RB Rashard Mendenhall, the Steelers 1st round draft pick in this year's draft, will get his first start in the NFL next Monday night when the Steelers take on the Baltimore Ravens in front of a national audience.

Even when we were rolling along during weeks 1 and 2, it was mentioned that perhaps Delicious should be taking some of Parker's carries, not because Parker wasn't producing, but instead to simply keep Parker fresh while getting the rookie's feet wet sooner rather than later.

Now there will be no cautiously wading into the shallow end. It's a head first swan dive into the deep end instead for Mendenhall, who will make his starting debut against the Baltimore Ravens. Somewhat ironically, I suppose, Mendenhall's opportunity comes against a team that Willie Parker has struggled against historically. One might try to make the argument that Parker lacked the 'inside-the-tackle' toughness necessary to take on a stout Ravens' defense, but I think that's probably a bit unfair. Even a few years ago, when our offensive line was in better shape than it is now, we still weren't world beaters in the trenches, no matter what the broadcasters and pundits led you to believe.

Mendenhall has a huge opportunity to make himself a fan favorite for years to come with a big game in FWP's absence

We'll take a closer look at the Ravens' defense as well as what they like to do against us to negate our rushing attack later today and throughout the week in preparation for next Monday's pivotal AFC North battle for early season supremacy.

For now, use this thread to discuss what your expectations are for our prize draft pick out of Illinois.

This always tends to happen and as Coach Tomlin says it's probably a 'necessary evil.' As tough as competition is in the NFL, tempers are going to flare up and fights will break out and that was the case yesterday as two separate bouts broke out while the Steelers were at their indoor practice facility. The participants were Willie Colon and Lawrence Timmons in the first showdown and Trai Essex and Arnold Harrison in the second. Neither scuffle amount to much and were over nearly as soon as they started. After practice Coach T talked about the scuffles:

"Practice broke out into a fight," said head coach Mike Tomlin afterwards. "You know, the competition is good, but the level of intensity has to be there if we want to get better.

"You have to understand professional etiquette; that's what we talked about after practice. These kinds of things have to happen as we develop our football team because it gives us a venue to address them, and why we do what it is that we do and how we approach what it is that we do.

"You don't like to see it happen, but it's a necessary evil. I'm glad that it happened, we addressed it and move on."

• In some actual football related news, Larry Foote sat out yesterday with a sore neck and that of course means that Timmons took all the reps the first group. I've always been a Foote fan but I really hope that Timmons can beat him out this preseason.
  
• Jim Wexell has been giving some pretty detailed OTA reports and some of the news encouraging and some it 'head-scratching' to say the least. I keep trying to move past the OL, but I just couldn't help myself when he mentioned that with the return of Marvel Smith yesterday, the starting lineup was Smith, Chris K, Mahan, Stapleton and Colon (Simmons isn't practicing yet). For what it's worth it looks like the starting five is different almost every day, but for what it's worth, when Mahan is there he runs with the first group. I did find one practice that had Essex running at guard though so it looks like they're trying to throw as much as they can against the wall and we'll see what sticks.
  
• There's also random notes of various players who have looked good at one time or another. Dallas Baker is a name that is in every report for either making a great catch or beating William Gay deep. Travis Williams (undrafted corner from East Carolina) is a youngster that Wexell thinks is worth keeping an eye on. He's also excited about Moore's versatility (compares to Kevin Faulk) and says the 10 pounds that Russell put on seem to help him quite a bit. Don't worry though Wexell also mentions how 'studly' Mendenhall looks at everything he's done so far. In addition to Simmons and Foote sitting out Ryan McBean, Deshea Townsend, Traivs Kirschke, Najeh Davenport, Willie Parker and Santonio Holmes were all sidelined with various bumps and bruises. It too early for someone to seriously worry about their job but if I was Davenport I don't think I'd let some minor bump/bruise keep me from the field considering all the praise we're hearing on the younger backs.
• In an earlier practice from last week, Timmons talks about LeBeau's new wrinkle for the dime defense that includes Timmons and Farrior as the inside backers. During that same practice they worked on punt returns with the returners going in this order: Reid, Moore, Holmes, Marion, Bloom, and Travis Williams. Wexell also mentions Tony Hills getting beaten badly by Silverback, although that's a heck of an assignment for the rookie. Anthony Smith is working at strong safety behind Tyrone Carter while Grant Mason is taking the second string reps at free safety behind Clark.

Thoughts about OTA's so far? Anyone run across any other news?

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I ran across a video (that you can watch here) that left me pretty perplexed. The Las Vegas PD was simulating crashes involving multiple vehicles and also accidents involving a pedestrian earlier this week, but for some reason they but a Ben Roethlisberger jersey on the pedestrian. I don't know what was more off setting, the idea that putting a jersey on a crash test dummy or the reporters skating around the mention of it.

Who is Rashard Mendenhall? We all know his name, but we didn't spend much time discussing him here at The Curtain because, well, we didn't think it likely he'd even be available. But with NFL teams unloading the vast majority of their first round drafting capital on defensive talent and the outstanding tier one group of offensive tackles, the Steelers found themselves looking at a draft board that included Mendenhall.

Pittsburgh pounced and the team gets a premier talent in the first round that most fans weren't expecting. More on why I like the move in a moment, but first, a little background on the tailback from Illinois.

Rashard Mendenhall enters the NFL after three seasons of college ball. As a true freshman, he saw action on a bad offensive team, rushing 48 times for 218 yards - 4.5 per carry. He took a big leap forward as a sophomore, upping his yards per attempt to an eye-popping 8.2 yards per attempt. However, the Illini grossly underutilized their emerging star and Mendenhall finished with 640 yards on only 78 carries, including 5 touchdowns.

Finally, in Mendenhall's junior season, he became the feature of the offense, exploding for 1,681 yards on 262 carries, including 17 touchdowns. For good measure, Mendenhall caught 34 passes out of the backfield, picking up 318 yards and 2 more touchdowns. By season's end, he'd helped lead his team to the Rose Bowl and been named the Big 10 Offensive Player of the Year.

If you're the scout-y type, you'll love the reviews of this kid :

Has an athletic build with good muscular definition, big biceps, firm midsection and hips, thick thighs and calves...More quick than fast...Has excellent agility and balance through the rush lane...Tough, competitive athlete who has played behind some very average offensive lines, having to create a lot on his own...Instinctive runner with a good feel for the cutback lanes, doing a good job of setting up his moves in attempts to elude...Studies the game and, unlike most running backs, he has a good blue-collar work ethic...Shows good courage challenging bigger defenders and runs with a pitter-patter style...Makes good decisions and precise cuts into the hole, as he moves on the snap with no hesitation...Has good instincts, setting up and using his blocks well and has the vision to avoid and create on the move...Slides through the smallest of creases and knows how to get "skinny" and get through the spaces...Has the vision that lets him see things most backs don't...

As far as negatives, there aren't many. His top end speed isn't going to be the tops in the NFL, but Pittsburgh's need at tailback involves a reliable between-the-tackles runner. FWP, who certainly doesn't lack top speed, isn't an ideal inside runner, though he's been effective enough to be a terrific everydown back.

The bottom line is that when Pittsburgh found itself drafting, the best player on the board was an outstanding, muscular running back. Rashard Mendenhall was perhaps not our expected draftee. But given the situation, I'm inclined to think he was the right one.

MENDENHALL AROUND THE WEB

Mendenhall on YouTube

Mendenhall Illinois Player Page

Mendenhall Wiki

Mendenhall at the NFL Combine