Position by Position Breakdown

The Pittsburgh Steelers prepare for their final pre-season contest of the year (Thursday Night 7:30 at Carolina), a lot of questions have been cleared up over the last month of training camp and the three previous warm up games. But a few question marks remain.

Tim Benz takes an inside look....position by position.... at where the Steelers roster and line-up stands now as opposed to the beginning of camp in Latrobe back on July 31st.

QUARTERBACK: Ben Roethlisberger managed to avoid major injury and legal distraction up until now. Although it is clear Big Ben’s Achilles injury at the end of camp was a scare and cost him a pre-season tune up opportunity against Washington.

Roethlisberger still claims the injury isn’t 100% and says he took a hit on it in the Buffalo game as well. But the injury “watch and wait game” is something we are all familiar with playing when it comes to #7.

And Mike Tomlin did admit this week that Ben’s legal status was enough of a distraction that it prevented him from giving Michael Vick serious consideration on the open market.

What’s obvious from that statement is Tomlin feels an upgrade is possible at back up QB.

Charlie Batch was rusty early in Latrobe and the pre-season. But he was very sharp against the Bills. And he’s still better than Dennis Dixon, whether or not the team or the fans want to admit it.

Dixon’s shoulder injury is a concern. But a far greater concern would be if Dixon ever actually had to play for an extended period of time. He’s still not ready. And the second-year man from Oregon may have just been a really good college QB and not a pro prospect.

As for Mike Riley, he showed enough that the Steelers will keep his number handy in an emergency.

WIDE RECEIVER: Starters Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes had spotty participation in camp and games this year. But expect their production to be at the same level as 2008.

Obviously, the greater focus this month has been on the race for the third spot to replace Nate Washington.

The organization wants Limas Sweed to get that job. And to start 2009, that will probably happen.