Tag: Cameron Heyward

The ugliest winning seasons in NFL history

The 2023 Steelers have an ugly winning season, but it’s not the worst winning season in pro football history. Not even close.

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Folks, the Pittsburgh Steelers just keep winning ugly. In their 23-19 Sunday win over the Green Bay Packers, Mike Tomlin’s team continued its streak of being outgained by every single one of its opponents. This time, the Packers gained 399 net yards to Pittsburgh’s 324. The Steelers are now the only professional football team since at least 1933 to be outgained in every game and still have a winning record.

Impressive? In a perverse way, yes.

Despite this lack of offensive firepower, and a point differential of -26, the Steelers stand at 6-3 on the season, which got us thinking — what are the worst winning seasons in NFL history? Those seasons in which you think to yourself, “There’s no WAY these guys can be winning,” but they are anyway?

As it turns out, the Steelers are nowhere near the worst winning teams in these categories. But it is notable that in all three seasons of Matt Canada’s tenure as the Steelers’ offensive coordinator, the Steelers are either on this list, or in the discussion.

Gimme Him: Minkah Fitzpatrick is Him; What would he look like on the Browns?

Envisioning the impact of one player from the Steelers would have on the Cleveland Browns.

In this week’s Gimme Him, we turn our attention to the roster of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Choosing a player to steal, please excuse my pun, became much easier after hearing about the unfortunate loss of Cameron Heyward for a couple of weeks. The veteran tackle suffered a hamstring injury in their game against the 49ers. Cameron Heyward has been a thorn in the side of the Cleveland Browns for well over a decade.

Sometimes, it feels like longer – and when one can truly handle the suffering when watching a Steeler dominate – one hopes that it’s for even longer. For the Steelers, Heyward hasn’t been a rose, but a mountain. He has been one of the premier strongmen of the NFL while still being incredibly agile. His four All-Pro teams, including three first-team, tell us how productive he is. If he wasn’t hurt, I think I would take him for this experiment.

Instead, it’s a two-man race between T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Steelers have a pair of intriguing players on offense. George Pickens Jr., the second-year wide receiver, and rookie tight end Darnell Washington. But they’re far too inexperienced for serious consideration. It’s Tomlin’s defense that makes their team a threat.

TJ Watt and Myles Garrett have been in a race since they were drafted. So far, TJ Watt has outgained Myles in some accumulating stats, leading to TJ winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2021. While I believe TJ Watt is one of the most talented pass rushers in the NFL, I think he’s been outside of Myles Garrett’s tier. For a period, that echelon included Von Miller, and now it includes Nick Bosa and Micah Parsons. Nothing against Watt, I just see him as the first man out. I think he gets more schematic advantages, whether it’s various matchup types, roles, and responsibilities the Steelers have done a fantastic job at maximizing his talents. That’s not his fault, but it is the reason I’m not selecting him.

Minkah Fitzpatrick is my Gimme Him pick. I knew it almost immediately. Minkah Fitzpatrick is a three-time first-team All-Pro. His career has been legacy-defining since he started as a true freshman at Alabama. I’ve never heard former Browns defensive coordinator, Nick Saban, glow about a player when he talks, except whenever he talks about Minkah Fitzpatrick. He is still their golden example. Minkah could play every position and has the mind of a seasoned coach. How his career played out would be obvious. After his first All-Pro, the safety was traded to the Steelers in his third season. The rest is history. I was devastated. I still am. Let me right this wrong by selecting last year’s interception leader.

Minkah Fitzpatrick in the brown and orange would officially turn Cleveland Browns Stadium into a No-Fly Zone. Jim Schwartz could get further into his bag of plays with the best free safety in the NFL. There is nothing on the field Minkah Fitzpatrick can’t do… besides tackle Nick Chubb. He can patrol the field in the deep third, cover wide receivers in the slot, and can even bully tight ends from the box. He still is the complete package. His sideline-to-sideline speed and unrivaled football IQ are the closest thing we have to Ed Reed. The Browns would have a historically good defense with him on the field. I think they would be a hypercharged legion of boom. Not even Patrick Mahomes could throw more than two touchdown passes against that defense.

What do you think, Browns’ fans? Would you take Minkah Fitzpatrick or TJ Watt? Let us know!

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Browns dodge a bullet; Steelers Cameron Heyward set to miss MNF matchup

The Browns catch a break…

Still riding the high of their first Week 1 home opener win since 2004, the Cleveland Browns look to have caught another break heading into Week 2. Set to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road, the 0-1 division rivals will be without one of their best defensive players as defensive tackle Cameron Heyward is set to miss a few weeks with a hamstring injury.

For a player that historically completely uproots any guard across from him, even All-Pro Joel Bitonio, this is a huge blow for the Steelers. This game has the makings of a trap game for the Browns, however, as Pittsburgh will look to get the sour taste of a blowout out of their mouths while the Browns have to refocus after a blowout win of their own.

There is still a ton of defensive talent on the Pittsburgh defensive line, with the likes of T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, former Brown Larry Ogunjobi, and more, but the loss of Heyward is not negligible.

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Steelers All Pro DT Cam Heyward expected to miss several weeks with groin injury

Steelers All Pro DT Cam Heyward (groin) expected to miss at least the next couple games vs Browns and Raiders

Sunday the Steelers suffered an embarrassing loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Along the way, that serious insult was met with serious injury. All Pro DT Cam Heyward suffered a groin injury and is expected to miss several weeks according to NFL media’s Mike Garofolo.

https://x.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1701323890847252991?s=20

Multiple weeks for Heyward would mean he will not face at least the Browns and Raiders in weeks two and three.

Should he go on injured reserve he would miss at least four games.

Heyward has made six straight Pro Bowls and was named an All Pro three times.

In that time, he has averaged nine sacks per season, including double digit sacks the past two seasons, which tells you even at age 34, he is not slowing down.

The 6-5, 295-pounder is an absolute force to be reckoned with in the middle, so his loss is significant for a Steelers team looking to rebound from their first outing of the 2023 season. In turn, his absence will be felt by his upcoming opponents.

While no one wants to see a player get injured, you can bet the Browns and Raiders are breathing a sigh of relief they won’t have to face him.

Ranking the interior DL the Colts will play in 2023

Ranking the best interior DL on the Colts’ 2023 schedule.

The Indianapolis Colts offensive linemen will be tested this season. Not only do they have a gauntlet of edge rushers but there are some of the best interior defensive linemen on their schedule. Including the best one to play at the position in the history of the NFL.

For this list, I took the top two interior defensive linemen from each team and cut the list down to the best 14 players.

Let’s take a look at how they rank:

Ohio State football All NFL Madden 24 team, Defense

If we put a Madden 24 NFL team together of just former Ohio State players on defense. Here’s what it would look like. #GoBucks

One fun talking point around football circles is answering the question of what would happen if college football programs each had an NFL team of their alumni.

Between Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU, Clemson, and more, there would be some strong teams. Each program has good options for quarterbacks and talent at every position group.

We just did an article outlining what the Buckeyes’ all-NFL Madden 24 offense would be and today we focus on the defensive side of the ball.

When breaking down each position group of this defense it’s clear that it would project as one of the best defenses in the NFL. There is star talent across the board and no real weak spot to exploit.  Here’s how what it would look like.

Seven Buckeyes featured in CBS Sports NFL Top 100 List

Seven former Buckeyes made the list. #GoBucks

With football season quickly approaching, a fun exercise around NFL social media is to rank the top 100 players in the league.  These rankings are a fun way to generate interesting discussions and debates.

CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco recently partook in this as he released his top 100 players in the NFL for 2023. Prisco made some good points expressing just how difficult it is to put together a list like this.

“Putting together the list is a real challenge,” wrote Prisco. “There are so many talented players, and after the stars at the top it’s tough to separate the players who land from 20-45 or so. So before you get worked up about my list, which you will, try to put one of your own together. It isn’t easy.”

Prisco ended up including seven former Ohio State players on his top 100 rankings. Here’s who made the list that used to call Columbus home.

Five bold predictions for the 2023 NFL season

Touchdown Wire’s Jarrett Bailey makes five bold predictions for the 2023 NFL season.

It’s easy to just go along with the status quo. But, as is proven year after year, the NFL sees your status quo and chokeslams it through a table.

Yes, it’s a rarity where all of the chalk predictions and odds-on favorited outcomes are what end up taking place. The consensus on the AFC West last season was that every team would be competitive, and some even predicted all four teams in the division to make the playoffs. Instead, Nathaniel Hackett didn’t even last a full season in Denver, and the Raiders were their usual tire fire selves.

With that said, predictions were made to be bold, so let’s put on our big boy pants and get risky with five bold predictions for the NFL season.

The NFL’s 11 best interior defensive linemen

From Vita Vea to Chris Jones, here’s Doug Farrar’s list of the 11 best interior defensive linemen in the NFL today.

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. That simple truth is important for the purposes of our list of the NFL’s best interior defensive linemen because we’re in a league where quick-game passing concepts are perhaps more prevalent than ever. And with those zero- and one-stop drops, and one- to three-level RPOs, your edge-rushers aren’t always going to get to the quarterback in time.

So, it behooves your NFL franchise to develop as much interior pressure as possible. That’s where the straight line comes in.

In a recent episode of “The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell,” Greg and I got into the traits for every player aligned to every gap along the defensive line, and those big guys getting to the quarterback made up a big part of that.

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The attributes required to make our list of the best interior definitive linemen coming into the 2023 season are as follows:

  • Gap versatility is an absolute must. If you can only win from one or two gaps, especially if those gaps are right next to each other… well, that’s nice, but we’re looking for more.
  • You must have different ways to get to the ball, and if you’re too reliant on schemes and stunts and those around you, that’s a debit. We need guys who can do it all without help all the time.
  • When we’re talking about inside guys, the ability to stop the run obviously becomes more important and is more paramount. Defenders with high stop rates will find that paying off on this list.

So, here’s our list of the 11 best interior defensive linemen in the NFL today. You can read the rest of our position lists linked below, leading up to our list of the 101 best players in the NFL today.

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders
The NFL’s top 11 linebackers
The NFL’s top 11 slot defenders
The NFL’s top 11 cornerbacks
The NFL’s top 11 safeties

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated). 

Here’s who Patriots landed in NFL.com’s seven-round win-now mock draft

NFL.com’s recent win-now mock draft leaves a lot to the imagination

New England Patriots training camp begins at the end of the month, and it’s going to be fascinating to see how the team rebounds after a difficult 2022 season. On the subject of rebuilding, NFL.com put together a seven-round, win-now mock draft for each team.

New England’s selections were interesting. The draft featured several familiar faces returning to Foxborough and some much-needed offensive weapons.

These players in New England would make the Patriots a viable force in the AFC and allow them flexibility at each position.

Although not realistic, this is fun to think about, as the Patriots try to avoid the cold possibility of missing the playoffs for a second straight year.