Tag Archives: David DeCastro

The Luck of the Draw

Posted on by 6 comments

9645D2D8-9314-44AE-9F4E-100F09AC491B.jpeg

Photo via Twitter

This column isn’t about the Steelers, exactly, but something I’ve been pondering this year. It has been prompted by the development (or lack thereof) of players the Steelers have drafted, and seeing some of the players many thought the Steelers should have taken instead.

Sunday’s game featured one such match-up, if you will—Steelers corner Artie Burns vs the guy most thought the Steelers really wanted, and who was drafted one slot before—corner William Jackson III. Those of us who pay attention to the smaller details are actually in some doubt about that, for various reasons. The Steelers’ pick went to Goodell seconds after the Cincinnati pick was announced. An “AFC North team” who was almost certainly the Steelers had been looking into possible schools for Burns’ younger brothers he is raising. And Mike Tomlin is known to have a penchant for helping young men like Burns. The Steelers couldn’t have drafted Jackson if they wanted to. The question is whether they wanted him over Burns, and we’ll never know that, but my guess is no. Read more

Da Bears: Steelers Week 3 Opponent Preview

Posted on by 7 comments

Image via Pinterest

The Steelers have, through the years, played the Bears a number of times. 13 of those games have been in Chicago. The Steelers have lost 12 of them. So if we were to let history be our guide we would just hang up the (Terrible) towel now and not even bother.

But as we know history isn’t generally a very good guide. Well, maybe when you’re talking about playing the Patriots at their place. (For one thing, the communications system for the opposing team never seems to work correctly…) But for a team the Steelers play as infrequently as the Bears, history shouldn’t have much to do with it. I would be more likely to suspect the pizza.

So what can we expect from this year’s Bears team? Well, they are 0-2, for one thing. But the loss to Tampa Bay looked much different (and worse) than their Week 1 loss in Atlanta. So what’s going on? Read more

My Two Cents. Cortez, the Draft and DeCastro Christmas.

Posted on by 3 comments

imageThis week finally brought some real football news and the draft is nearly upon us now, just eight days away. Thank you, Lord.

Cortez Allen, mercifully, is finally released.  I totally believe in our personnel people, but man, did we whiff on this one — twice. Colbert and company missed on the draft pick. Based on a handful of good games, somehow, they decided to give Allen a four year, $24.6 million contract at the beginning of the 2014 season. After the contract was signed, Cortez played in exactly nine games. According to overt heap.com, the contract was the 25th most lucrative contract of the 240 signed by cornerbacks at the time.

I usually don’t weigh in what we we need to draft and when we ought to do it, but I’m rooting for a good CB with a high floor (and hopefully a high ceiling) in the first round unless another DeCastro Christmas materializes.

I know you need to draft for value, but we need to get some talent back there.

Read more

Coaching Accounts: OL Mike Munchak and DC Keith Butler

Posted on by 10 comments

via Steelers.com

I started to title this post “Two Methods, One Result,” because the interest to me is the very different way the two coaches seem to be approaching their task. Two items which appeared last Friday got me thinking along these lines. The first was a full article on Offensive Line coach Mike Munchak by Tribune-Review writer Mark Kaboly.

After noting that the offensive line has had four coaches in six years, and that the offensive line was mostly downright bad, Kaboly wrote:

That’s not the case anymore, and the Steelers have Mike Munchak to thank.

 “He’s been awesome,” guard David DeCastro said. “It is just a great atmosphere. We are very loose but very focused at the same time. But first and foremost, he knows what he is doing.”…

Read more

Ben Roethlisberger’s Battleship: The New-Look Steelers

Posted on by 4 comments

USA Today Sports, photo Charles LeClaire

I wrote an article in the 2012 off-season titled “Rooney’s Battleship, or, The Persistence of the Steeler Way.”  Something reminded me of this the other day, and I thought it was time to revisit the idea.

As you can surmise from the title, it had to do with the passing down through the years of a certain approach to the business of running a football team.

The “battleship” part comes from an old philosophical question called the Ship of Theseus.  It was first posed in Greek myth, and Plutarch wrote about it over 2000 years ago: Read more

A quick and somewhat irreverent look at Guard David DeCastro

Posted on by 7 comments

via Steelers.com

by Rebecca Rollett

When David DeCastro fell to the Steelers in the 2012 draft at Pick #24 in the first round, the reaction around Steeler Nation was everything from pleased to seriously ecstatic.

This was probably best expressed by the commentor who said “We got a pony for Christmas!!!!!” I think there may have been some other words in there, too, but that was the gist of it.

While guards do not typically get drafted in the first round, at least by the Steelers, the general feeling was that this was a special case, potentially a once-in-a-generation player. Charged at Stanford with protecting Andrew Luck, with whom he is still close, DeCastro was someone for whom many Steeler fans had pined during the run-up to the draft, but never thought they would see in a Steelers uniform. Read more