Month: December 2024

Steelers’ Cole Holcomb, Roman Wilson, Logan Lee Return To Practice

The Steelers could have reinforcements on both sides of the ball as early as Week 18. The team announced on Tuesday that linebacker Cole Holcomb, along with receiver Roman Wilson and defensive lineman Logan Lee have returned to practice.

In the case of all three players, they now have up to 21 days to practice before being activated. Holcomb is on the physically unable to perform list, while the two rookies are on injured reserve. Bringing back Wilson and Lee would therefore use up Pittsburgh’s remaining regular season IR activations, although all playoff teams receive an additional two return slots.

Holcomb was a key figure in the Steelers’ efforts to reset at the linebacker spot last offseason, signing a three-year, $18MM pact in free agency. The 28-year-old had a strong start to his Pittsburgh tenure, serving as a full-time starter through eight games and recording 54 tackles along the way. A major knee injury brought his campaign to an abrupt end, though, and it threatened to linger well into the current season.

To no surprise, Holcomb was moved to the PUP list during roster cutdowns, allowing him to continue rehabbing. An adjustment was made to his contract during the offseason with an injury split being added to lower his base pay in the event of a PUP stint (although additional guarantees were brought in to compensate). If Holcomb can return to the lineup in time for Saturday’s game against the Bengals or the wild-card round, his presence will be welcomed by a LB unit now led by Patrick Queen.

Wilson was added in the third round of April’s draft, and he faced expectations of serving as a complementary option in the passing game early in his career. The Michigan product’s debut did not come until October, though, and he has been on IR since making his only appearance to date. Pittsburgh has leaned heavily on George Pickens at the receiver spot, and the team also has trade acquisition Mike Williams in the fold. Wilson could compete with Calvin Austin for playing time in the slot once he is activated.

Lee was selected in the sixth round of the draft as depth along the defensive interior. The Iowa alum could step into a rotational role upon activation, although given his missed time it would come as a surprise if he were to see a notable workload this year. In any case, the Steelers will likely welcome multiple players into the fold at least in time for their upcoming postseason game.

Three potential playoff outcomes for the Steelers this weekend

The 10-6 Pittsburgh Steelers head into a rematch with the 8-8 Cincinnati Bengals this Saturday at Acrisure Stadium. The Week 18 matchup, the final week of the 2024 NFL regular season, is a must-win for the Bengals, who are trying to keep their postseason hopes alive.

However, the Steelers already clinched a playoff berth, but a win or loss will have an impact on where and who they play in the Wild Card round. Here are the three scenarios for the Steelers and which of those may be preferable.

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Steelers Win AFC North: Host Los Angeles Chargers

The Baltimore Ravens must lose to the Cleveland Browns this weekend for this scenario to play out. That game is being played ahead of the Steelers/Bengals contest, with the Ravens traveling to Cleveland for a 4:30 ET kickoff. That means before the Steelers kickoff at 8:00 ET Saturday evening, they will know if the AFC North title is on the line or not.

Should the 3-13 Browns be able to unseat the Ravens, it would mean the Steelers host a home playoff game for the Wild Card round. However, that seems unlikely. The Browns are in a freefall and seem content there, jockeying for a high first-round draft pick. They benched starting quarterback Jameis Winston for second-year, unproven pro-Dorian Thompson-Robinson last week, which resulted in a 20-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

Combined with a New York Giants victory last Sunday, Cleveland moved into the third pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, currently behind the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans for the first overall selection.

Say what you want about pride, but going into Baltimore with the Ravens playing for the AFC North championship and a home playoff game doesn’t seem like a situation where Cleveland will play spoiler. Oddsmakers including the Hollywood bet app have the Browns as a 17.5-point underdog. Considering Cleveland has failed to score double-digit points in each of their last three games, it would appear the over/under of 42 points suggests a lopsided victory for the Ravens.

That means the Steelers will likely be headed on the road to play their first playoff game.

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Ravens Win AFC North: Steelers visit Texans

This situation is a little more fluid and perhaps, preferable.

The Houston Texans have been in a funk lately as well, struggling against teams with winning records and on a current two-game losing streak. The Texans are 3-5 over their last eight games and play at Tennessee on Sunday. Regardless of that outcome, Houston would host a Wild Card game as winners of the AFC South as the four seed. They would host the five seed, which could be the Steelers.

For this scenario to play out, the following must happen:

  • Both the Steelers and Ravens win
  • Both the Steelers and Chargers lose

The Chargers are in a similar situation as the Ravens/Browns game, as they travel to Las Vegas to face a four-win Raiders squad. Never say never, however, as the Raiders are on a two-game winning streak against the Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints. Yet, before their current string of back-to-back victories, the Raiders were on the brink of having the top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft after losing ten straight.

Ouch.

The Chargers themselves may fancy a better finish and more favorable scenario than another “Harbaugh Bowl” as a loss would mean LA visits Baltimore in their Wild Card round. The Chargers/Raiders are a little trickier to figure out, as it’s a division game and Vegas has a potential home field advantage: even with their vacation destination usually spoiled by visiting fan bases, that is unlikely the case with a Chargers team who has their fans outnumbered in their home building as well.

LA enters the game a 5.5-point favorite with a 41 over/under set. In the Steelers favor, the Raiders have given up an average of 13 points-per-game over their last three. Yet, they’ll have to slowdown a Chargers offense that’s laid 34 points on the Broncos and 40 on the Patriots in the last two weeks.

Here’s to hoping the Steelers control their destiny regardless with a win.

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Ravens Win AFC North: Steelers visit Ravens

A lot of fans would despise this situation, which would occur if the Steelers lose against the Bengals and Chargers defeat the Raiders. The aftermath of a Cincinnati loss at home to close the season would mean a four-game losing streak heading into the playoffs to play their biggest rival on their home turf.

The inverse would be true of the Ravens heading into the same matchup. Baltimore will be on a four game heater, defeating two division opponents during the stretch and basically steamrolling into the postseason.

The Ravens offense has scored 33 points-per-game over their last three since the bye week, juggernauting through a three-game, eleven-day stretch similar to the Steelers schedule, albeit with some rest. That may not bode well if the Steelers are demoralized and limping into the playoffs against the Ravens, who soundly defeated the Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium back in Week 16 by the tune of 34-17.

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Controlling Their Destiny

For all intents and purposes a Ravens rematch will likely be on the books at some point during the postseason unless Baltimore were to be upset in the Wild Card round before a rematch could occur. In order for that situation to play out, the Steelers need to turn their ship around this Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals to close their regular season on a positive note, though that may be easier said than done.

The Steelers offense has been in slump, unable to score at least 20 points in each of their last three games. Their defense has also been poor, giving up at least 27 to opponents.

They’ll be up against a Bengals team that started the recent trend of Pittsburgh’s defense bleeding yards and points in a 44-38 shootout. That game will prove no easier of an outcome as the Bengals have had to win every game to close the season since losing last at home to the Steelers.

Cincy has scored an average of 29.5 points-per-game over their four-game win streak. However, a telling tale for their franchise this season has been the inability to defeat teams with a .500 record or better. Their first such win came last Saturday against the Denver Broncos in an overtime thriller.

The Bengals will enter the Steelers stadium this weekend as 1.5-point favorites with the over/under set at 48.5. Expect to see some fireworks as this game will control the destiny of not only the Steelers, but the Bengals. A Pittsburgh win would send Cincinnati home, out of postseason contention, while potentially skyrocketing the Steelers into the Wild Card round with some momentum.

Three potential playoff outcomes for the Steelers this weekend appeared first on Steel City Underground.

NFL strikes again with Hard Knocks influenced Week 18 schedule

Just when you thought the Pittsburgh Steelers would return to a normal routine and play a Sunday afternoon game, the NFL swept in once again with a twist and turn. After playing three games in eleven days, the Steelers now look at a Saturday night primetime game on ESPN against the Cincinnati Bengals to close out their 2024 regular season.

For those of us who love a good conspiracy, it’s obvious what’s transpiring. NFL decision-makers couldn’t be any more influenced as all of the wild schedule-making in the second half of Pittsburgh’s calendar reeks of influence from HBO who is producing the first-ever in-season division edition of the network’s award-winning Hard Knocks series. This year, the show expanded to cover an entire division during the season.

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The network’s influence over the crazy scheduling has been obvious. For years HBO has chased the Pittsburgh Steelers for the allure of big ratings (i.e. money) and the NFL is complicit in giving their advertisers what they want. All six of the Steelers AFC North games are played from Week 11 on, the Hard Knocks series conveniently picks up right after the Cleveland Browns Thursday Night Football game, giving us a quick review before moving forward to the first episode’s coverage of the Steelers playing the Bengals in Cincinnati.

The Steelers also had to play three games in eleven days against some of the top teams in the NFL, including the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, and Kansas City Chiefs. Those games were all set with their television partners in mind too, as HBO isn’t the only suitor in the NFL’s moneymaking business practices. The league created two Netflix-exclusive games for Christmas Day into the mix and double-dipping with Hard Knocks cameras on the sideline.

The Eagles game was also a boon for networks, as the game ran largely unopposed to a national audience.

Week 15 NFL Coverage - CBS

Regional broadcast image courtesy of 506sports.com – Steelers coverage in RED.

The Saturday slate before Christmas was an exclusive set of games too, also featured the Ravens so the league could get as many Hard Knocks cameras rolling as possible through the holiday. Unfortunately for the Steelers, the rough scheduling caused them to sit key players and also battle through some injuries that have a longer-term impact on their shot at a division title and also success in the postseason.

The same cannot be said for the Baltimore Ravens, who completed a Week 14 bye ahead of their eleven game stretch, and got to play the previously 2-11 New York Giants before hosting the Steelers in the middle of condensed schedule. That’s a far cry playing the 11-2 Eagles or 14-1 two-time defending Super Bowl champions with little preparation or rest.

Now, the league is up to its same shenanigans for the final week of the regular season, which incidentally features all four AFC North teams playing on Saturday. Typically, the NFL would schedule games that influence one another to be played at the same time. In this case, they gave ESPN the rights to the division’s matchups and allowed HBO to get a head start on producing their finale for Tuesday.

What that means for the Steelers is another game at a non-standard time for the fourth matchup in a row. The 4:25 road trip to Philadelphia already shortened their window for a Saturday afternoon game in Baltimore, and then the quick turnaround to play on Wednesday against the Chiefs. A mini-bye was the only reward for what turned out to be a three-game losing streak that the team hopes to correct against a streaking Cincinnati squad that’s in a must-win situation to make the playoffs.

Coincidentally, the scheduling quirks also impact the Bengals, who are the only team in NFL history to play five primetime road games in a single season.

However, the Steelers may not be in the same must-win territory. With the Browns and Ravens kicking off in the earlier game on Saturday, a Ravens win means they’ll clinch the AFC North title, leaving the Steelers jockeying only for where they might play in the Wild Card round.

After watching what the Cleveland Browns did on Sunday, it’s unlikely that the first scenario plays out, which means the Steelers are looking at either traveling to Houston or back to Baltimore, who conveniently plays at home this week and would have the luxury of back-to-back home games, should they win the division.

The Texans appear to be the easier prey at this time, going 3-5 over their last eight games. They play at Tennessee on Sunday but would host a Wild Card game as winners of the AFC South.

Otherwise, the Steelers see themselves having to travel back to Baltimore to face a familiar foe. In the middle match of their eleven game span, the Steelers had five starters sidelined along with T.J. Watt playing injured, as the Ravens carved up their rival to the tune of 34-17. Since their bye, the Ravens have scored at least 30 points in each of their three games, all victories.

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That may be a bit much to overcome for an ailing Steelers team that has been in slump, unable to score at least 20 points in each of their last three while giving up at least 27 to opponents. The “get right” game would be Saturday against the Bengals, a team that started a trend of the defense bleeding yards and points in a 44-38 shootout. That game will prove no easier of an outcome as the Bengals have had to win every game to close the season since losing last at home to the Steelers.

They will still need help on Sunday with losses by the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins to keep their playoff hopes alive, but for all intents and purposes, Saturday’s game is a must-win playoff situation for Cincinnati. As such, the Steelers postseason also begins this weekend as they’ll be up against a foe who is unlikely to step off of the gas pedal and will be prepared to do anything to win.

Sounds a lot like an HBO drama, doesn’t it? Thank you NFL!

NFL strikes again with Hard Knocks influenced Week 18 schedule appeared first on Steel City Underground.

SCU Week in Review – December 29th

In case you missed it (or anything) the SCU Week in Review recaps all articles, videos, posts and more, shared via Steel City Underground’s various platforms throughout the week.

Ravens postgame and more

After losing three games in eleven days, the Pittsburgh Steelers appear to be in a downward spiral. A shot at winning the AFC North and a home playoff game now seem out of reach.

Following Mike Tomlin’s postgame comments about making “necessary adjustments” what can the team do to get back on the winning track with one game remaining before the playoffs?

Joe and Brian discuss the team’s issues during this losing streak and detail some adjustments that could help as the team rests this weekend.

View the video below on YouTube or visit our podcast page to find it on all popular audio platforms.

Christina Rivers covers her Takeaways while Joe Kuzma shares his Steelers Surprises from last Wednesday’s game.

Takeaways: Non-complimentary play equals Christmas loss for Steelers

5 Steelers surprises in Wednesday’s loss against the Chiefs

Last Week’s Plays of the Game

Watch: Wilson stretches, scores Steelers TD

SCU Week in Review – December 29th appeared first on Steel City Underground.

Watch: Wilson stretches, scores Steelers TD

Steel City Underground will pick an exceptional play of the game as a highlight each week of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2024 NFL regular season. Stay tuned as we hand-select the very best from the Black and Gold!

Things didn’t exactly go the way the Steelers hoped when they hosted the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day. The third loss in a row wasn’t an easy pill to swallow. The defense was porous in the mid and deep backfield. The offense also struggled to deliver. The Steelers offense did manage to get into the end zone in a way that hasn’t happened since October 20 against the New York Jets.

Pittsburgh couldn’t get much offense going after an early rushing touchdown by Jaylen Warren – called back due to penalty – was followed by a rare Russell Wilson throw was intercepted. In the final seconds of the 1st quarter, the Steelers started a drive that went for 72 yards on 11 plays that was capped by a touchdown in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

The drive started with a run and ended with the same. On 1st & 10 at the PIT 28, Najee Harris took the ball around the left end for a 4-yard gain to end the quarter. George Pickens then caught a short pass and took it to the 39 before being pushed out of bounds.

Wilson began hitting short, quick passes to get the tempo raised. Darnell Washington and Pat Freiermuth caught passes for 8 and 15 yards, respectively. Jaylen Warren handled the rushing duties, his longest run went for 11 yards in the series.

On 2nd & Goal at the KC 1, Spencer Anderson reported as eligible. With the extra blocker, Wilson took the snap under center with two backs in the “I” behind him. As Wilson faked the handoff, Issac Seumalo pulled from the guard spot around the left end while the defense surged toward the misdirection to the right. With both receiving targets covered, Wilson sprinted, stretched, and hit the left pylon just before his knee touched the turf, scoring with a keeper.

It wasn’t fancy, but it worked. Wilson hasn’t been as mobile this season as he was in years past, but the touchdown and successful Chris Boswell PAT made the score 13-7 in favor of the Chiefs; a manageable spot for the Steelers to work from.

Wilson and the offense would have no such luck the remainder of the game. As they failed to keep up with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense, the Steelers defense floundered, creating a sense of disappoinment for fans hoping for a Christmas miracle.

 

Watch: Wilson stretches, scores Steelers TD appeared first on Steel City Underground.

5 Steelers surprises in Wednesday’s loss against the Chiefs

Our SCU staff and contributors pick the “surprises” from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ latest matchup each week. Check out more below to see which plays and situations surprised us the most!

The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their sixth game of the 2024 season, 29-10, to the Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday. The loss dropped the Steelers to one game behind the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North.

Here are some surprises from that game.

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Defensive Collapse

For a third-straight game, all losses, the Steelers gave up more yards and points on average than they had all year. The defense gave up 389 yards to the Chiefs on Christmas Day, the fifth-most all season. That total is the fourth time in five games that Pittsburgh has given up 375 or more yards on defense, having yielded 375 to the Bengals, 401 to the Eagles and 418 to the Ravens.

The Steelers also gave up 27 or more points for the fourth time in five games, going back to yielding 38 to the Bengals, 27 to the Eagles, 34 to the Ravens and 29 to the Chiefs.

Before the Week 9 bye, the Steelers had only given up more than 20 points once (Indianapolis Colts, 27).

The defense also failed to sack Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes a single time during the game.

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Ten Points

Pittsburgh’s ten points on offense is the lowest mark for the entire season. They have failed to score at least 20 points in each of their last three games.

The Kansas City game also marks the fifth time in eight games since the bye week that they have failed to score at least 20 points in a game.

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Outgaining KC

Despite the lopsided score, the Steelers offense surprisingly bested the Chiefs in several categories including first downs (23), third down efficiency (50%), offensive plays (73) and time of possession (31:22).

Pittsburgh also ran the ball well, averaging 6.5 yards-per-carry on 31 attempts for a total of 202 yards. Najee Harris had 74 yards on 13 carries while Jaylen Warren carried the ball 11 times for 71 yards. Russell Wilson also added six carries for 55 yards and a touchdown.

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Turnover Battle

The Steelers lost the turnover battle on Wednesday. In a trend over the three-game losing span, the formerly top team in turnover margin has now relinquished the football more than they’ve taken it back.

Pittsburgh now has five turnovers on offense to three on defense during the losing streak. Russell Wilson threw an interception on a pass intended for Pat Freiermuth in the endzone, while Freiermuth was also responsible for a lost fumble in Steelers territory later in the game.

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Dissension in the Ranks?

Quite a bit of postgame chatter surrounded the defense and “doing your job”. The most vocal of the players in the locker room were LB Patrick Queen, S DeShon Elliott, and DE Cameron Heyward.

Queen was quoted by Steelers beat reporter Mark Kaboly in a postgame interview:

“Can’t explain it, it’s happening. We keep talking about it. Nobody is doing a thing about it. … if nobody does anything about what they are supposed to be doing then we don’t have any room for it. I don’t know if we have to keep saying it. We have said it the last two or three weeks. It is at a point where you realize it and go out there and play fast and play physical and do your job.”

The comments would seem more pointed if not for team captain Cam Heyward echoing the same sentiments:

“When 10 guys do their job and one guy doesn’t, we are screwed. It comes down to communicating, it comes down to executing, it comes down to guys following their assignments.”

In the aftermath, we don’t know if the comments are directed at one player overall or several players throughout the course of the game. One thing is for certain, if the defense doesn’t get fixed quickly, the Steelers could find themselves in major trouble with a rematch looming against the Cincinnati Bengals to close the season along with a postseason game that appears to have them traveling on the road.

5 Steelers surprises in Wednesday’s loss against the Chiefs appeared first on Steel City Underground.