2010 Pittsburgh Steelers

[Don Wassall]

A dirty little secret -- backup nose tackle Chris Hoke is better than Casey Hampton, the morbidly obese, totally out of shape blob and multiple Pro Bowler whose job is to stand at the line of scrimmage and "take up space." By contrast, Hoke is an athlete who can pressure the quarterback and stuff the run, youknow, those now quaint skills linemen were supposed to havebefore the switchover to immobile sumos.


<DIV style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; COLOR: #000000; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; TEXT-DECORATION: none; transparent: ">Hoke was on the nose with his performance
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<DIV style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; COLOR: #000000; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; TEXT-DECORATION: none; transparent: ">NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Both teams had already fumbled, and the Steelers had run a kickoff back for a touchdown before Tennessee's offense even made it onto the field here Sunday, so maybe you failed to notice how a football game that began as bedlam and cooled off to merely crazy seemed to turn on something as mundane as a line plunge for no gain.
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Vince Young, whose 142 passer rating was the NFL's best on Kickoff weekend, had just zipped back-to-back completions to Justin Gage, one for 9 yards to the Steelers' 28, the next for 17 to the Steelers' 11.
So it was time, apparently, to turn things over to Chris Johnson, he of the 12 consecutive 100-yard games; maybe send him up the middle to impress backup nose tackle Chris Hoke.
Hoke was not impressed.
Smacked No. 28 to the grass without ceremony for zero yards, but somehow a world of import.
"He's so fast and he's so good on his cutbacks that we wanted to make sure we kept our gaps, held our gaps and stayed square to the line of scrimmage so there were not cutback lanes," Hoke said in a sweat-flooded Steelers' locker room. "And there weren't any today."
Hoke is one of those players who is comfortable with praise as long he's dealing it. He is not comfortable absorbing any, which is convenient because it never seems to stick to him anyway. Here's a guy who has started 16 games in relief of probably the best nose tackle in Steelers' history, Casey Hampton, and has walked off the field a winner 15 times.
Still, after nine years in Pittsburgh and he's still among those rare Steelers who can get in and out of a Giant Eagle without a security detail.
"I'm not an A-lister," he said after perhaps the best game of his NFL life. "Not like Aaron Smith."
Hoke meant that for Smith to overhear, but Smith had vacated the adjacent locker in just about the only time a Steelers defender was out of position all day.
Prior to Hoke's first tackle, there had been no indication from the Titans' offense that it planned to play the next 57 minutes like the junior varsity at the Nashville School For The Chronically Uncoordinated. But one play after Hoke flattened Johnson, Young began going to pieces. He called time when he couldn't recognize his own formation at the Steelers' 5, then called time again when he couldn't get tight end Craig Stevens to line up in the spot he'd just spent a time out talking about. That got Tennessee flagged for delay of game, relocated at the 10, and awarded the limp consolation prize of a field goal.
The Titans didn't score again until long after Kerry Collins relieved the clueless Young, until after they'd turned the ball over seven times, until after the Steelers had built a 16-point lead in the face of similar offensive dysfunction.
And when Johnson did break loose for 85 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter, Hoke knew before anyone that it wouldn't count because Titans center Eugene Amano had both hands inside the shoulder pads of one Chris Hoke.
"I'm just glad it was called," said Hoke, who immediately yipped to the nearest official. "A lot of times it isn't and it can be very frustrating."
Not as frustrating as that flag was to the home team.
"That's not something you get over very easily," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. "He made a great run, a great effort, and for all intents and purposes I thought the play was over, it was done. It wasn't. So we didn't get back into the end zone until there was less than two minutes left."
In between, Hoke had gone to his knees with a stinger, but stayed around to torment an accomplished Tennessee offensive line all day long. He put together another modest statistical line, as nose tackles will: two tackles, no assists, and he recovered one of Tennessee's -- what was it -- 35 fumbles.
"When Casey got hurt [in the second quarter against Atlanta last week], I told Hokey that I like it when he plays," defensive captain James Farrior said. "That year he made 10 starts in a row [2004], I made the Pro Bowl and had probably the most tackles I ever had. Hokey would start on a lot of teams. We're just fortunate to have that kind of a backup."
On a day when a fractured offense produced next to nothing, when players on every Steelers unit were felled by the vicious humidity of Tennessee's Indian summer, the satisfaction with this 19-11 victory was palpable within the sweat-flooded locker room. It was evident everywhere, including on the faces of two generations of Rooneys. Satisfaction is when you haven't gotten an offensive touchdown in regulation yet and you're 2-0.
As for Hoke, he embodies, in an important sense, the bedrock humility of the organization. As the backup nose tackle left the locker room at the end of a battering work day, he was preceded through the LP Field concourse by Dan Rooney, the patriarch of the franchise, the chairman emeritus.
The United States Ambassador to Ireland was dragging his own suitcase.

<DIV ="story_end_field">Gene Collier: gcollier@post-gazette.com.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10263/1088876-66.stm#ixzz109vmYBYq
Edited by: Don Wassall

 

[whiteathlete33]

Hoke has spent his entire career with the Steelers and has mostly been a backup. He's started a total of 16 games in his nine years in the league and I'm guessing it was due to injuries. It's a shame we never got to see just how good he could be.

 

[Don Wassall]

Two of Tomlin's Magical Negro quarterbacks have been injured already -- the immobile Leftwich and the mobile Dixon. In recent years, Batch has been injured just trying to put his helmet on. Tomlin may end up turning to Kordell Stewart before Big Ben's suspension is over.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Two of Tomlin's Magical Negro quarterbacks have been injured already -- the immobile Leftwich and the mobile Dixon. In recent years, Batch has been injured just trying to put his helmet on. Tomlin may end up turning to Kordell Stewart before Big Ben's suspension is over.

The funny thing is Tomlin won't even guarantee Big Ben his job back when he returns from the suspension. If that's not racist I don't know what is.

 

[jaxvid]

What really grinds me about this is that the Steelers have been winning only because they their defense is so good it can overcome the poor play of their offense. They even have another black quarterback team coming up, they probably can start Kordell Stewart and win. Hopefully the chickens come home to roost after that.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Sometimes I wonder how stupid and racist blacks can really be. This just about sums it up. From Walterfootball:

Pittsburgh Steelers (3-0) - Previously: #4 - This team is very impressive. I'd just like them to maintain the same intensity once Ben Roethlisberger comes back.



And yes, Roethlisberger will be the starter despite what PTI's Michael Wilbon says (he thinks Charlie Batch will continue to start.)



Is it just me, or does anyone else miss Bill Simmons on PTI? I
used to like Wilbon, but he has inexplicably become completely
insufferable lately. Plus, Simmons was awesome, especially when he said
of the Raiders putting a gag order on Jason Campbell, "Campbell should
pretend that he's dead like Al Davis."

This is from Walterfootball's NFL Power Rankings: I don't watch PTI but apparently Michael Wilbon said that he feels Charlie Batch will be the starter when Big Ben returns. Charlie Batch? LOL! Why doesn't this cornhole just come out and say what he really means. He wants another black starter at quarterback. In Big Ben we are talking about a top five quarterback in the league. There is no excuse for these stupid and racist statements from this scumbag Wilbon.


Edited by: whiteathlete33

 

[Van_Slyke_CF]

I try to avoid PTI with Tony Kornhole and Michael Fatass. The network should replace both of them.

Like we've been saying here for a quite a while, it's just a matter of time before aging D-line standouts Smith, Keisel, and Hoke are gone and then Tomlin can have a coal-black D-starters and reserves.

He doesn't want any white players other than K/P/LS and maybe a token OL and TE.

It sure was interesting to see Doug Legursky-"undersized" 2nd year C/OG-play so well as an injury replacement last game. And the team didn't even give Kraig Urbik much of a chance before he was picked up by Buffalo.

Tomlin and Colbert love black sumos.

They love black players all over the field, and the DWFs still seem to be likin' it too.

 

[whiteathlete33]

You are correct, Van Sylke. Wilbon is a racist and he doesn't even try to hide it. He's the same as Michael Irvin, Cris Carter, Shannon Sharpe and all of the other affirmative action hires. They are always making stupid comments like calling Kevin Curtis "White Lightning" and referring to Peyton Hillis as "Sugar." The double standard is so obvious it's sickening.

The worst offender of all had to be Stephen A. Smiff. That guy just hated on all white athletes and made me sick to my stomach. Thank god that piece of trash isn't on ESPN anymore.

Getting back to the Steelers the direction they are headed is scary. They drafted zero white players in 2010 and just two in 2009, both offensive linemen. It won't be long before they set the record for least number of white players on the roster.

Edited by: whiteathlete33

 

[Van_Slyke_CF]

Tomlin and Colbert will whittle the white numbers down to the lowest extreme possible til the DWFs object in large numbers, which doesn't seem to be happening so far to me.

I don't go to any so-called mainstream Steelers' sites.

Do any of you guys?

Are there people out there talking about the lack of white players on the roster?

Is there anyone griping about Tomlin and Colbert and their racist moves the past few years?

Just curious....

 

[FootballDad]

Unless a CF poster is "trolling" the site, there is no mention of white players or lack thereof on virtually any team site, especially the sites for the black-worshipping teams. They seem to be oblivious to it, and there is a strong sense that the DWFs that populate the sites accept the black athletic superiority myth without question.


When I venture into enemy territory, to avoid instantaneous banning, I play around the edges and drop (obvious) hints, and it seems that the posters don't see it at all. It's astounding how brainwashed these sheeple are, in spite of the endless pass-dropping and fumbling that their precious affletes do.

 

[Don Wassall]

Tomlin and Colbert will whittle the white numbers down to the lowest extreme possible til the DWFs object in large numbers, which doesn't seem to be happening so far to me.

I don't go to any so-called mainstream Steelers' sites.

Do any of you guys?

Are there people out there talking about the lack of white players on the roster?

Is there anyone griping about Tomlin and Colbert and their racist moves the past few years?

Just curious....

A friend told me that loudmouth radio host Mark Madden has dropped some references, such as naming the Steelers' three black QBs and then naming Roethlisberger and asking, "Now who looks out of place here?" But this same host spouts such inanities as urging that the Pirates build a statue honoring Barry Bonds outside their stadium.

There's no serious discussion allowed about the things we talk about except for an occasional discussion board where the posters are reasonably intelligent, and even then only until one of the site's "thought police" gets wind of it. Mainstream media -- forget about it.

Making comments after articles is one of the best ways to spread the word. And the word is spreading, in spite of the best efforts of the dinosaur media and tightly censored discussion forums.

 

[Electric Slide]

<div>Making comments after articles is one of the best ways to spread the word.  And the word is spreading, in spite of the best efforts of the dinosaur media and tightly censored discussion forums.</div>

This is very true, I've noticed much more calling out of writers for the white RB/WR comparisons, as well as disparaging of white athletic talent. This usually comes in the form of race neutrality, as in whites can and should be RBs just like blacks can be QB. Or saying whites are less talented athletically is like saying blacks are less intelligent. Hey I'll take it!

I think we should re-up our efforts to commit to posting after articles. It's a very subtle, ground-up strategy but I think this type of communication is becoming more influential every single day, and what you see from ESPN/NFL network commentators will gradually diminish in its influence.

I know this has been often discussed, another thing I think will help pull traffic to this site is more updating on the blog/font page of the site. I understand we are welcome to submit articles, and plan on doing some. Maybe if we commit to doing this at least once a week our stuff will be more current and show up on search engines more often. Just a thought.

 

[Jack Lambert]

Looks like the Steelers won't have an all-black line after all.

From Rotoworld:

Steelers coordinator Bruce Arians suggested that RG Doug Legursky is playing too well to take out of the lineup when Trai Essex returns from his ankle injury.

"I wouldn't surprised if he's in (the starting lineup) for a long time," Arians said. Legursky's Week 3 game tape must have been impressive, as head coach Mike Tomlin expressed similar sentiments early in the week. It's great news for Rashard Mendenhall, as Essex was a weak link as a run blocker.

 

[Van_Slyke_CF]

It's nice to see that the team realized Legursky was playing so well that they couldn't continue to cover for the useless Essex.

Once Ben gets back, nearly all the white postion players will be starters. Technically, Miller and Spaeth start most games at TE, Legursky will probably be one OG, and Smith and Keisel start on the D-line, with Hoke undeservingly backing up the obese Hampton.

Don't get me wrong: I like to see the white players start, obviously. But it's just mighty strange that Tomlin will do it when he has no other choice, and he and Colbert pretty much refuse to draft white players and keep UDFA white players like Bailey and Grisham around.

 

[Don Wassall]

Dennis Dixon, Tomlin's pet "project,"has been placedon IR. He was injury prone in college as well. Byron Leftwich was injured (again) when he had the chance to start. Charlie Batch managed not to get injured last week, which is an extremerarity for him. Big Ben is far more durable than all three of them put together, not to mention a far better quarterback.

The Steelers defense has been winning games so far. If that stops after Roethlisberger comes back next week, or the already porous o-line stops blocking altogether, the Pittsburgh DWFs will be howling for Leftwich or Batch to replace Ben.

 

[whiteathlete33]

It's disgusting how the blackest team in the league will not even show any respect for their star quarterback Big Ben. He's been called out by Hines Ward in the past and Tomlin won't even say Big Ben is the starter when he returns from the suspension. Now scumbag Tomlin is forced to play musical chairs with his afflete quarterbacks. I still can't believe this loser Batch is still in the league. I remember him when he started for the Lions about ten years ago and he was terrible. Couldn't the Steelers find more qualified backup quarterbacks behind Roethlisberger? Guess that's asking too much from the racist Steelers.

 

[Highlander]

It's disgusting how the blackest team in the league will not even show any respect for their star quarterback Big Ben. He's been called out by Hines Ward in the past and Tomlin won't even say Big Ben is the starter when he returns from the suspension. Now scumbag Tomlin is forced to play musical chairs with his afflete quarterbacks. I still can't believe this loser Batch is still in the league. I remember him when he started for the Lions about ten years ago and he was terrible. Couldn't the Steelers find more qualified backup quarterbacks behind Roethlisberger? Guess that's asking too much from the racist Steelers.

The Steelers, just like the Vikings, Jets, and some others, no longer have control of their own locker room, personnel decisions, etc. In some cases, like the "Coal" Miners with Tomlin, this kind of "gang" mentality is actually encouraged and supported. In others, like Childress, he is too much of a coward to confront it, so he passively allows it. The fact that Batch may be the starter over Roethlisberger is so farcical that it gives a new definition to "Fantasy" football and further discredits the legitimacy of this so-called "professional" football league.
</span></span>Edited by: Highlander

 

[Van_Slyke_CF]

Dennis Dixon-a fragile, overrated afflete in college and a near-useless draft choice for the Steelers.

Charlie Batch-is a joke as an NFL QB.

Byron Leftwich-sucks so bad even the Buccaneers didn't want him around anymore.

But somehow, someway Big Ben will be blamed for anything that goes wrong with the offense once he gets back into the lineup, and Tomlin and the DWFs will wait with great anticipation to get a black QB into the lineup. Tomlin must have freaked out when the club brought John David Booty and Levi Brown in for workouts the other day.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Big Ben is the only white quarterback on the Steelers roster with affletes Dixon, Batch, and Leftwich. Coincidence?? I think not. I have a feeling the Steelers will trade Big Ben in the near future for a top black player. It's not like Roethlesberger has the respect of his racist coach.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

...and the pro-caste $#itsburgh Squeelers lose 17-14 to Flacco & the Ravens.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Here is a bit from Rotoworld.

Steelers RG Doug Legursky will draw his third straight start in place of Trai Essex in Week 6.
<div ="s_pNewsTextMain">
Legursky has played well enough to hold onto the starting job even when
Essex returns to full health. A mauling run blocker, Legursky has won
over the coaching staff and provides a better option up front for
Rashard Mendenhall.

This means the Steelers will keep one white starter on the offensive line when sumo Essex is healthy. What is Tomlin thinking?
</div>

 

[referendum]

With Big Ben coming back, and Legursky starting, the Steelers are at five white starters, right around the woeful 5.5 starter average.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Here is an interesting story. We all know black defensive players aren't the best tacklers but they should at least be able to tell the difference between a legal and illegal tackle. Apparently this afflete isn't that bright.

Wed Oct 20 10:56am PDT
<h2 ="title">James Harrison threatens to retire because of dirty hit sanction</h2> By Chris Chase</span></span>

One day after getting fined $75,000 for an illegal hit, James Harrison(notes)</span> is threatening to quit football because he says he doesn't know if he'll be able to adjust his game to new NFL rules. The Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker was excused from practice on Wednesday.

His agent, Bill Parise, told Adam Schefter of ESPN:<blockquote>

"We
wouldn't joke about this. [...] This is a very serious issue. James is
very concerned about how to play football. If James is going to be fined
$75,000 for making a legal tackle, then how do you go play football?
It's quite frustrating to James, to coach [Mike] Tomlin, to me, to
everybody."</blockquote>

A legal tackle? The hit on Mohamed Massaquoi(notes)</span> was the definition of dirty. It's fairly easy to go play football after that. Just stop hitting dudes in the head.

[Photos: See images of Harrison's hit]

Brandon Merriweather of the New England Patriots,
gets it. He was fined $50,000 this week for an illegal hit and took the
exact opposite tact of Harrison, apologizing for his actions and vowing
to play within the rules.

Harrison seems to be trying to lead a revolution against the new, misguided rules about tackling.
The only problem is, his hits were always illegal and punishable by
fine. The linebacker would have been sanctioned even if the league
hadn't instituted new rules about illegal hits.

[Rewind: Another football player's threat to quit]

In
1993, Chuck Cecil was fined $37,500 for taking the same exact cheap
shot that Harrison did on Sunday. (Considering inflation of player's
salaries, that was a far greater fine than the one Harrison, who makes
$13 million this year, received.) What beef does Harrison have? The
Dunta Robinsons of the world can complain. James Harrison's type of play
hasn't been allowed since Deacon Jones prowled the secondary.

[Related: NFL players speak out against dangerous hits rule]

Who
exactly is Harrison threatening anyway? You think Roger Goodell cares
if Harrison leaves the league? Of all sports, the NFL is the one least
dependent on stars. (It's a stretch to even call Harrison that.) Players
come and go every year. Nobody outside of Pittsburgh is going to bat an
eyelid if James Harrison suddenly stops playing.

Harrison is the
only one who doesn't understand this. "I'm going to sit down and have a
serious conversation with my coach and see if I can actually play by NFL
rules and still be effective," he said. "If not, I may have to give up playing football."

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

 

[backrow]

hehe good article!

 

[Van_Slyke_CF]

I could care less if James Harrison retires soon.

It won't be in the middle of the season, but let him call it a day after this one.

Mike Merriweather didn't like his contract years ago and sat out a year. The team moved on.

Chad Brown wanted more money and better sushi restaurants for his wife. The team moved on.

Joey Porter was nothing but trouble and left town. The team moved on.

James Harrison is replaceable. He's not that important.

And I've always wondered how he went from a FA bust cut time and again to All-Pro LB. Was it just the result of hard work? Or does he need quite a bit of chemical help and he's just never been caught?