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I believe the description read:
“He tackles. He blocks. He even scores touchdowns.”
A very appropriate description for Roosevelt Nix, who was named to the 2018 Pro Bowl due to the fullback previously on the roster preparing for a much bigger game called the Super Bowl.
Nix will be the 10th Steelers player to attend the Pro Bowl, and he will even be headed down to Orlando with his coaches, who will coach one of the Pro Bowl teams.
Congratulations to Roosevelt Nix for this award. He truly is deserving.
Okay, now that we have that out of the way, how bad is the Pro Bowl? Not only is it a football game no one even cares about nor actually puts forth any effort, the entire process of getting to this All-Star game is a complete joke.
Largely due to fan voting, the Pro Bowl has become a laughing stock across the NFL landscape. When was the last time you remembered a play from the Pro Bowl? I can tell you when I did, and I just have to say one name:
Sean Taylor.
What’s that? You’re too young and have just heard of Sean Taylor? Well, before his passing, he was the hardest hitting safety in the NFL. Hailing from the the University of Miami, he provided the most memorable Pro Bowl moment in NFL history — by far.
If you can’t see the video below, click HERE.
The Pro Bowl is a joke—this isn’t breaking news. But watching all these Steelers players and coaches during the week when everyone thought it would be Pittsburgh preparing for the “much bigger game” is downright depressing.
For the sake of there being a ton of Steelers in the game, and guys like Ben Roethlisberger actually attending, I guess I’ll watch, but there will be a very large part of me absolutely disgusted watching them play. This season was supposed to be more. The stars were supposed to align.
Then came the gut punch.
Time to check in on the other news surrounding the Steelers outside the walls of BTSC:
Watching that AFC championship game Sunday turned me into an angst-addled, irrational, little ball of hate.
Some might argue that actually happened long before Sunday’s game.
You might be right. But if it didn’t happen before Sunday, it sure did shortly after kickoff.
The Patriots won the AFC title over Jacksonville, 24-20. If you were like me and watched that game strictly from a Black and Gold perspective, it was three-plus hours of water torture.
Who were you supposed to root for? It couldn’t be the hated Patriots — those stormtroopers from New England who have been a red, white and blue blockade for our city’s Super Bowl dreams three times in this game since Heinz Field opened.
Not to mention numerous other regular-season indignities.
For the first time in three seasons with the Steelers, L.J. Fort had a regular role on defense by the end of 2017.
Already a standout on special teams, Fort played on passing downs over the final five games, including playoffs.
“Personally, I played more than I have in the past years here,” Fort said earlier this week, “and I just felt like it was good to get that experience. I feel like that made me a better player moving forward.”
Moving forward, what will be the role for the 28-year-old inside linebacker? Fort teamed with Sean Spence to replace Ryan Shazier after Shazier’s serious spinal injury Dec. 4. With Shazier’s playing future in doubt, the Steelers will be looking for help at inside linebacker this offseason, be it in the free-agent market and/or in the draft.
Antonio Brown is up for another individual honor.
Brown is one of five finalists for the Castrol Edge Clutch Performer of the Year award, which will be announced Feb. 3 during NFL Honors, a two-hour awards show that will air on NBC.
The Steelers team MVP, Brown also was named first-team All-Pro and to the Pro Bowl.
Brown’s nomination for the clutch performer award was based on his performance in Week 12 against the Green Bay Packers when he had 10 catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Brown’s memorable toe-drag catch along the sideline in the final moments helped set up Chris Boswell’s game-winning field goal.