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 [...]

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 [...]

Last week in the Wild Card Round I was 3-1 straight up and 2-2 against the spread. Here we go with the Divisional Round Picks for this weekend. Week 1 Picks Week 2 Picks Week 3 Picks Week 4 Picks Week 5 Picks Week 6 Picks Week 7 Picks Week 8 Picks Week 9 Picks Week 10 Picks Week 11 Picks Week 12 Picks Week 13 Picks Week 14 Picks Week 15 Picks Week 16 Picks Week 17 Picks Wild Card Round Picks New Orleans Saints 30 San Francisco 49ers 17, 1:00 p.m. Saints -3½ The 49ers rely on other teams beating themselves and this is one thing that Drew Brees will not do. The 49ers offense 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 [...]

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 [...]

The Top 100 Players of 2011 show is now down to the final 10 as players ranked #11 through #20 were revealed Sunday night. With only 10 players to go, Steelers safety Troy Polamalu is now a lock to finish in the top 10. The Steelers only had 3 other players ranked in the previous 90 players revealed as linebacker LaMarr Woodley ranked 82nd, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ranked 41st and linebacker James Harrison ranked 21st on the list that was supposedly voted on by the players. Joining Polamalu in the top 10 will be Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson, Andre Johnson, Darrelle Read more [...]

Another week and another edition of the ESPN.com position power rankings have been released as voted on by the ESPN bloggers and journalist. As you would expect, the top spot goes to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as he received 6 of 8 first place votes and two second place votes. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning finished second with 72 points that included just 2 first place votes, 4 second place votes and 2 third place votes. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger finished fifth, one spot behind Aaron Rodgers from the Packers. The highest vote Roethlisberger received was a fourth place vote Read more [...]

Nine players have filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL following the decertification of the NFLPA on Friday. The players names listed on the lawsuit are Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Vincent Jackson, Ben Leber, Logan Mankins, Peyton Manning, Von Miller, Brian Robinson, Osi Umenyiora and Mike Vrabel. It is also stated on behalf of all others similarly situated and list the NFL as well as all 32 teams as the defendants. You can read the full 52 pages of the anti-trust lawsuit here. Read more [...]

The NFL already has declared Steelers champions of merchandise sales. More Steelers merchandise was sold during the 2010 season than any other NFL team, according to NFLShop.com, which counted sales from April 1, 2010 through Jan. 2. During this time frame the top-selling jersey was that of safety Troy Polamalu, also a candidate for NFL defensive player of the year. Polamalu was the only non-quarterback among the top eight jersey sales as well. Coming in second in merchandise sales were the Dallas Cowboys and reigning Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints were third. Following Polamalu Read more [...]

This game might be more important to the Steelers than it is the Ravens because a loss by the Steelers almost assures them not winning the AFC North division. If the Ravens lose, they are just one game back, where as if the Steelers lose, they are two back on head-to-head tie breakers The Steelers lost in week 4 on a last minute touchdown by wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh and the Steelers offense blew a chance to put the Ravens away late bin the game by committing crucial penalties and failing to convert just one more first down to run out the clock. This will be a measuring stick for the Steelers Read more [...]

This is not a shot at Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs as it is really a shot at the NFL for continuing their bias against Steelers linebacker James Harrison. Suggs has been named the NFL defensive player of the month of November and while his stats are impressive, they fall short in comparison to the month that Harrison had. Both players tied with 4 sacks totaling 34 yards in sack yardage lost. That is where the comparison ends. Harrison recorded 3 more solo tackles and 5 more assist than Suggs last month and had an interception, two forced fumbles and two passes defensed. Suggs only had 1 pass Read more [...]

The NFL is getting even more money out of Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison as he was fined $25,000 today for the personal foul hit on Buffalo Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick this past Sunday. Harrison now sees the total of his fines this year jump up to $125,000 on the season and he has been fined on 4 different occasions. On the 3rd quarter play, Harrison was flagged for leading with the crown of his helmet on a play where he hit Fitzpatrick just after the Bills quarterback released the ball. He says the hit was perfectly fine. "It's not going to change the way I play," Harrison told Read more [...]

The month of November has started much like the November last season. After whipping the Broncos in week 9 last year, the Steelers returned home to lay an egg against the division rival Bengals to fall to 6-3 through 9 games. Things were still looking rosy at the time as the Steelers had the Chiefs, Ravens, Raiders and Browns as their next 4 opponents and surely they would rebound from the Bengal loss and go 3-1 at the very least in those 4 games. As we all know, that never happened. After losing the first two games of that 4 game stretch, head coach Mike Tomlin promised that the team would unless Read more [...]

That left side of the line was very scary mixed in with Maurkice Pouncey missing time. Mike Tomlin was getting tight end Matt Spaeth ready to play tackle. Sounds like Chris Kemoeatu might be sidelined next week. Too early to tell. I can tell you that Jonathan Scott does not get many snaps at left guard. He is not a great left side option at tackle or guard. Better on the right side. If the injuries keep up, they will likely need the Aaron Smith roster spot pretty soon. It is fine to wait for him if you have the space. Need to stay healthy. I bet Ben Roethlisberger wishes he had that one pass Read more [...]