Steel Balls

And the reaction from Justin’s teammates:

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TJ Watt

Joe Haden

Alejandro Villanueva

Justin Hunter

James Washington

Jaylen Samuels

BJ Finney

Matt Feiler

Fitzgerald Toussaint

Marcus Tucker

Jerald Hawkins

Jake McGee

Jake Rodgers

RJ Prince

Damoun Patterson

Jarvion Franklin

Quadree Henderson

Patrick Morris

Trey Griffey

Tevin Jones

Parker Cothran

James Summers

Joseph Cheek

Christain Scotland-Williamson

Kevin Colbert

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The lure of the Steel Balls Trophy beckons you! Will MWalsh be displaced?

It’s that time of year where Steel Ballers put their reputations on the line to make their season predictions. Let me remind you of the rules of engagement:

Rules:

1. Lowest score wins.
2. Points are based on accuracy. An exact prediction yields zero points.
3. Categories include:
   • Final regular season record for each AFCN team.
   • Divisional positioning of AFCN teams.
   • Number of Steelers playoff wins (first round bye counts as a win)
4. Tie breaker: first, accuracy of game-by-game predictions, then earliest submission

If you are too lazy to provide predictions in any of the above categories, you will get maximum points for that category.

Predictions will be accepted until Midnight ET September 8. You may change your predictions up until that time without penalty.

Good luck!

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Friday Night Lights always seems like a good time. Even better when you have VIP access.

We had 50 yd line seats on the visitor side, only a few feet from the field.

During warm-ups we had the DB’s in front of us. As they went through a few drills, #25, #21, #42 and #23 seemed to move in unison. Fluid in their change of direction, back peddling, stopping and starting. But what was more impressive was the 2nd unit was only a notch below. #24, #34, #28 and #20. This is probably the best group of DB’s this team has seen in a while. The only worry is can Davis be that true centerfielder at FS. But I think we all feel he has to be better than Mike Mitchell was last year.

I also got my first real look at Terrell Edmunds. He looked thinner when he was with the LB’s…however, he seems to dwarf our DB’s. I saw him cover, I saw him run, I saw him run support and drop as a safety. He can do it all. He was a blanket playing coverage. He is fast. It won’t be long before this guy is an every down player. Of course a lot of players look good in practice. Let’s see come game time.

James Washington again put on a show. One play he came back on the field with the 3rd team. Everyone knew he was getting the ball, and probably a deep route. The corner #35 and safety pointed at him, they covered him, they ran with him…they failed. JW went up and caught the ball over the two of them. Yes, 3rd stringers…but he beat them, and beat them knowing what was coming. Without AB in camp, it was the JW show. We got a player.

Mason Rudolph looks fluid. He seemed to make all the throws, looked very comfortable with his footwork. He has all the make up of an NFL QB. However he looked smaller than I thought. Perhaps all those years of watching Big Ben.

Don’t get your hopes up with Jaylen Samuels. I was not impressed. He can’t run, he can’t block…I assume he can catch but they didn’t seem to throw to him much. Actually I was not impressed with any of our RB’s. I hear Conner is having a good camp. But I didn’t see it. I know these “live” practices don’t necessarily show what a power back can do, so let’s see how he does in the preseason games. I just get the sense our starting RB for 2019 is NOT on the team. That’s not a bad thing as a rookie at RB can have success.

Cam Heyward had the night off, but he was clearly visible and when he talked, the D-Line listened. Again, Tuitt is a big man, hopefully he stays injury free and plays like one.

I missed the backs on backers, which apparently was the hightlight of the night. And that is why this guy is not a reporter…

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The first thing I came away with from Thursday’s practice was the fact that the team seems to be missing star power. Of course, the likes of AB and Bell and a 1/2 day of Ben practicing will do that. But that’s the O. I agree with Rod Woodson, the D does not have that play maker. But I began to realize they certainly have candidates to become that player. Burns, Davis and Tuitt are all players who can be difference makers.

Burns was like a blanket. All that work against AB has shown. Now of course, will he still bite on play fakes and getting turned around on inside out routes, well games will only tell us that. However his confidence is not lacking and he was everywhere. I give this two reasons, the new coach off the field in his first camp, and the new one on the field in his first camp. Tom Bradley has this group energized and focused. There also seems to be a camaraderie that was missing last year. The second is Joe Haden. Forget his play on the field, he is leading and teaching this secondary, especially the corners. After watching and talking to Joe Haden, he is now easily my favorite non Steeler-Steeler (not that we have many of those). Although Haden was signed older, think of what James Farrior did for the Steelers as a leader for the LB’s, this is what Haden is doing to the secondary. Now, this is not to short Morgan Burnett. He was still recovering on Thursday and hopefully he has that same impact on the safeties. Davis was also sidelined this day.

I was asked about Cam Sutton. He looks to be a jack of all trades. Played corner and safety. He looked slight out there, but then again so did Haden. Sutton was beat at least three times by James Washington and once by JuJu. But I wonder if this is the Dermontti Dawson/Joel Steed effect. Especially since James Washington was beating everyone.

James Washington. What’s not to love. Great route running. Deep pass tracking. Combat catches. Getting easily open. Looked 15 years old. The only thing I have not seen is YAC but that will be better evaluated in games. But, as I said in my opinion, this is our next great receiver. He had the likes of Landry and Dobbs throwing to him and he looked great. Wait til he gets Ben. The only thing is I wish this kid had Mann as his coach. I’m guessing after seeing JW he might be thinking he should have stuck around one more year.

Jesse James just looks like he belongs. Maybe he takes another step up this year. He had a great deep flag route beating Bostic. I joked aloud as the crowd cheered. Not sure if that play was good or bad for us as Bostic was easily beating in coverage by a slow TE. Ed Bouchette,  who was in front of me, turned around and chuckled. However, Bostic has all the looks of an NFL ILB. Matakevich does not. But that doesn’t mean #44 can’t be. That has been the knock on him, plays better than his measurables. Bostic hung out with Tuitt, Heyward and Hargrave. Good company. Speaking of Hargrave….my opinion of him keeps falling. He is a DT in a 4-3. I don’t see anything special with him. Frazier on the other hand took on double teams and did not look overmatched. Something to keep an eye on.

That brings us to Keion Adams, for Mack. It seemed they did not have him pin his ears back and rush, which is fine, they seem to know he can do that. However, on back to back plays against the run, #99 easily went from left to right through traffic to make the tackle for no gain. One play he beat back up guard #60 inside and at the end of the play the guard was visibly pissed at himself for getting beat so bad. This is something Bud Dupree had problems with last year.

TJ Watt signed my camp poster I print out every year. I said to him, “I know, I’t no Urine Chart.” He laughed. Ben signed a lot which was unusual, unable to get him though. Just missed Mason Rudolph too. Joe Haden signed for everyone. Had a chance to talk to him a little. What a great guy. Like I said, better person than player, and that speaks volumes.

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Okay, I’ll give you a minute to clear the cornflakes out of your sinuses after reading that headline. Nobody in their right mind would consider Landry Jones to be among the very best quarterbacks in Steelers history.

Yet, Landry does acquit himself surprisingly well in a statistical review. For most categories he gets middling results, which frankly is already a surprise given what most thought of him in his first couple of pro campaigns. In a couple of categories he does appear among the best, and even comes out tops in one category.

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Well it was a bizarre draft with punishing results for our 5th annual draft predictions contest.

Perhaps the most bizarre outcome is that our most vocally unhappy participant, mwalsh26, was also the most accurate predictor by a wide margin, and thus is our winner for 2018.

Our champion correctly predicted a S in round 1 and a WR in round 2, while nailing Joshua Frazier in round 7, giving him a total of 4 points.

In second place, we have a tie at 2 points between abennihana and estimatedprophet. Abennihana actually had 3 points but I’m docking him one for using a verbal vomit format that required me to retype his submission for scoring analysis. I can do that because I have a massive ego and dictatorial powers.

Honorable Mention goes to malsor, who correctly predicted 1st round selection Terrell Edmunds, though he was off by two rounds.

By contrast, your judge achieved zero points.

Way to go Mr. Walsh. Let’s see if you can keep up your winning streak with our next contest.

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I didn’t make too many changes, but here I go again…

[Admin Note: Click below to see Mr. Walsh’s magnificent 2.0 draft projections…]

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