Steelers/NFL category, Page 386

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Age hasn’t slowed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Perhaps the Pittsburgh Steelers defense will have better luck than Father Time. Entering the season opener Sunday night at Gillette Stadium, the Steelers are hoping to keep the 42-year-old Brady and the Patriots off-balance with a strategy that...

It’s amazing how trading Antonio Brown went from a bad deal to a great deal to a really bad deal for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Narratives in the NFL can change as quickly as Brown changes teams — and he’s on his third before the start of the 2019 season. I...

BALTIMORE — Picking the order of finish in the AFC North is as a difficult as getting a grip on a wet, bouncing football. The division features two new coaches, a pair of gritty second-year quarterbacks, a traditional powerhouse on the rebound, and an unlikely contender that hasn’t reached the...

Four Downs is a weekly feature composed of quick-hit thoughts and analysis on the Steelers and the NFL. 1. High five (wides) Lacking depth at tight end? Feel good about everyone in the wide receivers position room? The logical and intuitive answer is to use more wide receivers and fewer...

The Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday signed a veteran wide receiver who had recently been released by the Oakland Raiders. No, not that one. Veteran receiver and special teams standout Johnny Holton was promoted to the Steelers’ 53-man roster from the practice squad. The speedster could serve as the No. 6...

Have questions about the Steelers? Our staff insiders have answers. They spent countless hours watching practice and interviewing players and coaches during training camp and the preseason. Now, find out what they think will happen this season with the black and gold. The Trib’s beat reporters and columnists offer their...

How much rookie inside linebacker Devin Bush plays Sunday at Gillette Stadium won’t determine who wins the game between the Steelers and New England. Unless it does. At the very least, it’s an interesting sidebar that showcases the Steelers’ conservative (perhaps antiquated) philosophy of putting rookies in safe, limited roles...

Turns out, the delay in naming Johnny Holton to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ practice squad earlier this week was a simple matter of family and logistics. A veteran of parts of three seasons and 32 NFL games with the Oakland Raiders, Holton opened eyes with the Steelers during a strong preseason...

It wasn’t that many years ago the Pittsburgh Steelers had, in effect, only two defensive packages they used the vast majority of the time. Even after a six-DB dime was added to nickel and base, the personnel groupings would remain the same, with the one body swapped in to play...

Sean Davis completed the first practice week of the Pittsburgh Steelers regular season without participating at all because of an ankle injury. That opens the door for Kameron Kelly, a castoff from the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent last season (Dallas – nor any other team – did...

“Friday Football Footnotes” returns for Week 1 of the NFL season. Both O.J. Simpson and Merril Hoge are piling on Antonio Brown. Drew Rosenhaus doesn’t sound optimistic about Monday night for A.B. And we have injury information from both Cleveland and New England. Rosenhaus not rosey If Drew Rosenhaus can’t...

The 2016 AFC Championship Game. Giving up 55 points in 2013. Anthony Smith’s guarantee in 2007. Getting smoked the night the building opened its doors in September 2002. Yeah. Gillette Stadium has pretty much been a house of horrors for the Steelers. The franchise is just 1-5 there and 0-5...

As pass after pass ended up in Julian Edelman’s hands during Super Bowl LII, Ryan Switzer watched it unfold on television with equal parts admiration and envy. For an NFL slot receiver, what Edelman did in the New England Patriots’ 13-3 win against the Los Angeles Rams — catching 10...

Three days before JuJu Smith-Schuster’s debut as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ No. 1 receiver, did one of the players who will be tasked to defend Smith-Schuster diss him? New England Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson had an exchange with Boston-area radio reporter Ryan Hannable that suggests so, according to a post to...

Based on the participation report in practice Thursday, it’s looking more likely the Pittsburgh Steelers will open the season against the New England Patriots with a rookie inside linebacker and a free safety also playing in his first NFL game. Sean Davis did not practice again because of an ankle...

Since Antonio Brown was traded to the Oakland Raiders in March, the Pittsburgh Steelers have faced endless questions about how the offense will fare without the All-Pro wide receiver. The answer will become clearer Sunday night when the Steelers open at defending Super Bowl champion New England. “Turn on the...

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Star receiver Antonio Brown was not with the Oakland Raiders four days before the season opener amid reports he could be suspended over a confrontation with general manager Mike Mayock. Mayock said at the beginning of practice Thursday that the former Pittsburgh Steeler wasn’t at the Raiders...

The Pittsburgh Steelers will be playing their third game against the New England Patriots since James Conner was drafted in 2017. For Conner, the season opener Sunday night at Gillette Stadium will represent his first career start against the Steelers’ longtime nemesis. Conner was a backup to Le’Veon Bell when...

In Thursday’s “First Call,” Antonio Brown rips his new team. JuJu Smith-Schuster is a Sports Illustrated cover boy. And someone just did something we haven’t seen since Babe Ruth. We’ve seen this fish before It took nine full seasons before Antonio Brown became intolerable in Pittsburgh. I wonder if he’ll...

How do I know when somebody is starting to slip in popularity at Pitt? When I write a critical column regarding the Panthers football team and I get far more positive response to it than I do negative. Normally, if I write anything remotely skeptical about Pitt football, I’m overwhelmed...