beginning about five minutes into the first quarter of the first Wildcard game.

You have up until the day before the draft to produce your predictions: have your predictions in no later than end of day April 24th. If you submit a mock earlier than that, you may edit the mock up until the deadline (e.g., in the event of a signing or trade that wrecks your initial mock). 

Please use the following format as a template. Any deviation from this format that causes me to have to interpret your gibberish will result in unfavorable scoring, so beware.

Identify any trades if applicable
Round (Pick) – Position, Name, School
1 (17)  – WR, Moe Howard, Harvard
2 (32)  – ILB, Larry Fine, Yale
2 (49)  – OG, Curly Howard, Stanford
3 (80) – RB, Shemp Howard, Princeton
4 (120) – NT, Joe DeRita, Brown
7 (234) – SS, Joe Besser, Penn
7 (241) – PK, Emil Sitka, Allegheny County Community College
Add up to five UFAs

This year, you may submit up to two mocks: one without any trades, and one with trades.

As in the past, you will be given two points for each correct name, and one point for each correct position/round combination. For UDFA selections, you will get a point only for a specific name. I may give or take other points for special predictions or egregious failures, at my sole dictatorial discretion.

Trades: Given the difficulty and risks of predicting a trade, I will grant bonus points for a successful prediction. If you predict a trade, you will be granted bonus points as follows:

• +1 if you correctly predict the trade partner
• +1 if you correctly predict the Steelers pick position(s) being traded
• +5 if you correctly predict the partner, the Steelers pick position(s) and the partner’s pick position(s)

I normally kick things off with my own predictions, but I’m not quite ready yet. There is still time for you to have the glory of being first.

Good luck, ladies and gentlemen…

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In an unexpected turn of events sure to displease my fellow Ballers, copanut reclaims the Steel Balls trophy following a three year hiatus.

I must admit to being surprised, considering I had the worst prediction regarding our beloved Steelers. In fact, my guess was so bad, I did not bother even looking at my predictions once the Steelers’ wobbly wheels came off the Matt Canada bus by mid-season. But after all these years, haven’t we learned from the Steelers that we should never give up until the fat punter kicks?

I had naively guessed 13 wins, meaning every single one of you was closer to the mark than I was, including both EstimatedProphet and tennbob who correctly guessed the final result of 10 wins. Unfortunately for me, it doesn’t count that the Steelers would have ended with 13 wins had Mitch Trubisky not gifted wins to three awful teams in a row. But fortunately for me, our contest is not about Steelers wins alone!

With the entire division taken into consideration, as is the rule of this contest, copanut and tennbob tied with a total score of 9. As you know, the score is the net difference between the guessed results and the actual results, so lowest score wins. Four of you came in at 10, making it a close contest all around.

Being tied at 9, the contest fell through to tie breakers.

The first tie breaker is playoff wins. We do not yet know the answer for playoff wins, but it doesn’t matter since both copanut and tennbob guessed 1 win.

The second tie breaker is the total number of touchdowns scored by Diontae Johnson, who entered the season with a two year non-scoring streak. He finished the season with 5 TDs. Copanut guessed 6 and tennbob guessed 4, so we were both off by 1, and therefore remained at a tie.

The third tie breaker is the total number of sacks by Nick Herbig, and here the tie was finally broken. Herbig notched 3 sacks. Copanut guessed 3 while tennbob guessed 5, so copanut finishes with a total score of 11, beating tennbob’s 13.

Now, it is my general habit to screw up these tallies in one or two places, so I encourage you to double check my work. If so, you may be able to pry the trophy out of my hands. The overall contest was so close that pretty much anyone could be the winner if I made a mistake.

Summary of predictions:

Scoring:

0

Make your 2023 season predictions below. Same rules as previous seasons. Entries must be submitted by midnight before the season opening game.

Please include (1) W/L predictions for each Steelers game, (2) season records for each team in the division, and (3) tie breakers. If you fail to submit the tie breakers, you lose the tie.

Here is your prediction template. Good luck.

01 – SF
02 – CLE (Mon)
03 – @LV
04 – @HOU
05 – BAL
06 – BYE
07 – @LAR (SNF)
08 – JAX
09 – TEN (Thu)
10 – GB
11 – @CLE
12 – @CIN
13 – ARI
14 – NE (Thu)
15 – @IND
16 – CIN (Sat)
17 – @SEA
18 – @BAL

Standings (wins):
Steelers
Bengals
Browns
Ravens

Tie Breakers:

• # Steelers playoff wins
• # TD catches by Dionte Johnson
• # Sacks by Nick Herbig

0

On Saturday I was able to get down on the field early, one of the first ones. I was looking for someone in the stands and continued to walk to the far end of the field. That is when I noticed #88 catching passes behind a tackle dummy. He was no more than a few feet from me. I took a selfie to show how close he was, but it did not do it justice. Eventually other fans caught on to my lone access and trickled down the field. Freiermuth continued to play catch with TE coach Roberts. A Dad came over and had his two sons with him, he posed the two kids with #88 behind them. The Dad then asked Pat to turn around for the picture which he easily obliged. However, Roberts had already released the ball and it was heading for, well, Pat’s head. It just grazed the top of it and landed between me and the Dad. Pat came and retrieved the ball, I just said, “and that is how Pat Freiermuth got injured at training camp!” He turned to me with a big smile, rolling his eyes and then chuckled. A security guard then came over to remind us not to interact with the players.

Gentry, Washington and Heyward come over to join #88. It is like a trio with one of these doesn’t belong. Heyward is easily dwarfed by #80 and #81. #87 joins them shortly after. I shout to Rodney, “Hey #87!” He turns as I point to my #87 jersey and he gives me a thumbs up.

Freiermuth looks like a guy who wants to be perfect. His extra work, his enjoyment in doing so, shows through. He also has the tree trunk legs. He is no Najee, but he makes a good run at him. Speaking of Najee and Freiermuth, it seems those two are joined at the hip with Pickett once again. And once again their foursome consisted of Zach Gentry who seems to be a bigger part of the offense in camp.

Dionte Johnson looks like a man possessed. He digs in with each cut, battles after every catch (none dropped!) and gives 100% effort.

Pickens on the other hand looks like he is out for a Sunday Stroll, and I mean that in a positive way. He is fluid, he is effortless (again in a good way). You can see it in his preseason game touchdown. It looked like he was toying with the D-backs as he cut one way and slid past a DB the other way…effortlessly. Hit him in stride and the YAC will come.

#11 looks like a pro, but they didn’t seem to throw the ball to him much in the O v D drills. They love #19 deep. We may see that more than #14 going deep. The play #19 scored on in the preseason was run several times. I am not surprised it worked so easily.

Pickett looks fluid himself rolling both left and right. There is definitely a zip on the ball. I don’t have anything to compare it too as I did not see him in camp last year.

Rudolph looks so at ease. I truly wonder if his lack of relationship with Ben led to his disinterested demeanor these last few years. I feel bad for him as I thought 2019 would be his year. He seems happy now and at peace. Mitch looks ok, he is away from the other two as he puts in a lot of separate work as we are all aware he is one play away from being the starter. Mitch actually stays late and signs a ton of autographs. Fans are very pleasant with their interaction with him which is great to see.

For some reason I blanked on who #78 was. Wow, what a mountain of a man. I guess the #78 made me think OT. In one-on-one blocking drills he was a beast. Fast for a big man too. Oh wait! It’s James Daniels! I never understood why the national media thought he was getting replaced. He easily looked like our best lineman out there. New FA #73 looked like the perfect bookend surrounding the center position. Watched him go thru his reps, simply a pro. Another beast of a man, the long hair makes him look even more intimidating. However, when I had a brief chance to chat with him the night before, he was pleasant, polite and soft spoken.

I didn’t see much of our starting tackles or center, but I did watch #77 for a bit. He looked like he was having fun. His interaction with teammates did not look like a rookie at all. He looks like he could be a leader at some point.

The D practices on the middle field which in not easy to see from field level. My only time seeing them is when they go up against the offense.

#55 looks very mobile. They seemed to blitz him a lot up the middle, flushing the QB out of the pocket.

#95 has a soft cast on his wrist from the night before. Minor inconvenience. He drives back whoever they put in front of him, imagine him with the true use of both hands. The offense tries to get the younger Heyward into the action. #93 covers him downfield. The ball is perfectly placed, but so is #93. #93 contests the catch and comes down with the INT. The D rush on the field much like the O did for Pickens catch days earlier. #93 fires the ball into the air, the D shoots at it as it comes down. All fun and games, but that’s 15 yards during real action. #51 just beats everyone (I wish I put this together before the preseason game). He does not look small out there like Sutton Smith. He is everywhere. #56 looks like he swallowed James Harrison. Wow! He looks jacked! I wonder if he will use more bull rushes along with his spin move this year.

#96 looks to be lost in the NT competition yet he consistently takes on 2-3 guys. Adams still runs with the 1’s, wish #96 would get his chance.

Still too many WR screens and WR end arounds for my liking. They practice it way too much the day I am there. It doesn’t seem they like to attack the middle of the field much. They did run the ball more since they were in pads. #30 has the breakaway speed. Hopefully he can hit a HR or two when it counts. #22 watches mostly as the backup RB’s are fighting for a spot. They are practicing without their top 3 safeties, and it shows. Robinson and Riley are nice, but they are still lower skilled journeyman. They seem to like #37 a lot though. They pull him over to the sidelines for a chat, send him back in several times. I spot #39 in a hoodie. I am relieved he is back at camp even though he is not participating.

JPJ covers like a blanket. He makes a play but comes up limping. He looks ok but they are taking him out.

Chandon Sullivan is invisible, Luq Barcoo outperforms him. Levi Wallace just goes about his business. Right now, he is our best CB. Pat P gets some work in but is more of an extra coach out there.

#89 looks like our punt returner. He is desperately trying to win back his job, and it looks like he has. #19 is out there with #16. I am not sure they want #19 returning kicks/punts though.

0

Now that the draft is behind us, it’s time to take a look at who had the most accurate prediction.

Total Points:

1. tennbob – 4
2. Earl – 4
3. copanut (mock 1) – 3
4. copanut (mock 2) – 3
5. Mwalsh26 (mock 2) – 3*
6. EstimatedProphet – 3
7. Eleven – 3
8. Mwalsh26 (mock 1) – 1
9. TomPaulBillyBob – 1
10. All the losers who were too lazy or scared to participate – 0

Yes, tennbob and Earl got it right, proving the old adage about broken clocks. Well done, guys, you made us proud! Technically, tennbob takes the crown because his predictions were submitted first. After those two, there was an amazing five-way tie for third place, with the tie-breaker being the chronology of the entries.

Earl had the distinction of being the only Baller to correctly pick a player and round combination, with Broderick Jones in round 1, garnering 3 points. He added another point by guessing a CB for the next pick. Tennbob predicted the positions of the first two picks, and also had a named player (Herbig) but with the wrong round, accumulating 4 points total. EstimatedProphet and Mwalsh26 (mock 2) also predicted Broderick Jones in round 1, but had no other hits. Only two other Ballers correctly picked a player, but did not have the correct round. Both copanut (mock 1) and Eleven correctly named Joey Porter Jr, but in the wrong round. Both mocks also correctly identified a DL as the third pick, but got the actual player wrong.

Copanut (mock 2) and tennbob had the distinction of being the only mocks to correctly guess more than two positions, though none for the correct player. Each predicted OT, CB, and DL for the first three picks, in that order, for one point each.

I will be kicking myself for the next 11 months because I originally had Broderick Jones for that first pick, which would have given me a total of 5 and the win, but lacking the imagination of Omar Khan, I decided Jones would be gone by 17 (which was true of course), and so I changed the name. Next time I’ll try to remember to have more faith in the Khan Artist to find a way around the impossible.

Mwalsh26 (mock 2) gets an asterisk because for some inexplicable reason he declared that this mock did not count. Well, we’re counting it anyway just to demonstrate how fair and reasonable we are here at Steel Balls. We won’t even mention that the mock he embraced came in tied for last, because that would be rude.

DISCLAIMER: I always manage to make at least one error in tabulation, so look over your mocks and compare to my evaluation to make sure I got it right. If you find a mistake in my tabulation, let me know. Eagle Eye JAMESH has already caught one major error, now fixed, and there may be more.

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