The Steelers have extending right tackle Marcus Gilbert. The financial specifics are not immediately available of course, but the new deal is for 6 years. Sources indicate that the 6 year deal is for $30 Mil. I wrote recently that his deal should be in the $5 Mil per year range. We’ll have to wait to see what the guarantees are, which is all that’s truly important. This extension makes Pouncey and Gilbert both under contract through 2019.
Gilbert has had his struggles, but he’s definitely shown improvement since Mike Munchak was brought on board. About the extension Gilbert said via the Steelers website, “It means I am locked in hopefully as a Steeler for the rest of my career. It’s a blessing to work for a great organization, the Rooney family, Kevin Colbert and Coach Tomlin. Just to be around in Pittsburgh, where they show you so much love, I couldn’t be happier and in a better place.”
Gilbert is the only lineman who started every game in 2013.
Coach Tomlin addressed the media this afternoon during his pregame press conference. The Steelers have been fortunate on the injury front so far this summer. Here’s a look at the players Coach Tomlin ruled out for Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
TE Eric Waters (Concussion)
CB Shaquille Richardson (Lateral Knee Injury)
OL Cody Wallace (Finger Fracture)
LB Jordan Zumwalt (Groin)
Tomlin also listed LS Greg Warren (Knee) and OG Bryant Browning (Dislocated Shoulder). Warren isn’t expected to return until mid-September and Browning was waived/injured yesterday. He has until 4:00 pm today to pass waivers.
Coach Tomlin said they’d leave the light on for the following players, some of whom will be an 11th hour decision.
S Will Allen (Hamstring)
RB Tauren Poole (Hamstring)
FB/TE Will Johnson (Hamstring)
CB Devin Smith (Hamstring)
There were some players whom Tomlin did not name, but said they’d hold “some other guys” out as they do during this time of year.
Rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel added a little Johnny Football class to Monday Night Football tonight. While the cameras were fixed on the Browns QB, Manziel flips the bird to the Redskins sideline. Here’s a gif.
It’s unknown exactly what prompted the sideline salute, but many might view it as improvement over his trademark cash gesture. Perhaps he thought he saw Dan Snyder on the sideline. Kidding aside, no flag was thrown, but the league will surely be sending a fine Johnny’s way. The first time fine for profanity (towards fans officials or other teams) or unsportsmanlike conduct is $11,025.
During the post game press conference (the Browns lost), Manziel was asked about the inappropriate gesture. “I get words exchanged with me throughout the entirety of the game, game after game … I need to be smarter than that,” he said. He added, “I should’ve been smarter. It was a Monday Night Football game – the cameras were probably solidly on me.”
Here are the snap counts for the Steelers offense and defense during Saturday night’s victory over the Bills. The tables below can be sorted by name, position, participation, etc.
OL Wesley Johnson saw a big increase in playing time from last week, as coaches got a long look at him at center.
Landry Jones saw a big dip in time under center this week from week 1, but was the number 2 QB after Ben Roethlisberger left the game.
Steelers Snap Counts- Offense
[wpdatatable id=13]
On defense, S Troy Polamalu and LB Ryan Shazier saw their first playing time of preseason, and both hit the ground running with 37 snaps. LB Howard Jones saw a significant increase in playing time, as did CB Brice McCain.
DE Brian Arnfelt and DE Nick Williams both had their playing time reduced this week, while DE Josh Mauro’s went up.
The Steelers have made some roster moves this afternoon. The team has released WR James Shaw who was signed a couple weeks ago. OG Bryant Browning, who dislocated his shoulder in Saturday night’s game, has been waived/injured.
With the available roster spots, the team has signed OT Graham Pocic and CB Dayonne Nunley. Pocic is listed at 6’7, 310 lbs. He was an undrafted free agent out of Illinois who was signed by the St. Louis Rams last year. The Bears signed him in July, but waived him August 10th.
Nunley went undrafted out of Miaimi OH and was signed by the Chargers. He recorded 11 interceptions during his career with the Redhawks. Here are his performance numbers from his Pro Day this spring.
In a dramatic ending to a game that looked certain to end with a check in the L column, the Steelers defeated the Buffalo Bills 19-16. Here’s how the exciting finish played out.
The Steelers got the ball back after a Buffalo field goal tied the score 16-16 with 2 minutes left. Gradkowski’s first throw found Kashif Moore to the right for a gain of 12. With a 1:18 left on the clock on 3rd and 5, Gradkowski couldn’t find an open man and scrambled for 9 yards and the first down.
With 49 seconds left on the Steelers 49, Gradkowski drops back and throws to Martavis Bryant, who’s fingertips send the ball high and into the arms of a Bills defender. After the interception, the Bills had the ball on their 29 yard line with 43 seconds remaining.
The first pass resulted in a nine yard gain. Terence Garvin came up with a big sack on the next play, taking Tuel to the ground for a 3 yard loss. On 3rd down with 31 seconds left, Tuel dropped back only this time to be sacked by Vic So’oto. Tuel fumbled the ball and Howard Jones recovered it and ran it to the Bills 1 yard line.
After a failed run up the middle by Gradkowski, Shaun Suisham kicked the game winning 20 yard field goal with no time remaining.
We sometimes joke around about preseason wins being meaningless, and in some ways they are, but man it feels good to end the preseason drought. The Steelers haven’t won an exhibition game since August 30th, 2012. Let the wins continue.
The team has released their list of “inactives” for the Bills game. The following players are not playing tonight for the Steelers.
S W. Allen, CB D. Smith, CB S. Richardson, FB W. Johnson, LB J. Zumwalt, LS G. Warren, TE M. Spaeth and LB J. Jones.
LB Chris Carter is expected to start in place of injured Jarvis Jones. Ryan Shazier is also expected to play tonight, which is a nice surprise, as he’s been nursing a bruised knee and hasn’t fully practiced since sustaining the injury.
Being inactive tonight really doesn’t bode well for Shaq Richardson and Jordan Zumwalt.
The following players are inactive for the Bills:
K D. Hopkins, CB L. McKelvin, S J. Meeks, LB T. Powell, G C. Williams, TE T. Moeaki, and WR M. Goodwin.
The Steelers host the Buffalo Bills at Heinz Field tonight, with a kickoff scheduled for 7:30 est. Here is a list of the local TV affiliates who will be broadcasting the game live.
In Pittsburgh and surrounding areas:
Commentators: Bob Pompeani, Edmund Nelson
KDKA (CBS/2 – Pittsburgh)
WTAJ (CBS/10 – Altoona)
WLYH (CW/15 – Harrisburg)
WKBN (CBS/27 – Youngstown OH)
WQCW (CW/30 – Charleston WV)
If you aren’t in range of any of those stations, the game is streamed live via NFL’s Preseason Live web or mobile app.
On the radio, WDVE 102.5 FM and WBGG 970 AM broadcast the game live. You cannot listen to the games online however, at least, not without some hoop jumping. The audio from last week’s game was supposed to be streamed live on the Steelers site, but there was no audio. If you have Sirius radio, the Pittsburgh broadcast is on channel 824.
If you need any help viewing or listening to tonight’s game, you can always ask in the forum. We have lots of resourceful and knowledgeable members who can help with finding a way to watch or listen. Go Steelers.
The Steelers host the Bills tonight at Heinz field. Kickoff is at 7:30 and Gene Steratore’s officiating crew will be reffing the game.
[table]
Pos., No., Name, Years Exp.
R, 114, Gene Steratore, 12
U, 102, Bruce Stritesky, 9
HL, 106, Wayne Mackie, 8
LJ, 108, Gary Arthur, 18
FJ, 25, Bob Waggoner, 18
SJ, 116, Mike Weatherford, 13
BJ, 105, Dino Paganelli, 9
[/table]
Steratore is from Peters Township, southwest of Pittsburgh. Steratore got a page in the Steelers book of lore when he made a controversial ruling on a fumble, which led to a Steelers field goal victory against the Dolphins in 2010.
Steratore’s crew threw 21 penalty flags last week, including 2 for defensive holding, and 1 offensive pass interference.
When he was hired back in February, there was some debate about how much of an impact Joey Porter could have on the Pittsburgh Steelers this year. After how much fire he’s brought to training camp, and the special attention he’s given to the outside linebackers, I think that debate has been put to rest.
Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats was on Buffalo sports radio’s The John Murphy Show last night talking about playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. During the interview, Moats was asked what it was like to work with Joey Porter.
“Oh man, Joey Porter…he’s a great guy to be around and the thing is, with me being on the outside he’s there everyday with me, and ultimately, the same intensity you would see him play with, that’s the same intensity he brings to the meeting room, the same intensity he brings to the practice field, and ultimately any time you get a guy with that type of mentality around you, it’s contagious. So not only does he have that mentality, but now all of the guys in the locker room and in the outside linebacker room get that same mentality, and that’s why I think we’re going to have a lot of success this year.”
Moats also said that his excitement to work with Dick LeBeau helped seal his coming to Pittsburgh. “Anytime you think about Coach Dick LeBeau I mean, he’s a legendary guy…and everyone knows the success that he’s had coaching defenses and even as a player.
“So, anytime you’re coming out and you have the opportunity to play for somebody like that and a legendary defense, I mean, you’re kind of jumping at the opportunity,” said Moats. “After meeting with Coach LeBeau and being able to sit down with him, and share some of the ideas he has and things like that, you definitely get excited about it.”
The former Bills 6th round pick went on to share what it’s like to play for Coach LeBeau. “Man it’s a great feeling to play with a guy like him and the thing is this- he’s seen so much as far as, you know, different schemes and different things that happen on the field from a player’s perspective and from a coach’s perspective, so nothing catches him off guard, so he’s always able to talk to you and basically just help you to understand what you need to be looking for, and he’s very attention to detail type guy and that’s what makes him very [inaudible] and have such success at this level.”
Moats also talked about Ryan Shazier, his role in Pittsburgh, among other topics. You can listen to the full interview below.
