Joe Rutter stories, Page 83
Unless state orders change, Steelers won’t sell tickets to public for home playoff opener
Gov. Tom Wolf’s decision to allow time-limited mitigation orders to expire Monday won’t help the Steelers sell tickets for their home playoff game on the weekend of Jan. 9-10. With the orders reverting back to Dec. 11 standards, the Steelers will be permitted to have 2,500 fans in attendance at...
Steelers rest key starters to open practice week ahead of game against Browns
Three players who missed the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game against the Indianapolis Colts returned to practice Wednesday when the team began on-field work for the season finale at Cleveland. Kicker Chris Boswell (groin), linebacker/safety Marcus Allen (stinger) and linebacker Ola Adeniyi (shoulder) were full practice participants. Coach Mike Tomlin said that...
Ben Roethlisberger ready to support Mason Rudolph in Steelers’ finale against Browns
Ben Roethlisberger won’t be in the huddle Sunday in Cleveland. Where he will be is on the practice field this week, on the sideline against the Cleveland Browns and in the ear of Mason Rudolph as the Pittsburgh Steelers backup quarterback makes his first start of the season. With the...
Year in Review: Pandemic-altered 2020 Pittsburgh sports seasons won’t soon be forgotten
When historians proclaim 2020 as a sports year unlike any other, no hyperbole will be attached to such sentiment. The coronavirus pandemic that affected so many lives across the world also drastically altered the sports landscape, causing major events to be canceled or postponed and impacting athletes from the professional...
Mason Rudolph to get shot against Browns while Steelers rest Ben Roethlisberger
Mason Rudolph will return to the site of HelmetGate on Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers visit Cleveland. His turn at quarterback isn’t based on a chance for redemption after he was clubbed on the head with his helmet courtesy of Browns defensive end Myles Garrett the last time the Steelers...
Mike Tomlin explains decision to let clock run late in 1st half of Steelers’ win against Colts
With the Pittsburgh Steelers trailing by 14 points late in the first half Sunday, Mike Tomlin was shaken when his defense gave up a 68-yard screen pass that could have set up the Indianapolis Colts for another score. No matter that the big gain was called back because of a...
Mike Tomlin: NFL has contacted Steelers about players not wearing masks in postgame dance video
Could the Pittsburgh Steelers become the latest team to be punished by the NFL for players not wearing masks during a postgame celebration? Coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged Tuesday that the organization has heard from the league about a celebration dance video that was posted by wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in...
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin announces Mason Rudolph as starting QB against BrownsVideo
Mason Rudolph will be the starting quarterback Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers return to Cleveland for the first time since the helmet-swinging fiasco marred the end of their game at FirstEnergy Stadium in November 2019. Rudolph will replace starter Ben Roethlisberger, who is being rested until the start of the...
5 things we learned: T.J. Watt making strong push for NFL defensive player of year awardVideo
Five things we learned from Steelers 28, Colts 24: 1. Award season It isn’t known whether outside linebacker T.J. Watt will play much — if at all — in the season finale at Cleveland on Sunday. With the AFC North title decided and the Steelers guaranteed of finishing no lower...
Long wait to clinch AFC North title ends for Steelers with win vs. Colts
The boxes of hats and T-shirts signifying an AFC North championship finally came out of storage Sunday afternoon for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Rallying from a 17-point second-half deficit, the Steelers used three touchdown passes from Ben Roethlisberger to defeat the Indianapolis Colts, 28-24, at Heinz Field and clinch the team’s...
Steelers rally past Colts, clinch AFC North
With the Steelers careening to a fourth consecutive loss and all of the usual factors at play — dropped passes, short-yardage failures and little first-half offense — a Christmas miracle happened Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field. Trailing by 17 points and looking as lifeless as a holiday tree without water,...
Groin injury to sideline kicker Chris Boswell; Steelers promote Matthew Wright
The Pittsburgh Steelers will have a new kicker and reduced depth at two linebacker positions Sunday when they play the Indianapolis Colts at Heinz Field. Kicker Chris Boswell was one of three players downgraded to out Saturday. He will miss the game, his second of the season, because of a...
While Ben Roethlisberger struggles for Steelers, Philip Rivers finishing strong for Colts
Just like the teams they lead, the two quarterbacks remaining from the famed 2004 NFL Draft class are trending in opposite directions. Sure, Ben Roethlisberger has presided over an 11-3 record for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who already have clinched a playoff berth and can wrap up the AFC North title...
Benny Snell gives Steelers an extra option as they try to sort out running game problems
As the Pittsburgh Steelers try to use what few chances they have left in the regular season to improve their running game, coach Mike Tomlin might be turning away from his bell cow. Although starter James Conner has been cleared to return from a quad injury that kept him out...
DE Stephon Tuitt returns to practice for Steelers, is expected to play against Colts
After missing two days of practice this week with a back injury, defensive end Stephon Tuitt returned Friday and is expected to play Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers face the Indianapolis Colts at Heinz Field. The Steelers (11-3) will try to halt a three-game losing streak and clinch the AFC...
Steelers embrace return of ILB Vince Williams to position ravaged by injuries
It’s not just the thumping Vince Williams brings as a tackler or the eight years of NFL experience he has playing a position decimated by injuries that Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler has missed the past two weeks. It’s the “voice” Williams brings as a defensive play caller. “The...
Stephon Tuitt added to Steelers injury report with back injury
As the Pittsburgh Steelers began preparation Wednesday for their game this weekend against the Indianapolis Colts, they had some new additions to the injury report. Defensive end Stephon Tuitt (back) and outside linebacker Ola Adeniyi (shoulder) did not practice, joining tight end Eric Ebron (back), inside linebacker Ulysees Gilbert III...
Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger on recent criticism about his play: ‘I don’t blame them’
Ben Roethlisberger has heard the criticism. He understands it. In fact, considering the way the 17-year veteran quarterback has played in recent weeks, he expects it from fans, commentators and former NFL players. “Shoot, I don’t blame them,” Roethlisberger said Wednesday. “When you play like poo, you should get talked...
5 things we learned: December doldrums are nothing new for Steelers
Five things we learned from Bengals 27, Steelers 17: 1. Disastrous Decembers For a team that owned December the last two times they made the playoffs, the Steelers are slipping and sliding through the final month of the regular season for the third year in a row. When the Steelers...
Steelers’ late-season skid hits 3 games after loss to Bengals
CINCINNATI – An extra day of preparation was supposed to rejuvenate the Pittsburgh Steelers and help them recapture the groove that resulted in 11 consecutive wins to start the season. Instead, the opposite happened. The malaise that has stricken the Steelers in December lingered Monday night when they fell behind...
T.J. Watt leads group of 5 Steelers players selected to Pro Bowl
CINCINNATI – Five players from the Pittsburgh Steelers were selected Monday to a Pro Bowl that will not be played this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The players chosen are outside linebacker T.J. Watt, free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, center Maurkice Pouncey and guard David DeCastro....
Drops behind him, Diontae Johnson ready for fresh start when Steelers play Bengals
When Ben Roethlisberger approached Diontae Johnson on the sideline late in the second half Sunday, he asked a question that caught the second-year wide receiver off guard. “He was asking me if I really wanted to play or not,” said Johnson, who was benched for seven series after dropping two...
Division titles, playoff seeds at stake for Steelers, other AFC contenders
This much is known about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ playoff situation heading into Sunday: They are assured of being in the expanded field of seven teams representing the AFC. They can win the division title if Cleveland loses at the New York Giants in prime time or if the 11-2 Steelers...
James Washington overcomes reduced playing time to make big plays for Steelers offense
If any wide receiver on the Pittsburgh Steelers can relate to the benching Diontae Johnson received in the first half Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills, it is James Washington. Two years ago, in his rookie season, Washington had a memorable drop of a deep pass that could have gone...
Steelers trying to fix defense that has wilted in 2nd half of back-to-back losses
When he combed through tape of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game Sunday night in Buffalo, coach Mike Tomlin noticed a lack of physical play by his team, a theme he addressed without prompting at his weekly news conference two days later. Defensive captain Cameron Heyward probably didn’t need a rewind to...
