Larry Brown Sports

The Pittsburgh Steelers struggled through a disappointing 8-8 season last year, which is quite uncharacteristic for one of the NFL’s most successful franchises. As if the team did not already have enough issues to work through in order to get back to the playoffs next season, the coaches and players have also had to deal with anonymous teammates ripping one another.

Last week, former Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward said he believes the team is in “total disarray” and lacks leadership. Ben Roethlisberger took offense to his former teammate’s assertion.

“For anybody to say there are locker room issues or leadership issues are completely off base,” Roethlisberger said Thursday, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I believe that’s the frustration. I believe that it’s frustration of last year, I honestly do.”

Ward’s criticism was aimed at the fact that an anonymous Steelers player reportedly blasted linebacker LaMarr Woodley for having poor workout habits that led to his inability to stay healthy. Ward said that type of loose-lipped spouting off would have never happened when he was with the team.

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Last weekend, the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled a New York Jets when an anonymous player reportedly blasted linebacker LaMarr Woodley for having poor workout habits that led to a number of injuries. The comments were the type we are used to hearing from a team like the Jets, but were highly uncharacteristic of an organization like Pittsburgh’s.

In Hines Ward’s opinion, the anonymous bashing proves the Steelers have a major issue inside their locker room at the moment.

“When you lose so much leadership in the locker room, that’s when things present itself like that,” Ward told NFL Network’s NFL AM on Friday morning, via Around the League. “Guys start finger-pointing, calling out other guys. That is not the Steeler way. We’ve always had a rule: We are a band of brothers. We’ve always collectively kept everything in house. … But there was no finger-pointing and calling each other out. That’s a total disarray, a locker room in disarray.”

It’s tough to argue with Ward, who spent 14 seasons with the team and knows the organization as well as anyone. A lot of things went wrong for the Steelers last season during their 8-8 campaign, but it was not the first disappointing season the team has endured. It is, however, one of the few times we have heard reports of teammates bashing one another.

The Steelers have a younger team than they had when Ward was there, which means someone has to step up and be a leader. I’m sure Mike Tomlin would prefer that Ben Roethlisberger be at least one of the guys to do so next season.

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After losing a tough game to the Dallas Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers must win out in order to stand a chance at making the playoffs. Sunday’s game was a back-and-forth affair that placed the ball in Ben Roethlisberger’s hands with a chance to win in overtime. Rather than coming through in the clutch, Roethlisberger made a horrible throw that resulted in an interception, giving the Cowboys the ball in field goal range and essentially handing them the victory.

Despite the crucial mistake, Roethlisberger was not willing to fully take the blame for the loss after the game. Instead, he seemed unhappy with some of Pittsburgh’s playcalling. Tight end Heath Miller, who was effective in the first half, did not catch a single ball in the second half.

“I just don’t think we called the right plays to get (Miller) the ball,” Roethlisberger said after the game, via Pro Football Talk.

The Steelers scored 14 points in the second half compared to 10 in the first, but Big Ben expressed disappointment in the offense’s decision to get away from the no-huddle attack.

“That’s tough for me to answer right now,” he said. “The second half we didn’t do much of it, and that’s disappointing.”

Did I say not willing to fully take the blame? It turns out Roethlisberger did that, too.

“Yes, absolutely (the loss was my fault),” Roethlisberger said according to the Star-Telegram. “One hundred percent. It’s on me. I let the team, the fans, everybody down.”

If we were talking about any other team, it would be a lot easier to chalk Roethlisberger’s comments up to mere frustration after a brutal loss. However, this is not the first time he has openly criticized offensive coordinator Todd Haley’s playcalling. The relationship between Haley and Roethlisberger has appeared rocky from the start, and it would stand to reason that it could get worse if the Steelers wind up missing the postseason.

The Pittsburgh Steelers embarrassed themselves during a 34-24 Week 14 home loss to the San Diego Chargers last Sunday, and the fans even booed the team at different points in the game.

The boos were most noticeable after receiver Mike Wallace dropped a pass during the second quarter when the team was only down 3-0. Even though Wallace finished with seven catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns, what stood out to the fans was that play, especially after Wallace had limited production the previous four games.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger seemed to come to Wallace’s defense by grouping the entire offense together. He says he really let his teammates hear it during halftime of the game.

“I laid into the whole offense, not just Mike,” Roethlisberger told reporters this week, per the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I think we all deserved to get booed, which I feel like we did.”

It’s odd to hear Roethlisberger say the offense deserved to get booed when, earlier in the week, he seemed to be upset with fans for booing the team.

“Nobody should ever get booed. We are out there busting our butt,” Roethlisberger said, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Nobody intentionally does anything to hurt the team. I don’t intentionally throw interceptions and guys don’t intentionally miss blocks or fumble. We don’t intentionally do it.”

Wallace probably is a different case from the rest of the team. Steelers fans didn’t like it when he held out and were probably upset over his contract demands, which were reported to be outrageous.

The bottom line is the Steelers are 7-6 and in danger of missing the playoffs. They need to start playing better and winning if they want the booing to stop. They have a big game on Sunday in Dallas that will have a huge impact on the postseason chances for both teams.

via SBB Live

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Tuesday that running back Rashard Mendenhall was suspended one game for conduct detrimental to the team.

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Mendenhall did not attend the team’s home game against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday after being told he would not be active for the game.

Mendenhall has had a difficult season. He tore his ACL in January and was attempting to return from the injury. He saw his first action in Week 5 against the Philadelphia Eagles, and then missed four games after injuring his Achilles’ tendon the next game. He returned for a Week 11 game against the Ravens and had 33 yards on 11 carries. The following week, Mendenhall fumbled twice against the Cleveland Browns. He was a healthy scratch for Week 13 after that poor performance, and he was a healthy scratch again against San Diego.

Mendenhall is undoubtedly frustrated with the way his season has gone and with his limited role on the team. He was demoted to third string behind Jonathan Dwyer and Isaac Redman and he hasn’t played the last two weeks.

I understand why Mendenhall is upset, but he’s only hurting himself with his poor behavior. Not only is he set to lose just over $41,000 for missing the game, but fewer teams will be willing to sign a free agent running back who not only is coming off a knee surgery, but who also has a bad attitude when things don’t go his way.

The NFL replacement referees have not been around for over a month, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell that watching Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-New York Giants game.

The Steelers overcame at least two bad calls from the officials to beat the Giants 24-20.

In the second quarter, the Giants were down 7-0 and had a third-and-goal from the two. Eli Manning scrambled after not being able to find anything in the end zone, and then he fired for Victor Cruz. The ball was nearly intercepted by Steelers CB Ike Taylor, who stepped in front of Cruz. Safety Ryan Clark came across and crushed Cruz, laying him out with a shoulder-first hit. Clark was penalized for a personal foul after the officials say he hit Cruz in the head. Replays showed that he led with his shoulder.

FOX NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira disagreed with the call. “That is not a blow to the head and not a foul. Pass had not even hit the ground yet,” he wrote on Twitter.

Instead of having a fourth-and-goal from the two, the Giants were first-and-goal from the one and scored on the next play. That was a four-point difference.

The Giants benefited from another questionable call a few plays later.

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One of the best ways for the New York Giants to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend would be to put some pressure on Ben Roethlisberger — something very few teams have had success doing this season. Roethlisberger has been sacked only 13 times through the first seven games, which is one of the reasons he has completely nearly 67% of his passes and has an impressive QB rating of 101.4.

According to Justin Tuck, the reason Pittsburgh’s offensive line has protected Roethlisberger so well is that the unit gets away with holding.

“I hope we get some holding calls because they have gotten away with murder,” Tuck told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols. “They’ve done a very good job protecting Ben — they don’t hold on every play. But we’ve seen a whole lot of it.”

The Steelers have only been called for holding five times this season, which means some of their seven starting lineman have yet to commit a holding penalty. That’s a pretty impressive statistic.

Tuck is obviously trying to work the refs over in an attempt to help the Giants’ front seven break the trend of Roethlisberger keeping his jersey clean. Holding happens on nearly every play in the NFL, so I doubt Pittsburgh is doing anything more than other teams do. Could they be getting away with it more? Tuck is hoping the refs think they have.

Photo credit: Jim O’Connor-US PRESSWIRE