Steelers News: Ray Sherman not trying to be Darryl Drake, just trying to help wide receivers

The Pittsburgh Steelers returned to the gridiron with the NFL preseason upon us. With exhibition games underway, the news surrounding the black-and-gold is just starting to heat up. As the team prepares for the coming season, we continue to provide you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over until the season starts!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at how Ray Sherman, who has taken over for the late Darryl Drake, is not trying to replace the former coach, but just trying to help.

Let’s get to the news:

• Darryl Drake was only in Pittsburgh for a year and a half, but he made a huge impression on the Steelers players. Ray Sherman, who has replaced Drake, is just trying to get the job done.

Steelers receivers grateful to have Ray Sherman on board until vacancy is filled

By: Joe Rutter, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

When James Washington reported to his second training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers, it didn’t take long to discover Darryl Drake wasn’t the only veteran coach providing wisdom in his position room.

Ray Sherman, who served as the team’s offensive coordinator in 1998, was back at Saint Vincent from the beginning of camp, serving as a consultant for the offense in general and the wide receivers in particular.

Sherman, 67, hadn’t coached in the NFL since 2015, but Washington saw the way that Drake, 62, revered his elder.

And so when Drake died unexpectedly Aug. 11, it was only natural for the Steelers to turn to Sherman to help the wide receivers get through the difficult days that followed.

Although the Steelers haven’t officially named Drake’s successor, Sherman kept working with the wide receivers when the preseason shifted from Saint Vincent to UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

“It’s been good because Coach Drake used to tell us that he would ask (Sherman) questions,” Washington said. “For Coach Drake to tell us that explains the type of guy that Coach Sherman is and the knowledge he has and all that he brings to the table as a coach.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• As the preseason moves on to its second half, the pressure will only build for kicker Chris Boswell.

Kevin Gorman: Pressure brings out best in Steelers kicker Chris Boswell

By: Kevin Gorman, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Mike Tomlin promised to “create a little pressure” for Chris Boswell this preseason, pushing the fifth-year kicker to return to Pro Bowl form for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That became the burning question throughout training camp: What constituted a pressure kick? The countdown kicks at Saint Vincent or the field-goal showdown during Family Fest at Heinz Field? Or were the Steelers saving it for game situations?

“They’re all just kicks,” Boswell said with shrug. “The pressure is the outside stuff put on you. That never really changes anything about kicking. That doesn’t change when you kick. A kick is a kick. You’ve just got to play it by that.”

But Boswell knows this: a miss isn’t just a miss.

Too many more of those could cost Boswell his job, especially coming off a season in which he converted a career-worst 65 percent (13 of 20) field goals — including a pair of potential game-winners — and missed five extra points (43 of 48).

In an eight-minute interview at his locker Wednesday afternoon at UPMC Rooney Sports Performance Complex on the South Side — and, trust me, that’s an eternity for the soft-spoken Texan — Boswell took a shot at every question I asked.

His answers split the uprights.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• It wouldn’t be a full-blown drama fest without James Harrison chiming in...

James Harrison: ‘Real selfish’ AB needs to ‘give it up’

By: Hunter Homistek, DKPittsburghSports

James Harrison has an idea for Antonio Brown: Stop it. Now.

Speaking on today’s episode of Undisputed, former Steelers star linebacker Harrison weighed in on Brown’s current helmet controversy, making a strong case in the process.

James Harrison has an idea for Antonio Brown: Stop it. Now.

Speaking on today’s episode of Undisputed, former Steelers star linebacker Harrison weighed in on Brown’s current helmet controversy, making a strong case in the process.

”Right now, I think it’s time for him to give it up,” Harrison began. “I love AB, but right now, everything is looking real selfish, real ‘me, me.’ And, like Coach [Mike Tomlin] used to say, you’re throwing rocks at a tank right now.”

To Harrison, Brown’s actions can’t end well for him — not when he’s trying to go head-to-head with the NFL.

”At the end of the day, if the NFL, Roger Goodell, decides that a sock fine is $100,000, that’s what it goes to,” Harrison said. “That’s the collective bargaining agreement that they signed. He has the power to change anything that he wants to at that point in time. You go back to when they started changing the rules for helmet-to-helmet [hits]. The first fine was $15,000, right? All of a sudden, it was $75 [thousand] for me, $50 [thousand] for another guy, because we — not us; the Steelers voted ‘no’ — gave him that power in the collective bargaining agreement to be able to do whatever he wants.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

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