After losing starting cornerback Bryant McFadden to a broken arm and fill-in starter Deshea Townsend to a pulled hamstring, the Steelers are understandably desperate for a cornerback, which explains why they are signing a cornerback who was waived in the preseason by the cornerback-poor New England Patriots.Fernando Bryant, a first-round pick of the Jaguars in 1999, was once a pretty good cornerback, but he does seem to have aged poorly. But with William Gay likely stepping into a starting role (shudder), and Anthony Madison becoming the nickel back, Bryant could play a lot of Sunday.
It also probably wouldn't hurt for the Steelers to bring in the now released Justin Miller for a look as well. Miller was a Pro Bowl returner for the Jets in 2006, but he missed almost all of 2007 and had played sparingly in 2008 as he recovered from a knee injury. He never was a great corner, but if he's gotten most of his blazing speed back, he could fit as a No. 5 corner/kick returner--filling a need the Steelers haven't come close to filling all year.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-12-2008 @ 9:50AM
marc said...
william gay is very poor at man-to-man coverage. he needs to drop off 5 yards or so to prevent from being beat deep.
i expect to see polamalu to drop back more into coverage considering our injuries and the chargers actually passing the ball well this year.
that will leave the front seven to primarily stop the run on their own and put pressure on the QB.
as in every game, it will come down to the line play. if our d-line fills the gaps against the run and applies pressure against the pass, our defense should be fine. if not, we'll have to commit more people to the line opening up the passing game for chargers.
if our o-line comes to play (please!), we should run the ball effectively and setup our play action passing game and control the clock. if not, the chargers will be all over Arian's predictable play calling.
On a side note about Arians. why did he get the o-cordinator job? he was WR's coach for a group that really didn't stand out. Hines is great, because he's Hines. Randle El was OK. When he was with cleveland, Arian's sucked there. I get the feeling Tomlin is/was unfamiliar with the offensive side of the ball and didn't want to mess with the continuity of the offense. Well, his first MAJOR decision should have come this past offseason, but will most likely come this offseason when Arians is let go. the writing is on the wall.
and why do so many bash Tomlin so hard. of course he's gonna make some mistakes. so did cowher. and for those that wish cowher were still around, keep in mind that he won 1 super bowl, made it to 2, and by many regards HE was the reason we didn't make it to more because he was out coached in numerous AFC title games.
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