Still crazy after all these years

... Steelers still near the top to win the Super Bowl Earlier in the summer, the NFL oddsmakers in Vegas had  the Steelers near the top of the list to win the Super Bowl, along with the Packers and the Patriots. That was then and this is now. The Steelers are now sixth at 12 to 1 behind the Pats (15 to 2), Pack (10 to 1), Seahawks (10 to 1), Cardinals (11 to 1), and Panthers (11 to 1). Finally, some sanity in Vegas. Still in the running. Why the drop?  Offensively, two major producers have drug suspensions, one a RB named Le'Veon Bell and another a WR named Martavis Bryant. There are questions about the tight end spot, depth at wide receiver, and with some spots in the offensive line. The other reason for the drop is defense, but that will be later. This appraisal will be the offense. #7 Healthy?  For the offense, everything starts with the QB, #7. Ben Roethlisberger missed four games last year, yet still passed for 3,938 yards, completing 68 percent o...

... SB: Who is Penn State to complain? The fallout continues on James Franklin's "miscommunication" that resulted in a Big Ten Media Day frenzy that was not about the 2016 Penn State football team. As I noted earlier, Franklin attempted to complain about "negative recruiting" that some schools have allegedly used against Penn State after the release of damaging information about the Sandusky fiasco earlier this summer. Rudel analysis Long-time Penn State football guru Neil Rudel of the Altoona Mirror tweeted a blog post to say that Franklin has done some good things in his two years. He even said that some of the coaching issues from the past may be better analyzed with some better personnel this year. Rudel was critical, however, over Franklin's handling of the entire negative recruiting fiasco. He said that the actions of Franklin and Athletic Director Sandy Barbour did not work and may have hurt them in the long run. "… while they may ha...

... whether marijuana is addictive is questionable  [Updates at the end]. Correction Bell is in the final year of his rookie contract. Some athletes believe that they can rule the universe. Put Steeler running back Le'Veon Bell into that category. Bell is going to miss the first four games of the NFL regular season, after missing two games last year [instead of four because of his appeal]. ESPN's Ian Rapoport tweeted on July 22, "For the past several weeks, the #Steelers had known Le'Veon Bell likely wouldn't be on the field when the season began. He missed drug tests for not failing a drug test, but failing to show up for a drug test." Bell is talented but … Bell is one of the most talented players in the league, but he is coming off MCL surgery. So, he should be behaving himself and working hard to get himself ready for the 2015 season. Instead, as Post-Gazette writer Paul Zeise wrote last week, he is demonstrating how worthless a human be...

... Sanduky allegations open door for other schools When a college football coach met with the parents of a player he was recruiting a few decades ago, he may have said this: "Look Mrs. Smith, when your son comes here to play football, you are going to be in a great academic environment. Not only are we going to be one of the top football schools in the country, your son will earn his degree. Eighty two percent of our players will graduate in five years. "Eighty two percent. That is third in the country behind Notre Dame and Stanford. "Your son has some other choices. You go to that other school in the Western part of the state, sure, you will have a chance at having a good team. Do you know how many of their players actually graduate? Maybe 30 percent? High as 40 at times? "What I am saying is that you will be in a great atmosphere here, I call it the Grand Experiment where we allow players to be great on the field and off the field. We want him to beco...

... another drug suspension?   The Steelers have always had a good reputation off the field in many ways. This started with founder Art Rooney Sr. and was continued with Dan Rooney. The 2000s have created a number of problems for the team off the field. That includes their franchise quarterback being accused of rape on two occasions, though never convicted, but one led to a four-game suspension, and some drug suspensions. Steelers drug suspensions The problem today has been with drug problems. The Steelers used to be very careful with draft picks who have a history of drug use or abuse. However, they also realize that many of their players smoke "weed," marijuana in polite society. That makes pre-draft interviews and investigations that much more difficult to assess. Martavis Bryant's situation Martivas Bryant has been hit for multiple violations and is now facing a possible season-long suspension, technically called indefinite. He is a superbly-talented...

… Narduzzi reiterates desire to play every year  The Pitt-Penn State rivalry was once one of the great inter-state football battles in the U.S. It was right up there with Alabama-Auburn, Florida State-Florida, Oregon-Oregon State, Ole Miss-Mississippi State, Arizona-Arizona State, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State. There are also some other great intra-state rivalries like Ohio State-Michigan and Notre Dame- Southern Cal. Penn State devoid of a rival Here is the situation in which Penn State finds itself with a stadium that holds 107,000 fans. It has no rival at a time when the school cannot fill the stadium unless they have OSU, MSU, or the Wolverines on tap. Today, and well into the future, Penn State is still seeking a rival. Pitt is also struggling in that area since WVU went west to join the Big 12. Once Pitt went to the ACC, great move overall, that "Backyard Brawl" became moot. So, Pitt, PSU, and WVU are all wandering through the desert like a pauper, trying to ...

... and hope that he succeeds in the NFL I played QB as a youngster, but was not that great. I coached QBs, and had more success in that realm. None of that is why I like former Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg. If a person needs to go through purgatory in order to reach heaven, Hackenberg is on his way. I like him because he is a quality human being, not necessarily because of his physical accomplishments, though they are related. Assessing the QB First, why do the media put the word polarizing in front of his name? The people who polarized him were the PSU football fans and the national fans who believed that he was overrated from the start. Johnny Manziel was a polarizing QB. Christian Hackenberg himself was not. I hope that they are wrong about him in the NFL. If he was that polarizing, would Jets coach Todd Bowles, GM Mike Maccagnan, OC Chan Gailey, QB coach Kevin Patullo and two scouts personally drive to State College in secrecy before the NFL draft...