The Pittsburgh Steelers announced Monday that they have placed the transition tag on linebacker Jason Worilds. That gave them the right to match any offer Worilds would have received on the free agent market. It also means Worilds is getting $9.754 million from the Steelers in 2014 if he signs the offer.
On Tuesday, he did sign the offer. That’s a good sign Worilds believes a long-term deal is coming his way, since he can no longer accept offers from other teams.
When the Pittsburgh Steelers take to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon to face the Green Bay Packers, their slim playoff hopes may have already been dashed. Unless the Dolphins lose to the Bills and the Jets beat the Browns earlier in the day, the last two games of the season will officially be meaningless. Which is probably for the best because a high draft pick is more important to the Steelers future than a pointless Wild Card game anyway. Not that a playoff game is likely with the improbable set of dominoes which must fall in precise order to get the Black and Gold into the post-season.
I tried explaining the AFC’s playoff scenario earlier this week. I’ll try to sum it up again briefly. Basically, Miami’s head to head victory means the Steelers cannot overtake them. However, the rules for breaking a tie between 3 or more teams state that first you match division foes up with each other and eliminate teams until each division is only represented by one team. Then you start the process over again with the remaining teams. That’s why the Jets must win out – if they end the season tied with Miami (and us), they do us the favor of eliminating them by virtue of a better division record just like we do the Ravens.
Like I said, improbable to say the least. Meanwhile, our Super Bowl XLV opponents, the Packers, are in a far less complicated playoff battle of their own. They need this game every bit as much as we do. Although they’ll be going into the game without their biggest gun.Read More »Know Thy Enemy: Green Bay Packers
The Pittsburgh Steelers placed linebacker LaMarr Woodley on injured reserve yesterday, thus ending his 2013 season. I know what you’re thinking, “Woodley played this season?” I can barely remember myself.
In my recap of Sunday night’s game, I mentioned Woodley falling farther faster than nearly any player I can remember. He was an absolute beast his first three seasons, amassing 35 sacks playing opposite James Harrison. Since signing a six year $61 million extension in 2011, however, he’s been a shadow of his former self. Surely a lot of it has to do with the decline and eventual departure of Deebo, who was one of the best linebackers of the current era. But a lot also has to do with the whispers of Woodley being a lazy unmotivated fatass whose near constant stream of injuries are directly related to his poor work ethic.Read More »Woodley Out For Season
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens. There really isn’t much to add to that. It has already become one of the NFL’s most heated rivalries. While the departure of guys like Hines Ward and Ray Lewis has taken away some of the on-field animosity, the rivalry will continue to burn as long as these two teams continue to face each other in big games.
And make no mistake, this is a huge game. About a month ago, the joke going around was NBC probably wishes they could flex Ravens-Steelers out of the coveted Thanksgiving night prime time slot. Both were mired at the bottom of the standings and looked like a couple of teams going nowhere. Thanks to modest winning streaks and the mediocrity of the AFC, both Baltimore and Pittsburgh now find themselves in the thick of the Wild Card race.
As if Ravens-Steelers isn’t important enough. As if a showcase on Thanksgiving wasn’t important enough. Now we get to throw in major playoff implications. With seven teams basically tied for the second Wild Card, head-to-head victories and Conference Record are going to be the difference between a trip to the playoffs and an early off-season.
While I fully expect another close game, let’s just hope it doesn’t go to overtime. We all remember what happened last time the Steelers played an OT game on Thanksgiving.Read More »Know Thy Enemy: Baltimore Ravens
The Pittsburgh Steelers have managed to claw their way back into the AFC playoff discussion. As I mentioned in yesterday’s game recap, a large part of their resurgence is due to recent line-up changes. A few of those changes were coach Mike Tomlin demoting guys due to poor performance but most of them came about because of injuries. In nearly every instance where a starter has gone down, his replacement has come in and been an improvement.
Baseball has what is called a Lou Gehrig situation. Basically, Gehrig was a bench warmer until one fateful day when the starter was ill and couldn’t play. Gehrig took his place and performed so well he’d play every game thereafter for the next fourteen years. It’s a tremendous achievement but also a cautionary tale about how quickly and unexpectedly a player can find themselves replaced.Read More »Woodley Set To Return…But Should He?
I have no idea how this NFL season is going to end. What I do know is it’ll probably be in the least likely way possible.
In a year full of twists and turns, the latest came Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cleveland Browns 27-11 to officially move into contention for the AFC Playoffs. The graphic above showing the Black and Gold as the second AFC Wild Card team was valid for about three hours yesterday afternoon. That is, until Tennessee beat Oakland to move ahead of us by virtue of a head-to-head victory earlier in the season. Still, the fact the same team that started out 0-4 and got epically blown out by the Patriots a month back is even in the playoff race is utterly insane.
Hours after head coach Mike Tomlin‘s press conference, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced they cut their erstwhile punter in favor of somebody named Mat McBriar. I wish I could write a long detailed summary of McBriar but I’ve honestly never heard of him. He spells his name with only one T, though, which saves me a keystroke so he’s already on my good side. All I gleaned from the short article on the P-G is he’s Australian, which probably means he played rugby and isn’t afraid to make a tackle.Read More »Steelers Mess With The Zoltan
Since head coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t think it’s “time to press the panic button,” I don’t expect to see significant changes to the line-up when the Pittsburgh Steelers meet the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night. To paraphrase Trib columnist Dejan Kovacevic, he seems content to keep banging his head against the wall. Too bad when Tomlin was busy looking up big fancy words to use incorrectly during his press conference, he didn’t bother taking a look at the definition of insanity.
in·san·i·ty [inˈsanitē/] – doing the same thing over and over but hoping for a different result
Maybe the Steeler don’t need to push the panic button. But they for damn sure need to make some changes. Every week, fantasy football gurus do some version of a Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em column where they list various players and describe why or why not you should start them on your team. In that spirit, I’ll list a handful of Steelers and explain why they should or shouldn’t see more playing time going forward.Read More »Start ‘Em Or Sit ‘Em, Steelers Edition
I’ve been hard on the Pittsburgh Steelers the past few days. So today I’ll try my best to be positive. Luckily, there are finally signs of intelligent life emanating from their moronic coaching staff. Oops, does that count as negativity? Anyway, rookie linebacker Jarvis Jones is slated to start at outside linebacker Monday Night against the Bengals.
In my game recap – and I don’t blame anybody for never wanting to relive that rancid dumpster fire – I credited the defense for keeping the team in the game. I also pointed out while they did a good job of limiting damage, they once still aren’t changing the game like the great Steelers defenses of the past. One sack and zero turnovers simply won’t get it done.Read More »Jarvis Jones To Start On Monday Night
With a T-minus five days left until the Pittsburgh Steelers kick off the 2013 season against the Tennessee Titans, the team has finally declared a winner in a couple of the preseason’s key position battles. Jason Worilds inherits James Harrison‘s old spot at outside linebacker. Meanwhile, Isaac Redman will be the Black and Gold’s featured back, at least until rookie Le’Veon Bell can work himself back from injury.
