Steelers Morning Huddle 10/25/2013
By Kim Myers
Huddle up!
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Steelers have already put the win over the Ravens behind them and have their sights singularly focused on the task that is at hand; beating the Oakland Raiders. As has been mentioned before, Ben Roethlisberger is still looking for his first career win in Oakland. He’s not the only one hoping that will come on Sunday. Here’s what’s being said about your Pittsburgh Steelers around the block.
Coordinator’s Corner
Steelers Coordinators Dick LeBeau and Todd Haley speak with reporters every Thursday afternoon following practice. This week Todd Haley, who you have to think is walking around with a bit of swagger this week after being dogged so much in the first quarter of the season and now to have the improvement the team has shown. He was asked about the improvement seen from David DeCastro and took the opportunity to show gratitude to the whole line.
"“I thought the entire line played probably their best game of the year. We obviously need them to keep getting better, keep coming together and playing like that. He was a big part of that. You could go right down the line and probably say all played their best game of the year to this point.” – Todd Haley"
Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau talked about attacking the read-option attack Oakland will be running with Terrelle Pryor. He also touched on the tackling in the secondary in light of the fact that in today’s NFL, you can’t tackle during practices.
"“Well, there are some games that I wish we tackled a little bit better in the secondary, to be honest with you, and across the team. I think overall we have a good tackling secondary. We have two great safeties who can get people on the ground, and I think our corners will rate up near the top of the NFL in terms of tackling. We want to be a good tackling team. In direct answer to your question, tackling is a heck of a lot of desire and wanting to. You don’t have to practice tackling every day to want to tackle and to do a good job in a game. We expect them to get the ball carrier on the ground, whether it’s their receiver that caught the ball or someone coming out of the backfield. I won’t be happy until they tackle them every damn time. We’re still working on it.” – Dick LeBeau"
Kovacevic says give Timmons a hand
The Trib’s Dejan Kovacevic would like to point out to everyone just how impressive LB Lawrence Timmons’ performance was Sunday against Baltimore. We all found out during Tomlin’s press conference on Tuesday that Timmons had injured his left hand, well fractured actually, during the early 4th quarter of the game but remained on the field anyway. Timmons recorded 17 tackles, 12 solos, per the official NFL stats of the game but Kovacevic states that after film review it was more like 20 tackles, with 17 solos attributed to Timmons and his fractured hand. Unreal. Steelers LB Coach Keith Butler was impressed as well.
"“I didn’t even know that Lawrence broke the hand until Mike told me the next day. I told L.T., ‘If you’ll play like that, we’ll break the other one.’” – Keith Butler"
Terrelle Pryor turned down chance to be a Steeler
The Trib’s Alan Robinson spoke with Pittsburgh native Terrelle Pryor about his idea to play for his hometown team when he was entered into the 2011 supplemental draft. Pryor, a Jeannette football legend, said that he spoke with Mike Tomlin prior to the draft and was extended an offer to play, with a cautionary tone.
"“Mike said, ‘Hey, I’ll draft you if you want to play here.’ But he gave me a story about when he was down in Tampa Bay about a quarterback (Shaun King) that was there, and he ended up being in the same hometown. It was just hard for him; he ended up cutting out because of all the distractions.” – Terrelle Pryor"
Pryor went on to say that he eventually turned Tomlin down and decided it would be best for him to pursue his professional football career away from home and away from the hometown distractions. Good thing for all parties concerned because Pryor was selected in the third round of the supplemental draft and that would have been an asinine thing for the Steelers to do at the time. No reason for the Steelers back then to have given up a third round pick for a quarterback to sit behind Ben for the unforeseeable future. Also, it wouldn’t have been a good idea for Pryor to settle for playing for his hometown team when another team (like the Raiders) would have given him an opportunity to start much earlier. Win win.
Also, Happy Birthday to my awesome twin sister Jenn!
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