The Pittsburgh Steelers have promoted running back Chad Spann to the 53 man roster on Tuesday from the practice squad and signed running back Albert Young to the vacant spot on the practice squad. There is no word as of yet to what the corresponding roster move from the 53 man roster was to make room for Spann. Spann was originally signed to the Steelers practice squad on the 12th of December after he spent time with the Colts and the Buccaneers. He was undrafted in 2011 and played his college ball at Northern Illinios. He measures in at almost 5 foot 8 and weighs 201 pounds and played all four Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers as expected today placed running back Rashard Mendenhall on the season ending injured reserve list today and signed back defensive back Anthony Madison to the 53 man roster to fill the spot. Mendenhall tore the ACL in his right knee on the last play of the first quarter against the Cleveland Browns this past Sunday. The surgery date for Mendenhall has yet to be determined. Madison is being brought back to help on special teams primarily as the Steelers will likely be without rookie cornerback Cortez Allen, who is recovering from a shoulder injury suffered on Sunday, against Read more [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers week 17 Sunday game versus the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Steelers were in their base defense for 25 of the 58 non-penalty plays Sunday against the Browns. 33 plays in the nickel sub-package with Bryant McFadden replacing Keenan Lewis later in the game after Lewis suffered a hamstring injury. Rookie Cameron Heyward had 6 snaps in this game and they came at the right defensive end spot. Steve McLendon saw 3 snaps at left defensive end and none as a base nose tackle this week. No snaps for Cortez Allen Read more [...]

The 2011 NFL regular season is now over and it is time to look at the week 17 TOX stat results and the final totals for the season for each team. In week 17 the plus 2 TOX number went 6-2 and year to date in head to head games the plus 2 teams went 137-31 and the final regular season winning percentage ends at 82%, 2% higher than the expected 80% number for season. The lone plus 2 losers in week 17 were the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions. Teams with a mere positive TOX stat went 7-7 this week. Teams with a positive turnover differential went 10-3 overall this week and teams with a 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 [...]

Ed Bouchette reports via Twitter that the right knee injury suffered by Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall yesterday against the Cleveland Browns on a first half run is indeed a torn ACL and he will be lost for the rest of the playoffs. Bouchette reports that the good news is that there is no other damage in the knee and that Mendenhall will have surgery to repair the torn ACL over the next couple of weeks, presumably after the swelling goes down. The injury happened on on the last play of the first quarter as Mendenhall attempted to plant his right leg and cut back inside on Read more [...]

Ed Bouchette reports today that the injuries suffered by Pittsburgh Steelers cornerbacks Keenan Lewis and Cortez Allen yesterday against the Cleveland Browns are a hamstring and separated shoulder respectively. Lewis injured his hamstring some time in the second half and was replaced by cornerback Bryant McFadden when the Steelers used their nickel sub-package. Allen hurt his shoulder on a tackle during a punt return. Both Lewis and Allen are key special teams players for the Steelers as gunners and it looks like one or both could be in jeopardy of missing the AFC wild card game on Sunday against Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the playoffs and will play the Denver Broncos Sunday afternoon in Denver in one of the two AFC wild card games with the Cincinnati Bengals taking on the Houston Texans Saturday in Houston in the other first round AFC wild card game. The New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens both received the first round byes and are the 1st and 2nd seeds respectfully. The Steelers are the 5th seed and the Bengals are the 6th. The Texans are the 3rd and the Broncos are 4th. Should the Steelers beat the Broncos on Sunday in Denver, they will travel to Foxboro to take on the Patriots Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns Sunday to close out the regular season at 12-4. As I do every week, here are my deeper post game observations after going through the game tape a few more times. The sack by Lawrence Timmons on the Browns opening saw Timmons come on a delayed blitz and he took on fullback Owen Marecic. Marecic did not hold his block long and Timmons spun away back inside for the sack. Jason Worilds should get a little credit on the play for taking right tackle Artis Hicks up the field to open up the lane. Great tackle on Josh Cribbs by Keenan Lewis on the Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Denver Broncos next Sunday in Denver in one of the two AFC wild card games next weekend and the big question on everyone's mind is whether or not starting free safety Ryan Clark will play in the high altitude of Denver. Clark nearly died after a 2007 game in Denver after the high altitude had an adverse affect on his sickle-cell trait and it triggered a blood reaction. Clark ended up having his spleen and gall bladder removed in separate operations as a result of the reaction. Head coach Mike Tomlin did not allow Clark to play in Denver in the 2009 meeting Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers had another close game to finish out the 2011 regular season, but they held on to beat the Cleveland Browns 13-9 Sunday at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger started despite his left ankle still not being 100% and threw for 221 yards on 40 attempts. He was sacked twice on the afternoon, but did not turn the ball over in the win. Wide receiver Antonio Brown finished out his spectacular sophomore season by hauling in 6 catches for 90 yards. Brown also chipped in 73 yards on 3 kickoff returns in the game and he went over the 1000 yard mark in return Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin met the media for his post game press conference following the 13-9 win over the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland. Tomlin said it was good to get the win in a division town and now they have their marching orders to head to Denver and take on the Denver Broncos in one of the two AFC wild card games. Tomlin said the Steelers suffered several injuries in the game of which several are minor. The knee injury to running back Rashard Mendenhall unfortunately is not minor according to Tomlin. Tomlin said they will get the knee looked at again when they get back Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns 13-9 today in Cleveland and will travel to Denver next week to take on the Denver Broncos in one of the two AFC wild card games. Despite the win, the Steelers did not get the help they needed from the Cincinnati Bengals to capture the AFC North as the Bengals lost to the Baltimore Ravens 24-16. The Ravens win means they have won the AFC North and the #2 seed in the AFC. The New England Patriots are the #1 seed after they beat the Buffalo Bills today. The Broncos won the AFC West despite losing 7-3 to the Kansas City Chiefs today as the Oakland Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said in his post game press conference following the 13-9 win over the Cleveland Browns that the knee injury suffered by running back Rashard Mendenhall in the first half is likely not good. Tomlin said Mendenhall will have the knee further examined, but being as it was a non-contact injury, Tomlin insinuated that it could be serious and thus be a season ending injury as it could be an ACL tear. With Mendenhall sidelined, the load in the running game will now likely shift to Isaac Redman and rookie John Clay next week against the Denver Broncos in the Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers veteran wide receiver Hines Ward notched the 1,000the catch of his career in the 4th quarter of the game against the Cleveland Browns. It was a short shovel pass to Ward that went for negative yardage from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The catch was the 5th of the game for Ward who is in his 14th season with the Steelers. The Steelers were ahead 13-9 at the time of the catch. Ward entered the game today against the Browns with 995 career receptions and 12,059 yards receiving. He passed the 12,000 career receiving yard mark earlier this season. Congratulations to Hines on Read more [...]