Dale Lolley

To the victors go the spoils – and the last words.

Could T.J. Watt still win Defensive Player of the Year despite missing seven games?

Does the NFL have a major issue on its hands? It certainly seems to be the case.

The worst is over. At least that’s what the Steelers have to hope.

The cavalry is coming. The Steelers started the clock ticking on a return from the Reserve/Injured List on safety Damontae Kazee late last week and did the same with All-Pro linebacker T.J. Watt on Wednesday.

Should he or shouldn’t he play?

Nearly everyone expected the Steelers to lose to the Bills in Buffalo last weekend. Now, they might not have expected the blowout loss that occurred, but there was a reason why the pointspread in the game was 14½ by the time the game kicked off.

Coach Mike Tomlin said he went to Kenny Pickett at halftime of a 24-20 loss by the Steelers to the New York Jets last week to provide a spark.

You’ll never get an NFL player or coach to say that a game in September is a must-win game. That’s what we’re here for.

{byline}{&by1}By Dale Lolley

The Steelers didn’t win a game last season in which T.J. Watt missed either the whole game or started and didn’t finish, going 0-4-1 in such games.

After a two-week hiatus from the end of the preseason to the start of the regular season, the NFL kicked off its season Thursday night with the Bills playing the Rams.

The Steelers came out of training camp with some needs. It was obvious to everyone that the team needed to upgrade its depth at both outside linebacker and on the offensive line.

Two preseason games down and just one to go for the Steelers. They’ll host Detroit at Acrisure Stadium Sunday then it will be on to the regular season.

With Steelers’ training camp now in the books, it’s pretty obvious some assumptions made about the team heading into this season without Ben Roethlisberger have been a little off.

It was the quarterback competition that wasn’t – at least not for the No. 1 job.

It was a heck of a week for first-year Steelers general manager Omar Khan.

Are you ready for some football?

Try as they might, the Cleveland Browns just couldn’t drum up any interest in a trade for Baker Mayfield.

In a recent and well-publicized interview with former Steelers safety Ryan Clark, among others, head coach Mike Tomlin sounded nothing short of excited about seeing what lay beyond the certitude of having a franchise quarterback.

The initial panic surrounding Stephon Tuitt’s retirement should have subsided. If it has not, the Steelers’ signing of defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi earlier this week should quell some of those concerns.

There is a competition to see who will replace Ben Roethlisberger as the Steelers’ starting quarterback and it will heat up when the team opens training camp July 26. But there’s also a very defined pecking order of how things have been run to this point.

So, now we know what’s going on with Stephon Tuitt.

The Steelers made it official with Omar Khan as their new general manager this week, replacing Kevin Colbert.

Bill Cowher had to wait a year for his induction ceremony to the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the recently turned 65-year-old hasn’t waited as long as his mentor, Marty Schottenheimer.

Kevin Colbert’s first draft pick with the Steelers was Plaxico Burress. His final pick will go down as South Dakota State quarterback Chris Oladokun.

Kenny Pickett, welcome to Pittsburgh.

The amount of intrigue surrounding the Steelers’ first-round draft pick is palpable.

When you cover sports for a living, you don’t often have to deal with the tragedy other journalists do on a regular basis.

No, the Steelers aren’t close to signing Minkah Fitzpatrick to a new contract just yet, despite a so-called report from the NFL Network to the contrary.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert said this week that the Steelers aren’t just messing around when it comes to researching the quarterbacks available in this month’s draft.

The Browns panicked.

There was a pretty good portion – or ,at least, a very vocal minority – of Steelers fans who thought the team was simply going to sit on its hands in free agency.

No, the Steelers never had an offer in with the Green Bay Packers for Aaron Rodgers as was reported on one website. And they were never in the mix to trade a bunch of draft picks and players to Seattle for Russell Wilson.

INDIANAPOLIS – Teams that don’t have a proven NFL quarterback can often get caught in the trap of desperation. And that’s when mistakes are made.

While many were complaining about the Steelers’ offseason hiring processes – or at least a very vocal minority on social media – the team went ahead and made an inspired hire last weekend with the addition of former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores to Mike Tomlin’s coaching staff.

Last year’s Washington County entry into the Pony World Series included players who resided the Washington, Trinity, Canon-McMillan, McGuffey, Chartiers-Houston and Bentworth school districts.

There seems to be a feeling among some fans that the Steelers’ way of doing business somehow no longer works.

MOBILE, Ala. – The Senior Bowl practices have now wrapped up and it will be on to the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis at the end of the month.

Within a span of about 24 hours, the Steelers have gone from having a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and a GM who has been instrumental in building those championship rosters to knowing this offseason will truly be one of major transition.

So, the Steelers’ season ended as pretty much everyone expected last week, with the team losing its playoff game at Kansas City in a Wild Card game, 42-21.

Ben Roethlisberger will pull on his No. 7 Steelers jersey over his shoulder pads before a football game for the final time Sunday.

We knew this day was coming with Ben Roethlisberger. After all, he had hinted at it after the 2017 season, when he openly spoke about the potential of retirement after a 13-3 season that saw the Steelers unceremoniously bounced from the AFC playoffs with a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Steelers allowed 201 rushing yards last weekend in a 19-13 win over the Titans. It marked the third time this season they’ve given up 200 or more rushing yards.

Four games. That is what could remain in the storied career of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger – at least in the regular season.

MINNEAPOLIS – The Steelers season is turning into a bad movie.

“All we need is music, sweet music. There’ll be music everywhere.” – Martha and the Vandellas, Dancing in the Streets

So, the Steelers go to Los Angeles and lose to the Chargers, 41-37, and the biggest complaints coming out of that game are … about the offense.