How quickly things change. Gerry Dulac reports that Pittsburgh Steelers nose tackle Casey Hampton said today that he will have surgery on Friday to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Hampton injured the knee early in the Steelers AFC Wild Card game against the Denver Broncos and all of the early reports suggested that Hampton would not need surgery. Defensive end Brett Keisel told DVE on Wednesday that he thought that Hampton would still not need surgery as well, but that of course was one player talking about another player. According to Dulac, this will be the third time Read more [...]

Another injury note I forgot to pass along today, but according to Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel this morning on DVE, he will not need surgery on his injured groin that forced him out of the AFC Wildcard game early against the Denver Broncos. Keisel told DVE when asked about his injury, "I'm healing up good, I'm healing up good. As of right now I am not going to need surgery, so that's a great thing and you know just back on the rehab wagon and get going." Keisel added, "I'm happy that I can just work myself back into getting in shape and it feels a lot better and I'm healing well." Not Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II sat down with a few members of the Pittsburgh media on Tuesday for a half hour interview to discuss the Steelers past season and look ahead to 2012. You can read the question and answers here on the Post-Gazette blog. When you read through everything there were not too many surprises if you ask me, but I will go over the main talking points below with my own comments and view points added to a few of the things that Rooney said. Even though we do not usually learn too much from these interviews every offseason, it is just good to hear some of the things Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers president and co-owner Art Rooney II talked to the Pittsburgh media today and beat writers Ed Bouchette, Scott Brown and Mike Bires are all relaying the conversation via Twitter for us and I will recap those Tweets below. Rooney II said today that his father Dan Rooney to step down as the Irish Ambassador and rejoin the team in 2012. He also told the reporters that they will add 3,000 seats to Heinz Field after the 2012 season. As far as potential moves go during the offseason, Rooney II called wide receiver Hines Ward an "all-time" Steelers great and hopefully a future Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 68 of The Terrible Podcast is up and with David Todd tied up in New York, Nick Richetta helps co-pilot the show today and I get the thoughts from Nick from the AFC Wild Card Game against the Denver Broncos from an offensive perspective to start things off with after we get through the latest headlines. Nick and I talk about the offensive line, running backs and wide receiver in addition and get to several questions from Twitter followers and emailers as well. Make sure to follow Nick on Twitter at @SteelerCityKid117 and if you want to buy him a cup of coffee, you can send him Read more [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers Wild Card game loss versus the Denver Broncos this past Sunday in Denver. The Steelers were in their base defense for 44 of the 55 non-penalty plays Sunday against the Broncos. Just 11 plays in the nickel sub-package. Nose tackle Casey Hampton left after just 2 plays with his ACL knee injury and left defensive end Brett Keisel left with an injured groin after 11 non-penalty snaps. Steve McLendon, Ziggy Hood and Cameron Heyward all finished out the game on the defensive line. LaMarr Woodley saw 37 snaps and Jason Worilds Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin met the media Monday for his season ending press conference and he talked about the game yesterday against the Denver Broncos, injuries suffered yesterday and various other talking points. Below is the audio of the press conference and I will continue to add recap notes and talking points over the next hour. [audio:http://www.steelersdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/mike-tomlin-2011-2012 season-ending-press-conference.mp3] Tomlin opened up by saying he is still coming to grips with what happened last night in Denver and kind of how it unfolded. Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held his final press conference of the 2011 season on Monday to talk about the loss to the Denver Broncos yesterday and the season as a whole. Tomlin said the team suffered three significant injuries yesterday in the loss as left tackle Max Starks suffered an ACL knee injury of some sorts as did nose tackle Casey Hampton. Both are being reevaluated today to see if they will require surgery. In addition to both Starks and Hampton, defensive end Brett Keisel suffered a significant groin injury that might also require surgery and he is being looked Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers saw their 2011 season come to an abrupt end Sunday in Denver with 29-23 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Wild Card game. Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow hit wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on the first play in overtime for a game-winning 80-yard touchdown pass to give the Broncos the win. Tebow had 316 passing yards and two touchdowns in the game and the Broncos now advance to play the New England Patriots in a divisional playoff game Saturday night in Foxboro. The Broncos finished with 447 total yards against the Steelers No. 1 defense that allowed an average Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped up practice preparations on Friday for their AFC wild card on Sunday against the Denver Broncos and the Friday injury report has some expected bad news as center Maurkice Pouncey (ankle) did not practice for a second straight day due to aggravating his injured left ankle during practice on Wednesday. Pouncey is listed as questionable this week, but Gerry Dulac reported earlier today that he will not play Sunday. With Pouncey expected to be out, guard Doug Legursky (shoulder) will likely get the start at center against the Broncos after practicing fully again Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers continued their on-field practice preparations Thursday for their upcoming AFC wild card game Sunday against the Denver Broncos and the Thursday injury report is now out. Defensive end Brett Keisel (groin), cornerback Cortez Allen (shoulder), linebacker James Harrison (toe), safety Troy Polamalu (calf) and running back Mewelde Moore (knee) all sat out for a second straight day. Moore and Allen will not play Sunday. Center Maurkice Pouncey (ankle) did not practice on Thursday after being limited on Wednesday and there is some concern he will not be able to play against Read more [...]

The Steelers pregame release for the AFC Wild Card game against the Denver Broncos is up on steelers.com in case you have not seen it yet. Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor was on Jim Rome is Burning this afternoon and you can listen to the whole interview online starting at the 8:30 mark. Taylor talks about the Pro Bowl snub and getting ready to play the Broncos. Our good friends at Trib live Radio will be broadcasting live from Monte Cello's in Cranberry (Address is 30325 Perry Highway Cranberry Twp, PA 16066) starting at 2 p.m. on Sunday and will be taking you right up to kickoff. You can Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers were back on practice field Wednesday getting ready to take on the Denver Broncos this coming Sunday in one of the two AFC wild card games. Despite finishing 12-4 on the season the Steelers must travel to Denver who won the AFC West with an 8-8 record as the Steelers earned the 5th seed because they did not win the AFC North. The first injury report of the week is now out and it shows that cornerback Cortez Allen (shoulder), running back Mewelde Moore (knee), linebacker James Harrison (toe) defensive end Brett Keisel (groin), safety Troy Polamalu (calf) did not practice Read more [...]

Below are the Pittsburgh Steelers coverage stats for their week 17 win against the Cleveland Browns on the road in Cleveland. These stats are broken down by play and include down and distance, line of scrimmage, direction, yards gained, yards after catch, personnel the offense used, defensive package, number of pass rushers and whether or not the defense blitzed on the play. Browns quarterback Seneca Wallace was 16 of 41 for starters, with two incompletions being spikes. Those are not accounted for below. He also threw for just 177 yards on the day. William Gay was the most targeted in coverage Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 64 of The Terrible Podcast is up and with David Todd busy tearing up the blackjack tables in Las Vegas, I have Nick Richetta back in the co-host chair this week as we recap the Steelers 13-9 win over the Cleveland Browns to close out the 2011 regular season. Before we get into talking about the game, Nick and I talk about the injuries suffered by Rashard Mendenhall, Keenan Lewis and Cortez Allen yesterday. Mendenhall is out for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee, but we do not think he was the biggest injury of the three. We explain who was and why. We discuss the Read more [...]