Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 35 - Number 3 i Steelers Digest

The rationale for the move made sense at the time, and it delivered the immediate result Coach Mike Tomlin was seeking. The decision to replace Mitch Trubisky with Kenny Pickett for the second half of Sunday’s game vs. the New York Jets provided the spark to the team Tomlin later would say he was seeking, and it also energized the crowd of 66,578. The Steelers responded to all of that and turned a 10-6 halftime deficit into a 20-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. Then reality intervened, and the Steelers ended up losing to the Jets, 24-20, with this third straight defeat dropping them into the AFC North basement at 1-3, one game behind Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, all sitting at 2-2. As it turned out, once the excitement…

Perfectionist. Webster’s Dictionary defines it as, “A person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection.” For the Steelers defense, it’s defined more simply. Minkah Fitzpatrick. “A lot of us want to be really good at what we do,” said defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. “Minkah, he is a perfectionist. He is always searching for perfection, and it doesn’t matter what it is. It doesn’t matter if you were playing him in checkers, he is going to try and be perfect and beat you every time. If you are playing golf, and he never golfed, he will try and beat you. That is just how he is wired. That makes him a little different.” Fitzpatrick laughed at the mention of the word perfectionist. But with the laughter came the acknowledgement…

On Nov. 2, 2014, the Steelers recognized the cornerstone. On Dec. 23, they will do the same thing with the catalyst. The Pittsburgh Steelers franchise is a storied one with a rich history, and so often what accompanies a franchise with 90 seasons in the football business plus enough success to own six Lombardi Trophies is a collection of interesting quirks. For the Steelers, one of those is the distinction of being the only team in the NFL with its logo on only one side of its helmet, and another is as a franchise that is No. 3 among its peers for highest representation in the Pro Football Hall of Fame yet near the bottom in jersey retirements. When the sun rose on Downtown Pittsburgh on Sept. 6, the Steelers…

When the game was over, Alex Highsmith had contributed 1.5 of the two sacks the Steelers managed on Cleveland quarterback Jacoby Brissett, two of the three tackles for loss the defense posted against a Browns running attack that finished with 171 yards and a 4.5 average per attempt, and eight tackles overall, which was good for third on the team during the Steelers 29-17 defeat on Sept. 22 at FirstEnergy Stadium. Highsmith is the Steelers Digest Player of the Week. Also considered were Mitch Trubisky, who completed 20-of-32 (60.5 percent) for 202 yards, with no touchdowns, no interceptions, and a rating of 81.1 to go along with a 1-yard touchdown run that staked the Steelers to a 14-13 lead with a little more than five minutes remaining in the first…

From the notebook of a sportswriter who’s monitoring the incremental improvements being made by a rebuilding team: • I don’t mean to be low-keying the impressive debut of rookie QB Kenny Pickett. I’m just trying to keep this process grounded in reality. • A fan on a message board put it best: “I keep reminding myself something the Steelers never wish to acknowledge. They are a rebuilding team acting and talking as if they’re a contender because that’s all they know. Problem is the fans follow suit and expect contending team results.” • I’ve covered this team for 28 years and should not be surprised by the anger of the fans following this loss to the Jets. But, again, I am surprised. • This is a day for optimism because…

There are a lot of ways to view the 17-14 loss to New England on Sept. 18 at Acrisure Stadium and gain a perspective on where that puts the Steelers two weeks into the 2022 regular season. It was their first game without reigning Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt, who is on injured reserve after sustaining a pectoral strain in the fourth quarter of the opener on Sept. 11. It was only their second game with a full-time starting quarterback other than Ben Roethlisberger since they opened the 2004 season with Tommy Maddox as their No. 1 at that position. It’s not as though anybody’s exactly running away and hiding in the AFC North, because the defending division champion Bengals are 0-2 and the other three teams sit…

It was during that awful stretch of an NFL training camp, where the monotony was as thick as the humidity, when a change in the time of the daily thunderstorm from late afternoon to early afternoon qualified as a welcome diversion. During an interview that would air on the team’s flagship radio station (WDVE-FM), Coach Mike Tomlin said about his defense, “We have the men, not only in personnel but in schematics and coaching. I expect them to be dominant.” Expect them to be dominant. Wow. Not a lot of room for misunderstanding there. But there’s this: What qualifies as dominant? Statistics? Awards? “You tell me,” answered Tomlin. “Give me a circumstance, and I’ll tell you what dominant defenses do. Dominant defenses smile in the face of adversity. The offense…

The Steelers franchise is one steeped in history, and this year that history is on full display as it celebrates its 90th season in the NFL. The organization’s success skyrocketed in the 1970s when the team won four Super Bowls, with that success continuing until today with four additional Super Bowl appearances, including two more titles. The history, the tradition, and those who were a part of it, were celebrated during the 2022 Alumni Weekend Dinner, presented by UPMC, UPMC Health Plan & U.S. Steel at Acrisure Stadium. The team held a dinner, which benefits the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program, that brought together players and families of players throughout the decades of Steelers football. The group also was honored at halftime of the Steelers-Jets game. “It’s amazing how time…

They simply didn’t get enough. Not enough points or third-down conversions or splash plays from the offense. Not enough sacks or takeaways or negative plays created by the defense. Not enough of anything from special teams to really make a difference, and over the course of three hours and 10 minutes worth of all of that on Sept. 22, an air of inevitability rolled in off Lake Erie and engulfed the Steelers during what ended up being a 29-17 loss to the Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Steelers carted a 1-1 record across the Ohio line needing both a victory and improvement in a couple of critical areas if they were going to be able to continue developing into the kind of team that would be capable of staying relevant…

In the regular season opener, the Steelers defense came up with what will be referred to here as 12 significant plays – 7 sacks, 4 interceptions, and 1 fumble recovery. Those proved to be a significant component of what ended up being an overtime victory over the Bengals in Cincinnati. That recipe for victory – an opportunistic defense compensating for an offense breaking in a new starting quarterback – appeared to be what the Steelers would need through the early stages of this season. Against the Patriots, a defense without T.J. Watt came up far short of the dozen significant plays it authored in the opener, and the Steelers lost to New England, 17-14, at Acrisure Stadium. The Steelers defense managed just one significant play vs. the Patriots, and that…

The Steelers opened their 2022 regular season with a 23-20 overtime victory in Cincinnati over the defending AFC Champion Bengals, and history will show that Minkah Fitzpatrick got things started down the right path and he also forced the game into overtime to allow his team a chance at victory. Fitzpatrick, who led the team in tackles over the course of the 2021 regular season, finished Sunday’s game with a game-high 14 tackles, his 31-yard pick-6 with 12:52 remaining in the first quarter staked the Steelers to a 7-0 lead, and he blocked Evan McPherson’s PAT with 2 seconds left in the fourth quarter when that was all the Bengals needed to escape Paycor Stadium with a victory. Fitzpatrick’s block preserved the 20-20 tie, which set in motion the subsequent…