First Call: New Steelers kicker option, Christian Hackenberg gets a new throw

In “First Call” for Thursday, an idea to replace Chris Boswell as the Steelers kicker. Emmanuel Sanders snipes at Antonio Brown again. Rocco Mediate admits to battling alcohol.

Kicking answer?

A reliable veteran kicker is about to hit the NFL free agent market.

Matt Bryant says the Falcons are going to release him . Based on how Chris Boswell performed last season and how badly injured his groin may be, the Steelers should strongly consider signing Bryant.

Despite the fact that he has suffered back and leg injuries himself, Bryant leaves Atlanta as the team’s all-time leading scorer.

As ESPN.com compiled , “during his stint with the Falcons, Bryant made 250 of 282 field goals (88.7 percent), including 36 of 46 from 50-plus yards. He also made 372 of 375 extra points during his 10 seasons with the Falcons.”

Throttle down, Manny

Part of the Antonio Brown drama has been his war of words on social media with Emmanuel Sanders.

It all started when Brown’s former Steelers teammate went on the NFL Network desk and was critical of A.B.’s AWOL stint.

Brown retorted .

And there is still something simmering between the former 2010 draft classmates.

Sanders was at a promotional event when a TMZ cameraman caught up with him and asked about Brown. Sanders’ response was simply, “Who’s Antonio Brown?”

OK, Manny. Let’s dial it back. Trash talk AB all you want. But pretending like you don’t know who he is? No one is buying that act.

Just stick to making fun of his absence. Or how he dresses. Or his choice of jewelry. Or his furniture throwing. Or his McKnight Road speed racing.

Or his mustache.

So that was the problem?

Former Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg has found the NFL to be a real struggle. He’s now with the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football league.

His coach David Lee seems to have found a flaw in his delivery. And this PennLive story makes it sound like Hackenberg feels as if this change in mechanics will save his career.

Lee says Hackenberg was tipping the football back too far, hence elongating his delivery.

Now that the mechanical hitch is fixed, Hackenberg says he has never thrown a football better.

A hill to die on

Because of the bad non-pass interference call in the NFC championship game, many New Orleans Saints fans refused to watch the Super Bowl.

This guy took it to a new level .

Henry A. Jaume Sr. was a 65-year-old former police officer. He died a few hours before kickoff of the Super Bowl between the Patriots and Rams.

Here is how his obituary looked.

Saints fan finds innovative way to avoid Super Bowl, dies four and half hours before kickoff (via ⁦@theadvocateno⁩) pic.twitter.com/U4zChKzWjU

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 6, 2019

That’s taking your cause seriously.

Mediate comes clean

Greensburg native Rocco Mediate made a personal revelation.

The former PGA pro admitted that he had alcohol problems while on the tour and would even, at times, play while drunk.

An ESPN.com story , quotes Mediate saying that drinking was a way to self-medicate for his back problems. And it wasn’t rare for him to play while under the influence of alcohol.

“Absolutely I have (played while drinking),” he said during a Golf Channel instructional program. “Because it was just normal for me. It was just a daily ritual, let’s say. You can put it in a lot of places. A lot of places. Was it every time? No. But most of the time when the pain came in, it wasn’t not going to happen.”

During the interview, Mediate says that he stopped drinking in October 2017.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TimBenzPGH. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.