[Click here for a brief explanation on community projections.]

We last touched on Ben Roethlisberger's stat projection for 2009. Thanks to all the people who left their comments. Here's what we averaged out with for Roethlisberger.

16 G / 3,275 yards /  25 TD / 13 INT

Up next on the community projections is Willie Parker, a guy who many people love or hate.

This is just my perception of FWP through talking with fans, but Parker seems to have fallen out of favor with a lot of Steeler followers around here. Steeler fans love the big, bruising power running back and FWP is far from that. Fairly or not, he's gotten the repuatation that he is soft and can't get the hard yards.

I'd debate that, but that's another issue. For now, we're focusing on stats so here's FWP's:

A few things caught my eye here. First off, the average has steadily dipped each year. Second, from 2005-2007 you would be hard pressed to find a more consistent and better running back than Willie Parker. He was absolutely outstanding during that stretch and didn't get much recognition for it.

The big issue here is whether or not last season was an anomaly. Critics say Parker is getting old and is injured too often. FWP loyalists say he's had one injury plauged season in an otherwise productive career and will bounce back.

Which FWP shows up in 2009 will go a long way in determing the success of the Steelers.

For Parker, let's project games played, rushing yards, and TDs. Post your predictions in the comments.

With all of the questions surronding the Steelers offensive line heading into the offseason, you can now pencil in Max Starks as one of the tackles through 2012.

He signed a 4-year deal today with the team and it appears Kevin Colbert has found one piece of the line he feels is worth keeping around for a few more years.

No financial terms were available, but the cap hit on this contract is probably less than the franchise tag money Starks was receiving last year.

Starks is now one of the more experienced and I'd argue consistent performers on the offensive line so I'm on board with keeping him around. He's still young and hasn't battled injuries as much as a guy like Marvel Smith and Starks always come through in a pinch for the Steelers.

UPDATE: ESPN has a source who says the deal has $10 million in guaranteed cash. ESPN's James Walker also raises a good point that the extra $3 million or so that the Steelers saved here could allow them to lock up one of the upcoming free agents, which include guys like Heath Miller, Jeff Reed, Ryan Clark, Casey Hampton, and Brett Keisel. It's safe to say every single one of those guys is a part of the "core" of the team and signing a guy like Miller to a long-term deal would be an extremely high priority for Colbert.

So this deal is a win on several fronts for the Stees. 1. Lock up a reliable, if not spectacular offensive tackle. 2. Free up much needed cap room. 3. Hopefully apply the money saved from the deal to signing another key component of the team.

People wonder why us bloggers get a bad name and no props from major media outlets. Sometimes it's because the dinosaurs are calling the shots, but a lot of other times it's because we burn our bridges to the media, teams, and players that give us something interesting to talk about from our parent's basements.

After the Pens won the SCF, photos of the team's private party at 66's house began circulating around the Internet. Some of our favorite sites like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Lets Go Pens didn't post the photos, as did Bloguin brothers PSAMP and ThePensblog.

Deadspin posted the photos.

Many websites and sports blogs (*cough*Deadspin*cough*) have made both a name and a living off of posting personal photos of athletes and there's certainly traffic and money out there for people willing to do it.

But class matters.

And we're proud to root for the same teams and share the same network as Tecmo at PSAMP and all of the staff at ThePensblog.

We're all trying to do this blogging thing the right way and someday decisions like these will go a long way.

Shots will be taken at Brady Quinn, the Baltimore Ravens, and fans of rival teams.

But selling out your own team is the biggest jagoff move a blogger can pull.

We're behind PSAMP and ThePensblog to the end.

Note: Rules of Steeler Nation is a semi-whenever series that profiles some unofficial "rules" that all Steeler fans seem to follow. Like it or not, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the New York Yankees of football and have become the standard bearers for fans in the NFL. Sadly, we don't feel like Steeler Nation always does a very good job. With great success comes great amounts of bandwagon fans who make a bad name for the rest of the fanbase. By taking a look at some of the "rules" most of our brother and sisters in black and gold tend to follow, hopefully we can become better. As they say, with great power comes great responsibility and with a sixth notch now our championship belt, we've got a lot of work to do.

Rule 1: Backup QB > Starting QB

We're young guys in case you didn't know, so we don't have as much experience with Rule 1 as a lot of you probably do. The first Steelers QB we really remember is Neil O'Donnell, who is a great example of Rule 1. But from what we've heard and read, Rule 1 goes way back into the history of Steeler Nation.

We begin our argument after the jump...

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A lot of baseball sites do community projections and I think it would a fun thing to do before every Steelers season.

Baseball is a lot more starts oriented than football, but it still serves a purpose and would be a fun little experiment.

In case you aren't aware of how these things usually work, ever so often we'll select the player who we are projecting...we're starting with Big Ben. Then people leave comments predicting Roethlisberger's stats for 2009 and we'll average them out to come up with a "community projection" for each player. We picked Roethlisberger to start because this should be the easiest of all the players to come up with reasonable numbers for.

After the season is over, we'll see how we did and then do it all over again. The commenter who guesses the closest to the player's actual numbers wins a free virtual high five from Norm and myself.

Bucs Dugout is a great example of community projections at work so check Charlie and the gang out if my explanation sucked.

We obviously won't be doing every player since lineman don't really put up many worthwhile stats, but we'll instead focus on the skill players.

Ben Roethlisberger

Ben has always put up steady, if unspectacular numbers during the regular season. In 2007, he went nuts and threw 32 touchdowns in only 15 start. Last year, his numbers fell off and he only posted a QB rating of 80.1 The stats have never seemed to fully indicate how good of a QB Big Ben is, but we're just breaking down cold, hard numbers here.

Is Roethlisberger due for a huge year after a great playoff performance and clutch Super Bowl drive? Or will he continue to make bad decisions with the ball like in 2006 and 2008?

For Roethlisberger, let's project games started, passing yards, TDs, and INTs. Post your predictions in the comments.

Here are a few news stories going on around the league to reassure you that yes, the offseason is boring. Enjoy.

- Big Ben is fine after he faked people out by pretending he had an injury. Actually I think it was a bee that stung him so he jumped around and asked Tomlin to kiss it for him. He might be in a cast for a few weeks.

- Brian Westbrook is having ankle surgery but should be ready for the regular season. This guy loves his injuries. He missed a whole year in college from a knee problem, missed half of 2005 with a foot injury, and last year he had a rib and ankle injury. He's creeping up there in age (29), so we'll have to see how he bounces back after this one, especially with our Pitt boy LeSean McCoy as his backup.

- ESPN's AFC North blogger tells every one what they already know: the Steelers offesensive line blows. We bet he did some real in depth research for that.

- Brett Favre says he's retired. We sure as hell hope so. He needs to be shot in the dick.

- Everything else is pretty much nothing. Other than a few signings, people going and not going to practice, and something about Peyton, it's still the offseason which means it's boring as balls.

Hell, we aren't even paying much attention to the NFL. Who would with the Pens tied in the Stanley Cup? Go cheer them on.

Go Pens

Go Stees

It’s getting to the point where it’s almost too early to give the drafts proper grades mostly due to the fact that we can’t make a proper assessment from two years of playing. But we’ll try anyway. This was the year Tomlin was the new guy in town and everyone was scared he was going to turn our defense into a Tampa-Two. This was also his first time in the war room, and well, it looked like he knew what he was doing.

2007

1^st Round, 15^th pick: Lawrence Timmons, LB, Florida State

Check out what the picks for the rest of the draft after the jump.

The fine reporters over the the PG conducted a poll asking readers about Bill Cowher's Carolina Hurricane fandom. Here are the results:

When people give you a hard time for being a Steeler fan and you wonder why, think back to this poll.

Most sports fans will wonder what the guy did to go from being an almost universally beloved coach to barely having 1/4 of his hometown on his side.

Did he committ a serious crime?

Did he denounce the Rooney family?

Did he send naked pictures of himself to little boys?

The sad answer is none of the above. All he had to do was not root for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The real traitor in this situation is Steeler Nation, who couldn't wait to throw Cowher under the bus since he left. People were waiting for him to pick against Pittsburgh on CBS or say something bad about the franchise.

People were calling for his induction to the Hall of Fame after he retired and now they are acting like he never existed in the first place because he cheered for the damn Carolina Hurricanes.

This is Example A of why "yinzer" has become a bad term. If you are deeply hurt because a former coach of your favorite football team doesn't cheer for your favorite hockey team, grow up.

In 20 years, Mike Tomlin will cheer for the Capitals and the same stooge fans who are ready to hang Cowher now will vote "Mike who?" again.

Pens in 5.

Looks like the football 'analysts' at ESPN are bored. They've already ranked the NFL teams in May, but hey, what do we care, they think the Stees are number 1.

They're saying since the Black and Gold have "20 of 22 starters returning, the Steelers could chase 'dynasty' status". Whatever. I wouldn't put too much into this since last year's power rankings had the Jags 5th, the Browns 10th, and the Falcons last. So yeah, things change. Every single one of the ESPN voters had the Steelers first except Len Pasquarelli, who had them 9th. But no one really likes him anyway.

It's been said before, but we're big time fans of other sports teams besides the Steelers...the Pittsburgh Pirates and Penguins and the Penn State Nittany Lions.

So right now, we're sporting some disgusting playoff beards and are in full NHL mode.

Interestingly enough, old friend of the Steelers' Bill Cowher has turned into a figure of contreversey in the Eastern Conference Finals of the NHL.

In case you've been living under a rock, Cowher routinely mans the "warning siren" for the Hurricanes home rink in Raleigh.

Penguins fans aren't too happy and our friends at tPB are in full "jobbing" mode.

But is Bill Cowher really a turncoat? Find out after the jump.

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