The NFL announced that Cody Wallace has been fined twice. The first fine is in the amount of $7,875 for ‘striking a player in the groin area’.
The second fine is for the amount of $10,000 for unnecessary roughness. This was for a late hit that came in the last few minutes of the game.
The Steelers have named Ben Roethlisberger the Steelers Walter Payton Man of the Year for his contributions on and off the field. Each team awards and nominates one player, and a NFL panel awards one of the finalists with the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year honor. The winner receives a $25,000 donation to the charity of his choice.
In 2006, Big Ben founded the Ben Roethlisberger foundation. The charitable foundation has since given over $1,000,000 in grants to various police, fire, and EMS organizations. Ben is also actively involved with Make A Wish and the Boys and Girls Club.
Ryan Clark was Steelers WPMOTY last year, Brett Keisel in 2011, and Troy Polamalu the year before that. The only Steeler to receive the award from the league in the last 20 years is Jerome Bettis.
The Steelers have signed S Ross Ventrone to the practice squad. DB Brandon Jones, who was recently signed, has been released to make room for the signing. Ventrone was with the Steelers during training camp, but was cut during the final 53 roster cuts. He was in with the Arizona Cardinals for a work out just a couple days ago.
In unrelated news, the Steelers had DE Izaan Cross in for a tryout earlier in the week, but signed DE Hall Davis instead.
Brett Keisel (foot), Steve McLendon (ankle), and Troy Polamalu (shoulder) all missed practice again today. Emmanuel Sanders was limited (foot). Kelvin Beachum, David DeCastro, Jerricho Cotchery, Marcus Gilbert, and Ziggy Hood all practiced fully today.
For the Bengals: Burfict, Harrison and Green-Ellis all missed practice due to the flu. Newman also missed practice due to a knee injury. Gilberry (knee) and M.Jones (shoulder) were limited. Iloka (concussion) and Zeitler (foot) participated fully.
During their quarterly meeting today, league owners and GM’s were informed that the 2014 NFL salary cap was tentatively projected to increase to $126.3 Mil, roughly a $3.3 Mil increase from 2013. This is welcome news as the Steelers 2014 salary cap situation is precarious, and any increase to the maximum salary cap is most welcome. It was widely believed that the 2014 NFL salary cap was not going to increase much or at all from the 2013 salary cap number. The final number will be set in February 2014.
The Steelers currently have 42 players under contract for 2014, and are already over the projected salary cap for a total of ~$131 Mil. That’s not including dead money which totals just over $4.5 Mil, most of which is from Willie Colon. However, Levi Brown’s contract was virtually risk free, and cutting him will roughly yield an easy $6.25 Mil savings.
The Steelers will be able to carry over their 2013 salary cap surplus which is approximately $1.4 Mil at the time of this writing. There will be extensions, restructures, cuts, and some tough choices ahead, but I don’t believe the team will be having the mass blood letting that some do. Omar Khan, Samir Suleiman, and company will have to work their magic this year turning dimes into dollars.
The Elias Sports Bureau has released official scoring changes for the Steelers vs. Dolphins game today. One of those changes results in the loss of a sack for OLB Jason Worilds. Even after the stat change, Worilds still leads the Steelers defense in sacks with 7. Cam Heyward and LaMarr Woodley are tied behind him with 5.
Elias changed the play in question to an “aborted play”. Here it is:
Ben Roethlisberger was also credited with 5 receiving yards for the lateral during the last play of the game.
Today’s practice report for the Steelers has a large number of DNP’s. OT Kelvin Beachum was a full participant today, which is great news. David DeCastro and Jerricho Cotchery also participated fully.
Ziggy Hood (ankle), Brett Keisel (foot), Marcus Gilbert (ankle), Steve McLendon (ankle) and Troy Polamalu (shoulder) all did not practice today.
For the Bengals:
RB Green-Ellis, CB Newman did not practice. LB Burfict, DE Gilberry, S Iloka, and WR Jones were all limited.
Coach Tomlin gave his weekly injury updates today, and the news was positive. Kelvin Beachum has an opportunity to get back this week, though he’ll probably be limited during the early portion of the week. Brett Keisel, who is working his way back from a foot injury, also has a chance to get back this week, and will also likely be limited early in the week. He had an extended workout yesterday. The team will watch him closely and monitor his progress throughout the week according to Tomlin.
Tomlin said that the players who worked their way back last week- David DeCastro, Steve McLendon, and LaMarr Woodley- may be limited in practice, but aren’t expected to take steps backward this week. Ziggy Hood suffered an ankle injury in the game but was able to return. He may be limited early in the week. The same can be said for Jerricho Cotchery, who sustained a shoulder contusion during the loss to the Dolphins.
The Steelers have signed DE Hall Davis to the practice squad. RB Ray Graham was released to make room for the signing.
Davis is listed at 6’6″, and 285 lbs. The 27 year old end has been with several teams over the past few seasons. Most recently, he was released from the Cowboys practice squad a couple weeks ago, and saw playing time with the Browns during the last two games of the 2012 season.
Mike Adams started at left tackle in place of the injured Kelvin Beachum on Sunday, and did a good job of keeping Ben’s jersey clean. Adams started off slowly, but progressed as the game unfolded. Maybe it was the snow, as it was falling at it’s heaviest early in the game, or maybe it was nerves getting shaken off.
You could see his progression throughout the game. He displayed more confidence and quickness in his punch, and kept his assignments from laying a hand on Ben. His blocking in the run game was what you’d hope for, too, though he did far less of it. 45 of the plays he saw were in pass protection, where as 24 carried run blocking duties.
It should also be mentioned that schematically, he (and his counterpart on the right) did not have an extra lineman serving as a blocking tight end on the line. Coach Tomlin was asked about his performance in his weekly press conference and acknowledged his play.
‘I thought he represented himself well, and it was a great opportunity to get back to the tackle position, and show his capabilities in that area, but also I think that he’s been a positive contributor to our efforts with the things we’ve asked him to do at the extra tight end spot…it probably helped him get back on the field at the left tackle position.’, said Tomlin.
Adams showed that he remains a contender for the left tackle position, though he does need improvement, and will need to have more opportunities to remain in that conversation.