The Steelers wide receiver coach, Scottie Montgomery, has left the team to become the offensive coordinator for Duke. Montgomery became the Steelers wide receiver coach in 2010 and was considered to be one of Mike Tomlin's "guys." As was Amos Jones the Steelers formed special teams coordinator who left for the same job in Arizona. The question is whether Tomlin is cleaning house with his coaches or if the Steelers front office told him to get rid of these guys. Either way the Steelers ... Read More
Snedden’s take: The “Bus” got robbed
Former Steelers running back and all-time great Jerome Bettis retired following Super Bowl XL in 2006. Five years later, he became eligible for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. We found out yesterday that Bettis was denied entry to footballs most hallowed ground once again this year. That is three years that “The Bus” has been on the ballot, and three years that he has been rejected. There might not be a bigger travesty is sports right now. I have spent the ... Read More
Still no Hall of Fame for “The Bus”
On April 20, 1996 the Pittsburgh Steelers made a trade with the St. Louis Rams for a tailback that what going into his fourth season as a professional. The Steelers gave up a second and fourth round pick in order to receive Jerome Bettis and a third round pick from the Rams. Looking back at it, that trade was a huge win for the Steelers. That trade filled a need for the Steelers at running back since there starter at the time; Bam Morris, was arrested on drug possession and no one knew if ... Read More
The Super Bowl that Could Have Been
If I take my personal allegiance to the Steelers away, there is one play in Super Bowl history that stands above all others for me. It was Super Bowl XXXIV, the Rams and the Titans. Six seconds remained; Tennessee was down 23-16 and had the ball at the Rams 10-yard line. One last chance to punch it in. The late quarterback Steve McNair dropped back in the pocket (maybe the only time he threw from the pocket that game) and suddenly saw a streaking Kevin Dyson at the five-yard line. Dyson ... Read More
How the Pittsburgh Steelers Revived the Steel City
For most, when they think about the city of Pittsburgh the first thing that pops into their mind are the Steelers. The great Steel Curtain Dynasty. People think about greats like Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, and Lynn Swann. People think about the Immaculate Reception and the four Lombardi Trophies that Steeler greats hoisted up in the 1970's. But do today's fans stop and think about the importance of the 1970's Steelers? Those teams not only built a football dynasty, but they rebuilt a town. ... Read More
Ray Lewis: The bitter and the beloved
In 1998, a middle linebacker entering his third season with the Baltimore Ravens signed a four-year contract totaling $26 million dollars, with a $7 million dollar signing bonus. This newly rich man was Ray Lewis, and this made him the highest paid linebacker in the NFL. One might say that is quite a bit of money for a young, professional athlete to handle himself. In recent years, we have all seen cases of how other athletes act when they think they are guarded by an invincible shield of ... Read More
There’s no I – or we, us, our – in fan
Now we've all heard this before. And yes, I meant to say we. I'm grouping us into a group. We, in this case, is the fan. The fan which is short for fanatic. That's what we are, right? We're all sport fanatics. But there's something that we aren't. We aren't a part of the team that we cheer for. Call me picky or call me clueless. That's fine. But you are a fan and that's all. "We can't run this play. If we lose this game, it's going to hurt our playoff chances." - Oh really? Tell me ... Read More
Times are Changing: The Evolution of NFL Offenses
Vince Lombardi famously said football comes down to blocking and tackling. But he never said what else the sport needed to have. The young playoff quarterbacks, Robert Griffin, Colin Kaepernick, and Russell Wilson have taken the league by storm. Each has their unique skill set and story but they and their offenses share a common thread. A peek at the new-look offense of the NFL. The schemes have been as equally unique to the NFL. Schemes as common as apples and oranges in a supermarket in ... Read More
Why the Ravens have a little bit of Steelers magic in them
When thinking about the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens football teams, most think of a hard nose, physical rivalry between two teams that do not like each other. Besides the physical state of play, there is not much that you could find that both teams have in common. That is, until he Ravens set off on their most current playoff run that looks quite similar to a playoff run that the Steelers embarked on earlier this century. As most already know, before the playoffs started this ... Read More
Playoff Preview – Conference Championships
NFC Championship – San Francisco 49ers @ Atlanta Falcons – Sunday January 20th 3:00 p.m. ET Matt Ryan finally got a playoff victory and Colin Kaepernick set an NFL record. Now these two will face off in the NFC Championship game. The 49ers seem to be clicking on all cylinders after beating the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round, while the Falcons struggled to close out their game against the red hot Seahawks. If Atlanta wants to advance to the big show, they’re going to have to keep ... Read More