Steelers Keisel on Pats, Brooks on Bettis, Raiders-Steelers Deflate

The Steelers offseason started with some surprises and certainly doesn’t look to be a boring one in the next few months. While the Steelers prepare for free agency and coaching moves, we’ll be busy looking around for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Tuesday, Jan. 27^th.

More from Steelers News

• Steelers news: Rashard Mendenhall calls out Big Ben, Brian Flores interviews for HC job, and more
• Steelers play it safe in recent 2023 NFL mock draft
• Kenny Pickett gets his guy in latest Steelers mock draft with trades
• Steelers face potentially dark reality if Matt Canada doesn’t pan out
• Senior Bowl sleepers the Steelers must have on their radar

Da Beard going for Seattle

Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel stopped by ESPN’s SVP & Russillo show on Monday during this week of Super Bowl hype. ESPN’s Scott Brown explains that Keisel picked the Seattle Seahawks to win Super Bowl XLIX and admitted he “dislikes” the Patriots. He did express sympathy for all the players on either team who may be overshadowed by the deflated football scandal.

"“I don’t think that this whole football scandal is relevant one bit. No one really knows, ‘Well did it happen, didn’t it happen?’ It’s just unfortunate because there are so many other guys, other teammates that are part of the Patriots. Or there are so many guys that are on the Seahawks team that are part of the Super Bowl and rather than the focus being on those guys and their accomplishments getting here it’s on all of this.” – Brett Keisel"

Brooks on Bettis

Hall of Famer linebacker Derrick Brooks says he thinks former Steelers running back Jerome Bettis belongs in the hall right alongside of him, as Teresa Varley points out. Jerome will find out on Saturday night if he will be enshrined in the Class of 2015. Brooks remembered times going up against Bettis, particularly a game in October of 2001 where Bettis had a career day.

"“You know, I must admit, yes there were a few collisions and let’s just say I wasn’t on the end I wanted to be. I didn’t lose many battles one on one in my career. But in my competition, my battles with Jerome, I didn’t win as many as I wanted to.” – Derrick Brooks"

Bettis would go on to rush for 143 yards, including a 46-yard touchdown run and even threw for a touchdown in a 17-10 win.

Raiders had deflated balls too

According to Mike Wilkening of Pro Football Talk, the idea of deflating footballs to get a better grip on them and gain an advantage isn’t a new idea in the NFL. As far back as 1973 in a November game between the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers, the Steelers alerted officials to some underinflated balls. The Raiders lineman also had slippery substances on their jerseys and probably brass knuckles on as well, for all we know. Those crazy bastards. The Steelers won that game, 17-9.