The Friday injury report is out and the Steelers will be down to 3 available safeties unless a roster move is made in the next day or so.
Out:
S Troy Polamalu (knee)
S Ross Ventrone (hamstring)
S Shamarko Thomas (hamstring)
CB Ike Taylor (forearm)
LB Ryan Shazier (ankle)
Probable:
WR Darrius Heyward-Bey (hamstring)
LB Jason Worilds (abdomen)
Worilds participated fully in yesterday’s practice and is expected to play on Sunday. Heyward-Bey is a new addition to the injury report.
The Steelers hit the road this Sunday to take on the 1-8 New Jersey Jets. Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon are the commentators for the CBS broadcast. Kickoff is at 1:00 PM. You can see if your local CBS affiliate will be airing the game on the map below.
H/T 506sports.com
Green- Steelers at Jets
Yellow- Chiefs at Bills
Red- Dolphins at Lions
Blue- Broncos at Raiders (late)
Purple- Titans at Ravens
The Steelers announce that they have signed safety Jordan Dangerfield to the practice squad today. To make room on the practice squad for the signing, the team has released DE Ethan Hemer.
I reported earlier in the week that the Steelers had Dangerfield in for a workout. With the injuries to Polamalu, Ventrone and Shamarko Thomas, safety depth has become a concern. Dangerfield was with the team in training camp and looked good in the preseason games he participated in. He’s been playing for the FXFL this fall.
Ben Roethlisberger has been named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row. Roethlisberger threw 6 touchdowns and 340 yards during Sunday’s routing of the Baltimore Ravens. Over the past two games, Big Ben has thrown for 862 yards and 12 touchdowns. On his stellar performances from the past two weeks, Roethlisberger said, “For right now, there is no time to look back, we have to always look forward.”
This is the first time the Steelers quarterback has been named AFC OPOTW for back to back weeks. The last Steelers player to receive the AFC player of the week nod twice in a row was Troy Polamalu in 2010, for his performances in weeks 13 and 14.
As most of the world knows, the Steelers officially retired Joe Greene’s jersey Sunday night. The ceremony didn’t disappoint, though, NBC dedicated virtually no camera time to the half time events. A forum user was kind enough to share a view of that from Heinz Field, which you can see here.
As if retiring number 75 wasn’t enough, the team put a cherry on top of the sundae by playing a Mean Joe version of Renegade. You can see it below. Needless to say, the crowd was pumped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igfEOrpV0DI
Coach Tomlin gave some injury updates today as he is obviously known to do on Tuesdays. S Troy Polamalu, LB Ryan Shazier, and S Shamarko Thomas have all already been ruled out for Sunday’s game at the N.Y. Jets.
Polamalu left the field hopping near the end of the first half of the Ravens game Sunday night. According to Tomlin today, it’s a knee sprain that will keep him out this week. “We’ll evaluate him at the top of next week and see where we are,” said Tomlin. This is the first game Troy will miss since week 12 of the 2012 season.
With Shamarko Thomas also being ruled out due to a hamstring injury, the depth at safety is a concern. Tomlin said that Ross Ventrone, who was out due to a hamstring injury last week, is questionable for the Jets game. “We’ll leave the light on for him particularly considering how thin we’re running in the secondary.”
Shazier missed 4 games this season due to a knee injury, and will miss this Sunday’s game after spraining his ankle Sunday night. He played 17 snaps against the Ravens offense before leaving the game in a walking boot.
Tomlin also said that CB Ike Taylor will have a CT scan on his surgically repaired arm today and will continue to practice on a limited basis.
James Harrison’s workout videos seldom fail to impress and entertain. His latest, posted by Marcus Gilbert on Instagram, has him taking his push up routine to a new level. Watch as Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey helps Harrison get the most out of his set. The music in the background is NSFW, so you may want to turn the volume down. Not bad for an “old” guy.
[xyz-ihs snippet=”JHPushups”]
According to a report from NFL Draft Diamonds, the Steelers had safety Jordan Dangerfield in for a workout today. Dangerfield was with the Steelers throughout training camp, but was cut at the end of August, when the team trimmed the roster down to 75.
Dangerfield only played in two of the Steelers preseason games, but had a good showing against the Giants. Since being waived, the former Towson defensive back has been playing in the FXFL- the new developmental league that went live last month.
With the injuries at the safety position, Dangerfield could be a sensible depth pickup, as the coaches know what he’s capable of, and he’s familiar with the system.
Here is a rundown of Coach Tomlin’s post game comments from last night.
It was a big time atmosphere at Heinz Field tonight. We got a lot of energy from our fans. Obviously, it was an opportunity to salute the great Joe Greene. It was just a great environment to work in. I think the guys just rode that emotional wave and did what was necessary for us to secure a victory.
Obviously it was a big game for us but really we just did what we had to do. They beat us by 20 at their place. We evened the score. We won by 20 tonight, and we will move on. This kind of reflects the history of this series, and that’s why it is so great. It is something that is good to be a part of. We have a lot of respect for those guys. It was great to get a win tonight. We will keep it in perspective and move forward.
We had a number of injuries in the game. Ryan Shazier has an ankle injury. Troy Polamalu has a knee sprain. Shamarko Thomas has a hamstring injury. I think it’s a different hamstring from the one he had about a month or so ago. You know how it is. We will assess these and move forward.
There was a lot of effort from a lot of people involved. Obviously we didn’t get started in the manner in which we wanted to offensively but a lot of credit goes to those guys. What I liked about our offense is that we continued fighting and obviously as the game wore on we were able to score touchdowns. They were the number-two redzone defense in football. To get down there and be able to put touchdowns on the board, I thought that was significant and it allowed us to win in the manner in which we did.
Did turnovers in the second quarter turn the tide for the team?
I didn’t feel like the tide needed to be turned. I just thought we just weren’t gaining traction in the early stages of the game. The defense provided the splash that created a wave that we rode. One week it’s going to be the offense and another week hopefully it’s going to be the defense and special teams. It was just a good team effort.
How well is Harrison playing after seeing his retirement a few weeks ago?
Saying a few weeks ago is a stretch. This guy has been here now for almost two months. I like the way you put that spin on it though. He is working hard on a daily basis. He is who he is. He is not a regular guy. He is James Harrison. He is getting up to speed and getting into shape and doing James Harrison-like things, which quite frankly is what we expect.
Did Joe Greene address the team before the game?
He did.
What did he say?
I will leave that between he and us. I am sure he would like it that way.
Is this one of those defining games, especially on offense?
It depends on what we do going forward, whether or not it is a defining game. Hindsight is always 20-20. It’s a defining game if we make it one moving forward.
Thoughts on the fumble recovery by Brice McCain and how it changed the game and how he and Antwon Blake are playing:
They are just young and hungry guys that have kind of earned their keep in this league as special teamers. I think they all have a desire to be great. I am talking about anybody that plays ball at this level. When they get an opportunity they don’t take it for granted. They realize how precious it is. They just want to capitalize on it. Those aren’t my words. Those are their words. Individually, they do realize the opportunity they have to play defense, and they don’t want to waste it. They want to be significant reasons as to why we are successful and I respect that. I think that reflects not only in their play but in their work during the course of the week.
Tomlin on being more balanced on offense:
I’ve said from day zero we desire to be able to run it and throw it and to have a balanced attack. Read my transcripts. Nothing has changed.
On Ben Roethlisberger’s performances the last two games:
He is doing the things that we need him to do, obviously, but I don’t think any of us are surprised by anything that he does. We have been looking at it for some time. We appreciate it nonetheless but we aren’t surprised by it.
On Polamalu going back into the game after initially hurting his knee and what happened with him at halftime:
I don’t know what he got at halftime. I just know that he wasn’t able to continue, and it became pretty evident to us at the half.
What’s the extent of Troy’s injury?
It’s a sprain. That’s all I have at this point.
On the offensive line struggling early and responding:
We just got our traction. We talked all week about our offensive line. Those guys have grown up in this series. They have taken their lumps some. They were once young guys playing in this series. But now the group is three, four or five years in the league. They have played together. They have grown up in this series. Their play needs to reflect it and I think it did as the game wore on. That’s what we talked about during the course of the week.
On getting less penalties as of late:
It’s just part of playing good football. You can’t beat yourself if you want to be a tough team to beat. At the early stages of the season we were an easy team to beat, largely because we were beating ourselves. We respect that. We aren’t going to take that for granted. It’s a daily battle to keep the penalties at a minimum, not only in terms of some of those types of things that you talk about but technical things, penalties in the secondary and so forth. I thought we did a good job of being combative but doing it in the proper manner tonight.
Are you somewhat surprised about Martavis Bryant over the past two weeks?
I am not. Antonio Brown is playing at a pretty high level and gets a lot of attention, and if you are just competent you are going to opportunities when you are on the field and breaking the huddle at wide receiver with him.
Great win, and a confidence boost. On Mean Joe Greene’s day, the Steelers got fired up and were able to have a 3rd consecutive stellar performance. Not just on the scoreboard, but the way this game was played exposed a developing high-octane offense, and a somehow rejuvenated aggressive defense. Playing against what experts say is a quality defense, avoiding a season sweep by the Ravens (which could have given them the tiebreaker), and being able to stop their offense puts this team on the playoff radar again.
The Steelers have been performing better in recent weeks, and that could be accounted to several reasons: Bryant’s presence in the offense, being a threat and creating space for other receivers, Wheaton stepping up after a bad game he had, James Harrison gaining football form and creating pressure, Tuitt getting more playing time, Vince Williams playing instead of Spence, Cortez Allen being downgraded from starting CB, to 3rd CB and to the 4th one.
Get any of those reasons, and couple it with a more aggressive playcalling on both sides of the ball: An offense who is not afraid to throw and spread the ball to its several weapons, or a defense who can create consistent pressure. And that has created the opportunity to create turnovers and get scores after them: Kiesel interception, Gay’s pick-6, McCain’s fumble recovery. All of them, gamechangers.
Offense: Spread the football!
Defense: And here comes the pressure, episode II. Creating pressure, constantly hitting opposing QBs has made them commit turnovers and force bad throws.
Special Teams
Next 2 weeks: @NYJ (1-8), @TEN (2-6). Better not pull the trigger too early, and keep the pedal to the metal on these two games, prior to the Bye Week. Somehow, this team can make it 8-3 to its week 12 Bye, matching their W total from the last 2 seasons… after just 11 games.
Just Wondering:
By the Numbers:
3rd consecutive game where the Steelers score more than 20 points in the 2nd quarter.
12 TD Passes thrown by Roethlisberger the last 2 games, NFL Record.
15 teams have 12 or less TD passes so far this season.
25 Antonio Brown consecutive games with at least 5 receptions-50 yard games, NFL record & counting.
80 Penalties by the Steelers so far this season, leading the NFL.
124 Points scored by the Steelers the past 3 games, half of the Season total of 248.