Steelers Morning Huddle 8/22/13

Aug 19, 2013; Landover, MD, USA; A Pittsburgh Steelers free safety Ryan Clark (25) watches from the sidelines against the Washington Redskins in the second quarter at FedEx Field. The Redskins won 24-13. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Hey there Steeler Nation.  The news about Bell is not good, but I think fans already knew his injury wasn’t a simple sprain before the lisfranc injury news spread.

Bell’s Latest Injury

I think it is important to note that the news about Bell’s injury may be accurate, but it is not official.  The Steelers have not made an announcement except that Tomlin will say more later when they have a diagnosis.  The national news outlets are more than happy to carry the unofficial news.  Michael David Smith of NBC’s Pro Football Talk quotes Adam Schefter (ESPN) and Jason La Canfora of  CBAbut noted that 6-8 weeks is a good diagnosis for a lisfranc injury.  CBS Sports.com’s analyst Ryan Wilson quotes Fox Sports Jay Glazer about Bell’s injury and calls the injury a “blow” to the running game.  It’s such a round robin of information, it’s like the telephone game you played in grade school.  Locally, Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette posted that it is a ligament tear and Alan Robinson of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review did a longer article with quotes from Bell and some other running backs.  Robinson notes Bell’s positive attitude.  I guess we’ll see today and I hope the Steelers take the long term approach to getting Bell healthy because a partially healthy Bell does not do the Steelers or Bell any good.

TE David Johnson Returns to Practice

Johnson’s return is a much needed shot in the arm for a depleted tight end group.  Johnson tore his ACL in the 2012 preseason opener and Teresa Varley of Steelers,com posted a short article quoting Johnson’s happiness to be back on the field.  Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also posted a small paragraph on Johnson’s return.  I thought Johnson had a lot of potential last year and I hope he is ready to get out there because the Steelers really some help at the position.

Getting to Know the “Mann”

Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review provided one of the more recent in depth looks at Richard Mann, the Steelers new Wide Receivers coach.  Mann’s been out of the NFL since 2009 so the information most was that he was originally from the Pittsburgh area and he last position had been with Tampa Bay in 2009, which is where Tomlin knows him from.  Starkey goes a little bit more in depth, gets some quotes from Jericho Cotchery, and then notes some of the coaches that Mann knows including Coach Cowher and Coach Belichick.  In case you can’t place him, he’s the coach who got bowled over during Monday night’s game by one of his own receivers.

Next Stop for “The Bus”

Another Steeler has been added to the line up of analysts at ESPN – Jerome Bettis.  Jaimeson Hensley, who blogs for the AFC North for ESPN notes that Bettis’ presence might balance out ESPN’s other recent acquisition from the AFC North:  Ray Lewis.  There was no mention of Merril Hoge’s status and I assume he will continue to be on the network.  However, don’t tune over to ESPN to catch Bettis just yet – his appearances start on Sep. 1st.  I guess Hugh Douglas’ departure made room to bring on someone else.

Wagging the Dog?

The Steelers have agreed that Ryan Clark can be an unpaid “insider” for ESPN, working through Chris Mortenson, according to NBC’s Mike Florio who began the article talking about Bettis’ new job.  Now I like Ryan Clark and how he has played on the field up to now.  I expressed concern about his off season broadcaster “internship” a while ago and I stand by it.  I think Clark has spent a lot of time working on his transition from football.  I don’t blame him for doing that, but I remain concerned that he has spread out his focus and it will show during the regular season.  I guess we’ll see.  I wonder if the Steelers think some “inside information” will keep the story positive versus all the negative attention from last year.

Featured Tweet

Yet again, I’ve pulled the featured tweet from the Steelers official twitter account:

I like to see the young guys working hard and putting in a little extra.  Awesome!

That’s it for today.  Let us know what you think!