Brief and to the Point ...
• If a sixth-round NFL draft pick starts outplaying a first-round draft pick, that's bad, right?
And if two sixth-round picks start outplaying two first-round picks, that's doubly bad?
What if, on top of that, your most dynamic offensive weapon also is a sixth-rounder?
Couldn't help but think of this Monday on the South Side in talking with all three of these sixth-round selections of the Steelers -- Vince Williams, Anthony Chickillo and, of course, Antonio Brown -- and wondering how they reflect on Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin.
I mean, how much weight should be given to evaluating first-rounders in isolation vs. how an entire class pans out?
If Jarvis Jones doesn't turn out to be as 'special' as promised, or if Ryan Shazier remains perpetually planted on crutches, does that truly have a greater impact on the franchise than having found Le'Veon Bell in the second round of that same draft or Martavis Bryant in the fourth round the following year?
Honestly, I can't see how. It's not about grading by rounds. That should be for the draftniks and no one else. It is about the overall quality infused into the franchise. It's about finding the diamonds in the rough, the raw types, just as it's about making sure that enough NFL-caliber support is at hand to succeed within the salary cap.
Williams doesn't have Shazier's natural explosion. Few linebackers do. But Williams comes with strengths of his own and is among the team's most vocal and passionate players. And with Shazier missing yet another practice Monday, it's invaluable to have a Williams to plug and play.
As Williams put it Monday, seated at the stall next to an approvingly smiling AB, "That's how it's been around here for a long time. And look where it's gotten us."
Right. Especially this season. Or last season, when the Steelers ran the table to bump the Bengals from first place in the finale. Or the previous season, when the Steelers bounced back -- I still have no idea how this happened -- from falling to 0-4 in London to finish .500.
Chickillo essentially split snaps with Jones at right outside linebacker in the victory against the Browns. He was hardly dominant, and he might go right back to being inactive once James Harrison returns. But when he got his helmet, he was deemed good enough -- and/or Jones ineffective enough -- that the position was shared.
I asked Chickillo how that felt, freshly removed from the practice squad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSwy_iX-uq0
Maybe Jones and Shazier eventually will break through, as another first-rounder, Cam Heyward, has done now in his full but late bloom. Maybe they won't. But for whatever mistakes Colbert and Tomlin have made -- and they're on the ledger, too -- the recent drafts deserve immense credit for this team's resilient identity.
• This is independent of all of the above, but never underestimate the peer pressure Shazier feels to take the field. These Steelers, you've undoubtedly noticed, suddenly have a tough defense. They expect that trait across the board.
• That ridiculous loss to the Ravens earlier this season continues to haunt: The NFL's first tiebreaker for leading a division is head to head. If the Steelers win Dec. 13 in Cincinnati, they and the Bengals will be 1-1 in that category, obviously. The next tiebreaker is record inside the division. The Steelers currently are 1-2, the Bengals 3-0.
• The only AFC team better than the Steelers, even without Le'Veon, is New England. The Patriots are as real as the Bengals are not. And I felt this way well before Cincinnati's back-to-back losses to the Texans and Cardinals. In fact, I might have felt this way all the way back to Marvin Lewis' last playoff victory in 19-oh-never.
• Our city's most cerebral athlete just might be David DeCastro.
The big man let out a big chuckle when I broached the subject of his brains Monday.
"That's the Stanford education, you know."
Honorary mentions from the other two big-league teams: Matt Cullen and Mark Melancon.
• If a team is focused on trading the National League's best closer principally because he would consume too great a portion of payroll on a one-year contract the following season, then said payroll needs to increase by whatever means necessary.
If a team is focused on trading the National League's best closer principally because he would net a surprising return in ready-for-the-majors talent, then that trade should be pursued vigorously.
Unfortunately, as it relates to Melancon, the only scenario described publicly to date by Neal Huntington was the first.
And that stinks.
• To raise another hot-stove special, show me the scenario in which the Pirates trade Neil Walker and release Pedro Alvarez and replace a total of 45 home runs per season, and I'll agree that trading Walker is prudent.
Over the past four seasons, Walker hit 69 home runs, Alvarez 111. The figure of 45 per season is taken from that four-year average.
I can find all kinds of logic for being done with Alvarez, not least of which is that Clint Hurdle, right or wrong, completely gave up on him this past summer. His home runs come with many headaches.
But if Walker goes, that's a whole lot of power walking out the door.
• Walker at first base?
Yes, please.
The lower back that's raised concerns the past couple years would get a break, his defensive range would be mitigated, and he could become better offensively and defensively for it.
• There isn't a dumber prediction anyone can make in sports than suggesting that the Cardinals will regress. But they're losing Jason Heyward and John Lackey in free agency, they've got several other pitchers with uncertain futures, and their top free-agent target -- the Orioles' 47-home-run first baseman, Chris Davis -- could easily get more money than St. Louis can afford.
Remind me of this one next August when the Cardinals are 10 games up on the pack.
• There was an unwritten rule with the Penguins back in the day that whatever line included Mario Lemieux was labeled the first line. This was even true in the second phase of his career when it was clear that the real top line was Robert Lang between Marty Straka and Alexei Kovalev. Everyone was cool with it. The KLS guys would refer to themselves as the second line.
I share this only because it's actually kind of funny right now that Mike Johnston is openly referring to Brian Dumoulin and Ben Lovejoy as his 'shutdown pairing' on defense, while the pairing of Kris Letang and Rob Scuderi sits atop the current depth chart.
Bending over backward for Sidney Crosby and/or Evgeni Malkin is fine. I've never had a complaint with it. But the hyper-sensitivity toward Letang, including his inexplicably continuing position on the top power play, is crazy by comparison.
• Credit where it's due: Scott Harrington was long seen as the superior prospect to Dumoulin during their shared time in Wilkes-Barre. But part of Jim Rutherford's many masterstrokes in the Phil Kessel trade was correctly identifying Dumoulin as his guy and conceding only Harrington to the Maple Leafs.
This isn't guesswork on my part, and it isn't hindsight. Rutherford told me exactly what's above on the day the trade happened.
• There's nothing wrong with Crosby. Nobody wants to hear this for the zillionth time, but the points will come. It's no more complex than that. His skills haven't diminished, and he's very much past the phase -- at least from what I've experienced -- where he's beating himself up over what's happened to date. He just needs to go play.
• Has Malkin demanded to be traded yet?
Or did I somehow miss that while he poured his heart and soul into the process all over again in the past few days?
• The following tweet was brought to you Saturday night by idiots ...
Rask gets a shutout Niemi gets a shutout Bishop gets a shutout Dubnyk gets a shutout Anderson gets a shutout EVERYBODY GETS A SHUTOUT
— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2015