The inactive list is out for today’s home opener against the Cleveland Browns. The following players will not get a helmet:
QB Landry Jones
WR Martavis Bryant
WR Lance Moore
CB Brice McCain
OL Wesley Johnson
OL Chris Hubbard
DL Daniel McCullers
Cody Wallace was questionable for today’s game, but he is on the field for warm ups, and doesn’t have a splint on injured finger.
On the eve of the home opener, the Steelers have signed Cortez Allen to a contract extension. The 25 year old cornerback is now under contract through 2018. According to Jason LaCanfora, the deal is worth $26 Mil.
https://twitter.com/JasonLaCanfora/status/508407797806297088
It’s no secret that the Steelers don’t negotiate new contracts during the season, and while they’ve maintained that, they certainly pushed it to the wire tonight. I’ll have a breakdown of his new deal and the cap implications posted soon. His cap number this year (the last year of his rookie deal) was just over $1.5 Mil before the extension.
The Steelers have released their end of week injury report and, with the exception of Lance Moore, things look pretty good. Here’s the injury report:
OUT: CB Brice McCain (groin), WR Lance Moore (groin)
DOUBTFUL: WR Martavis Bryant (shoulder)
QUESTIONABLE: OL Cody Wallace (finger)
PROBABLE: Matt Spaeth (hammstring), Sean Spence (knee), Greg Warren (knee)
With Lance Moore out, expect to see Justin Brown get some snaps in the slot.
The Steelers have concluded practices for today and here’s the injury report.
Did Not Practice: WR Martavis Bryant (shoulder), CB Brice McCain (groin), WR Lance Moore (groin), OL Cody Wallace (finger)
Full: TE Matt Spaeth (hamstring), LB Sean Spence (knee), LS Greg Warren (knee)
The biggest concern on the DNP list is Lance Moore. With Moore out, expect to see Justin Brown getting time in the slot. Brown played slot at Penn State before he transferred to Oklahoma State, where he was moved outside.
Below are the official NFL injury reports for both the Steelers and the Browns. Martavis Bryant is still sidelined with his shoulder injury, and Lance Moore is still nursing a groin injury from the end of preseason. Brice McCain is working his way back from a groin injury, and Spence, Spaeth, and Warren all were full participants.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Practice Report
DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN PRACTICE
WR Martavis Bryant (shoulder), WR Lance Moore (groin)
LIMITED PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE
CB Brice McCain (groin)
FULL PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE
TE Matt Spaeth (hamstring), LB Sean Spence (knee), LS Greg Warren (knee)
CLEVELAND BROWNS
Practice Report
DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN PRACTICE
DT Desmond Bryant (wrist), G Paul McQuistan (ankle)
LIMITED PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE
DE John Hughes (hamstring)
FULL PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE
CB Pierre Desir (knee), CB Joe Haden (foot), LB Eric Martin (concussion), CB Buster Skrine (thumb), LS Christian Yount (shoulder)
The Steelers host the Cleveland Browns at Heinz field this Sunday at 1:00 pm. Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts are the commentators, so turning the tv down and listening to the Steelers radio broadcast is recommended.
You can see if your local CBS affiliate is broadcasting the game on the map below. As always, if you need any help, you can stop by the forum and ask.
H/T 506Sports
Red: Browns @ Steelers
Blue: Patriots @ Dolphins
Yellow: Titans @ Chiefs
Purple: Bengals @ Ravens
Teal: Jags @ Eagles
Green: Raiders @ Jets
All games are at 1:00 pm est.
Former Steelers running back and longtime ESPN analyst Merril Hoge was on the WDVE morning show today sharing his thoughts on Johnny Manziel. Let’s just say Hogey doesn’t think very highly of Johnny Football.
“He has no business being on that field right now,” said Hoge. He added, “the guy has no business playing. If they put him on the field, quite honestly it’s jeopardizing their chances of winning.” Hoge’s interview was a little over 13 minutes, and almost all of it was criticism of the Browns quarterback.
“I haven’t seen as elementary [sic] packages for a guy in preseason in a long time…and he can’t execute them,” said Hoge. “You would be blown away by his, I call it playing dumb, that he doesn’t know…he either doesn’t know, or he can’t trust his arm, because he doesn’t have a big arm.”
He continued, “People talk about his big arm- I don’t know where that came from, because to throw a 20 yard route, it takes everything he’s got to get that ball out.” Basically, Hoge thinks that Manziel is just about the worst QB in the league right now. “He doesn’t understand concepts, he doesn’t understand just [sic] structure of an offense. Anything that you do defensively, especially with a lot of movement- no idea. Absolutely none whatsoever.”
Somewhere during his call, he calls Manziel a “juvenile punk”. Have a listen below.
Coach Tomlin addressed the media this afternoon during his weekly press conference. During the presser, he gave updates on injuries and the outlook was good. The only player to have missed practice yesterday due to injury is WR Martavis Bryant, who is nursing an AC shoulder sprain. Tomlin said they’d ‘leave the light on for him’ to suit up on Sunday, but that seems pretty unlikely.
Tomlin also mentioned several other players who are coming back from injury. LB Sean Spence (knee), LS Greg Warren (knee), TE Matt Spaeth, WR Lance Moore, and CB Brice McCain (groin) are all likely to be available to face the Browns on Sunday.
The team will not have an official injury report until tomorrow afternoon.
The Steelers have released the first depth chart of the 2014 season. While there aren’t a ton of surprises here, there are some noteworthy items. Mike Adams is listed as the #2 LT and RT. Arthur Moats is listed as the backup LOLB and ROLB, with no depth behind him.
Cam Thomas is the starting RDE on the depth chart, with Brett Keisel listed as his backup. Dan McCullers is the backup nose tackle. Personally I think the team would slide Thomas over if McLendon left the game with injury, but that’s just my personal opinion. You can see the depth charts below.
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The Steelers players have selected their 2014 team captains. Ben Roethlisberger has been named the team captain on offense. This makes the 6th time the quarterback has been named captain. On defense, Troy Polamalu has been selected as team captain. Believe it or not, this is the first time Troy has been voted team captain. Last year, Brett Keisel and Ryan Clark shared the title.
For special teams, Shaun Suisham and Robert Golden have been named co-captains. The Steelers started last season without naming a special teams captain.