The NFL saluted its best players and plays from the 2011 season the night before Super Bowl XLVI with the first annual "NFL Honors" show. The star-studded football and entertainment event was held at Murat Theatre in Indianapolis and it made for a great two-hour primetime awards special that aired on NBC. Alec Baldwin hosted the show that featured a performance from Lenny Kravitz. It was a mix of comedy with awards as seven of the yearly Associated Press awards were handed out. The show was predicted to be a flop, but instead it was very entertaining and it should turn into a yearly red carpet Read more [...]

You can scratch the name of Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements off of the list of potential candidates to be the Pittsburgh Steelers new offensive coordinator as it was announced today that Clements has been promoted to offensive coordinator by the Packers according to Kareem Copeland from the Green Bay Press Gazette. The move was expected after Joe Philbin left to become the Miami Dolphins new head coach. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers also made his feelings known that he was hoping that Clements would be promoted as well. Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy said today: “Tom Read more [...]

WPXI Sports Director Alby Oxenreiter reports via Twitter that Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements has not heard from the Pittsburgh Steelers about their offensive coordinator opening. Clements has long been speculated as a possible candidate for the job as he is a Pittsburgh native and was the quarterbacks coach for the Steelers under head coach Bill Cowher. Clements is the odds on favorite to be promoted by the Packers to their open offensive coordinator position after Joe Philbin left to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins and quarterback Aaron Rodgers has thrown his Read more [...]

I am a football junkie and have been since about the age of 4 according to my parents. I am also a Pittsburgh Steelers fan that grew up in the deep south during the 1970's and 1980's as well and was always starved for any and all Steelers football that I could get my eyes on. The game of football captivated me as a child and I can remember reading the Monday morning box scores of all the games and reciting statistics of all my favorite Steelers players at a moments notice. I knew who all of the NFL teams were and all of the great players on each of those teams. Like I said, I was and still am a Read more [...]

ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine combined to put out list of the 20 current players who a 20-member Pro Football Hall of Fame panel and ESPN's very own John Clayton believe could excel in any era of the NFL. The top 20 was finalized today and four current Pittsburgh Steelers players made the top 10. Finishing 10th was linebacker James Harrison, finishing 8th was wide receiver Hines Ward, finishing 3rd was quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and finishing 2nd was safety Troy Polamalu. Harrison finished 4th as far as linebackers went behind Patrick Willis (7th), Brian Urlacher (5th) and Ray Lewis (1st). Read more [...]

The news officially broke this morning that Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians will not be back in 2012 according to a statement by head coach Mike Tomlin. With the offensive coordinator position now open I have put together a list below of the likeliest candidates to be the Steelers next offensive coordinator. Tomlin will be down in Mobile, Alabama next week for the Senior Bowl and there could be a few interviews that take place down there, but that is just speculation. Those interviews could include a few coaches not on my list below as well, as the Senior Bowl always is a Read more [...]

The Divisional Round of the 2011-2012 playoffs are now in the books and the TOX stat did not let us down this week as the winning teams all had a plus 2 TOX number or better. The Baltimore Ravens let the Houston Texans beat themselves with the 4 turnovers and the Ravens defense allowed just 1 explosive play which was a 28 yard run by Arian Foster. Texans quarterback T.J. Yates could not stretch the field and made several ill-advised throws deep. The Texans were still in this game up until the end, but could never make the big play when they needed it. The New York Giants used a good balance Read more [...]

The Pro Football Writers All-NFL Team was announced today and Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey and safety Troy Polamalu both made the team. Pouncey and Polamalu also earned Pro Bowl selections for their play in 2011 as well as first-team All-Pro honors. Below is the PFW/PFWA 2011 All-NFL team OFFENSE QB Aaron Rodgers - Packers RB Maurice Jones-Drew - Jaguars RB LeSean McCoy - Eagles WR Calvin Johnson - Lions WR Wes Welker - Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski - Patriots C Maurkice Pouncey - Steelers OG Jahri Evans - Saints OG Carl Nicks - Saints OT Jason Peters Read more [...]

By Jeremy Hritz Sure, the ankle of Ben Roethlisberger is hurt. Probably even more so than it was last week. Yes, Rashard Mendenhall is done for the year, and possibly until October. Correct. The up-and-coming corner Cortez Allen is out, and Keenan Lewis, though he will play, is dealing with a hamstring. Combine all of this with the return of Doug Legursky and LaMarr Woodley, both who may still have lingering effects from their injuries, and what you have is a recipe for Mile High loss, right? Wrong. The Pittsburgh Steelers of 2011 are a team who have, won in the face of adversity and overcome Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers can clinch a playoff spot today following their 14-3 win Thursday night over the Cleveland Browns with some help from a few other teams today. Below are the 3 scenarios that need to happen that I posted last week. Scenario 1: The Bengals, the Jets and the Titans all must lose. Scenario 2: The Bengals, the Titans, the Raiders and the Broncos all must lose. Scenario 3: The Bengals, the Jets, the Raiders and the Broncos all must lose. Scenario number two is the most likeliest to happen today, but let's look at all the key games today. Houston Texans at Cincinnati Read more [...]

According to the latest post by STATS, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger currently has the league’s second highest passer rating on play action passes (130.7) to go along with 8 touchdown passes and 0 interceptions. Roethlisberger is second only to Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in passer rating, as Rodgers boast a 145.3 passer rating to go along with a stat line of 12 touchdowns and 1 interception. PLAYER COMP ATT COMP % YDS YPA TD INT RATING Aaron Rodgers 57 84 68% 1074 12.8 12 1 145.3 Read more [...]

The Steelers run defense has had its problems this season, especially in the first four games, but you can't help but notice how good the pass defense has been thus far. Entering the Sunday night divisional game against the Baltimore Ravens, the Steelers are ranked first in passing yards allowed per game (171.6) and passing yards allowed per play (5.22). They also broke out a heavy press man coverage this past week against the New England Patriots and held the great Tom Brady to just 198 yards passing, 69 of which came on the Patriots last scoring drive. While they have allowed 10 touchdown passes Read more [...]

I hope you enjoyed the press man coverage that Dick LeBeau used almost exclusively this past Sunday against the New England Patriots because I know I certainly did. LeBeau has been visibly laying that ground work of this switch ever since James Harrison has been sidelined as the Steelers have been forced to play more dime and big nickel with 6 defensive backs over the last 4 weeks and perhaps even longer. The real early sign that LeBeau had this up his sleeve was against the Cardinals two weeks ago when rookie Cortez Allen saw the field for 10 snaps in the dime. Up until that point, Allen only Read more [...]

Thanks to his five touchdown passes and 228 yards passing this past Sunday against the Titans, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been nominated for the FedEx Air & Ground player of the week award. Roethlisberger tied his career best in touchdown passes for a game and only had one ill advised interception on the afternoon. Roethlisberger played Sunday on a bad left foot and favored it throughout the game. He mixed in several key short passes and nice play action fakes on the way to a Steelers 38-17 win. Roethlisberger was 24 of 34 on the day and finished with a 116.2 quarterback rating. Also Read more [...]

It did not take Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to recover as a fan favorite as he is ranked 5th overall in jersey sales according to new data released by NFLShop.com from the period running from April 1-Aug. 30. Troy Polamalu is the top rated Steelers player in jersey sales as he finished 3rd overall behind Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews of the Packers. In total there are six Steelers players in the top 20 as Hines Ward, Mike Wallace, James Harrison and Rashard Mendenhall also made the list. The Steelers edged out the Packers in overall jersey sales with the Cowboys finishing 3rd overall Read more [...]