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.

le'veon Bell

Man Acquitted Of Stabbing Mike Adams Files Civil Suit

One of the defendants in the Mike Adams stabbing trial has filed a civil suit against the Steelers offensive tackle. Dquay Means, 26, was found not guilty of various charges including attempted homicide, robbery and other charges. He was convicted of the lesser charge of escape, as he fled from police. WPXI reporter Alan Jennings obtained a copy of the complaint.
https://twitter.com/newsdog11/status/466235910778941440

According to the court documents, the suit claims that Means suffered emotional distress during his eleven months of incarceration due to the attempted homicide trial. Means is seeking monetary damages, the amount of which hasn’t been disclosed.

The incident, which happened almost a year ago, resulted in emergency surgery for Adams to repair a lacerated colon. Means and the other two defendants, Michael Paranay and Jerrell Whitlock, were all found not guilty of the charges related to the altercation with Adams. Assistant District Attorney Christopher Stone called the case “a simple credibility determination.” Defense attorneys argued that Adams was “obliterated drunk, aggressive and out of control,” and that he “had a million reasons to lie.”

Regardless of the character attacks Mike Adams underwent during the trial, the Steelers organization didn’t seem to be too concerned…at least publicly. Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert was asked about the lineman recently in an interview and gave Adams a vote of confidence.  “I’ll say one thing,” Colbert told reporters. “I’m just glad Mike Adams is a Steeler.”

Heinz Field

Steelers Tickets Go On Sale Saturday

Individual 2014 Steelers tickets will go on sale Saturday, May 17 at 10:00 AM. This is a few weeks earlier than ticket sales opened last year.

Steelers fans will be able to buy up to 4 tickets per household for any of the 8 regular season games. Tickets for the two preseason games at Heinz field will go on sale also, and there is no limit for those.

This season, the Steelers will begin their variable ticket pricing policy. The cost for preseason games will go down starting by at least 20% depending on the seating.  Most of those will start at $46 or $50. The regular season games will be divided into two tiers. “Gold” and “Black”. There are two “Black” tier games, and the majority of those tickets will start at $88. Those games are Indianapolis and Baltimore.

The majority of the remaining “Gold” games will be $71 or $74. Those opponents include Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Houston, New Orleans, Kansas City and Cincinnati.

Tickets will be sold on ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000. Tickets are not sold at Ticketmaster sales outlets.

Last year, regular season tickets started at $66 per ticket. Below is the schedule. Good luck and go Steelers.

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Steelers news

Steelers Sign 9 UDFAs, Host Others For Tryouts

The Steelers have agreed to terms with 9 undrafted rookie free agents, and will host many others for workouts during the rookie mini-camp this weekend. There is currently no information available on their contracts or signing bonus money, but many of them will have signing bonuses in the $2K range, with 1 or 2 of them possibly having a signing bonus as high as $5K- $7,5K.

Here is the list of undrafted free agents the team has agreed to terms with.

  • Chris Elkins, C, Youngstown State
  • Eric Waters, TE, Missouri
  • Josh Mauro, DE, Stanford
  • Howard Jones, OLB, Shepard
  • Kaycee Ike, OT, UAB
  • Brendan Kay, QB, Cincinnati
  • Ethan Hemer, DE Wisconsin
  • Will Simmons, OL, East Carolina
  • Roy Philon, DT, Louisville

Here is the list of players the team will reportedly host for workouts. There likely will be some others that the team brings in to rookie mini-camp this weekend, as well.  These names have been acquired from agents, player’s reps, and media sources. They are subject to change and have mostly not been confirmed by the team.

Mike Franklin, DL, Shepard
Devon Carrington, S, Stanford
Jake DeMedal, S, St. Francis
Dillon Baxter, RB, Baker
Corey Brown, WR, Ohio State
Jordan Hall, RB, Ohio State
Steve Greene, OL, UConn

The UDFA names may not seem that important, but if history is any indicator, one of them stands a strong chance of making the final roster. Since Mike Tomlin has been head coach, an undrafted rookie free agent has made the week one roster 6 out of 7 times.

steelers

Saints Sign Mike Golic Jr. To Two Year Deal

The New Orleans Saints have signed offensive lineman Mike Golic Jr. to a two year deal according to reports.
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https://twitter.com/MGolicJR57/status/465322773758218240

Golic was at Notre Dame’s pro day in March to workout for scouts. ESPN radio personality Mike Golic Sr. was at the event to root for his son. The Steelers signed Golic Jr. as an undrafted free agent last spring, but released him during their final roster cuts in August. The rookie lineman saw little action during preseason, and wasn’t picked up by another team during the season.

steelers draft

TE Rob Blanchflower Is The Steelers 7th Round Pick

The Pittsburgh Steelers select Massachusetts tight end Rob Blanchflower with their last pick of the 2014 draft. Blanchflower is 6’4, 256 lbs. The red shirt senior missed much of last year due to a bilateral sports hernia. The injury also kept him from participating in combine drills. Had he not been injured, he very likely could have been taken in the 5th or 6th round.

Blanchflower was one of my favorite tight end options for the Steelers. For a 7th round pick, he has a really strong chance to make a NFL roster. Blanchflower fits the mold of a traditional Steelers tight end to a tee. In college, he usually had a hand in the dirt at the line of scrimmage, and was a tenacious blocker who stayed with his assignment to the whistle.

steelers draft

Steelers Select NT Daniel McCullers With 6th Round Comp Pick

The Pittsburgh Steelers have selected Tennessee NT Daniel McCullers with their 6th round comp pick. McCullers is a mountain of a man at just under 6’7″ and 352 lbs. When asked about McCullers, coach Tomlin said, “He’s an obstruction.” Reporters told him about Casey Hampton’s nickname, and asked what his would be and he replied “Bigger Snack”.

https://twitter.com/gmannVOLS/status/465243419808260097

Aside from being so large, McCullers also has the largest wingspan out of any defensive line prospect in the draft at 87 inches. McCullers started his first two years at Georgia Military Academy due to grades, but transferred to Tennessee where he could anchor their 3-4 defense. He is a true gap clogger as you might expect, but is slow off the snap and plays with a lack of motivation at times.

It will be very interesting to see what coach John Mitchell can do with him.

steelers draft

Steelers Select LB Jordan Zumwalt With 1st 6th Round Pick

With the 192nd pick of the 2014 draft, the Steelers have selected UCLA LB Jordan Zumwalt. Zumwalt is a violent hitter who will play inside linebacker in the Steelers scheme. I imagine his main role will be on special teams, though. Zumwalt is 6’4″, 235 lbs and ran a 4.68 40 yard dash. Coach Kevin Bulter said that he was the highest rated player on the Steelers board when they were on the clock.

Zumwalt has a very aggressive style of play and an intense demeanor at times. He’ll need to earn a roster spot through special teams play, but he could be moved around and potentially be used in a less than traditional way. Zumwalt started all 13 games in 2013, finishing with 93 tackles and 2 sacks.

steelers draft

With 5th Round Comp Pick, Steelers Draft OL Wesley Johnson

With their 5th round compensatory pick, the Steelers have selected a versatile lineman from Vanderbilt, Wesley Johnson. Johnson is 6’5″, 297 lbs. In the past 2 years, he only allowed 2 sacks for the Commodores. It wasn’t until halfway through his senior year that he drew his first holding penalty. He played left tackle for much of his career at Vanderbilt, but also played center and guard. Johnson was a two time team captain, and set a school record for starts with 51.

Johnson doesn’t have the prototypical size for a left tackle in the NFL. He’ll probably have to move inside to have a starting job, though versatility is desirable on the offensive line. Coach Mike Munchak said, “He has the kind of versatility we like and the game is not too big for him.” Johnson’s grandfather is a big Steelers fan, and the lineman said that the first gift he received as a baby was a tiny Steelers football.

steelers draft

Steelers Select CB Shaquille Richardson With The 157th Pick

With the first of their two fifth round picks, the Steelers select Arizona cornerback Shaquille Richardson. Richardson is 6’4″ and weighs 194 lbs. He ran a 4.43 40 yard dash at his pro day, which would have been one of the top few at the combine. He also had a vertical jump of 38.5″, which would have been one of the highest at the combine.

In his 13 games last season, Richardson had 16 pass breakups, 58 tackles, a forced fumble, fumble recovery and one interception. In 2012, he had 15 passes defended. Steelers defensive backs coach Carnell Lake recruited Richardson to UCLA while he was coaching there, so he has a very good idea of what he thinks Richardson is capable of.

Richardson did have an off field issue that may have been a concern for teams. In 2010, he was dismissed from UCLA after a felony arrest involving a stolen purse. The charges were dropped, but Richardson moved on to Arizona. Coach Lake said that Richardson has good size and speed, and is good in coverage. He also reiterated what Coach LeBeau said yesterday: cornerback wasn’t as big a need as it was perceived to be.

steelers draft

Steelers Select WR Martavis Bryant With 4th Round Pick

With the 118th pick of the 2014 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers select former Clemson WR Martavis Bryant. Bryant is just shy of 6’4″ and weighs in at 211 lbs. Bryant played opposite Sammy Watkins in the Tigers offense. In 2013, he totaled 828 yards and 7 touchdowns. He has great top end speed for his size, which allows him to separate himself from defenders. Last year, he had 17 receptions for 20 yards or more.

Bryant wasn’t asked to run a full route tree at Clemson, so he has some developing to do in that regard. While he has drawn criticism for having a high amount of drops, I can tell you it’s overblown. While I did see some tough drops and double catches in the games I watched, he has decent hands and will make the “wow” catches look easy. He’ll need to develop, but he could develop into a legitimate number two receiver.

Wide receivers coach Richard Mann said that Bryant will be a great red zone threat. He also said that he believes Bryant would have been a first round pick had he stayed in school another year. The Steelers reportedly had their eye on him yesterday. The team issued a bio sheet to the media today, and it had him listed as their third round pick.