Tag: zgamb

Could Kenny Pickett come off the bench for Steelers in wild-card game vs. Bills?

Mike Tomlin handed the keys of the Steelers offense to third-string QB Mason Rudolph on Dec. 23 and hasn’t looked back.

Mike Tomlin handed the keys of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense to third-string quarterback Mason Rudolph on Dec. 23 and hasn’t looked back. It’s worked out well, but what if it suddenly doesn’t?

What if things go south for Pittsburgh in their first playoff appearance in two years? Could Tomlin look to first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett?

“Absolutely not,” Mark Kaboly, Steelers insider for The Athletic, wrote in his recent mailbag. “Tomlin doesn’t approach his quarterbacks like that, regardless of this being a sudden-death game. It’s Rudolph’s game from start to finish. Plus, do you want Pickett, who hasn’t played in more than two months, to come in cold off the bench? I wouldn’t.”

Kaboly was wrong about when Pickett last played — his last game was Dec. 3 versus the Arizona Cardinals — but he’s not wrong about Tomlin’s approach.

“We value routine things happening routinely” and “We’re not reactionary” are two statements Tomlin recycles on a regular basis.

There’s no scenario where Pickett sees the field in Buffalo. The routine that the Steelers are knee-deep in with Rudolph won’t cause the team to react should he turn the ball over on Sunday. At this point, the Steelers are Rudolph’s, and nothing will change that.

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Steelers insider: Mike Tomlin ‘trying to gain leverage’ with organization

Mike Tomlin is heading into the final year of his contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It wasn’t all that long ago that rumors were running rampant that the 2023 season could be Mike Tomlin’s last as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But after his squad put together a three-game winning streak and squeaked into the playoffs to close things out, all is right with the world. As expected, he came out unscathed on Black Monday.

Last week, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported what’s likely unfounded “news” that Tomlin could potentially step down after Pittsburgh’s season ends.

That, of course, brought fans to question whether there was any validity to the report.

Steelers insider, The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, reported that, if anything, Tomlin is looking for leverage within the organization for his own future.

Tomlin is heading into his 18th season as head coach of one of the most storied sports franchises. It will also be the final year of his contract, which currently pays him handsomely at $12.5 million annually, according to Sportico.

But his salary doesn’t reflect all his success — two stabs at a Lombardi Trophy with one win and 17 non-losing seasons.

He’s just the sixth-highest-paid coach in the league behind Bill Belichick, Sean Payton, Pete Caroll, Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan.

“Tomlin isn’t the highest-paid coach in the league and probably should be near the top,” Kaboly wrote in his recent mailbag. “This is how I read this: He wants to stay with the Steelers but is trying to gain some leverage to get paid more.”

Speculation is that Tomlin’s contract will be extended this offseason, indicating he’ll be at the negotiating table with Art Rooney II in the coming months. The Rooney family has never spent big money to keep anyone, including coaches. And that frivolity could be what’s keeping elite staff away from Pittsburgh. If Tomlin wants to stick around — and why wouldn’t he — he may fight to be compensated at a higher rate.

But don’t expect that Tomlin will choose to leave the team.

“Nothing in my mind and bones believes that Tomlin wants to step away from the team just like Sean Payton did a couple of years ago with the Saints,” wrote Kaboly. “No way. Never. Not happening.”

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Steelers vs. Bills injury report: Minkah Fitzpatrick returns to practice

Here’s the first injury report as the Steelers continue prep for Wild Card Week vs. the Bills.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have started practice preparation for their most important game to date of the 2023 season. The Steelers travel to cold and blustery Buffalo this weekend to take on the Bills in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs.

Though the Steelers are without defender T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick was a full practice participant for the first time since injuring his knee in the Week 15 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

Here’s the rundown from the Steelers first practice of Wild Card Week.

NFL sack-leader T.J. Watt shouts-out those who made it ‘possible’

The NFL regular season has come to an end with another notch in the belt of Steelers defender T.J. Watt. 

The NFL regular season has come to an end with another notch in the belt of Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt.

With 19 sacks, Watt is again the league’s sack leader for the third of four seasons. He’s the first player in history to do so in three separate seasons (2020, 2021, 2023).

Football is the ultimate team sport, and Watt couldn’t have done it alone.

“Not possible without my coaches and teammates,” Watt posted yesterday on X.

Despite having better overall statistics than his defensive counterpart Myles Garrett, Garrett remains the overwhelming favorite to win 2023 Defensive Player of the Year. A panel of Associated Press sportswriters decides the winner, and while it’s an individual award, they often take into account the overall team and defense.

Unfortunately, this could lead Watt to be runner-up, as the Cleveland Browns finished the regular season as the best defense in the league and dominated all season long.

DraftKings Sportsbook reflects odds for Garrett at -200 and Watt at +210.

It’s not set in stone that Garrett will be named Defensive Player of the Year, but it certainly doesn’t bode well for Watt. It’s not right, but as they say: It is what it is.

DPOY and league-wide honors will be announced at the NFL Honors Ceremony on February 8.

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Mike Tomlin: Steelers are ‘not disrupting the apple cart’ at QB

Mason Rudolph will start for the Steelers at Bills on Sunday.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are sticking with Mason Rudolph at quarterback as they travel to Buffalo this weekend to take on the hot-streak Bills in the playoffs wild card round.

“Much like in the spirit of which we did a week ago, we’re just simply staying with the hot hand and not disrupting the apple cart,” Mike Tomlin said in his press conference on Tuesday.

“We’ve been in some tough circumstances. He’s delivered, we’ve delivered. So, we will continue in that vein.”

While Kenny Pickett was the season-long starter, availability is the best ability, and that’s essentially what allowed Rudolph to shine after Pickett’s ankle injury.

After an unsuccessful go with Mitch Trubisky, Rudolph took over and outperformed not only Trubisky but Pickett. Pittsburgh is finally putting up points, something it struggled with until recent weeks.

In three starts, Rudolph has put up 719 yards and three touchdowns. Perhaps the most important factor is taking care of the football. He’s not turned the ball over in 74 attempts.

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Adam Schefter: Steelers HC Mike Tomlin could pull a Sean Payton after playoffs

The Steelers are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2021, but the big news of the morning centers around their head coach Mike Tomlin. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers are playoff-bound for the first time since 2021, but the big news of the morning centers on their head coach, Mike Tomlin.

Art Rooney II chose not to renew Tomlin’s contract with one year remaining, as he typically does. Rumor has it that it will be done this offseason.

But now it’s become a question of whether Tomlin will actually want to continue his coaching career in Pittsburgh.

“They’re not firing Mike Tomlin,” Adam Schefter said on Sunday’s “ESPN NFL Countdown.” “But here’s the thing that’s interesting: He’s got a year left on his contract. And there are some people around the league who believe Mike Tomlin could decide to take some time off like Sean Payton did.”

In 2022, Payton walked away from the New Orleans Saints with three seasons left on his contract. He took a gig as a broadcaster on Fox for a season before joining the Denver Broncos as their head coach in 2023.

“Mike Tomlin gets to dictate what happens here, not the Pittsburgh Steelers,” said Schefter. “They’re not firing him, he’s staying on, but he’s staying on if he wants to. If he decides that he’d like to walk, well, that’s a different subject. And maybe there’s a team out there, he’s from Washington, his wife loves Los Angeles, maybe one of them wants to lob a call into the Steelers to see if they could wind up doing something with him.”

It sounds like Schefter is grasping at straws here, as he has no hard facts to support his statement. Literally anyone can make things up just for the sake of a story, and a line like “there are some people around the league” reeks of just that.

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Steelers EDGE T.J. Watt OUT with knee injury

T.J. Watt is out for the remainder of the game.

Shortly after taking the league lead in sacks, T.J. Watt headed to the sideline with what looked to be a friendly-fire knee injury.

After a stint in the medical tent, Watt exited the field under his own power. He’s been ruled out for the remainder of the game.

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Broderick Jones says Steelers ‘kicking the door down’ to AFC playoffs

The Steelers need a lot to go their way this weekend, but Broderick Jones is pushing for it.

The Pittsburgh Steelers need a lot to go their way this weekend, but rookie offensive lineman Broderick Jones is pushing for it.

“Slip up and let us in we kicking the door down,” he recently posted in his Instagram story.

All is not lost for Pittsburgh to make it happen, but it’s not a win-and-get-in situation. If only it were. Unfortunately, its three-game skid in the middle of the second half of the season put a wrench in those plans.

The Steelers need to beat the Baltimore Ravens for the most straightforward path. If the Steelers win, they need one of two things to happen to get into the playoffs: The Jacksonville Jaguars (versus Tennessee Titans) or Buffalo Bills (versus the Miami Dolphins) must lose one of their games to the Tennessee Titans or Miami Dolphins.

We’d rather not think about it, but there is a route should the Steelers lose this afternoon. If that were to happen, they’d need the Jaguars to lose specifically and the Denver Broncos to beat the Las Vegas Raiders.

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Steelers vs. Ravens: 9 players show up on final injury report

The Steelers could be shorthanded when they roll into the Charm City on Saturday.

The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in another must-win situation as they travel to Baltimore on Saturday to take on the Lamar Jackson-less Ravens.

With multiple players limited and others not practicing, the Steelers could be rolling into Charm City a bit shorthanded.

Here’s the injury/participation report for the final practice of Week 18: