Something new we’ll do daily for Steelers Depot. A quick hit of some Pittsburgh Steelers and Steelers-related stories that may not require a complete and dedicated article but nuggets worth mentioning and passing on to you guys. The same as our recent Depot Daily but now late at night to better capture the news of the day.
Your Depot After Dark for Sept. 22nd.
Steve Smith Steelers Ballboy
During training camp, we noted former Carolina Panthers/Baltimore Ravens WR Steve Smith was on hand for a Steelers’ practice. Now, we get to see exactly what he was doing. Earlier this week, the NFL released a 16-minute video of Smith’s day with the team. Serving as assistant equipment manager and ballboy, Smith’s day started at 5 AM and included him hesitating to don a yellow Steelers’ shirt. The team definitely had some fun with that.
From there, they get laundry done, straighten up the locker room, and then hit the field to set up the drills for practice. In a couple of cool moments, you can also hear Smith mentor players and pass along tips to the players. There’s cameos by Kenny Pickett, Cam Heyward, and Mike Tomlin. I can’t embed the video but click here to check the whole thing out. It’s really cool and kudos to Smith for being a good sport about it all.
Myles Garrett Defends Minkah Fitzpatrick
Add another Cleveland Browns’ player defending Minkah Fitzpatrick. Myles Garrett is the latest, saying Fitzpatrick’s tackle on RB Nick Chubb that ended his season was not dirty.
“He didn’t do anything,” Garrett said via the Cleveland Plain-Dealer’s May Kay Cabot. “He played the game the way it’s supposed to be played. It’s just very unfortunate.”
Good on Garrett for defending Minkah. I mean, it’s not like Fitzpatrick hit Chubb with his own helm-hold, on a minute, I’m receiving some news.
Joey Porter Sr. Surprises Jr. After Monday Night Win
Former Pittsburgh Steelers star outside linebacker Joey Porter Sr. has been around the Black and Gold quite a bit this offseason and early on into the 2023 season, obviously due to his son, Joey Porter Jr., being on the team. On Monday Night Football, Porter Sr. had a proud moment watching his son break up a key third-down pass against the Cleveland Browns in the first quarter and later sealed the win with great coverage on Donovan Peoples-Jones on fourth down along the Steelers’ sideline.
After the game, Porter Sr. made his way into the Steelers locker room at Acrisure Stadium and had a surprise for his son: Porter Jr.’s first-ever football coach in elementary school.
“It’s great just to have him pull up and he had some surprise people that I didn’t think were gonna be at the game. It was my first elementary football coach that was there. So just to have him in there with me and everything like that, it was great. A great, great time,” Porter Jr. said to reporters Friday ahead of the Week Three matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders on the road.
What a cool story that continues to surround Porter Jr., playing for his hometown team, making key plays late in a win and doing it for the team his Dad played for in a great career. The youngest Porter stated that his father will be making the trip to Las Vegas, too, and is not sure what type of surprises his Dad will have up his sleeve in Week Three.
Updated Snap Counts
For those wanting as much Steelers’ info as possible, Dave Bryan passed along updated snap counts through the team’s first two games of the year. With Football Outsiders now a defunct site, finding free snap count information is more difficult. So hopefully this helps.
LB Cole Holcomb leads the team with 164 total snaps. Rookie LB Nick Herbig is the special teams leader with 44.
