The Steelers will run a 4-3 defense in 2010

I'm pretty confident in it. (I could be recapping another meaningless preseason game or talking about the roster cuts, but neither of those ideas are unique, surprising, or really all that interesting at this point)

Anyway, as we all know, Casey Hampton's contract expires after the 2009 season. If the Steelers haven't re-signed him yet, it's unlikely they will. Hampton agreed in the Post Gazette. It isn't likely he'll be a Steeler much longer. And when you consider that the 3-4 defense starts up front with the nose tackle, how do you run it successfully without Big Snack?

Answer: You don't. You don't run a 3-4 anymore. A lot of Steelers purists will probably be outright offended at this idea, but those people are stupid people that don't realize Pittsburgh won 4 Superbowls on the strength of a 4-3 defense.

Right now, the Steelers' front seven consists of Smith-Hampton-Keisel and Woodley-Timmons-Farrior-Harrison. Without Hampton, that leaves a big hole at NT (literally). Rather than try and find another lineman of Hampton's caliber, which would be close to impossible, why not just put two guys in his spot? Ziggy Hood is a Steeler for a reason, and it probably isn't his Hampton-like size and speed. So if Hood is one replacement, who is the second? How about moving Aaron Smith a little bit more to the inside where he can continue to dominate the run game.

That leaves a hole at left defensive end. Related: Does everyone like LaMarr Woodley for his pass coverage or his ability to rush? Last I checked he had a lot more sacks than interceptions. He played DE in college. He's big and he's physical. He's just the kind of guy we all want in the backfield on every play. If he moves to end, his talent will be put to use sealing that edge and forcing traffic into Smith and Hood. We can assume Keisel will remain where he is, considering he just singed a 5-year extension.

So that leaves our linebacking corps to be Timmons-Farrior-Harrison. Honestly, are you complaining? Farrior will continue to be the smart, solid tackler in the middle while he's flanked by two freak athletes in Timmons and Harrison that can do whatever they want, be it rush, cover, or just beat people to death. That front seven will continue to be dominant enough that a lot of us will forget how much we relied on Casey Hampton this long.

Oh yeah, and Chris Hoke is still around, but he doesn't really wow you either. Solid backup, not good enough to be the centerpiece of the best defense in football.

Opener Thursday night. Gonna be an intense game. Don't forget to remind all the Ravens fans you know that their team backed out of this game because they didn't want to play the Steelers first thing.

Still planning on moving Fullmetal Football to PSN and blog there about Pitt as well, likely in different columns. Not sure when I'll be able to post again or even what the blog will look like when I do. I wish this had been resolved during offseason, but we'll deal.

Here We Go.