Tag: Pittsburgh Steelers (Page 21 of 61)

      Rashard Mendenhall chats with The Scores Report

      July 26, 2010 /
      DETROIT , MI - OCTOBER 11: Rashard Mendenhall #34 of the Pittsburgh Steelers runs for a first quarter touchdown while playing the Detroit Lions on October 11, 2009 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. Pittsburgh won the game 28-20. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

      Selected with the 23rd overall pick in the 2008 draft, third-year running back Rashard Mendenhall will be counted on to anchor the Steelers’ rushing attack heading into the 2010 NFL season. He also does his part to spread the message of the “Athletes’ Creed.”

      Here’s some more information about what the Creed is:

      – 86% of young athletes confirm they’ve seen trash talking during games increase as they’ve gotten older

      – 79% say showing good sportsmanship doesn’t seem to be as important as it used to be

      – 81% agree that athletes today would rather win the game then play completely fairly

      – 73% admit their athletic peers believe it’s cheating only if they’re caught

      With the Champion Gridiron Kings (follow Champion at Facebook) seven-on-seven competition serving as his backdrop, we recently had the opportunity to talk to Rashard about the “Athletes’ Creed,” as well as his expectations for himself and the Steelers in 2010. Check out the video interview below.


      External Sports, Interviews, NFL, Video

      Tomlin’s contract extension good for Steelers

      July 13, 2010 /
      PITTSBURGH - DECEMBER 20: Head coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers talks on his headset during the game against the Green Bay Packers on December 20, 2009 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

      The latest head coach to bring the Steelers a Super Bowl title just got rewarded for his efforts.

      The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that Mike Tomlin has signed a three-year extension with the Steelers through the 2014 season. While no details outside of that have been released, he was previously one of the NFL’s lowest paid coaches at roughly $500K per year. His new deal will likely be double that amount.

      While the Steelers under performed last season, there’s little doubt that Tomlin deserved an extension. In his three years in Pittsburgh, he has a 31-17 record, has won two division titles and one Super Bowl. Some like to point out that he won the title in 2008 with Bill Cowher’s players, but keep in mind that most coaches can’t win with their own handpicked players – not to mention someone else’s.

      Another thing Tomlin has taken some criticism for is how the Steelers failed to make the playoffs last year despite winning the Super Bowl the season before. But keep in mind that after Cowher won in ’05, the Steelers finished 8-8 the following year. Despite finishing third in the AFC North last season, Pittsburgh still finished with a winning record (9-7) under Tomlin and has yet to have a losing season under him thus far.

      The point is that it’s hard to win back-to-back titles in the NFL. The team that wins the Super Bowl automatically has a bulls-eye on its back the following year, making it difficult to repeat. They rarely have easy games because opponents gear up to beat them, so it’s a stretch to say the Steelers collapsed last year at 9-7. (Let’s not forget that free agency allows teams to rebuild quickly in the NFL.)

      The extension for Tomlin is a great thing for the Steelers. Most teams don’t keep the same head coach for over three years, but Pittsburgh is one of the few organizations that has managed to find consistency at the position. That’s just one of the many reasons they’ve managed to win so many division titles over the years.

      External Sports, NFL

      Should Big Ben address his teammates?

      June 24, 2010 /

      While talking to the NFL Network’s Rich Eisen during a televised interview on Wednesday, Steelers’ receiver Hines Ward said that Ben Roethlisberger should address his teammates in wake of what has transpired this offseason.

      “A lot of players really don’t know the situation, other than what we hear in the news or the media,” Ward explained. “I think when he addresses the whole team going into training camp, we can all put it behind us and move forward.”

      There was certainly nothing malicious in Ward’s statement. He wasn’t calling Big Ben out, nor was he suggesting that the Steelers haven’t embraced him upon his return to the practice field. What he is saying is that it would be a good idea if the team’s two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback addressed his teammates in order to put the situation behind him so they can move on as a team.

      And I happen to agree.

      Roethlisberger has ever right to keep his personal matters to himself and if he decides to do that, then he doesn’t deserve to be criticized. I wouldn’t want my dirty laundry to be aired out in front of a group of my peers, nor would anyone else. But Big Ben is already past that point.

      Thanks to the media, his teammates already have a grasp on what happened and they’ve already drawn their own conclusions. But if he were to briefly stand up in front of the team and reaffirm his commitment to them, the Steelers and to winning, it might go a long way in putting the situation to rest. He doesn’t have to share details or even apologize – he just needs to kill the very large elephant in the room so that big bastard doesn’t sit there all season.

      In general, people want to forgive and move on. I’m willing to bet that if Big Ben opens up to his teammates before training camp (or whenever) that he won’t have to say another word about the situation the rest of the season because it’ll be done. Again, he isn’t obligated to say anything. But given the importance of his position, his role with the team and how close professional athletes generally are, it might be in Roethlisberger’s best interest if he takes Ward’s suggestion to heart.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, NFL

      Roethlisberger takes responsibility for actions, is a fan of third person phrases

      June 11, 2010 /

      Ben Roethlisberger recently granted separate interviews to Pittsburgh television stations KDKA and WTAE to discuss the allegations of his sexual assault case.

      From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

      In the interviews, Roethlisberger repeatedly faults himself for mistakes, blaming it in part on his immaturity while transitioning from his small-town Findlay, Ohio, background to “big city” Pittsburgh.

      “Big Ben just kept building up, and I think it ended up coming off the field, and as the years kept going it just kept taking over Ben Roethlisberger,” he told KDKA’s Bob Pompeani.

      Roethlisberger appeared relaxed and contrite throughout the interviews, with his most emotional moment coming in description of recent talks with his father, who now has a Western Pennsylvania farm Roethlisberger has visited frequently.

      “We were talking about everything and how I got kind of lost, and he looked at me and we both kind of broke down, and he said, ‘It’s good to have my son back.’ And that just killed me,” Roethlisberger said.

      I don’t care in what context they do it in: I love when athletes break out the third person. It’s classic.

      It’s good to see that Roethlisberger is saying all the right things, but his actions will speak louder than his words in the end. He’s going to be tempted again at some point to go out, have a few adult beverages and check out the “scenery.” Will he do a better job of putting himself in a good situation or will he fall victim to his poor decision-making again?

      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, NFL

      Big Ben accuser didn’t fight back because she is “a little girl” and he’s a “big boy”

      June 9, 2010 /

      Video evidence from the Ben Roethlisberger sexual assault case has risen to the internet surface and in one clip, his accuser can be seen saying that she didn’t want to fight back because she didn’t want him to hurt her “any more than he was going to.”

      From FOXSports.com:

      “I noticed throughout the night he kind of had like a short temper, like he would get really like defensive,” she told police in her second interview with them on March 5, about 12 hours after she said the assault took place. She didn’t elaborate further on what made her think the quarterback had a short temper.

      During the first interview, she said she repeatedly told Roethlisberger, “I really don’t think this is OK,” but couldn’t stop him from having sex with her in the bathroom of a bar.

      “I don’t know what I can … do,” she said. “I’m a little girl and he’s a big boy.”

      In the video, the woman’s face was blurred. She was wearing a navy blue T-shirt and jeans and had her blond hair pulled back. She told police she didn’t think trying to fight Roethlisberger would stop the assault.

      “I figured it wouldn’t help anything,” she said. “I didn’t want, obviously, him to hurt me any more than he was going to.”

      Hindsight is always 20/20 and you’ll have to excuse me for passing judgment on someone else when I wasn’t involved in the situation. But if she said that he had a short temper, why didn’t she and her friends exit stage left at some point during the night? Why keep following him around to the different bars? What were her intentions that night? If they were to party with a celebrity, then she had already accomplished that. She didn’t have to continue to get drunk with a guy that a) she didn’t know, b) she didn’t trust and c) was someone who appeared to have a short fuse.

      I’m not excusing anything Roethlisberger did that night, but she has to take responsibility for her actions, too. Wearing a “DTF” sticker on her shirt, getting wasted and following him around that night doesn’t pass for using good judgment. Neither was getting so drunk that she didn’t know whether or not he sexually assaulted her or she just “thinks” he did.

      Another thing I’m a little fuzzy about is how the two of them wound up alone together in the bathroom. Did he ask her to come and she followed him? Was she dragged in there against her will? How did the situation go from a party scene with lots of people around to just him and her alone in the bathroom?

      We’ll probably never know the details of what happened that night because the people involved were likely too drunk to remember. And unfortunately, the more details that emerge, the cloudier the facts become.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, NFL

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