Of Clark and Pouncey, Wheaton and Rooney
From the notebook of a sportswriter who does his best in the offseason to ignore comments by players about their teammates that are so often blown up by the rest of the media:
n Like Ryan Clark鈥檚 recent comments. He said the other day that 鈥淚 know guys on my team who smoke (pot).鈥� Clark added that 鈥淎 lot of it is stress relief. A lot of it is pain and medication. Guys feel like, 鈥業f I can do this, it keeps me away from maybe Vicodin, it keeps me away from pain prescription drugs and things that guys get addicted to.'鈥�
n My first reaction was that nobody would care except the same crowd of TMZ-style media guys who spent months last year dissecting Antonio Brown鈥檚 comments about the locker room and those of the anonymous source who ripped into LaMarr Woodley. I didn鈥檛 care about those then and I didn鈥檛 want to care about Clark鈥檚 comments now. I mean, who鈥檚 surprised or even appalled by anyone smoking weed anymore?
n But, again, this is Clark, the guy who has a habit of going off with the simplest provocation. Not that I mind. I didn鈥檛 even mind that he ripped me while talking to a mob of reporters one day in the locker room. I believe this was back in 2009. He went on a rant about how he couldn鈥檛 find my name in the NFL book of free safeties, or something like that. And then out on the practice field he was shouting my name during plays as if he had lost his mind. Whatever. I didn鈥檛 react or respond, and Clark, I think, appreciated that. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e just trying to be honest,鈥� he told me the next year. 鈥淚 respect that.鈥� We respected each other. He has such an insightful mind and I thought this was fairly insightful as well in this age of Oxycontin turning young athletes into heroin junkies.
n The timing, though, was all wrong for Clark, who鈥檚 a free agent and who鈥檚 probably believing the local media stories that he鈥檚 done in Pittsburgh.
n I wasn鈥檛 sure that he was really done 鈥� until now. These remarks, which I believe to be tame, were a reminder that this guy will say anything, that he鈥檚 halfway into his professional transition from player to media and that next year this unholy link could prove disastrous if Clark takes his insights a step 鈥� even a half-step 鈥� further.
n No, even though Troy Polamalu and Shamarko Thomas are both strong safeties and there isn鈥檛 a true free safety in the pipeline and Clark could probably be had at a relatively cheap price, his contract is up and, I believe, so is his time in Pittsburgh.
n The reaction on the message boards was to not only condemn Clark, but to guess the identities of the Pittsburgh Potsmokers. Most went to Maurkice Pouncey because his twin brother鈥檚 name came up in that regard during the week鈥檚 Richie Cognito text revelations down in Miami. The feelings among many fans are that Maurkice鈥檚 contract should not be extended this off-season because of the flimsy pot connection, his injuries and the fact that Pro Football Focus consistently grades him so poorly. And Fernando Velasco played very well in Pouncey鈥檚 absence last season.
n So I took to Twitter to head that off at the pass. I wrote that Pouncey is being despised for no good reason and that I would extend him without hesitation.
n And now I鈥檓 despised for no good reason.
n But, in my opinion, Pouncey is an aggressive offensive lineman with tremendous leadership skills. Don鈥檛 look for the latter from David DeCastro or, of course, any of the low-key tackles. Pouncey is THE leader. And he brings an aggressiveness to games that can be infectious. Even if the Pittsburgh media鈥檚 favorite source for line play, Pro Football Focus, doesn鈥檛 appreciate the way Pouncey leads the group during the practice week, during game-day warm-ups and in the way he finishes blocks with extreme prejudice, I do.
n To that, I was told by one responder that I need to find Ryan Clark鈥檚 teammates, smoke some pot and chill out.
n Oh well. But I would just hate to see Pouncey become the next despised Steeler. It seems the Internet is bringing that kind of vitriol a lot closer to us these days than it had in the past.
n Maybe in the past such feelings existed among the most critical fans, but those opinions were so much easier to avoid back then.
n In good news from last week, a spectacularly fit Ben Roethlisberger was spotted working out in California with two young receivers 鈥� Markus Wheaton and Derek Moye.
n It鈥檚 exciting that Roethlisberger has taken Wheaton, in particular, under his wing to such a degree. A quiet rookie who lockered next to the quarterback this past season, Wheaton drew raves last summer from the great Tim Brown. And I suspect we鈥檙e going to see a gargantuan jump from Wheaton throughout this year.
n Not to slight Moye 鈥� and maybe I am 鈥� but the excitement level would鈥檝e been raised exponentially if Roethlisberger was taking Wheaton and someone like Kelvin Benjamin west for intensive workouts. Benjamin is the 6-5, 235-pounder whom I swear jumped into the air before Jameis Winston threw him that game-winning touchdown pass in the national title game last month.
n My favorite player to watch all last college football season, Benjamin is being picked apart by the experts for a number of solid reasons. But my solid reason for drafting him is that Roethlisberger would turn him into a superstar.
n Ben鈥檚 wanted a big wide receiver since the end of his rookie season, when Plaxico Burress left the team. If Ben鈥檚 driven enough to work this way with Moye, a practice-squadder, think how he would treat someone like Benjamin, a guy all the experts are saying can鈥檛 do it.
n Ben gets chips on shoulders.
n Speaking of the draft, Mel Kiper, Todd McShay and the well-respected Doug Farrar all had the Steelers selecting nose tackle Louis Nix in their mock drafts this week. My 鈥渞eading the tea leaves鈥� column in Steelers Digest, about Art Rooney II鈥檚 desire to improve the run defense, must鈥檝e just hit the shelves.
n Not that I promulgated the drafting of Nix in that magazine column. I just tried to parse Rooney鈥檚 comments. Right now I鈥檓 backing CB Darqueze Dennard, and of course Benjamin, among others, but if Nix checks out medically, and his coaches and ex-teammates speak enthusiastically about his dedication, I wouldn鈥檛 have a problem with taking a nose tackle in the first round.
n I know, others do. But a big man in the middle tends to make everything around him work that much better. And Nix did show beastly tendencies when healthy.
n Draft the beasts, regardless of position. That鈥檚 become my 2014 mantra.
n Of course, the biggest news this past week is that the Steelers have started turning out some propaganda to host a Super Bowl. Hey, great, but if you ask me the league got extremely lucky with the weather in New Jersey last Sunday. I don鈥檛 think I would try that again.