The Pittsburgh Steelers have finally found their man. Or, more accurately, Art Rooney II found his man. After all, the Deuce seems to be the… Read More »Todd Haley To Ream Coach Steelers Offense
I don’t know the age of my average reader but you youngsters out there don’t realize how lucky you are. When I first starting watching… Read More »Super Bowl XLVI Thoughts
Despite what you may have heard, there will be a Super Bowl played this Sunday even though the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t be in it. Fans… Read More »Black & Gold Colored Super Bowl Memories
Talk about getting left at the altar… Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers coach Keith Butler had a change of heart over the weekend, deciding not to join… Read More »Butler Snubs Colts, Steelers Snub Caldwell
Anybody else expecting a nice quiet off-season for the Pittsburgh Steelers?
If so, you’ve got to be sorely disappointed. The Steelers coaching carousel continues to go round-and-round with yesterday’s news that linebackers coach Keith Butler is in serious negotiations to join the Indianapolis Colts as their defensive coordinator. Butler has long been tabbed as Dick LeBeau‘s heir apparent to the point the Steelers refused to allow him to interview with Pittsburgh West Arizona about their DC job last summer. However, his contract is up this year and with LeBeau returning next season, it looks like he’s sick of waiting his turn.
In a twist of irony, if Butler does leave for Indianapolis, he’ll join ex-offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who was named the Colts OC on Friday. Wait, I thought BA had “retired?” That bald-faced lie went up in smoke faster than Bret Favre’s last three “retirements.” In fact, team president Art Rooney II (who from this point on, I’ll nickname the Deuce as to separate him from the one true honorable Art Rooney) has now all but admitted it was his call to can Arians.
“I think the questions of how we got here are not really relevant,” the Deuce told the Post-Gazette when pressed on the issue of where the dismissal of Arians came from. If that non-denial denial wasn’t damning enough, he all but outed himself two sentences later when he said, “I think it was time for a change, and we’re looking forward to moving on.” Oh, YOU think it’s time for a change, huh Artie? What does your HEAD COACH think? Or doesn’t his opinion matter?
Read More »Art Rooney Must Answer To Big Ben
By Hennessy
My apologies for dropping off the Total Steelers map the past couple weeks. If you must know, I let my confidence seep in to my gambling and have been in a perpetual “Tebow” since the close of the beat down in Denver. It turns out typing is not so easy when praising thy lord via fist on forehead. Let’s just say Mayor Ravenstahl’s PR photo-op was nothing on my two week long homage to Father Tim.
Now that I have stood back up and iced down my aching knees, I am being a good American and preparing for the biggest game in all of professional football. The final showdown between those two teams who have survived the gauntlet of late season football. The game that everyone eagerly anticipates whether our Black and Gold are there to represent the AFC or not.
It’s time for the PRO BOWL BABY!!!!
Setting my overly exaggerated humor aside, when is this game going to catch up with the times? MLB made their All-Star game important by awarding home-field advantage in the World Series to the winner. The NHL added a roster draft so we can laugh at the last man picked like the fat kid in gym class. Oh, and they both have skill competitions which are usually way more exciting than the ACTUAL GAMES!!!
Read More »Sound-Off: Where Your Skills, NFL?
All season long, I’ve pointed out the Pittsburgh Steelers penchant for lying. The national media even jumped on the story briefly when Mike Tomlin repeatedly… Read More »Bruce Arians Exposes Steelers Dirty Little Lies
The Pittsburgh Steelers made news over the weekend, both stories involving the quarterback position. Most notably, Ben Roethlisberger quietly settled the Nevada civil lawsuit brought against him by Andrea McNulty. The sexy cowgirl alleged Ben lured her up to his Lake Tahoe hotel room by asking her to fix his television (really? that’s his best line?), then proceeded to sexually assault her. The settlement details are sealed so we’ll probably never know exactly how much a night of hot sex with a crazy bitch cost Big Ben. The story mentions McNulty wanted $380,000 to cover “medical expenses” aka psychiatric help in addition to punitive damages so it’s logical to assume Ben probably agreed to pay her medical bills out of the goodness of his heart (his story) or as an admission of guilt (her’s) to make this thing go away. It’d be colossally naive to think Team McNulty took the case this far only to drop it without compensation.
Now that 98 of Ben’s 99 Problems are gone, look for him to ditch his sham wife in the near future.
In other news, the Steelers signed former Ohio State and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Troy Smith. A 2006 Heisman trophy winner with tOSU, Smith spent 2011 playing for the vaunted Omaha Nighthawks in the United Football League. He started one game, throwing two touchdown passes in a crushing defeat at the hands of the world-renowned Sacramento Mountain Lions. Prior to UFL glory, he spent three years with the Ratbirds, who took him in the 5th round of the ’07 draft. After backing-up Kyle Boller in his first year, he fell victim to a rare bacterial disease in year two, opening the door for rookie Joe Flacco to start. After two years in charge of waxing Bert’s unibrow, Smith moved to San Francisco in 2010 where he started five games and led the Niners to three of their six victories.
Read More »Steelers Add A Buckeye, Dismiss A Cowgirl
Let’s take a walk down memory lane. The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers had a hugely disappointing season was the Super Bowl Hangover year of 2009. Shortly into the off-season, rumors began flying fast and furious that offensive coordinator Bruce Arians would be out on his ass. The local media began eulogizing his tenure in their columns while the Steeler blogs who turned #FireArians into an official meme of Steeler Nation were positively orgasmic.
Only thing left was receiving official confirmation from Steeler management. Of course, it never came. The story goes Ben Roethlisberger made a last minute plea to Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney on behalf of his buddy and they acquiesced to the wishes of their superstar quarterback. If not for Big Ben’s timely intervention, Arians and his Flying Circus would’ve been sacrificed at the altar of Black and Gold failure.
Fast forward to the present. We recently completed the 2011 season, which was much more successful than the miserable 2009 campaign, although it ended just as badly. Big Ben surpassed 4,000 yards passing for the second time in his career (and team history), directing an offense which finished 12th overall and 10th through the air. Despite those accomplishments, not to mention being one year removed from a Super Bowl appearance, rumors are again swirling that Arians is on the way out.
Come hell or high water, Mike Tomlin always gets his man.
Read More »Mike Tomlin vs Bruce Arians: Round 2
While four teams still remain in the NFL playoffs, the rest of the league is turning their attention toward next season. In yesterday’s Post-Gazette, team president Art Rooney mentioned that the Pittsburgh Steelers will be facing “tough decisions” this off-season. Translation: We brought back the old slow veterans for one more go ’round the track but since they failed, it’s off to the glue factory for some of them.
Peter King, of all people, pointed out the Steelers future salary cap woes before the season began and it bears examining now that we’re faced with the consequences. Next year’s cap is projected to be in the neighborhood of $125 million, which the current roster currently exceeds by somewhere between $20-25 million. That’s money already committed, to say nothing about money needed to sign draft picks, re-sign Mike Wallace, Issac Redman and other pending free agents, and perhaps *gasp* even spending a buck or two on the FA market to bring a decent lineman in here so our franchise QB doesn’t get broken in two halfway through the season.
Steeler Nation has been somewhat spoiled by management that’s stayed one step ahead of the game when dealing with the salary cap. The team has been clever about restructuring deals and/or adding bonus money or years in order to lower the cap hit. Problem is, adding years to guys already pushing their mid-30s is completely idiotic. And if Indianapolis is seriously considering cutting Peyton Manning, the man who made their sad little franchise relevant, in order to avoid paying him a roster bonus (and the accompanying cap hit), there’s nobody on the Steelers who should be untouchable.
Read More »Say Good-Bye To Veteran Steelers