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The Pittsburgh Steelers will now have 9 players in the 2018 Pro Bowl, and the number increased from 8 to 9 after Khalil Mack backed out of the All-Star game due to an injury, giving Cameron Heyward the green light to be a part of the yearly festivities.
Steelers Cam Heyward added to Pro Bowl for injured Mack
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) January 16, 2018
Good for Heyward, I know all fans who follow closely realized how cheap it was when he wasn’t originally selected to the Pro Bowl, but it still gets my juices flowing when I think about how he didn’t make the original roster, mainly due to the defense and position he plays in Pittsburgh.
Khalil Mack, one of the premiere pass rushers in the AFC is going to be missing the game, and they fill his spot with a 3-4 defensive end? Yeah, it just isn’t right. Granted, Heyward did end the season with 12 sacks, but that was as an interior lineman.
This just goes to show how flawed the entire Pro Bowl system is. Everything from fan voting to the positions they select. With that said, I think I speak for all Steelers fans when I say congratulations to Heyward for not just making the Pro Bowl, even as an alternate, but for his All-Pro season as well.
Time to check in on the news surrounding the black-and-gold from outside the walls of BTSC...
This is one of the most talented groups the Steelers have assembled: Four first-team All-Pros. Eight Pro Bowlers. The NFL’s best wide receiver. A Hall-of-Fame quarterback. One of the league’s top running backs.
But this group won’t ever win.
New England, under Coach Bill Belichick, shows up for work. Jacksonville, under VP/football ops Tom Coughlin, shows up for work.
The Steelers, under Coach Mike Tomlin, show up for (to quote Red Forman) super wonderful crazy fun time. They yap constantly and indulge counterproductive stupidity. This season was nonstop chaos dipped in arrogance, and it added up to looking ahead to an AFC championship game rematch with the Patriots that won’t happen.
Safety Mike Mitchell guaranteed the Steelers would win that, BTW.
There are too few men in that locker room, and too many little boys.
This is the era of the no-ring mafia.
Ben Roethlisberger reiterated he will come back for a 15th season as the Steelers’ starting quarterback in 2018, but he wouldn’t commit to anything further down the road.
“I am just playing them one year at a time, one game at a time, one season at a time,” Roethlisberger said during his final weekly KDKA-FM radio segments this season. “I’m excited to come back next year.”
It was during the same radio segment 51 weeks ago that Roethlisberger set a tone of uncertainty throughout the 2017 offseason when he indicated he was considering retirement. It wasn’t until later in the spring that he announced on his website that he was coming back.
But Roethlisberger told reporters after the Steelers’ season-ending divisional-round playoff loss Sunday that he would play in 2018. Tuesday, Roethlisberger cited conversations with family, prayer and a belief that the Steelers are Super Bowl-caliber as reasons for returning.
“I’m really excited about the potential we have and how close we have been,” Roethlisberger said. “We have a good chance (to win a Super Bowl).”
After a Steelers loss fans often scream: “The offense is too predictable!”
After that same loss, though, you might also hear just as many screaming: “The offense is too complicated! They outthink themselves!”
This column is for Group B.
Any team that doesn’t have a quarterback sneak in its playbook is genuinely outthinking itself.
As we all know by now, the Steelers don’t have a quarterback sneak in their playbook. What no one has properly explained is: How come?
Many teams would’ve run a quarterback sneak on either of Pittsburgh’s failed fourth-and-1 attempts during the club’s playoff loss against Jacksonville on Sunday. The Steelers chose against doing so both times.