Steelers/NFL category, Page 327
Tim Benz: The ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ that cost the Steelers their 2020 season
Without a doubt, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2020 collapse was sinful. But were they guilty of any of the actual Seven Deadly Sins? Hmmm. Now that I’m looking at this list, I may be more guilty of those sins than those on the team itself. • Envy: I’m envious of teams...
First Call: Chase Claypool reiterates Browns critique; Zach Banner may be back. Matt Canada to Miami?
For Friday’s “First Call,” Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Chase Claypool can’t get out of his own way. The Steelers may have to fight to keep Matt Canada on staff. And tackle Zach Banner seems optimistic about his future in Pittsburgh. All that and some college basketball news, too. Doubling down Steelers...
Steelers sign Pine-Richland’s Kevin Rader, 12 others to futures contracts
Tight end Kevin Rader and inside linebacker Tegray Scales, who each saw playing time on the active roster late in the season, were among 13 players the Pittsburgh Steelers signed to futures contracts Thursday. Also signed were wide receivers Anthony Johnson and Cody White; tackles Anthony Coyle, John Leglue and...
5th-year options due on Steelers safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick, Terrell Edmunds
There are plenty of decisions that need to be made by the Pittsburgh Steelers during an offseason that began after this past Sunday’s playoff loss. A couple of the easier ones involve picking up fifth-year contract options. For the first time, the Steelers have a pair to exercise — and...
Steelers part ways with offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner, 2 other assistants
The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t waste time shaking up their coaching staff after their sudden exit from the AFC playoffs. The franchise announced Thursday that offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner, offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett and defensive backs coach Tom Bradley won’t have their contracts renewed for the 2021 season. The announcement...
First Call: JuJu Smith-Schuster refutes claims about exit plans, radio host walks back Kevin Colbert story
Plenty of Steelers talk in Thursday’s “First Call.” Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is denying that he’s already planning to find a bigger market in free agency. The Detroit radio host who advanced the “Kevin Colbert to the Lions” story admits where he went wrong. And we find out if the...
U mad, bro?: Fans lambaste Steelers after humiliating playoff loss, Penguins after bad opener
This is one of those moments where I get out of the way and let Steelers fans get after it. The team just allowed its season to end in ignominious, humiliating fashion to the Cleveland Browns on wild-card weekend 48-37. People are fed up with head coach Mike Tomlin, quarterback...
Tim Benz: Based on his own ‘Tomlinisms,’ Mike Tomlin has failed to meet that ‘standard’ lately
We all know about the “Tomlinisms” from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. His colorfully descriptive phrases to spin a sound bite. There’s usually a message underscoring those quotes, too. Truth and lessons underneath. The problem is, if you judge Tomlin by his own slogans, he hasn’t measured up to them...
Mark Madden: Loyalty to Mike Tomlin leaves Steelers going nowhere
Philadelphia fired coach Doug Pederson. He and the Eagles won the Super Bowl three years ago. Mike Tomlin, meanwhile, has a job for life in Pittsburgh. Tomlin has presided over late-season collapses in each of the last three years: The Steelers went from 7-2-1 to 9-6-1 and no playoffs in...
Steelers’ Kevin Colbert to the Lions? Mike Tomlin talked to him and knows nothing of it
Kevin Colbert has made it known that at this point of his life, he prefers to work on a year-to-year basis as general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coach Mike Tomlin said he has no reason to believe this is the year Colbert’s two-decade tenure with the Steelers ends. “I’ve...
Steelers’ Mike Tomlin expects changes heading into 2021 seasonVideo
With another early playoff exit fresh in his mind, Mike Tomlin offered a succinct assessment Wednesday when asked whether he is “all in” for the 2021 season, which would be his 15th as the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach. “You bet.” The question is, who will be along for the ride...
First Call: Steelers-Browns record TV ratings, Aaron Donald news, gamblers buying Penguins chances
The Steelers-Browns wild-card game set some record TV ratings. Penn Hills product Aaron Donald is trying to be ready for Sunday’s playoff game in Green Bay despite a painful injury. Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford is giving a hard sell on an offseason acquisition. And the gambling community is starting...
Tim Benz: ‘Browns is the Browns’? Nope. Sorry, JuJu. Try ‘Steelers is the Steelers.’
Say what you will about Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and his “the Browns is the Browns” quote. You may think that line was destructive bulletin board material before a playoff game. Or you may consider it a fleeting quote that didn’t even rise to the level of tepid trash...
Browns ‘clap back’ at JuJu Smith-Schuster and Chase Claypool. Why wouldn’t they?
The Browns are “clapping back” at Steelers receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Chase Claypool. Can you blame ‘em? Cleveland clubbed the Steelers 48-37 on Sunday night for its first playoff win since 1994. So Smith-Schuster’s pregame “the Browns is the Browns” line looks dumb. And Claypool’s TikTok video Monday saying that...
Former Steelers fullback Tim Lester, known for blocking for Jerome Bettis, dies at age 52
Tim Lester, a fullback known as the “Bus Driver” for his talent as lead blocker for Jerome Bettis with the Steelers from 1995-98, died Tuesday at age 52. According to a report in the Milton Herald, a newspaper in the Georgia town where Lester founded a youth football program after...
Steelers waive RB Trey Edmunds, brother of safety Terrell
The Pittsburgh Steelers waived special-teamer Trey Edmunds on Tuesday, the first of what promise to be many personnel moves as they embark on their offseason after Sunday’s playoff defeat. A running back by trade, Edmunds is the older brother of Steelers safety Terrell Edmunds. Trey Edmunds ended the season on...
The case for – and against – each of the Steelers’ 19 potential free agents coming back
Though the organization could figure out a way to stay largely status quo, there is potential that the coming months could prove to be among the most transformative offseasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers in recent decades. Plenty of major decisions need to be made, not the least of which related...
First Call: Chase Claypool jabs Browns after Steelers’ loss, Sidney Crosby talks long range future
There’s more inopportune trash talk from a Steelers player about the Cleveland Browns. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is thinking long-term about his future. A few former Steelers may be in the mix for the Philadelphia Eagles head coaching job. And former Penn State coach Bill O’Brien is getting a new...
Steelers loss to Browns: Worst postseason start in Pittsburgh sports history? Yes. But it has company.
In my 20 years of covering Pittsburgh sports and 46 years of following them as a fan, I’ve never seen a Pittsburgh team get off to a worse start in a postseason game than the Steelers did in the postseason loss to the Browns Sunday night. They got down 28-0...
Ben Roethlisberger’s contract situation will test Steelers’ ability to work salary cap magic
Like much of the success on the football field, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offseason will depend on the quarterback. Whether Ben Roethlisberger returns for an 18th season will be the biggest issue the Steelers face as they begin plotting a course for 2021. Beyond the franchise’s quarterback’s declining play down the...
Steelers close team facility because of player’s positive covid-19 test
A day after their season ended with a 48-37 upset loss to the Cleveland Browns in an AFC wild-card game, the Pittsburgh Steelers closed UPMC Rooney Sports Complex because of covid-19 concerns. “We have sent home our coaching staff, players and other staff members out of caution after we had...
5 things we learned: Late-season nosedive becoming a trend for Steelers
Five things we learned from Browns 48, Steelers 37: 1. Slip sliding away Once a team known for strong finishes, the Steelers experienced a late-season collapse for the third season in a row. In 2018, it was four losses in a five-game stretch that resulted in the Steelers missing the...
Madden Monday: Mike Tomlin was ‘outcoached by someone who wasn’t even there’
During that agonizing 28-0 first quarter of Sunday night’s Steelers playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns, a forlorn fan sent me this tweet. Starting to feel nostalgic for all those years when we simply failed to make it to the playoffs.— Rob (@WildernessRob) January 11, 2021 Sir, I hate to...
First Call: Deshaun Watson wanted Omar Khan in Houston, Lions trying to lure Kevin Colbert
Sunday night was “last call” for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But that doesn’t mean we stop doing “First Call” at “Breakfast With Benz.” Apparently, Steelers executive Omar Khan was closer to getting that Houston Texans general manager job than we thought. The Detroit Lions are still trying to bring back current...
Tim Benz: ‘Airing of Grievances’ after Steelers suffer humiliating playoff defeat to Cleveland
It was just the latest in a long list of games that the Steelers couldn’t possibly lose, which inevitably they lost. To Washington and the Cincinnati Bengals this year. To the New York Jets last year. To the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos back in 2018. To Ryan Mallett and...
