Author Archives: Steve Alan

About Steve Alan

Steve, known by most as TTF, is owner of TheSteelersFans and administrator of the best Steelers message board on the net. Big fan of strong coffee and hardcore Steelers fan from womb to tomb.

Steelers Sign OT Pocic, CB Nunley; WR Shaw Cut, OG Browning Waived

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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.

Height: 5084 Weight: 188
40 Yrd Dash: 4.55
20 Yrd Dash: 2.58
10 Yrd Dash: 1.56
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 17
Vertical Jump: 34 1/2
Broad Jump: 09’07”
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.29
3-Cone Drill: 6.69

The Steelers and Bengals were the only two teams in attendance for his pro day.

The Preseason Drought Is Over- Steelers Win 19-16

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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.

Steelers Vs. Bills Inactives; Ryan Shazier To Play

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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.

Steelers Vs Bills TV And Radio Coverage

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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)

In Buffalo or surrounding areas:

Commentators: Ray Bentley, Steve Tasker
WKBW (ABC/7 – Buffalo)
WHAM (ABC/13 – Rochester)
WTVH (CBS/5 – Syracuse)
WBNG (CBS/12 – Binghamton)

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.

Officiating Crew For Steelers Vs. Bills

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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.

[Audio] Arthur Moats: ‘Joey Porter’s Intensity Is Contagious’

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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.

[Video] Brief Melee During Thursday’s Steelers Bills Joint Practice

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While no major brawls broke out during yesterday’s practice, it wasn’t quite as “peaceful and professional” as the joint practice on Wednesday. Following Wednesday’s practice, Coach Tomlin praised the professionalism and etiquette of both teams.

“I thought there was great etiquette,” said Tomlin. “I appreciate the restraint and professionalism by both teams. I think that doesn’t get reported often enough. We like to turn on the TV and see gory, unfortunate incidents like what happened between Dallas and Oakland, and we’re here to prove that teams are capable of coming together and doing it in a productive and professional manner. I compliment both teams for how they did it today.”

Tempers flared more on Thursday, and although there were no Raiders vs Cowboys type battle royals, I doubt Tomlin will be praising either team for their restraint or professionalism.

In the video below taken by a spectator at yesterday’s practice, you can see Steelers center Cody Wallace get into it with Bills defensive tackle Landon Cohen. From there it escalates and both teams get involved. The skirmish peaks when Antonio Brown throws punches at veteran DT Kyle Williams.

Interestingly enough, LaGarrette Blount tries to play the role of peacemaker during the melee. During a later altercation, Blount tries to diffuse the situation by going to the Bills sideline to calm an angry player down, but is called back by Tomlin and Haley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYJ3CZQxd5U

Video Of Sammy Watkins Beating Lew Toler Goes Viral For Some Reason

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The Steelers hosted the Bills for the second and final day of joint practices at Latrobe today. There were roughly 8,000 or so fans in attendance for the conclusion of Steelers training camp, and while the fighting was kept to a minimum, there was plenty of action for the swarm of onlookers.

Receivers were putting on a show tonight with cornerbacks getting burned on a regular basis. You’d think I was referring to Steelers DB’s getting owned based on the title of this article, but actually it was the Steelers receivers who were regularly taking the Bills cornerbacks to school.

https://twitter.com/ScottBrown_ESPN/status/500050239836147712

https://twitter.com/BCTBradford/status/500045774500413440

https://twitter.com/ScottBrown_ESPN/status/500045774907260928

Here’s a great video showing just how good some of the Steelers receivers were in one on one drills with the Bills DB’s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEpBsRvAwI

Regardless of how impressive the Steelers receivers were, what apparently gets clicks is Sammy Watkins beating a slow, short, undrafted rookie cornerback in a one on one drill. To add insult to injury for Toler, his name is getting misspelled at all of the major sites that I’ve seen this posted at. Here’s the clip shot by Mark Kaboly of the Tribune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiF7mSHsmcM

It’s probably going to sound like I’m dumping on Toler, but that’s not my intention. No doubt he’s grinding everyday, working as hard as he can in hopes of getting on a practice squad this year. Having said that…he ran a 4.61 at his pro day. Watkins, the 4th overall pick of the 2014 NFL draft runs something like a 4.31 give or take. Obviously there’s a lot more to this incredible mismatch than 40 times. Toler didn’t play a down in the Steelers first preseason game. He’s at the bottom of the depth chart. Behind Isaiah Green. Behind Devin Smith. There’s no way he’ll make the 53 man roster and it’s safe to say that he’s unlikely to make the Steelers practice squad. As I said in jest earlier regarding the next Watkins video to go viral~

https://twitter.com/TheSteelersFans/status/500093488877551617

Cortez Allen went up against Watkins in the same drill and fared a little better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaaImCJeVA

Sammy Watkins is an impressive receiver for sure, and I’m sure he’ll give many a starting CB fits this season, but going gaga over him beating someone tremendously out of his league is pretty silly. We’ll get to see how Steelers cornerbacks deal with Watkins during game action on Saturday night when the Steelers host the Bills at Heinz Field.

Steelers Sign LS Luke Ingram

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The Steelers have signed long snapper Luke Ingram today. Ingram was with the team briefly in training camp last summer, before being waived in early August. The Jaguars claimed Ingram off waivers, but released him a few weeks later. Ingram is 6’6″, 225 lbs, and went undrafted out of Hawaii last year.

The signing shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Steelers had an open roster spot, and while Greg Warren is out for the next month, LS/TE Bryce Davis is the only active long snapper. Ingram is wearing number 48 and immediately began practicing with the team today.

Several Sitting Out For Last Practice At Latrobe

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The Steelers are holding their second joint practice with the Buffalo Bills tonight at St. Vincent, and the final practice of training camp. Several players are sitting out the joint practice tonight.

Will Allen, Will Johnson, Matt Spaeth, Jarvis Jones, Jordan Zumwalt, Maurkice Pouncey and Ramon Foster are all sidelined this evening. The two Wills are nursing hamstring strains they suffered in practice yesterday. Spaeth has missed the last couple practices for undisclosed reasons. Jarvis Jones and Jordan Zumwalt have been battling with groin injuries, and Ramon Foster has been out with knee swelling. There’s no information available about why Pouncey is sitting out tonight.

Ryan Shazier is nursing a bruised knee according to Coach Tomlin. He is practicing today, but probably only in a limited capacity as has been the case for the past couple days.

Earlier today, Mike Tomlin characterized Jarvis Jones and Ryan Shazier as questionable for Saturday night’s game against the Bills. Vince Williams, who has been sidelined with concussion symptoms, is suited up and will participate in some fashion tonight.