Steelers News: Cockrell, Tomlin, Smith

The Steelers head into Championship weekend either prepping for surgery or their offseason destinations after a disappointing loss to Denver in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

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Steelers season never truly ends for Steeler Nation so while the offseason starts to heat up we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Sunday, Jan. 24^th.

Signed

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The Steelers brought back a member of their secondary on Friday with the signing of exclusive-rights free agent cornerback

Ross Cockrell

to a one-year extension.

Teresa Varley reminds us

that Cockrell was signed just prior to the start of the 2015 season after being released by the Buffalo Bills.

Cockrell, along with Cortez Allen are the only cornerbacks under contract for the Steelers aside from rookies Senquez Golson and Doran Grant. William Gay, Brandon Boykin and Antwon Blake are all free agents.

Cockrell looks forward to continuing his career in Pittsburgh and talks about his experience of the ‘Steelers way.’

"“The city, the fans, I think it’s unlike any other place in the NFL. My experience with the Rooney family has been great. I have had the chance to get to see them, get to know them. They are there in the locker room after games. They are in the locker room after wins, they are in the locker room after losses. Coach Tomlin is available. His office is always open. Little things like that go a long way. You know what you are fighting for and they are there fighting with you. That is the way it is.” – Ross Cockrell"

Go for it

When the PAT rules were changed this past offseason it was unclear how many teams would take advantage of going for two-point conversions more than kicking the farther-back extra point. The Steelers quickly answered after the season started and became the team that went for two with the most frequency by far.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler tells us that according to the audio featured on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” of the Steelers’ 23-16 loss to the Broncos last week shows Steelers coach Mike Tomlin saying on the sidelines while down 20-13 that he would go for two for the win instead of tying for overtime.

The Steelers went for two five times more than any other team in the league last year and converted 72 percent of their tries making the idea to go for the win instead of the tie a calculated risk that would have likely paid off, if the Steelers hadn’t had turned the ball over on downs.

Fire the coach

Even though Mike Tomlin explained in his end of the year presser that he wanted all of his assistant coaches back next season Curt Popejoy of Steelers Wire thinks that someone needs their pink slip. The Steelers seemingly have had trouble on special teams for years and this season was no different.

While finally finding a kicker to rely on in Chris Boswell the special teams unit had their most trouble with returns. The Dri Archer experiment gave way to the Jacoby Jones disaster and the Steelers still don’t have the answer for a return man after watching Markus Wheaton in last week’s loss in Denver.

Next: Steelers: 2015 season awards

Does that all mean the coach, Danny Smith, needs fired? There’s a reason why teams that fire coaches constantly will constantly fail. There can’t be anything substantially built if you’re constantly rebuilding. With that being said, if you’re going to make a change you need to have a plan in place.

The Steelers shouldn’t fire Danny Smith out of reaction for the lack of special plays on special teams if they don’t have a better candidate in mind. You don’t need to make a change just for the sake of making a change.

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