Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh Steelers’

Josh Brent surprised Cowboys’ brass

Published by EOTM News Editor on December 17th, 2012 - in Breaking News, Entertainment News, NFL, Sports News

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(ESPN) IRVING, Texas – Dallas Cowboys officials were surprised to see nose tackle Josh Brent at Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

TOM PENNINGTON/GETTY

Brent is on the reserved non-football injury list as a result of being charged with intoxication manslaughter two weeks ago.

Several of Brent’s teammates urged him to attend the Steelers game and coach Jason Garrett, who spoke to the player the day before the game, didn’t even know about it until pregame warm ups.

“I actually talked to Josh on Saturday and visited with him over the phone for a little while, just checked in with him to see how he was doing, if he needed anything from us,” Garrett said. “Again, he was working through a lot of different things in his life, and just to let him know we support him. Our players have been over to his house, and they’ve been in contact with him and very close to him. So, you know, I didn’t actually know he was going to be at the game. But again, we’re trying to handle it day by day and work our way through it. We’ll have some more discussions about that going forward.”

Garrett said the Cowboys’ players are following the wishes of Jerry Brown’s mother, Stacey Jackson.

Brown, a Cowboys practice squad player, was killed in a one-car accident involving Brent the day before a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

At the memorial service for her son, Jackson told the players to care for Brent and keep him involved with the team as much as they can. The organization has expressed support for Brent since the accident, while making it known that it does not condone drunken driving.

Garrett said Brent left in the third quarter of the Cowboys-Steelers game because he didn’t want to be a distraction. The Cowboys were criticized during the broadcast of the game for allowing Brent on the sidelines.

“It becomes a real sensitive topic to a lot of people when you’re in a public place like the game,” Garrett said. “There were no bad intentions other than to support Josh as part of our football team. This is a game and you need to be here. That’s what our players wanted to convey to him and they really encouraged him to come to the game. I thought Josh handled it beautifully the way that he came and then when he felt like there were some issues he felt the right thing to do was to leave. But we’re going to support him in every way that we can. We also will be sensitive to this kind of issue.”

Garrett said the Cowboys will evaluate what the future may hold for Brent in terms of attending Sunday’s game against New Orleans and any future games.

Before the game, Brent watched his teammates warm up and in the locker room he spoke to several players offering encouragement. Brent stood behind the players during the national anthem with Brown’s jersey over his shoulder.

“Our team and our players wanted him today on the sideline,” Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones said following Dallas’ 27-24 victory. “Jerry’s mother asked us directly as a group. She said, ‘Support him. Help him. He needs your help. Jerry wants that. I want that.’ His teammates asked him to come and be down there with them, and that’s where we are.”

“I do know that certainly that there’s the other side of the coin, but this is a case that the people that arguably he’s the closest to really wanting him around for him.”

News Source:

ESPN — read more here.

Steelers put clamps on Robert Griffin III as Pittsburgh rolls to 27-12 win

Published by EOTM News Editor on October 28th, 2012 - in Breaking News, Entertainment News, NFL, Sports, Sports News

Published October 28, 2012 — Associated Press

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Steelers watched opponents panic when preparing for Robert Griffin III and vowed not to suffer the same identity crisis.

(AP Photo/Don Wright) Running back Jonathan Dwyer gives Pittsburgh's offense a dangerous new dimension.

“We didn’t want to get too creative,” defensive end Brett Keisel said. “We just wanted to play the way we know how.”

Besides, why mess with a good thing?

Wearing throwback jerseys that made them resemble hulking bumblebees, the Steelers swarmed Washington’s precocious star in a 27-12 victory on Sunday.

Griffin completed just 16 of 34 passes for 177 yards and a score while managing 8 yards rushing, finding little room to showcase his brilliance against a unit used to having its way when a youngster is calling plays in the other huddle.

The Steelers (4-3) improved to 14-1 against rookie quarterbacks since 2004, doing to Griffin what they’ve done to the likes of Eli Manning and Joe Flacco.

“It is very frustrating,” Griffin said. “You want to go out, be successful, execute plays and have everything work for you and then when you have a day like today when you have almost nothing work for you.”

Griffin got little help from his receivers. The Redskins (3-5) dropped 10 passes and the Steelers kept the NFL’s top rushing team under wraps despite playing without injured safety Troy Polamalu.

Washington ran for a season-low 86 yards while Griffin’s longest run came on a seven-yard sprint in the first quarter.

“He wasn’t running all over the place,” Pittsburgh linebacker Larry Foote said. “The front seven got challenged by (Steelers coach) Mike (Tomlin) all week and they delivered.”

Ben Roethlisberger had no such issues against Washington’s depleted defense, throwing for 222 yards and three touchdowns as the Steelers won consecutive games for the first time this season.

“It’s fun having so many weapons and being able to throw to anybody,” said Roethlisberger, who spread 24 completions to nine different receivers.

Jonathan Dwyer added 107 yards rushing in his second NFL start while Heath Miller caught four passes for 46 yards and his sixth touchdown of the season. Pittsburgh scored on its first four possessions to take control early and had little trouble moving above .500.

Suddenly, the team that looked sluggish during early losses to Oakland and Tennessee appears to be its normal, dangerous self in a wide-open AFC.

“This is our story and we’re writing it,” Foote said.

Something Griffin is trying to do in the nation’s capital. The second overall pick in last April’s draft has taken the league by storm, his dazzling playmaking turning the moribund Redskins into one of the league’s more compelling teams.

It all came to a crashing halt on a wet, raw day at Heinz Field.

Washington did its best to create space for Griffin, at one point sending him out as a wide receiver. He sprinted down the sideline but was flagged for pass interference while trying to grab Josh Morgan’s wobbly pass, another mistake by the Redskins on an afternoon full of them

“I guess it was just a bad day for us,” Washington wide receiver Leonard Hankerson said. “We didn’t make those plays.”

Even a pregame surprise from veteran linebacker London Fletcher didn’t help. Fletcher overcame head and hamstring issues to play in his 232nd consecutive game, the longest active streak in the NFL. His presence, however, did little to buoy Washington’s floundering defense against the balanced Steelers.

Roethlisberger continued to thrive in new offensive coordinator Todd Haley’s system while Dwyer, starting in place of injured Rashard Mendenhall, became the first Steelers running back to top 100 yards in consecutive games in four years.

Nicknamed “the minivan” by former Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, Dwyer ripped off a series of runs through gaping holes that kept the Redskins off-balance.

“I was just going off of how (the offensive line) was playing,” Dwyer said. “They were playing physical so I brought my physicality to the game as well.”

Pittsburgh wasted little time putting the pressure on, racing to a 20-6 halftime lead. Each drive seemed to follow the same pattern. Dwyer would soften up the middle of the Washington defense by bulling up the gut and Roethlisberger would spread the ball to anyone willing to catch it.

He hit little-used Leonard Pope for his first touchdown of the game and found Miller for a 7-yard score. When Roethlisberger flipped the ball to Will Johnson from a yard out midway through the third quarter to make it 27-9, the Steelers were in complete command.

Washington mustered little the rest of the way and eventually lost its composure.

Cornerback DeAngelo Hall was ejected in the fourth quarter after getting in the face of an official, and Griffin ended the day with a simple kneel down on the Redskins’ last possession, eager to get out of the rain and away from the worst performance of his short career.

“We lost the game, that’s all that matter,” Griffin said. “You’re judged by wins and losses. I feel as bad as anyone else in that locker room right now.”

NOTES: Washington TE Chris Cooley, re-signed by the team last week after Fred Davis was lost for the season with a torn Achilles, played sporadically. He did not catch a pass but was targeted once by Griffin … The Steelers improved to 400-253-2 since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the most by any NFL franchise during that span … Pittsburgh S Ryan Clark left in the third quarter with a concussion and did not return.

Source: FOX News

Suisham kicks Steelers past Eagles

Published by EOTM News Editor on October 8th, 2012 - in Breaking News, Entertainment News, NFL, Sports, Sports News

BY WILL GRAVES

Associated Press Sports

PITTSBURGH – Backed up deep in their own territory, their slow start to the season in danger of turning into a legitimate freefall, the Pittsburgh Steelers did what they always seem to do when things get tight.

They relaxed.

Ben Roethlisberger converted a pair of critical third downs during a remarkably patient 64-yard drive over the final 6:33 and Shaun Suisham drilled a 34-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Steelers to a 16-14 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in the rain on Sunday.

“We had the ball last,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said. “Such is life.”

It’s a way of life the Eagles had grown comfortable with during the season’s opening month. Philadelphia (3-2) appeared on the verge of its third one-point win of the season when Michael Vick hit Brent Celek for a 2-yard score midway through the fourth quarter.

The Steelers (2-2) started at their own 20 then promptly went backwards thanks to a holding penalty.

Roethlisberger hit Antonio Brown for 20 yards on third-and-12. A 15-yard screen pass to running back Rashard Mendenhall – making his return from surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee – moved Pittsburgh into Eagles territory.

Two plays later Roethlisberger found Emmanuel Sanders for an eight-yard gain and five straight runs put the Steelers well within Suisham’s range. The kick was good all the way, and the Steelers avoided their first 1-3 start under Tomlin.

“I always have confidence in myself and the guys that we can do it,” said Roethlisberger after engineering his 25th career fourth-quarter comeback. “It’s good to go down. That was everybody on that drive.”

Roethlisberger completed 21 of 37 passes for 207 yards, and Mendenhall finished with 81 rushing yards and a score while adding 20 receiving yards as Pittsburgh’s beleaguered running game showed signs of life.

“Our savior is back,” Roethlisberger joked. “We’ve been teasing him all week. It was great to see him out there and he did a great job.”

Vick completed 20 of 30 passes for 175 yards and two scores but fumbled twice for the Eagles, who couldn’t keep their string of narrow early-season victories going. LeSean McCoy rushed for 53 yards, and caught four passes for 27 yards and a touchdown for Philadelphia.

“This one is going to burn for a minute,” Vick said.

The Eagles trailed the whole way but put together a grinding 17-play, 79-yard drive at the start of the final quarter, converting a pair of risky fourth downs, including one deep inside their own territory. McCoy turned both into first downs, twisting for the necessary yardage on fourth-and-inches at the Philadelphia 30 then bulling for two yards on fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 47.

“I don’t know how I can say this humble … we felt like we could drive on them,” McCoy said.

Scoring, however, proved to be another matter.

“You’re going to need to score more points, going to need to help our defense out a lot more,” Vick said. “And we tried to the best we can. Pittsburgh’s a good football team; their record might not have shown it.”

The Steelers came in smarting following a 34-31 loss in Oakland two weeks ago before heading into a well-timed bye that allowed the defense to get healthy. Pittsburgh hoped the return of linebacker James Harrison and safety Troy Polamalu from injury would spark a defense that looked a step slow in in the second half of losses to the Raiders and Broncos.

The reunion of the two stars didn’t last long.

Polamalu left in the first quarter after re-aggravating a strained right calf and the Steelers lost outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley with a strained hamstring shortly thereafter.

Still, the Steelers prevented the Eagles from making big plays. Philadelphia’s longest gain was all of 24 yards and Pittsburgh forced Vick to fumble three times – including on into the end zone that Steelers linebacker Larry Foote pounced on – and didn’t let him get anything going with his legs.

“Our defense stood up today,” said Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons. “We really needed this win. A good team is always defined by what they do after losses.”

The in-state rivals face each other only once every four years, though things were pretty chippy. There was a considerable amount of pushing and shoving after the whistle and flow of any variety was hard to come by on a day the teams combined for 14 penalties, including nine by the Steelers.

Pittsburgh’s offense found its footing first, with Mendenhall taking a lateral from Roethlisberger and dashing 13 yards for a score midway through the second quarter.

“When I stepped out there I knew I would be comfortable,” said Mendenhall, who hadn’t played since injuring the knee in a victory over Cleveland on New Year’s Day. “I just wanted to go out there and play the best that I could and I was able to do that.”

Pittsburgh made it 10-0 at the half on a 20-yard field goal by Suisham, though the Steelers missed a chance to go up two touchdowns when Jerricho Cotchery tripped going into the end zone.

Philadelphia drew within 10-7 on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Vick to McCoy, setting up a dramatic fourth quarter in which the Steelers turned the tables on the Eagles.

“Things happen,” Vick said. “I wish I could take the fumble back on the goal line but you can’t. Ultimately I think we put ourselves into a position to win this game and we didn’t win.”

NOTES: Tomlin said it’s too early to tell if either Woodley or Polamalu will be available for Thursday night’s game in Tennessee … The Eagles escaped injury-free according to coach Andy Reid. RB Bryce Brown left briefly with a shoulder strain while LB Mychal Kendricks went out for a bit with a sprained ankle … The Steelers are 5-1 after bye weeks under Tomlin … Pittsburgh TE Heath Miller had four receptions for 43 yards to become the eighth player in franchise history to top 4,000 career receiving yards … Vick had a quarterback rating of 104.2, the 12th time he’s topped the 100 mark during his time in Philadelphia … The Eagles host Detroit next Sunday.

Hines Ward cut by Steelers

Published by EOTM News Editor on March 1st, 2012 - in Breaking News, Sports, Sports News

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According to NFL reporter Sam Farmer, the Pittsburgh Steelers will release veteran wide receiver Hines Ward.

Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward is eighth all-time in reception an 18th in receiving yards. (Streeter Lecka / Getty Images)

“We had a conversation today with Hines Ward and informed him that we plan to release him of his contract prior to the start of the 2012 NFL calendar year,” Steelers President Art Rooney II told Steelers.com. “Hines has been an integral part of our success since we drafted him in 1998, and we will forever be grateful for what he has helped us achieve.”

Ward has 1,000 career catches (eighth all time), 12,083 receiving yards (18th) and 85 touchdown receptions (13th). He was named to four Pro Bowls and was a Super Bowl MVP.

Tebow Leads Broncos to Playoff Victory in Overtime

Published by EOTM News Editor on January 8th, 2012 - in Breaking News, Sports, Sports News

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DENVER – ”Pull the trigger,” John Elway told his Denver Broncos star, Tim Tebow, trying to shake the quarterback from a three-game funk.

Tebow went one better — he pulled off an upset.

Photo credit: AP - January 8, 2012: Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (15) hugs coach John Fox after the Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 29-23 in overtime in an NFL wild card playoff football game.

A rejuvenated Tebow connected with Demaryius Thomas on an electrifying 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime and the Broncos defeated the stunned Pittsburgh Steelers 29-23 in the AFC wild-card game on Sunday.

Wild doesn’t begin to describe it. The play took 11 seconds and was the quickest ending to an overtime in NFL history.

Thomas hauled in a high play-action pass at the Denver 38, stiff-armed Ike Taylor and then outraced backup safety Ryan Mundy to the end zone.

“I was just saying, `Man trust your speed. Trust your speed. Don’t cut back. Don’t cut back.’ And he kept it straight. He outran the guy,” said Willis McGahee, whose fourth-quarter fumble helped Pittsburgh tie it.

“I was like, `Oh my God, is he still running?’ Please just go. Please. Please.”

Tebow, who had done next to nothing in the second half after a 20-point explosion in the second quarter, looked as startled as everyone else. He chased down Thomas and knelt on one knee — Tebowing as it’s known — in the end zone while the crowd was going crazy. Then he pounded a fist in triumph and took a victory lap.

“When I saw him scoring, first of all, I just thought, `Thank you, Lord,”‘ Tebow said. “Then, I was running pretty fast, chasing him — like I can catch up to D.T! Then I just jumped into the stands, first time I’ve done that. That was fun. Then, got on a knee and thanked the Lord again and tried to celebrate with my teammates and the fans.”

Behind Tebow’s season-high 316 yards passing, the Broncos (9-8) are heading to New England for a second-round game against the top-seeded Patriots (13-3) on Saturday night.

The Patriots walloped the Broncos 41-23 last month, sending Tebow into a funk that included seven turnovers and a 40 percent completion clip — and prompting Elway to implore him to “pull the trigger” in the playoffs.

Did he ever.

And unlike Elway, who lost his first postseason start — to the Steelers at home in 1984 — Tebow is 1-0 in the playoffs.

“We’re just a fighting team. A lot of resilience,” cornerback Champ Bailey said. “In any adverse situation, we’ll find a way to get out of it. Everybody says we backed into the playoffs, we’re in. We did something right along the way. We’re in it. We won a game. Now, we’ve got to go try to win another one.”

The Steelers (12-5) lost despite Ben Roethlisberger rallying injury-depleted Pittsburgh from a two-touchdown halftime deficit with 10 points in the final 10 minutes.

Pittsburgh called tails for the overtime coin toss, and it came up heads.

Tebow, who engineered five fourth-quarter comebacks and three OT wins in the regular season, wasted no time finding Thomas over the middle with just his second pass on first down all night — and his first completion.

Thomas also had receptions of 51 and 58 yards to set up second-quarter touchdowns after Tebow lost his top target, Eric Decker, to a seriously injured left knee, in the first half.

“They were the No. 1 defense and we are the No. 1 offense running the ball,” Thomas said. “So, I feel like they wanted to make a statement and stop the run. I don’t know if they forgot about the passing game. The last couple of games that we had, we were not passing the ball that great.”

Thus, Elway’s admonition.

“I feel like he came out and played confident,” Eddie Royal said. “And I think that’s what John was trying to tell him: Play the way you know how to play. And Tim did that. He was smart with the ball and really led this offense today.”

Tebow’s passer rating of 125.6 was the highest in Broncos postseason history.

“He showed he’s a quarterback in the NFL, case closed,” McGahee said. “They say he couldn’t throw. They said we wouldn’t be able to run the ball on them. We did that. I wonder what they’re going to say next week.”

Mundy was playing in place of Ryan Clark, the Steelers’ leading tackler who sat this one out because of a blood condition that’s exacerbated at altitude.

“We lost, and it’s not because I didn’t play; we had very capable guys that played well,” said Clark, who was one of several Steelers sidelined or injured. Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey was out, replaced by Doug Legursky, who had a bad snap right before halftime that moved Pittsburgh out of field goal range.

On the first snap of overtime, Thomas pulled in Tebow’s high pass and raced down the Broncos sideline, sending the crowd, including Elway, the Broncos executive vice president, into a frenzy at Sports Authority Field, which was rocking like the old Mile High Stadium back in the 1990s.

McGahee sold the play-action well, drawing safety Troy Polamalu and others up to the line to defend the run and leaving Thomas with room on the crossing pattern to grab the pass and turn on the jets for the 80-yard score, Tebow’s longest pass play as a pro.

“It was a little surprising,” Steelers linebacker James Farrior said. “But I guess he’s been working hard. He’s taken a lot of criticism over the past few weeks about his throwing motion, his passing game. Like I said earlier, he’s a competitor. You keep trying to down a guy, and a guy like him who’s a tough competitor, he’s going to get you one time.”

Hines Ward called this defeat “just as disappointing” as last year’s loss to Green Bay in the Super Bowl.

“I’ve been on a lot of really good teams, thank God, and I felt this team was up there with them,” Polamalu said. “We weren’t able to stay healthy and keep a cohesiveness like we wanted to.”

Tebow completed 10 of 21 passes and Thomas hauled in four of them for 204 yards after Decker was injured on a hit by linebacker James Harrison.

Thomas, who missed training camp while recovering from a torn Achilles and the start of the season while dealing with a fractured finger, has come on strong of late, averaging 109 yards over the last six games.

But the Broncos’ top pick in 2010 — taken three slots ahead of Tebow in the first round — hadn’t had done anything like this.

“It’s amazing because I haven’t played explosive like I did in college in a long time,” Thomas said.

Tebow threw two TD passes and also ran 10 times for 50 yards and a touchdown.

“I think we executed a little bit better. We tried to step up,” he said. “We knew it was win or go home. This team wanted to fight. We wanted to play another game.”

These two teams had played the first ever regular season overtime game on Sept. 22, 1974, in Denver. Now, they played the first non-sudden death playoff game in history. The new rules called for both teams to get the ball in the extra period providing there wasn’t a touchdown by either the offense or defense.

Tebow took care of that in a hurry.

Making his first appearance in the playoffs after going 7-4 as Denver’s starter, Tebow outplayed Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl winner playing on a bad ankle, who fell to 10-4 in the playoffs.

Roethlisberger was 22 for 40 for 289 yards with one TD, one interception and five sacks. Tebow wasn’t taken down once by the league’s top defense.

The Broncos snapped a three-game losing streak that had many wondering if they were even worthy of their first playoff in six seasons, and it kept the Steelers from their 34th playoff win, which would have broken a tie with the Cowboys for the most ever.

Tebow led Denver to 20 second-quarter points — they had scored just 13 in the quarter in his 11 starts — but a 20-6 halftime lead didn’t last long.

Receiver Mike Wallace had a 1-yard TD run, Shaun Suisham kicked a short field goal and Jerricho Cotchery grabbed a 31-yard TD pass with 3:48 left in regulation to tie it.

The Steelers were nearing field goal range in the final minute of regulation but the Broncos sacked Roethlisberger three times on that final drive, forcing a fumble that Roethlisberger recovered.

“We were moving it and we had a shot,” Roethlisberger said. “Someone got, it felt like a finger, on the ball and knocked it out. After that, you’re trying to throw a 70-yard Hail Mary and that’s hard.”

Roethlisberger never got the ball back as Tebow added to his growing list of impossible victories in the blink of an eye and a flick of the wrist.

“He gets a lot of flak when things go wrong,” Clark said, “but he played phenomenal today.”

Notes: This was the Broncos’ second playoff win since Elway retired following his second straight Super Bowl triumph in 1999, and their first since Jan. 14, 2006, when they handed Tom Brady his first playoff loss. The Broncos lost to the Steelers the following week. … This was the first OT playoff game since the Saints beat the Vikings 31-28 in the NFC championship on Jan. 24, 2010.

New Source:

Fox News – http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/01/08/tebow-leads-broncos-to-playoff-victory-in-overtime/#ixzz1iwLZHB00