Pouncey 'Not Expected' To Play, Roethlisberger May Miss Monday Night

An editor once told me, “when covering a team, 75 percent of your news stories will be negative.”

Clearly, mine are closer to 90 percent. That’s what I love about this team though. I write about adversity during the week, and my game story is always about how they overcame it for a win.

Gotta be honest…not feelin’ great about this one. Lots of things working against us this week.

…isn’t even listed on the injury report, so he’ll play for sure.

If he tweaks it again (a reasonable concern, he only lasted 13 plays when he came back the first time), I would think they’d move Timmons to ROLB and shift Worilds over. Timmons has more experience on the right side, Worilds could play either position.

Foote would replace Timmons at the buck LB spot.

Since we have no OLB depth behind Timmons, let’s hope this doesn’t happen.

I’m sure there’s at least one medical staffer out with a hamstring injury this week. Not enough cap room to sign another one.

The last practice (typically on Friday) is when they go through the most stuff. If a player doesn’t practice on Friday, it’s rare they’ll play Sunday. By that point, teams will go with the back-up 100 percent in an effort to get him prepared for the game. If Ben’s not able to practice on Friday, they have to use practice time to get Batch ready to play.

That doesn’t mean Ben won’t play, though. He was limited, and they do have an extra day. I think the issue the Steelers run into is a super long plane flight pretty much takes out most of Saturday. Up early for a walkthrough on Sunday, I think they will have had to prepare Charlie to play Friday. There’s just not enough time.

Doesn’t look like he’ll play.

The Ravens/Chargers game does not affect the Steelers at all.

Think of it this way, The No. 1 seed is still in play, a first round bye is still in play, a divisional championship is still in play and a wild card berth is still in play.

It’s possible for the Steelers to finish anywhere from 1 to 8 in the AFC. Baltimore winning or losing affects that, but not as much as Pittsburgh losing does. The Jets could win out and take the 5 seed, meaning they travel to Denver or Oakland for their first round game. If they finish as the 6 seed, they travel to either Houston, Baltimore or New England.

I’d much rather be the 5 seed than the 6 seed right now, so winning Monday Night has as much to do with the wild card seed as it does winning the division.

Regardless, running the ball will be tougher Monday than it has been at any other point this season – arguably last season too.

I think special teams will be the ultimate factor here. They’re hurt too. Neither Staley nor Willis look like they’ll play, and their line has been probably the worst in the game over the last three weeks.

They’ve got a much better kicker and an elite-level return unit on both punts and kicks. We’ve been bend-but-don’t-break on kicks. Done well on punts, but we give up 25 yards a kick return. Almost seems like our opponent’s are just one step away from breaking one. This would be the team to do it.

If anyone’s not going to be “motivated” in Week 17, it’s possibly Baltimore or Pittsburgh. Cleveland’s eliminated and if Cincinnati is eliminated by then too, they’re still going to play hard because they want to keep their jobs. The Ravens and Steelers likely will have clinched a playoff spot by then, and the seeds could be locked up that week too.

Nobody rushing for 150 against the 49ers, especially not with the Steelers’ weak offensive line and missing Pouncey. I’ve no doubt Wallace will be open for long TD passes, but I’m worried Batch can’t pass it that far. If the Steelers win, its going to be a close one. I agree, though, that getting a turnover would be key. Unfortunately, the 49ers just don’t turn the ball over very often.

How is that for a controversial first post???

If you said this at a Steelers fan convention, I may recommend you bring some security with you.

Just kidding, all Steelers-related opinions are accepted here. I respect your right for saying it, but I don’t really agree. When you’re violently ill like he was against Kansas City, you really just aren’t any good. You can’t play at the level you need to play at, so I’d say, if anything, him taking himself out of the game shows he’s concerned about the team. Or he just needed to get into the bathroom really badly.

The Super Bowl…He broke his ankle, there’s no way he could play two weeks later. And in the AFC Championship game, he was playing the best football of his career until he got hurt. We won that game because of his up-front blocking, Mendenhall’s running, Ike Taylor’s strip-sack and two of Ben’s passes.

(on a side note, we lost the Super Bowl because the Packers receivers as a whole were better than our secondary depth. That, and Mendenhall’s fumble.)

I haven’t ever compared Pouncey to Dawson or Webster, and I think anyone who mentions their names together is saying more he has the opportunity to be another great Steelers center.

That being said, I don’t think he’s playing as well this year as he was last year. I also think he’s gotten far less help. The guard play last year was considerably better than it is this year.

It’s possible the guards are worse because Pouncey is worse, but either way, the interior line hasn’t played well and all of them share some blame.

I don’t think questioning his toughness is merited right now. Very few linemen would play on a high ankle sprain that soon after getting it. Those are really bad injuries and take a long time from which to recover. A healthy Legursky is better than a 50 percent Pouncey.

Welcome to the site, though, feel free to post more controversy!

Am I the only one out there who is really starting to question Pouncey’s toughness?

I think you’re flying solo on this one.

ridiculous!