Of all teams…the Jets?

Early reports said the New York Jets had offered Steelers G Alan Faneca Four years, $32 million and $23 million guaranteed. The P-G’s Ed Bouchette wrote that Faneca will likely sign an offer by Saturday night, but not necessarily the deal he was offered by the Jets. Steelers beat writer Dale Lolley reported the Jets offer on his blog and on Steel City Insider.

Tom Rock from Newsday Magazine writes that he spoke to Faneca’s agent, Rick Smith, who said the signing is “false.”  All sides seem to confirm a deal was offered, and considering that offer would make Faneca the highest paid offensive lineman in the game, it’s likely he and Smith are merely spinning the Jets offer over to other suitors - sources say the 49ers and the Rams were involved - to see if he can’t get a better deal.

But if it is the Jets, do we begin throwing around the “hypocrite” label?

Financially, the Jets offer makes sense for Faneca. Even kind of crazy. But what’s really crazy here is the amount of energy Faneca spent in calling out the Steelers organization for not treating him fairly, and his decision, barely 15 hours into the free agency period, to choose the team that has arguably the worst reputation for dealing with its players in the league.

Before training camp in May, Faneca said:

“I’ve been asking since February to trade me, to let me go,” Faneca said. “I’ve done my piece. I’ve done my time. I’ve done everything I can for this organization. I’ve lived and breathed Steeler football for nine years and gave them everything I’ve had and helped them win a Super Bowl. In my mind, I’ve earned the right to be treated fairly.”

We don’t have to look very far to see how the Jets treat their guards.

Former Jets LG Pete Kendall- the guy Faneca is obstensibly replacing -  re-negotiated his contract in 2006, helping the Jets free up some salary cap space. He demanded a $1 million raise before the 2007 season, and the team refused to give it to him. A bitter battle ensued between Kendall and the Jets over the alleged deal.

According to Kendall, the Jets promised to re-negotiate his contract in 2007 if he performed well in 2006. Whether the Jets reneged on that promise, or they weren’t interested in renegotiating in the first place, they traded Kendall to Washington for a fifth-round pick in this April’s draft.

Once is an occurence. Twice is a trend.

Here’s Kendall’s former teammate, Laveranues Coles, accusing the Jets of the exact same thing Kendall did.

According to Coles, the team was happy with his effort, and were appreciative of all the non-statbook factors he contributed. But that’s not enough, apparently.

Said Coles to the Newark Star-Ledger:  

“I played hurt,” he said. “I ran clear-out routes for Jerricho (Cotchery). They praised me for my toughness and not worrying about my numbers. They tell me that I’m an unselfish player. I do everything they ask me to do and then when it comes to business, they tell me my production is down. That’s not right.”

 (nod to PFT on the Coles story)

The Jets are allegedly in the habit of lying to their players, and getting them to accept less money and less of a role on the team under the agreement the team would take care of them after that season. Two veteran players in two seasons have accused the Jets of those kinds of deals.

And Faneca accused the Steelers of being underhanded?

Clearly, Faneca cared little about what was fair and what was right. He wanted what was his, and nothing more.

In the end, the Steelers will remain relatively stain-free after Faneca’s tirade, but let’s stay tuned. Considering the Jets traded two picks to Carolina for DT Kris Jenkins (and gave him five years, $35 million, $20 guaranteed), it’ll be interesting to see Faneca’s reaction when they come to him in two years asking, “Hey Alan, ya think we could re-work your contract? We’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

This is a call to action for all Steelers fans.

I have affixed a black stripe underneath the “Terrible Towel” writing on my prized Steelers artifact. I recommend all Steelers fans do the same.

It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see the team put something on their jerseys this season, and considering the organization’s policy to not add outlandish items to their overall look, I’m sure it will be classy and tasteful.

But I’m going to honor Myron with the black stripe on my towel. Get some electrical tape (although it doesn’t stick well) or sew in a black piece of fabric. We must honor the man who coined the single-greatest fan-based legacy in franchise history.

R.I.P., Mr. Cope, the “Swawking Tailsman of Steelers Football.”

Yoi.

Steel City Insider’s Jim Wexell gives a brief synopsis of the Combine (which starts today in Indianapolis), and goes over his 10 players to watch come draft day.

Since it’s exclusive content, I won’t print his list of players, but I will mention that Wexell says the Steelers interviewed two WRs this off-season: Texas’s Limas Sweed and Indiana’s James Hardy.

It shouldn’t be surprising.

Let’s break down both of these players quick. Sweed was in the process of re-writing the University of Texas’s receiving record books when an injury sidelined him his last season. By all accounts, a strong, physical receiver with reliable hands. Well, perhaps there’s a bit of question with his right hand, because it’s attached to his right wrist, but he did nothing but show strong possession skills throughout his collegiate career.

Hardy has Top Five skills, Top Five size and first round character. This scale was created under the concept that in today’s NFL, a 6-foot-5 225-pound WR with good speed and hands can’t possibly fall out of the first round, except perhaps if he is currently facing murder charges. And then, you know the Raiders will take a waiver on him early in the second.

It makes perfect sense to want to interview Hardy in particular. With QB Ben Roethlisberger carrying on a bit this off-season about wanting a taller receiver (that’s what he’s always going to want, remember), and Hardy being this year’s finest example of Value Pick Later in the First Round, his character becomes the only road block toward Commissioner Goodell announcing him as the Steelers’ first round pick.

So I’m going to mark that down now as the early projection. I understand the team needs help along the offensive line, but consider this:

If the Steelers are content with slapping the transition tag on T Max Starks, you have to think they are really more interested in getting a third-round pick for him, not for him to compete with incumbent Willie Colon for the starting right tackle spot. If they wanted him to start, they would have signed him, or at least franchised him.

They didn’t. By this same logic (and a few sources saying the team isn’t going to move Colon inside and have Starks start simply out of stubbornness), it doesn’t make any sense to have both Colon and Starks start on the right side. Again, if they wanted Starks to play at this point, they would have signed him, not tagged him.

While I’m personally a huge fan of five tackles likely to be taken in the first round, outside of Michigan’s Jake Long - zero chance he’ll fall to the Steelers - or perhaps Ryan Clady, none of them can sniff the amount of raw skill of Hardy.

He’ll be there when the Steelers go on the clock…will they give their franchise QB what he wants?

Does Max Starks’s transition tag mean anything? Not especially, unless, of course, you consider the new name of a transition tag: The Defensive Tag.

Starks wasn’t tagged to buy more time to sign a long-term deal. He was tagged so he can buy the team some time to establish long-term starters, but get a third-round pick as compensation if/when someone signs him.

It’s all explained here, on Real Football 365

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) accused the New England Patriots franchise of illegally filming the Steelers in four games, including both AFC Championship games, according to Ed Bouchette. The Patriots won both games.

Specter has been accused of going after the Patriots because of their victor over Philadelphia - his hometown - in Super Bowl XXXIX. He met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for an hour on Wednesday, a meeting from which Specter derived the opinion that Goodell “has a fair-sized stone wall erected.”

Bouchette got a hold of former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, the coach of the team during all four games against New England in which the alleged filming took place. His quote probably summarizes the matter better than anyone is willing to say:

“Is it an advantage to steal signals? Yes. Did it determine the outcome of the game? No.”

Steelers fans are understandably going to be upset about this. They have every reason to be. But like Coach Cowher said, they may have done it, but they didn’t win because of it.

It goes deeper than just four games, though. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry, and it has an antitrust exemption, so spare the “they have better things to do” bit.

It’s very difficult to understand why Goodell had the tapes destroyed after he imposed a $500,000 fine on Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and a $250,000 fine on the Patriots franchise…difficult, assuming you don’t want to consider the simple concept of damage control. It’s easy to assume that, while top to bottom fans don’t like Coach Belichick, the NFL takes a fairly significant hit from a public relations perspective if Spygate turns into more than what was originally discovered. Every team will go right down with Belichick if evidence is revealed that he and his Patriot buddies were doing this for a substantial amount of time. From Goodell’s perspective, he issued a sizeable fine (big enough so those who thought it should have been more would easily be labeled Patriots Haters) and now, simply wants the issue to go away. Specter shouting to the hilltops about this (and currying votes along the way, certainly a nice ancillary benefit) won’t change Goodell’s intentions: to stop the public bleeding and lock this down before it grows into more than just a conspiracy theory.

Still, Specter is carrying the Matt Walsh bluff high above his head. If the former Patriots employee who alleges he has substantial evidence against the Patriots and the league is more than just a bitter ex-employee, and really does have dirt to dish, Goodell would be the wrong man for the job if he didn’t take the brunt of the assault in public, like he did on Wednesday, and do whatever he could to silence Walsh - if not flat-out discredit him.

Don’t believe me? Ok…

Bouchette mentions in his article that Specter confirmed, through Walsh’s laywer, that an NFL security “guy” named Dick Farley is investigating Walsh. Goodell said the league considers Spygate finished, so why would they send one of their own out to investigate the key member of the whole scandal? Let’s look over the facts again:

1. The NFL confirmed in September that the Patriots had been caught filming signals from on the Jets sideline during a game.

2. The fine was issued a week later.

3. The tapes were suspiciously destroyed very soon after the fine was levied.

4. A former Patriots employee, video director Matt Walsh, comes out, saying he has evidence the Patriots had been filming for several years, including a filming of the Rams in a closed walk-through before the Super Bowl.  

5. Months later, the NFL conveniently states it knew the Patriots had been filming in a similar manner since 2000.

6. Walsh’s lawyer gives the name of an NFL security guard (Dick Farley) who is investigating Walsh despite the fact Goodell has said Spygate is a dead issue, and the league is not following up on it.

As our own Coach Tomlin said, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Specter’s discussion with Goodell has clearly fanned that flame, and now that he’s grabbed the full attention of two of the most passionate fan bases in the NFL - Pittsburgh and Philadelphia - this isn’t going away any time soon.

I woke up this morning, somewhat delirious from the aftershock of what’s being called the “Refinance Boom” that has me working 12 hour days. I added the filter, and two saving scoops of Caribou Coffee, and as I chugged a glass of orange juice, I honestly needed to stop for a second to realize that today is February 5.

Two years ago today, the Pittsburgh Steelers - OUR Pittsburgh Steelers - won Super Bowl XL.

Since I never got the chance to post this anywhere (long story), I always saved it with the idea that I wanted to get it out somewhere for people to read, and this seems like a good place to do that.

So the following was written on Feb. 6, 2006:
From the movie “Major League”:
“…And the Indians win it! The Indians win it! Oh my God, the Indians WIN IT!”

The Shot Heard ‘Round The World:
“The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!”

From the movie “Hoosiers”:
“SWISH!” (Hickory defeats highly-favored South Bend Central with a Jimmy Chitwood 15-footer at the buzzer.)

Is Pittsburgh’s 21-10 win over Seattle in Super Bowl XL as dramatic as these games? No. Probably not as good, either (or even close to as good). But I’ve watched these movies and heard these lines countless times, and after every single time, I thought to myself what I would do if Pittsburgh won a Super Bowl. Would I rush the field like in Major League? Would I weep for joy like Barbara Hershey in Hoosiers?

Up until Feb. 5, 2006, I didn’t think I ever had to worry about it.  I never really thought it was going to happen. A team based on heart, toughness and determination proved me wrong Feb. 5 – and I’ll never forget it. Even if I did bang my head on a table after falling over when Antwaan Randle-El hit Hines Ward for the difference-making touchdown.

The only sentence I was able to say after the final gun sounded was “we won the Super Bowl!” The Starting Gate Bar in St. Paul chanted “COW-ER! COW-ER! COW-ER!” Then “WHO RIDE? WE RIDE!” as led by SteelersBro. Champagne stung our eyes, hugs flew everywhere, some guy even gave me $10 after he spilt my $3 beer on the table.

I have never sustained a yell longer than I did after Jerramy Stevens dropped yet another pass on that final 4th down. The lack of oxygen and completely overtaxed lungs forced me to sit down for a bit. I didn’t see the final snap. I didn’t see Bill Cowher get doused with Gatorade. Maybe I had just seen these things in my dreams for so long, I ruined the suspense for myself.

But what I did see is the most bittersweet moment a Steelers fan will ever have. The Bus, the most popular player – and one of the best players – in Steelers history, announce the rumor that everyone already knew. Detroit was the final bus stop.

As I sat there in silent and unaccepted celebration, a man wearing a Polamalu jersey and a kid wearing a Bettis jersey patted me on the back when they walked through the door.

The kid was around 11-years-old. Eleven! Just as I didn’t get to celebrate the Steelers previous four championships, this kid missed The Bus in his prime.

I was actually RIDING the bus to school when the soon-to-be-named Bus was traded to Pittsburgh. I had a walkman and KFAN radio in Minneapolis announced that Jerome Bettis and a third-round pick had been traded from the Los Angeles Rams to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a second-round and a fourth round pick.
The 10th overall pick out of Notre Dame was more fullback than halfback, but with quick feet and a harder head than Rocky Balboa’s, people everywhere couldn’t help but think this deal was heavily tilted in favor of Pittsburgh.

It wasn’t long before Bettis became as Pittsburgh as Primanti’s. Fans started imitating Bus’s dance after a big run (or maybe just me, I dunno). Engraved in our minds is the massive width between his legs when he gets the hand-off, that classic barrel roll he does to gain a yard and how difficult it was to knock him for a loss.

He went to enough Pro Bowls and bowled over enough would-be tacklers to earn a spot of immortality in Steel City by the time his first AFC title game loss (vs. Denver) came. He rushed for 1,665 yards that year, but not enough to move on.

I had a Myron Cope sound byte of a run he had that season as my computer’s start up notification my freshman year of college.

“…TOUCH-DAHNN!!! TOUCH-DAHNN!!! TOCHDAHNN STILERS! JER-OME BETTIS! AND THIS PLACE IS GOING BERZERK!”

Gives me goosebumps just remembering Cope’s thick Pittsburgh accent completely losing control of any emotion on the air. But that’s what Bettis did back then. Not to say he wasn’t capable of this now, but with his impending retirement over the last three seasons, everything had a much more somber air around it. It wasn’t the same feeling you got when he and the offensive line were running down hill, just preying on small defensive backs in the open field much like Ashley Ambrose of the Bengals in 2001 (if you don’t remember that, it was the camera shot of Bettis running toward you, Ambrose got in Bettis’ path and was leveled like a shopping cart in front of a semi).

There was the “emergence” of Amos Zereoue, and how he filled in for the injured Bettis in 2001 – which would have been Bus’s best season as a pro had he not missed the last five games of the regular season. The cortisone shot that went awry. The Patriots upset.

In this time, Bettis started feeling all those carries. He and everyone else on the Steelers except for Joey Porter flat-out sucked in 2003. There were calls for his retirement. They restructured his deal giving him less money. You could tell if Pittsburgh didn’t win in 2004, Bettis was either going to follow Franco Harris and retire in some other jersey or just retire with that sour taste in all our mouths.

As soon as the slide started, it ended. Bus runs for the most inspiring 1,000 yards and 13 touchdowns in the history of the game (973 yards, but who’s counting?) while replacing Deactivated Duce Staley. Falling short again in ‘04, 2005 was the last year. He would retire a legendary Steeler, or a legendary running back. That ring is the difference between the two.

And we did it. We won the Super Bowl.

I thought of all of this when I saw that kid wearing Bettis’ jersey. We’ve got the mandatory five years until he’s elected into Canton. Maybe another two after that to start officially calling his jersey a throwback. A lifetime of Ambrose-like highlights. Those halfback passes, those fights with Ray Lewis.

But no more Bus. He can be Jerome, as he begins a sure-fire great broadcasting career on NBC. We’ll see a few more pictures of the Bus holding up the Lombardi Trophy, soaked in sweat and champagne as confetti is strewn about those shoulders that carried the morale of this franchise for the last 10 years.

We’ll think of all that and say, “whine all you want about poor officiating. The Bus took what’s his.”

And no one can take that away from him or from SteelerNation.

Maybe that 11-year-old kid with the Bettis jersey will be in the same position I was in 2016 for Super Bowl…uh…whatever 50 would be. Maybe he’ll be crouched over, clutching his never-washed Terrible Towel, trying to let the idea of his biggest hope coming true turn into reality. Maybe he’ll see a kid with a Ben Roethlisberger jersey or a Troy Polamalu jersey and feel that same bit of pride. Not the pride of winning the Super Bowl. The pride of knowing he was able to watch one of the greatest players in the game retire a champion.

And maybe, like me, the only thing he’ll be able to say is “We won the Super Bowl!”