It’s a good Wednesday in Steeler Nation as another Steelers player has been honored for their play on the field this week. Troy Polamalu has been named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Browns. Troy recorded one sack against Cleveland, forced two fumbles, and recovered a fumble as well. Troy was a disruptive force all over the field on Sunday- at the line of scrimmage and in coverage. The Steelers reportedly submitted William Gay’s name for consideration as well, but the NFL ultimately chose Polamalu.
Category Archives: Steelers News
Ben Roethlisberger Named AFC Offensive Player Of The Month
Ben Roethlisberger has been named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for November. This is the first time Ben has received the honor in his career. This comes just a week after being named AFC Offensive Player of the Week. Roethlisberger threw for 1,188 yards, 11 TDs, 3 interceptions, and had a passer rating 100.5.
https://twitter.com/steelers/status/405718673383370753
The last Steelers player to be named AFC Player of the Month was LaMarr Woodley back in October of 2011.
Steelers Offensive And Defensive Play Counts Vs Browns
Here are the player participation counts for the Steelers offense and defense during Sunday’s win over the Cleveland Browns. Some notable differences from the week before on offense: Ramon Foster returned to action at left guard and played every down. Markus Wheaton saw far fewer snaps this week compared to last week. Mike Adams saw an increase in playing time, as did Emmanuel Sanders.
On defense, Al Woods saw an increase in activity this week due to the early injury of Steve McLendon. Loni Fangupo walked the field for the first time this season. Vince Williams saw a large increase in playing time compared to last week, as Troy Polamalu wasn’t occupying the inside this week.
Offensive Play Counts
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Defensive Play Counts
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[Audio] Coach Tomlin’s Week 13 Press Conference
Coach Tomlin addressed the media earlier today a day early due to the short week. Tomlin spoke about the Browns game, gave injury updates, the upcoming Ravens game, and took questions from reporters.
On the injury front:
Curtis Brown is out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury.
Steve McLendon will be out this week with a sprained ankle.
Ramon Foster is ‘no worse for the wear’ after returning from his ankle injury.
Brett Keisel, Shamarko Thomas, and LaMarr Woodley are expected to work this week with an eye towards participation. How they respond in practice will decide if they proceed through the week. Stevenson Sylvester isn’t as far along as they are according to Tomlin.
Here is the audio from Mike Tomlin’s press conference.
Coach Tomlin Post Game Press Conference Transcript
Here is the transcript from Coach Tomlin’s post game press conference after the win over the Cleveland Browns today.
“Good team effort. Necessary. We didn’t take this challenge lightly. These guys are undefeated vs. the North. Really I don’t think an AFC North team has lost a home division game. Nice accomplishment for us but not a lot of time to admire the work. We are working on a short week. We respect that as well. We got out of the game relatively injury free, besides Steve McLendon with an ankle that is being evaluated and Curtis Brownwith a knee that is also being evaluated. I don’t have any definitive information on that. I probably will by tomorrow by the time I talk to you guys. Appropriate effort. Not pretty in terms of winning the line of scrimmage, but did enough to run the football to have balance. We got turnovers on defense and that aided in our efforts.”
Can you talk about the turnovers? At the beginning of the year you weren’t getting any, and today you really did.
“I am not going to make more out of it than what it is. Sometimes it’s just opportunities that are presented due to game circumstances. We didn’t fall behind in this football game, so sometimes the opportunities are born out of that. Early in the year we were behind in football games and not a lot of opportunities when you are down multiple scores. It’s probably more a function of that, it’s not anything we are doing, anything mystical or anything of that nature.”
Can you talk about the production on both sides of the ball?
“I hadn’t measured it in that way. It was enough to get out of here today with a win and that is what I appreciate.
I know you are not about style points, but do you like the way they protected Ben Roethlisbergertoday?
Some of it can be overblown just in terms of the nature of the way the games are unfolding. I appreciate keeping him clean. When you are not behind you can run the ball, you can play pass and so forth. It aids in that effort. Some of it is game circumstance and not necessarily what it is that we are doing, although I appreciate it.”
Can you talk about the way your line held up against their defensive front?
“I thought they did a nice job.”
How big was this win for you?
“It was necessary. Two 4-6 teams fighting, scrapping to stay in this thing. They are not out of it, but today was significant.”
The strip by Troy, is that something you are working on in more in practice, creating turnovers?
“I am not going to say that play was born out of some increased emphasis of something that we emphasize. But it’s something we have been emphasizing. He made a nice play and to say anything other than that would be taking away credit from him and I am not going to do that.”
How many times have you had Ben punt in practice?
“At least once a week for the last five or six years. That is nothing new. You guys have watched us play.”
Are you evaluating the degree of sprain for McLendon’s ankle or is it possible it’s a break?
“All I know is he has an ankle injury, which I knew on the field. I haven’t gotten any results on the evaluation. I don’t have any new news, other than what I had when he initially came off the field.”
Steelers Vs Browns Inactive Lists
Here are the inactives for today’s Steelers game in Cleveland.
The following players are inactive for the Steelers:
QB Landry Jones, WR Derek Moye, TE Rich Gordon, LB Stevenson Sylvester, LB LaMarr Woodley, S Shamarko Thomas, and DE Brett Keisel.
For the Browns:
TE Gray, OL Lewis, OT Wallace, OG Gilkey, OT Fragel, DE A. Bryant, & ILB Robertson.
Ben Roethlisberger Named FedEx Air Player Of The Week
Big Ben received another accolade for his performance during last week’s victory at home over the Detroit Lions. He has been named the week 11 FedEx Air player of the week. The runner’s up were Carson Palmer and Cam Newton.
http://www.nfl.com/voting/players-air-and-ground/2013/REG/11
Ben threw 4 touchdowns and a total of 367 yards. His NFL passer rating was 119.4.
This is the first time since 2011 that Ben has received the award, and the 6th time in his career. If you’re curious, here’s the list of the others.
- Week 9, 2007
- Week 16, 2007
- Week 5, 2008
- Week 15, 2009
- Week 8, 2011
Looking At Jason Campbell’s History Against Dick LeBeau
This Sunday, QB Jason Campbell will face Dick LeBeau’s defense for the third time in his career. So far, the score is Steelers Defense- 2, Campbell- 0. The first meeting was when Campbell was the Redskins quarterback during week 9 of 2008. The game was in Washington, and coincidentally, the only player to score for the Redskins that day was Shaun Suisham. Campbell was sacked twice that night, threw for 206 yards, and two interceptions. The Steelers won 23-6. Campbell played well that season up until that game.
The second time Campbell faced the Steelers defense was week 11 of 2010. Campbell was the Raiders quarterback then, and the game was at Heinz field. His performance that day was so bad that he was benched in the 3rd quarter and Bruce Gradkowski replaced him for the remainder of the game. Campbell was sacked 6 times, threw for 70 yards, and had 2 passes intercepted.
You probably remember that game as it was the one where Richard Seymour punched Ben Roethlisberger in the face.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNkKvXAbkDg
Back to Campbell, he’s coming off a pretty bad performance last week, where he had 3 interceptions against the Bengals. The Browns will hope to establish the run game early and not have to win on Campbell’s arm. This Sunday, the forecast in Cleveland is windy, with gusts up to 25 mph and wind chill in the single digits and teens. It’s certainly a good recipe for a 3rd W in the LeBeau column.
Officiating Crew Announced For Browns Game
The officiating crew for Sunday’s game at Cleveland has been announced. Terry McAulay is the referee.
The other members of McAulay’s officiating team are umpire Scott Dawson, head linesman Greg Bradley, line judge Mark Steinkerchner, field judge Terry Brown, side judge James Coleman and back judge Lee Dyer.
McAulay was the referee responsible for the controversial call that led to “Bottlegate” in Cleveland back in 2001. If you’re not familiar with it, here it is for your viewing pleasure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5e3Bw_yLSY
Ben Roethlisberger Named AFC Offensive Player Of The Week
Ben Roethlisberger has been named the AFC offensive player of the week for his performance against the Detroit Lions last Sunday. Big Ben was 29 for 45 attempts, and threw for 367 yds with 4 touchdowns. His NFL passer rating was 119.4. This is the tenth time Ben has received the title, and the first time since 2011.