Tag: Ryan Clark

Ryan Clark: Donte Jackson ‘worked his butt off all offseason’

Recognizing that you have a problem is always the first step towards recovery.

Donte Jackson is entering his third year with the Carolina Panthers, which is always a critical season for an NFL cornerback. After a promising rookie campaign, Jackson regressed in some areas in 2019 and eventually found himself on the sidelines near the end of the season.

To his credit, Jackson has admitted that he needed to upgrade his game. With that in mind, Jackson spent this offseason working with former Steelers Pro Bowler safety Ryan Clark, now an analyst for ESPN and a trainer for defensive backs. Clark says Jackson worked his butt off and he can’t wait to see him ball.

The lowest moment for Jackson before he was benched may have been his showing against the Seahawks, when he was repeatedly beat by both Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf in coverage. Clark says his mentorship with Jackson got started when Jackson reached out to him after that game and asked Clark to critique his performance, per the team website.

“Maybe around the Seattle game, he reached out to me because we have a good relationship, and he asked me to watch it. . . I went back, watched it for him, critiqued it, talked about it. We discussed it. After that, he said, ‘Man, I’m gonna see you as soon as the offseason starts.”

Recognizing that you have a problem is always the first step towards recovery.

Receivers like Lockett and Antonio Brown are going to get the better of even very good cornerbacks from time to time. If Jackson is going to stick around in the NFL, he’ll need to cut down on those “teaching moment” type games and the mental errors that accompany them.

Learning from Clark is a positive sign. There are also examples Jackson can follow that are currently in the league. Marcus Peters went through a similar rough period early in his career. While enormously talented like Jackson, Peters developed a tendency to gamble on routes and attempt to make big plays instead of playing discplined coverage.

Coaching made a huge difference for Peters, who allowed a 111.0 passer rating with the Rams in 2018 and only a 63.4 rating in 10 games with the Ravens last season. Hopefully it can do the same for Jackson.

[lawrence-related id=627462]

[vertical-gallery id=626999]

Former Steeler compares Ben Roethlisberger’s chance of another Super Bowl to a ‘bad episode of Space Jam’

Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger’s chances of another Super Bowl are discussed on ESPN’s Get Up.

The Pittsburgh Steelers had the worst quarterback situation of any team in 2019. Without a typical offseason, their backup QB situation didn’t improve. But Ben Roethlisberger is back, even if head coach Mike Tomlin has yet to see him throw a pass.

When ESPN’s Get Up host Mike Greenberg asked Ryan Clark why can’t a healthy Big Ben get the Steelers back to a Super Bowl, here was his answer:

“Because he’s in a bad episode of Space Jam. They’ve got Monstars over there in the AFC. They’ve got a Monstar named Patrick Mahomes, and they have a Monstar named Lamar Jackson. And I don’t care if you bring on Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck. I don’t care which one you bring in there, sometimes the Monstars are gonna win. So, you can get the Space Jam elevens on, but that don’t mean that you’re gonna get to the Super Bowl. I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are gonna be really good… But it does not matter. When they’ve got dem two boys, playing in the AFC, we gonna be watching Ben the same place as we watch him in the Super Bowl because we’re just gonna go sit down together because he ain’t going back.”

Sure, the AFC has only gotten better since Big Ben threw his last pass nearly an entire season ago. But he’s had all of that time to heal up, rehab and get in shape to return to the game he loves.

Maybe Clark forgets the year before Ben’s season-ending injury, he threw for a career-high 5,129 yards and 34 touchdowns. Just because that was 2018 doesn’t mean he can’t put up similar numbers and get one for the other thumb.

[vertical-gallery id=471377]

[lawrence-related id=472466]

Watch: Ryan Clark is not buying the Cowboys winning NFC East over the Eagles

Ryan Clark is not buying the Cowboys winning NFC East over the Eagles

The Dallas Cowboys have been crowned the beast of the NFC East every offseason and the hype for 2020 is growing after Oklahoma All-American wide receiver CeeDee Lamb fell to their laps.

They landed Trevon Diggs as well, re-signed Amari Cooper, and landed one of the NFL’s top head coaches in Mike McCarthy.

With the hype comes growing expectations and as the 2019 season showed in great detail, perception isn’t always the reality for the Cowboys. Dallas is now favored to win the NFC East and their Super Bowl odds have raised as well.

ESPN NFL analyst and former Steelers safety Ryan Clark isn’t buying the hype this time around, telling Mike Greenberg and the ‘Get Up’ crew, that he’s not buying the hype this season as well.

The Cowboys have one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks, running backs and receiving corps with the addition of Lamb, but the question arises on the defensive side of the ball, where Byron Jones has taken his talents to Miami.

Say what? ESPN’s Ryan Clark thinks Allen Robinson isn’t a No. 1 WR

Sometimes there are hot takes, and then there are just bad takes. That includes the assertion that Allen Robinson isn’t a No. 1 receiver.

Sometimes there are hot takes, and then there are just bad takes that should never be uttered. Case in point, ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark, who doesn’t believe that Chicago’s Allen Robinson is a No. 1 receiver.

Seriously.

As you can imagine, people didn’t take too kindly to that assertion, including Robinson himself.

Last season, Robinson led the Bears with 1,147 yards and seven touchdowns. But in just his second season in the league, Robinson posted 1,400-yard receiving season that included 14 touchdowns with the Jaguars.

Considering that Robinson hasn’t had the best quarterbacks throwing him the ball in his career, he’s put up some monster numbers, including most recently a 1,000-yard season with a Bears offense that was statistically among the worst in the NFL.

Maybe it’s easy for Clark to say that because he doesn’t have to worry about covering Robinson, who’s coming off one of his best seasons during a year where the Bears offense was putrid.

Robinson has expressed his desire to finish his career with the Bears, and you figure general manager Ryan Pace is hammering out an extension for Chicago’s No. 1 wideout, who’s headed into the final year of his three-year deal.

What say you, Bears fans? Is Allen Robinson a No. 1 wide receiver (although I think we all know the answer here.)

[polldaddy poll=10538508]

[lawrence-related id=442363,442355,442320,442311]

Steelers players and fans share excitement about Super Bowl XLIII rewind

Players and fans are Tweeting their excitement about Super Bowl XLIII rewind.

What better way for Steelers fans to spend this self-isolation Sunday than rewinding to February 1, 2009?

Steelers fans and players are taking to Twitter to share their excitement about tonight’s live stream of the 2009 Super Bowl. You can find the game — streamed in its entirety — at the Pittsburgh Steelers YouTube channel. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m.

[vertical-gallery id=461345]

[lawrence-related id=461330]

Former Steeler Ryan Clark anxious to see what Ben Roethlisberger can do in 2020

Only Ben Roethlisberger knows if or when he will be healthy.

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2020 season hangs in the balance as the team and its fans all wait to find out if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger can fully return to form after a season-ending elbow injury. Over the next few months, there will be plenty of speculation but as former Steeler and current NFL analyst Ryan Clark noted, the only one who will know if Roethlisberger is back is him.

“I too look forward to seeing, can Ben come back in a better position than he was earlier this season,” Clark said. “Is his arm to the point where he can make all the throws he needs to make? The true answer is, only No. 7 knows.”

The team is supposedly getting an update on Roethlisberger’s condition and where he is in the recovery process in February. This update could set a plan in motion to find a temporary, or perhaps a permanent replacement for Roethlisberger.

[vertical-gallery id=458174]

[lawrence-related id=458321]