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What a difference an off-season of tedious, over-the-top special-teams drills can make. The Pittsburgh Steelers ranked 30th in 2006, according to Football Outsiders. Thanks to a perfect storm of crappy special teams play that included Chris Gardocki setting a modern-day record for 25-yard punts and touchback, the returners leading the league in fumbles and muffs, and the coverage units not covering much of anything, the Steelers finished ahead of only the Rams and Cardinals. Yeah, not good.

After hiring a new head coach, one who believes "teams" are very important -- important enough to devote three morning practices a week throughout training camp to just the coverage and return game -- Pittsburgh saw the fruits of their labor on Sunday. As FanHouser J.J. Cooper wrote, against the Browns, kicker Jeff Reed had three touchbacks, punter Daniel Sepulveda had four punts downed inside the 20, and the coverage team smothered Joshua Cribbs all day.

But it gets better: Football Outsiders' Week 1 ratings are out and the Steelers rank 8th in special teams, 8th in offense, and 1st in defense. Yeah, that the season is only a game old, and the opponent, the Browns, would struggled to make the Division I-AA playoffs, isn't lost on me. Still, when the Steelers' special teams shows any signs of improvement, it's worth noting. The sooner we can put Ricardo Colclough and Chris Gardocki behind us, the better.