Steelers News: To scoreboard watch, or not scoreboard watch? That is the question

The Pittsburgh Steelers are moving into Week 17 of the NFL regular season, and as the team prepares for the Baltimore Ravens we continue to provide you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over until the next game starts!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at whether the Steelers should, or shouldn’t, scoreboard watch at M&T Bank Stadium Sunday in Week 17.

Let’s get to the news:

• The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost control of their own destiny, which begs the question: Should the team scoreboard watch on Sunday during the Ravens game?

Mike Tomlin indifferent on Steelers scoreboard-watching during season finale

By: Chris Adamski, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Mike Tomlin probably knows a lost cause when he sees one. So he has taken an indifferent approach to his players following other games going on around the league Sunday.

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ playoff fate is at least in part dependent on the results of the Tennessee Titans-Houston Texans game Sunday, among others. And with the Steelers playing their regular-season finale on the road – at a rival, no less – Tomlin doesn’t expect the staff at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium to do anything to shield league-wide scores from those on the field while the Steelers face the Ravens.

“I’m not into all of that,” Tomlin said. “If they want to display it in Baltimore, they will; if they don’t, they won’t. We have to handle what’s inside of the white lines.”

The Steelers make the playoffs with a win and a Titans loss, or if they lose to the Ravens and the Titans, Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars lose Sunday. There are other, more complicated scenarios involving either ties or a “strength-of-victory tiebreaker” with the Raiders.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• The Steelers quarterback situation? Sort of like pick your poison...

Kevin Gorman: When it comes to QBs, Steelers are on Island of Misfit Toys

By: Kevin Gorman, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

This season Mike Tomlin calls a journey started for the Pittsburgh Steelers with Ben Roethlisberger as their starting quarterback, Mason Rudolph as backup and neither Devlin Hodges nor Paxton Lynch on an NFL roster or practice squad.

That the Steelers go into their season finale with Hodges as the starter and Lynch as the backup against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday should be the sign Tomlin is concluding a journey around the world in ways we can’t explain.

When it comes to quarterbacks, Pittsburgh has become the Island of Misfit Toys. On Christmas Eve, we learned that they won’t even have Rudolph to guide their sleigh. Somehow, Tomlin is expected to deliver the present of a playoff berth.

Merry Christmas!

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Is a bounce back coming for Devlin Hodges? Or is his current play a sign of things to come?

Devlin Hodges looking to bounce back for Steelers after brief benching

By: Joe Rutter, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

What transpired in the second quarter Sunday at MetLife Stadium was foreign to Devlin Hodges.

As a four-year starter, three-time conference player of the year, FCS career passing yardage leader and Walter Payton Award winner in 2018, Hodges never was pulled from a game because of poor performance.

It finally happened after his second interception of the game with the Steelers trailing by 10 points in a game they would lose, 16-10, to push them on the outside of the AFC playoff race.

“It’s definitely tough,” Hodges said Wednesday before the Steelers held their first practice of the week heading into the season finale Sunday at Baltimore. “Coach told me I did a good job of staying in the game. Once I got benched, I was back into the position of being one play away, and I ended up having to go back out there and give us a chance to win.

“It’s tough, but you have to be a team player.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Devlin Hodges Media Availability

• Social Media Madness