Super Bowl LVII awaits. The 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is a win away from making a last to first ascension. If he completes this astonishing journey from Mr. Irrelevant to Super Bowl champion in his second year, it will be among the all-time stories in sports. For Steelers fans, there will be a special kind of bitterness and disappointment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The NFL playoffs are causing a big case of quarterback envy across Steelers Nation. The postseason matchups are proving that now more than ever, a franchise quarterback is a mandatory requirement for a deep Super Bowl run. Yet, Plan A for Pittsburgh appears to be handing the starting job back to Kenny Pickett in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In the days after yet another lopsided playoff loss, this one a 17-31 snow job vs. the Bills, any Steelers suspense that Mike Tomlin was going anywhere quickly evaporated. Steelers players had his back, and the Rooney family, which has employed just three head coaches since 1969, would soon have a multi-year contract extension ready. Various NFL insiders were tipped to these developments after Tomlin abruptly walked out of a postgame press conference just as a reporter posed a question about his...
The Steelers have that look. It’s the appearance of a team no one wants to face in the playoffs. Pittsburgh is playing smash mouth in the ground game and hitting the splash play downfield when defenses stack the box. A huge part of the Steelers’ recent success is QB Mason Rudolph running the offense effectively – and utilizing receiver George Pickens as the team’s most dangerous weapon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Kenny Pickett won over the Pittsburgh fanbase long before he ever won the Steelers’ starting job at quarterback. This is why the second-year player out of Pitt has suffered so badly by comparison with third-stringer-come-starter Mason Rudolph. The latter’s ability to execute the offense the way it was meant to operate has been jarring. True-blue Pickett protectors are now confessing their second thoughts over whether he’s really the long-term answer for the Steelers. Learn more about your ad cho...
With four games left in the 2023 regular season, the Steelers currently hold the No. 6 seed in the AFC. But you’ll have to forgive Steelers Nation if it doesn’t take the bait. Witnessing the Steelers making NFL history with back-to-back home losses to 2-10 Arizona and New England seemed to take everything out of this fanbase. Unlike so many Pittsburgh playoff pushes of the past, they don’t have that feeling their team is going anywhere, much less to the Super Bowl. Learn more about your ad choic...
The uninspiring streak Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin is best known for is his 16 years and counting of ‘non-losing seasons.’ Notice, the operative term is ‘non-losing season.’ A streak of winning seasons has a much better ring to it. But this can’t be applied to Tomlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kenny Pickett’s Steelers career hung in the balance not even two years removed from being drafted at pick 20 in 2022. By the time the hated Cleveland Browns and their rookie passer celebrated their 13-10 win on the Acrisure Stadium turf on Nov. 19, Pickett had gone from looking hesitant and unsure to beaten down and nearly broken. There were no fourth-quarter heroics from Pickett this time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
The big breaking news out of Cleveland is Browns QB Deshaun Watson is out, headed for season-ending surgery on a broken bone in his throwing shoulder. Enter Cleveland backup PJ Walker to face TJ Watt and the Pittsburgh pass rush. Good luck! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Don’t look now, but the Steelers’ offense, once given up for dead, just might have something going. The running game, particularly the hole-hitting pop of undrafted Jaylen Warren, is chewing up clock and yards. Much-touted No. 1 draft pick, tackle Broderick Jones, is making a strong case to be installed as the starter, albeit at right tackle, for the second half of the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
In wake of a 20-10 home loss at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars – and the referees -- the listless Steelers limp into the Thursday night game vs. the Tennessee Titans at Acrisure Stadium. They are bruised, battered and embarrassed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A thrilling and nearly flawless fourth quarter by QB Kenny Pickett and the Pittsburgh offense supposedly marked a turning point for these 2023 Steelers. After finally firing on all cylinders, Pickett, coordinator Matt Canada and running backs Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris are ready to turn it on and turn it up for a full game against the Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. So goes the gushing narrative coming out of a Terrible Towel-filled SoFi Stadium in wake of the Steelers’...
Steelers Nation has become Second-Guessing Nation. This, as legions of once-loyal Steelers fans increasingly question the head-scratching coaching decisions coming from Mike Tomlin. This began with his insistence on sticking with clueless offensive coordinator Matt Canada, despite the Steelers’ pop-gun attack. It’s now extending to all manner of roster decisions, most notably Tomlin’s baffling intention to return the Steelers’ top two draft picks – left tackle Broderick Jones and cornerback Joey...
The Steelers are 3-2 and sitting atop the AFC North heading into their bye week. But something doesn’t compute. Pittsburgh has posted a negative 31 point differential over their first five games. This fraught formula for eking out wins – as nice as last Sunday’s 17-10 victory over the rival Ravens was – just isn’t sustainable. Or is it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The tide has turned against Mike Tomlin, the Steelers’ once-unassailable coach who never posted a losing season in Pittsburgh. In wake of a 30-6 drubbing by the Texans, angry callers across the 412-area code have been flooding sports talk shows with calls for Tomlin’s head. The game has passed him by, some are saying. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
While acknowledging the across-the-board improvements on display in Las Vegas Sunday night, Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin doubled down, saying his still-developing team is in the process of building toward something far, far better -- only to be revealed as the young season unfolds. Just don’t call it “mojo.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Steelers offense is suffering from a severe touchdown drought – and has been for quite a while. If it wasn’t for the defense, who out-touchdowned the offense 2 to 1 Monday night vs. the Browns, the Steelers would be sitting at 0-2 right now. Most of the blame is being laid at the feet of clueless coordinator Matt Canada, with the Acrisure Stadium crowd loudly calling for his head. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
If the Steelers did one thing positive in losing so humiliatingly to the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, they certainly lowered expectations for themselves. But they also find themselves desperate for a win in just the second game of the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The maturation of Kenny Pickett is nearly complete. An offseason full of film study, playbook scrutiny, pumping iron, working out with his receivers and becoming a married man has been leading up to this: Sunday’s home-opener vs. the Super Bowl-sniffing San Francisco 49ers who aim to test Pickett’s progress with a fierce pass rush and big-play-stifling defense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More than a week before the Steelers host the San Francisco 49ers, some very prominent sports analysts in Pittsburgh are brimming with superlatives when it comes to QB Kenny Pickett and his sky-high potential in his sophomore season. One even used the word “unstoppable” when it comes to Pickett and this year’s offense under heretofore much-criticized coordinator Matt Canada. Unstoppable? The Steelers’ offense? We haven’t heard those words in the same sentence since the heydays of the Killer Bs: ...
Jaylen Warren’s explosive 62-yard touchdown runs vs. the Buffalo Bills heralded another gear – and another level for the Steelers’ running game. As soon as Warren sped into the end zone, it ignited a Steelers Nation debate over who’s the best running back in the ‘Burgh. Warren is seen as the modern do-it-all back. Najee Harris is the throwback. Warren is a game-breaker. Harris is a pounding plodder that harkens back to three yards and a cloud of dust. Both backs will be integral to the 2023 Stee...
Scoring from in close is a major emphasis at Steelers’ training camp this year. Early word coming out of those goal-line drills is the red zone should be much, much hotter for the Steelers in 2023. It had better be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Entering 2023 with sophomore quarterback Kenny Pickett, the rebuilt Steelers’ defense looks ready to step up and take more of the weight. They want to be the team who runs the ball (behind a rebuilt offensive line, I might add). They’ll let Pickett pick his spots for big plays. But a running clock will be the Steelers’ ally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Your 2023 Steelers report for training camp today at historic St. Vincent College in Latrobe. And one must wonder, given all the offseason hype, speculation and criticism, which Kenny Pickett will we see there? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Optimism is reigning supreme in the Steel City as the beloved 2023 Steelers are about to convene training camp at historic St. Vincent’s in Latrobe. With 2nd-year QB Kenny Pickett seen as the second coming and the new GM brain trust of Omar Khan and Andy Weidl having retooled the roster from top to bottom, Steelers Nation believes 2023 will be the season they’re riding high once again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Many are predicting 2023 will be the year Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth makes the final leap to be mentioned in the same conversation as superstars such as the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, the Ravens’ Mark Andrews and the 49ers’ George Kittle. After all, Freiermuth has established himself as quarterback Kenny Pickett’s most clutch target, especially on third down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It’s the biggest question surrounding the Steelers’ 2023 season. The answer will largely determine whether the Steelers are a playoff team -- or Coach Mike Tomlin has his first losing football squad. As has been said so often this offseason full of anticipation: So goes 2nd-year QB Kenny Pickett, so goes the Steelers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Steelers’ ‘Speedy Smurf’ Calvin Austin III never got out of the starting blocks in 2022. At 5-foot-8 and 162 pounds, Austin was sidelined all last season by a foot injury that eventually led to surgery last fall. Flashforward to summer 2023, and Austin says he’s feeling both healthy and fast. He’s lined up at the Steelers’ starting line, finally ready to flash his 4.32 40-yard dash speed on the football field. Anticipation is sky-high among Steelers Nation for what amounts to Austin’s Pittsburgh...
Despite all the 2nd-year Steelers’ players packed with potential in 2023, the biggest Steelers’ sophomore surprise could be the player who was the biggest surprise as a rookie. I’m talking about none other than the undrafted running back out of Oklahoma State, Jaylen Warren. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
QB Kenny Pickett, entering his all-important sophomore season, says the Steelers’ offense is night-and-day compared to this point last year. “I went back and watched our first OTA last year. It’s a different team, honestly, not just player-wise but in terms of plays and how much we have (installed) already,” Pickett was quoted as saying. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
