Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 36 - Number 3 i Steelers Digest

Evidently, the light at the end of the tunnel the Steelers were seeing following last Sunday’s win over the Raiders turned out to be an oncoming train. Call it, the Houston Texans Express. The Steelers arrived at NRG Stadium on Sunday with a two-game winning streak and the appearance of being a team on the rise after showing incremental improvement in every phase of their performance over the course of the two weeks following a loss to San Francisco in the regular season opener on Sept. 10. But any and all of that feel-good was extinguished by a Texans team that ran the football effectively and protected their rookie quarterback behind an offensive line that had to be pieced together because of injuries, and then used their defense to do…

Linebacker T.J. Watt etched his name in the Steelers record book when he became the team’s all-time sack leader in the team’s Week 2 game against the Cleveland Browns at Acrisure Stadium on Monday Night Football. Watt recorded his record-breaking sack when he took down Browns quarterback Deshawn Watson in the second quarter, putting him at 81.5 career sacks at the time, a number that has continued to grow since. Watt went into the 2023 season needing three and a half sacks to pass James Harrison as the team’s all-time sack leader. “I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say it was special,” said Watt. “Just like anything, it hasn’t set in. I don’t know if it will until I have time to really sit down and process what…

As the national anthem played prior to the start of the Steelers’ regular season opener at Acrisure Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers Sept. 10, players on both sides of the field stood along the sideline listening to the song. One player, however, stood at perfect attention, his chin in the air, his back rigidly straight at attention, helmet tucked under his left arm. For Steelers defensive back Elijah Riley, hearing the anthem is always a little different, has a little more meaning. The West Point graduate knows the history of those who have served and sacrificed before him. He also knows all the hard work he put into that moment to be on the roster of an NFL team on opening day. “It was my first opener. It represents…

Steelers founder Art Rooney Sr.’s passion was always his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers. He built a football legacy that continued with his son, Dan Rooney, and now his grandson, Steelers President Art Rooney II. His other legacy was giving back to the community, and that has passed through the generations. That legacy is felt daily by those at the Catholic Youth Association (CYA), a local organization he stepped in to help when he saw it struggling financially in the 1970s. He decided to do whatever he could for a charity that embodied the Catholic faith that was a major part of his life. From that passion the Art Rooney Award Dinner was born, an annual event that benefits the CYA. It’s an event that has embodied what he believed in, and…

From the notebook of a sportswriter who prefers to call the Steelers a 2-2 club at the quarter mark: • Oh, sure, there are many ways to describe them, but let’s just assess what it all means after a month of play has left them in the race. • Hey, if it means anything, I expected a loss at Houston. It was a flat spot on the schedule for a young team. • Obviously it was the fashion in which they were beaten that’s disconcerting. The 30-6 score didn’t seem as bad as the 30-7 loss in the opener, but it was still a blowout loss to another young team. That would be deflating if there weren’t silver linings. • One silver lining is that the loss was so thorough…

Back to work. What else to say about a night that started with the beleaguered offense beginning the game with back-to-back three-and-outs. When the fourth quarter began with them holding a 23-7 lead and was screaming for one of the units to step forward and end the suspense, the offense went three-and-out twice and burned only 2:47 off the game clock while the defense allowed an 11-play, 66-yard drive for a touchdown followed by a 9-play, 33-yard drive for a field goal and helped keep both drives alive with penalties. Actually there is something else to say about the Steelers’ first-ever game in Las Vegas and it’s that it was a victory, and even though the 23-18 final was unnecessarily stressful of their own making, well, the outcome really was…

By now, it should be carved into the memory of each and every follower of these Pittsburgh Steelers. About how the team started the 2022 season by winning just two of their first eight games before rebounding after its bye to win seven of its final nine to come within a whisper of qualifying for the playoffs. About how the rookie quarterback played a big part in facilitating that turnaround by bouncing back from a two-touchdown-eight-interception line in his six starts before the bye to a five-touchdown-one-interception line during the 7-2 record after the bye. Then when the Steelers committed some resources during the offseason to strengthen and reinforce the offensive line, and their rookie quarterback became a second-year pro, and they found a 6-foot-7, 264-pound specimen with surprisingly soft…