We had Bengals beat writer Joe Reedy on The Terrible Podcast yesterday and his latest article focuses on the preparation of rookie quarterback Andy Dalton as he gets ready to face Dick LeBeau and the Steelers defense for his first time. The only rookie quarterback to beat LeBeau was the Ravens Troy Smith in the 2007 regular-season finale. Trevor Ebaugh points out on the ESPN stats blog that since 2007 the Steelers have averaged 119.4 yards per game rushing when Hines Ward plays and 101.0 in the 8 games without him during that span. With the Joe Paterno firing being the most talked about news Read more [...]

The NFL TV distribution map for week 4 is up and it looks like most of the country will get the Steelers Texans game this week courtesy of CBS. Ken Laird has the transcript up from his Thursday Q & A with Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. Arians talks about how many big plays he usually has scripted for wide receiver Mike Wallace and also discusses the offensive line injuries, the strip sack play that was returned for a touchdown and the running back rotation. Mark Kaboly reports that cornerback Bryant McFadden has been running some routes at wide receiver to really test out the Read more [...]

Happy birthday to Dick LeBeau who turns 74 years of age today and this day should be a national holiday on which doves should be released and little children sing. Here is his HOF page. The 3-4 defense turns 30 years old this season in Pittsburgh and Ed Bouchette has a great piece on the history of the defense first installed by Chuck Noll and Woody Widenhofer. James Harrison talked to Tim Benz yesterday of 105 The X to talk about the upcoming Ravens game. Harrison says he continues to get his conditioning better and he is doing better than he was after the Falcons game. Listen below. [audio:http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/PITTSBURGH-PA/WXDX-FM/HARRISONint.mp3] The Read more [...]

Bob Labriola and Mike Prisuta have a new episode of Talkin Steelers Football up on Steelers.com and they discuss the new Lawrence Timmons contract among other Steelers tidbits. The Steelers and the mayor are scheduled to hold a press conference on Wednesday to provide details of a new road that will be named for former coach Chuck Noll. Dale Lolley tweeted that the newly re-signed Trai Essex said that he remained unsigned until this week because he had put on too much weight during the offseason. Essex had been recovering from ankle surgery during the offseason, but has lost two babies worth Read more [...]

Yesterday I posted about the Pro Football Focus PBE rating in relation to the Steelers offensive line and this morning, PFF has the 3 year rating up for all three positions on the line. Leading the way at tackle is Willie Colon even though he missed all of 2010. The ESPN power rankings has now moved to the left tackle position and to no surprise a Steelers tackle from last year did not make the list. Joe Thomas edged out Jake Long by 1 point after the bloggers ranking. The latest "Where Are They Now" segment by Teresa Varley is up on Steelers.com and this time she caught up with former Steelers Read more [...]

Ed Bouchette wrote in on Sunday that he does not think that the Steelers will have interest in bringing back running back Willie Parker this season. Parker has been campaigning hard for a return. Pro Football Focus has a great post up that breaks down the cornerbacks last season by cover snaps, times thrown at and receptions allowed. Ike Taylor ranks pretty well as I sort of though he would in this and Bryant McFadden not so good. On Saturday Steelers safety Ryan Mundy talked with John Phillips on 93.7 The Fan about what he is doing during the lockout and talks about his upcoming football Read more [...]

Linebacker Lawrence Timmons will throw out the ceremonial first pitch tonight at Blair County Ballpark for the Altoona Curve. Ed Bouchette has a couple of quick short stories about Chuck Noll and the drafting of Franco Harris as well as how in 2004 Dan Rooney steered Bill Cowher and Kevin Colbert back to Ben Roethlisberger instead of drafting a guard. Roethlisberger said he's optimistic that he and his teammates will be at training camp this summer, despite the current NFL lockout. Wide receiver Antonio Brown is back at Central Michigan University for the week and will be on hand for tonight's Read more [...]

Bob Labriola has his latest installment in a series of stories chronicling the 52 playoff games in Steelers history. The latest article focuses in on the 1973 AFC playoff loss to the Oakland Raiders in the divisional round. The Tribune-Review reports that the Pittsburgh Stadium Authority officials plan to vote today on a key piece of funding needed to build a North Shore street named after Steelers Hall-of-Fame coach Chuck Noll. Steelers receiver Mike Wallace will headline a group of former Ole Miss Rebels who are set to take part in an awards ceremony and panel discussion on the National Read more [...]

Did you miss any Steelers press conferences from Super Bowl Media Day or from Wednesday? We have all the transcripts for you of both. Joe Starkey checks in on legendary Steelers head coach Chuck Noll who isn't doing particularly well these days with a "horrific" back condition. Noll will be watching Super Bowl XLV from his home in Florida. Limas Sweed said he is still about five weeks away from full recovery after tearing his left Achilles' tendon and will be ready to go for next season, his last on contract with the Steelers. He is a long shot to make the 53 man roster right now. If you Read more [...]

Mikey and Big Bob of the Kiss Morning Freak Show had Steelers receiver Hines Ward in studio yesterday morning for a good time. They got Hines to talk about Call of Duty as well as the recent string of fines the Steelers have faced and are facing. Head coach Mike Tomlin stayed clear of any talk Tuesday regarding the NFL's emphasis on player safety and how it has impacted the Steelers. NFL Network reporter Jason La Canfora writes how Tomlin has quietly showed once again why he might be one of the best young coaches in the history of the game. [phpbay]Call of duty, 3, "", ""[/phpbay] In Read more [...]

Gerry Dulac reports that unless Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin today who will back-up Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback, it may very well remain a mystery until game day. My money is on Charlie Batch right now as he has earned it and Byron Leftwich could use the extra time to continue to rehab that knee. THE PPG Plus blog is great and this morning Ed Bouchette offers up a few Chuck Noll lightning stories in honor of the delayed start time last night due to lightning. Back-up nose tackle Chris Hoke returned to practice Monday after injuring his knee against Tampa Bay and missing the last Read more [...]

ESPN North blogger James Walker reported on Monday that linebacker LaMarr Woodley would not be holding out this training camp. I am not sure why this was treated as breaking news around Steeler Nation as Woodley has said along he would report on time. Nearly every interview he has stated that. To me, this is a little media sensationalism trying to stir things up one last time before camp. It's not news, people. Washington Observer writer Dale Lolley suggest that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ease the burden on his teammates on Friday or Saturday and address the media questions surrounding his Read more [...]

A pleasant surprise emerged on Twitter Friday as Steelers All-Everything safety Troy Polamalu tweeted for the first time. In his inaugural Tweet, Polamalu said, "Neither sound or light can escape todays social network I dont know why I thought I could but today I surrender to the tweeting revolution." In 9 short hours of his first Tweet, Polamalu had over 7500 followers and climbing on the social media giant. If you are expecting Tweets from the locker room, late night U-Stream videos or off color quotes about team turmoil, you are not going to find it coming from Polamalu. He is a very humble, Read more [...]

Jason La Canfora speculates that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger could have a sit down type interview with Oprah Winfrey or Larry King to get all of the laundry aired out before training camp. I think the Winfrey or King angle is a bit over the top myself, but perhaps a Jim Gray or Jeremy Schaap taped interview would be more in line. Roethlisberger only took two of the many questions the media had on Thursday. Ed Bouchette says that quarterback Dennis Dixon has not practiced with the first team much of any and it has become obvious that Byron Leftwich will open the season as the starting Read more [...]

Former Steeler running back Jerome Bettis has begun a summer sports camp for asthmatic children. The camp will be on July 7th and 8th at Duquesne University and is free. NFL.com did a segment on which teams get the most bang for their buck. Not surprisingly, the Steelers rank in the top five of the league. Jennifer Allen has a great story on how former head coach, Chuck Noll and the old Steel Curtain had an influence on Tony Dungy. Well worth the read. ESPN.com AFC North blogger James Walker, thinks it is a race between safety Ryan Clark and tight end Heath Miller on which one is locked Read more [...]