Hamer
08-16-2007, 02:07 PM
Have the Steelers closed the gap on the Ravens?
Burning question
By Jim Wexell, For the Herald-Standard
08/16/2007
Updated 08/16/2007 01:00:16 AM EDT
LATROBE - The final day of training camp today at St. Vincent College means it's the day for the Steelers to look deep down and answer what really is the only question worth asking:
Have the Steelers closed the gap on the Baltimore Ravens?
The Ravens just might be the class of the NFL. One prominent writer thinks so.
"Baltimore is the most complete and best team I've seen to this point," wrote Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News.
Gosselin has sampled a strong group of teams this summer. In addition the Baltimore, he's visited New England, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Chicago, among others.
The Steelers understood the Ravens' dominance last year. They finished five games behind them in the AFC North and were squashed by a combined score of 58-7.
The Ravens sacked Steelers quarterbacks 14 times in as physical a combined whipping as any Steelers team has ever taken.
Aaron Smith and Alan Faneca are veterans in the middle of each line for the Steelers. Their perspectives differ on whether the Steelers have closed the gap on the Ravens this off-season.
"It's hard to say, but I think we have," said Smith, the ninth-year defensive end. "I think this team's come closer together and I think we've got a great team. It's just a matter of us putting it together. There's no doubt we have the talent."
While Smith admitted that Jamal Lewis "despises the Steelers," he's not ready to call it a break for the Steelers that the running back has left the Ravens for the Cleveland Browns.
"Let's see what the other guy is," Smith said of new tailback, Willis McGahee. "I've only played him once and I thought he was a pretty good back."
But what about the huge gap at the line of scrimmage?
"As far as getting to the quarterback, they were running stuff that we just didn't pick up. They had guys coming free," Smith said. "It wasn't like they were just beating guys left and right. They were coming off the side, five off the side and we were picking up two of them. Offensively, they just controlled the ball."
Faneca, the 10th-year offensive guard, agreed with Smith that it was more scheme than physical mismatch, but he's not as optimistic overall.
"You can't get down to them because then they do all that crazy stuff and it definitely snowballed," Faneca said. "It was a scheme thing a little bit, being able to block what they were throwing at us. We kept having three and outs, kept putting our defense out there all day long in bad situations. Turnovers. We just didn't have good games. I don't think the gap's going to be closed by personnel."
And then Faneca paused.
"Well, we haven't even added any personnel. Sean (Mahan)'s here and whoever we drafted."
Faneca let out a long sigh when asked whether the Steelers have closed the gap at this training camp.
"I don't know. I don't know," he said. "I never really thought about it in closing-the-gap sense. I think we have to play better games. We've got the guys to go out there and execute a game plan. We have to stay in third-and-shorts as an offense and help the defense out. I mean, we just left our defense hanging, both games. We just left them on the field too long, giving them a short field. You do that then all of the sudden you're down 14-0, 21-0 and you're trying to air it out, and then all of the sudden you've got 11 (defensive) guys walking around doing what they do in those situations and it makes it harder. Instead of just having to pick it up 3, 4, 5 times a game, we were getting it 10 or 15 times a game and that makes it more difficult."
When pressed on the team's development, Faneca sighed again.
"So far, so good," he said. "We've got a ways to go. By no means are we there yet."
http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18709884&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=468632&rfi=6
Burning question
By Jim Wexell, For the Herald-Standard
08/16/2007
Updated 08/16/2007 01:00:16 AM EDT
LATROBE - The final day of training camp today at St. Vincent College means it's the day for the Steelers to look deep down and answer what really is the only question worth asking:
Have the Steelers closed the gap on the Baltimore Ravens?
The Ravens just might be the class of the NFL. One prominent writer thinks so.
"Baltimore is the most complete and best team I've seen to this point," wrote Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News.
Gosselin has sampled a strong group of teams this summer. In addition the Baltimore, he's visited New England, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Chicago, among others.
The Steelers understood the Ravens' dominance last year. They finished five games behind them in the AFC North and were squashed by a combined score of 58-7.
The Ravens sacked Steelers quarterbacks 14 times in as physical a combined whipping as any Steelers team has ever taken.
Aaron Smith and Alan Faneca are veterans in the middle of each line for the Steelers. Their perspectives differ on whether the Steelers have closed the gap on the Ravens this off-season.
"It's hard to say, but I think we have," said Smith, the ninth-year defensive end. "I think this team's come closer together and I think we've got a great team. It's just a matter of us putting it together. There's no doubt we have the talent."
While Smith admitted that Jamal Lewis "despises the Steelers," he's not ready to call it a break for the Steelers that the running back has left the Ravens for the Cleveland Browns.
"Let's see what the other guy is," Smith said of new tailback, Willis McGahee. "I've only played him once and I thought he was a pretty good back."
But what about the huge gap at the line of scrimmage?
"As far as getting to the quarterback, they were running stuff that we just didn't pick up. They had guys coming free," Smith said. "It wasn't like they were just beating guys left and right. They were coming off the side, five off the side and we were picking up two of them. Offensively, they just controlled the ball."
Faneca, the 10th-year offensive guard, agreed with Smith that it was more scheme than physical mismatch, but he's not as optimistic overall.
"You can't get down to them because then they do all that crazy stuff and it definitely snowballed," Faneca said. "It was a scheme thing a little bit, being able to block what they were throwing at us. We kept having three and outs, kept putting our defense out there all day long in bad situations. Turnovers. We just didn't have good games. I don't think the gap's going to be closed by personnel."
And then Faneca paused.
"Well, we haven't even added any personnel. Sean (Mahan)'s here and whoever we drafted."
Faneca let out a long sigh when asked whether the Steelers have closed the gap at this training camp.
"I don't know. I don't know," he said. "I never really thought about it in closing-the-gap sense. I think we have to play better games. We've got the guys to go out there and execute a game plan. We have to stay in third-and-shorts as an offense and help the defense out. I mean, we just left our defense hanging, both games. We just left them on the field too long, giving them a short field. You do that then all of the sudden you're down 14-0, 21-0 and you're trying to air it out, and then all of the sudden you've got 11 (defensive) guys walking around doing what they do in those situations and it makes it harder. Instead of just having to pick it up 3, 4, 5 times a game, we were getting it 10 or 15 times a game and that makes it more difficult."
When pressed on the team's development, Faneca sighed again.
"So far, so good," he said. "We've got a ways to go. By no means are we there yet."
http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18709884&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=468632&rfi=6