The Steelers will be off today.
-Coach Tomlin will give his weekly press conference at Noon Eastern on Root Sports or steelers.com.
-With the Ravens’ win over New Orleans last night the AFC North is first division in NFL history with all of its’ teams three games above .500.
-If the bye week did anything it allowed the Steelers to get healthier. Troy Polamalu and Ryan Shazier are expected back in the line-up and Ike Taylor was also cleared and could play against the Saints. Jarvis Jones came off of the injured reserve/designated to return list. The Steelers must add him to the active roster by Dec. 15th or else he goes on IR for the season.
-If Jones is added to the roster the question then becomes where does he play? James Harrison and Arthur Moats have a pretty firm grasp on the right OLB spot and Jason Worilds is on the left. I’m spit-balling here but maybe Moats moves over to back-up Worilds?
-At 7-4, I’ve seen just about every theory this side of Mt. Washington on what the Steelers need to do to get into the playoffs. The simple answer is they need to just win out and that issue would take care of itself. Personally I believe a similar path the team took in 2005 might be in order. Remember the Steelers were 7-5 and won four straight to get the last wild-card berth. You know the rest of the story.
-In case you missed it n the Sunday pregame show, FOX’s Terry Bradshaw went off on Roger Goodell’s handling of Adrian Peterson and to a lesser extent on Ray Rice as well. While I obviously don’t condone what either man did, Goodell has botched both of their cases horribly and the Blonde Bomber was justified in his comments.
-The Steelers will honor their first Super Bowl team on Sunday. It’s the 40th anniversary of the Steelers Super Bowl IX win over the Minnesota Vikings. The team will wear a commemorative patch on their jerseys and members of the team will be honored at halftime.
-Cam Heyward has played in 59 straight games for the Steelers. It’s the fifth-longest streak among active NFL defensive linemen.
-Dan McCullers became the first Steelers’ rookie to start a game at nose tackle since Casey Hampton in 2001.
-The longest active streak of games started by a Steeler is held by… Lawrence Timmons who has started 64 straight games.
-This week’s opponent New Orleans does not have a return of any kind for a score. The Steelers have five.
-The Steelers are 0-2 this season when they trail the opponent in time of possession. They are 7-2 when they win the ToP battle.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteelDad and the website @SCBlitz. Check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/steelcityblitz and on Fancred.com. You can hear him weekly during the season on game day on the Trib-Live Radio Steelers Pre-Game
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