Friday, November 17, 2006

Gameballs!!!


Gameballs to Big Ben & Fast Willie Parker. Ben finished 17 of 28 for 264 yards and three touchdowns. Parker rushed the ball 22 times for 213 yards and two touchdowns.

The Nation...







Team...


Saints 31 Steelers 38






Remember This Guy?


Yes. That is the "Don" of Pittsburgh coming back to Blitzburgh to do the Fox Pre & Post Game shows. Here is a pic of Terry messing around with fellow broadcaster Joe Buck.

Anyone Remember Darren Perry?


Do you remember number 39? He was the unsung guy in the secondary that showcased Rod Woodson and Carnell Lake. Perry played seven years for the black and gold after attending Penn State. Perry now assumes the position as the secondary coach for our Steelers. Here he is last Sunday with rookie defensive back Anthony Smith.

McKeesport Mike!


Mike Logan grew up in McKeesport cheering for his beloved Steelers, and then went on to have a successful career at WVU before being drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1997. Logan then came home to play for his Steelers in 2001 and has been a mainstay for the last several years. WVU defeated Pitt 45-27 last night in the 99th meeting between the two schools in this years installment of the "backyard brawl". Let's goooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Mountaineers!

The Cathedral Known As Heinz...

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Message From The Champs!

"They say that when you're the champs, everybody will try to beat you. Well, I'm glad we're champs, so bring 'em on, bring 'em all on. If we die, we ain't gonna die running. It's gonna be a fight."

-Bill Cowher on Ben Roethlisberger

The Nation...







Pics from The Broncos visiting our Steelers.

Hines Goes Back To School!





Ward goes back to school
Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward went back to school, but this time there were no tests or homework for him.
Ward accompanied McKee Elementary School first-grader Evan Armstrong to school as a part of the "NFL Take a Player to School" presented by JCPenney Afterschool Program.
Ward went to Armstrong's home in Oakdale, Pa., and picked him up in a limo to head to school. Ward was welcomed at the school by a loud ovation before he addressed the 500 plus kids in grades kindergarten through fifth grade.
"Yes, we need that," said Ward of the applause. "We need all the luck we can get right now. We're struggling right now to get the win."
Ward spoke to the kids about the importance of education and being involved in after school programs.
"Study your school books and listen to your teachers and do all your homework," Ward told the kids.
Ward also took questions from the students, including one from a young boy: "What was your best team play ever?"
"Oh, man, winning the Super Bowl," said Ward. "Catching the touchdown during the Super Bowl and bringing the championship back to Pittsburgh, where it belongs."
Ward also visited Armstrong's first-grade class and visited with the kids there.
The JCPenney Afterschool Program is a non-profit organization committed to providing America's children with access to high-quality after school programs and raising awareness around the need for more programs that keep kids safely and constructively engaged during after school hours.

Team MVP?


Ward giving his all
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
By Teresa VarleySteelers.com

Wide receiver Hines Ward could not hide the disappointment on Sunday after the Steelers lost to the Broncos, dropping their record to 2-6 for the season.
His trademark smile was replaced by a look of frustration, despite putting up good numbers in the game.
"It's tough," said Ward. "I think the guys came out here and put their blood, sweat and tears into this game. It's been a constant thing all year. We turn the ball over and can't win. To start off like we did, down 14-zero, it's hard to come back and win games like that."
Ward caught seven passes for 127 yards in the game. He pulled in a pass from Ben Roethlisberger early in the fourth quarter and broke free down the sideline for a 63-yard gain to the Broncos 17-yard line. But a false start penalty and a sack backed the Steelers up and they weren't able to capitalize on his efforts, having to settle for a field goal.
But it was a play with less than two minutes to go that really bothered Ward. The Steelers had a first down at the 11-yard line. Roethlisberger hit Ward who gave his best effort to get the ball in the end zone. But Broncos safety John Lynch hit him and knocked the ball loose. The Broncos recovered the fumble and any chance for a comeback was halted.
"I thought I did everything I possibly could to help this team win and I let them down at the end," said Ward. "I try to be a complete player and play 100 percent. That's one percent I didn't do well on.
"I tried to make a play, dove into the end zone. I thought the ball was over the pylon, but I guess I was a yard short. That right there just took everything out of me personally. I just have to continue to fight hard. And I'm going to do that. I'm not going to give up."
Ward's fumble was one of six turnovers in the game for the Steelers. It's a trend that they are going to have to stop fast in order to turn their season around.
"If you turn the ball over, that just shows you that you can't win ball games by doing that. The more and more we do it, the less and less we're going to win. We just have to go back to the table and get more fundamentally sound. But that's been the case all year - me included. I have to tuck the ball more I guess, concentrate on that. It's not good being 2-6, trust me."

Miss Ward & Mr Portis


Here is a pic of Kim Brown and Chris Davis from Baltimore, MD. A couple of us got together at Claddagh Pub in Canton to Watch the Steelers/Broncos game. Kim is from Indiana, PA and Chris grew up in the DC area.

Bradshaw Comments On Big Ben.


Bradshaw can relate to pressure on Big Ben
Saturday, November 11, 2006

By Robert Dvorchak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As an NFL analyst, Terry Bradshaw can only speculate how it must feel to have been in a head-rattling motorcycle accident, require an emergency appendectomy and get knocked out of game with a concussion -- all within a span of four-and-a-half months.
As a former player, he knows that a quarterback doesn't fumble kicks, miss tackles, fail in coverage or get flagged for excessive celebrations or other stupid penalties in an un-Super season.
But as the only other starting quarterback not named Ben Roethlisberger to win the Lombardi Trophy with the Steelers, he also knows first-hand that the quarterback of a football team in a football town attracts more scrutiny than anything else when its record conjures up images of chumps rather than champs.
"I think the world of him. I admire his talent. And you can't put it all on his shoulders. It's everybody. It's everything -- the entire team, the coaching staff," Bradshaw said of the Steelers' 2-6 record. "But he is finding out the other side of being a quarterback -- people asking questions, people pointing fingers."
Bradshaw will be outside Heinz Field for tomorrow's game between the Saints and the Steelers, along with the Fox NFL Sunday road show cast of Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. That group can boast of 10 Super Bowl rings, three Hall of Fame busts and nine Emmy awards.
It comes as no surprise to Bradshaw that the focus of the media, fans and talk-show callers is whether Roethlisberger, who has steadfastly insisted that he is fine physically, came back too soon from his maladies.
"This poor child has been through hell in a hand basket. He's fortunate to be alive," Bradshaw said in a telephone interview before heading to Pittsburgh.
"Ben is the only person who can say if he's healthy. As far as I'm concerned, it's important to have a quarterback who wants to play, to be on the field, even if he's hurt. It tells your offensive linemen and everybody else on the football team that you're a tough [dude] and that you're tough enough to play through it."
Holding him back could even be counter-productive.
"It's like a racehorse," Bradshaw said. "The minute you put the bit in his mouth and pull back on reins and get him thinking or scared, that's worse."
Bradshaw isn't the only member of the Fox team to weigh in on Roethlisberger and the Steelers. In a conference call earlier in the week, Johnson and Long said they expect him to fight through the adversity of losing six of his seven starts.
"I don't think the Steelers rushed him, but Ben may have rushed it," said Johnson, who used the word "bizarre" to describe the quarterback's string of medical issues. "Now that we're at this point, Ben has to play though it. I think Ben's going to be fine."
Long agreed.
"I've never seen a player have to deal with so many things," Long said. "But I like the way Ben has handled himself. He has not played well in some games, but there have been glimmers. I think he's going to come out on [the] other side of this thing.
"He didn't just become a bad quarterback overnight. You have to take a step back and look at the whole picture. There have been individual breakdowns in different situations, people trying to do more than they're supposed to. We've seen uncharacteristic things by the Steelers, as a whole."
Steelers football is less about gaudy passing yards and more about power running, ball control, tight defense and protecting the ball on special teams.
"One thing you don't want to see is Ben throwing 50 passes a game," Bradshaw said. "That's just not Steeler football. Pittsburgh is not about great statistics. Pittsburgh is about winning football games. They'll work their way out of it and rediscover what makes them a great football team."
In the 23 years since he has been out of the game, Bradshaw took the initiative to mend fences with Chuck Noll and the city, a concession that even the glory days had their share of contentiousness.
Now, he's gone out of his way to extend a public olive branch to Roethlisberger over the motorcycle issue. Ten months before the accident, Bradshaw told an interviewer that he felt motorcycles are dangerous and that Roethlisberger could ride all he wanted after he retired.
"I was driving down the interstate one day and a guy on a motorcycle passed me. About 3 miles down the road, I came across this accident scene and the paramedics were peeling him off the pavement. It was the most sickening thing I ever saw in my life," Bradshaw said.
"I hate them. I know they are dangerous. That's Terry Bradshaw's opinion. It's not a universal opinion. I understand that some people get a thrill out of riding them. But I think Ben got the impression that I was throwing him under the bus because of my comments. I don't throw anybody under the bus. I was asked a question, and I answered it.
"I never said an unkind thing about Ben. I really do think the world of this kid."
(Robert Dvorchak can be reached at 412-263-1959 or at bdvorchak@post-gazette.com. )

Porter Responds.

Steelers Notebook: Angry Porter will appeal fine
Thursday, November 09, 2006By

Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Joey Porter accused the NFL of picking on him after it levied a $15,000 fine on the Pro Bowl linebacker for words he said he never spoke.
"I didn't even make the comment," Porter said. "It's really the ref's word against mine, which is not a good situation."
The alleged comments were made Oct. 29 in Oakland while the Steelers were in the huddle. Umpire Steve Wilson threw a flag after he heard something in the huddle, and obviously fingered Porter as the culprit.
"What I was told in the letter, it said somebody said they were coming after him," Porter said. "That's not even what was said. When I was talking I was talking to my players."
Porter said he is appealing the fine, and compared it to a smaller one he received in 2004 when he was ejected before a game against Cleveland for fighting during warmups.
"I'm going to see how the appeal goes because they definitely got me in there for saying something I definitely didn't say," Porter said. "It's definitely because of who I am, because how do you get fined $10,000 for getting into a fight before a game and getting kicked out and you get fined $15,000 for saying something and I didn't even say it?
"It's definitely one of those who I am and why they said it -- the most-feared stuff from the cover, and they think I'm trying to live up to that rep; that's not the situation."
Porter was featured early this season on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which called him the most-feared player in the NFL.
He pointed to another incident in Atlanta as more evidence. Out with a hamstring injury, he walked the Steelers' sideline dressed in NFL-issued sweats, but with the legs cut shorter. He said he was told if he wore them that way again he would be fined by the league.
"New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick cuts his sweats on his sleeves every game, what's the difference?" Porter argued.
"That lets you know I'm a target. I'm not even playing, and they still want to fine me."
Porter said talk on a football field can get rough, but it always has been that way.
"I mean this still is a man's game. Cuss words and stuff is going to happen on a football field when you're frustrated -- winning or losing. People use those words on a football field as part of their everyday habitat. But, for them to try to attempt to fine me for that, it's definitely just because of who I am, they definitely are trying to get after 55: 'Let's get him, zero tolerance for him.' "
Porter hoped that, if what the umpire claimed was said occurred, the teammate who said it would admit it.
"I know right now it's my word against the ref's word, but I think I have some guys on the team who are standup guys who will go out there and let them know that I didn't say it, and whoever said it will stand up and say they said it because I definitely didn't say it.
"I think he just kind of flagged me for us talking to each other; there was nothing directed at the ref."

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