Category: 2019 Steelers vs Jets NFL Week 16

Steelers vs Jets: 53-man roster update sorted by jersey number

The Steelers had to shuffle their 53-man roster late in the week but we’ve got you covered.

Just when we thought the Pittsburgh Steelers were done shuffling their 53-man roster around, they are forced to make a change. We have updated our roster gallery sorted by jersey number to reflect the release of safety Kam Kelly and the addition of former practice squad safety Marcus Allen. This week the Steelers take on the New York Jets.

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Which member of the Jets do you want on the Steelers?

Vote for which Jet you want on the Steelers this week.

Each week we pose the question to Pittsburgh Steelers fans as to which player from the opponent you want to poach for this week’s game. This week we look to the roster of the struggling New York Jets. New York came into the season with high hopes but despite the addition of former Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, the Jets are still in a state of rebuilding.

Nevertheless, there are still some talented players on this team so we put the question to Steeler Nation, as to which guy you want this week.

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The two best players on the Jets are Bell and safety Jamal Adams. Would Steelers fans welcome Bell back to spark the offense? Or would you bench Terrell Edmunds to have a safety tandem of Adams and Minkah Fitzpatrick?

Cast your vote and let us know which member of the Jets you want on the Steelers this week.

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Steelers vs Jets: How to watch, listen and stream

Here’s your game information for this week.

Here is everything you need to know so you can watch, listen to or stream this week’s Pittsburgh Steelers game. It’s win and stay in for the Steelers and the playoffs. This week they go on the road and face former teammate Le’Veon Bell and the New York Jets. The Jets don’t have anything to play for other than to spoil the season for Pittsburgh.

Game information:

Pittsburgh Steelers (8-6) @ New York Jets (5-9)

Kickoff: Sunday, December 22, 1:00 p.m. ET

Venue: MetLife Stadium

Broadcast:

Television: CBS

 (play-by-play) Ian Eagle

 (commentary) Dan Fouts

(sideline) Evan Washburn

Online: You can also tune in online with NFL Game Pass and FutboTV (try it for free).

Radio: Westwood One and Steeler Nation Radio will have the game, as well as WDVE 102.5 FM & WBGG 970, AM local.

You can also follow the game with us @TheSteelersWire and of course here on Steelers Wire with our live updates during the game, along with highlights of all the key moments from this week’s game. Join us straight after the final whistle for more in-depth coverage, injury updates, and analysis of all the action.

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Steelers vs Jets expert picks favor Pittsburgh this week

The experts are leaning toward the Steelers vs the Jets.

It seems that confidence in the Pittsburgh Steelers is beginning to waver among NFL pundits. It’s hard to blame them for wondering if even the Steelers defense can sustain a playoff run when the offense offers so little in terms of support. This week the 8-6 Steelers will take on the 5-9 Jets hoping to hold onto the No. 6 seed in the AFC.

What do the experts think about their chances? For that we turn to the folks at NFL Pick Watch. The aggregate expert picks from all over the internet and gives us all the information we need in one place.

This week the experts are still favoring the Steelers but perhaps not as much as they had in recent weeks. That 17-10 home loss to the Bills really puts the sustainability of Steelers offense into question. As of Saturday morning, 82 percent of the NFL experts they draw from were picking Pittsburgh.

Look for this game to be another physical matchup with both defenses doing the heavy lifting to shut down underwhelming offenses.

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Jets RB Le’Veon Bell says he’s not playing a revenge game this week vs the Steelers

It makes no sense this would be a revenge game for Le’Veon Bell.

This one has been circled on the calendar since the very beginning. Running back Le’Veon Bell left the Pittsburgh Steelers and signed a big free-agent contract to join the New York Jets. This week the Steelers go on the road and Bell will face his former team in his new home stadium. There’s this running narrative being forced on everyone that this is some sort of revenge game for Bell.

This is a point he denies and honestly, it makes no sense. What exactly doesn’t Bell want revenge for? Does he want revenge on the team that wanted to keep him on a winning program and pay him tens of millions of dollars? The nerve of the Steelers.

If anything, the Steelers should be viewing this as a revenge game. Players can come out publicly and be civil about each other but Bell quit on his team last season. He held out for a year and kept stringing his teammates along with hope he might return but never did.

Bell is enjoying his worst season as a pro since 2015. That year it took a suspension and an MCL injury to keep his stats so low. This season it just takes playing on the Jets.

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Steelers WR JuJu Smith-Schuster to be a game-time decision vs Jets

JuJu Smith-Schuster isn’t sure if he will play this weekend.

It looks as if we won’t know if the Pittsburgh Steelers will have wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster this week against the New York Jets. Smith-Schuster was a full participant on Friday but when he spoke to reporters he said he would be a game-time decision.

Smith-Schuster has been fighting a knee injury that’s kept him out of action for the last month. On the season, Smith-Schuster has 38 receptions for 524 receiving yards. Despite his lack of production, his return can only benefit the team this week. Quarterback Devlin Hodges is looking for a bounceback after his four-interception game and having Smith-Schuster out there should help with his confidence.

If Smith-Schuster can’t go again this week it will be up to James Washington and Diontae Johnson to do all the heavy lifting in the passing game. Personally, I wouldn’t count on Smith-Schuster playing this week if the holdup is pain management. It would be tough for him to go if he is concerned with pain in his cuts.

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Steelers safety Kameron Kelly arrested on multiple charges

Kameron Kelly had an altercation at a local bar leading to an arrest.

Another member of Pittsburgh Steelers finds themselves in hot water. According to multiple reports including ESPN report Brooke Pryor, safety Kameron Kelly was arrested on Thursday night on one count of resisting arrest and two counts of terroristic threats.

This arrest comes just days before the Steelers travel to take on the New York Jets this week. Kelly had been the team’s primary backup safety behind Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds.

Kelly has played 131 snaps on defense so far this season. His impact has been more on special teams where he’s played about 47 percent of the special teams reps. The team has released Kelly and promoted Marcus Allen on the 53-man roster.

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Jets RB Le’Veon Bell says he plans to be booed at home

Le’Veon Bell talks about the fans at this week’s game.

New York Jets running back Le’Veon Bell will take on his former team the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. This will be Bell’s opportunity to show the Steelers what they are missing despite his lackluster season so far. Bell was asked how he thought he’d be received on Sunday and his answer left us scratching out heads.

Bell said he expected the crowd to be about 50-50 between cheers and boos. Does this mean Bell thinks half the crowd at Met Life Stadium will be Steelers fans or does he think despite the game being at home for the Jets, half the crowd will still boo him? Or perhaps he thinks the game is in Pittsburgh.

He also indicated if any Steelers’ fans are there wearing his jersey he will sign it. Do you all think there will be a lot of No. 26 Steelers jerseys in the crowd on Sunday?

All jokes aside it will be interesting to see if Bell can produce against his old team. The Jets offense has struggled a great deal even with Bell so look for Pittsburgh to key on him and try to shut him down.

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Steelers OC Randy Fichtner tries to explain why he gave up on the run game last week

Sometimes Randy Fichtner makes no sense.

Sometimes when you watch the Pittsburgh Steelers play, they will go long stretches when their plan of attack is impossible to decipher. This is especially true on offense. Up is down, inside is outside and nothing else makes sense.

You can attribute this squarely to offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner. He became the Steelers OC in part because of his relationship with Ben Roethlisberger as the Steelers’ quarterbacks coach. But as we saw last week against the Buffalo Bills, managing the gameplan is still a work in progress.

But Fichtner tried to justify the missteps by the offense last week and honestly made himself sound foolish. Fichtner spoke to the media on Thursday and tried to rationalize why in a game where the score was close from start to finish, the run game was completely abandoned.

But Fichtner wasn’t ready to admit that.

“I don’t know about that,” Fichtner said. “A little situation in the second half may have dictated a little bit more. At halftime, it was close to 50-50. I don’t know if it’s always about the number. You like to kick yourself sometimes and say maybe we should have run it more here, maybe we should have passed it a little bit more on first down — things like that.

Uhm, what? The game was 10-7 Pittsburgh in the third quarter when Fichtner misplaced the run plays in the playbook. Out of the Steelers last 30 plays, only 4 of them were runs. While we concede down the stretch the Steelers did have to throw a bit more in order to try to move the ball down the field, but there was plenty of time prior to this when the Steelers forced the passing attack despite all the struggles by Devin Hodges.

Let’s hope this week with James Conner and Jaylen Samuels healthy and in the mix at practice all week, Fichtner won’t have to make any excuses as to why he abandoned the run game when the Steelers needed it most.

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Steelers vs Jets Thursday injury update: Joe Haden misses practice

The Steelers got a second full workout out of JuJu Smith-Schuster on Thursday.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers practiced on Thursday, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster got another full workout in. This means he is inching closer to returning from this nagging knee injury. The Pittsburgh offense has struggled to put points on the board the last several weeks so getting Smith-Schuster this week against the New York Jets.

The Steelers also got another full workout out of tight end Vance McDonald who has been sidelined with a concussion. Quarterback Devlin Hodges targeted tight ends seven times last week so getting McDonald back in the fold this week could really help the offense.

On the other side of the report, cornerback Joe Haden showed up on the injury report with a foot injury. No one on the specifics of the injury but Haden out of the lineup would press Cam Sutton into starting duty on the outside.

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