Steelers News: The only thing you can expect from these Steelers is the unexpected

The Pittsburgh Steelers are moving into Week 14 of the NFL regular season, and as the team prepares for the Arizona Cardinals 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 how the only thing consistent about the 2019 Steelers is their unexpected nature.

Let’s get to the news:

• Did anyone expect this? Nope, and that is one of the calling cards of the 2019 Steelers.

John Steigerwald: With these Steelers, expect the unexpected

By: John Steigerwald, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Who saw that coming?

Not the 7-5 record and being in contention for the wild card, the 20-13 win after that hideous start. When the Browns scored to make it 10-0 everything pointed to a long, ugly day for the Steelers.

It was the middle of the second quarter. The Browns had run 28 plays for 128 yards, and the Steelers had run eight for 9 yards and had their fourth-string quarterback looking like a guy whose No. 1 goal was to not kill his team.

“He didn’t kill us.”

That’s what Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said with a smile in his postgame press conference after the 20-13 win, which was a follow-up to having said, “We hope he doesn’t kill us,” at his Tuesday news conference when he was asked what he expected from Devlin Hodges.

It looked as though the Steelers’ season was going to be over when the Browns went up 10-0 because it had blowout written all over it.

But then, the season looked like a blowout when Ben Roethlisberger blew out his elbow in Week 2. Who saw 7-3 coming? That’s the Steelers’ record since then and they’ve done it with two quarterbacks who never had started an NFL game.

There has been a lot of chatter around town and on the talk shows about how much better the Steelers would be with Roethlisberger at quarterback.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Not someone who buys into bulletin board material? The Steelers will disagree...

‘Bulletin-board material’ for Steelers; Browns’ Freddie Kitchens: ‘I’d wear (T-shirt) again’

By: Chris Adamski, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Of the “Pittsburgh started it” T-shirt Freddie Kitchens wore in public less than 48 hours before playing the Pittsburgh Steelers, guard David DeCastro had one question for the Cleveland Browns coach.

“What are you thinking?” DeCastro said after his team beat the Browns, 20-13, Sunday.

While DeCastro was asking that in the Steelers locker room at Heinz Field, Kitchens was down the tunnel answering the same query from Cleveland reporters.

Kitchens was unapologetic for wearing the shirt, which referenced the Myles Garrett/Mason Rudolph incident during the final seconds of the Nov. 14 meeting between the teams in Cleveland.

“I wore a T-shirt,” Kitchens said, with dismissive exasperation. “I wore a jacket with it. My daughters wanted me to wear the shirt, and I’d wear it again. I put a jacket on. I covered it up, and I took a picture with a fan. That was as simple as that.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• T.J. Watt the next Defensive Player of the Year? Not as far fetched as you may believe...

Is Steelers’ T.J. Watt building resume for NFL defensive player of the year?

By: Chris Adamski, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Another game, another sack for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ T.J. Watt. They’ve been accumulating at a rate that’s marveled some teammates enough so that they are starting a campaign.

“He’ll probably win defensive player of the year,” fellow outside linebacker Bud Dupree said.

Sportsbettingdime.com tracks AP NFL defensive player of the year odds, and it had Watt as the leading contender heading into NFL Week 13.

Watt’s first-quarter sack of Baker Mayfield was critical in limiting the Cleveland Browns to a field goal on the opening possession of Sunday’s game, a 20-13 Steelers victory. The sack gave Watt 12½ for the season; through 12 games, that’s already in the top 10 for a single season in Steelers history.

It also leads the AFC and is fourth in the NFL. Among Watt’s other superlatives as the game ended were a league-best 27 quarterback hits and five forced fumbles (tied).

“T.J.’s a great player,” Dupree said. “It’s been great seeing him grow.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

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