Steeler Offseason Press Conference #1

[T.O.F.N.]

***The Steelers Press Conference area is setup with the Head Coach and Special Teams Cordinaters seats on the left, and the Offensive and Defensive Cordinators on the right. In the middle is a podium with the Steelers logo on it. The Coaches come out first with an applause for all the new faces, as the Media quiets down, as GM Lael comes out with another round of applauses starts up. GM Lael gets a smirk on his face. He shuffles his papers around. He then starts to talk into the mic.***

Lael: Ladies and Gentlemen, I would first and foremost like to thank the owner of this league for allowing us to continue what we do. I think I speak for everyone in this room and in this league when I say that no one does a job like him, and no one ever will.

Now, with that being said, we have a lot to go over, and we've got the time to do so.

First, I would like to direct everyone's attention to the four gentle men to my left and right, cause these are the Pittsburgh Steelers Coaches, and in a little bit, I'll discuss each one. But first, I'd like to talk about Bill Cowher. Now, I followed the Pittsburgh Steelers for a little bit before taking over, and I don't blame Cowher at all for his unsuccesful attempts to get us into a winning season. But the truth be it, with all the moves and new players, this wasn't the type of team he use to run, and he just wasn't quite used to it anymore. So, we needed something new. But before I go into that, I'd like to discuss or season next year.

We are facing the NFC South, AFC West, Miami, Tennessee, and ofcourse our division. In that, we are playing 6 playoff teams, 1 being the Super Bowl Champion Titans, and then we have the strongest division last year, the AFC west, in which every team in that division finished with a .500 record or better. That is just too impressive to put into words. We have the Maimi Dolphins whom our new Head Coch used to coach, he'll speak more about that in a bit. The NFC south is no slouch division, the two teams that made the play-offs, Atlanta and Carolina, didn't make it by luck, because the other two teams in that division we only two games behind. Then there is our divison, in which the Baltimore Ravens ran away with. They beat us in both contest, and clearly the GM and Coaching Staff figure out the best way to win. GM Esi Morp just was no where to be found a lot of times, and then Bengals, well, too many unexperience owners caused there downfall, I would say that we have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL this year. But we still believe that we are a very great team, and that we can take our division this year, or we will die trying. Now, I know I've bored you enough, so I'm going to hand it over to the new head coach, Dave Wannstedt!

***The Media applauses as Dave walks up to the podium.***

Dave: Thank you. I'm sorry if I don't have any Diet Sprite Zero, or any chairs to miss while trying to sit down, haha. But I would like to thank GM Lael for signing me to this wonderful organization. I'm not going to talk very much, as I will let the Cordinators talk for me for there places. As the Head Coach, I am given a very talented team with a good mix of young and veteran player. I do agree with Lael as he says we have a tough schedule ahead of us, but I believe more that we have a chance to take our division this year. I remember a lot of rumors last year, that the Steeler didn't even stand a chance, but they proved a lot of people wrong. My Goal is to start off strong and end strong. But I will hand this over to the Special Team Cordinator, who will briefly discuss with you, the Special Teams plans this year.

***ST Cordinator Priefer comes to the Microphone as Wannsted sits down.***

Priefer: I'm not going to talk very much, cause there isn't much to say. Only thing really is that Az-Zahir Hakim and Steve Smith will be sharing Kick Returns and Chris Gardocki will be training our next punter, Gary Cook. I'm gonna now give it to our Defensive Cordinator.

***Defensive Cordinator Frazier come up to the microphone and Priefer goes back to his seat:

Frazier: Okay, like everyone before, I'm glad to be here, and as the new Defensive Cordinator, I'd like to go by each section and tell you I fell about them and changes.

Firstly, Our 3-4/4-3 rotating D-Line picked up a massive 23/27, depending on how you looked at it, sacks this season. I'm quite impressed by that. Now, what's going on every Steelers fan is Casey Hampton... contract expires soon. We can say this, Casey Hampton will be a Steeler for 1 more year! Goign to the Line Backers, Bell, Farrior, and Winborn picked up a total of 285 tackles, 3 sacks, 4 Ints, and 1 TD... And we would like to improve on those numbers, especially with Kendrell Bell. Secondary, Aaron Gleen lead the back field, no doubt about it, and we are glad to have him on our team now. Or #2 CB is still in dispute as Derek Ross is still not very experience. Our Safeties will be worked on in the offseason. Now, I'll give the Microphone to the Offensive Cordinator.

***Offensive Cordinator Clements approaches the stands as Frazier goes back to his seat.***

Clements: Okay, a lot of controversy in our offense... start with Quarterback, Kurt Warner vs. Ben Rothlisbergr. Kurt is a solid veteran, whilst Ben is still getting his feet wet. This will probably be Kurts last season here in Pittsburgh, so we expect to use him a lot. Another issue is the Running Backs, Willis McGahee vs. Duce Staley. We have gone over some tapes, and Duce will see more playing time as a Wide Reciever then a Half back. But what I am stressing the most. We hear Frazier mention 27 sacks... how about 42... that's right 42. Yeah, that's a great number to hear on Deffense, but what about offense? 42 sacks allowed, WAY TO MANY!! We will improve on those numbers this year, or don't expect many of them to return. Fred Beasley is still the starting FB, and Billy Bajema will be probably starting at TE. I will now hand the microphone back over to GM Lael.

***Lael reapproaches the podium.***

Lael: I think we left one thing untouched... the NFL draft. Well here is the dilema... I think we are picking up a lot of good players in trades and FA, we are unsure of anything with the draft, but we will take any question if anyone is still awake.

[TheBillster]

I have a question to the OC: "The shaky O-line play was mentioned already, how do you exactly plan to solidify this unit and make them perform better? I personally think it is not really the quality of the Line, it has to be something else".

(... and maybe you can tell us how it comes that you already know your schedule...)

[T.O.F.N.]

OC: Well honestly, we say the line is not very solid because of lack of experience for one. We plan on working with the O-line in training camp. And with all do respect, if you know what it 'really is' that is wrong with the O-line, then please tell us.

(And I know my schedule because of the pattern in the NFL, they rotate NFC and AFC division. I'm 100% sure we are facing they AFC West, and about 95% sure we are facing the NFC South. And then the Titans and Dolphins finished 2nd in there division as well.)

[Short]

You had the league's 29th ranked offense last year for total yardage. How much of the blame falls on the O-Line, and how much falls on Warner/Ben/McGahee/Staley?

[Chaos6]

There are some rumors going around that you may be talking with the Cowboys about a trade involving Larry Allen and Casey Hampton... Is there any truth to these rumors?

[T.O.F.N.]

Originally Posted by Short

You had the league's 29th ranked offense last year for total yardage. How much of the blame falls on the O-Line, and how much falls on Warner/Ben/McGahee/Staley?

Clements: Well, we didn't get the best time to get McGahee/Staley the holes they need to get some yardage. And I can't say that Warner is the reason we did bad, cause most of the time, he was getting sacked. Then it goes back to Ben... most of the time, he was throwing picks. That goes with his lack of experience as well as the lack of a line giving him time to throw. So we don't blame everything bad on the O-Line. But we are expecting some improvements.
--------------- Madden 2007 Next Gen football ---------

Originally Posted by Chaos6

There are some rumors going around that you may be talking with the Cowboys about a trade involving Larry Allen and Casey Hampton... Is there any truth to these rumors?

Lael: Well, as far as that trade is concerned, we have spoken to the GM of the Dallas Cowboys, and our team doesn't plan on using any draft picks in the trade, nor does the Cowboys plan on using Draft Picks. I haven't had the time to make it offical, because I would like to see who is coming out of the draft. We like Casey Hampton, as he was apart of a feirce D-Line, but the fact is simply, we NEED Larry Allen. I'm not denying the trade rumor, but we would like to here if the Dallas owner would like to wait until before the draft to make the trade offical.

Any Other question?

[bfy222]

What pieces do you feel you need to add to unseat the Baltimore Ravens from their stranglehold in the AFC South the last two years?

[T.O.F.N.]

Originally Posted by bfy222

What pieces do you feel you need to add to unseat the Baltimore Ravens from their stranglehold in the AFC South the last two years?

Lael: This is a very tough question. We are still unsure of what we need to dethrow this team from the number one spot. I think our players are getting better and they have enough confidence behind them to win the games. I think that is what hurt us last year... we didn't think we could win the games, and we tried to hard to win them. But when we got our first win, we had that cofidence build up. I think we will take that confidence to the regular season, and I think that will be the difference maker.

Thank you for the question, any others?