NFL commissioner Roger Goodell held his yearly State of the NFL press conference today in Indianapolis and announced that the the NFL Network will broadcast 13 Thursday night games starting in 2012. Goodell also said that all 32 NFL teams will be guaranteed at least one prime time game over the course of the 2012 season. The NFL Network broadcasted eight Thursday night games last season and the new package will start in Week 2 and will run through Week 15 of the 2012 regular season. The question now becomes, how does this figure in with the strong push for player safety? Giving players a short Read more [...]

Ed Bouchette has confirmed a rumor circulating last night that the Pittsburgh Steelers have indeed signed former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith to a future contract. Smith won the Heisman Trophy in 2006, his senior year with the Buckeyes, and was subsequently drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. In his first 3 seasons with the Ravens, Smith started just 2 games. He was released by the Ravens before the start of the 2010 season and was quickly signed by the San Francisco 49ers where he started 6 games during his one season there. For his career Smith completed 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 [...]

It is time to have a player by player look at the Pittsburgh Steelers 2012 Free Agents and do a complete breakdown of their 2011 season and look ahead to their pending 2012 free agency situation. I will start with the restricted free agents and then move on to the unrestricted and exclusive free agents. To kick this series off I will start with wide receiver Mike Wallace. Player: Mike Wallace Position: Wide Receiver Experience: 3 Years Free Agent Status: Restricted 2011 Salary Cap Hit: $710,168.00 2011 Season Breakdown: Wallace had a torrid start to the 2011 season up until the Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch was on 93.7 The Fan today and was asked about several different topics that ranged from the loss Sunday to the Denver Broncos, offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, the struggles on offense this past season and the future of both Hines Ward and Dennis Dixon. I transcribed the important questions and answers below and you can listen to the whole interview here. RE: On why Bruce Arians is a good offensive coordinator Batch: When you look at what he has done, he's been able to break down the playbook to exactly what Ben likes. So immediately in 2007 Read more [...]

The questions are rolling in about the Pittsburgh Steelers 2012 free agents so I threw together a quick rundown of the restricted, unrestricted and exclusive rights free agents as the Steelers head into the offseason. The 6 restricted free agents will all certainly be tendered with only Mike Wallace receiving a first round tender. The other 5 will receive the lowest one year tenders. These amounts have not yet been released and I will post those amounts later in the offseason when they are made known. Both exclusive right free agents have no choice but to accept their tender offers and they can't Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Cleveland Browns Sunday at Cleveland Municipal Stadium as they look to close out the regular season at 12-4. Most of the inactives for this week are pretty easy to decipher with two players already ruled out on the Friday injury report and one listed as doubtful. The big question is who is the 7th inactive this week on the list? As I do every week, here is the prediction of the 7 game inactives for Sunday and a few notes on each of the players. The official inactive list of players will be announced 90 minutes before kickoff and I will have them posted on the Read more [...]

With the abysmal record of the Cleveland Browns (4-11), many Steelers fans are giving the Steelers a pass, believing that it will be an easy win. When the Steelers met the Browns earlier in the season (week 14), they managed to hold on to pull off a 14-3 win. Ben Roethlisberger was injured, as was Colt McCoy. This Sunday, there is no guarantee of a win for the Steelers, although odds are in their favor. The road to the playoffs runs through Cleveland Stadium for the Steelers this week, but also through Paul Brown Stadium where the Cincinnati Bengals will be scratching and clawing at the Ravens Read more [...]

Gerry Dulac reports this afternoon via Twitter that the Pittsburgh Steelers want quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to play about 25-30 snaps Sunday against the Cleveland Browns as they close out the regular season on the road in Cleveland. Dulac reports that they don't want to go into playoffs with Roethlisberger missing all of the last 2 games of the regular season. Roethlisberger was active on the Saturday against the St. Louis Rams, but was only available in case of emergency according to head coach Mike Tomlin after the game. If Roethlisberger were to sit out Sunday against the Browns, and Read more [...]

For a guy who didn't start the Christmas Eve game against the St. Louis Rams, Antonio Brown made a statement during the 27-0 Steelers shutout. The Steelers opened the game running an offensive scheme that relied heavily on the ground with running back Rashard Mendenhall, Hines Ward at receiver, a three tight end set. When Brown did enter the game he set a new record for the Steelers franchise by passing former Steelers running back Barry Foster's 2,034 all-purpose yards. The record has stood since 1992, and Brown, who came into the game with 984 receiving yards for the season, was ecstatic Read more [...]

To Ben, or not to Ben, that is the question. It will be a question that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin will be asked several different ways during his Tuesday press conference and when his final decision is made on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, it will be second guessed for several more weeks to come. Ben Roethlisberger of course is still recovering from his high left ankle sprain suffered in the last game against the Browns on December 8th. That injury took place in the second quarter and he was able to return and play the second half as the Steelers came away with the win. Read more [...]

Happy Holidays from The Terrible Podcast! We hope your Christmas was great and 2012 brings you health and happiness. The Steelers brought their fans some happiness with a 27-0 shellacking of the St. Louis Rams at Heinz Field on Christmas Eve. In Episode 61 of Season 2, David Todd and I review the Steelers win on Saturday and a whole lot more. With few injuries other than the shoulder strain to Doug Legursky to report, we open the show with a look at the Week 17 schedule and the flex time changes the NFL instituted to keep the competitive landscape as even as possible this coming week. Both the Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the St. Louis Rams 27-0 Saturday at Heinz Field and improved their record to 11-4 on the season. I have made it back through the game again twice and here are my further observations from the game not included in the regular game recap. The opening stop of Rams running back Steven Jackson by Troy Polamalu, as he blew by the attempted block of wide receiver Danario Alexander, set the tone for the type of day he would have. Polamalu finished the game with 6 total tackles, second most on the team. he was all over the field Saturday. Ike Taylor would have had the Read more [...]

I am sure we will get to see the bias against the Pittsburgh Steelers this week and the double standard that the NFL has as it relates to helmet-to-helmet hits on defenseless receivers. In case you missed it, St. Louis Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis hit Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward helmet-to-helmet while he was in a defenseless position after catching a short pass from quarterback Charlie Batch across the middle with 4:49 left in the game. Ward was going down and had just turned his head around before Laurinaitis clearly led with his helmet and the hit clearly snapped the neck Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers notched their second shutout of the season on Saturday at Heinz Field with their 27-0 win over the St. Louis Rams. The win moves the Steelers to 11-4 on the season and they remain in second place in the AFC North after the Baltimore Ravens held off a late charge by the Cleveland Browns today. Veteran quarterback Charlie Batch, who started in place of the ailing Ben Roethlisberger, was 15 of 22 passing on the day for 208 yards in the game. He had just one interception on the day on a ball intended for wide receiver Antonio Brown. Both Batch and Brown had slips on that Read more [...]