Steelers News: Roethlisberger, Boykin, Miller
By Kim Myers
The Steelers have one more day of work to get in before they’ll travel to division-rival Baltimore in the hopes of securing a playoff berth.
While the Steelers finish up the work on the South Side we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Thursday, Dec. 24th.
It’s a hostile place
While the Steelers are going to be facing a very watered-down version of the Ravens as they’ve been ravaged by injuries since their previous meeting in Week 4, Teresa Varley tells us that Ben Roethlisberger isn’t expecting any watered-down intensity for the rival matchup.
"“It’s a very hostile place. This will be the first time that I can remember in a while playing a 1 o’clock game there. It always seems to be a prime time game. To go for a 1 o’clock game is going to be different, but I still expect it to be hostile and crazy.” – Ben Roethlisberger"
Still the weakest link?
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler suggests that the Steelers much-maligned secondary might have just turned the corner, pun possibly intended. The combination-or-rotation the Steelers used in the secondary in the second half of the 34-27 win against the Denver Broncos prompted a shutout of the Broncos in the second half.
The rotation used William Gay playing every snap, Brandon Boykin in the slot and Antwon Blake and Ross Cockrell splitting the remainder of the snaps. Fowler suggests that with the Steelers offense playing so well, with this alignment of the defense they’ve set themselves up to win even the highest scoring of shootouts in the playoffs. They’ll still have to get in first, and I’ll have to believe it when I see it.
Greatest show on…grass?
Former NFL player turned ESPN blowhard Ron Jaworski compared the Steelers offense to the Kurt Warner-led St. Louis Rams team of 1999-2001, also known as “The Greatest Show on Turf”. Now the Steelers’ offense has been putting up impressive numbers as of late, but they’re still far off from the stats the Rams posted.
Steelers tight end Heath Miller is grateful for the comparison but would rather his team win than be compared to great offenses of the past, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the PPG.
Next: Villanueva the answer at left tackle?
"“Not so fast. We’ll take it as a compliment, but we have a lot of ball left to play. We’re just looking to do enough to win a game. If that’s scoring a lot of points, then so be it. But the bottom line is we want to win.” – Heath Miller"
Also, Jaworski is the same guy that said Colin Kaepernick would be the greatest quarterback in the league at one point so, take his comments with a grain of salt. Or just ignore them because they’re stupid.