Steelers News: It’s official, there are no better sports fans in the NFL than in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2019 season is officially over. After finishing the year 8-8, the Steelers, and their vast fan base, has another long offseason awaiting them. Just because the games are done doesn’t mean we stop providing you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over throughout the offseason!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take at how a survey showed the Steelers fans in Pittsburgh are the best in the NFL...as if we didn’t already know it.

Let’s get to the news:

• Who has the best fans in the entire NFL? Pittsburgh Steelers fans, obviously.

Pittsburgh ranks as top city for football fans

By: Chris Pastrick, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

It’s at least one thing Pittsburghers can hold over New England: Our football fans are the best.

In WalletHub’s 2020 edition of its annual survey of Best & Worst Cities for Football Fans, the home of the Black and Gold is unmatched.

Out of 245 U.S. cities, Pittsburgh — with a score of 63.11 — topped all others. Boston came in second with a score of 56.16.

The top 10 rounded out with Dallas, Green Bay, New York, New Orleans, Miami, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Oakland.

How did WalletHub come up with their scores? The personal finance website compared cities with least one college or professional football team across 21 key metrics. They considered things such as number of teams, average ticket prices and fan friendliness. Each entry was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 being the most favorable conditions for football fans.

Pittsburgh was tops among NFL cities and No. 14 among college cities.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Thinking Ben Roethlisberger will return 100% healthy? That might be wishful thinking...

Mark Madden: Steelers fans expecting Ben Roethlisberger to be 100% is wishful thinking

By: Mark Madden, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Much already is being assumed about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2020 season.

The most obvious is the notion that Ben Roethlisberger, at 38, will return from extreme surgery to fix three tendons in his throwing elbow and function at something approximating 100% (or 90%, or 80%) of his prior capabilities. This, when others from Roethlisberger’s generation of quarterbacks are retiring or regressing without elbow surgery.

That assumption is wishful thinking and understandably so. The alternative is trusting Mason Rudolph to be a No. 1 quarterback.

Even more widely assumed is that the Steelers’ defense will play up to the same level displayed in 2019.

The components still will be there. But you’re betting that Bud Dupree (assuming he’s franchised) has a second straight good season. You’re hoping Stephon Tuitt doesn’t get injured (again). You’re trusting Cameron Heyward to be as good at 31 as he was at 30.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Emmanuel Sanders suggests his relationship with Ben Roethlisberger is a bridge which was burnt years ago.

Emmanuel Sanders on Ben Roethlisberger: “That bridge was burnt”

By: Charean Williams, ProFootballTalk

49ers receiver Emmanuel Sanders is scheduled to become a free agent in March. One thing seems certain about his uncertain future: There is zero chance he returns to Pittsburgh with Ben Roethlisberger still the Steelers quarterback.

“I would love that, but me and Ben don’t have the best relationship. I believe that bridge is burnt,” Sanders told Ed Bouchette of TheAthletic.com.

Sanders spent his first four seasons with the Steelers after they made him a third-round choice in 2010, and he made 161 catches for 2,030 yards and 11 touchdowns. He earned his first Pro Bowl the following season, in his first season in Denver.

Sanders blew up the bridge with his former quarterback in his first training camp with the Broncos when he said Peyton Manning was a “far better leader” than Roethlisberger. That and Sanders’ additional statement that “this is the first time that I had a quarterback that stays every single day after practice” prompted even Antonio Brown to jump to Roethlisberger’s defense.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

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