Mike Munchak Homecoming, Trend of Losing, William Gay Award
By Kim Myers
The Steelers will try to rebound from what was quite possibly their worst loss of the season against the New York Jets and go on the road for a Monday night matchup against the Tennessee Titans. While they prepare to move forward we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Thursday, Nov. 13th.
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Munchak provides extra motivation to O-line
It’s hard to ignore the fact that the resume of Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak entirely consists of either the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise before he arrived in Pittsburgh this offseason. He was the Titans’ head coach up until last season, he was an assistant for them from 1994-2010 and before that he spent 12 years playing guard for the team from 1982-1993. In 1999 Munchak was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This Monday night he goes up against his former team for the first time in his professional football career and even though the offensive linemen of Pittsburgh know that the win is still badly needed regardless of those circumstances, Mike Prisuta points out how offensive tackle Kelvin Beachum takes it as added incentive for the team.
"“I know he’s not in it for personal reasons. He knows that we need to win, and it’s another step in our journey. We’re coming off of a horrible loss in New York and we know we have to bounce back quickly. It’s icing on the cake that it’s ‘Munch’s’ old team.” – Kelvin Beachum"
Trend of Steelers losing to bad teams to continue?
Since it was as bad of a loss since the last time the Steelers lost, it’s still worth beating the dead horse of how Mike Tomlin’s Steelers can’t seem to win against inferior opponents. Ed Bouchette of the PPG suggests that the trend could continue against the 2-7 Tennessee Titans on Monday night because Tomlin has no “good” answer for why the team keeps sucking to bad teams. He says that Tomlin “either could not or would not explain how his Steelers continually lose to opponents with some of the worst records in the NFL” and for some reason, the four turnovers the Steelers committed and zero they obtained, doesn’t seem to be up to anyone’s snuff as a valid reason why a team lost a football game. The question as to why would a team, that had been on such a high for the previous two games, all of a sudden become turnover prone and fall flat in an opportunity where they could have destroyed a team is valid, I suppose. But it’s almost at this point as if they’re asking why they lose at all? How exactly is that question supposed to be answered to anyone’s satisfaction? If a football coach could pinpoint exactly why their team lost a game and correct it and guarantee it would never happen again, there’d be teams going undefeated all over the place, wouldn’t ya think? At this point the Steelers players have to know it’s painfully obvious that this stigma of losing to bad teams is on them as well, do they want to keep it going or not?
William Gay is Steelers Walter Payton Man of the Year
Steelers cornerback William Gay has been a strong supporter of ending domestic violence for many years but this year he’s being recognized as he was named the Pittsburgh Steelers Walter Payton Man of the Year. ESPN’s Scott Brown explains how Gay has been working with the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh and helped launched the RUSafe app. Gay lost his mother to domestic violence as a child. He’s eligible for the national Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which is announced prior to Super Bowl XLIX.