Beaver County Times, October 19, 2014

Here's what's wrong with the Steelers: They don't have enough good players.
Here's how to fix the Steelers: Get better players.
Pin The Blame On The Coordinators might be the region's most popular indoor sport, and they're hardly blameless. But the biggest difference between this team and the teams that went 12-4 as recently as 2011 is the talent gap.
Good players got too old, or broke down, or no longer fit under the salary cap. The replacements, in almost every case, have been inferior.
When you replace players with others who aren't as good, suddenly consecutive 12-4 seasons turn into back-to-back 8-8 records.
It shouldn't come as any surprise because we've been here before.
It's ancient history now, but the Steelers once won four Super Bowls in six years because they had six years of exceptional drafting. They selected nine future Hall of Famers from 1969 through '74 and reaped the benefits of that incredible stockpile from '74 through '79.
Then those players got old or broke down, and the replacements weren't nearly as good. Cliff Stoudt replaced Terry Bradshaw. Franco Harris begat Walter Abercrombie. Mel Blount was followed by Sam Washington, then Harvey Clayton.
The front four that was featured on the cover of Time magazine -- Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Ernie Holmes and Dwight White -- became a three-man line of John Goodman, Gary Dunn and Tom Beasley.
Even when the successor was pretty good, like Mike Merriweather, he was still short of the standard set by Jack Ham.
The scale hasn't been as dramatic as it was when the '70s took that cruel turn into the '80s, but the template is sadly the same. Aaron Smith turns into Travis Kirschke and Ziggy Hood. Casey Hampton is replaced by Steve McLendon.
The Troy Polamalu who once played a game as wild as his hair has been replaced by an older, slower version.
If Vince Lombardi came back to be the defensive coordinator, he probably couldn't get much of out of this group, which is also now missing three injured starters. Sentimentalists love having Brett Keisel and James Harrison back, but their emergency additions just demonstrate how bereft the roster is.
In two years, the receiving corps has lost Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders and Jerricho Cotchery. Who has replaced them?
Last week in Cleveland, Markus Wheaton was targeted for 11 passes. He caught four. Ben Roethlisberger had a lousy game, so he gets some of the blame, but how does a receiver catch only 36 percent of the passes thrown his way?
It doesn't have to be that way. New England constantly changes the personnel around Tom Brady and consistently wins. Bill Belichick has had one losing season in 14 years, and that came when he took over in 2000. The Patriots reversed that 5-11 record the next season and won the Super Bowl.
The Steelers are 3-3 and facing a pivotal point in their schedule with three straight home games.
Painful as it might be, the best outcome for this season would be a 5-11 or 6-10 record. That would get a better drafting position and jolt ownership into taking a hard look at the entire operation: player procurement, cap management and, yes, coaching.
That should have happened last year, but they got deluded by the 8-4 finish that followed an 0-4 start.
There are a lot of things that need to be fixed. If it were only as easy as hiring a new offensive coordinator.
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--TALENT RAID?
Pirates bench coach Jeff Banister has achieved his long-standing goal of becoming a major league manager.
As he settles in with Texas, will he raid the Pirates for staff help? He spent 29 years in the organization and undoubtedly knows people on and off the field he'd like to have helping him.
Teams can reject lateral moves, but rarely stand in the way when someone has a chance to take a better job.
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--SETTLING IN
Jason Grilli closed on a house in Gibsonia last week. After living in Orlando, he's decided to make his permanent home in the Pittsburgh area.
As his playing career nears an end, Grilli will undoubtedly be seeking radio and TV work and is a good bet to wind up on the local airwaves.

Beaver County Times, October 12, 2014

Forget about Halloween. This is potentially the scariest day of the month, and quite possibly the most frightening of the year.
The Steelers play in Cleveland this afternoon and will confront the possibility the Browns are better than they are.
Every year the teams play twice and advance stories focus on the rivalry, but it hasn't really existed for a long time. Sure, people sell t-shirts bearing rude messages outside both stadiums, but there hasn't been much to dispute on the field.
The Steelers have won regularly since the Browns came back into the NFL as an expansion team in 1999. The Browns have squeaked out a game here or there, but mostly because the Steelers somehow self-destructed. They've been little more than a brown-and-orange bump in the road on the way to important divisional games against Baltimore or Cincinnati. People have gotten used to seeing the Browns in the cellar, a fixture just like cheap paneling, the old kitchen chairs and an ancient Duquesne Pilsner clock.
But the Browns are coming off a major second half rally that let them win in Tennessee last week. It resembled what they did in the season opener at Heinz Field when they spotted the Steelers a big lead, then roared back in the second half.
The Steelers didn't have an answer for what they did and had to salvage the game on Shaun Suisham's last-second field goal.
Meanwhile, the Steelers have a 3-2 record and should probably be 4-1 at this point. But there are brush fires all over the place. The offense produced just 10 points against Jacksonville.
The defense can't generate heat on quarterbacks, which explains why someone like Mike Glennon could beat them at home and Blake Bortels, making just his second NFL start, gave them a scare in Jacksonville last weekend.
The betting line has established the Browns as the favorite today, by the slightest margin. Have the Steelers and Browns converged while heading in opposite directions on the elevator?
Today's outcome isn't as certain as it usually is when these teams meet. This should be a competitive game, which means the storyline will be even bigger than whether Antonio Brown extends that NFL record for catching at least five passes for 50 yards.
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--GREAT BALLS OF FIRE
The Penguins took a moment during the opener to acknowledge Mike Lange's 40th anniversary as the team's play-by-play voice.
His longevity is unprecedented. Myron Cope was part of the Steelers' radio team for 35 years. Bob Prince called Pirates games for 28 seasons, 21 of those as the No. 1 announcer. Lanny (Hi, Friends) Frattare worked baseball for 33 seasons, although it seemed longer.
Lange's career hit a crossroads in the summer of 2006 when the rights holder dumped him from the TV broadcasts. He shopped around, found nothing that fit, put aside his pride and took the Penguins' radio job.
And he actually got better. Even at 66, he provides the most descriptive radio call of any sport in town. He's older, the game is faster than it's ever been and most broadcast perches are inches from the ceiling, but Lange is still on top of the action.
His preparation is thorough. He attends all the game-day morning skates and gathers information by talking to players and coaches from both teams. He has extra study time during warm-ups, when he hones in the visiting team, noting personnel combinations and skating styles, so he can tell who's on the ice even if the jersey number is obscured.
There is an asterisk attached to his longevity. After his first season, the Penguins went bankrupt (the first time). Uncertain of the future, Lange went to Washington to do soccer games. Who remembers that he was replaced by Gary Morrell?
Lange was back after that season, though, and he's one of the few who's been around for the second bankruptcy, Rico Fata, and the crazy swings between a 38-point season and three Stanley Cup championships.
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--OCTOBER 13
Monday is the 54th anniversary of the greatest moment in Pittsburgh sports, Bill Mazeroski's World Series-winning home run.
That isn't the reason schools are closed and mail won't be delivered. It's just a happy coincidence.

Beaver County Times, October 5, 2014

Clint Hurdle has the easy offseason. All he has to do is undergo surgery and endure the painful rehab that comes with a hip replacement.
GM Neal Huntington has to figure out how to keep the Pirates in the playoffs while still sticking to the budget restrictions he's given.
Between the free agency issues and arbitration cases, Huntington won't have many days off. The two commodities he needs most -- reliable starting pitching and a front-line catcher -- are difficult to get.
So many questions: Is Pedro Alvarez salvageable? If he is, can he play third base again? Has Josh Harrison turned a corner at 27, or did he have a dream season he won't duplicate? How do you fill a rotation that has a potential No. 1 in Gerrit Cole and a bunch of candidates for No. 5 with not much in between? Is Gregory Polanco a major league player? As arbitration likely pushes Mark Melancon toward $5 million, is he worth that? If not, who closes?
Russell Martin's anticipated free agent departure leaves a huge hole at catcher. A combination of Tony Sanchez and Chris Stewart won't come close to filling it. The Martin break-up is painful, but there's really no other viable choice. It's unlikely Martin has more than one solid season before age and the wear and tear of the position catch up with him. He could be the one who defies the odds, but the Pirates shouldn't take that gamble on the three-year contract he's certain to get.
Edinson Volquez had a better year than anyone could have anticipated, but it's not a good idea to bring him back. Francisco Liriano? Maybe.
Here's a suggestion if the Pirates decide to go bold: Consider trading Neil Walker. He's coming off his best season, so his value is high. The Pirates have never said so publicly, but they have no interest in doing a long-term deal with him. He'll hit free agency at age 31, which means he'll be allowed to leave. A balky back and limited defensive range are both factors. Contracts that start after a player is 31 usually buy only declining years.
Could Walker bring the kind of catcher the Pirates need? Could he be flipped for a quality starting pitcher? If the Pirates think Alvarez can move back to third, Harrison could go to second and the team could attack first base with an outside solution or its incumbent jumble of Ike Davis, Gaby Sanchez and Andrew Lambo.
Hurdle's hip will get better as the offseason progresses. Huntington's headaches will linger.
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--NO SURE THINGS
The Steelers play in Jacksonville today, and ordinarily a game against an 0-4 opponent would be a ho-hum, pass-the-Fritos, hey-what's the-4-o'clock-game? TV show.
But one of the effects of having a mediocre team is games that are supposed to be lopsided wind up being competitive. Who expected last week's outcome against Tampa Bay at Heinz Field? But it happened.
So keep the Rolaids handy and stick close to the TV. The Jaguars might make it a game.
By the way, those calling the Tampa Bay loss the worst in Mike Tomlin's tenure have short memories.
Back in 2009, a much more talented Steelers team blew a lead in the last two minutes at home against the 3-8 Oakland Raiders. Bruce Gradkowski did a Tom Brady imitation and led a winning touchdown drive right after the Steelers had taken the lead.
Even though it was the fifth time in six games that the Steelers had fallen apart in the fourth quarter, there was still plenty of shock value.
"Worst game under Tomlin" is a longer discussion than it should be.
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--CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS
The intrigue of the expanded baseball postseason is not only guessing which teams will win. It's also trying to find what second-rate cable channel might be carrying the games.
Two of Friday's games were on Fox Sports 1, which reaches fewer households than Animal Planet and Cartoon Network. Some of the games are exclusive to MLB TV, which lags behind Oprah's OWN and the Golf Channel in households.
Among Bud Selig's many accomplishments as commissioner: He's sent a lot of people back to their radios for postseason baseball.