Steelers News: James Harrison’s decision, Mike Tomlin on preseason game, Le’Veon Bell’s appeal

The Steelers have their first preseason game under their belts and have some things to work on going forward.

While the Steelers get back to camp and gets ready to work on the rest of the preseason we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Wednesday, Aug. 17^th.

Summer of Deebo

James Harrison has had an interesting summer. Nothing comparing to the dancing routines and flashy cars like Antonio Brown has had but still interesting. Harrison spoke to reporters before the final practice of Steelers training camp to address the deadline imposed by the NFL to be interviewed.

Harrison maintained that he’s never refused to be interviewed or refused to cooperate he’s just merely gone under the advice of the NFLPA to ensure that the NFL is demanding an interview with him about possible PED violations based on actual credible evidence.

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Setting a precedence that the NFL can command players to be investigated for anything that is alleged rather than claims that have been given merit is bad for not just Harrison, but all of the players in the union.

"“If that’s the case, then somebody could come out and say James Harrison is a pedophile. They are going to suspend me, but me under investigation for being a pedophile just because somebody said it? I’m not going to answer questions for every little thing some Tom, Dick and Harry comes up with.” – James Harrison"

Preseason game 2

The Steelers will host their final home preseason game this Thursday against the Philadelphia Eagles and once again you can count on some big names to be on the sidelines. Tomlin said that running backs Le’Veon Bell and DeAngelo Williams will be sidelined on Thursday.

Also not suiting up are quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and receiver Antonio Brown. Center Maurkice Pouncey will be seeing his first action since missing the entire 2015 season. We could probably just use a few reps out of Pouncey and then sit him down too. Just to be safe.

No word yet

The NFL has got a lot on their table these days. They’re strong arming James Harrison and the rest of the players named in the Al-Jazeera report as well as dragging their feet on the appeal for Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell.

Ray Fittipaldo of the PPG reminds us that we haven’t seen him take the field since last November so we don’t know what to expect from him in a recovery standpoint or how many game he may be out serving a suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

Next: James Harrison in danger of suspension

It’s all up in the air right now. He says he feels good but feeling good and being tackled at full speed are two entirely different things.